Shifting Perspectives: Gearing your feral cat for raiding

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. Welcome to our weekly feral cat edition, brought to you by Chase Hasbrouck, aka Alaron of The Fluid Druid blog. Let the face clawing begin!

So you've read my previous column covering the basics of feral DPS in Cataclysm, and you'd like to give it a try at endgame. Awesome! Let's get you equipped for the task at hand with the gear you'll need to begin raiding.

Most of the items I'm listing are item level 346 and typically come from Cataclysm heroic 5-man instances. You'll have to acquire a mostly full set of ilvl 333 gear to be eligible to enter heroics (via the dungeon finder); questing through Twilight Highlands should get you most of the way there, but I'll include a representative ilevel 333/325 item for each slot to help fill out any holes.

Also, since our best stats (by far) are weapon DPS and agility, ilvl 352 honor PvP gear is a perfectly acceptable substitute until you get the heroic drop you're looking for. Until the patch, four pieces of PvP gear are actually more powerful than equivalent PvE gear, due to the overly strong four-piece set bonus. After the patch, PvP gear will be weaker, but not by much.

Finally, our secondary stats will be very close in value to each other, so don't worry too much about which ilvl 346 item you get. Generally, though, mastery > crit/haste > hit/expertise, for reforging purposes.

Weapon

1. Mobus's Vile Halberd Vashj'ir world boss

2. Elementium Poleaxe Blacksmithing BoE

3. Darkling Staff Heroic Stonecore

4. Seliza's Spear Heroic Lost City

5. Spear of Trailing Shadows Hellscream/Baradin revered

6. Wild Hammer Heroic Grim Batol (strength)

7. Foe Reaper Heroic Deadmines (strength)

8. Staff of Draconic Pacification/Torth-Slayer's Staff Twilight Highlands quest reward

Our weapon slot is our most important; thankfully, we have a lot of choices here. Luckily, our best 333 weapon isn't tied to the Crucible 5-man arena quests and can be acquired solo easily. Solo players can also (eventually) earn enough commendations via Tol Barad dailies to purchase a weapon from their respective faction. Of the heroic drops, Seliza's is probably the easiest to obtain, though it's somewhat underbudget. If you're absolutely striking out with agility weapons, the two strength weapons listed are a small upgrade from ilvl 333 weapons.

Head

1. Tsanga's Helm Bastion of Twilight BoE

2. Agile Bio-Optic Killshades Engineering-only BoP

3. Mask of Vines 2,200 JP

4. Helm of Numberless Shadows Heroic Stonecore

5. Dunwald Winged Helm/Shocktrooper Hood Twilight Highlands quest reward

If you're an engineer or have lots of cash to burn for Tsanga's, you're sorted. Tsanga's is much better than the feral tier 11 helm, and is my recommended offset choice when fully geared. If not, I'd recommend getting the justice point helm, as PUG groups seem to struggle with heroic Stonecore quite a bit (and the JP helm is a bit better anyway).

Chest

1. Morrie's Waywalker Wrap World drop BoE

2. Assassin's Chestplate Leatherworking BoE

3. Defias Brotherhood Vest Heroic Deadmines

4. Vest of Misshapen Hides Heroic Grim Batol

5. Hieroglyphic Vest Heroic Halls of Origination

6. Tunic of Sinking Envy 2,200 JP

7. Sly Fox Jerkin Honored Guardians of Hyjal

If you have gold to burn (or get insanely lucky), Morrie's is an excellent piece and better than the feral tier 11 chest. If you can't luck into/find Tsanga's, this is an excellent second choice for an offset piece. I really can't recommend the Assassin's Chestplate; its current lack of sockets makes it only slightly better than the heroic options. The Sly Fox Jerkin is very easy to acquire and will last you until you can get a drop (or burn some extra JP).

Legs

1. Leggings of the Burrowing Mole 2,200 JP

2. Beauty's Chew Toy Heroic Blackrock Caverns

3. Leggings of the Impenitent/Swiftflight Leggings Dragonmaw/Wildheart Honored

4. Garona's/Shaw's Finest Leggings Twilight Highlands quest reward

Another great place to use your JP. Heroic BRC is a bit easier than heroic Stonecore, though, so you may get lucky with Beauty.

Trinkets

1. Unheeded Warning Bastion of Twilight BoE (updated in 4.0.6)

2. Tia's Grace Heroic Lost City

3. Quicksilver Alchemist Stone Alchemy-only BoP (new in 4.0.6)

4. Unsolvable Riddle Baradin's/Hellscream's exalted

5. Left Eye of Rajh Heroic Halls of Origination

6. Key to the Endless Chamber Heroic Stonecore

7. Tia's Grace Normal Lost City

8. Skardyn's Grace Heroic Grim Batol

9. Figurine - Demon Panther Jewelcrafting-only BoP

10. Schnotzz' Medallion Uldum quest reward

The ratings on these are somewhat subjective, so feel free to argue. As I mentioned in my patch 4.0.6 changes column, Unheeded Warning will be very very good. Tia's Grace is an excellent trinket for its ilevel; I find the essentially static agility (it stacks very quickly) to be much more valuable than a proc or use trinket. Finally, don't use strength trinkets or Grace of the Herald (bugged) unless you have no other options.

Hands

1. Liar's Handwraps/Stormbolt Gloves Dragonmaw/Wildhammer exalted

2. Sticky Fingers 1,650 JP

3. Gloves of Haze Heroic Vortex Pinnacle

4. Thartuk's Inimitable Gauntlets Rare drop BoE

If you haven't started already, get working on Twilight Highlands rep; exalted unlocks one of the few epic pieces achievable pre-raid. If you do a lot of interrupting (which you should), the PvP gloves are excellent. The reduced energy cost on Skull Bash more than offsets the drop in stats.

Shoulders

1. Caridean Epaulettes Heroic Throne of the Tides

2. Thieving Spaulders Heroic Shadowfang Keep

3. Embrace of the Night 1,650 JP

4. Clandestine Spaulders Normal Lost City quest reward (ilvl 333)

Three options here, none particularly well-itemized for ferals. The Clandestine Spaulders are a dungeon quest reward, so fairly easy to get until you can grab one of the other options.

Waist

1. Belt of Nefarious Whispers Leatherworking BoE

2. Sash of Musing 1,650 JP

3. Red Beam Cord Heroic Halls of Origination

4. Quicksand Belt Ramkahen revered

5. Red Beam Cord Normal Halls of Origination drop (ilvl 333)

Even without a socket, the Nefarious Whispers belt is clearly your best option. If a socket is added in the patch, then it'll be better than the raid drop. Go support your local leatherworker.

Feet

1. Crafty's Gaiters Heroic Lost City

2. VanCleef's Boots Heroic Deadmines
   

3. Boots of the Predator Heroic Shadowfang Keep

4. Boots of the Hard Way Normal Halls of Origination quest reward (ilvl 333)

Crafty's and VanCleef's are almost identical, so get the one you prefer. As with the shoulder slot, the quest reward boots only take a single normal run to acquire and should last you until you get a better drop.

Neck

1. Don Rodrigo's Fabulous Necklace World drop

2. Brazen Elementium Medallion Jewelcrafting BoE

3. Entwined Elementium Choker Jewelcrafting BoE

4. Pendant of the Lightless Grotto Heroic Stonecore

5. Acorn of the Daughter Tree Guardians of Hyjal revered

6. Amulet of Dull Dreaming 1,250 JP

7. Pendant of Victorious Fury Twilight Highlands quest reward. (ilvl 333)

Here's a spot where I would probably not spend extra gold. The Hyjal neck should be within reach if you've quested all the way through Hyjal, and if not, 1,250 JP is fairly trivial. Don Rodrigo's is worse than the raid drop (which comes from the second boss in Bastion of Twilight). So it's up to you whether it's worth the cost.

Rings

1. Signet of the Elder Council Earthen Ring exalted

2. Gilnean Ring of Ruination World drop

3. Elementium Destroyer's Ring Jewelcrafting BoE

4. Band of Blades Jewelcrafting BoE

5. Ring of Blinding Stars Heroic Halls of Origination

6. Skullcracker Ring Heroic Blackrock Caverns

7. Terrath's Signet of Balance Therazane Revered

8. Nautilus Ring Heroic Throne of Tides

9. Ring of Dun Algaz Heroic Grim Batol

Lots of ring options, since you have to fill two slots. The Earthen Ring ring is the standout (better than the raid drop); the Gilnean ring, not so much. (By the way, for those complaining that there's no agility VP ring, note that there's no epic strength ring available via rep.) The JC rings are a bit better than the heroic alternatives due to their sockets, but there are plenty of alternatives if you don't want to pay up. Hit normal versions of any of the instances listed if you're looking for a pre-heroic drop.

Back

1. Dory's Finery World drop

2. Cloak of Thredd Heroic Deadmines

3. Twitching Shadows Heroic Blackrock Caverns

4. Razor-Edged Cloak Leatherworking BoE

5. Cape of the Brotherhood Heroic Deadmines

6. Sotftwind Cape Earthen Ring Revered

7. Kaleki Cloak Heroic Lost City

8. Kaleki Cloak Normal Lost City

9. Cloak of Beasts Leatherworking BoE

Cloaks! We got cloaks! All colors, shapes, and sizes! (Length and whiteness of cloak not guaranteed.) Unlike Wrath, where good cloaks were somewhat hard to find, there's plenty on offer here, all roughly equivalent. Dory's is identical to the VP cloak (and both are slightly inferior to the raid-drop cloak), so I wouldn't spend your gold on it unless your alt is Scrooge McDuck.

Wrists

1. Double Dealing Bracers Heroic Shadowfang Keep

2. Poison Fang Bracers Heroic Halls of Origination

3. Poison Fang Bracers Normal Halls of Origination

Good luck with this slot. I used the honor PvP bracers for a long time.

Relic

1. Relic of Arathor Heroic Shadowfang Keep

2. Sandshift Relic Heroic Blackrock Caverns

3. Silver Inlaid Leaf Inscription BoE

As with the wrist slot, you'll probably be stuck with a green here for a while. Personally, I had a generous scribe in my guild who kicked in some of the mats for the Leaf, but it shouldn't run you too much money these days. As before, the honor PvP relic is a good fill-in.

Read Gearing your feral cat for raiding, part 2

That's it! Get thee to LFG (or hopefully, a guild group) and have fun! I'll be covering raid drops in next week's version of the column. As always, leave any questions in the comments!

What race should you choose for your druid? What happened to Tree of Life? How can you get started as a bear or cat in Cataclysm? Shifting Perspectives has the answers!