Anyone currently boxing with a bear tank?

[Aradar]

I've always wanted to play a bear tank but currently in game I don't see very many and given their subpar aoe abilities (180 degrees to the front as opposed to 360 degrees) I'm guessing they will be more positionally challenged and take more micro management to maintain threat on multiple mobs. Not that I mind this to some degree but at the same time, I'd rather hear input from someone actually doing it.

Thanks.

[elsegundo]

my pally needs to keep everyone in front of her otherwise she cant block dodge or parry.
there's no difference with the druid.

360 degress? i guess its helpful. not not really.

[Aradar]

While that is true, I've had plenty of situations where a mob ran right past me but turned around due to consecration meaning all I had to do was backup to get everything back in front of me. Seems to me the druid would require way more target switching. Again, not that I'm opposed to more work after running easy mode pally/4 shaman :P since this team will likely be very mixed as it is, just curious what I would be getting myself in to.

[elsegundo]

if that happened on my druid, i would simply turn and swipe a close target. swipes range is about the same as a consecrate, but you'll still have to make the initial turn. if you do need to switch targets, tab works fine. being a bear is a bit different from the pally. micromanagement? not at all. more like target switching to get a mob back? possibly. but then again, if you plan your pulls right, the only time you really need to switch targets would be when a mob decides to attack your dps/healer due to game design. besides your taunt, each class has their own way of getting the mob back.

personally, i have no issues with either my pally or druid tanking. they do fine and have their own strengths and weaknesses. its hard to come out with a favorite but i have to say i dont have it any more difficult on a druid than on a pally. from a healing standpoint, healing the drood is a lot easier than healing the pally.

[Kicksome]

I dropped my druid tank because AOE tanking was such a pain. It just takes a little more work and you have to pay a bit more attention.

Although having a druid is a lot of fun.

[Aradar]

Thanks for the feedback. Guess this will be my next project when I get the time...

[daviddoran]

Druids are more complex, but have more clutch abilities IMO. If you get a runner that either runs past, or runs toward your casters, u can charge at it, or taunt it. AoE taunt helps too, cause sometimes straight DMG isnt enough to pull aggro off of a healer.

Druid tanks in general have much higher HP and Armor, which can change how you heal. You don't have to panic as much if the tank takes a big hit, but you do have to heal for more, meaning bigger punchy heals, and keeping HoTs up help more. I haven't played mine past 68-69 but I imagine it's not too different, and probably better once I get full tanking gear, rather than just quest rewards.

Honestly, I can't decide if I want to level my Druid tank or my DK tank after I get my pally tank to 80. I'm even pondering doing a warrior tank too...

[Redbeard]

Druid stats have been changing constantly through the patches after WOTLK. We are taking a 10% stamina nerf in 3.1 as well as a big armor hit. Their stated goal is to bring druid hp / armor close to the values of other classes.

Just keep it in mind.

Druid tanks are pretty simple to play, swipe spam ftw =)
Druids are more complex, but have more clutch abilities IMO. If you get a runner that either runs past, or runs toward your casters, u can charge at it, or taunt it. AoE taunt helps too, cause sometimes straight DMG isnt enough to pull aggro off of a healer.

Druid tanks in general have much higher HP and Armor, which can change how you heal. You don't have to panic as much if the tank takes a big hit, but you do have to heal for more, meaning bigger punchy heals, and keeping HoTs up help more. I haven't played mine past 68-69 but I imagine it's not too different, and probably better once I get full tanking gear, rather than just quest rewards.

Honestly, I can't decide if I want to level my Druid tank or my DK tank after I get my pally tank to 80. I'm even pondering doing a warrior tank too...

[rekkless]

I'm running a bear tank, 3 frost mages and a resto shaman (running them boomking, 3x frost (2 arcane sub 1 fire sub) and elemental shaman when they hit 80 for raiding.

Tanking is DEFINITELY a challenge its all about setting the initial pull up right, i've found i want druid to the side and in front of the groups so that if they start to run away they're still in front.

[Lokked]

When I multiboxed, I used a druid to tank for my 4 shamans in some Heroics at 70, back when swipe was only 3 target max.

With the new changes, tanking mobs is even easier. As with any tanking class, you want all mobs in front of you. The reasons are different from druid to pally/warrior, but the necessity is still the same.

Unless you get adds, it is trivial to position mobs properly:
Faerie Fire to pull,
When they get to you, take 2 steps backwards.
Swipe like a maniac (throwing in Demo Roar and Glyphed Maul).

[Henke]

So far Ive tried both DK and Druid tanks. Ive gone with druid because of the ease of reaching uncrit and great HP with very little investment. For example when hitting lvl80 you get uncrit through talents and with some minor purchases (polar epics, etc) hit 40k HP without ever setting foot in a herioc or spending over 1k gold. This made it an easy decision for me when just starting out the herioc instance running at 80 with an undergeared shaman team. You have a lot of buffer with 40-50k hp to recover if needed.

On the other hand I think DK is a better overall tank for multiboxing but requires a lot larger investment in gold and time to get the gear for tanking viability. I guess my choice of Druid tank basically came to initial laziness but so far enjoying it :)

[Khatovar]

My husband much preferred the paladin to the druid tank. He did not like the frontal only attacking {swipe vs consecrate}. He also hated how clumsy tanking was when trying to tank through a huge bear ass. It made it hard to see what was going on around him. I had the same complaint whenever I went bear on my druids. I also much prefer the utility that a paladin tank has over a druid. Better buffs, LoH, bubble, Capt. America, etc. Druid tanking felt very linear after playing a paladin.

[Ken]

From a healer perspective, I like druids better, because the incoming damage is more smooth and predictable and less in 'spikes'. However, there are a few incounters that do percentage-based damage (e.g. Old Kingdom if I recall correctly) and that's a pain with a druid when he has 40k+ hitpoints.

[shaeman]

I love druid tanking, and am deliberately configuring my team so that he is the tank, not the pally.

I've been tanking heroics on my druid (never having tanked on a druid before), and have found them very capable.

I would strongly suggest tanking some instances solo to get a feel for the druid.
The little dances you have to do to keep the mobs in front of you. Getting used to various pulling situations.
What to do when a pull goes wrong.

Multiboxing tanking would be even easier after that. You wouldn't have to worry about your DPS going all out before you've gathered up
all the mobs.

As mentioned one weakness can be if a couple of mobs miss a swipe and start to run by you. Turning with them and swiping can work - also throwing out a demoralizing roar can be enough to gather them to you to get a swipe on em. (It's not a huge threat gen but sometimes a little is all you need). This is great for bosses that summon adds too and I'm sure it would make my utgarde pinnacle skadi boss guantlet runs easier.

For my group composition it's less of an issue. My pally will consecrate, my dk will dnd, as I'm a 4 melee team they will be standing pretty much on top of me anyway.
So my only worry will be the healer and I'll have a growl , challenging roar, death grip, repentance and priest fade to play with for those circumstances.

I love the druids emergency buttons. Barkskin for damage reduction. Survival instincts to buy a bit more time, and best of all frenzied regen.
Nice healing, and if you are being beaten on wont starve you of rage either.

[Boylston]

I'm running with a druid tank with a 4xShaman team, and used the same druid to level up my 4xHunter team (as Resto with pets tanking).

One of the nice things to consider about druids is that they can play any role in the game. After you're done leveling or gearing in heroics, you can use the character in a variety of roles (say, Boomkin with a 4xShaman setup, for example).

Although tanking mechanics will change slightly in 3.1, Druids are easy to heal and quite beefy tanks. Yes, they require a bit more finesse than holy pallies to keep AoE aggro, but it's not significantly harder and may get better with other incoming changes. Nice large HP pool combined with some self healing from improved leader of the pack is a good fit for shammies with their healing streams, BTW.

Druids are easy to gear, since you don't need to worry about things like hitting a defense cap. The same rogue-ish type leather that you would need for DPSing in cat form is generally very good for tanking. A lot of your tankability comes through talents, so a Druid in greens and blues is probably a leg up on a DK/Pally/Warrior with similar stuff. It's not an end-game issue, but it's worth considering.

I hadn't tanked in ages, and after my first MB team hit L80, I decided to run the shammies up to 80 as well. I picked my druid over the pally for a change of pace in WotLK and never looked back. I enjoy him so much that he's my normal raiding character now.

[Seldum]

Im glad to hear druids is okey even in the end game for tanking. I run a 5x druid team, and I know druids are okey healers and boomkins rock. What I was worried about is my feral tanks ability to tank harder instances. Atm im running the old instances and I haven't had any real trouble yet.

I found out I can more or less keep the tank unkillable no matter how big pulls I make. I simply shapshift alll my dps druids to normal stance and cast rejuv and regrowth. (but guess that won't work later on).

For now, the old instances is a laugh. I only wipe when I make a huge mistake or don't know the instance (like in Uldaman where you get jumped by 10? scorpions). I had just pulled 2 elite mobs, and then got jumped by the scorpions, which made me panick.... and I ended up dying with my tank.

When this happens I just run away with 1 or 2 dps and use the shadow cloak or whatever the racial ability is named... then go back and revive.

[Moredots]

I am trying a 5 druid team and will keep 4 of them as Bear tanks. I think 4 Feral charges and swipe spam will mow through all instances. Healing on my 5th druid will be easy mode with that many hps and the pain of 4 melee wont be bad with 4 feral charges. The dps will be a little less but it will be good enough and very safe. I could also easily switch to kitty on 3 and do the feral kitty charge to behind mobs. my only concern then would be i want a steady non-stop pace and waiting 30 seconds for charge vrs 15 in bear might make it too slow.

I think the ae dps will still be pretty good in bear form x4 and my hope is to never have to stop and wait on mana. With 5 innervates and only one guy really using mana i should be able to pull non stop. If it doesnt work i can always do the 1bear, 3booms, and a tree.