Heroic Gear for the Feral Druid

Heroic dungeon runs are becoming more and more popular in my server. I have to say that Blizzard had a brilliant idea with the introduction of those and I believe heroics can be a very solid alternative or complement to raiding for the casual wow gamer. I have already talked about those in a previous post, discussing some general tips about how to approach them. The latest patch nerfed the heroic dungeon a bit – which I believe is a welcome change especially for the more casual player. They are not trivial at all as you might read in some of the forum posts, but they are challenging “as intended” and provide many opportunities for improving your feral gear.

There are two types of upgraded gear you can get from heroics: epic drops and gear you can buy using “Badges of Justice”. I will talk about both. First, we will take a look at the best epic feral gear that drops as static loot. Then we will list the gear you can buy with the badges.

The Drop Items

Feral Staff of Lashing (2H, +588 Feral AP, +36 Strength, +35 Agility, 300 Armor, +34 Stamina). This is a very nice feral weapon, on par with Earthwarden in my opinion. It drops in The Botanica, from Warp Splinter with approximately a 25% drop rate. If you don’t have Earthwarden you might want to go after this. I did already the whole grind with Cenarion, so I might not go after this one for now. I actually want a DPS feral weapon, such as Terestian's Stranglestaff, but that is Kara, so out of the topic of this discussion.

Mantle of Shadowy Embrace (Shoulder, 262 Armor, +39 Agility, +33 Stamina, +34 AP). I like this shoulder piece. It is somehow on par of Shoulderpads of Assassination, especially because of the gem slots on this last one. It drops with approximately 25% rate from Keli'dan the Breaker, in the The Blood Furnace.

Forestheart Bracers (Bracers, 237 Armor, +18 Strength, +18 Agility, +27 Stamina, +16 Intellect). Nice feral piece, especially for tanking, with more agility and stamina than Umberhowl's Collar. It drops from Warchief Kargath Bladefist in the The Shattered Halls, with approximately 25% rate.

Nightfall Wristguards (Bracers, 153 Armor, +24 Agility, +46 AP, +22 Stamina). Great DPS piece. It drops from Epoch Hunter in the Caverns of Time, Old Hillsbard Foothills. The instance is probably not one of the easiest in heroic mode, but if you are after cat dps you might want to try and get them.

Tree-Mender's Belt (Belt, 406 Armor, +27 Strength, +27 Agility, +22 Stamina, +21 Intellect). I really like this one, it is a great feral piece overall. For tanking in particular it gives you over 2000 armor and a good agility/dodge boost. It drops in Hellfire Ramparts, after you kill the last boss and loot the chest, with around 25% rate. Considering that Ramparts is probably one of the first Heroic you will do along with Slave Pen, you should definitely go after this. I know I am.

Girdle of the Deathdealer (Belt, 196 Armor, +28 Stamina, +28 Agility, +20 Hit, +56 AP). This is a great cat/dps item, better than any specialized blue you can get. It drops from Aeonus, in The Black Morass with a 25% drop rate.

Forestwalker Kilt (Leg, 459 Armor, +33 Strength, +26 Agility, +24 Stamina, +27 Intellect). This is another great feral/hybrid piece. It drops from Nexus-Prince Shaffar in Mana Tombs – around 20% drop rate. For tanking I think this is on par with Heavy Clefthoof Leggings, but for dps/cat and for a more hybrid/support role those are simply great. Unfortunately this piece drops from one of the less popular heroic dungeon as apparently Mana Tombs heroic is a nightmare. I have not been there yet myself, so I cant really comment.

Midnight Legguards (Leg, 305 Armor, +30 Stamina, +27 Crit, +17 Hit, +64 AP) is a dps piece with 3 red sockets. It drops from Quagmirran in The Slave Pen – 25% rate. Considering that you will probably do Slave Pen heroic quite a bit, these might be worth to take.

Barkchip Boots (Feet, 352 Armor, +24 Strength, +24 Agility, +36 Stamina, +21 Intellect). This is a very nice feral/hybrid item. For bear tanking I still like Heavy Clefthoof Boots, as with gems you can push your stamina quite high. But if you have already over 415 defense, Barkchip Boots gives you more dodge and AP, therefore more avoidance and damage/aggro. This piece drops in The Underbog, from The Black stalker, last boss. Drop rate is about 25%.

Shadowstep Striders (Feet, 240 Armor, +31 Agility, +30 Stamina, +54 AP). Nice dps gear, but to be honest there are better items you can get. Beside Barkchip Boots, you can try to go to Kara and get either … or … . But again, this is out of the topic. This drops from Harbinger Skyriss in The Arcatraz. The point is this is not a piece I will die for, especially considering the clearing of Alcatraz, heroic…

Eye of the Stalker (Ring, +31 Stamina, +60 AP) is a ring that drops in Underbog from the Black Stalker, 25% drop rate. To be honest it can be used but it is not really specialized for either tanking or dps. It might be used situationally.

There is a special mob in Mana Tombs that can only be killed in heroic mode, Yor. This special mob has a very low - less than 1%! – chance to drops interesting rings for a feral druid. One is Yor's Revenge (Ring, 190 Armor, +30 Stamina, + 20 Defense Rating ) it’s a great feral tanking piece. The other is Nexus-Prince's Ring of Balance (Ring, +20 Strength, +19 Agility, +30 Stamina) is another great feral piece. Unfortunately the drop rate is so low that farming for these might actually be simply… crazy, especially when you can get rings on par or better much more easily.


The Vendor Items

Here are the “Badges” items, which can be bought from G’eras in Shattrath City:

Cowl of Beastly Rage (Head, 423 Armor, +29 Strength, +26 Agility, +27 Stamina, +20 Intellect, 50 badges). This is a great feral piece. For tanking, it will be a good substitution for my Stylin' Purple Hat, for increased armor and overall feral versatility.

Mask of the Deceiver (Head, 283 Armor, +32 Agility, +36 Stamina, +16 Hit, +64 AP, 50 badges). DPS piece, more for rogues. It is not very distant from Helm of the Claw, but still an upgrade.

Necklace of the Juggernaut (Neck, +19 Agility, +33 Stamina, +22 Defense, 25 badges). This is one of the best neck piece for feral tanking. I still have Strength of the Untamed and this will be a nice upgrade.

Choker of Vile Intent (Neck, +20 Agility, +18 Stamina, +18 Hit, +42 AP, 25 badges). This is a great DPS piece. The + hit is a bonus for sustained dps in raid/group.

Blood Knight War Cloak (Back, 93 Armor, +22 Stamina, +23 Agility, +48 AP, 25 badges) A nice dps back piece, a little better than my Capacitus' Cloak of Calibration.

Everbloom Idol (Idol, Increases the damage dealt by Shred by 88, 15 badges) is a dps idol you can by from G’eras. It is a specialized cat piece. Not sure I will spend my badges for this.

Ring of Arathi Warlords (Ring, +24 Stamina, +23 Crit, +46 AP, 25 badges) is a good piece if you are after crits. Not so good for sustained damage. There are better dps ring in my opinion for feral druids, such as Overseer's Signet for example or – even better - A'dal's Command.

Ring of Unyielding Force (Ring, 294 Armor, +31 Stamina, +22 Defense, 25 badges) is a great tanking ring. This one paired with Violet Signet – which you should be able to get after a few Kara runs even if you don’t progress to fast – will contribute greatly to you tanking ability in bear form: you get armor, stamina and defense all in a nice package.

Finally, Bloodlust Brooch is a very nice dps trinket (Equip: Increases attack power by 72, Use: Increases attack power by 278 for 20 sec ) you can buy from the G’eras in Shattrath for 41 badges.

So, in conclusion there is a lot of great feral gear to be obtained by running heroics. I hope I did not miss any important piece. If I did please let me know. There are also a bunch of epic gems dropping in Heroics. I am not going to list them all here but there are many specialized for both tanking and dps. Also, I want to mention a great guide to heroics published by Tinker on the official forum. You should definitely check that out. Enjoy!