Feral Cat vs Mutilate Rogue

Patch 3.3

After mostly healing on my druid through pug-5s, I was given the opportunity last night to dps in cat form through a couple of the ICC instances. Most recently, all of my dps play has been on my rogue, and I was shocked at myself for needing to consciously break my rogue habits in order to get back into the "groove" of cat dps.

I literally had to tell myself, "stop playing like a rogue."

(note: table looks nicer on the blog itself than through a reader. Go CSS.)

	Mut Rogue	Feral Cat
	Both can open from stealth or unstealthed.
Opening:	Get SnD and HfB up	Get Mangle, FF, Rake, SR up
Bleeds:	Optional; Garrote or Rupture to start HfB if no one else puts a bleed up.	Necessary; Rake and 5-CP Rip Mangles or Trauma boost these
Threat Redux:	ToT misdirect Feint	Cowerlol
Ack! Aggro:	"Stop it/ Flee it" Vanish Evasion Kidney Shot Gouge Cloak of Shadows	"Tank it" Barkskin Survival Instincts (if specced) Bear + Bash, Frenzied Regen Maim
DPS Cycle:	Mutilate <-> Envenom 1 min HfB refreshes	Juggle to keep these up: SR, Mangle, Rip, Rake Shred around the timers FB finish if timers look good 5 min FF refresh
Combo Points:	lol	Use Shred, Mangle, Rake to build to: 5-CP for Rips 3-5 CP for SR 4-5 CP for FB (if you can work it in)
Interrupts:	Kick Gouge (incapacitate) Kidney Shot (stun)	Maim (incapacitate, requires CP) Bear + Charge
Energy Boost:	.... Thistle Tea?	30sec: Tiger's Fury!
AoE:	FoK, 50 energy	Swipe, 50 energy
Versatility:	er, diff kinds of poison? (heavily nerfs damage, though!)	Heals (weak unless geared and dualspecced) Tank (weak unless geared and specced)
Misc:	Love anyone who will put a bleed up Envenom refreshes SnD +3%crit to party from poison	No poisons to reapply No weapon skill to level Love Arms Warriors (trauma) and Bear Tanks (mangle) Love moonkin (FF) +5% physical crit aura to party 4% heal on crit with aura

Is one better than the other? No, not really. Both have their ups and downs, and both can do similar amounts of damage... in fact, they buff each other and synergize well together. However: they do have a different playstyle from each other, currently. With a ruptureless cycle on my rogue, though, I must admit that playing her feels a lot simpler than playing my feral druid!

I enjoy both. I like the free and "easy" mutilate/envenom, with her vanish and ToT; I like the feral DoTs and weaving them together, with bear form to help a tank handle an unexpected circumstance. I just need to remember that they do play differently from each other... and to stop using SR at 1-2 CP when it's just going to run out in 10 seconds, because no, Rip and Shred won't refresh it :D

Acronyms/Abilities:

SnD: Slice and Dice, attack speed buff, refreshes on each Envenom/Eviscerate
HfB: Hunger for Blood, 10% damage buff
ToT/TotT: Tricks of the Trade, a misdirect
FoK: Fan of Knives
Mutilate: CP-generating attack boosted by poison on target
Envenom: finisher attack boosted by Deadly Poison on target; buffs poison applications for a short time
Garrote: bleed opener from stealth
Rupture: bleed finisher; I personally run a ruptureless rotation atm.
Kick: interrupt, requires no cp
Gouge: incapacitate, requires no cp

FF: Faerie Fire, -armor debuff
SR: Savage Roar, 30% damage buff
FB: Ferocious Bite, high-damage finisher
Mangle: attack with debuff that boosts bleed and shred damage
Shred: CP-generating attack, requires being behind the target
Rake: CP-generating bleed DoT
Rip: bleed finisher
Feral Charge: Bear-form provides a short root/interrupt; cat provides a daze
Maim: incapacitate effect that requires CP