New Bear - Tanking Heroics

[Deleted]

Hi,

I managed to get my druid to 80 on saturday and been running through ToC5 and the ICC 5mans in normal mode for most of sunday and got a few pieces of gear.

I played a tankadin through TBC and early WotLK and being rage starved all the time is a new thing for me. With my pala in TBC i used to have to drink between pulls but atleast it could be ready in secs, but now with a 60sec cd on rage regen ability i am struggling.

With so many overgeared people running heroics these days, i am a bit nervous about making the jump up.

Any tips on how to manage rage better so that i don't slow things down?

I went for spec 1 from the FAQ but this has a point missing in master shapeshifter (or whatever the talent was called), is it worth getting the full points in this to guarantee 10 rage on a pull?

Are there any potions around that i could use to get some rage, incase i hit rage starve at the wrong moment, a bit like a mana potion?

[Deleted]

p.s.

what tends to be the first (non frost) badge purchase that bears go for?

[Ormula]

There are lots of things to go for with triumph badges. Just start down the list. As an insta-queue tank, it will go by fast.

If you only have 4/5 in furor, make a powershift macro, which pops you in and out of bear form, until you get 10 rage.

#showtooltip
/cast [stance:1] !Dire Bear Form
/cast [stance:2] !Aquatic Form
/cast [stance:3] !Cat Form
/cast [stance:4] !Travel Form
/cast [stance:5] !Tree of Life
/cast [noswimming,nostance] Tree of Life
/cast [swimming] Aquatic Form

If you are having a really tough time with rage (Which... I don't think you would be, with your gear, you'll probably be getting trucked and not dodging very much = Full rage bar), if you have Maul bound to all your keys, have it only bound to Mangle. Less threat generation, but you can handle your rage better that way.

Remember that FFF has no rage cost. So if you're struggling for rage and threat, throw that up there.

You said you're using spec 1, but if you've having lots of problems with rage, you might want to consider speccing out of King of the Jungle (Which is useless unless you have 2pc t10) and into Shredding Attacks, which reduces the rage cost of Lacerate.

PS: If a DPS passes you on threat, it's not all your fault. Maybe you could have done something to pull more threat, but he should be watching his threatmeter too.

[Sunshine]

You don't need full points in furor -- the chance of extra rage is nice, but you can reshift (using the macro above) and eventually get some rage. You won't usually need to, though; since Enrage provides 20 rage automatically. Hit that as you're running in, and you've got enough to get you started for the pull.

To continue, at the end of each pull when the mobs are close to death, you can stop using maul (or attacks in general) in order to build some rage to carry to the next pull. Use enrage when it's up between pulls and keep chain pulling as much as possible, and you'll be fine. When I started playing my prot paladin, the pulling style felt similar in order to keep up DP -- try treating it the same way.

[Nose Nuggets]

This is odd to hear, imo. The only time i have rage issues is between pulls. like, if we finish a grup and then wait for someones mana and my enrage is on CD. You might be using Maul to much.

If you have to pop enrage before a fight, dont feel compelled to charge. just walk in and start swiping.

[Deleted]

I think i have got too used to going all out on my pala, using seal of wis in heroics to keep mana.

I held back a bit more last night especially near the end of the pull and worked out a lot better.

Also got a few upgrade which is cool. More to come hopefully ;D

Thanks for the armory link, gives me some ideas.

Do druids tend to use 2 stam trinkets like pala's etc or more armor / avoidance ones?

[snuzzle]

I think i have got too used to going all out on my pala, using seal of wis in heroics to keep mana.

I held back a bit more last night especially near the end of the pull and worked out a lot better.

Also got a few upgrade which is cool. More to come hopefully ;D

Thanks for the armory link, gives me some ideas.

Do druids tend to use 2 stam trinkets like pala's etc or more armor / avoidance ones?

I'm currently using The Black Heart in one slot and the Vengeance of the Forsaken in the other because my gear is sorely lacking in expertise. I've got hit rating out the big bear behind, but expertise seems to be something missing on a lot of ICC gear :\

[Cyclonus]

i have a druid with pretty average gear (mostly conquest or equiv), which i use for the daily / weekly to buy saronites.

If you are chain pulling, just as the last target is about to die and you are clearly ahead on threat, i just autoattack the last 2 or so seconds, usually that allows me enough rage to then charge the next pack swipe it a few times and repeat.

If we have to stop, and then pull, thats when i use my rage c/d.

its probably a terrible way of doing it, but i only tank 5's and it always ensures i have 70+ rage when charging the next pack. Oh and yeah FF is amazing for a free aggro move.

[Dharmabhum]

First purchases should either be building up tier 9 gear (if you think you'll not achieve T10 soon which is likely) or picking up the Clutch of Fortification or the Glyph of Indomitability. Both are incredible for bears. Black Heart is good as well at lower levels so use those two for now and you'll be set. Then Clutch and Mark of the Relentless aren't bad for two tanking rings off the bat in the 5 man ToC. I'd suggest one stamina trinket especially if you're lower on the gear level. Bears scale well with stamina and it will help to give a little buffer for your healer if you're still lacking a bit on armor and dodge at early levels.

As for rage issues, indeed use a power shift macro. Every time before a pull, I shift until I get the 10 rage from my 3/5 Furor talent, and then I can also use Enrage to get up to 30+ rage before the pull. That power shift before hand is a free ten rage and you should not be afraid to use it between pulls if your rage has decayed.

Also on rage, remember to look for critters between pulls as well. A white hit on them will give you 30 rage easily and you can usually save up most of that for the next pull or augment it further with an Enrage.

Lastly, especially in heroics, I don't have Maul macroed to Mangle but I do have it combined with Swipe and Lacerate. The extra white hit in there can help out with rage if you can expend the extra threat (threat shouldn't be a big issue though). I have Maul on my bars still though in that case so I can queue Maul up if I'm not rage-starved.

[Sunshine]

Do druids tend to use 2 stam trinkets like pala's etc or more armor / avoidance ones?

I generally advise to try to avoid using 2 stam trinkets for general purpose tanking, but keep them around for those fights where you really need the stam boost (although, that doesn't really apply to heroics). Sticking with 2 armor/avoid or 1 stam + 1 armor/avoid trinket both work -- black heart + glyph of indomitability is a great combo for starting out.