evilpeppard
Always Fight For Freedom
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join:2003-08-20
Aurora, CO
clubs: 
| [ Classes] Druid tanking: rotation and glyphs
Hello friends. I've been leveling a new Druid and hit 75 yesterday. I've been following a leveling guide and burning through levels fairly quick for the amount of time I can play. Sorry in advance for the book posting.
My initial intent was to get to 80 and respec from feral to resto and help my guild heal. I previously was on a disc/holy priest that acted as a main healer for us pre-wotlk. When dual spec comes out, I planned on feral/resto initially.
Anyway, it ends up that most of the groups I've gotten into lately I've ended up main tanking instead of dps. These are PUG's, not guild groups. I've not taken tanking seriously because I figured I would be acting in a healing role at 80, so there wasn't much need for me to get into every aspect of tanking at this time.
Last night I ran my first dungeon with my guild, Drak'Tharion Keep. The group asked me to tank. I felt I really needed to show my stuff since I just hit 75 last night and was getting my first opportunity to be in a guild group. (Most everyone is already 80 and running Naxx regularly. I had started this Druid from scratch when WotLK released, so everyone was long ahead of me.) Well, I really enjoyed tanking and got complimented by the group as well. It started making me think, maybe I will stick with trying to main tank at 80 instead of assuming I will need to go resto.
My question is this. Can some of you veterans suggest proper rotation in bear form as a main tank, please? I think I do well, but any tips and advice would be welcome, since I should be 80 very soon and will be entering heroics, Naxx, etc.
Also, I would like to know the best glyph suggestions for a bear form main tank, please.
Let me know and thank you for your time.
For reference, here is my armory link:
»www.wowarmory.com/character-shee···apphirra
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"My actions are not revenge...they are punishment..."
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slashr
join:2009-01-21
Alexandria, VA | I've only seen the druid tank a couple of heroics, now I don't know if he was just really undergear or what. He had 30k HP but I could not heal him. The first boss of old kingdom would 1-2 shot em. Where's the midigation? |
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MogXIV
@cmh.edu
| reply to evilpeppard
Feral tanks needs good armor, good dodge, and high HP. Somewhere in the area of 25k armor, 30k HP, 30% dodge is what is needed for heroics and what not.
Rotation is fairly simple for one target. (assuming imp mangle)
Mangle>Lacerate x2>mangle>Lacerate x2>Mangle>Lacerate x1> Swipe>Mangle, then refresh 5 stacks of lacerate and Mangle/Swipe. Queue maul constantly, so long as you have rage. Also, if you are on a mob and rage starved, use feral ff. It's free and does about 1k threat.
For trash pulls with more mobs, do the same but don't lacerate. Swipe is all you need to maintain aggro. Lacerate x5 is just to apply a bleed and a 5 stack does more damage than swipe. Swipe applies more aggro, so it's always better for more than 1 mob. Also, don't be afraid to use maul/swipe when pulling instead of starting with a mangle to ensure you grab everything. Getting off a swipe first is big since we can't just clap/conc/boil to grab guys running to our healers.
Glyphs are fairly straight forward.
Maul is a staple. Maul hits like a truck with R&T, and hitting 2 mobs instead of one is sick.
Frenzied Regen- Also a staple. 20% extra healing makes it a life saver.
Last spot is open. There really sin't a tanking glpyh for this spot yet, sadly. I generally went with rip for kitty use. |
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Clipper
join:2002-05-23
Stoney Creek, ON
| It's not so much rotation as it is priority.
Priority 1: Mangle every cooldown.
Priority 2: Maul (Only if you have >25ish rage)
Priority 3: Lacerate or Swipe.
Priority 4: Refresh Faerie Fire, and Demo roar
Mangle is your bread an butter threat generator. Maul is a close second, except because it uses a swing, you lose the rage you would normally generate from the white damage, which is why you want to use it when you have > 25 rage.
Bosses you want to get lacerate up to 5x, then refresh it. The bleed damage helps. If lacerate is at 5, and you have a free GCD, use swipe instead. For multi mobs, swipe is obviously your best option.
The days of rotation based DPS or tanking, are long gone. It's all about priority now. Use your abilities based on priority sequence and what's available. |
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flycat
| reply to evilpeppard
I use mangle, maul and rip as my 3 glyphs. I find rip to be useful when not tanking which is 50% of the time or more.
As the last post said, make sure you use maul when you have the rage, but be sure to get a lacerate on the mobs.
One thing nobody mentioned was barkskin. 20% less dmg on a short cooldown makes this very useful. |
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evilpeppard
Always Fight For Freedom
Premium
join:2003-08-20
Aurora, CO
clubs: | reply to evilpeppard
Thank you all. This is very helpful info and I appreciate it.
I'll check those glyphs and make a note of the rotation/priority suggestions.
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"My actions are not revenge...they are punishment..."
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Cristianorj
join:2005-12-01
Brazil
| reply to evilpeppard
I've only seen the druid tank a couple of heroics, now I don't know if he was just really undergear or what. He had 30k HP but I could not heal him. The first boss of old kingdom would 1-2 shot em. Where's the midigation? HP isnt a mitigation status... druids who focus on stamina are doing wrong, armor+dodge>stamina. Stamina value scales linearly, armor+dodge value scales exponentially.
The bad thing is... if you focus on mitigation stats it is very likely that you will be kicked from a pug raid for not having enough hp... happened to me a few times. The druids that focus on sta just make our reputation go down as they get lots of damage and drain healers´s mana. |
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slashr
join:2009-01-21
Alexandria, VA | Like I said the guy I healed for was 1-2 shotted each attempt. |
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Harddrive
Premium
join:2000-09-20
Norwich, CT
| hey slashr, just noticed you new around here. thanks for joining the site.
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I've come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass and i'm all outta bubblegum. |
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slashr
join:2009-01-21
Alexandria, VA | Yeah I finally found a way to get my fix during the day...-> BSing with you guys. |
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Don69Fire
Premium
join:2006-12-28
Danville, WV | i tell ya. i miss getting my fix. last night i logged on and they was finishing up a full 25 naxx and i so miss it. dang. well, only 110 days to go. lol... |
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stonhinge
join:2003-07-28
Topeka, KS
clubs:
| reply to evilpeppard
For every tank, you need a balance of mitigation and HP. You can't just slap +sta gems in every socket now.
Properly talented, a feral tank will be uncrittable right off the bat. However, they don't get the extra mitigation that the defense a warrior/paladin/DK has to stack to get to that. So agility is good, and since it will scale better than just dodge, socket it as well as stamina. Expertise is good to keep you from getting parries/dodges. Hit keeps you from missing. The Austere Earthsiege Diamond is your choice for meta gems, with its +32 sta and 2% bonus armor from items. Don't take defense unless the rest of the stats on an item make it an upgrade anyways.
Also, keep in mind that you can use any 2H mace, staff, and polearm now. You'll see what bonus AP you'll get from them, and find one with a decent chunk of sta and agi.
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When the ship lifts, all bills are paid. No regrets. |
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The Chick
Gnomes Are Not Food.
Premium
join:2002-07-22
Baltimore, MD
clubs:
| reply to evilpeppard
My fiancee plays a druid, and has tanked for as long as i can remember. He's pretty easy to heal - it's dodge. If your druid tank has shit armor or dodge, they will die. And fast.
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The Kingdom |
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evilpeppard
Always Fight For Freedom
Premium
join:2003-08-20
Aurora, CO
clubs:
| reply to stonhinge
said by stonhinge  :For every tank, you need a balance of mitigation and HP. You can't just slap +sta gems in every socket now. Properly talented, a feral tank will be uncrittable right off the bat. However, they don't get the extra mitigation that the defense a warrior/paladin/DK has to stack to get to that. So agility is good, and since it will scale better than just dodge, socket it as well as stamina. Expertise is good to keep you from getting parries/dodges. Hit keeps you from missing. The Austere Earthsiege Diamond is your choice for meta gems, with its +32 sta and 2% bonus armor from items. Don't take defense unless the rest of the stats on an item make it an upgrade anyways. Also, keep in mind that you can use any 2H mace, staff, and polearm now. You'll see what bonus AP you'll get from them, and find one with a decent chunk of sta and agi. Thanks Stone. Great information and duly noted.
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"My actions are not revenge...they are punishment..."
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jofos
join:2008-02-14
Irvington, AL | What would you guys recomend for HP and dodge before starting heroics? |
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pp03
join:2002-06-13
Minneapolis, MN
1 edit | reply to evilpeppard
Druid tanking is very simple:
Glyphs, you only use glyph of Maul and you really don't "need" it. Glyph of mangle is decent, but even less required than Maul.
Any situation where there is three or more mobs here is your rotation.
Que maul, swipe, que maul, swipe, que maul, swipe and on and on.
If your berserk cooldown is up the rotation becomes:
que maul, mangle, que maul, mangle, que maul, mangle, que maul, mange.
For single target threat generation:
Assuming there is no mangle debuff, #1 mangle, assumin there is no bleed #2 lacerate.
Assuming both of those are true:
Que maul, swipe, que maul, swipe, que maul, swipe, que maul, swipe.
Throw mangles and lacerates in there when you want.
As far as talents, go with something like this:
»www.wowhead.com/?talent=0ZtGGscr···zVo0Eczb
If you desire improved mangle do 3/3 and drop something else. Because of global cooldowns on instants you GET NO BENEFIT at all from improved mangle when tanking unless it is 3/3. Just throwing that out there.
Have fun.
Edit, if you are wondering why there is one point in feral aggression, that puts the debuff at the AP reduction cap, any extra points are wasted.
I also forgot to mention about your rotation, 3 or more mobs, when you are NOT over geared, should be debuffed for AP -- especially in heroics like CoT when you are tanking 5 mobs. Healers won't know how much mana you are saving them, bad druids never use it.
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