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Druid Feral (bear) guide

How to play Feral (bear) in WoW: Forever: what to press, which stats to chase, the talent build level by level, and the gear and dungeons to aim for.

Overview

Feral bear is the druid tank. You get a big health pool and armor in Bear Form and hold packs with Swipe. Forever made bear tanking stronger: Growl has a short cooldown, Enrage gives Rage right away and Faerie Fire (Feral) is free.

Good at

  • Huge armor and health
  • Swipe holds packs well
  • Feral Charge to grab mobs or stop casters
  • Can shift to heal or res in an emergency

Watch out for

  • No shield block or parry
  • Rage is slow at the start of a fight
  • Single target threat is weak before later levels

How to play it

In order of priority for levels 20 to 30, on one target:

  1. Feral ChargeCharge in at the start to stop a caster and grab the mob.
  2. EnrageUse it before the pull for Rage. It gives a chunk of Rage right away in Forever.
  3. MaulYour main threat on one target.
  4. Faerie Fire (Feral)Free threat and armor cut in Forever. Use it on cooldown.
  5. GrowlPull back a mob that runs to the healer.
  6. Demoralizing RoarLowers the damage you take from every mob near you.

Several targets

  1. SwipeHit up to 3 mobs. Feral Instinct makes it much stronger.
  2. Demoralizing RoarPut it on every pack.

Stat priority

  1. Dodge
  2. Stamina
  3. Defense
  4. Agility
  5. Hit
  6. Armor
  7. Attack power in forms

This is the order ONN ranks gear by for Feral (bear). Your weapon matters more than anything for melee.

Talents

0 / 21 / 0 at level 30. One point every level from 10. Take them in this order:

Levels 10 to 15
  • 10Heart of the Wild1/5
  • 11Heart of the Wild2/5
  • 12Heart of the Wild3/5
  • 13Heart of the Wild4/5
  • 14Heart of the Wild5/5
  • 15Thick Hide1/3
Levels 16 to 20
  • 16Thick Hide2/3
  • 17Thick Hide3/3
  • 18Feral Instinct1/3
  • 19Feral Instinct2/3
  • 20Sharpened Claws1/2
Levels 21 to 25
  • 21Sharpened Claws2/2
  • 22Feral Charge1/1
  • 23Savage Fury1/2
  • 24Savage Fury2/2
  • 25Predatory Strikes1/3
Levels 26 to 30
  • 26Predatory Strikes2/3
  • 27Predatory Strikes3/3
  • 28Blood Frenzy1/2
  • 29Blood Frenzy2/2
  • 30Leader of the Pack1/1

Open this build in the talent calculator

Gear at level 30

The best item for each slot. Hover for the full tooltip.

Full best in slot list, with sources and alternatives

Dungeons to run

Where most of your best gear drops, best first.

Tips

  • Heart of the Wild adds a lot of Stamina in Bear Form, and Thick Hide adds armor.
  • Blood Frenzy gives Rage on crits, and Sharpened Claws adds crit.
  • Potions work in forms now, including Rage potions.
  • Bash interrupts a caster too. Use it with Feral Charge for two interrupts.
  • Mark a target and Maul it, then Swipe to keep the rest of the pack on you.

Macros

Make a macro with /macro in game, paste the text, and drag it to your bar.

Maul

Starts auto attack and queues Maul.

#showtooltip Maul
/startattack
/cast Maul
Mouseover Growl

Growls the mob under your mouse, or your target.

#showtooltip Growl
/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][] Growl

Sources

Written by ONN for the WoW: Forever beta (level 30 cap). Talents, stats and gear update from the live data; the beta is still changing, so details may be different at launch on November 4. Something wrong? Tell us in #help.