Oh GOD, it’s coming! The 3.1 DPS Preview, that’s what!
Just to keep everyone updated, I’m working on finishing up my latest cycle of 3.1 DPS tests for cool cats. If you have any questions or ideas that you’d like tested before I post my article, drop me a line and I’ll see what I can do to accommodate you. I’ll just say this: to all the kittens out there, you’ll be very, very pleased with unbuffed damage come 3.1.Â
Please note that Mr. Rogue’s damage is not indicative of potential Rogue damage in 3.1. He, too, was testing out various build and and poison and glyph combinations and I couldn’t tell you which one this was at all.Â
Oh, and because someone asked, yes, I am raiding again, and I’m currently playing on Silver Hand with a fine group of people. They’re particularly dedicated to improvement, tracking goals, and researching what’s coming up—exactly who I like to see and participate with.Â
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Smirkfang
All I have to say about kitty DPS is: OM NOM NOM!!!
This….this makes me very sad. Not at how powerfull you are. But at how bad my dps is. I’ve accumulated an ok set of dps gear for cat. I’m hit capped at least in this gear. Yes I’m totally specced bear. Yes, many of my pieces are shared with my bear pieces, and as such are enchanted incorrectly.
But when I have the guild run a new tank through stuff and I just sit and dps while watching him work, I can’t seem to pull much more than an average of 1300-1500 dps. Is my bear centric spec hurting me? Or am I just lacking in skills? I’m thinking it’s more in the skills department, but I really concentrate on my need to know add on and keep all my dots up and what have you.
With the upcoming change should I be re-enchanting some of my stuff so that I can crit more in bear form (to get my bear bubble) and also up my dps? Kalon over at think tank has his Tanking in cat gear all worked out, but my guild isn’t farming 25s, and I don’t have best in slot for all my gear like he does.
Your thoughts?
Well, I hate to say it, but right there in your comment you’ve already outlined a few of your problems. You’ll never be able to maximize your DPS if your gear isn’t gemmed and enchanted properly and if you’re not specced specifically for DPS. That being said, however, you should definitely be able to do a lot more damage, even with a so-called “Bear” spec (unless you totally boned it).
I can definitely give you a more educated list of suggestions if you can link me to your armory page (hopefully logged out in DPS gear) and a recent WWS/WMO parse. What’s your usual rotation like? Are you keeping Savage Roar up at all times? Are you applying Rake and Rip liberally and using Berserk when you can? Are you getting yourself in a situation where you can’t be behind the boss at all times? What about Tiger’s Fury? What glyphs are you using?
I have no doubt I probably boned it. I have been respecing on the fly latley, and get my core bear tanking stuff and then throw points in blindly. I’m the main tank of my guild, so DPSing is kind of an after thought. But as an officer (the one really harping on the guild to get geared up so we can prepare for Uld) I think my DPS should be at least decent if I’m not tanking. Hell, I healed a heroic yesterday in my healing gear WITHOUT respeccing or reglyphing. I should be able to dps too!
My rotation is: Mangle, Rake, Shred up to 3-5 points then Savage Roar. Then I keep mangle and rake up while I build points with shred and then rip. I Tiger’s fury as often as possible, and on the rare occasion I have 5 points and don’t need need to reapply rip or sr, I do a ferocious bite. But that’s rare, and I do struggle with it all.
I generally forget about berserk. I am always behind the boss. As far as glyphs, I’ve never actually specced and glyphed for feral dps, so I’ve got tanking ones. Mangle is one though that works for both I suppose.
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Dunemaul&n=Copey In my tank gear. I’ll log out in my DPS gear tonight after raiding.
I notice on your gear you have lots of strength gems. I guess what I’m looking for is to be able to put down a bit more dps in my tanking build. I’ll change out gear for extra hit rating of course. And I’ll enchant those items appropriatly. But I’m just looking for some utility out of this tree. When dual specs come I’m not going to have kitty as one of them, so I’ll still be wondering this.
A few things:
1) I’m currently specced and gemmed and chanted only for DPS. That’s my current raid role, and there’s no charge for me to “hybridize” currently. STR is currently the stat of choice to stack because of the way that Savage Roar functions, but that will change come 3.1. You’ll actually end up doing quite well using AGI for both tanking and DPSing, although if you’re really concerned about DPS, Armor Penetration is looking like the best stat to stack, currently.
2) Keeping up Savage Roar is essential. Try and force yourself into doing a 3 combo point Roar, and then go over to Of Teeth and Claws and read Karthis’ post about clipping DoTs.
3) If I had to recommend you a decent build RIGHT NOW that’s useful for both tanking AND doing a little bit more DPS, I’d say hit up something like this. You’ve got almost everything you need to rock out. Tiger’s Fury is pretty key to pumping out extra DPS, and using a well-timed Berserk (during a Heroism is pretty awesome) will push your DPS higher as well.
4) Pay attention to your clearcasting procs. I know that I personally have a difficult time playing without sound because I’ve trained myself to respond to sound cues. When I hear the little Clearcasting noise, I try to make sure that I’m cueing up another Shred, our big-ticket-most-bang-for-your-buck ability. If you need a visual cue, try TellMeWhen (which I think you said you were using).
5) You will not be able to do competitive Cat DPS with a bear spec and bear glyphs come 3.1. If you’re planning on using your dual-specs for Bear and something caster oriented, you likely won’t be able to come close on the meters.
The rest of the advice that was given in this particular thread should help you out. If you have any other questions, let me know.
Ellayna – undermine. That’s my hybrid cat/bear set, I get 3400-3500 dps overall in a 25 man raid. I do this:
Mangle, roar, rake, shred to 5 cp, rip.
After that, I never let anything fall off, using shorter savage roars if I’m hurting for time.
3+ mob trash pulls, I mangle for a cp, roar, swipespam.
Always use berserk when available (it really matters) and tigers fury when it’s available and your energy is low.
Be hit capped, or nearly. I assume I’ll be grouped with a draenie (we’ve lots) so I aim for 7%.
Key is learning how to maintain your buffs/rebuffs when moving. Anticipate when you’ll have to, refresh buffs just before you do. Think ahead! If the mob you’re fighting is nearly dead, forget about rip/rake, refresh your Roar so you can tear right into the next ( for ex. When fighting sarth’s drakes and about to move to him or another drake). Or, if you’re say, dodging a flame wall, beat on an elemental to maintain/refresh your roar.
In short: keep roar up always. If it’s down, get one cp and get it back up.
Copey: Savage Fury, King of the Jungle and Predatory Instincts are going to help your cat dps a lot. Drop Ilotp, IW and Intensity. Use the “keep-everything-up-tactics” but don’t overwrite rake and rip, let them bleed out first. If you don’t reach at least 2k dps now I’ll eat my hat
(oh, and don’t forget fairie fire)