Druid tanking

[Lord Entropy]

Hey all,

I started gearing-up my dusty druid last night with an eye to make him a tank alt.  I haven't tanked in ages, particularly with this Druid, so if someone could point me to a good guide or two I'd sure appreciate it.

[Kothnok]

The guide/link I used no longer exists.  You should probably start here:

http://www.noxxic.com/pve/druid/feral-bear/

There's also a feral macro thread on our boards.

One in particular I use quite often is my "AoE" - bear and cat swipes and other aoe type attacks:

Code Select Expand

#showtooltip [stance:3] Swipe(Cat Form); Thrash
/castsequence [stance:1] Thrash,Swipe(Bear Form),Maul,Swipe(Bear Form)
/cast [stance:3] Swipe(Cat Form)

I have hotkeyed:

• Skull Bash (interrupt)
• AoE macro (mashed during AoE tanking)
• Mangle
• Lacerate (mashed when not doing anything else)
• Pulverize

Lacerate has no CD and you need to stack it 3 times before you can Pulverize.  Mangle has a short CD, but should be used whenever it's available (it also needs to be mash-able on occasion). Skull Bash is used infrequently, but needs to be "at your fingertips" when it is needed. I recently promoted my AoE macro to the 2 spot because it's prior hotkey of "Shift+S" became too much of a burden during the many long AoE tank situations Firelands and Dragon Soul have (or have become).

The other tanking abilities can be hot keyed or not depending on your setup.  I have Demoralizing Roar hot keyed as well as Charge and Faerie Fire, but they're combo ones like "Shift+S" which make them less desirable for mashing.

I have found myself shifting into cat form quite often during certain raid encounters or changing to mini-dps for some fights so I would highly recommend you setup your hotkeys for cat form as well even in your tank talent spec. The extra dps boost is noticeable and has turned the tide on more than a few occasions.

Be wary of giving someone a b-rez/Innervate/MotW/Tranq while you are tanking as these will force you out of bear form and will most likely get you killed and will most definitely make you lose all your rage other than the 20ish you get back shifting back into bear.  Still, there are times these come in quite handy. =)

I don't use Enrage as often as I should to start fighting, mainly because shifting into bear form already generates a bit of rage and that's usually enough to get started.  It's also handy to use it during Frenzied Regen so that you don't get rage starved.

Survival Instinct is the major defense CD and I save it for when the boss fight requires it.  Outside of those boss fights, I usually don't touch it unless my healer is struggling.  Barkskin I use much more liberally since it has a fairly short CD.

Berserk is something I use only in certain cases.  Some guides say to use it asap and often, but I find it's most useful in a couple situations in particular. On fights where extra DPS is needed to hammer down the target asap to make a timer or reach a threshold, saving Berserk until those times not only helps you keep threat, but adds to the DPS needed to reach the goal.  The other time I use it is for tanking 2 or 3 big mobs since it grants your Mangle ability to hit 2 other targets in melee range and removes the CD so you can mash it.

[Lord Entropy]

Thanks Koth!  That's great info.