This site makes extensive use of JavaScript.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser.
Classic Theme
Thottbot Theme
Face Blocking 101
Post Reply
Return to board index
Post by
hashmel
The intent of this thread has changed somewhat since its conception, going from an intended full length guide to my being lazy and battling the time constraints of real life to being chopped away at in the spirit of simplification for the everyday Druid looking to give tanking a try. Because of this streamlining there are explanations missing as to why things work the way they do, very rarely do people question why as they're largely content with just getting a straight answer. For those who struggle not to ask why, I'll gladly answer your inquiries as they arise and encourage you to continue asking questions in the future; without questions, answers are just statements nobody asked to hear.
General tips for gemming, chanting, gearing, speccing, macros, and all around awesomeness.
All numbers pertaining to player<>mob interaction are based on level 80 vs level 83 raid boss
Hit Cap
Hit cap isn't an absolutely must have for tanks but if you're capable of reaching it with little effort then do so. Growl, Challenging Roar, Demo Roar, and FFF are based on spell hit.
32.79 rating = 1% melee/ranged/special hit
26.232 rating = 1% spell hit
With a moonkin/shadow priest as a given...
263 rating will ensure ALL physical/special abilities land and 3.98% chance to miss with spells
368 rating will ensure ALL abilities will land (beyond this is ABSOLUTELY USELESS)
Alliance with heroic presence and a moonkin/shadow priest as a given...
230 rating will ensure ALL physical/special abilities land and 4.24% chance to miss with spells
342 rating will ensure ALL abilities will land (beyond this is ABSOLUTELY USELESS)
Being hit capped isn't mandatory but does help, aim for it as you see fit.
Expertise Cap
Dodge Cap = 6.5% (26 exp or 214 / 173 / 132 rating with 0/1/2 Primal Precision)
Parry Cap = 14% (56exp or 460 / 419 / 378 rating with 0/1/2 Primal Precision)
You want to be at or preferably above the dodge cap but there's no urgency to gear toward the parry cap.
Stats to look for
Look specifically for 2 or more of the following on gear.
Rings/necks/cloaks = bonus armor, abundantly high stamina, defense rating, dodge rating
Leather = stamina, agility
Trinkets = stamina or armor passively and an on use or proc offering more stamina, armor, health, dodge, resistances, or absorption
Be sure to maintain a healthy level of hit/expertise as much as possible while aiming for these.
Enchantments for bears
Head=
Arcanum of the Stalwart Protector
or
Mind Amplification Dish
Shoulder=
Greater Inscription of the Gladiator
or
Master's Inscription of the Pinnacle
Back=
Major Agility
,
Mighty Armor
, or
Flexweave Underlay
Chest=
Heavy Borean Armor Kit
or
Powerful Stats
Wrist=
Major Stamina
or
Fur Lining - Stamina
Hands=
Major Agility
,
Heavy Borean Armor Kit
,
Expertise
, or
Reticulated Armor Webbing
Belt=
Frag Belt
or
Personal Electromagnetic Pulse Generator
Legs=
Frosthide Leg Armor
Feet=
Greater Fortitude
or
Tuskarr's Vitality
Rings=
Stamina
Weapon=
Mongoose
or
Massacre
Socket Bracer
,
Socket Gloves
, and
Eternal Belt Buckle
are
not
enchants and as such will
not
overwrite enchants
I don't agree with all of these namely agility in place of equivalent stamina and massacre but they're included for player preference.
I'd generally say absolutely not to expertise to gloves but in the event (for whatever reason) you're less than soft capped grab it, if it were the difference between just under and hitting the hard cap i may consider it as well just to say I've pushed parries off the attack table but generally it's not needed.
Spec
0/53/10+8
are the very basic necessities for a tank build.
OoC procs off both auto attacks and mauls and is a godsend for low rage situations allowing you to maintain respectable threat generation in the absence of rage or even prevent most low rage situations from arising in the first place.
ILotP is the only talent left that actually offers you more survivability and in fact grants its benefit to all physical dps, can be skipped if your group comp is caster heavy, if another feral provides it, or just as preference though it will result in less survivability for all those it affects.
Due to the value of these two talents they're generally included in most guides' bear talent builds for
0/55/11+5
.
The third major glyph should be Survival Instincts for survivability or Growling for specific encounters where a taunt missing is the difference between loot and a corpse run when under spell hit capped. The other two minor glyphs are preference but Challenging Roar is recommended.
From 0/55/11+5 you generally have two options, KotJ or MS.
KotJ offers superior utility, better shifting mana cost reduction, better burst damage when it matters, and if enrage is used every 60~62 seconds KotJ offers more dps per point than MS.
MS offers more consistent damage which translates into more consistent threat than KotJ and is a significant benefit when starting out.
KotJ =
0/58/11+2
, the last 2 can go into the following based on preference/needs.
Shredding Attacks if you often go cat in your bear spec otherwise it's of little benefit.
Brutal Impact to halve the cd of our only reliable pve stun/interrupt. (I strongly recommend this if using a KotJ build)
Nurturing Instinct for more solo/pvp survivability and downtime reduction. (annoying using your entire mana pool healing ~37k health with 0 spell power)
Furor can be topped off for a 100% chance at rage generation upon shifting to bear form. (not very impressive as you can simply shift again for the rage proc before a pull)
There aren't really any other options that compare to the above.
Enrage can always be used at the start of a pull if desired, bosses rarely have a high burst period that would threaten the tank/s within the first minute let alone first 10 seconds and the burst threat from KotJ will give a larger opening threat ceiling for dps to warm up quicker.
Strongly recommended out of the two builds once threat becomes less of an urgency and even more so when you acquire 4T10.
MS =
0/55/16
It's a very straightforward build with no room for personalization but strongly recommended for those new to Feral tanking as the consistent damage/threat is very handy at that point in regards to maintaining aggro.
There
is
a third option, MS+KotJ,
0/56/15
.
Pros:
The same consistent damage/threat offered by MS.
Superior shifting mana cost reduction to even KotJ builds.
Superior burst damage/threat to KotJ's own burst damage.
Cons:
The lack of OoC may cause low rage situations to arise more often when running non-current--raid content.
It lacks the utility offered by a KotJ build.
When the group composition lacks another Feral Druid to supply the ILotP affect it results in a loss of overall survivability for not only you but all non-casters in the group/raid and can potentially cause mana issues to arise while soloing/pvping.
Just a
generalization
of the builds.
MS = beginner - intermediate gear/content (gearing up and running a healthy amount of heroics and other non-current-raid content)
KotJ = intermediate - high gear/content (sufficiently geared but still running a healthy amount of heroics and other non-current-raid content)
MS+KotJ = high gear/content (sufficiently geared and running very little non-current-raid content with another Feral Druid present to supply ILotP)
Macros
#showtooltip Mangle (Bear)
/cast
Mangle (Bear)()
/cast
Maul()
#showtooltip Swipe (Bear)
/cast
Swipe (Bear)()
/cast
Maul()
#showtooltip Lacerate
/cast
Lacerate()
/cast
Maul()
#showtooltip Faerie Fire (Feral)
/cast
Faerie Fire (Feral)()
/cast
Maul()
Replace swipe, FFF and lacerate with the appropriate macro and add the mangle one to your bar but keep the unmacroed mangle handy for berserk+mangle spams when mauling would have you go rage starved.
Feel free to add modifiers and such if you'd like, left them out in order to keep it to the basics for the everyday reader.
/cast
Survival Instincts
/cast
Frenzied Regeneration
Makes a handy "Oh %^&*" button and you don't risk being CCed between SI and FR, while they can be used separately the healing from FR will be significantly increased by tying them together.
DO NOT
make a master Oh $%^& button that burns FR/SI/barkskin/a pot/healthstone/and trinkets, blowing every available safety measure will leave you highly exposed anywhere from 36-132 seconds.
You don't block a pillow with a brick wall, you block it with your hand then if you find out there are bars of soup in the pillowcase you block with both hands.
Sockets
Match the most beneficial red socket bonus with a Shifting (agil/stam) or Guardian's (exp/stam) Dreadstone for the Meta's 1 red requirement then fill every other socket with a Solid (stam) Majestic Zircon or Dragon's Eye if you're a Jewelcrafter.
Metas
Austere Earthsiege Diamond
(1 +
3.7
) *
4 / 3
*
1.1
) *
1.02
= 703% armor from cloth/leather + non cloth/leather armor armor *
1.02
+ armor from agility/chants/buffs = total armor
This isn't a massive amount this far into armor but more mitigation never hurts, with 30k armor from gear alone (not including from agility or buffs) you get exactly 600 armor from the meta which will amount to about 0.35% or so physical damage reduction.
Effulgent Skyflare Diamond
static 2% magical damage reduction which isn't easy to come by. (I personally recommend this over Austere)
Single Target Rotation
The general rotation is based around 6 seconds, 1.5 seconds between each ability.
FFF > Mangle > Filler > Filler
Lacerate during fillers till it's at a 5 stack then Swipe during fillers unless Lacerate needs refreshing.
Mangle, it's the highest threat ability bound to the GCD.
Faerie Fire, it's the 2nd highest threat GCD ability, is ranged, and increases all physical damage on its target.
Swipe is the 3rd highest direct damage GCD ability
Lacerate is the 4th highest direct damage threat GCD ability
If you're responsible for applying the AP reduction or have the T9 idol be sure to work demo roar/swipe in between mangles and FFFs as needed.
AoE Rotation Usually 3+
1: Swipe
2: see step 1
Bears imo have the best aoe capabilities of all the tanks, they aren't reliant on standing within one area and can be spammed which is nice as you aren't watching a CD and dps by rule of thumb won't give you time for anything else.
Idols
Mutilation
is the idol of choice for aoe tanking as it procs off swipe, this is ideal for situations where there are a lot of trash mobs that just don't live long. Use this for any 5 man and raid trash up until Ulduar and Ony Whelps.
Crying Moon
is the idol of choice for tanking bosses and generally large trash mobs that don't drop like flies. Use this for raid bosses and raid trash in Ulduar or higher content.
Once initial aggro has been established and secured do a simple Lacerate > Tab > Lacerate then continue as the encounter dictates as the two lacerates quickly build a 5 stack, ensuring at least 1 lacerate remains up for the duration of the pull.
Now you're on your way to becoming a great ursine tank, you've gone over all the basics and know what to look for. All that's left is learning to think on your fuzzy little feet and to improvise where necessary.
We're only hybrids till we choose a spec, from then on we're specialists!
Face Blocking: 101
Post by
hashmel
Taunts, Focuses, and Threat
A taunt does two things, first it modifies your threat to that of the highest threat holder and second it forces the target/s to "focus" on you for a duration, when the two effects are combined a taunt gives you aggro.
There is no ability that does only the first effect but most tanks have a focus, administering the second effect but not the first so technically these are not true taunts but a sub catagory simply dubbed focuses.
Growl sets a 6 second focus (forcing the mob to attack you) and sets your threat equal to that of the previous aggro holder, if you growl then ignore the target and the previous aggro holder continues to attack the target they'll steal aggro back shortly, a good combo is growl followed immediately by faerie fire (this should generate sufficient threat for a melee target to remain on you till it gets within swipe/maul range) although a dps should realize they need to lay off that mob if they stole aggro to begin with
Challenging roar doesn't modify threat but is a 6 second aoe focus and after the duration the mobs will revert to the highest threat holder giving you till it wears off to generate enough threat to become the highest threat holder or kill it.
As a melee class you require
>
90.
909
% of the second highest threat holder to maintain aggro and in order to steal aggro from someone without using a taunt/focus you must generate >110% (at melee range) or >130% (at a distance) of said mob's highest threat holder.
Threat
There is a chart showing all the effects on threat for everything
here
if you're curious. (3.2.2 reduced paladin holy threat to 2.574%)
Savage Defense
This
is the reason SD shouldn't be a primary means of mitigation.
Felt like using this free space to post something for my own sake.
Passive Physical Damage Intake
Warrior = 1 *
0.9
*
0.97
= 87.3%
Paladin = 1 *
0.94
*
0.97
*
0.97
*
0.97
= 85.791262%
Druid = 1 *
0.88
*
0.97
= 85.36%
Frost DK = 1 *
0.
9
*
0.95
*
0.97
=
82.935%
Blood DK = 1 *
0.92
*
0.95
*
0.97
= 84.778%
Unholy DK = 1 *
0.92
*
0.95
*
0.97
= 84.778%
Passive Magic Damage Intake
Warrior = 1 *
0.9
*
0.94
*
0.97
= 82.062%
Paladin = 1 *
0.94
*
0.97
*
0.97
*
0.94
*
0.97
= 80.643786%
Druid = 1 *
0.88
*
0.97
= 85.36%
Frost DK = 1 *
0.
9
*
0.95
*
0.97
= 82.935%
Blood DK = 1 *
0.92
*
0.95
*
0.97
= 84.778%
Unholy DK = 1 *
0.92
*
0.94
*
0.95
*
0.97
=
79.69132%
Active Physical Damage Intake
Warrior = 1 *
0.9
*
0.97
*
0.
6
= 52.38%
Paladin = 1 *
0.94
*
0.97
*
0.97
*
0.97
*
0.5
=
42.895631%
Druid = 1 *
0.88
*
0.97
*
0.8
= 68.288%
Frost DK = 1 *
0.
9
*
0.95
*
0.97
*
0.6
= 49.761%
Blood DK = 1 *
0.92
*
0.95
*
0.97
*
0.6
= 50.8668%
Unholy DK = 1 *
0.92
*
0.95
*
0.97
*
0.6
= 50.8668%
Active Magic Damage Intake
Warrior = 1 *
0.9
*
0.94
*
0.97
*
0.
6
= 49.2372%
Paladin = 1 *
0.94
*
0.97
*
0.97
*
0.94
*
0.97
*
0.5
=
40.321893%
Druid = 1 *
0.88
*
0.97
*
0.8
= 68.288%
Frost DK = 1 *
0.
9
*
0.95
*
0.97
*
0.6
= 49.761%
Blood DK = 1 *
0.92
*
0.95
*
0.97
*
0.6
= 50.8668%
Unholy DK = 1 *
0.92
*
0.94
*
0.95
*
0.97
*
0.6
= 47.814792%
Stamina Coefficient
Warrior = 1 *
1.06
*
1.
1
= 116.6%
Paladin = 1 *
1.04
*
1.06
*
1.
1
= 121.264%
Druid = 1 *
1.02
*
1.06
*
1.25
*
1.1
*
1.
1
=
163.5315%
Frost DK (2H) = 1 *
1.08
*
1.02
*
1.
1
= 121.176%
Frost DK (DW) = 1 *
1.08
*
1.01
*
1.01
*
1.
1
= 121.18788%
Blood DK = 1 *
1.08
*
1.03
*
1.02
*
1.
1
= 124.81128%
Unholy DK = 1 *
1.08
*
1.02
*
1.
1
= 121.176%
Do note that a paladin will always have these values while the lack of a paladin means the lack of sanct and kings which is a loss of the 1.1 stamina modifier and 0.97 damage modifier to all other tanks.
Post by
hashmel
RESERVED for future additions and editing
Once again, I'll continually visit this to add/edit as needed so feel free to post any questions, concerns, inquiries, petitions to sticky, or just to bump this.
will edit the link in my sig to forward to this page
Post by
ironblades
two things a preherioc toc 25 BIS would be appreciated, second i don't understand your gemming choices when you go with defense raiting.
For example if you realy want the avoidance of the +4 agility on gloves a much better option would be the 30 stam gem encahnted for 20 agility. you loose 3 stam but gain avoidance.
Another intesting gem i saw was the expertise gem/stam gem why bother your 2% over the soft cap, a pure stam gems would give you a good bit more eh without realy affecting your tps.
Basicaly stop gemming for the socket bonouses they're normaly not worth the EH loss.
Is my current gear
http://www.armory-light.com/us/Kel'Thuzad/Ironblades/#
you can see i did one socket bonous that was not a red or blue socket and that was for a 8 agility my reasoning for this one was a purple gem is 10/15 stam, the 10/15 defense/stam lost me 2 agility in comparison but the 8 defense raiting made up for it.
Post by
320682
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
hashmel
Yes, stamina would be preferable for some sockets given a crappy socket bonus, that was originally from a reply to a BiS thread meaning it was whipped up in a flash so admittedly I've yet to go about weighing the min/max from socketing stamina or matching bonuses.
Additionally by matching bonuses i clearly show that if you must match a color the gems I've used are your best choices while also avoiding the potential discussion of what would be best for min/maxing
All in all it was taken from a post i made on another thread meaning i didn't spend hours fiddling with it, aside from some gemming I believe it is at the very least a BiS side-grade and makes a good visual overview of how a bear's gear should look
I'd add a macro for FFF
/cast Faerir Fire (Feral)()
/cast Maul()
Slipped my mind but I'll be sure to add it right now, ty.
Post by
80642
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
hashmel
yeah i really do need to discuss the basics at the beginning, the problem is it was originally a single large post that barely fit but now that i've made room i do need to work on that
think i could get away with only covering tiers 8-10? as you don't get emblems of valor anymore i don't foresee anyone downgrading to T7
it may be slow going but i'll see what i can do to expand now that i've got the room to
Post by
80642
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
hashmel
ah right forgot about the tokens
well in class right now so will have to wait till i've got time but look forward to expanding on this
Post by
Kamero
For yellow socket stats, bears ought to prioritize:
Hit to Cap
then choose between:
Stacking Haste
or foregoing socket bonuses for pure stam
Haste provides a significant increase to threat via increasing the frequency of Mauls (highest threat ability) landing.
Of course I'd recommend using the stam/haste gems over a pure haste.
Post by
Aadramelekh
Considering the abundance of hit and expertise on high level gear, probably gemming for hit and / or expertise would be the last recommended thing. Even less for haste.
While it *
is
* true that hit and expertise are the best threat generating stats for a bear up to their respective caps (8% and 14%), gemming / enchanting for them shouldn't be a priority. In fact is is easy enough to get decent amounts of hit and expertise even while raiding low level content for 200-213 ilvl gear.
Moving up to high level content, BiS gear lists for bear tanks often end up with huge amounts of hit rating (350+) and more than decent amounts of expertise (30+ skill). So it shouldn't be necessary to gem for these stats.
Generally speaking, yellow sockets are to be filled with pure stamina gems. Only if the socket bonuses are really worth it, like the
T9 helm
, then the first two choices should be either the green
Enduring Eye of Zul
or the orange
Stalwart Ametrine
. Anything less than +8 agility or +12 stamina as socket bonus should immediately suggest full stamina gems. Or agility if avoidance needs increasing.
Even though haste is one of the best threat stats after hit and expertise (although actually weaker than armor penetration or crit), it is even less desired as a stat for which to gem. As long as it comes from gear itself, it is excellent. Otherwise, bad choice.
Post by
LookOut
necroing this thread to point out that there's a spelling mistake in one of the macros:
#showtooltip Faerie Fire (Feral)
/cast
Faerir
Fire (Feral)()
/cast Maul()
I've been doing my mauling manually up till now, but I found it's time to bring my level to the max, since sometimes (e.g. during BL) I'm just not fast enough on maul to get the most out of it.
Still got a secondary bar where my abilities aren't macroed though, for those rage-starvation fights.
Anyways, wanted to point this out so other people who blindly copy-paste - such as myself - don't make the same mistake.
Post by
hashmel
TY, fixed it and it is still worth fixing as this gets copy+pasted on a reletively frequent basis for those very basic "Help me tank cuz I'm too lazy to read the stickies at the top of the page" threads.
This has basically become a reference point from which to copy+paste now due to my lack of commitment to making a worthwhile sticky.
Post by
hashmel
Hah! When did I get stickied? Had begun to use this as a personal reference point where I could toss in random tidbits to come back to at another time, ergo post #2.
Well don't mind the numerous edits, I had changed the original intent of the thread before it got stickied to be more of a one stop copy+paste thing as I'm just too lazy to write a guide in its entirety, then started shaving it down to more of the essentials, and I'm a stickler for grammar and spelling within my own posts.
Post by
404185
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
hashmel
I included Magic Suppression in there, it's the second value in the unholy ones.
I used IBF as it's more similar/comparable to others not to mention AMS and AMZ are just as cumbersome to figure up as UB and the effects are completely dependent on the DK and situation in question whereas the static percentage values I chose are consistent regardless of the player, gear, or situation.
Post by
404185
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
130626
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
178740
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post Reply
You are not logged in. Please
log in
to post a reply or
register
if you don't already have an account.