Cat Form

Cat Form
	Cat Form; Level 5 druid ability; Instant; Shapeshift into Cat Form, increasing auto-attack damage by 40%, movement speed by 30%, granting protection from Polymorph effects, and reducing falling damage.; ; The act of shapeshifting frees you from movement impairing effects.;
Properties
Class	Druid
School	Physical
Cooldown	None/Global Cooldown
Other information
Level learned	5
Improvements	[Leader of the Pack], [Master Shapeshifter], [Tireless Pursuit]
Related buff
	; Cat Form ; Autoattack damage increased by 40%.; Immune to Polymorph effects.; Movement speed increased by 30% and falling damage reduced. ;

Druids always land on their feet.^[1]

Cat Form is a druid shapeshifting form. Similar to rogues, druids in Cat Form focus on dealing melee damage, relying on energy, [Stealth], and combo points to use most of their abilities.

Notes

Cat Form has an arsenal of difficult-to-remove physical DoTs which can be used to tear casters apart in PvP.
In Cat Form, your base attack speed changes to 1.0, and your weapon damage is normalized so that its DPS stays the same.
In addition to [Stealth], Cat Form druids can also learn [Track Humanoids], making them perfect for PvP ambushes.
Speed increase does not stack with that of [Dash].
When a druid shapeshifts into a mighty cat, they are composed of specific categories of feline. For example, the night elven cat form closely resembles a panther, while the troll cat form seems to be a tiger by the stripes on its coat which fits the troll's jungle setting. Both the worgen and the tauren's cat form is a lion, recognized by their manes.
Tauren cat forms retain their horns/antlers, and troll forms retain their tusks.
Each race has a distinct model for its Cat Forms, and there are five different textures for each model. These textures correspond to the skin tone of Tauren druids, or the hair color of the other races. Druids can change their design at any time by visiting a barbershop and choosing a new skin tone or hair color as appropriate for their race. Since there are more hair colors and skin tones than unique textures, some colors and tones will produce the same designs. The hair and skin colors chosen will, in most cases, correspond to the colors seen in the design of each form.
Lorewise, druids in cat form are not able to speak.^[2]

Gallery

Night elf Cat Form.
Troll Cat Form.
Highmountain tauren Cat Form.
Zandalari troll Cat Form, a sabertusk.
Kul Tiran Cat Form, a thornclaw.
Druids of the Flame Cat Form appearance with Fandral's Flamescythe, Fandral's Seed Pouch or Burning Seed.
Fangs of Ashamane artifact appearance.
Fangs of Ashamane artifact appearance Nature's Fury.
Fangs of Ashamane artifact appearance Primal Stalker.
Fangs of Ashamane artifact appearance Incarnation of Nightmare.
Fangs of Ashamane artifact appearance Ghost of the Pridemother.
Fangs of Ashamane artifact appearance Moonspirit, an owlcat.

For images of all artifact weapon appearance colors see Fangs of Ashamane

[Masquerade] ability usable in Suramar City also changes Cat Form to look like a manasaber.

Incarnation: King of the Jungle gives armor to the appearance of the base cat form (without having Fangs of Ashamane).

Old models

Night elf Cat Forms, including the original (seen at the bottom right) that was used prior to patch 3.2.
Tauren Cat Forms, including the original (seen at the bottom middle) that was used prior to patch 3.2.
Troll Cat Forms.
Worgen Cat Forms.
Corresponding skin tones for tauren.
Corresponding hair colors for night elves.
Corresponding hair colors for trolls.

Art

A night elf in Cat Form in TCG.
A night elf in Cat Form in TCG.
A night elf in Cat Form in TCG.
A night elf in Cat Form in TCG.
Silent as a...
A night elf in Cat Form in TCG.
A tauren in Cat Form in TCG.
A tauren in Cat Form in TCG.
A tauren in Cat Form in TCG.
A tauren in Cat Form in TCG.
A tauren in Cat Form in TCG.
A tauren in cat form to the right and a night elf Givon in bear form to the left in TCG.
Concept art for Zandalari and Kul Tiran Cat Forms.
Ferryn shapeshifted as a nightsaber, in Elegy.
Malfurion Stormrage in cat form in Hearthstone.

Patch changes

Patch 10.2.5 (2024-01-16): Now crouches down while stealthed and standing still.
Hotfix (2023-11-14): Energy regeneration increased by 50% (was 35%) for Balance, Guardian, and Restoration.
Patch 10.2.0 (2023-11-07): Dreamsaber customizations added. Druid of the Flame Cat Form has been updated.
Patch 9.0.1 (2020-10-13): Now learned at level 5 (was 8).
Patch 8.0.1 (2018-07-17): Now increases auto-attack damage by 40%. Running and walking animations have been updated.
Patch 7.1.0 (2016-10-25): Now learned at level 8 (was 1).
Patch 7.0.3 (2016-07-19): Model updated. Now learned at level 1 (was 6).
Hotfix (2015-06-30): Fixed a bug that was preventing Balance and Restoration Druids from gaining attack power from Intellect in Bear Form or Cat Form.
Patch 6.0.2 (2014-10-14): Now costs 7.4% of base mana (was 3%). No longer causes Agility to increase attack power, or auto-attack damage to be increased by 100%. Energy regeneration no longer continues outside of Cat Form. Cat Form now naturally includes [Feline Grace] and [Track Humanoids]. Movement speed increased to 30% (up from 25%).
Patch 5.4.8 (2014-05-20): Resolved an issue where Cat Form's movement speed bonus was stacking incorrectly with warrior's [Stampeding Shout].
Patch 5.0.5 (2012-09-11): The 25% speed increase granted by Cat Form should no longer stack with the speed increase of Dash.
Patch 5.0.4 (2012-08-28): Available at level 6 (was 8). Now increases movement speed by 25% and auto-attack damage by 100%, and allows energy regeneration to continue after leaving Cat Form.
Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12): Cat Form requires level 8, down from level 20. It costs 5% of base mana, down from 35%.
Patch 3.2.0 (2009-08-04):
- New textures for cat models, adjustable at the barbershop.
- Mana energizes that occur while in this form will now appear in the combat log and floating combat text.
Patch 3.0.2 (2008-10-14): The mana regeneration penalty when in [Bear Form], [Dire Bear Form], and Cat Form has been removed.
Patch 2.2.0 (2007-09-25): Night Elf melee attack range was too short compared to Tauren Cat Form and other attack ranges. It has been increased.
Patch 1.12.0 (2006-08-22): This form now has an innate threat reduction component.
Patch 1.8.0 (2005-10-10): The attack power bonus from the base Cat Form will now calculate correctly on zoning or logging in.
Patch 1.7.0 (2005-09-13):
- The base weapon damage of the form has been increased.
- Each point of agility now adds 1 attack power.
Patch 1.6.0 (2005-07-12):
- Shapeshifting will now counteract the slowing effects of frost-based spells (Frostbolt, Frost Shock, Cone of Cold, etc.).
- Druid shapeshift form buttons are no longer dimmed while under the effects of Polymorph.
Patch 1.4.0 (2005-04-19): Shapeshifting into an animal form will now remove Polymorph effects.
Patch 1.3.0 (2005-03-07): DPS increase at levels 40-60.
Patch 0.12 (2004-10-11):
- Shapeshifting now breaks roots, snares, and freeze effects.
- Shapeshift forms now include an immunity to polymorph effects.
Patch 0.9 (2004-08-17):
- Now considered a beast in Cat Form.
- Shapeshifting will no longer cancel all buffs on the Druid.
- Shapeshifting cooldown reduced from 10 to 1.5 seconds.
- Druids now regenerate mana while in shape shift form.
- Cat Form mana cost slightly reduced, energy now starts generating immediately.

References

^ Through the Dark Portal, Cat Form
^ Elegy, pg. 76: "But then she realized that he was speaking. He should not have been able to. Feline mouths could not form words."