Brief Bear Form Druid Tanking Guide

[Arcdelad]

okay...I know we have a lot of new and fastly up and coming feral druids in the guild (anyone seen how fast threlin is leveling?), and since we as a guild don't have a glut of tanks, we will almost certainly be asked to tank a majority of the instances / raids we attend. This is a mini-guide and resource list for druid tanking...

Threat generation

For me, pulling a Mob and gaining enough threat to not lose aggro to Gren or Shadow (the two hardest people in the guild to keep from losing aggro to due to their damage production and lack of anti-threat talents) goes as follows:

1) Pull with faerie fire - free spell, great range, and it lowers physical damage mitigation on the target.

2) Growl - the bear form taunt...this is your best friend. This needs to be applied everytime the CD is up unless the mob is immune to taunt, or you have enough built up threat and the mob is almost dead and you want a fresh CD for the next mob.

2A) Bash - if you have decent rage from the 1-2 hits youve recieved from the mob, stun that mofo...it lets you establish solid threat for a few seconds without worrying about anyone stealing aggro. NOTE: if you don't have some rage built up, doing bash here will hurt you, as you stun the target and take away your rage generation for a few seconds...

3) Mangle - awesome threat generation, does good damage considering your a tank, AND it makes your lacerates more effective since it adds a damage multiplier to all bleed effects (and lacerate generates some good threat through its bleed component)

4) 2-3 lacerates - bear form of sunder...instead of reducing armor it puts a bleed effect on the mob. Its effectiveness against non-bleedable enemies is suspect...so be careful on robots and such relying on this.

5) Maul - standard bear form attack...does a decent amount of threat but isnt the most rage efficient ability.

6) Swipe - one of my favorite threat generators...very nice threat gain, super low rage cost. If you are close to a CC'd mob though, dont do it...I sometimes will slip and throw a swipe when Im next to a sheep or shackle. Try and position the mob away from any CC so you can use this ability.

7) 2-3 Lacerates - get your lacerate stack count up to 5 at this point.

From there just reapply growl everytime the CD is up, cycle through mangle/ swipe / maul as you can, and if its a long fight reaaply your lacerates when they fade off.

Here is a good list of exactly how much threat each of your abilities generates. Its really good info to know as your pounding away at your bear abilities.

http://teethandclaws.blogspot.com/2007/09/druid-threat-values.html

Also, a good way to test out the threat generation of your tools is to grab a solo mob somewhere, get Omen up, and just cycle through your abilities watching Omen to see which ones give you the largest bump in threat per second (TPS).

Gear

Bears are HIGHLY dependant on their gear for their effectiveness. Unless your in a place lower than your general gear level, I would strongly recommend not tanking in cat gear (unless the MT dies and your trying to jump in).

I put an excellent article up before, and Im going to link that post here:

http://forum.twilightonalex.com/index.php?topic=2518.0

That is the best explanation of how gear affects us I have ever seen. Any feral druid should read that over a few times.

Also - the following link is to a site that ranks mitigation values of all druid items, giving a precise list of what gear is better than other gear. This maps out the gear you should be chasing for upgrades, and is maybe the single most valuable site to a bear form druid out there.

http://www.gurgleblaster.net/emmerald/Bear_Mitigation/Head.html

One flaw it does have, though, is its hard to add in your gem stats. I have made a spreadsheet (attached below) to help with that. Add in all the values on an item (including gems) such as AGI, STA, etc etc. It will auto-spit out a total mitigation number - the higher this number is the better. I put three item calculators on there so you can compare multiple items.

Damage should be the ABSOLUTE LAST THING you think of when choosing bear gear. As a tank your primary goal is not to do damage - just hold aggro while taking the least amount of damage possible to make it easy on the healer. ST, +AP, and +CRIT are not your priorities with your gear choices. Yes, more damage does mean more threat, but you are missing out on AGI, +DEF, +DODGE, STA and other things that make you a better tank.

There are some GREAT gear options out there that you can get really easily:
- [wowitem]Braxxis' Staff of Slumber[/wowitem] - if you don't have the CE rep to get Earthwarden, this can be bought off the AH for 20-30G and is almost as good.
- Heavy clefhoof set, [wowitem]Heavy Clefthoof Boots[/wowitem], [wowitem]Heavy Clefthoof Vest[/wowitem], and [wowitem]Heavy Clefthoof Leggings[/wowitem] - This set is easy to get and very very very good for druid tanks. There are a bunch of leatherworkers in the guild who can make this for you.
- [wowitem]Stylin' Purple Hat[/wowitem] - One of the best bear form helms that is easy to get. AND you get to look like a pimp (pimping, like tanking, aint easy).

STA gems are a great choice for any gem slot in your armor. The +12 STA blue gem is expensive, but definitely worth it for any gem slot.

[Threlin]

Fantastic information, Arc! I haven't had time to check all the links or the spreadsheet out yet (that ol' work thing keeping me from it), but I'm sure they'll be just as beneficial to me as the main body of this post! This really helps me get a handle on what's expected of me down the line and what gear I need to be concentrating on gathering. The threat generation information is welcome as well! As a new druid, this info is dang near priceless...

Thanks as well for the kind words about my leveling. You know I usually level with the speed of slug on downers.  I'm really enjoying my druid, however...and it's reflected in my advancement speed. I will be away from the computer this weekend ( ) but should get back on track Monday. It will take me a while, but I'll make it...

Thanks again!

Threl

[Buzan]

If I would ever roll a druid I'd find a way to have this show on every loading screen in game hehe.

Great job man .






Edit: Look at that I made a druid, have a feeling I will like the class .

[Arcdelad]

hahaha...nice buz...i think youll love going feral if you pick that...youll get to tear things up in cat and tank if you want without having to respec

[fiere redfern]

Braxxis Staff... check.
Clefthoof armor set.. check check and... check.
Gems... blah, knew I needed something.

Awesome guide, Arc =) I have an addition for you, as far as upgrades go for us fuzz-butts: http://www.wow-loot.com/druid.htm  and http://www.wow-loot.com/gearguide.php?c=4 have lists of "recommended" gear for druids, depending on the spec. The first link includes a list of druid-centric weapons/armor that drop off of mobs/dungeon bosses/world drops/etc. The second link is a good way to provide yourself with a goal within a certain time-frame - a "I need to grind this this and this rep to run these heroics for this piece of armor" type thing. Something that I for one could really use considering I'm next to useless with planning out my wow-time aside from "Hurr, needz mor mount monies - daily quest time!" =P

[Tolwen]

WOW, great guide Arc...you said everything a player needs to know about druid tanking:) /salute
just something to add, after you have your 5 lacerates up, they're a bleed effect that stay their for a few secs so like if u hit a mob with another lacerate before the bleeding effect ( stacked 5 ) stops it renews the 5 again so u can always keep 5stacked up if u time it right....

oh and enjoy playin your Druid Buz!

[Luise]

I enjoyed reading that too Arc- I've watched you tank in Kara many times and wondered how druids do it.

[Buzan]

I think I will be a BOOMKIN FTW!!! 

[LastDyingBreath]

very good overview, arc, but there's a couple things I'd like to add/correct.

You shouldn't be spamming growl.  It has the same mechanic as taunt, snapping you to the top of the threat list.  If you already have aggro, all growling does is blow the global cooldown.

Damage IS an important part of being a bear tank.  A large percentage of our threat comes from the raw damage we do.  You should always prioritize survivability, but don't neglect your dps.  Example:  I tank with a [wowitem]Cobrascale Hood[/wowitem] instead of a [wowitem]Stylin' Purple Hat[/wowitem].  I lose a little agility and a little stamina, but pick up a ton of AP and some +hit.  Fun Fact:  you can tell how good your dpsers are by comparing damage.  A good DPSer will do roughly twice your damage.

Don't forget your mana bar when you're tanking!  When I'm about to head into a pull that I know will whomp me (triple elemental or double bog lord pulls in heroic underbog come to mind), I regrowth, rejuv, lifebloom myself before jumping into bear.  It makes Nasanna's life a little easier, and gives you healing aggro - always a good thing. 

other than that, great guide!

[Zario]

This is a great help!  I'm starting to get up there with my drood and I'll be spec'd to whatever the guild needs.  I just haven't been able to get a good order of attacks when trying to bear tank.  You rock!

[Threlin]

Great additional comments, folks! I am enjoying the druid class very much and have tanked for a small group doing a few group quests using the information y'all have provided. Interesting food for thought on the dps end of tanking, LDB. I love how much information and experience that is available in our Guild!

Made another level...but now I have to wait until Sunday or Monday to put in any serious time. 

[Arcdelad]

grats again threl!

Panzer / Ghiss / LDB...great post...I do think that as a bear you are doing a significant amount of damage simply by being a bear and having great attacks like mangle - I don't think you would want to go out of your way to improve your damage in bear, but that may just be a matter of personal choice. Most  good tanking gear has STR or AGI on it, which add to your AP, and I think im hanging around 2k AP in bear form with bear gear on...an example is that I am using [wowitem]Boots of Natural Grace[/wowitem], which have a significant amount of STR and AGI, but at the same time have high armor and STA. I put the [wowitem]Stylin' Purple Hat[/wowitem] there becuase it is a super easy to get upgrade for a lot of people. If you are going to chase something like the Cobrascale Hood (which takes a leatherworker donating a primal nether, scrounging up a bunch of primal shadows, and grinding for cobra scales (low drop rate)...OR buying it off the AH for 800-1400G), I would recommend just getting in some heroic instances and getting your [wowitem]Cowl of Beastly Rage[/wowitem], or doing some Arena matches and getting your [wowitem]Merciless Gladiator's Dragonhide Helm[/wowitem]...both are far superior in terms of tank stats and would still have a decent AP push. When I am tanking (even when im dpsing most days) I put the damage meter in the lower left hand corner of my scrteen to where I can just barely see the top to know its there - Omen should be the thing your watching IMO.

Maybe im a lazy druid, but I have never been a fan of throwing hots on myself prior to a pull...we have some phenomonal healers in this guild (some of the best I would argue), and they do just fine keeping me alive. I guess if they were running OOM all the time healing me I would think about helping them out with some HOTS, but in my experience that isnt the case. Again, matter of personal preference.

[Airtotem]

Hey guys! Love da droood talk!
Awesome guide!  Love the choices for helms Arc, perfecnt enchant choices, and I also used that starting blue gear for the longest time.  It is hard to find upgrades much better than those for druids in places other than raid instances.
   I like to starfire/moonfire pull, especially in places where I am tanking two or three at a time.  I usually cast starfire on the offtank target, and during that cast, I will select the kill target and moonfire right when starfire lands, so the offtank target can still be CCd since it won't have a DOT on it, and you still have 2 mobs aggrod in the time of one global cooldown.  Then, if you just mangle or swipe the offtank target periodically, it will save your healers from getting aggro from that offtank target.
   I do like to keep taunt up, for emergencies, so if I am doing my job, I will go 4-5 pulls or more at a time without using it.  I like to save it for when CC breaks, or when the healer gets aggro, same with bash.  If Nixphire decides to pull aggro, I just take bets to see how many hits it takes for him to drop. =)  Just my preference.