Bear Druid First Night. Would Like Feedback!

[Ishtar]

Hey folks!!

So been running SoO for so long that I had enough gear etc to make a bear spec. (After also making a feral spec.) Guild recently lost a tank as is usual towards the end of the expac. People get tired blah blah blah.

Anyways.

So I've tanked before, back in cata. Haven't really used my OS for anything else because I always heal. We've found a new healer so I thought why not try out bear tanking. I know all the tank mechs, etc.

Overall I think I did fine. Tanking wasn't that difficult, I didn't really seem to have survivability issues. Felt pretty good. I'd however like some feedback on things I could improve on.

Here are our Logs
(Forgot to start logs for the first couple bosses and forgot to start logging when I switched to my lock since we solo tank Garry)

As you can see some of our fights were kind of sloppy. Trying to gear two of the healers so it was a little bit rough at times. Overall tho, I do not believe the wipes were a tanking issue.

Here is my armory. I am Ishtar.

Lemme know what I can do differently etc.

Thanks!
~Ishtar

P.s. I know that I'm using a healing trinket as my second trinket. Talked to a couple other bears and they use that or Thoks if they don't have the Primodius trinket or the other AoE cleave ones. I personally like the Prison because it amps my crit etc.

[Arielle]

First piece of feedback, use Warcraft Logs (http://www.warcraftlogs.com/) instead.

As for things I found.......

- Thrash uptime needs to be way better. 55.7% on Malkorok is pretty.....not good. Lacerate uptime is pretty good though. Could stand to be a tiny bit higher.
- HotW is the worst talent you can take if you don't actually use it. Take NV by default.
- Savage Defense uptime needs a LOT of work. Nothing is really that dangerous on normal (except Garrosh), but you will get wrecked on the harder hitting heroic bosses if you don't use it.
- Mangle count is really low. On Malkorok you had 32, but it should have been north of 50.
- Just use Ysera's. Easier to use and way more effective healing.
- Fae Silence is pretty much a wasted glyph in SoO.

Quick things to work on.

[MaugrimEU]

I normally use Barkskin on cd(30s) especially as I have my 2 set bonus unless I know of something coming that is nasty. On some fights you don't even use it.

Maybe use a buff/debuff tracker for things like Thrash, Lacerate and Savage Defence. I personally use TellMeWhen. Remember as a Bear tank Savage Defence and Frenzied Regeneration are your active mitigation.

Cenarion ward is horrible.

[Ishtar]

Yeah I knew my SD uptime was shit. Will work on that. Thought I did fine with Mangle. I'll work on that.

I'll make the changes you folks have suggested. What glyphs should I use?

[Arielle]

What glyphs should I use?

The typical glyph is SI unless you actually need the full duration for something (soaking Annihilates/Blood Rage, 1-tanking Thok).

[Ishtar]

First piece of feedback, use Warcraft Logs (http://www.warcraftlogs.com/) instead.

As for things I found.......

- HotW is the worst talent you can take if you don't actually use it. Take NV by default.

- Just use Ysera's. Easier to use and way more effective healing.


Quick things to work on.

Sorry I couldn't address these things earlier. I was at work. I only took HoTW because we were running with a 559 Sham and like a 555 Pally. Two healing it all. I thought if they needed it I'd have HoTW tranq. Like in a super super tight spot. Perhaps that's just a wasted effort/idea. I'll change it.

Ysera > Cen? I saw some people that suggested using Cen because you can apply it when you know something big is coming. Is it that much of a difference?

As for SD. There were times that I felt a bit low on rage. Is that because I was Mauling too much or not using something I should've been?


Also just for curiousity's sake, would I be able to Solo tank Garry with my current gear/ilvl as tank?

[Gemini Soul]

Ysera > Cen? I saw some people that suggested using Cen because you can apply it when you know something big is coming. Is it that much of a difference?

Also just for curiousity's sake, would I be able to Solo tank Garry with my current gear/ilvl as tank?

FR is for that not CW, if you know a big hit is coming you pool rage and pop FR. Ysera is miles ahead of CW.

Yeah you can solo tank Garry, when the first set of adds are out, pop SI then use Ursoc+BS for the second set, keep up SD as much as you can especially when adds are out.

P2 when you have stacks and he does his WW pop BS and spam FR(The goal is to make sure you have SD up during building debuff stacks, time it right so it drops 1-2 sec before or after his WW, while using a TnC or FR based on your current health/incoming heal when building stacks.) If your stacking on the wep, for P2 when he drops the wep and does a WW at the same time pop SI again. As long as you don't waste SD during his WW, you will be fine.

[Ishtar]

I normally use Barkskin on cd(30s) especially as I have my 2 set bonus unless I know of something coming that is nasty. On some fights you don't even use it.

Maybe use a buff/debuff tracker for things like Thrash, Lacerate and Savage Defence. I personally use TellMeWhen. Remember as a Bear tank Savage Defence and Frenzied Regeneration are your active mitigation.

Cenarion ward is horrible.

I redownloaded an Addon I used back when I was feral. Droodfocus. I like it. Does take some time to get set up like this. But I know how to use it and I remember it working for me. Here's what it/myUI looks like.

It shows all of my major Defensive CD's I have. It puts a timer on them when I've used them and tells me how long until they're up. How many charges of SD I have, and whether or not I have enough rage to use one. How much rage, if I have lacerate stacks up x3 on my current target. Etc. I like it. I know the way I have it looks a bit redundant with the Ready bars on the side, but as soon as I use them it gives me an exact CD timer, which I like. I suppose I could get rid of the second CD bar I have but that I use to track my Healing CD and since I am MS Heals, I just keep it up.

FR is for that not CW, if you know a big hit is coming you pool rage and pop FR. Ysera is miles ahead of CW.

Yeah you can solo tank Garry, when the first set of adds are out, pop SI then use Ursoc+BS for the second set, keep up SD as much as you can especially when adds are out.

P2 when you have stacks and he does his WW pop BS and spam FR(The goal is to make sure you have SD up during building debuff stacks, time it right so it drops 1-2 sec before or after his WW, while using a TnC or FR based on your current health/incoming heal when building stacks.) If your stacking on the wep, for P2 when he drops the wep and does a WW at the same time pop SI again. As long as you don't waste SD during his WW, you will be fine.

Is there a Specific time then I should be using MoU on that fight then? Perhaps when the stacks get high? Or should I save it for P3. Likewise if we are solotanking and ignoring P3 adds, do I forgo using Lacerate because I don't want to kill them and make them empowered?

- - - Updated - - -

Yeah you can solo tank Garry, when the first set of adds are out, pop SI then use Ursoc+BS for the second set, keep up SD as much as you can especially when adds are out.

P2 when you have stacks and he does his WW pop BS and spam FR(The goal is to make sure you have SD up during building debuff stacks, time it right so it drops 1-2 sec before or after his WW, while using a TnC or FR based on your current health/incoming heal when building stacks.) If your stacking on the wep, for P2 when he drops the wep and does a WW at the same time pop SI again. As long as you don't waste SD during his WW, you will be fine.

Thanks for this. Just did it. Went beautifully. Had no issues with health and tho I let SD fall off a couple times I shouldn't of, I didn't feel like I was squishy or hard to heal at all. Super cool. Thanks again!