Druid Tank - Closing the gap between normal to Heroic

[Seldum]

I have read, read and read some more guides, tips and tricks concerning gearing my tank. I know which stuff I need to go for, what kinda gems to use, which enchants etc. theres a ton of help out there to get me started.

What I don't know is the transition phase going from normal to heroic 5-mans.

I currently have 3500 g on my tank (see sign for equipment) he is now lvl 80 wuhu the first toon ever, and seriously I have no clue what i'm going to do next.

A friend at work told me to do some heroic pugs as DPS until I got a few epic pieces then I could begin to tank the easy heroics.

I did go to a heroic yesterday and did a wopping 1100 dps in cat form... I was almost to embarrassed to do the heroic to the end, until the tank in the group screwed up, did a bad pull and lost aggro... I switched to bear form, popped my survival abilities, and off tanked two elites, and saved the casters.

But I don't linke to be an @ss and having the rest of the group carry me through the instance.... (even though I have done exactly this for a few people while doing the random dungeons each day (I have often been top dps with my tank, lol).

I have been saving up my Triumph badges and have around 25 now, and I'm starting to stack up some frost aswell. So the gear will improve a bit now....

I'm only focusing on my tank atm. and when he is fairly well geared ill pull the rest of my team through instances to around lvl 80 and hopefully I have saved up enough shard to be able to purchase some heirloom equipment for a new team so I can ditch the moonkins as dps.

So basically I just need some help to go in the right direction.

[Seldum]

Found this on the official forum as a "goal" to be able to tank some heroics. I'm not sure how far off I am to be able to reach those stats - need to look into this tonight:

Q. What statistics are about normal for a bear to start tanking heroic dungeons with?
A. By selecting gear from quests, crafters, level 78+ dungeons and the Argent Tournament, and enchanting them with cheap value enchantments, you should come to these approximate values in Dire Bear Form without buffs:
- 25.000 armor
- 28% dodge chance
- 5,5% miss chance (seen when mousing over the Defense value, but add 5%)
- 25.000 health
- 4.000 Attack Power
- 25% critical strike chance
- Hit, Haste, Expertise and Armor Penetration ratings varying from 40 to 120.
Remember, these are very vague statistics and are meant to reflect a bear that just turned level 80 (but was rather serious in tanking business) and is ready for tanking. They also vary a bit for the two available races. Night Elves get extra miss chance (though not reflected by the Defense value) and Tauren get extra health.

Source: http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread....cId=9521444247

[boxblizzard]

are you on grim yet? you can check me out on grim, im using a druid tank.

im sure you said you was moving? if you come on im happy to help,

[Svpernova09]

For the love of all things nature, if your going to que as DPS, use a pure cat spec. You'll do a LOT more than 1100 than in a bear spec. Yes, there *really* is a difference between the two.

Pure Cat: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-t...ernova&group=2
Pure Bear: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-t...ernova&group=1

Jump into heroics asap. whats the WORST that could happen? Get the 232 crafted stuff and get the i245 idol FIRST, then start working on T9. (T9 isn't great for bears). If you can find a cheap 90 AGI Greatness deck get it, it's still nearly BIS for cats and bears. Get a death warmed belt made, it'll last you until you get the Frost badge one.

Druids are stupidly easy to tank with, just save barkskin for when you hit 40% HP or you know there is huge incoming damage and use it with Surv Instincts. IMO Glyph Maul and Use this macro on 2 or less mobs:

/cast maul
/castsequence reset=3 Mangle (Bear)(), Faerie Fire (Feral)(), Lacerate, Mangle (Bear)(), Swipe (Bear)(), Faerie Fire (Feral)(), Mangle (Bear)(), Lacerate, Swipe (Bear)()

If you don't want to rely on a macro then get the addon Feral By Night, it has a move suggestion feature that will help guide you through the learning process.

On 3 or more mobs, spam swipe while hitting the above macro on a single target that DPS is focusing on.


Random Dungeon Finder = Learn your class. Currently they can't vote kick you until 15 minutes, so even in a worse case scenario you get vote kicked you can immediately reque. I don't think you get a debuff from getting vote kicked either. In Bloodlust US tanks get instant ques all day, I imagine you'll have really short ques as well. Don't be scared to fuck up, all tanks learn somewhere.

[Seldum]

I have done quite a bit of tanking from lvl 75 to 80 in random dungeons and used roughly the castsequence you stated above...

It's not the mechanics of tanking or how to spec i'm concerned about it was purly relating to the gear gap between the normal and the heroic instances.

I guess ill go pure dps then... do a fair spec and see how much damage I can dish out.

are you on grim yet? you can check me out on grim, im using a druid tank.

im sure you said you was moving? if you come on im happy to help,

My Palladins are. Ill expect to transfer to Grim Bathol this weekend as I don't have much time to play during next week anyway I have also saved up the stonekeeper shards I would need to get my pallys rolling with heirlooms on.

[Svpernova09]

I have done quite a bit of tanking from lvl 75 to 80 in random dungeons and used roughly the castsequence you stated above...

It's not the mechanics of tanking or how to spec i'm concerned about it was purly relating to the gear gap between the normal and the heroic instances.

I guess ill go pure dps then... do a fair spec and see how much damage I can dish out.

Bah, I wouldn't worry about the gear gap. If you go DPS, still get feral by night, it's great for watching all your cat dps stuff.


I also use this flowchart (John fucking Madden ftw)

[crowdx]

If you are worried about a gear gap maybe see if a highly geared healer/friend queues with you. The only thing your lower gear will do is make you harder to heal and not hold aggro as much as a high geared tank.
As was said above, tanks are pretty much instant random dungeons and so you should be able to gear pretty fast. Once you get your basic gear I would move to ICC 5 mans where there are some decent drops which will fill the gaps in your gear very quickly.
Good luck

[boxblizzard]

that flow chart is awesome, made my day

[d0z3rr]

I lol'd at the flowchart - john madden!

Anyways, people were relatively nice when I started pugging heroics. The only preparation I made was to be crit immune, that was it, I jumped right in.

For me the biggest challenge to tanking heroics was dealing with people who couldn't control their dps. I only ran into 1 asshat in my entire time of starting heroics.

After I geared up, all you have to worry about is whether or not you get people doing under 1500 dps and the heroic taking forever!

[Ualaa]

I found this: http://www.emmerald.net/ to be a great resource for Feral gearing.