Druid tank and Shattered Halls heroicFollow

"Bear" with me a second! Yesterday morning, I tanked heroic BM and heroic Bot without a single problem! In Bot, I used CC just to avoid doing more work (I'm lazy). I mean, I made sure I was tanking only 2 mobs at a time, we tried at 3 on me and I tanked that without problem, not too much damage and didn't loose aggro. I was "testing my new" tanking set. I mean, I'm resto usually and I just finished gemming/enchanting that set.

So yesterday night, I saw a group for heroic shattered halls. I told myself, why not! There was a healing druid, a ret pally, a mage and a hunter. The pally wasn't geared at all for OT, if he pulled hate, he would died in a few swing. The hunter was BM specced so the traps may have been stronger, but it was enough in any case. The mage was doing a fine job sheeping.

But even with 2 CC, I was left with 4 mobs to tank ! How the heck should I do this?! Swipe is only targeting 3 mobs total. I have a lacerate macro, I was using it a lot. Maybe DPS could have been lighter (pally would go all out from the beginning). I asked the healer to HOT me before I get in combat and let me go down at 50% before bringing me up (I usually poped the badge of tenacity and with the idol procced, I was at 46-50% dodge). In fact, it wasn't too much the damage the problem.. it's the threat generated on all the mobs that was!

I think I'm logged off my tanking gear: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Kargath&n=Rennomisu. For the lazy ones, I have 29k armor, 15.2k armor and 29% dodge in bear form (unbuffed). Yesterday fully buffed I had 17-18k hp. It's not really the gear problem... or was it? More hit rating or AP to generate more threat? That enchant that raise threat?

How do you tank that instance?!

LOS pull I tried and didn't work well we had difficulties with CC. Maybe it was a CC problem in that case. In the end both CC was assigned a caster and they were pulling with LOS. I had less difficulties like that (and that brings #4). Both CC had to wait to CC their target before DPS'ing. And both healer and ret pally were too fast on either heal or dps.

I tried starfire (without being in combat of course) and they were on me pretty fast, so maybe I would have time to do a moonfire, but still not sure, I prefer being in bear when the first swing lands =)

In the end.. I'll remember your comment IF I try that instance again (as a tank of course)! Thanks a lot !

All and all, heroic SH is a ******* run, but the last time I did it was with 4 druids and a Shadow Priest as a "fun" guild run. It helps unimaginably when the people in your group all know each other, and aren't retards. One druid full tanked, one was a healer, one was a boomkin/offheals, and the other was Kitty/offtank, SP MC'd and it was actually a good run. Most guild runs will be good ones if everyone likes eachother, hell it's way funner to wipe with friends then be successful with people ya don't know IMO.

Some people will recommend Hurricane to start a pull, this will generate aggro on all of the mobs for a good start. Depending on what CC you have, this may not be a viable option(ie, sap). I usually don't use this method, and have been complimented several times on my tanking in this instance. So, here's my Wall'O'Text response to how I do it.

My strategey:

You'll notice that when you pull the first target usually it'll be in the lead with the others not far behind. I'll usually put maul on, and then mangle as soon as he gets in range. If you're lucky and those crit, you'll have about a 4k threat lead to start you off. By the time the other trailing mobs reach the pack, your GCD should be up, so I'll get ready to implement the next step.

Directly after this, I'll do a demo roar. This is mainly just to keep the mobs off the healer until I can generate more threat. Since the Demo Roar is AoE threat, it'll make sure to get everybody, unlike the other druid talents. Not doing this in the beginning can mean that a healer pulls aggro right away if you get unlucky and a mob gets missed. Losing aggro to a mob in the very beginning makes for a very messy pull because while you're getting the guy off, people will still be dpsing the first target, and probably pull it off of you. Make sure that the dps knows this, even though they probably still won't listen if you tell them.

Next is the swipes. Some people swear by lacerate-tab tanking, but I use a combination. I start with swipes b/c it can crit up to 3 times, which mean extra rage(very nice to have in the beginning of a pull). Before I swipe, if there are more than 3 mobs on me, I'll tab first. This makes sure the one I swipe to is definitely being targeted. I'll tab each one and swipe until I get back through to the main target. Usually The main target will still be hit by a couple of these swipes so that I don't lose aggro. This part is where that Maul+Mangle combo I used earlier comes in handy. It'll generate enough aggro to keep him on me until I tab through for my swipes.

Once I get to the main guy, I immediately hit the mangle and go on to my next step. This one will vary depending on threat that others have. Usually the tabbing will have given them ample time to get pretty close to you on the treat, so I use Lacerate on him for good measure. If the others are not even close to me on threat, I'll opt for "Tab-Tanking", because this will generate extra aggro on the next mobs on the list, which will help once your main target is down.

If the other members are pretty close to you on threat, I'll go for a mix of swipe and lacerate. You'll want to keep the main guy on you(Lacerate), but you'll also want to keep threat on the rest of the mobs(swipes), especially if there is any AoE going on. Remember that the swipe has a conal area of effective so if you turn 45% to the left, you'll get some of the mobs out of the directional range of the ability, thus targeting only the leftmost mobs. If you turn the other direction, you'll get the rightmost mobs. This takes the randomness out of swipes targeting only 3 mobs at once.

The main reason I use swipe tanking instead of tab-tanking if the other members are high on the list is that if the mob gets pulled off of me, I can instantly use Growl to get it back, whereas you'd usually have to select the guy that got pulled off, which takes extra time. Additionally, if the one who pulls it from you is ranged, you'll most likely not have time to growl it before it moves and will have to feral charge to get it off, which will move the whole group of mobs in the process. I find things run a bit smoother when there is minimal movement of mobs going on.

That pretty much sums up what I do for big pulls as feral. It will, of course, vary depending on the group, and this method may not work well for all setups. It's a good start though.

Druids have a trick they can use to superglue any number of mobs on them. It takes considerable preparation, but it works.

1) Have your CC'rs stand at max range from the mobs they'll be CC'ing.
2) Stand even further back, at max Tranquility range from your CC'rs. Tranquility's radius is equal to Mark of the Wild's range, so if you can Mark your CC'rs, your Tranquility will affect them.
3) Have everyone in your party drop their health by about 3000 points right before the pull. This is most easily done by having them remove about 300 stamina points of armor, then put it back on.
4) At the same time as your CC pulls, start casting Tranquility. Four seconds of channeling that spell will heal your party completely, giving you plenty of time to switch into bearform before the mobs can cover the 60 feet or so to get to you. This is one of the highest aggro heals in the game, so you'll generate massive threat on all the mobs at once.

Slighly ?! As In shield + that thing that AOE (Consecration?!) around you?! =)

I have a paly guildmate that run that instance for the kick! Ok, he's gear for BT... He uses no CC whatsoever and.. i think he marks the first target to die.. but that's about it.

Thanks a lot for that wall of text I will read it.. and maybe find some guildmates and try that (assuming I'll have the funds to pay for the repair of everyone if I'm feeling generous ;))

Thanks a lot!