Unbearably HoT

You’re not tanking Patchwerk—you’re hitting it from behind. There are four seconds left on Savage Roar, two seconds left on Mangle, and Rake fell off one second prior. No problem, right? You Rake—but nothing happens. You go for a second Rake and Mangle runs out. By the time you’ve reestablished your debuffs, Savage Roar has been down for ten seconds and you’ve missed valuable Shred and Rip time. On a fight where you literally have nothing to do but stand there and click like a pro, you should be destroying DPS—and you’re not.

Nothing is more frustrating than trying to complete a timer-sensitive damage rotation and letting debuffs drop-off because you missed. As Feral Druids, we rely heavily on our yellow-damage, our specials, to ramp up our DPS—and two of our muchly-used specials are damage-over-time spells. While Rogues have a talent (Surprise Attacks) in the Combat tree that guarantees all their finishers will land, we’ve got no such luck.

To max your Cat DPS in a raid environment, it’s imperative that you reach 295 hit rating, or 9% chance to hit. To eliminate any chances of being dodged (which occasionally can happen from behind), you’ll want Primal Precision and approximately 131 expertise rating, or 6.5%—which is far easier to obtain naturally than hit. Don’t think of hit stacking as sacrificing other stats; without the ability to hit your mob of choice, you’re not doing any damage anyway. It’s pertinent to mention that, with the gear list I’m providing, you’ll still be able to eke out at least 5500 AP, providing your other slots are happily occupied.

Here’s a list of hard hitting must haves (without setting foot in Naxxramas):

Head

Mask of the Watcher, Heroic Oculus. This helm not only affords you the opportunity to use a meta-gem, but it also boasts 62 expertise rating. Likely the best non-crafted item you’ll get for DPS before Naxxramas.

Arcanum of Ferocity. Still not revered with Knights of the Ebon Blade and looking for a quick hit-boosting fix? This old-school head enchant will give you 34 AP and 16 hit rating. I’d really only recommend this if you’re desperate.

Necklace

Shit—something goes here? There aren’t any stellar necklaces that offer hit or expertise rating beyond PVP items (and those definitely aren’t best in slot right now). Do yourself a favor and spend 25 Emblems of Heroism to pick up the Pendant of the Outcast Hero.

Shoulders

Trollwoven Spaulders, LW BoE. A pretty excellent item to have on hand for just about everything, Pre-Naxxramas. Increases expertise rating by 28.

Spaulders of the Careless Thief, Heroic Nexus. Similar in terms of damage ranking to the above; however, this item gives you an easy +4 hit socket bonus and an additional 33 hit rating.

Cloak

Embrace of Sorrow, Halls of Stone. A normal instance? This is an easy 37 hit rating to farm.

Cloak of the Gushing Wound, Heroic Violet Hold. While slightly better than the Embrace of Sorrow (and actually, probably easier to get), this aptly named cloak has 29 hit rating.

Chest

Heroes’ Dreamwalker Rainments, Normal Naxxramas or 80 Emblems of Heroism. While I still find it slightly ridiculous that you can pick up T7 gear with Emblems, this is a totally slick pick-up. With two sockets and a static 35 expertise, you won’t be disappointed (and it’ll cover the monstrosities that will be your leggings and boots).

Gloves

Gilt-Edged Leather Gauntlets, Heroic Utgarde Pinnacle. An instance well-worth farming! These gloves will take you a long way, and with 66 hit rating? They’re pretty hard to beat.

Bracers

Drake-Champion’s Bracers, Heroic Occulus. 29 hit rating here, but I wouldn’t pick these up unless you’re desperate for that extra hit and you’re not Exalted with the Wyrmrest Accord. No excuses! All you have to do is put on a tabard and run around in level 80 instances. The Dragonfiend Bracers from your special dagron friends offer a fairly significant critical strike and AP upgrade.

Legs

Gored Hide Legguards, Heroic Gun’Drak. There are a multitude of items you’ll want from the new troll instances (because you’re not tired of trolls yet, m I rite?), so it’s definitely worth the time spent to pick up an extra 52 hit rating. These, coupled with the Gilt-Edged Leather Gauntlets and the Boots of the Neverending Path, will end up occupying the lion’s share of your hit input.

Feet

Boots of the Neverending Path, Exalted with Argent Crusade. Another easy reputation grind if you’re doing your normal dailies (and picking up the Argent Crusade token) and wearing your tabard. These are only slightly better than a rare drop out of the Heroic Halls of Stone, but the 66 hit rating here really makes a difference.

Rings

Hemorrhaging Circle, Heroic Gun’Drak. Remember when I said that there’d be other items of note from Gun’Drak? Here’s one of them. Superior ring with the added bonus of 33 expertise rating.

Ring of Scarlet Shadows, JC BoE. Still pretty pricey on the AH, but offers more hit rating (38) than the Mobius Band (25) from Heroic Caverns of Time: Stratholme.

Trinkets

Sphere of Red Dragon’s Blood, Heroic Nexus. This piece has yet to drop for me. If you’re comfortable with on-use trinkets, the Sphere of Red Dragon’s Blood will increase your AP by 670 for 20 seconds, and also gives you 55 static hit rating. Note that it’s in your best interests to acquire as many trinkets as possible so that you can optimize your set for your encounter. I personally wear the Mighty Alchemist Stone and the Mirror of Truth because I’m at 8.25% without any buffs, but there are certainly situations where I wouldn’t mind having the luxury of the Sphere.

Weapon

Staff of Trickery, Heroic Violet Hold. No, there isn’t any hit or expertise rating on this bitch, but it’ll be the best staff you pick up until you’re well into Naxxramas, hands down.

Belt

Jorach’s Crocolisk Skin Belt, 40 Emblems of Heroism. Also the best in slot belt for Cats, Pre-Naxxramas, Jorach’s belt offers a socket and 38 expertise rating.

You’ve got to mix it up, baby. If you wore every single item on this list, you could potentially end up with 396 hit rating and 196 expertise rating, a far cry above what’s actually necessary to cap yourself—and that’s without enchantments (expertise and hit to gloves and bracers) and gems (look for rigid, accurate, glinting or etched). If you’re especially dedicated to damage, you can keep one high hit set for bosses and a slightly lower hit set for trash—but it all depends on how much you’re interested in min/maxing.