A Taste of Tanking

Posted by Dr Dark on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 - 44 Comments

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So, as most of you know from my older post about my alt I’m currently leveling a Druid. From the comments I’ve tried a bunch of stuff and I’m having a bit more fun, so thanks everyone! That said, I’m now spec’d balance. I know, I know, but it’s a change from my Rogue so I’m really enjoying it. Recently though, I was questing in the lovely Redridge Mountains, and I got a random whisper from someone asking for my help with a 26 Elite. “Ok,” I said, and I headed over. We had a full group of 5 and there wasn’t a tank. So I did what any good level 27 Druid would do and *bam* bear form, growl, swipe. I have to say, it was almost a life changing experience. After such a long time trying with all my abilities to avoid aggro, it was so freeing to want it for a change. And not having the guy leave me to kill a healer was so satisfying… I think I’m going to be a Bear Tank!

- Dr Dark

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Comments

    By Digger on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 at 11:32 am

    I have a lvl 42 druid and i find bear tanking a whole lot of fun.

    Good luck on leveling your druid.

    By Moko on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 at 11:53 am

    at 66 level u will get skill called Lacerate. With this skill it’s alot easier to hold aggro. But if u have enaugh rage u can use mangle (if u will be feral),because it’s instant attack. Tip: use Maul ALOT su you will do more dmg and get more aggro.

    I play on private servers but i know these things ;)

    By Henk on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 at 12:31 pm

    I have characters of many classes and races, but still find the action of tanking way more interesting and intense than healing (second place), crowd control (third place) or just dpsing (which I find utterly boring) in instances.

    I think everyone should try it!

    By Polrah on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 at 12:37 pm

    I agree tanking is fun

    But…
    I have to say, that might be the cutest bear I have ever seen

    By Daruhn on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 at 12:45 pm

    YAY! Alex has joined the ranks of the tanks! I’ve tried DPS and I just can’t stay awake while I do it, Tanking and Healing however are exciting and challenging. I advise you try resto next.

    By Bastosa on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 at 1:28 pm

    Shhhhh! Don’t let the secret out! We want everyone the think that tanking is “just a lot of thankless work.”

    Now I will have all sorts of up and coming tanks after my job. I hope you’re not one of them, Alex! I’ve got my eye on you.

    By WholeGrn on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 at 1:40 pm

    If you plan to stay balance or go back to it, right after you get Moonkin form go Restro for Intensity. After Intensity, leveling will be way easier.

    By Ormis on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 at 1:56 pm

    I have to say that i have not only a 70 warrior tank and a 70 holy priest but some other 70s that are support classes. I find it very satisfying to not be one of the two must have classes (healz and tank). I enjoy not being the one that immediately blamed for a wipe once and a while . But that being said, it’s always nice to go back to my mains.

    By Jules on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 at 3:24 pm

    One of the many reasons why my main is a druid.

    :D :D :D

    By dimac on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 at 4:57 pm

    i was a DPS druid for most of my lvling, balance till about 40 then cat. but from about 65 onwards i have changed to a bear tank. i was aprihesive at first due to the pressure of leading a raid and being jointly resposable for keeping them alive, but as i learn more i have found it to be far more satisfying than DPS. i used to heal in instances when i was bal speced and really enjoyed that too but a resto druid is so usles for solo that i thin feral is by far the best choice as i cn tank in instances and with a quick change of clothes i can DPS my way through the solo content. i think you should really enjoy lvling your druid, the options that it gives you really keep the game fun

    By michaelmdw on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 at 9:23 pm

    dued if your a 27 DRUID you need to see the light and go full tank a warrior is the tank of tanks i was in vc (alt) as a 21 pally tank with pro and great tank gear and the level 19 warrior arms all but the boss’es held agrro over me i love my warrior but think i’ll go holy for pally

    By Crakrjakr on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 10:54 am

    Well in my opinion, since you have a main thats a rogue, stay balance, but send your druid enough money to respec feral for tanking if you’re going to do any instances. Because when you’re not tanking, you’re just going to be in kitty form the whole time, AKA a lesser rogue.

    So IMO, stay balance, but pick up some gear for feral as well, and respec whenever needed.

    By Candarius on Friday, July 25th, 2008 at 12:09 am

    My level 70 is a Balance Druid (Boomkin), and I enjoy playing him all the time. It is always nice to be able to buy the healers about 6 seconds of time with cyclone before they end up face first in the dirt. If worst comes to worst, you have the Battle Rez and the ability to heal (somewhat). Not to mention Spellcasters love the Moonkin Aura. Not many people go Balance but it is awesome if you get the hang of it.

    By Diacos on Friday, July 25th, 2008 at 3:49 pm

    Druids rule! I’ve leveled to 70 on Alliance and Horde. Druiding is my favorite thing to do. I highly recommend leveling as feral and respec-ing full on feral for mangle at 50. Once you have mangle, it’s all over.

    Druid is great too because their tank spec is also their damage spec. You can farm, solo, and tank, all without re-speccing.

    Enjoy!

    By Daroadblock on Sunday, July 27th, 2008 at 8:03 am

    Boomkins are the hardest casters to play. Maximizing DPS while keeping threat low. But this is for raiding/ lvl 70 content.

    By Mike on Monday, July 28th, 2008 at 1:01 pm

    Hey! I now officially have played all roles at end game raiding (60 priest who healed and was shadow pre-BC), hunter, resto shammy, and most recently feral druid. I love being feral, mostly because you have two roles in a raid, you aren’t doing the same “go stand behind that dude and hit him”. Some fights I tank, some I off-tank, some I just dps, its always different and always fun. I have tanked up through Mag on him, and its great, i suggest feral!

    By broca on Monday, July 28th, 2008 at 11:58 pm

    My main is a lvl 70 rogue, and recently in a run through Shadow Labs our Tank died part way through a boss. Me being the only other person high enough on the aggro charts, and only other one cable of surving more then 5 direct hits, took up temporary tank. Needless to say we wiped. But i tanked him from 90% to 25% before i died leading to wipe.

    I really enjoyed that time which has lead me to start a tanking alt. I hope to enjoy the change of pace from dealing out as much DPS as you can yet keep hate down, to a tank that wants all the hate he can get.

    BTW rogue tanks FTW

    By Xhypher on Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 at 12:17 pm

    Gratz, my friend. You’ve just found the joy in an alt, its all about experiencing the game from a different angle. Honestly, you probably just didn’t like pally tanking, warrior tanking’s a bit different experience, take it from someone who knows.

    By Iris on Saturday, August 9th, 2008 at 8:39 am

    Hey Guys, I play a feral druid in a Black temple guild, and hell I love it. The way of tanking in bear, and dpsing in catform is just very very nice. If you wanna try out tanking as a druid, level one to 70 and than you’ll see. You cant compare 70 with any other level. I’ve got every class @ 70, and from my point of view, (good) feral druids are hard to defeat in threat.

    Greetz, Iris - Frostmane.

    By Tauranicus on Monday, August 11th, 2008 at 3:34 pm

    Yea, feral druids are a class that is not only versatile in tanking, but when trying to farm, do dailies, or leveling. We are basically the only tank class that can tank a boss and on the next one switch gear and put out a decent amount of dps.

    Currently I’m in a 4/6 Sunwell guild. I’ve had the pleasure of tanking 3 of the currently 4 bosses on farm and tanking humanoids on Mu’ru. Its a blast. But really, stick with the druid and you’ll be set. Enjoy, its a fun class.

    By Tarlhumn on Thursday, August 14th, 2008 at 3:18 pm

    Druid tank are the in between class for aoe tanking. Mostly if you use toys that generate aggro like “darkmoon card: Heroism + mark of conquest” with swipe. only thing is if you lose aggro from hem it’s gonna be hard to catch aggro back since druid tank excel in single target. thing you will need most is high armor piece and those 3 stats stam, agi and str. I’d suggest having higher agi then str since druid are the class that benefit most from agi if not wrong 20 agi =1% crit. Has talents go armor bonus and leader of the pack area must. mangle is a nice instant that will make all bleed effect deal more dmg and lacerate will generate more aggro.

    By Funk Master on Monday, August 18th, 2008 at 3:46 pm

    I do love my druid and my forms……Boomkin ftw just wait man you will see what I mean when you hit 40 I believe. and then there is the much loved aquatic form along with Travel and cat lol. GOD I LOVE MY DRUID

    By dustin on Monday, August 25th, 2008 at 9:34 am

    feral is by far the best for leveling and pretty decent dps in pvp and raids and what not, balance is ok for lvling because you can still kinda tank under lvl 50 and resto is probably best at lvl 70 for IMO the best healing in the game
    oh and druids probably the best class in the game

    By Kwatee on Saturday, September 6th, 2008 at 2:51 pm

    Psssh, tree form is where its at.

    By Shawn on Wednesday, September 10th, 2008 at 11:31 am

    Hey Dr Dark, first of all, I have to say I am really enjoying your website. I am a level 70 druid spec’d as full feral and I really am enjoying the functionality of being a tank with 28000 armor in bear form and have the ability to change in an instant to a DPS cat with 2100 attack power and if things get a little hairy being able to change back to a tauren and heal. I tried all specs and talents in my numerous years of playing and I can tell you that Feral is definately the way to go.

    Good luck with the druid toon and next time you guys ever set up toons in Kael’thas give Deathhorns a shout and we can do some killin’.

    By sammy on Friday, September 12th, 2008 at 6:32 am

    From what i’ve read in the wotlk forums Druids are gonna suck for feral and bear tanking beyond all belief there only good spec will be resto and maybe boomkin. I hope this isnt true and its a bunch of pre-release QQ. And when the exp hits they will have revised and fixed w/e griefs/problems there are.

    By Sinfest on Friday, September 12th, 2008 at 9:30 pm

    I’ve played all three specs at 70 and I have to say that Boomkin is by far my favorite. It was hard at first when I was gearing up to see the benefits, but once you are in all purples and your spell damage is 1k+ it really pays off. Nothing beats 2 shotting pretty damn near any non-elite mobs and the 17k armor doesn’t hurt either.

    By Ironhoof on Saturday, September 13th, 2008 at 12:17 pm

    Tanking with a druid is not easy. Druids generate aggro with high dmg and the Lacerate skill. The highest aggro you can generate is with Maul+Mangle+Lacerate(5 stacks) used in a sequence. For all druid tank watch out for Shadow Priests and Destruction Warlocks because they can steal aggro very easy from you. So as an advice keep your Challenging Roar for the boss and use it to get him back to you. If that fails that is a bit bad. Druid tanks are not very used in end-game raids because of this aggro loss and because the Protection Warrior cannot DPS as a feral druid.

    By Gaarth on Sunday, September 14th, 2008 at 3:34 am

    My lvl 70 druid rocks! Like any good bear tank should :D

    Tanking is a whole lot of fun and the experiance of being able to PvP and PvE with feral talents just plain rules :D

    - Gaarth x

    By Ironhoof on Sunday, September 14th, 2008 at 6:48 am

    Sammy I am sorry but the druid on feral will be great in WotLK. The guys from The Blizzard development Team said that they hold back the druid on feral in TBC but now they really want to see druids tank in end-game raids. The talents on feral are amazing. All talents help the druid to tank better (higher dmg, smaller cooldowns) and the last talent, Berserk, is amazing: +30% hp (like Last stand at warrior) Mangle and Maul hits 3 targets. With this new talents Protection Warriors will have a big opponent for their place in a raid as Tank.

    By Woody on Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 at 3:16 pm

    First off Kudo’s for rolling a druid.

    Tanking in itself is a tricky process as currently you have the choice of a Warrior - Paladin - Druid.

    Warriors are great tanks as everyone knows very well balanced.

    Paladins are excellent agro on multiple targets (but need good healers).

    Feral Druid Tank = Agro Machines on single targets, if you have a good one on Grull and give them a 5 second head start, No one is going to catch this beast of the threat meter. (be scared when you see 4k+tps on your tank)

    I am alittle nervious with the new bell’s n whistles of WOTLK for feral tanking druids, yet given the flexiblities that I have found with gear + talents + gems, enchants, armour kits. Im looking forward for the new tasks at hand.

    By Togarox on Sunday, October 5th, 2008 at 1:07 am

    1st off my main is a druid tank. The one thing I really love about druid tanks is that if the group is full on tanks, *pop* you go cat form and take up a dps slot. What? The group needs an off healer for this boss? *pop* caster form. With the druid, you do get all walks of life and that is why I love it.

    If you decide to stay balance, you can always be a panzerkin!

    By Girlbearpig on Thursday, October 9th, 2008 at 1:50 pm

    My main is a druid on Blackhand. I have seen all sides of a druid, playing balance, resto, and feral bear tank. And by far healing and tanking as a druid are the most fun. I think bear tanks are the most effective on mutli-mob pulls, along with protadins of course. If you decide to switch, you will have a lot of fun. Not that balance isnt fun, but i think below 40 it really isnt that great for leveling.

    By Vên on Friday, October 10th, 2008 at 3:15 pm

    I have a 35 druid alt, but I prefer healing, actually. I can tank quite well, but I would rather be a warrior for that. Besides, healing people is so fun, it makes me feel like I’m actually doing something, just as tanking does. Dps feels… empty to me, like sure, it’s good and all, but there are so many out there, I want to be different. After I get the warrior I’m levelling to 70, I am going to make a paladin for healz, and prolly a druid or mage for dps, but that will take a while. (less because I’m doing the recruit a friend thing for the paladin, and will prolly use the RAF account for a shaman, warlock, and druid, too.

    Also… I may play alliance, but I’m horde at heart :D Taurens FTW.

    Vên, Executus, TRG.

    By hytimo on Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 at 3:43 pm

    My main is a feral druid on anachronos server, i did lvl from 1 to 70 as feral and i realy enjoyed it like taking 5 mobs spam swipe i get low on health pop health regen from rage up ow again get low use barkskin cast healing touch regrowth and switch back to bear and swipe spam was realy great to do. also my time in outland was cool tanked mostly like i also do with my alts dpsing is nothing for me i got a lvl 70 hunter and its so boring just spamming macro’s tanking and healing is cool it needs skill as dps you need skill for pvp like arena

    deeeeeeeeeep breath

    By Egma on Friday, October 24th, 2008 at 12:55 am

    I know this is off topic, but recently one of teh blogs had links to 3 WoW comic strips (I know it was about waisting time while waiting) but I can’t seem to find it now, does anyone remember what the other 2 links where? I know one of them was http://www.darklegacycomics.com/archive.html. I would like to check the other 2 again but I can’t remember or find the links.

    By Fruma on Friday, November 7th, 2008 at 5:12 pm

    The great thing about being a druid is, in my opinion, the versatility. You may be specced this or that, but you never know when you have to suddenly switch gears.

    I’m a balance druid, but from time to time I’ve had to tank (dire situations those were). And honestly, I understand the “life changing” feeling you’re getting. I’ve NEVER tanked before– my main is a rogue and my alt is balance, so when I tanked my ass off that time, I felt so powerful. :D

    But lol, I don’t think I’m gonna respec to feral. It’s probably very fun too, but I loveeee my boomkin. Too much fun.

    By Cody Castillo on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 at 8:34 pm

    5hnhlyye9up7julu

    By ryan on Sunday, November 23rd, 2008 at 12:50 am

    i used to be a pally tank then i gave up and became ret then i lawl’ed at ret (until 3.0) so i gave up on my pally raiding wise and started in on my mage in now one of the top dps’er in our guild the only one who can touch me is our hunter

    By ryan on Sunday, November 23rd, 2008 at 12:53 am

    i also think its about time that druids got a new form like kung-fu panda form or something or maybe even a monkey or turtle form or better yet i murloc form!!!!!! ftw are these ideas perfect no so yall come up with some stuff

    By Jhonny Godspeed on Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 at 1:50 pm

    WHATS FUNNEST NATION?
    tankin
    healin
    dps’n
    or a mix???

    By will on Sunday, November 30th, 2008 at 2:45 pm

    good for you:),
    the only thing i would say, when u hit higher levels u will need to use cat form, the power is unmatchable compare to the bears, saying that when i play my 70 druid i love bear form, you can just walk in and wipe.
    anyway thanks for project lore

    Will

    By Edward AKA Dusty on Monday, February 2nd, 2009 at 1:57 pm

    I am leveling a dr00id at the mo.. i am finding tanking and DPSing on feral fun.. i was a warlock but i found Running around while i was watching them die a bit boring..

    Going to try healing a bit later on..

    Dusty.

    By hardkilla on Saturday, May 30th, 2009 at 2:32 pm

    man dont go tank druid go druid healer it is the best healer class in the game no1 can come near the heals a druid can do yes druids are not meant for big big healz like priest are we have 1 instant heal and all the rest are hots or involve hots when i played my druid i was the best skilled healer on my battlegroup
    noticed skilled not the best geared or best at that i could heal rather nice i had only ZA kara and badge gear i never got in to higher then t4 but i still was the most skilled and well i would of been the best but my account got hacked and well i still like to blog and well talk about the time i had playing wow
    pally tank + druid healz = awsomenessly awsome group

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