Feral Druids - the Bear guide

[arel00]

Bears aren't popular tanks on Jaraxxus for the most part. What I think your problem is is that you're not getting your mages to spellsteal the boss when he casts Nether Power. You can get pretty insta gibbed with that.

This.

Most of the problems on Jaraxxus (related to tanks, anyway) come from bad spellstealing or bad interrupting from the DPSers.

You're fine as your health is.

[Coldkil]

we use a warrior tank exactly for this reason. he can manage the interrupts well and all the dps can dedicate to the other tasks (portals, volcanos and ofc dps)

[bavarcarus]

DKs are pretty good at interrupts too.

[arel00]

we use a warrior tank exactly for this reason. he can manage the interrupts well and all the dps can dedicate to the other tasks (portals, volcanos and ofc dps)

DKs are pretty good at interrupts too.

True and true. But from his post, I suppose he was talking about normal mode, so having self-sufficient tank on interrupts isn't that vital. If anything, because you don't need to kill portals and volcanoes.

Which by he way, is the reason many people use a single tank on Jaraxxus 10 heroic. just to say, don't be surprised or go nuts if they ask you to solotank that. It's being done constantly

[Auroro]

True and true. But from his post, I suppose he was talking about normal mode, so having self-sufficient tank on interrupts isn't that vital. If anything, because you don't need to kill portals and volcanoes.

Which by he way, is the reason many people use a single tank on Jaraxxus 10 heroic. just to say, don't be surprised or go nuts if they ask you to solotank that. It's being done constantly

I never have a problem doing bash on Jaraxxus, it is easy to time it. You just need to make sure that the caster that can remove his buff, are doing it. If they are not doing their job then the raid will wipe.

[bavarcarus]

hmm, we never tried single tanking. I bet that way we could get down to 2 infernals.

[arel00]

I never have a problem doing bash on Jaraxxus, it is easy to time it. You just need to make sure that the caster that can remove his buff, are doing it. If they are not doing their job then the raid will wipe.

I meant "self-sufficient" as in "interrupt on 10sec cd instead of 30/60". Just to clarify.

[Braemin]

This topic - all 29 pages of it - has been an absolute treasure trove of information, and it has made it worlds easier for me to make the move from Cat to Bear. I leveled to 80 as cat, and only just recently starting tanking. At first it was older instances for guildmates on the way up, and tonight I tanked my first heroic, Utgarde Keep.

I respecced from cat to bear, using the first spec in the original post here. I swapped out my dps trinkets for tanking ones (I've got the full brewfest set, so that was an easy change to make) and put Mongoose on my staff. The rest of my currently equipped gear is from my cat set, and the enchants are a mix of Stamina and Agility, heavier on the Stamina. I mostly soloed to 80, so health was key.

Most of my gear is either self-crafted, from Champion's Seals, or drops. The rings are from honor gained by leveling from 75 to 80 in Alterac Valley. I'm working towards getting an Idol of the Corruptor to replace the one I've got now, and I feel that'll put me on pretty solid ground for starting to raid. As it stands right now I've got 25142 armor, 29077 health, 405 defense and 33.64% dodge in Dire Bear form, with only MoTW for a buff.

Here's my armory link, and I'm more than welcome to hear an ideas, suggestions or criticisms the more experienced tanks might have to offer.

[Auroro]

This topic - all 29 pages of it - has been an absolute treasure trove of information, and it has made it worlds easier for me to make the move from Cat to Bear. I leveled to 80 as cat, and only just recently starting tanking. At first it was older instances for guildmates on the way up, and tonight I tanked my first heroic, Utgarde Keep.

Here's my armory link, and I'm more than welcome to hear an ideas, suggestions or criticisms the more experienced tanks might have to offer.

Well, thank you for the thought about this forum as a treasure trove of information.

Well you should go to TOC 5 man for the rest of the gear. You can get a full set of Epic gear there. GIve or take 3 days. Once 3.3 come out, you will be able to get even better gear. My little brother was able to jump from Heroic to Raiding from farming ToC 5 man on his DK. Also get Duel spec as well, this way you can be a Feral Cat and be tanking. Do not be scare of taking rings, cloak, and necklace from paldin, warrior, and DK off spec tank.

[Kitiar]

Hey everyone - I kinda need your help/oppinion, 'cause im in a dilemma here..

You see, Im a cute little bear with 38.6k hp, 42% dodge and 29,5k armor Unbuffed, BUT

in my guild, the protection paladins and warriors got around 40k HP unbuffed, which is really bugging me since I'm always reading that we should be with so much more HP than other tanks

in TBC I had around 25k buffed, while other tanks reached around 20k - aka, i had alot more health.. At that time, I had around 35% dodge unbuffed, but I got those 7% more now, since I heard that's what other druids sits at.. But now I dont have alot of HP? Even tho' the other tanks got somewhat the same ilvl gear.

Do I see other tanks with the same problems as being low on HP compared to other tanks? Is there something major I'm doing wrong?

This is my armory: http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sh...azzak&n=Kitiar


Please help me out here, i'm getting emo in raids soon, lol...

[Sunshine]

Do I see other tanks with the same problems as being low on HP compared to other tanks? Is there something major I'm doing wrong?

The difference, from a quick glance over your armory, is likely that they're stacking all stam gems plus 2 stam trinkets, which is common for paladins and warriors to do.

Couple suggestions:

1) Get rid of that hit gem! You're WAY over the hit cap. If you want to activate a yellow socket bonus (6 agi is a good candidate), use a Nightmare Tear or an Enduring Eye of Zul. If you can shed hit other places, it would be nice as well.
2) Fix your enchants -- weapon (mongoose), shoulders (hodir), hands (agi), boots (agi, or +22 stam if you feel it's really necessary).

If you still feel like you're low on health, start replacing some of your gemmings with agi/stam for red and pure stam for blue. The reason we're known as the higher health tanks is just that we have higher modifiers on stam (bear form, hotw, etc) -- each point of stam gives us more health than it would give a paladin or warrior.

[Auroro]

Hey everyone - I kinda need your help/oppinion, 'cause im in a dilemma here..

You see, Im a cute little bear with 38.6k hp, 42% dodge and 29,5k armor Unbuffed, BUT

in my guild, the protection paladins and warriors got around 40k HP unbuffed, which is really bugging me since I'm always reading that we should be with so much more HP than other tanks

in TBC I had around 25k buffed, while other tanks reached around 20k - aka, i had alot more health.. At that time, I had around 35% dodge unbuffed, but I got those 7% more now, since I heard that's what other druids sits at.. But now I dont have alot of HP? Even tho' the other tanks got somewhat the same ilvl gear.

Do I see other tanks with the same problems as being low on HP compared to other tanks? Is there something major I'm doing wrong?

This is my armory: http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sh...azzak&n=Kitiar


Please help me out here, i'm getting emo in raids soon, lol...

well, there is nothing to do maybe you should go after the staff that drop in toc 25 for the blue socket. Get more T9 pieces.

[Zreo]

Here is alittle help for the ppl like me, that know stamina is the best way to go:

As u gather gear, socket everything with stamina.. everything. Ofc remember to have 1 red/purple/prismatic gem for meta.
Its importen to have atleast dodge cap for expertice (26), so socketing for this is good.
My suggestion is that u socket stamina all the way, but at some point around 50k buffed hp, u should have enough hp to withstand anything, then its a good idea to start socketing agi, for several reasons. 1 is threat, if u have trouble in threat it will help u. 2nd is helping healers keep mana with dodging attack.

What im trying to say here is; dodge is not a secure way of gearing, because u never know if u will get unlucky and get 2 full hits in after eachother and die. You will find this very posible at notherend beast at gormok. Insted Im more into the idea of being able to take more dmg, therefor giving the healers a chance to heal u up, and not being 1. shotted.

note: here is my armory http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sh...oodhoof&n=zreo, note that i dont have expertice dodge cap (only have 25) but i allways use expertice food.

For gear, a good idea is to go for the items with expertice, its a good way to keep up threat, but remember that the items need high value of stamina and some sockets to make it good.
A good idea is to go for 4xtier9 as the reduction in barkskin CD is awesome.
For trinkets, just go for full stamina trinkets.
As for weapon, pvp is a nice way to get the highest amount of stamina on a weapon.
Try to get as much armor out of your gear, with rings, necks and cloak with armor/exstra armor.

so here is what i think : stamina>armor>expertice dodge cap>agility. im stopping it here cause no more is needed. Dodge rating is out of the question, because it gives less dodge % than agility. Im not taking hit with, cause alot of the gear that is good have hit, and u shouldnt be socketing for it. As for expertice parry cap, try to archieve it trough gear and be sure to get alot of expertice + stamina food. You should only socket agility, if you fell like more stamina aint gonna chance anything (im at this point with 60k buffed HP).

Also, as for idol, dont go for the triumph badge one, go for the conquorer one, its better.

[arel00]

No.

Zreo, I completely understand your point, but this is guide for ALL Bears, not just for those doing TotGC25 or similar content. And I'll add, if I may, that those very tanks on cutting edge progression should not need a guide like this in the first place. This isn't a number-crunching thread, it's merely to understand Bear tanking.

What you say about stamina is true, but ONLY in your situation. There is absolutely no need to buffer that much Effective Health AT ALL, unless you're doing TotGC25. Normal 25men, and even heroic 10men, don't require a full stamina socketing. They simply don't hit that hard to justify it.

That is why it's NOT a good way to just "get gear and socket stamina". It's not required until you step into high end progression. At that point, you can regem. If you just go for EH before, you're gimping your own stats to gain NOTHING, because you will have enough health to take two hits in a row anyway.

Said that, I second everything about expertise, stats and Idol choices. I'm sorry I have to be this rough when it comes to gemming, but people MUST understand when it is useful to pursue a certain stat and when it's not. It would be the same that telling Cats to gem ArP without the minimum required gear.
It's not that simple as if one stat trumped the others every time, no matter the contest. And for the sake of keeping this guide clear, I must make that distinction, every time a post like yours appear.

[getefix]

You see, Im a cute little bear with 38.6k hp, 42% dodge and 29,5k armor Unbuffed, BUT

in my guild, the protection paladins and warriors got around 40k HP unbuffed, which is really bugging me since I'm always reading that we should be with so much more HP than other tanks

You should be right alongside them with stam imo. Probably the reason they have more health is because their gear is better. You have a lot of Ulduar gear. Start replacing your 226 ilvl gear with 245 and you should notice yourself coming near 40k HP unbuffed.

I have 41k unbuffed hp with Heart of Iron and The Black Heart. I have 2 30 stam gems and the rest are 10 stam 15 agil. I don't even use stam shoulder enchants or stam on my boots. Check my armory if you like:
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...mmer&n=Getefix

[Zreo]

No.

Zreo, I completely understand your point, but this is guide for ALL Bears, not just for those doing TotGC25 or similar content. And I'll add, if I may, that those very tanks on cutting edge progression should not need a guide like this in the first place. This isn't a number-crunching thread, it's merely to understand Bear tanking.

What you say about stamina is true, but ONLY in your situation. There is absolutely no need to buffer that much Effective Health AT ALL, unless you're doing TotGC25. Normal 25men, and even heroic 10men, don't require a full stamina socketing. They simply don't hit that hard to justify it.

That is why it's NOT a good way to just "get gear and socket stamina". It's not required until you step into high end progression. At that point, you can regem. If you just go for EH before, you're gimping your own stats to gain NOTHING, because you will have enough health to take two hits in a row anyway.

Said that, I second everything about expertise, stats and Idol choices. I'm sorry I have to be this rough when it comes to gemming, but people MUST understand when it is useful to pursue a certain stat and when it's not. It would be the same that telling Cats to gem ArP without the minimum required gear.
It's not that simple as if one stat trumped the others every time, no matter the contest. And for the sake of keeping this guide clear, I must make that distinction, every time a post like yours appear.

Lol i thought everyone is doing 25normal toc.. its being pugged alot on my realm and another realm i have been on.

and I dont get why u dont agree with my idol choice. The proc is almost up all time on the conqourer, and the dodge % giving by the 2 is almost the same, and then the conqourer one give crit (more savage def.) and armor.

and also a remark to the original post of this thread (the guide) .. parry haste is removed, it no longer excists, so expertice is purely threat stat.

[Kitiar]

Okay, thanks for the replies, I certainly got something to work with ^^

Anyways, mostly wanted to be confirmed if it was okay that I wasn't far above other tanking classes in HP ^^

Thanks! <3

[axxey]

and also a remark to the original post of this thread (the guide) .. parry haste is removed, it no longer excists, so expertice is purely threat stat.

Can you refer me to any posts about this?
As far as i was aware only some bosses have parry haste mechanics turned off.

[Zreo]

Can you refer me to any posts about this?
As far as i was aware only some bosses have parry haste mechanics turned off.

Cba to do this, but in a blue post some time ago, they said that parry haste was added to gormok, and this was a mistake as parry haste shouldnt be ingame anymore.

[Nenaunir]

Parry haste definitely still exists in game. It's just disabled for some bosses so they are able to make them hit harder, so that tanks don't get killed within a second because of parry haste mechanics.

Bosses that have parry haste disabled for example are Gormok and Steelbreaker. The fact that they enabled parry haste for Gormok was a mistake, but parry haste itself is still in-game on the majority of the bosses.