Thorns for tanking!

[Astemus]

So I just noticed the new thorns glyph is a reduction on the CD by 20 seconds. This puts it at 25s CD, so basically, available every pull. Another thing some druids may not have known, the 3 piece tier 1 bonus for druids increases our thorns duration by 50%. On live, this is actually 100%, making it a 2 hour duration with the thorns minor glyph.

So lets say they fix the 50% thing (unlikely though) and we have 30 seconds with a pretty nice reflect for the initial part of a fight. I don't know who else has been thinking new tricks for getting a lead on threat, but just thought I'd add something to the pile.

[RedDeadDawn]

You might wanton look at the new spell tip for Thorns, its not the same thorns we are used to. I have a premade 85 druid on the beta I'm using for testing (my main is a feral tank), and thorns actually caused us to wipe in stonecore, lol. Thorns now is a 15 sec or so buff to deal dmg when hit...HOWEVER (and this is the part that pisses me off) you apparently can't cast it in bear form, it will pop u back to caster form, making u a paper target. Now, I'm not sure if that is bug or not, since the tool tip doesn't say anything about form restrictions...but if this is the way thorns is supposed to work, run I guess its dead to bears

[uzumati]

Same on the PTR pops ya right outa bear form. Is gonna be nice to have a friendly boomy or healer to throw it on ya tho. Pops ya out kitty also.

[Raugnaut]

Thorns lasts 20 secs, you cast it BEFORE pulling. Or, if you are quick enough, you can cast it when boss is casting long spell/not tanking boss/ between hits. Pretty much, gives you about 10 seconds of excellent AoE aggro, when combined with swipe, thrash, ect.

[Beetlejuice]

At least it seems it now has an attack power scaling as well. Would have really sucked to switch resto gear, cast thorns, switch feral gear, heal the massive chunk of health you just lost from gear swaping, bearform, charge. By that at least half of thorns would have run out anyway .

[Poysonivy]

Yeah its nice for a resto or boomkin to cast it on you. However not sure if they want to use the glyph for it.

[RedDeadDawn]

Actually I was wondering something? Does the new thorns trigger a GCD? (I'm not at home, so can't log in to check) If not, then you can make a macro to cast it as you shift to bear, then that would help at least w/ melee attacks so that you get some threat from enemies. If it does have GCD....shitty

[exochaft]

Actually I was wondering something? Does the new thorns trigger a GCD? (I'm not at home, so can't log in to check) If not, then you can make a macro to cast it as you shift to bear, then that would help at least w/ melee attacks so that you get some threat from enemies. If it does have GCD....shitty

It triggers the GCD, only useful on a pull. You can hop out of bear to use it again if you have a free moment when not being attack, but you'll lose your Vengeance stack and Pulverize buff the second you leave bear form.

[Roose]

Unfortunately, I see thorns getting nerfed to hell and becoming all but useless again unless it is castable in bear form. Still hoping they change the glyph to make it better for feral.

I am still a fan of using hurricane to pull and when you add a 50% slow it makes it even better. Hurricane gets aggro on casters, not just melee. Really helpful when a CC breaks so that you already have aggro on it.

[Cheezee]

Don't really see the point of using hurricane to pull in Cata since CC is going to be a mandatory thing for most instances. Wrath spoiled the hell out of people when it came to AOE and fast instance runs.

[Elunedra]

i tanked on beta and u i used thorns like every fight for an extra threat boost,

thorns, bearform, enrage, and barksin to cover the armor reduction of enrage tho, and feral charge go go go

[Beetlejuice]

Don't really see the point of using hurricane to pull in Cata since CC is going to be a mandatory thing for most instances. Wrath spoiled the hell out of people when it came to AOE and fast instance runs.

Pulling with hurricane made sense in tbc where swipe only hit 3 targets to get aggro on anyone and not having to peel 2-3 mobs off the healer first. But since swipe has no target limit it is kinda pointless, the threat was always really low (no spell power, no increased threat), it was just something to get some initial aggro to surpass the aggro of the first heal.

[BoomChickn]

All I know is I will be making a focus or mouseover macro to cast it on the tank whenever I can...