What do Kitties Eat?

Here's the fun part - The rotation.

Well, that's a bit of a lie, there is no real "rotation" to a kitty. There's a priority system. Other classes can claim to run a priority system, but there really is no comparison to the kitty one. Ghostcrawler has said himself that it is one of the most challenging to pull off correctly...at least until they changed the Mangle debuff. Let's get started shall we?

The Spec:

Single Target Max DPS/Survivability  - The main spec. Highest Single Target DPS, with lots of survivability

AoE/Add Swapping Spec - Allows for cheaper Mangles, higher damage swipes at the cost of some survivability and Ferocious Bite damage. On heavy AoE fights when you're waiting on energy regen (Tiger's Fury is on Cooldown) Swap to Bear for 3 Swipes and then swap back to cat for a full (depending on Furor talents) round of more cat swipes!

Emergency Tank Spec - This spec allows you to be that emergency tank in case your tanks go down and there's only a few thousand HP left on the boss. Be sure to use Challenging Roar/Barkskin/Survival Instincts/Frenzied Regen/Healthstone instantly to increase your survivability

Tips not in the Rotation:

• NEVER cap your energy. Capped energy is wasted energy regeneration time
• If a mob is going to die, use a finisher. Don't waste your combo points
• If you are killing adds - try to get 4 combo points and refresh your savage roar, no matter the duration left. Don't waste combo points!
• This is great to do on Deathbringer Saurfang Heroic
• Cat Swipe uses energy but does not start generating combo points on new mobs. Use it to switch from a main target with points on it to kill lots of adds then resume DPS whenever they are dead with combo points already on your target
• Try to "roll" bleeds on your main target if there is a target swap coming up. Refresh Rip if you can with your combo points, and "clip" Rake's duration if you're going to be away from your main target more than 8 seconds.
• If a mob/boss "burrows" you will lose all of your combo points, but bleed damage will continue. Don't waste combo points and clip Rake to keep it running as long as possible when you can't directly do damage.
• Examples of these are Northrend Beasts and Anub'arak
• Use Tiger's Fury as soon as it is up every time, but ONLY when you are below 30 Energy.
• Use Berserk early and use it often. It is best to use Berserk whenever you have 80-90 Energy.
• Berserk removes the small damage boost from Tiger's Fury, but it is ok to do this.
• Berserk makes you immune to Fear. Use it wisely as most Fears are not as detrimental to your DPS as losing a Berserk cooldown.
• Energy regenerates outside of Cat form up to the amount of points you put into Furor at a rate of 10 energy/second (or 1 every deci-second). Use this to your advantage and you will not lose much DPS while performing druid duties such as Battle Rezzing or Innervating.
• DO NOT be afraid to use your defensive cooldowns. 
• Barkskin is a 1 min CD - use it liberally
• Survival Instincts is an amazing cooldown for a DPS. Use it as a last resort. Macro in your Healthstone for added survivability
• Use your Predatory Swiftness buff (shows up after you use a finisher) to cast an instant Healing Touch or Cyclone. 
• Switch to Bear Form if things get too hairy. Bear form gives you many more options. Feel free to refresh your Mangle duration using rage instead of energy!
• Increased health, increased survivability 
• Bash - Works as an Interrupt!
• Feral Charge - Works as an Interrupt!
• Frenzied Regeneration
• Nature's Grasp is a great way to keep adds from chasing you and killing you
• Warstomp/Shadowmeld
• Maim if you have no other options.
• Kitty Jump carries you over bad spots on the ground. Jumping makes servers register you as in the spot you left the floor until you land again somewhere else. Never jump out of something, always jump into something. 
• Marrowgar flames
• Legion Flames
• Void Zones
• Mimiron Fires
• Offer fellow raiders your Innervate. Focus them and have a focus cast macro that casts the Innervate on them and doesn't change your target. It can be quite helpful for Healers to get 2 Innervates in a fight. Arcane Mages and/or Warlocks love these so they don't have to Evocate/Lifetap allowing them a little more liberal use of their mana.
• This will pop you out of cat form, so you will lose 2 GCDs - 1 to cast Innervate, 1 to swap to Cat.
• Cast Innervate when your energy is below 30 and Tiger's Fury isn't up. This will allow energy to constantly regenerate while in caster form.
• Always ask for Hysteria from the Blood Knights. It increases Physical Damage Done by 20%. This includes all of your damage (Bleeds are also physical damage) and you will gain the most benefit from it.
• Ask for Tricks of the Trade. You probably won't get it since Rogues like to Trix back and forth, but you can try.
• Tricks of the Trade and Hysteria DO NOT stack. Have your Rogue trix someone else while you are under the effects of Hysteria. That's if you are lucky enough to have both.
• Use a Speed Potion while not under the effects of Bloodlust/Heroism. More Haste = more OoC procs.
• Explore other consumables. More AP might be great, but is it really better for you to use Agility Elixirs?
• I use Armor Piercing Elixirs and Armor Penetration food to push me further towards the ArP cap.

Preparation for the Pull:

• Ask your tank for a 3-5 second countdown before he pulls. 
• At 3-4 seconds left, buff Gift of the Wild on the raid.
• This is because "GotW" is considered a cast of 25 different spells, which has a VERY HIGH chance to proc an Omen of Clarity on you before the pull. 
• Stealth before you are in combat, with your OoC buff.
• Kitty Jump so you are behind the boss. I have noticed that using this while you have an OoC buff will not use the 10 energy, nor will it consume the OoC buff. 
• Open with a Ravage. 

The Ramp - Up

• Open with a Ravage
• This is a 60 energy ability that was made free by "forcing" your OoC proc with GotW
• This over Pounce because all of the bleed damage from Pounce is < a non-crit Ravage
• Mangle if you have no Arms Warrior or Mangle Bitch
• Savage Roar
• Feral Faerie Fire
• Rake
• Tiger's Fury
• Berserk (Call for Hysteria if you have a Blood DK feeding them to you)

The Main Rotation - This is the main set of rules to follow while DPSing

• Don't let Mangle fall off
• This is one of the most important parts of your damage
• Increases bleed and shred damage by 30%
• Keep Faerie Fire up
• Not necessary if you have a Moonkin in your raid. They will keep up Imp. Faerie Fire. Feral Faerie Fire will be initially overwritten by Imp. Faerie Fire, but it can be reapplied after the Moonkin applies theirs, if missing that timer bothers you
• Keep Savage Roar up
• Use 4 combo points to activate Savage Roar
• More combo points increase duration. If the last move before a planned SR crits, you will have 5 combo points. 4 = 29 seconds, 5 = 34 seconds. 
• If it is about to fall off and you don't have enough time to get 4 points, Savage Roar anyway
• Increases ALL damage done by 30% - Never put a bleed up without SR on you.
• Refresh Savage Roar at 8 or less seconds left in the duration. It is ok to clip SR.
• Keep Rake up
• The 4pc T10 allows Rake's bleed damage to crit. This is a huge boost to your damage, and makes it very important that Rake's bleed stays up for as much time as possible. 
• Use Shred to gain combo points if Rake and Mangle are up.
• Use Omen of Clarity procs to Shred as it is your most expensive ability.
• Try to use Shred 3 times while Rip is up. It increases the duration of Rip with the Glyph of Shred
• Use Rip as your finisher with 5 combo points. 
• Use Ferocious Bite IF Rip is up and has more than 8-10 seconds left, and SR has more than 20 seconds left, Mangle isn't about to run out, or if you are pushing it close and Tiger's Fury is up.
• Since Ferocious Bite is our "Execute" or Energy/Combo Point dump, using Tiger's Fury immediately afterwards is a great way to get back in the rotation without losing too much energy
• You will not use FB a lot. You will probably get 1-2 off during Berserk if you do it correctly, around a total of 5-10 total depending on OoC procs, crits, and luck.
• Use Tiger's Fury as soon as you can
• Be below 30 energy
• Don't energy cap!

There's a great picture for this monstrosity of a rotation:

Feel free to post any questions! I know it's tough and that's a lot to memorize, but if you like challenges, pulling off this rotation is both exciting (since it's so dynamic) and grueling. It's also very rewarding if you do it correctly. There's always something to work on, so keep trying. Spending lots of time at a Training Dummy might help you get the hang of it as well.