Feral Druid Tank Guide & Best Runes – Phase 4 Season of Discovery (SoD)

Welcome to our Season of Discovery (SoD) Phase 4 Feral Druid Tank Guide. Feral Druids were known as one of the weakest tanking specializations in the Classic Era, however that status quickly changed with the arrival of Season of Discovery. Notorious for their large Health Pool but bad defensive abilities, Feral Tanks are now be able to hold their own against Protection Warriors and Protection Paladins.

This guide focuses exclusively on the Feral Tank specialization, exploring key components such as Runes, Talent Trees, Stat Priorities, Rotations & Abilities, BiS (Best in Slot) items, and Race Choices. With the new Rune System introduced in the Season of Discovery, Druid Tanks get a large number of new abilities that solve both their Threat Generation and survivability issues.

Talents

• Main Tank Build
• Off-Tank Build

Runes

• Helm: Gore
• Cloak: Improved Swipe
• Chest: Survival of the Fittest
• Wrist: Improved Frenzied Regeneration
• Hands: Mangle
• Waist: Berserk
• Legs: Lacerate
• Feet: Survival Instincts
• Ring: Defense Specialization
• Ring: Feral Combat Specialization

Stat Priority

1. Hit Chance
2. Stamina
3. Strength
4. Agility
5. Attack Power
6. Defense
7. Armor
8. Dodge
9. Resistance Gear (Fire Resistance/Frost Resistance/Shadow Resistance)
10. Haste (Catnip/Special Consumables)

Rotations & Cooldowns

Your rotation will depend mostly on your role. While in Bear Form or Dire Bear Form, your rotation will look the same for both the Main Tank role and the Off-Tank role, however, as an Off-Tank you will spend most of your time in Cat Form, meaning that you will perform the same rotation as the Feral DPS rotation.

Bear Form Single-Target Rotation

1. Cast Faerie Fire (Feral) and upkeep it on the target
2. Cast Berserk (Threat Generation- Burst)
   • Spam Mangle while Berserk is active
   • Spam Lacerate while Berserk is active
3. Cast Lacerate and upkeep stacks
4. Cast Maul together with another ability as long as you have enough Rage
5. Cast Mangle on cooldown
6. Cast Bash if the target can be stunned (Trash Mobs/Dungeon Mobs)

Cat Form Single-Target Rotation

1. Cast Faerie Fire (Feral) and upkeep it on the target
2. Cast Berserk (Burst Phase)
3. Cast Tiger’s Fury (Whenever its cooldown resets due to Gore)
4. Cast Mangle (Refresh Mangle when it’s about to expire)
5. Cast Rip (Refreshes Automatically due to Elune’s Fires)
6. Cast Ferocious Bite (Main Finisher Move)
7. Cast Shred (Main Filler)

Bear Form AoE Rotation

1. Cast Faerie Fire (Feral) on as many targets as possible
2. Cast Berserk (Threat Generation – Burst)
   • Spam Lacerate while Berserk is active
   • Spam Mangle while Berserk is active against 3 or less targets
3. Cast Lacerate and stack it on as many nearby targets as possible
4. Cast Maul as long as you have enough Rage
5. Spam Swipe (Main AoE Ability)

Cat Form AoE Rotation

1. Cast Berserk (Burst Phase – If it’s a long encounter)
2. Cast Tiger’s Fury (When it’s available)
3. Cast Swipe (Main Spell)

Defensive Cooldowns

1. Cast Frenzied Regeneration when you are consistently taking heavy damage and healers can’t keep up
2. Cast Survival Instincts to survive hits that would otherwise be One-Shots (Boss Burst Abilities)
3. Consistently use Barkskin against heavy Physical Damage abilities

Best Races

Druids have very limited race options in WoW Classic Era, with Alliance only having the Night Elf race as a viable option for the Druid Class while the Horde has the Tauren race as a viable option.

Night Elf

• Nature Resistance, Quickness, Shadowmeld, Wisp Spirit

Tauren

• Nature Resistance, Endurance, Cultivation, War Stomp