Thread: savage defense

  1. #1
    Mechagnome funkyfloyd's Avatar
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    savage defense

    as a healer i see a lot of bears that never ever use it even though i see a huge difference in incoming damage, dont realize its there, not even on their bars, i have to beg bears to use it, etc.
    AS a bear im frustrated with the ability and absolutely use it but i need clarification on it.

    45% dodge for 6 seconds on a 9 second cooldown.

    is it better to actually USE savage defense or just reforge for dodge.
    is it worth it to reforge AND savage defense.
    is savage defense meant for 'keep it up at all times' or is it 'holy shit im about to die' button.
    IF its supposed to be up at all times i find it hard to get the rage necessary to hit it every 9 seconds, thats assuming i DONT use maul. so what purpose is maul if i use savage defense, is it an either/or thing?


    im confused by whether its supposed to be up at all times. i SEE the difference as a healer but i just dont understand blizz's mechanic behind a 9 second cooldown and a VERY high rage cost.

    would love some/any clarification, thank you.
    'Let no man deceive himself. If any one among you seem to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.'
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  2. #2
    reforging for dodge is literally the worst thing you can do, all other stats are better for us

    savage defense needs to be used pre-emptively but is *not* an emergency button. with good rage generation its something that you will generally want to keep up on fights where the overwhelming majority of incoming damage is from boss melee attacks.

    Maul/SD is basically either or, which is why they're giving it a bit of utility in 5.1 right now, you only would want to maul if you know theres no chance you'll die anyway.

  3. #3
    Like dennis said, its pre-preemptive cooldown, use it if you know big dmg that can be dodged is coming.

    If you're having rage issues reforge crit, it'll up your rage gen and get hit capped, you might be missing your white swings rage starving you.

  4. #4
    Mechagnome funkyfloyd's Avatar
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    is it a good idea to just macro SD into another ability?
    'Let no man deceive himself. If any one among you seem to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.'
    Translation: you are a fool.

  5. #5
    Nope, you'll want to have it on an easily-visible, easily accessible keybind of its own.

  6. #6
    Savage Defense doesn't have a 9sec cd, it has a 9sec recharge and 3 charges.

  7. #7
    Mechagnome funkyfloyd's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pikapika View Post
    Savage Defense doesn't have a 9sec cd, it has a 9sec recharge and 3 charges.
    ok, y eah. thats doesnt make any sense, what is the difference between a cooldown and a 'recharge'?
    'Let no man deceive himself. If any one among you seem to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.'
    Translation: you are a fool.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by funkyfloyd View Post
    as a healer i see a lot of bears that never ever use it even though i see a huge difference in incoming damage, dont realize its there, not even on their bars, i have to beg bears to use it, etc.
    AS a bear im frustrated with the ability and absolutely use it but i need clarification on it.
    For the most part, I think this is mostly true when a Guardian druid is not their primary character or someone that doesn't follow changes religiously. I had a friend trying to Guardian tank while I was on my healer, and after wondering why I was having such a tough time healing, I mentioned how his SD uptime was... and once he realized the button existed and started using it, the world kept turning as normal.

    Most of what needs to be said concerning your other questions about SD have already been answered. The over-simplified version is that SD is an 'active mitigation' cooldown you use when you have the resources to do so. Other tanks have equivalents, such as Death Strike, Shield Block, etc., where they help you take less damage over the course of the fight every time you use it, but it's not a major survival cooldown like Survival Instincts.

    The reason for the cooldown/charges system on SD is to prevent 100% uptime on SD for an entire boss encounter. For this reason, Guardian tanks can be pretty powerful when you can keep 100% uptime on SD followed by an extended break that lets your charges build up again (aka, taunt-swap boss fights or gimmick fights like Will of the Emperor). Therefore, SD is one of those abilities that you do not want to macro, since timing of the ability will maximize its use. I'll be a realist, though, and say that the majority of the time you can use SD on cooldown and do pretty well... it's not cutting-edge optimal, but it works.
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  9. #9
    The Insane Kujako's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by funkyfloyd View Post
    ok, y eah. thats doesnt make any sense, what is the difference between a cooldown and a 'recharge'?
    Each charge can be used as quickly as you get rage, but you can not us it a fourth time until 9 seconds after the first time you use it. So think of it as three separate 9 second cool downs.
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  10. #10
    Do not macro ur AM abilities to your mangle or spammable buttons. Its active mitigation for a reason, you gotta react to the damage you take or pre-damage you take and hit either SD or FR accordingly.

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