So a few people have been asking me – why do I run Sabertooth on Heroic Argus. For those of you unfamiliar with the specific build I run, it is:
Blood Scent, Displacer Beast, Balance Affinity, Soul of the Forest, Sabertooth, Moment of Clarity| Behemoth’s Headdress + Wildshaper’s Clutch
Stats: Go Crit heavy and use Shadow-Singed Fang
Here is a video of it in action:
I mainly use it in sale runs where half the raid is dead or inactive, but I use it for pugging sometimes (specifically against other ferals, so that they can feel sad to losing to a three button spec). Usually I beat Incarnation Ferals about 75seconds in when the Versatility Buff is ramped and Ferocious Bite is trucking.
Phase 1 having Sabertooth provides some crunchy Ferocious Bites which are buffed by the Versatility buff.
Phase 2 is somewhat neutral, and if you have shorter timings then you can finish using Berserk where you wouldn’t be able to cast Incarnation
Phase 3 is where you pick up a lot of DPS by casting Rip on all the targets, then refreshing Rip with FB on all the targets minus the first (physical add should die fast). If you run the standard moonfire build here, moonfire has low value since you don’t have enough energy to maintain cast mf/rake/thrash. Thrash has better DPE, and so Moonfire is close to a dead talent in P3.
Phase 4 you are very flexible to put Rip up on multiple orbs, and if they die slowly. The Rip(s) can activate your 4T21 for extra damage on the primary target, even when the orbs are at 0% hp and Rip is just ticking (but before the orbs despawn). Killing Orbs is a good idea in sale runs, don’t wanna slouch on this.
Sabertooth/WSC/Behemoth/SotF is not particularly well simulated on the current feral profile since there are some Thrash conditionals that are extremely handy. Thrash is the secret sauce that makes the build good.
- Keep up Thrash, particularly with Omen of Clarity. If no OoC then try using at 4CP instead of shred. Another good place to use it is to have less energy capping with Tiger’s Fury.
- Make use of OoC pooling since you can hold two charges.
- Figure out your own pooling strategy based on your haste/crit so you are ready for Ferocious Bite. You don’t want to shred at Four then hear 3 critical strikes go off from WSC.
- In phase 3, you want to use Thrash hitting two targets over rake to generate CP. In the opener I try to use thrash between targets 1/2, then rake target 2 if required, then thrash between targets 3/4 etc.
Is this build better than the standard build? Depends on raid comp and how fast P3 is. Most people have heroic on farm, so feel free to try out a new build every now and then.
Until next time, bless :pray:
Robosaurus was here 