Skill Mastery: Savage Roar
by Eliah Hecht 
Sep 17th 2008 at 3:00PM
In Wrath of the Lich King, Blizzard is clearly committed to ditching the "master of none" part of Druids' "Jack of all trades" for good. In particular, regarding the topic at hand, they're trying to ensure that Feral druids can be either first-rate DPS or first-rate tanks (though not with the exact same spec). And Savage Roar, I suspect, will be a big part of bringing that first-rate DPS for kitty form:
Savage Roar (Rank 1)
25 Energy, 100 yd range
Instant
Requires Cat Form
Finishing move that increases attack power by 40%. Lasts longer per combo point:
1 point : 14 seconds
2 points: 19 seconds
3 points: 24 seconds
4 points: 29 seconds
5 points: 34 seconds
Remind you of anything? If you're at all familiar with Rogue PvE cycles, this looks very similar to Slice and Dice, which any serious rogue tries to keep up 100% of the time in a typical boss fight. The duration on Savage Roar is slightly more than on a fully improved SnD, which is nice. The spell is baseline and learned at level 75.
But how much will the +40% AP help us, aside from "a lot?" I'd say it's still too early to tell for sure. However, given the importance of AP to a cat's DPS, I strongly suspect this spell will find a way into our current Mangle/Shred/Rip cycles, transforming them into something closer to a combat rogue's 4s5r (build to four CP, SnD, build to five CP, Rupture). In fact, given that this spell starts with S, we may have a 4s5r of our own; but again, given different buff uptimes, energy regeneration differences, different buff effects, and so on, I'm going to leave it to the guys at Elitist Jerks to math it out.
Filed under: Druid, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
cosmix Sep 17th 2008 3:11PM
It has a 100 yard range. Why? I don't see this being a group buff. Is that just in case your druid has an out of body experience, up to 100 yards?
Acceptable Risk Sep 17th 2008 3:15PM
Slice and Dice has a range as well. It's because even though, it buffs the user, it's still a targeted "finishing move." This way you just don't have to be in melee range in order to use it.
Tribble Sep 17th 2008 3:17PM
It's not a buff, its 100yd range to target with combo points on it.
That would be handy if you get knockback, you can use your energy at range and regen it as you run back.
Reinard Sep 17th 2008 3:17PM
For the same reason Slice and Dice has one? And for the same reason you can't use either of these if you have no target / target dies with combo points.
Cosmix Sep 17th 2008 3:38PM
IC, 100 yards from your target. Brilliant!
wowblogger Sep 17th 2008 3:29PM
That savage roar seems insane. I have heard that druids are pretty insanse in beta at the moment and that feral damage is on a par with rogues'.
Daniel Sep 17th 2008 6:29PM
Feral kitty dps isn't on par at the moment. i ddi the new COT: strat with me, a rogue, and enh shammy, pally tank, priest, the rogue owned me by alot!
agnoster Oct 13th 2008 6:40PM
Daniel: the plural of "anecdote" is not "data".
Max Sep 17th 2008 8:13PM
I should hope that feral damage is on par with rogues. Why on earth shouldn't it be?
Pathian Sep 17th 2008 10:08PM
Because rogues need to be the best physical DPS for the sake of class balance. DPS is ALL rogues do, they don't bring buffs or healing, they just hit stuff.
Think about it. You need physical DPS. Are you going to bring a rogue who is just going to DPS? Or would you bring a druid with the same DPS and a battle rez attached?
Max Sep 17th 2008 10:11PM
Yes, but kitty dps should at least be CLOSE enough to be mildly competitive. Right now its so pathetic that bringing a kitty is pointless even with that attached battle res
R-Tug Sep 18th 2008 10:13AM
Quote:
"Yes, but kitty dps should at least be CLOSE enough to be mildly competitive. Right now its so pathetic that bringing a kitty is pointless even with that attached battle res"
That's a load of bollocks. In most of my raids, Kitties keep up with my DPS just fine. With mostly equivalent gear. (I should know, they rolled on what I needed for upgrades) If you sit there and freakin' maul and just do ferocious bite, thats where you get QQ'ing about how Kitties don't keep up with Rogue DPS. Rogues are meant to DPS, its all they do! Is it too much to ask for them to do it better than does a Hybrid who, by merely a respec cost and some time PVPing, could get a decent healing set for offhealing? (granted no mana regen, but that can be fixed through clever gemming and enchanting)
Max Sep 18th 2008 10:43AM
Rogues have been #1 at every aspect of the game since vanilla wow, ESPECIALLY in pvp (world of roguecraft, anyone?). I think it's about time someone took them down a peg.
In other news, haha, he said bollocks ^
injasour Sep 17th 2008 3:31PM
In addition to being a great raid tool (which is obviously more important), this gives cats something to do with those combo points when farming/questing. For me, once I got out of greens it no longer made sense to ever use a finisher unless it was to maim a particularly bad cast.
bearme Sep 17th 2008 5:33PM
Never used a finisher once you got out of greens? Are you crazy? Rip is a HUGE part of cat druid dps in BC. You're just gimping yourself by not using it.
injasour Sep 17th 2008 4:32PM
You use rip on quest/farm mobs? I am well aware of rip's place in raids.
BillDoor Sep 17th 2008 5:10PM
@9: Of course. Once the mob has enough combo points, Rip, and move on to the next mob. The first one will follow you for a short bit, and then keel over.
Snuzzle Sep 18th 2008 12:33PM
@Billdoor
Once I get 3 CP on a mob, he's usually at less than 20% health. Using Rip on solo mobs just isn't usually worth it.
Heilig Sep 17th 2008 3:53PM
I have a feeling this may be even better than SnD. SnD grants haste, which really only helps your white hits since it doesn't increase energy regen. Granted, it increases gains through Combat Potency, but you are still limited to the same number of global cooldowns regardless of haste effects.
Savage Roar increases AP, which will increase damage output from ALL attacks, not just white hits. That makes this ability exactly the kind of thing developers love. Cat DPS getting too high? Nerf Savage Roar. Cat DPS not scaling well enough in endgame? Buff Savage Roar. Expect this skill to be 'tuned" many, many times during WotLK.
FireStar Sep 17th 2008 4:33PM
very good point.