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Introduction
Hello! I’m Drufearr and I’ve been maining Feral Druid since TBC. Throughout the years I’ve peaked in all different forms of content, but nowadays I focus on raiding with Santa Maria - Kazzak (EU), a healthy amount of mythic+ on the side, and of course, helping aspiring Ferals in whatever way I can. You can basically always find me in the Druid discord, as well as on Twitch.
Feral Druid is a melee specialization which uses energy & combo points as its resources and utilizes DoTs (damage over time effects) as the primary source of damage. A distinct feature of the spec is that downtime is common and expected, which is the first big challenge to players coming over from other melee specs.
What has changed
Midnight Feral Druid Changes
Going into Midnight, Blizzard has attempted to streamline the spec and make it more approachable by new players. The most notable changes are the removal of Brutal Slash, Thrash, Bloodtalons, Adaptive Swarm, and Berserk: Frenzy (a.k.a Frenzyband). Even so, Feral still has to juggle up to three DoTs while reacting to different gameplay-altering procs, which keeps the rotation quite engaging. You can find the full list of changes in the official patch notes.
Notably, we press fewer builders (abilities that generate combo points) than before - Thrash being gone means one less button overall, and the removal of Brutal Slash leaves Shred as our only filler builder in single-target. In AoE, you’ll be deciding between Rake and Swipe as your go-to builder, depending on target count and what talents you choose to play.
The damage profile of the spec has been adjusted on top, with the spec being a lot less bursty than before as Berserk Frenzy has been removed, and Claw Rampage nerfed on AOE to now only proc per cast rather than per target hit. This has narrowed the gap between Druid of the Claw and Wildstalker in mythic+, however the former is still generally preferred.
Some new additions to the spec include the optional talent Chomp, which is pretty simple but adds a little bit of engagement to the rotation (see rotation section), and we also have an AOE version of Feral Frenzy through the talent Frantic Frenzy.
It will take time to adjust to the changes, and while it may appeal to some, overall the changes are quite extreme with some of the fun gameplay loops of the spec gone or diminished. However, the spec will still have a similar ‘feel’ where you continue to maintain Rip and Rake, with the ability to snapshot them through Tiger's Fury while weaving in Ferocious Bite, it's just a lot more barebones now with not too much more to consider.
Apex Talents: Midnight also comes with a new talent: Unseen Predator. While it might seem like just a bunch of passive proc damage, it currently leads to an unconventional gameplay change from what Feral normally does (see rotation section).