Boxing Feral Druids

[Apatheist]

Thanks for all the great discussion though I think should unsubscribe from this thread... I am now wanting to try a Druid team and I have too many teams already.

I do the same thing. I have alts a couple of servers now. Just goofing around in Classic until (if) TBC releases. I thought about leveling 4 shamans also but I think I'll leave that until after and start from level 1 with a Belf paladin. Their racials are pretty unbeatable.

[fleaplus]

I prefer not to link to my characters on forums. My gear isn't anything special though. Everything I'm wearing can be acquired from 5man content plus some BoE's. I haven't done any raiding on my druids.

I went to all of the dungeons with good leather gear or quest rewards as I leveled so I pretty much had on level blues all the way to 60. I picked up the armor trinket from enchanting, two armor rings (ring of protection and naglering.) PUG'd a quest UBRS run for the armor trinket. The two trinkets and wardens staff alone give you a massive amount of armor. Once you have those you can swap in a lot more mana regen gear and still be quite tanky. I leveled enchanting on all of my druids until I was high enough to craft heart of the mountain then dropped enchanting. You don't need it to equip the trinket.

Typically whichever window I'm currently focused on is the bear. It's easier to turn the tank so that the mobs are facing away from my DPS than to try to move the 4 other characters behind.

Level makes all the difference in classic. The difference between being 2 levels higher or 2 levels lower than a mob is huge. If you're not 60 yet just go farm BRD. I farmed a lot of BRD for my HoJ's and some healing items.

https://classic.wowhead.com/talent-c...0132320015-055

That's the spec I used for dungeon farming. It's not a typical HoTW spec but my cat DPS is a lot higher and I don't find I need the extra threat from savage fury to hold agro.

I use a simple castsequence with 4 shreds, ferocious bite. Typically I get a clearcasting proc somewhere in there for a free shred and occasionally the shreds will crit so I waste fewer combo points by biting at 4. Even if I bite at 4, it still does more damage per energy than shred. It's important to spam the key so you bite immediately after a shred otherwise you'll waste all of your pooled energy. Ferocious bite is a relatively small % of your DPS anyway. It doesn't matter if you get it perfect. 90% Of your damage comes from autoattacks and shred.

Also, if you find yourself hitting a wall you could always go and farm yourself a few crowd pummelers to use as DPS cooldowns. It's time consuming but it's a huge DPS increase for fights you're struggling with.



I started off by having specific tank, heal and DPS pieces and feeding my healer innervate. At the moment I'm trying to farm gear with high armor and mixed stats with the goal that my druids will have reasonable DPS and EH but also enough regen to be full mana again quicker. I've started collecting the feralheart sets also, as someone mentioned earlier. It has great balanced stats and you can mix in a couple of pieces of hit or crit gear where necessary.

The dream would be to pick up an item like https://classic.wowhead.com/item=214...-unending-life

There's not a ton of competition for druid pieces if you can get into a raid as resto. I'm holding on to any BiS resto gear that drops so hopefully I can get into a few GDPK runs.

I went back to BRD today and switched my setup over to using a single healer, with dynamic tank/healer swapping. After some practice and configuration tweaks it does seem to work pretty well.

I do need to get more armor for my tank. I could easily do the quest chains for Ring of Protection and Band of the Great Tortoise. I can also respec into Thick Hide, and those combined should give me ~53% damage reduction (about 9% increase).

[boxblizzard]

Thanks for all the great discussion though I think should unsubscribe from this thread... I am now wanting to try a Druid team and I have too many teams already. ;-)

after everything , I’m levelling paladin team and near 40 already. Loads of strengths, cc is the only issue.

i have learned to adjust to melee teams and I like it as much as ranged now.

wish I had death knights, problem solved!

The second melee team I will reconsider Druids for feral x4 + resto for stealth cats PvP. Only boxing combo that’s viable with stealth + Shadowmeld.

im having heaps of fun with paladins atm, I have kiting issues/peels from time to time from 60’s but I think JoJ and speed to boots will crack down on closing the line on Druids/shaman/rogues etc

[nodoze]

after everything , I’m levelling paladin team and near 40 already. Loads of strengths, cc is the only issue.

i have learned to adjust to melee teams and I like it as much as ranged now.

wish I had death knights, problem solved!

The second melee team I will reconsider Druids for feral x4 + resto for stealth cats PvP. Only boxing combo that’s viable with stealth + Shadowmeld.

im having heaps of fun with paladins atm, I have kiting issues/peels from time to time from 60’s but I think JoJ and speed to boots will crack down on closing the line on Druids/shaman/rogues etc

Glad to hear it. If you get a chance I would watch Dwon's videos on his 5 Paladin multibox. IIRC he handled the DM Ogre pull by thowing down one or more Engineering Dummy Targets and maybe an AoE stun or two (plus some stuns on his focused target to burn it down) just to slow the spikes until he got one or more down. I really enjoyed his videos though I think his healing was mostly all or nothing which could maybe be improved. IIRC I think he ran 1 Prot (or at least Sword+Shield) and 4 Ret and used the typically used the Rets to heal.

[boxblizzard]

Glad to hear it. If you get a chance I would watch Dwon's videos on his 5 Paladin multibox. IIRC he handled the DM Ogre pull by thowing down one or more Engineering Dummy Targets and maybe an AoE stun or two (plus some stuns on his focused target to burn it down) just to slow the spikes until he got one or more down. I really enjoyed his videos though I think his healing was mostly all or nothing which could maybe be improved. IIRC I think he ran 1 Prot (or at least Sword+Shield) and 4 Ret and used the typically used the Rets to heal.

this is the exact same composition I’m using, Prot + 4 Ret.

weirdly the healing is good and dps is very impressive. I would consider this team strong in pve, like the shaman, loads of aura and other buffs.

just have PvP issues with peeling from shaman*, priests and mages. I will need some engineering and trinkets to combat this.

[boxblizzard]

Glad to hear it. If you get a chance I would watch Dwon's videos on his 5 Paladin multibox. IIRC he handled the DM Ogre pull by thowing down one or more Engineering Dummy Targets and maybe an AoE stun or two (plus some stuns on his focused target to burn it down) just to slow the spikes until he got one or more down. I really enjoyed his videos though I think his healing was mostly all or nothing which could maybe be improved. IIRC I think he ran 1 Prot (or at least Sword+Shield) and 4 Ret and used the typically used the Rets to heal.

im also reconsidering following the same setup for Druids, Prot .+ 4 feral. dps and aoe should be strong and consistent from energy /rage in pve, however I would need some fancy macros and RR for heals. One feral jumps out form, heals and back on rotation or 2 at a time etc. This may or may not work.

ideally resto would be good but a resto is a sore on the battlefield. The paladins are excellent in pve and my favourite so far as I can tank off and burn down bosses in record times due to burst and aoe.

I like the idea of stealth ferals, possibly with some alternative talents to improve healing out of form etc

having a Prot is good as in PvP majority of the time it puts other faction off due to being tanky, when I roll a softie I generally get burst down and it’s a race for kill or be killed, paladins is passive survivability at its finest with many tricks to stay afloat and 5 stuns on rotation.

i will play with Druids again shortly, I really like paladins but ranged is peeling me to death and it’s very frustrating sometimes in open areas otherwise I would LoS.

[boxblizzard]

Glad to hear it. If you get a chance I would watch Dwon's videos on his 5 Paladin multibox. IIRC he handled the DM Ogre pull by thowing down one or more Engineering Dummy Targets and maybe an AoE stun or two (plus some stuns on his focused target to burn it down) just to slow the spikes until he got one or more down. I really enjoyed his videos though I think his healing was mostly all or nothing which could maybe be improved. IIRC I think he ran 1 Prot (or at least Sword+Shield) and 4 Ret and used the typically used the Rets to heal.

I have put paladins on hold as a back burner for the moment as it has got me thinking about changing my druid team to a paladin setup. I am hoping to have the same style play as my paladins but with druids, however the issue i want to solve is peeling/cc. Druids should fix this but with more button mashing and macros.

So i have relogged my druid team and now configuring the macros in game to replicate the paladins, so 1 feral tank spec, and 4x feral dps. however with talents to compliment off heals to the tank with smart macros to round rob out of forms etc

In thoery, this should provide all benifits i need, faster movement in cat forms, ability to tank on the whole team, and improved aoe etc. The issue with feral druids is mana, shifting is expensive and so i must round rob healing and get enough talents to improve regenation etc.

The idea of 4 dps and a tank is actually excellent but we must solve the mana issues, the paladins dont have a issue and heal strong. I hope this is the same

[fleaplus]

I have put paladins on hold as a back burner for the moment as it has got me thinking about changing my druid team to a paladin setup. I am hoping to have the same style play as my paladins but with druids, however the issue i want to solve is peeling/cc. Druids should fix this but with more button mashing and macros.

So i have relogged my druid team and now configuring the macros in game to replicate the paladins, so 1 feral tank spec, and 4x feral dps. however with talents to compliment off heals to the tank with smart macros to round rob out of forms etc

In thoery, this should provide all benifits i need, faster movement in cat forms, ability to tank on the whole team, and improved aoe etc. The issue with feral druids is mana, shifting is expensive and so i must round rob healing and get enough talents to improve regenation etc.

The idea of 4 dps and a tank is actually excellent but we must solve the mana issues, the paladins dont have a issue and heal strong. I hope this is the same

I think the passive regen is fine if you cycle through a single healer at a time. Regrowth, Rejuv, Healing Touch x2 is a easy rotation and should leave you with enough mana to swap back into cat form passing healing on to the next in the rotation. Maybe have the cat cower before exiting cat form so they do not accidentally pull aggro with Regrowth. Maybe weapon swap for +Int while healing would help with making it through a pull only needing one healer.

[Apatheist]

I made the weird hybrid build to maximize the cat DPS and it's actually a lot better than you might expect. The problem is it has no AoE damage so you have to single target stuff down. Then again, cats attack so fast so on fights where there are multiple low health adds it's not difficult at all to quickly autoattack them down. There are a couple of instances where barkskin/hurricane or barkskin/tranq can be useful too. In some situations you can even use barkskin/tranq as a kind of AoE taunt. It causes huge threat.

Having hybrid stat set with some spirit/int helps a lot with regen at 55-60 but even in full agi/stam gear with no int/spi I never ran OOM while leveling. You just have to pull one pack at a time. If you pull too many mobs you'll have to start spamming heals, then you'll run into problems. This group makes huge use out of ClickBars, weakauras, etc. More than any other group I've played. Being able to quickly select a form or pop a cooldown, see all of your mana bars clearly from any window or clearcasting procs is hugely important.

This is a slow and steady type group but for some reason I'm having more fun with it than my mages. I always get caught up on min/maxing for efficiency and forget that actually enjoying the game is just as important. Especially in an old game like Classic. I've already done all of the content multiple times. Might as well just have fun.

[boxblizzard]

I think the passive regen is fine if you cycle through a single healer at a time. Regrowth, Rejuv, Healing Touch x2 is a easy rotation and should leave you with enough mana to swap back into cat form passing healing on to the next in the rotation. Maybe have the cat cower before exiting cat form so they do not accidentally pull aggro with Regrowth. Maybe weapon swap for +Int while healing would help with making it through a pull only needing one healer.

Yes ideally, however i have become fond of a tank + 4x dps hybrid heal, combined they act as a healer. Just like the paladins, it means i have alot more burst and less healing required. Some talents to support abit more healing to work together.

I have been running a single healer setup, but i find in pvp, they get targeted alot. When they are all equal, they leave the tank alone and pick a random dps.

If i can survive a onsalught with some alive, this is a win in my books. but anything that gets close to me usually dead on impact.

PVE side of things, this combo works better, faster boss down times, less healing required.

I made the weird hybrid build to maximize the cat DPS and it's actually a lot better than you might expect. The problem is it has no AoE damage so you have to single target stuff down. Then again, cats attack so fast so on fights where there are multiple low health adds it's not difficult at all to quickly autoattack them down. There are a couple of instances where barkskin/hurricane or barkskin/tranq can be useful too. In some situations you can even use barkskin/tranq as a kind of AoE taunt. It causes huge threat.

Having hybrid stat set with some spirit/int helps a lot with regen at 55-60 but even in full agi/stam gear with no int/spi I never ran OOM while leveling. You just have to pull one pack at a time. If you pull too many mobs you'll have to start spamming heals, then you'll run into problems. This group makes huge use out of ClickBars, weakauras, etc. More than any other group I've played. Being able to quickly select a form or pop a cooldown, see all of your mana bars clearly from any window or clearcasting procs is hugely important.

This is a slow and steady type group but for some reason I'm having more fun with it than my mages. I always get caught up on min/maxing for efficiency and forget that actually enjoying the game is just as important. Especially in an old game like Classic. I've already done all of the content multiple times. Might as well just have fun.

I have done this as i like the idea from Paladins because it actually works! No dungoen so far as ever been a problem, except the paladin tank due to oom issue sadly.

I have been playing around with the druids, tank + feral dps and i found the switching is too much work for me. It is doable but in crazy situations i have may macros to mash for power shifting and RR healing techniques in forms, where passively paladins dont need to do this.

So what i have decided to do is............ combine the two!

So i am now leveling a druid as the MT, and the 4x ret dps as the dps healers with improved flash of light with the aoe. Combined with the druid tank, i get all the auras, benifits and buffs, no BOK, but i get MOTW and 5% crit bonus + thorns etc

So my tank can aoe with unlimited rage without going oom, while benifiting from all the auras for magic protection and huge dps increase, together this is going to work well.

The cc issues should also be fixed, because the druid will power shift and instant cc for rets to catch up with speed boost, as the feral can run at 30% and avoid most cc. This in turn should make the ultimate pve/pvp team with no limits and very nice melee buffs.

Also the druid tank can drop heals and BoW benifit (improv blessings ofc on each ret )