Druid Tanks in Ulduar

[Wheresdabeef]

Are druid tanks viable in Ulduar, either 10 and/or 25 man? or is it really vary on the player? I have all the BiS gear from Naxx...

[CSJenova]

Our guild's pally tank and myself swap off depending on who is feeling more lazy at any given time. In most cases I end up as OT because when I go kitty in my tank gear I crank out a lot more dps then when he slaps on a 2 hander in his tank gear...but there have been many nights where he was just very tired or lazy and I would tank instead.

If you haven't started yet...I assume you aren't going for world firsts or anything...and that is the only situation I would see having X tank for X encounter would be "mandatory" for optimization rules. You'll be fine.

[Mulciber1261]

yes we are.

[Wheresdabeef]

ok, ty guys.... Is there anything that drops (tank wise) in Ulduar....I've kinda looked at the gear that drops and I don't see much of anything useful for us!! (Esp in 10 man)

[Cerelli]

if you have BiS gear already, then you wont be finding many upgrades in Ulduar 10 (non-hard mode).

[Wheresdabeef]

if you have BiS gear already, then you wont be finding many upgrades in Ulduar 10 (non-hard mode).

Well that really sucks...

[Wheresdabeef]

Where does our next tanking weapon drop?
I have Origin of Nightmares atm...

[CSJenova]

If you're full BiS, you're more intended to jump right into 25 man. The progression from 25 man naxx isn't to 10 man Ulduar then 25 man Ulduar. There are some upgrades, but most are VERY minor when considering what you would get out of 25 man Ulduar. Having said that, there are still some very nice items out of 10 man. The neck of Kologarn comes to mind, but I don't have my full "wish list" in front of me at this time.

I raid 10 mans exclusively, but I know when I was going through a "BiS" list I found recently, a handful of the items for MY list were still #2 or #3 on the over-all.

Regarding the "next tanking weapon"...it's generally considered to be the staff that drops off of XT002 on heroic mode, but it has less stam and no armor, so some prefer to stick with Origin still.

[getefix]

Where does our next tanking weapon drop?
I have Origin of Nightmares atm...

25 man XT

there's lots of tanking gear, you just have to use your imagination. Tanking trinkets, rings, necks, and capes are all useful as long as there's no parry or block on them. The rest is just leather with more hp and agility than what you already have. The only useful tanking bonus from tier gear is 4 pc so go for the gear with best stats even if it's not T8. The 4pcT8 bonus is an emergency situation bonus.

[Biznick]

I'm pretty sure bears are awesome tanks for Ulduar. Theres nothing better than having a druid that can switch between deeps and tanking is thee shizz, especially since a lot of fights are single tanked

[mielikinna]

Druid tanks are extremely viable in Ulduar. My guild has available a DK, a warrior, 2 ferals, and a paladin. More often than not its the DK and 2 ferals tanking. We have cleared the zone and are working on hardmodes.

[Wheresdabeef]

I'm pretty sure bears are awesome tanks for Ulduar. Theres nothing better than having a druid that can switch between deeps and tanking is thee shizz, especially since a lot of fights are single tanked

Which fights are single tanked?

[Shinshiva]

Where does our next tanking weapon drop?
I have Origin of Nightmares atm...

Only doing 10man? Yoggy Hard-mode... Enjoy :P

[Proffessor]

Are druid tanks viable in Ulduar, either 10 and/or 25 man? or is it really vary on the player? I have all the BiS gear from Naxx...

We are up to Ignis(lolz I know, we are slow), and havent seen any issues with a bear not working out.

Our mainbear tanks just fine so far, mostly just 10 man gear, and we run 2 healers only(also 80% 10man gear). These 2 healers are 'exceptional' according to the guy that said we simply would not be able to do it with just 2. Two attepmts on these bosses each to bring them down once everyone got the gist of the fights.

Yes, it is a slacker 10 man guild, and its a blast.

[awake283]

We are up to Ignis(lolz I know, we are slow), and havent seen any issues with a bear not working out.

Our mainbear tanks just fine so far, mostly just 10 man gear, and we run 2 healers only(also 80% 10man gear). These 2 healers are 'exceptional' according to the guy that said we simply would not be able to do it with just 2. Two attepmts on these bosses each to bring them down once everyone got the gist of the fights.

Yes, it is a slacker 10 man guild, and its a blast.

Meh, don't be embarassed. As long as you're having a blast, who cares what pace you're going at.

[Dethaele]

Druid tanks are still very viable and rather strong imo in Ulduar for a good number of fights (including hard modes). The amount of HP that bears can reach with decent avoidance can make them very strong candidates for some encounters. I recommend having a stam set and normal/avoidance set that you can swap between with you at all times. (Hell even a partial/full PvP set can help on Thorim if you want to avoid getting crit during Unbalancing Strikes.)

[Wheresdabeef]

Druid tanks are still very viable and rather strong imo in Ulduar for a good number of fights (including hard modes). The amount of HP that bears can reach with decent avoidance can make them very strong candidates for some encounters. I recommend having a stam set and normal/avoidance set that you can swap between with you at all times. (Hell even a partial/full PvP set can help on Thorim if you want to avoid getting crit during Unbalancing Strikes.)

now what is decent avoidance? Atm I'm about 39K hp raid buffed and around 50% dodge(if i remember correctly)

[Dethaele]

I was tanking 25man Hard Mode Thorim to about 10-12 stacks last night with 50k and change hp and about 40% dodge base (no trinket/idol procs). Also ran around 249 resil for 3% crit reduction and got another 1% crit reduction from defense on rings +neck (so he had about 4% chance to crit me with Unbalancing up.)

Edit: We downed him on Hard Mode btw. Our first hard mode (and I conveniently need 2 items off his hard mode).

[druidpowa]

Meh, don't be embarassed. As long as you're having a blast, who cares what pace you're going at.

this

[xebtria]

if you have BiS gear already, then you wont be finding many upgrades in Ulduar 10 (non-hard mode).

t8 is better than t7.5
thorim head is better than exodus (just as an example)
kologarn neck is BiS
auriaya belt is better than anything from T7.5 content
Leatherworking recipies dropping both in 25 and 10 man, aswell as runed orbs, and both belt and boots are either BiS or very near to BiS.

so you have at least 8-9 items, you can upgrade in 10 man, if you have BiS from T7.5. At least, it is enough to say "it's worth to visit ulduar 10 to recieve upgrades"

now what is decent avoidance? Atm I'm about 39K hp raid buffed and around 50% dodge(if i remember correctly)

at 25 man, I'm running at ~49% dodge and ~43k hp raidbuffed, so your numbers sounds just fine for 10 man.