I've been doing a lot of research tonight (damn broken servers) on tweaking Rhus' build. I've changed my talents a few times since the patch so I could play with stuff like Infected Wounds (meh) and Berserk (love it) but it's not streamlined and it's time for me to choose my path from 70 to 80.
The insane number of options is killing me. I've reviewed various recommendations from all the best feral bloggers including Kalon, Karthis & Flyv.
Leveling Specs - Flyv
Core Bear Talents - Kalon
Unfortunately, as much as there's synergy & consensus, there's uncertainty & choices. I wish I could squeeze 85 levels worth of talents into 80 levels worth of Rhus.
Tomorrow, OrdoSerp is going to try and clear Kara & part of ZA with 6-7 players as fast as we can as a last BC hurrah. For it, I may load up on bear talents before my "final" expansion respec. But after that?
It's clear to me that I want to try and eventually get all of Kalon's "core" talents by level 80. It's also clear that I want to shift my focus to include more cat/dps talents both for leveling & for a potential life as a feral dps/#4 raid tank role.
Here's how I'm leaning.
0/50/11 - PvE Leveling Build
This build includes Shredding Attacks, Predatory Instincts & Omen of Clarity. The next steps, I think, are to take Rend & Tear (5/5), Berserk (1), Protector of the Pack (3/3) & Natural Reaction (1/3).
Do I miss much as a level 80 tank not having 3/3 Natural Reaction? And if so, what could I possibly give up? One option would be Shredding Attacks, but wouldn't that significantly nerf my dps? Isn't the ability to dps my "in" when applying to for a role as an end-game raider?
Since level 80 is at least a month away (maybe more with holiday family obligations) I'm sticking with this plan until then. I suspect that someone will have theory-crafted the hell out of this by the time I'm raiding. I'll make the necessary adjustments then. Until then, I think I have a plan.
With only one more day to the expansion, I feel like I need a "24" countdown clock running somewhere.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
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3 comments:
It's important to keep in mind that you're gonna respec at 80, and that talents you think you need to have are probably ones you don't actually "need" til you're 80 and instancing/raiding primarily. Shredding Attacks is great, but I think if you don't put the points into Brutal Impact to extend the pounce stun you will find it hard to get a shred in on the initial stun because you really want to get a mangle in first for the bonus damage to shred. Also that extra second of stun means that if Omen procs on any of your initial attacks you will have time to get in a second shred before the stun breaks. Rend and Tear will further boost the value of your shreds. Thick Armor, Survival Instincts, and Protector of the Pack are all great talents, I just don't think of them as "leveling" talents. Though I haven't really done anything with my druid as feral since 3.0 I can't imagine that survivability is really going to be an issue for you so why not got all out dps on talents and kill stuff faster? Particularly when you're married to and questing with a healer. :)
Leveling feral, in my opinion, is all about the Mangle spam - so Shredding Attacks is a great talent to leave behind. Sure, you can do all sorts of odd little things with stuns and positioning to try to get a shred or two in - but it takes more time to set that sort of thing up than it saves in a quicker mob death.
I'm also incredibly puzzled about the inclusion of Predatory Instincts at the expense of Protector of the Pack - assuming you do even minimal instancing PotP will be more valuable by far - solo content doesn't really involve a whole lot of AOE damage, and 10% crit is good, but not great.
Just this bear's thoughts...
Thanks both of you for your advice. I'll be making some adjustments and posting them. I'm still reading some theory craft.
At the end of the day, it's "just" leveling. So, small "mistakes" shouldn't kill me.
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