Low level Druid Tanking

[Gray_Matter]

The guides online seem to focus at end game tanking so here goes:

I have a lvl 17 druid which I would like to tank as I level. The problem is at that level there seems to only be 2 ways of getting/keeping threat, Growl and Maul. I joined a random which included a lvl20 warrior amongst others. The first few creeps I was pulling one at at a time much to the groups dismay. They started calling me "one puller" so I tried pulling a couple at a time which was tough enough (especially with the lvl 20) as I would attack one, maul and then taunt another and then keep DPSing my first target. They started pulling their own trash and complaining with comments like "you call yourself a tank?" so I promptly left and the group. The question I have is, what is the best way to tank at lower levels with a druid? I would prefer to tank while leveling to make sure that I am up too scratch when I get to endgame tanking.

[boseguy22]

Swipe... Swipe... Swipe... (lost agrro on one, target, growl) swipe...

Feel free to faire fire anything you want, and switch to maul on single targets...

Also just remember, a dps, 3 levels above you probably in boa gear, is going to tank his own mobs a lot

[kooz]

you shoulda let 20warrior tank and dps instead. wait until lvl 18 when you get faerie fire that will help you keep aggro.

[Taedas]

Just do your thing in bear form if they pull aggro don't worry about it just protect your healer. If a dps pulls aggro and dies after the pull /sit on his face with your fuzzy bear nuts and let him rage just lul at him :P

[Cortano]

When you can, grab glyph of Maul, it is a superb tanking ability (and leveling ability for that matter.)

By 17, you should have Swipe; it will be your main ability for dungeons for a long time.

You will mostly be swiping, using Maul to burn extra rage.

Don't worry about people pulling aggro off of you... when leveling, you have a lot of players with legacy weapons that can pull aggro. Don't worry about it, focus on protecting the more vulnerable party members, and especially your healer.

[adynn]

Tanking as a druid is hard at low levels, at 16 you get swipe, which doesn't hit for all that much to start with, but you can usually (just) stay ahead of any dps aoe'ing and easily keep mobs off the healer. A good tactic will be to mark a skull and auto attack it, while swiping all the others you pull. Also, glyph maul asap. This makes it hit 2 targets, which is a great help, however only use it if there's 3 or less targets, or you have the rage. Now, in regards to taunt, it puts you at the top of the aggro table (get the addon omen threat meter btw) and forces the target to attack you for 3~ secs, so it doesn't actually generate more threat than the highest person. This means you'll want to reinforce the growl with a maul or swipe. Faerie fire is a great single target ability, and should be used on cd in most low level situations, as it costs no rage (you get this at 18). Also, you want to stack stam while levelling, and if you need threat then go for strength, if not, then agi, 'Of the bandit' pieces are very good.

Also, if you didn't know, you'll want to keep all the mobs you pull hitting you from the front, as you don't dodge from behind. Try to keep going pretty quickly, so you can keep rage from one fight to another (as the fights start to end, stop using rage consuming abilities if possible, so you start the next fight with an almost full rage bar).

There was no excuse for the party you were with to be douches about you going slow, especially while you're still learning and at that low level.

So to recap: mark a skull target, auto attack it while swiping all the others you pick up. Maul when you have the rage/need to, faerie fire on cd, also use demoralizing shout (w/e it's called) to make the mobs hit you for a little less, however that's a low priority.

[Mammoth]

The above tips are good and may I add tabbing between target to the tips. But let me just say 'don't pay attention to whiners'. The low level dungeons are where you're supposed to learn your skills, just because they have 5 80s each already and expect to just aoe grind their XP doesn't mean they can kick someone who is trying to learn their role. Being able to control what is pulled is a good skill to have.

I am rather dismayed when I go through dungeons that people just pull entire rooms and AoE it to death, there is surely something wrong with the difficulty level when this is possible.

I am also rather ashamed when people reach the goos in Mara which deal massive damage to melee attackers and should be kited. So much blame on the healer!

[Tryinmilkme]

Basically what the others have said, swipe on 3 or more, once you get to 18 FF everytime it is up. If you are holding multiple mobs swip but tab target pssing out FF to all of them. If ppl qq ignore them, if they kick you so what, tanks are instant que, dps is 25 minute que.

[Niter]

Keep one thing in mind: most players (especially bad ones) will try to AoE stuff in every opportunity available to them. No tanks in Vanilla can deal with that properly. Even Prot Paladins do not have the proper talents and abilities until very late in the game.

That being said, MARK mobs, tell the party to follow that order and tell them that dungeons in Vanilla is not like in WotLK. You probably will not have any problems with keeping Skull on you, so you can easily taunt X if needed.

And please do not stack Stamina. Damage is fairly low in most Vanilla instances, so having healthy amounts of Strength and Agility is going to help you more than having every single piece with Stamina.

If you truly need it, another idea I can give you is that you can pull with spells. Starfire Skull, Moonfire X and go Bear.

Be patient. Most people do not know how to play the game and they think they are doing WotLK heroics. Remind them they are not and let they learn from their mistakes.

[shokter]

Very good advice so far in this thread. I am also workin on a lowish level bear. Now he is in the 30s and tankin is cake but I had similar problems in the teens (and I have 2 80 tanks already). Bears seem to build rage a bit slow so once you have it try and save it a bit. If you have dps that just like to hit their channeled aoe and nothing else remind them that they need to wait till you get a swipe or 2 in. Also maybe remind them that tanks are hard(ish) to come by...so unless they feel like waiting for a new one they can wait the 3 sec (not even really) it will take for you to establish threat.

[Raugnaut]

Also, use thorns. While it doesnt deal much damage, it will help to keep you ahead of the dps's aoe aggro, and, glyphed, you only have to cast it after wipes.

[Richmond]

I'll push more into spec a little and gear.

At level 17, you want to be using this spec

http://www.wowhead.com/talent#0Zxh

At 27, you want to start filling up some talents that will increase how hard you hit, like

http://www.wowhead.com/talent#0ZxGMcc

At 37, you want to go back and fill up thick hide, lvl 40 dungeons and above are where things start hitting alot harder

http://www.wowhead.com/talent#0ZxGGccdz0c

At 47, you want to start increasing your total health and avoidance (as threat shouldn't be a problem at this point)

http://www.wowhead.com/talent#0ZxGGccdzceoz

At 57, you can pick up mangle which makes everything easier - you have another heavy threat move whilst it also makes your lacerate tick for more

http://www.wowhead.com/talent#0ZxGGccrzceocczZb

At 67, i wouldn't bother with Imp mangle myself, people have different views on it but especially in 5 man dungeons i think a 6 sec CD on it is fine when you have a maul that can hit 2 separate targets. Also, you pick up your top tier feral talent - Beserk and that will solve most of your hairy mass pulls

http://www.wowhead.com/talent#0ZxGGccrzceocczVkbu

At 80, you want to fill up your good talents in the Resto tree like

http://www.wowhead.com/talent#0ZxGGscrzceRcczVkbAczb

-----------------------

Now i purposely left Survival instincts out the whole way because its personal preference if and when you pick it up. Personally i wouldn't pick it up until fairly late on, i think there are better talents to pick up when Survival instincts becomes available and especially whilst levelling, if your ever in a situation that you have to use it, its likely a wipe anyway.

Glyphs IMO in order - Maul, Mangle then Frenzied Regen / Rebirth, Thorns, ??? Whichever you want, dash it good.

As others have said, don't aim for just stamina, especially if you have BoA gear. I'd go for as much agility as you can get your hands on, strength and raw AP too. The set pieces you pick up in WC (of the fang i think) will last you well into your 30's if you get 2 or 4 pieces of them.

Be sure to level your professions as well, the gear you make (LW is best for you) will be very useful and for the most part, alot better than the stuff you acquire in dungeons.

[adynn]

I'll push more into spec a little and gear.

At level 17, you want to be using this spec

http://www.wowhead.com/talent#0Zxh

At 27, you want to start filling up some talents that will increase how hard you hit, like

http://www.wowhead.com/talent#0ZxGMcc

At 37, you want to go back and fill up thick hide, lvl 40 dungeons and above are where things start hitting alot harder

http://www.wowhead.com/talent#0ZxGGccdz0c

At 47, you want to start increasing your total health and avoidance (as threat shouldn't be a problem at this point)

http://www.wowhead.com/talent#0ZxGGccdzceoz

At 57, you can pick up mangle which makes everything easier - you have another heavy threat move whilst it also makes your lacerate tick for more

http://www.wowhead.com/talent#0ZxGGccrzceocczZb

At 67, i wouldn't bother with Imp mangle myself, people have different views on it but especially in 5 man dungeons i think a 6 sec CD on it is fine when you have a maul that can hit 2 separate targets. Also, you pick up your top tier feral talent - Beserk and that will solve most of your hairy mass pulls

http://www.wowhead.com/talent#0ZxGGccrzceocczVkbu

At 80, you want to fill up your good talents in the Resto tree like

http://www.wowhead.com/talent#0ZxGGscrzceRcczVkbAczb

-----------------------

Now i purposely left Survival instincts out the whole way because its personal preference if and when you pick it up. Personally i wouldn't pick it up until fairly late on, i think there are better talents to pick up when Survival instincts becomes available and especially whilst levelling, if your ever in a situation that you have to use it, its likely a wipe anyway.

Glyphs IMO in order - Maul, Mangle then Frenzied Regen / Rebirth, Thorns, ??? Whichever you want, dash it good.

As others have said, don't aim for just stamina, especially if you have BoA gear. I'd go for as much agility as you can get your hands on, strength and raw AP too. The set pieces you pick up in WC (of the fang i think) will last you well into your 30's if you get 2 or 4 pieces of them.

Be sure to level your professions as well, the gear you make (LW is best for you) will be very useful and for the most part, alot better than the stuff you acquire in dungeons.

Firstly, I would personally suggest a slightly different order to pick up talents while levelling, however not by much, so that guide will suit you well. I personally pick up Survival Instincts by the time you get frenzied regen, and it's also a great button if the healer is back somewhere looting a corpse or somesuch. As for glyphs, I'd go for maul, then frenzied regen, as that gives you another button to press when you pull a lot. We don't really need mangle glyphed while levelling due to our excess single target threat already. I'd also choose stam over agi, particularly once you get imp LotP, however that's personal choice really. As for professions, you don't usually actually want to use the gear you make unitl you hit northrend, there as some good old world recipes, but odds are your LW'ing will be too low when you want it, or you don't have the pattern.

[Illuminatum]

wow nice thread, im planning to make a druid in cata, and it was a very nice read, ill keep those tips in mind!

thanks all, really nice.

[Richmond]

Firstly, I would personally suggest a slightly different order to pick up talents while levelling, however not by much, so that guide will suit you well. I personally pick up Survival Instincts by the time you get frenzied regen, and it's also a great button if the healer is back somewhere looting a corpse or somesuch. As for glyphs, I'd go for maul, then frenzied regen, as that gives you another button to press when you pull a lot. We don't really need mangle glyphed while levelling due to our excess single target threat already. I'd also choose stam over agi, particularly once you get imp LotP, however that's personal choice really. As for professions, you don't usually actually want to use the gear you make unitl you hit northrend, there as some good old world recipes, but odds are your LW'ing will be too low when you want it, or you don't have the pattern.

Well i levelled my druid long before WoTLK and the stuff i made from my LW was awesome for my druid - I was always ahead with my LW and had already crafted pieces for when i gain a level.

Same goes with my tailoring actually, my priest atm has gained plenty of upgrades from my tailoring. I'll concede that the upgrades are much better when you hit Outland, but its worth keeping your professions on par with your level because the bonuses at 400/450 for any of the crafting professions are too good to miss out on.

[Gray_Matter]

Thank you for the valuable feedback. I will give it a go tonight once I am level 18.

[Kenneh]

At lower levels Faerie Fire does so much threat that if somebody does all the damage to the target they still won't overaggro from you. Say there were 3 targets I would FF target A, retarget to B, swipe spam and maul hoping that the splash was enough to hold onto C, as soon as FF is off cooldown I would tab to target C and use it on him as he'd inevitably be the lowest mob in terms of how much threat you have then go back to B for more maul and swipe spam. Just save growl for healer protection and the aoe taunt (challenging roar iirc) for a really bad pull or if you fell asleep and lost a ton of mobs.