Druid Leveling Spec For Cataclysm
This is the build that I would go with for a druid leveling spec, it is the best for leveling a druid as fast as possible for WoW 4.3.4 going forward. I have done a ton of research on a lot of these talents, but all of that math was done from the perspective of a max level character looking to level. The comments I will make here are based almost entirely on my experience with druids and leveling characters. I have not done any DPS specifically for this post, but rather I am going off of what I have previously discovered and also the latest patch info combined.
My Leveling Philosophy is as follows:
There are a lot of different ways to level your druid. Some people prefer to go slow to experience as much content as possible. Some others like to do PvP or run a ton of dungeons or instances. I prefer neither of these avenues. I have one main goal while leveling a druid. Get to the next level as quickly as possible. Therefore I make some choices in this process that may seem a little odd to the untrained eye. Here are some more details:
Druid Leveling Spec – 4.3.3 and Cataclysm
This is My favorite Feral Druid leveling spec, since Feral is the fastest from 1-80. Some players like to start Feral spec, then switch at level 40 or so to Balance for Moonkin form. I prefer to continue with feral to keep the leveling ball rolling smoothly.
With the 4.3.4 here are some things you should already know
- You’re locked into one particular tree until you achieve 31 points in that tree.
- You get certain abilities automatically when you pick your main tree.
- 31 pts gets you to the top of your tier talent tree and 41 pts (at level 85) is all the points you get.
- Mastery is a trainable ability that allows you a bonus to some abilility, such as increased damage. Cataclysm gear will often come with a Mastery rating and stacking that rating will improve the bonus you recieve. Whether that’s better than stacking hit rating or critical or anything else, time will tell.
Cataclysm Feral Druid Leveling spec
When you reach level 10 you pick up your first Feral talent and then you’re locked into that tree for a while. You will also pick up the Mangle ability at level 10. As you advance through the levels and the Feral tree you will also, automatically, learn these things:
- Aggression – increases attack power by 25%
- Vengence – as you take damage, in Bear form, you will gain attack power
- Feral Instinct – you become harder to detect while prowling
- Mastery: Savage Defender / Razor Claws - For Savage Defender, damage absorbed by the Savage Defense ability is greatly improved. For Razor Claws, it will increases the damage from your bleed effects.
The Feral build: This build is speced to get you to the top talent, Berserk (31 pts,) ASAP. After that is reached you can spec more feral or go into the other trees as well.
- 3/3 in Furor – Gain rage when shifting to Bear form, retain your energy when shifting to cat form, gain mana.
- 2/2 in Predatory Strikes – Increased critical chance on Ravage, chance of next Nature spell becoming instant
- 3/3 in Fury Swipes – Cat and Bear auto-attacks have a chance to do a 200% weapon damage strike
- 2/2 in Primal Fury – A chance to get rage or combo points from criticals.
- Feral Charge – Charge while in bear or cat form and stun Enemy.
- 2/2 in Stampede – While in Bear form this increases haste after charging; in Cat form, after charging, your next Ravage does not require stealth for a few seconds.
- If you’re tanking a lot, or using Bear a lot, go with 2/3 Thick Hide, which increases armor and reduces the criticals that will hit you. Otherwise I would go 2/3 King of the Jungle which increses your bear damage and allow Toger’s Fury to restore your energy.
- Leader of the Pack – Increased critical chance for your entire party or raid and your critical strikes has a chance to heal you and restore your mana a bit.
- 2/2 in Brutal Impact – Increases the stun duration of Bash and Pounce, decreases cooldowns, victims of Skull Bash have elevated mana costs for a few seconds.
- 2/2 in Nurturing Instinct – Your Agility elevates your healing spells and while in cat form you get 20% improved effect from heals cast on you.
- 3/3 in King of the Jungle – Obvious
- 2/2 in Primal Madness – Raises Rage and Energy
- Survival Instincts – Reduces damage taken by 60% for 12 seconds while in Bear or Cat form.
- 1/2 in Endless Carnage – Increases active durations of Rake, Savage Roar, and Pulverize
- 3/3 in Rend and Tear – Elevates damage done to bleeding targets
- Pulverize – An instant strike that does more damage depending on how many Lacerates you have on the mob.
- 1/2 in Feral Swiftness – Increases movement speed in cat form and raises dodge chance in cat or bear form.
- Berserk – Among several other thing this clears fear effect and makes you immune to fear for a limited time.
- You can now pick up talents in the other trees, if you so choose
- 3/3 in heart of the Wild – Increases your statistics
- 2/2 in Natural Shapeshifter – Reduces the mana cost of shapeshifting abilities
- Master Shapeshifter – Improves all your shapeshifter forms.
- 2/2 in Feral Swiftness
- 2/2 in Endless Carnage
- 2/2 in Natural reaction – Makes your bear form tougher, or 2/2 in Blood in the Water which refreshes Rip on low health mobs.
I was leveling about 3 times faster after watching the video just below here. Zygor’s has the best in-game WoW leveling guides and is a must have. I use this guide to level my toons at lightning speeds. Get all your tunes to level 85 before “Mists of Pandaria” is released! Click the link below the videos for a special promotional 40% off. This is the #1 purchased leveling guide on WoW for a reason.
Haven’t seen enough yet? Here is the latest video with must see information about the upgrades made to the new guides
Before Bear Form:
- Spam Wrath, keep your buffs active, keep your heals handy if you get into a sticky situation.
- Moonfire is nice for mobs that run away and a good finishing blow. not a ton of damage done, but it’s instant and does it’s damage over time.
As you level and get new abilities, you should try to:
- Keep Savage Roar active at all times.
- Use Mangle and Rake to build up combo points
- at 3-5 Comb points use Rip
- If the above isn’t enough, go to Tiger’s Fury and Berserk, as is needed
This Feral talent build is focused on providing the greatest amount of possible damage while in cat form, although it can also be used for Bear form as well. (Bears can smell fear! j/k hehe) Either way you go, with a combo of huge DPS and respectable healing capabilities, this will match up well with both rogues and hunters at the front of the leveling race.
With most class talent trees being a mixture of excellent talents and filler talents, you will have to drop a point here and there to simply fill the holes between the truly desired abilities, and those that will help you get to the next tier.
Stats & Gear Help
For this druid leveling spec, focus primarily on melee stats in much the same manner to other melee-based classes out there. This makes it easy for us to gear our Druid, given the massive amounts of DPS gear that exist at all levels of the game.
If you’re spending a lot of time in bear form, then Strength should comes first. Strength gives you an increase in attack power which is raised further by your Heart of the Wild talent, meaning a ton of attack power overall and, therefore, a grip of damage. All your feral cat abilities scale with Strength as well.
Your second most important stats include Stamina and Agility. Agility will add yet more increase to attack power and your damage capabilities. Stamina gives you more health, and therefore increased survivability. If you seem to be tanking more than you should focus more on stamina and if you are DPS them you will want more agility respectively.
Primary stats: While leveling you really only need to think about these. People differ on Strength Vs. Agility. Strength gives increased attack power, Agility gives more criticals. High Strength gives you more consistent damage, high Agility gives you more of those exciting critical strike numbers.
- Strength and Agility
- Stamina (if you find yourself dying to much)
Secondary stats (more important at high level and for raiding and PvP) Remember, this is for leveling, not raiding or PvP. The value of any of these stats will change a lot depending on your build and which role you choose.
- Hit rating is important util you hit 164 rating
- Critical chance – more is always good
- Attack Power - more is always better
- Armor penetration – more is always better
- Expertise – up to the max of 164
- Haste rating – up to the max of 164
- Spell power – not important at all really (with this build)
- Mastery: Coming along with Cataclysm.
I highly recommend picking up the leveling guide that I use to go along with this or any leveling you do. It’s totally FREE to try out, there is no obligation to buy it if you don’t like it, but trust me when I say you won’t want to level without it. It’s the only guide that is complies with all Blizzards new add-on policies. It’s just the best one out there. Try it yourself and see. Hope you have fun with this great druid leveling spec!





Hi there!
Kevin here, thanks for stopping by my site on druid leveling. I live in the northern US and have been playing WOW for about 4+ years now. I have played many different classes in that time and have tried many different guides and specs for those classes. My druid was actually my very first character I built and still one of my most favorite characters to play. I hope you find the information here useful in your efforts to level up your druid. If you wish to email me, click on the contact me tab.
Happy and speedy leveling to you, fellow druids!!!


