How far can you tank in dps spec & weapons?

[Ragedaug]

For UBRS (2heal) and runs where we lack a mage i prefer a prot with a shield, but thats really so the run can go without many stops for my mana. Im healing as a 58 shaman who is not resto specced yet.
For brd and such not running with a "tank" who just 2hs and cleaves feels like a waste

For dungeons I find that's part of the issue in that our non-heal-spec'd healer has to drink after most pulls when I'm not wearing my shield. So the big question would be how much time is spent stopping to drink after each pull compared to what time is saved during the pull with the extra tank damage. And if you don't have a mage, how much coin is being spent on drinks.

[TwoMana]

I healed an arms warrior wielding a staff through ST and we weren't particularly high level for it..

Some asshat streamer getting carried through content by his mouthbreathing fans isn't really indicative of any kind of norm.

Well its pretty indicative (along with your first comment) of how easy the raid/dungeon content in Classic really is.
You can tank it in any spec and stance, any old way you feel like and it'll be fine.
You can also heal just fine without speccing into healing trees.

[God Save The King]

As long as your healer and group are aware, you can DPS tank all the way through to raids, and even some easier raid bosses.

My guild's two primary tanks 2h tanked all the max level dungeons and only needed to use a shield for the final boss in UBRS and some hairy pulls (they were also Arms or Fury spec at this point). We often have them tank raid bosses as 2h so the tank healers actually have something to do. Only on Baron/Ragnaros do they throw on FR gear and use a shield. The 2h tanking works great on Onyxia to pick up threat on the p3 transition as well (they respecc'ed prot for raids).

Again, the group needs to be aware as you'll take more damage and have some issues with threat. But honestly, for AoE packs, the 2h arms tank was way better than a standard protection warrior. I think they did something like charge + whirlwind then swap stances into sweeping strikes and tab target. I'm not a warrior so I am not 100%, but that is what I think they said.

[Sylvandoh]

You can tank MC and Onyxia as fury

See: Asmongold doing it weekly now

The moment you said his name is the moment you lost all credibility on anything and everything.

[ghotihook]

The moment you said his name is the moment you lost all credibility on anything and everything.

He is literally just stating a fact...
I heal dual wielding furry warriors as shadow in strat and scholo. It just requires you to drink more and not to be stupid with pulls.
I also tanked Onyxia as a shadow priest in Vanilla when we were almost done with BWL. Neither of these are hard.

[schwank05]

Best to go Arms and WW threat build works great, I am currently in ZF and all my tanks are Arms. Had a buddy try both Prot and Arms and he is able to hold threat much better as Arms because he is actually able to generate Rage.

[Jujudrood]

UBRS is usually the point where even a premade group can get into hairy situations.
Just macro a shield/stance swap for the bad situations, but otherwise, if you have a good healer and DPS cc/focus the roper targets, pretty much all dungeons can be tanked with a non-tank.

[Caladia]

I was healing Warriors with a 2h weapon up to ZF, but it becomes such a mana drain. I was having to stop and drink after every pull because he was just taking so much damage. Going Fury talents is fine, but throwing on a shield and using Defensive stance is not the end of the world.

[Caperfin]

You can do the entirety of the game as fury tank, the limit is set by how much effort you put into it and your guild experience to make it happen.
Also, being Alliance helps a great deal.

[Sylvandoh]

He is literally just stating a fact...
I heal dual wielding furry warriors as shadow in strat and scholo. It just requires you to drink more and not to be stupid with pulls.
I also tanked Onyxia as a shadow priest in Vanilla when we were almost done with BWL. Neither of these are hard.

And so am I. Asmongold is NOT a reference.

[dwightyo39]

Just did zul farak with my friend tanking on his dps speced feral. We were all lvl 44-46 (he was 44). I (shadow priest who was the group healer) drank a lot of conjured water, but it wasn't particularly difficult.

Optimal? No. However, I'd rather group with my friends than try to min/max.

[ghotihook]

And so am I. Asmongold is NOT a reference.

All he said is he does. Which literally any guild can do. You don't need to be APES to do it. Since he actually does and did it, he is a reference. I get that you have some massive weird hatred from him as I can see from your other posts, but it doesn't make his statement factually incorrect.

[Charge me Doctor]

I was healing Warriors with a 2h weapon up to ZF, but it becomes such a mana drain. I was having to stop and drink after every pull because he was just taking so much damage. Going Fury talents is fine, but throwing on a shield and using Defensive stance is not the end of the world.

If you don't use def stance mobs will flok the healer after the first heal, unless you CC and kill stuff one-by-one. I still struggle with not pulling aggro from warrior tanks in BRS, i can't imagine them not using def stance.

[Essem]

Been tanking every dungeon with 1h/shield as fury raid specc. Just usual pre raid tanking stuff, nothing too fancy. The biggest "problem" is the threat, specially on large pulls 4-5 mobs. Charge in (if you can) demo shout > whirlwind > go def stance and just do as much threat as your rage allows.

[apustus]

Burning Crusade.

[Caperfin]

Burning Crusade.

Funnily enough, yup And even quite a large amount in TBC as well.

[Storfan]

I'm tanking in fury spec with dual swords, I don't even use defensive stance or a shield, I managed to do a WC easily like this, it's faster and I don't think that tanking properly makes any difference, I barely tank tbh, I just dps. How far can I go like this? shall I try sfk or bfd like this?

I'm 17/34 fury and I tank all lvl60 5mans and UBRS in dualwield+defstance+tankgear and I just equip shield for the occational hard hitting mob/boss. Most mobs and bosses in 5mans, even at lvl60 hit like a wet noodle. Infact, I even dualwield tank alot of trash in MC.

[Nitros14]

I assume the 9k patchwerk hateful strikes would be higher than your HP pool without a shield on.

Maexxna web spray might be a bit hairy without last stand, unless you're overwhelming the content so badly you don't get a single web spray while she's enraged, which was zero guilds on their first kill in 2006. On private servers they do crazy shit like full flask and elixir the dps for an early wing boss.

Loatheb is probably dicey too?

Four Horsemen you could probably dps tank they don't hit that hard except Mograine who's main threat is fire damage. Healers would hate you though.

[Caperfin]

I assume the 9k patchwerk hateful strikes would be higher than your HP pool without a shield on.

Maexxna web spray might be a bit hairy without last stand, unless you're overwhelming the content so badly you don't get a single web spray while she's enraged, which was zero guilds on their first kill in 2006. On private servers they do crazy shit like full flask and elixir the dps for an early wing boss.

Loatheb is probably dicey too?

Four Horsemen you could probably dps tank they don't hit that hard except Mograine who's main threat is fire damage. Healers would hate you though.

You can dw fury tank spider.
Yup, it's possible to kill spider before web.
Loath, im actually not sure.
Yup.

[Bergfalke]

Back in vanilla I specced into prot at 60. I found tanking much more enjoyable than doing dps. Stuck with it until Maexxna and then left for uni.

When classic arrived I thought Id just continue where I left off.

White damage. Sunder and revenge. These are my main threat generators. Currently lvl 45 and sporting an arms/prot hybrid, 12/5/19 if youre interested. And its more than enough to maintain aggro on a boss, or 1-4+ mobs. For heavy aoe, and/or hectic groups I use dragonbreath chili/oil of immolation. Ive noticed that I never use rend or heroic strike/cleave while tanking so I dont bother with deep wounds and impale. Im in arms just for tactical mastery/anger management, basically.

Anyway. Ive always found grinding therapeutical, however with this build its such a chore. I will never use a 2-hander because its boring and I hate it. I cant stand a swing timer taking ages to fill up. So Im thinking of dropping all the points from prot into fury and returning to prot at 60.

Now, Id reckon id miss imp br and defiance, sure, but shouldnt the extra sword, rage generation and dps make up for that? Id like to continue to grind/tank while leveling and perform well while doing it, will I struggle at maintaining threat after the respec? I just cant see it. Am I missing something?

I dont care about Skarms videos, its not representative of anything pre 60 (but I do like the guy). I want to hear from nobodys like me in their 50s, telling me that dual weilding fury tanking in defensive stance is either crap or good. Or fun. Not "viable", because thats neither of those things.