PvE Feral Druid Tank Talents, Builds & Glyphs

Author: Oxykitten
Date: July 19, 2022
Updated: July 19, 2022
Expansion: WotLK Classic

Feral Druid Tank

Talents, Builds & Glyphs

Stat Priority

Best Races

Gems, Enchants & Consumables

Rotation & Cooldowns

Best Professions

Best in Slot (BiS) & Pre-Raid Gear

Addons & Macros

Feral druids have many valuable talents available to them which can improve their ability to tank, DPS, or both. Therefore, there is no single correct build, and the talents you should get depend on how much you will tank or DPS within the same spec. If you have Dual Talent Specialisation and dedicate both your specialisations to PvE, you can use the pure-tank build shown below and the pure DPS build shown here.

There are several useful glyphs for Feral tanks and for Feral DPS. Unfortunately, these do not overlap, and make up the most difference between tank and DPS builds. This makes the Feral tree less hybrid than in previous expansions, though a mixed tank/dps build is still perfectly viable, at least for an off-tank.

Talents

monobear spec wotlk 3 — Click here or on the image for a modifiable talent calculator.

Uncoloured	Core, mandatory talents
Green	Bear-oriented optional talents
Blue	Cat-oriented optional talents
Yellow	Utility/non-raid content optional talents

Survival Instincts: Like warriors’ last stand, this talent finally gives bears a good defensive cooldown, along with Barkskin. I list this as a core talent rather than strictly bear-oriented because it is mandatory if you ever tank, and comes at very little cost.

Feral Swiftness: 4% dodge is useful in Bear Form, and 30% movement speed in Cat Form is fantastic for DPSing, avoiding mechanics, and any open world content as well.

Survival of the Fittest: Increasing all attributes by 6% is a great talent on its own. The 6% critical strike suppression means that Ferals cannot be critically struck in PvE without the need of Defense or Resilience from gear.

Leader of the Pack: Increases all raid members’ critical strike chance by 5%. This is a powerful buff, but does not stack with a DPS warrior’s Rampage, or another Feral’s same talent. This makes it less valuable in a raid environment, but it is still a must-have talent.

Berserk: A strong offensive cooldown for both tanking and DPSing.

Thick Hide: A great tanking talent to reduce incoming damage, but not necessarily mandatory for an offtank who wants to prioritise cat damage.

Natural Reaction: 6% dodge is a decent boost, but this would be one of the first talents to drop for DPS-oriented talents.

Protector of the Pack: Damage reduction and a large threat boost — this talent is big value for a tank, but provides no DPS value.

Infectious Wounds: Reducing your target’s attack speed is a very helpful survivability boost for a tank. However, this does not stack with other similar abilities like Icy Touch, so this talent is not required if another raid member is providing the debuff.

Improved Mangle: This talent benefits both bears and cats, but is more important for bears and often skipped by cats.

Feral Aggression: The boost to Demoralizing Roar has little to no value in a raid environment. The boost to Ferocious Bite is a minor DPS increase, so this talent is usually only used in pure DPS specs.

Predatory Instincts: A strong DPS talent, but provides no value to tanks

King of the Jungle: This is a very strong DPS talent, making Tiger’s Fury an offensive cooldown and core part of the DPS rotation. However, the tanking portion of this talent is generally not great — without the T10 4 piece bonus, Enrage should be used before combat, not during combat (due to the armor reduction), meaning the talent is not used.

Natural Shapeshifter: This is not a valuable talent, but is needed to reach Master Shapeshifter.

Master Shapeshifter: This talent benefits both tanks and DPS but is not worth picking up in a pure tank spec, as it costs 5 talent points including Natural Shapeshifter.

Brutal Impact: This talent is very useful for dungeon tanking, halving the cooldown on Bash and increasing its duration to better control stunnable mobs. However, most enemies in a raid are immune to stun so this does not form part of the default PvE spec.

Improved Leader of the Pack: This talent provides some background healing for your raid, and is extremely valuable in any solo / open world content. It is not mandatory for personal value, but I recommend picking it up.

Glyphs

Recommended:

Survival Instincts: A massive boost to a Feral’s best defensive cooldown. I strongly recommend using this glyph.

Mangle: A significant buff to Mangle and therefore single-target threat, which is one of Ferals’ weaknesses. I recommend using this glyph.

Maul: Allows Maul to hit two targets, which is solid for AoE threat. I recommend using either this glyph or Glyph of Berserk.

Optional:

Berserk: A strong option which increases the duration of Berserk, a good offensive cooldown for single- and multi-target scenarios. I recommend using either this glyph or Glyph of Maul. This glyph provides value for both tanking and DPS.

Growl: Very helpful if you need your growls to hit, but in most encounters you will generate enough threat and not need it.

Frenzied Regeneration: This is actually a solid defensive glyph. While Frenzied Regeneration on its own is a weak cooldown, increasing your healing recieved could come in clutch. I feel this is weaker than the above glyphs but it remains an option if you don’t need the threat boosts from other glyphs.

Recommended:

Savage Roar: A strong boost to your overall DPS, and therefore highly recommended.

Shred: Increases your rip duration when you shred, providing a significant DPS boost — also highly recommended.

Rip: Increases your default rip duration, providing a significant DPS boost. I recommend getting this talent.

Optional:

Berserk: While this glyph is likely weaker for DPS than those above, it does provide value to both tanking and DPSing, so may be useful in a mixed spec.

Glyph of Dash: Dash has many uses in and out of PvE, so reducing this cooldown has the most value of any minor glyph.

Glyph of Challenging Roar: Challenging Roar is an AoE taunt, so reducing this cooldown provides some value for tanking.

Every other minor glyph only provides convenience, so pick whichever you prefer.

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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Tyrvana

#11501

5 months ago

Nurturing Instinct can also be picked after getting all the bear specific talents, which should be considered if you grind or do certain solo content, hence you not including that is a bit disappointing. (Primal Precision is a bit eh only offering 10 expertise party-content-wise, which probably is more for the less geared player, which you can pick 2 points out from.)

Last edited 5 months ago by Tyrvana