I can’t totally tell based on the tooltip, so I’m just trying to get confirmation. Does Tiger’s Fury immediately apply to any dots already on the target when it is popped, or only dots applied while it is active?? If it is the later I am a bit confused, as half it’s utility is the energy regen, and you are at full energy most times when you pull a mob and initially apply your bleeds.
Tiger’s Fury does not apply to DoTs that are currently on the target. Feral druid is the only spec in the game that still uses a mechanic called snapshotting. Snapshotting means that the power of a DoT is remembered from the time it is applied and will last until it expires (or is applied again, which will use the snapshot that exists when it is reapplied), regardless what buffs come or go from your character. For every other spec in the game with a DoT (including other druid specs), the amount a DoT ticks for will be recalculated each tick based on the character’s current buff state.
Different DoTs are impacted by having different buffs/states:
- Rip (applied either standalone or with Primal Wrath): Tiger’s Fury and Bloodtalons (if specced)
- Rake: Tiger’s Fury and stealth effect (if specced into Pouncing Strikes)
- All other DoTs: Tiger’s Fury
In the case of stealth effects with Rake, there is a talent that is recommended in most (if not all) guides called Sudden Ambush. When Sudden Ambush is up, Shred and Rake will act like you are stealthed, even though you are not. The proc rate for Sudden Ambush is high enough that you can use it for most Rake casts you will apply.
This is definitely a weird quirk of feral druid when thinking about your opener. However, this makes more sense when considering the overall rotation and flow of the spec over the course of a fight. It’s very common for us to reapply a Rake during or immediately after our opener with Tiger’s Fury and Sudden Ambush active to get a better snapshot. This certainly takes some getting used to.
The benefit for feral druid of this design is that it enables the rhythm of sitting back and waiting to strike before finally unloading in a flurry. The majority of our damage comes from our finishers. Because of this, we want to squeeze as many finishers into our Tiger’s Fury windows as possible. Having a beefy Rake snapshot is better than not, but even a single extra finisher in Tiger’s Fury is worth more than an single good builder DoT snapshot.
So the gameplan when Tiger’s Fury is off cooldown (or will be by the time we’re ready to strike) is to spend all our energy getting to 5 combo points, then waiting until Tiger’s Fury will get us back near full (without going over). At that point, we pop Tiger’s Fury, hit the next appropriate finisher, then build as quickly as possible back to 5 combo points to finish again, repeating the cycle until our Tiger’s Fury expires. During that window we can reapply any DoTs that were ticking without Tiger’s Fury to get the best snapshot.
3 Likes
If I’m not mistaken, your dot still dynamically ticks with things like trinkets, correct? So, for example, you will still have the extra damage from Tiger’s Fury (TF) on the dot after TF falls off, but if you had a trinket that gives, say, 1000 agility during the TF+Rip cast, after the trinket effect goes away you will lose that extra damage on the dot, correct?
P.S. I just checked and trinkets with effects that give agility, for example, tick dynamically. It used to work the way you mentioned, but they changed it a couple expansions ago, I think. The only thing that “snapshops” is the extra damage from TF (+15% or 27% damage, depending on talents).
Correct. The only buffs that impact the snapshot are the ones I listed in my post. Any other buffs that could impact the damage output like battle shout, the shaman buff, or any item will still dynamically change the way they do with DoTs from other specs.
Feral used to snapshot with EVERYTHING back in TBC, wrath, etc. It was basically impossible to get perfect snapshots back then. But over the years they’ve walked it back to just be select druid buffs.
Ok that’s what I figured. Also, I didn’t mentioned Blood Talons (BT), but if you are talented into that, that will snapshot as well (and is the recommended talent, although personally I don’t take it).
Yep, Tiger’s Fury, Bloodtalons, and stealth/sudden ambush are the buffs that matter for snapshotting.
Yea I wish I played NE for Shadowmeld, but I like the worgen cat forms better.
Very good explanation. Thank you for this.
1 Like