Feral Druid DPS Pre-raid Best in Slot (BiS) – WoW Classic: Season of Mastery

dps prebis feature pic
  • Author: Oxykitten
  • Date: November 19, 2021
  • Updated: December 23, 2021
  • Expansion: WoW Classic

Intro

Welcome to our Pre-raid BiS guide for Feral DPS in WoW Classic: Season of Mastery. The purpose of this guide is to present the very best items available before accessing raid content in Phase 1 of Season of Mastery. This guide will intentionally omit PvP and reputation pieces, which take more time and effort than accessing raids and therefore are unrealistic to obtain before raiding.

I am also working on a complete Phase 1 BiS guide for Feral Tanks and DPS, as well as guides for other facets of Feral gameplay; these will all be published in due course, so stay tuned!

Pre-raid BiS

The sections below will show and discuss BiS pre-raid items for each slot. The first section will show the complete BiS set; each following section shows enchants, alternative options, and the rationale for each choice in every slot.

Wolfshead Helm is the only head slot item a Feral DPS should ever use, as it generates an extra 20 energy when powershifting. I go into great detail on why this is so important in my powershift rotation guide.

Arcanum of Voracity is the best helm and leg enchant available for Feral DPS. Arcanum of Rapidity is about half as good, but usually far cheaper if you cannot afford Voracity.

Pendant of Celerity is the Best in Slot pre-raid neck option for Feral DPS. It drops off Lord Valthalak in Upper Blackrock Spire. Mark of Fordring makes for a good alternative as it is a guaranteed quest reward from Eastern Plaguelands.

Truestrike Shoulders are the Best in Slot pre-raid shoulder option for Feral DPS. They are rare and highly contested, but are definitely worth trying to get. Dark Warder’s Pauldrons can be farmed with two druids, or a druid and a rogue. Wyrmhide Spaulders are an easily accessible quest reward.

Cape of the Black Baron is the Best in Slot pre-raid back option for Feral DPS. It is rare and highly contested; Blackveil Cape is quite close in value and much easier to get as an alternative.

Cadaverous Armor is the Best in Slot pre-raid chest option for Feral DPS. Breastplate of Bloodthirst is a strong alternative, but not easy to get; however, if you are already getting it for tanking, it can serve you well for both roles. Grizzled Pelt from the Druid class quest in Sunken Temple (starting with Torwa Pathfinder) is an easy alternative.

Bracers of the Eclipse is the recommended Best in Slot pre-raid wrist option for Feral DPS. Wristguards of Renown and Deepfury Bracers are very close alternatives; in fact, Deepfury Bracers come out as slightly more DPS than Bracers of the Eclipse on Alliance side, but have considerably less stamina. I therefore recommend Bracers of the Eclipse as BiS.

Devilsaur Gauntlets are the Best in Slot pre-raid hand option for Feral DPS. Although the alternatives listed are, in a vacuum, better than Devilsaur Gauntlets, the set bonus when worn with Devilsaur Leggings makes the Devilsaur set the best option.

Note that the best hand enchant for DPS is Agility, whereas the best enchant for tanks is Haste. These are close in value for DPS, so I suggest using Haste if you are using the same gloves for both roles. If you can afford two pairs of gloves for different enchants, this is ideal.

Cloudrunner Girdle is the Best in Slot waist pre-raid option for all sets. However, it is quite rare, with an 8% drop chance off Quartermaster Zigris in Lower Blackrock Spire. Adventurer’s Belt of the Tiger and Serpentine Sash are fairly easy alternatives until Molten Belt, which can be bought on the Auction House; it is excluded from this guide as it requires materials found in Molten Core to craft.

Devilsaur Leggings are the Best in Slot pre-raid leg option for Feral DPS. This is because of the strong set bonus when paired with Devilsaur Gauntlets. Plaguehound Leggings are BiS if using a different item in the hand slot. The 3 best leg items are all bind on equip and can be bought on the Auction House.

Boots of Ferocity are the Best in Slot pre-raid boot option for all sets. They depend on a player in the group doing or having done the dungeon set questline. Any of the alternatives are suitable until then, though Swiftwalker Boots can be difficult to attain as they require you to kill the Princess in Blackrock Depths (who is usually saved to complete a quest), and Mongoose Boots can be expensive. Swiftfoot Treads are very close in overall value and easy to get.

While Greater Agility is theoretically more DPS than Minor Speed, this assumes the Druid does not need to move in an encounter. In practice, Minor Speed makes a noticeable difference to your gameplay; I strongly recommend always using this enchant.

Tarnished Elven Ring is the Best in Slot option for both ring slots. These are easily attainable by running Dire Maul: Tribute or simply paying a Hunter, as they can solo the instance. The alternatives are significantly worse, and probably more difficult to get.

Blackhand’s Breadth and Rune of the Guard Captain are the Best in Slot trinkets for Feral DPS. However, Rune of the Guard Captain is only available on Horde side, making Hand of Justice the best second trinket for Alliance players. Heart of Wyrmthalak and Counterattack Lodestones are the only other trinkets that provide any value to Feral DPS, but they are far worse than the BiS choices. Keep in mind that Mark of Tyranny and Blackhand’s Breadth are rewards from the same quest, so if you chose Mark of Tyranny for tanking you will not have access to Blackhand’s Breadth. This is why I recommend all Feral druids choose Blackhand’s Breadth.

Gnomish Battle Chicken is a trinket made by Gnomish engineers that, when used correctly, increases the melee haste of all party members by 5% for 5 minutes. This is an absolutely massive buff, making it by far the best trinket in the game when used. I do not list it as BiS because it has a 30 minute cooldown (meaning you’ll want other trinkets while it is on cooldown), but it is absolutely worth leveling engineering for and using as often as possible. Note that while you can craft Smoking Heart of the Mountain and then drop enchanting, but continue using the trinket, you must be an engineer to use Gnomish Battle Chicken.

Manual Crowd Pummeler (MCP) is the best weapon in the game for Feral Druids. Its on-use effect increases haste by 50%, which increases the Druid’s damage in Cat Form by around 10%. There is no true alternative to it, as not even Atiesh, Greatstaff of the Guardian beats the damage provided by MCPs. However, note that the difference in DPS for a cat using MCP is far less than the difference in damage and threat for a tank using MCP. Although 10% damage is a lot to gain from a single slot, not using MCPs is not completely game-changing for a Feral DPS. Additionally, MCPs only have 3 charges, and therefore many must be farmed from Gnomeregan to use in raids. Because of this, it is not feasible for a druid to use MCPs in every dungeon and on every raid trash mob.

Bonecrusher is the best pre-raid Non-MCP weapon option for Feral DPS. It is easily attained from a Dire Maul quest.

BiS: Idol of Ferocity

Idol of Ferocity is the only relevant idol for a Feral DPS, and even then it provides no value whatsoever in the vast majority of cases. I would generally recommend keeping Idol of Brutality equipped at all times for tank value, unless using the 2/5 Ferocity spec (which will be covered in my talent guide) where you swap between Ferocity and Brutality depending on which form you are in. Even then, Ferocity is generally unimportant as Claw is not a regular part of the Feral DPS rotation (in group content).

Thank you for taking the time to read our Feral DPS Pre-raid BiS guide for Season of Mastery. I hope it was helpful, and if you have any questions or suggestions please feel free to leave a comment below, or find me as Oxy on the Druid Classic discord.

 

About the Author

Oxykitten

I've been an avid WoW player since Vanilla. At 6 years old, I was slowly progressing through Blackfathom Deeps and levelling up with my brothers. Since Classic Wow launched, I've found a new way to enjoy the game; participating in Feral Druid theorycrafting communities and performing well in an underdog class has been a fun challenge. I hope to be able to share all I've learned with anyone who shares that interest!
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