Can we still tank?Follow

Just recently moved so not settled in enough yet to start raiding (or even hitting instances) in earnest yet so was wondering if we're still considered solid tanks after the 3.1 changes?

druids have a bit less mitigation than a properly glyphed and specced pally.

dunno a bout dk.

easily on par with a warrior. druids and wars seem about equal in my mind.

really all they did was remove the crazy health advantage druids were known for and add in savage defense in its place. in terms of effectiveness, things seem about the same from what i can tell.

We're fine. Any decently geared and moderately skilled druid tank will still be of value to their guild, along with our ability to switch to dps for single tank fights.

Overall having a great time now after getting over the health loss. Totally in love with the new swipe, though it's immense range DOES cause some little problems on those few occasions where we're using CC. Learning to watch my back now as I'm positioning mobs because more than once I managed to bring in a little more fun (mobs) than intended.

Biggest complaint right now is adding Primal Gore without tightening a talent elsewhere, effectively costing me OOC in my bear build. Also not happy about only having 3/5 Furor because of the now mandatory 2/2 Imp MoTW. Having to Enrage before a pull while already being squishier truly sucks, and I've since resulted to aggressive chain-pulling until people start screaming for mana breaks.

This: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#0ZxGGsfrzceoccuAkbA

Quite tempted to drop Imp Mangle and get Furor and OOC back, but I just can't make up my mind. There is of course some stubbornness in this too. If it hadn't been for an extra talent without an extra point I wouldn't have to...

Heres what I went with: Bear is to Tank

Horsemouth, I'm curious why the five points in Feral Aggression? I've alway thought of that as a DPS talent.

edit: what are your thoughts on the Survival Instinct Glyph?


Edited, Apr 28th 2009 7:00am by Lastar

I changed my build recently, speccing out of Imp Mangle as it really does smooth out the rotation and allowed me to grab MS. (Build on my Armory, link in my sig, primary spec)

I dropped Shredding Attacks since I now have a separate build for Cat DPS. Same for KotJ. I figure it's decent for a threat burst, but Berserk will do pretty much the same for you. And since I got MS, I guess over time it'll result in about the same threat (if not more via MS) without the armor penalty.

I also kept OoC, and I really don't regret it. Based on what I tanked so far in Ulduar, there are fights were rage isn't always full. Some bosses regularly stop to cast spells and will deny you a large part of your rage generation. For those moments, OoC can be quite nice. Not mandatory or anything, but I still consider it's worth a single point.

My thoughts about Glyph of SI: If 30% more health won't save you, chances are high 45% more health still won't. I'd rather be able to use it more often, or use Barkskin more often. I'm keeping Maul, FR and Growl.

Horse, what do/can you do in that build?

I'm trying to find a compromise that I can DPS or tank heroics/raids with so I can dualspec resto...but I don't have a good grasp on what talents are easily sacrificed from the bear and which ones are most critical for cat to be able to pull their individual weights.

I may not even do it that way, I'm most practiced with tanking so may just keep the full-bore bear build I have right now, set up a full DPS, and forget resto heh (or level another druid balance/resto >.>). Just haven't had the time to play to sit down and decide what makes the most sense.

I tank everything.

Well Ulduar is giving us headaches but so far the issue is more execution than anything.

FA is pure bear mitigation in Ulduar. I keep Demo up 100% of the time now. Bosses and trash. They hit hard and FA helps mitigate that.

Imp Mangle does make the cycle 1000000 times easier to manage and the threat is not missed. Maul is my biggest source of threat. FFF is also a huge chunk of threat, the buffs to it more than make up for the loss of Imp Mangle.

I haven't gone back to Naxx with this build yet but I did do VoA10 last night and keeping threat on Arch and trash was a non-issue.

The combo build would drop FA for SA and KotJ. Otherwise pretty much what I have. Missing some of the sexier cat stuff but honestly KotJ is the biggest talent that says, "Hi, I DPS cat form." If your handling everything easily than maybe can swing out some other bear stuff for PI, I would say IW would be the likeliest sacrifice.

SI glyph sucks dong.

I haven't changed glyphs from Frenzied, Growl and Maul. There really isn't anything better from a pure bear stand point. If I was DPSing more I would drop Growl for SR, heck could drop FR one for the Rip or Shred one also. The really sexy one is Maul. I would consider moving them but since I rarely DPS and stuff dies to fast to bother with Rip in the field what is the point?

Overload the cat build you linked is about right. Some people might consister pulling a point or two in Infected Wounds. From a glyph stand point I have the minor glyph Unburden Rebirth instead of Glyph of the Wild. Saves the bag slot that would be used for the reagents.

Quor. I hear he PMs Wordaen and gets the address of anyone that tries to be an *** on the Druid forums and pays them a visit. With a baseball bat. With nails in it.

As for your stats, they look okay, but I can't easily convert caster form stats to bear stats any more. With a good healer, you can probably tank heroics. Definitely OT Naxx 10/25, MT Naxx 10, and maybe MT Naxx 25. Talent tree could use a few changes.

Drop 2 points from Furor for IMotW. If you really want the 10 rage, shift to bear a few times before you pull. I would also drop the three points from Imp Mangle and the three in Predatory Instincts. Final spec would look something like this.

tree loveing hippies ftw.