Feral Druid Midnight Playstyle and Rotation Guide

Feral has traditionally been a slower, more methodical ‘bleed’ or DOT (damage over time) spec, where we are limited by energy, instead concentrating more on managing our DOTs rather than spamming a priority rotation.

However, in Midnight, the spec has been simplified a great deal, and we only typically maintain a couple of DOTs now, otherwise weaving a lot of instant damage, such as Ferocious Bite, once we have our DOTs applied to a target.

Feral isn’t as unique as it used to be, but still has a nice shapeshifting fantasy, a lot of passive movement speed, and strong defensives and survivability - therefore I’d say it’s a ‘comfy’ spec to play, though it’s ultimately up to you if this new simplified version of Feral is something that you will want to keep coming back to.

Rotation

Single-Target Opener:

1. Prowl
2. Rake
3. Shred and Moonfire (to 5 combo points).
4. Tiger's Fury
5. Rip
6. Berserk
7. Feral Frenzy (if talented) + Ferocious Bite
8. Convoke the Spirits if talented

If you are playing Chomp, you can do a more advanced opener.

1. Swipe the air right before pulling to deplete your energy.
2. Enter Prowl right before pulling.
3. Rake
4. Tiger's Fury + Berserk
5. Chomp
6. Feral Frenzy
7. Rip
8. Convoke the Spirits

Single-Target Priority:

This priority list should be followed AFTER completing your opener.

1. Use Berserk on cooldown, paired with Tiger's Fury (cast them at the same time).
2. Use Tiger's Fury on cooldown if Berserk is on cooldown, doing your best to be at low energy when it comes up as to not overcap energy.
3. Maintain Rake, and upgrade its snapshot by refreshing it early if Tiger's Fury comes off cooldown.
4. Maintain Rip with 4 combo points and ideally with Tiger's Fury active too. If Tiger’s Fury is not active, but your previous Rip was snapshot with Tiger’s Fury, wait until it expires before refreshing. If you have Tiger’s Fury up, you can refresh anytime in the pandemic window (less than 5.8 seconds remaining).
5. Cast Chomp on cooldown (if talented), try and deplete energy before it comes off CD.
6. Use Feral Frenzy / Frantic Frenzy (if talented) on cooldown and you have low combo points.
7. Use Convoke the Spirits on cooldown (if talented), paired with Tigers Fury and Berserk.
8. Cast Ferocious Bite with 5 combo points if Rip is not in its pandemic window (less than 5.8 seconds remaining) or you would downgrade the Rip (Tiger’s Fury is not active).
9. Maintain Moonfire if Lunar Inspiration is talented.
10. Cast Shred to generate Combo Points and to try proc Panther’s Guile. Don’t spam Shred, always be on the lookout for proccing these extra combo points and reacting by weaving additional Ferocious Bites.

AoE Opener:

1. Prowl
2. Rake
3. Rake or Swipe to 5 combo points (see below on which to use)
4. Tiger's Fury
5. Primal Wrath
6. Berserk
7. Feral Frenzy / Frantic Frenzy + Ferocious Bite
8. Convoke the Spirits if talented
9. Primal Wrath again to refresh Rips.

Rake vs Swipe

If you are playing Double-Clawed Rake then you should try and Rake as many targets as possible - basically, only use Swipe if every target has Rake. This may be challenging at higher target counts.

Without Double-Clawed Rake then you only need to worry about using Rake at low target counts (up to 4 targets) or whatever you’re comfortable with.

AoE Priority:

1. Use Berserk on cooldown, paired with Tiger's Fury (cast them at the same time).
2. Use Tiger's Fury on cooldown
3. Maintain Rip via Primal Wrath if it is going to fall off, or refresh it early if you can upgrade the snapshot with Tiger's Fury.
4. Use Convoke the Spirits on cooldown (if talented), paired with Tigers Fury and Berserk. Make sure Rip will last the full duration of the channel.
5. Use Feral Frenzy / Frantic Frenzy (if talented) on cooldown and you have low combo points, you can hold briefly for cooldowns if you want to prioritise burst.
6. If you are at 5 combo points and Rip has a healthy duration (5+ seconds), weave a Ferocious Bite if you have the energy to do so.
7. If Tigers Fury is not active, but your previous Primal Wrath was snapshot with Tiger’s Fury, try to weave in a Ferocious Bite with energy + combo points if Rip has enough time remaining that it won’t fall off, in order to not downgrade the snapshot.
8. Spend Apex Predator procs.
9. Cast Chomp on cooldown (if talented), try and deplete energy before it comes off CD.
10. Cast Rake or Swipe to generate combo points (see previous section: Rake vs Swipe).
11. Cast Moonfire on any priority targets (if talented).

Additional Midnight Tips

With the new talent Panther’s Guile, you will always want to be watching your combo points and reacting by weaving additional Ferocious Bites or other finishers from these combo points. We will be spamming Shred a lot, but you can’t blindly queue two in a row now in case of the proc.

In addition to the above, you can also cast Shred in AOE at low combo points (0-2) if you have Panther’s Guile talented, particularly worth considering if you have a priority target.

With Chomp, there is a two second grace period after reaching the 30% energy threshold, so you can actually Tiger's Fury and then Chomp immediately after to buff it.

Sudden Ambush is a lot simpler than in The War Within, as it no longer snapshots Rake, there is still some min-max involved, where you ideally don’t want to use this on Rake, instead prioritising Shred in single-target and Swipe in AOE.

You don’t need to hold Feral Frenzy / Frantic Frenzy for Tiger’s Fury or other cooldowns. If there’s a particularly important or large pack coming up in M+, then Frantic Frenzy can be worth holding briefly.