Rawr. Bear Tanking in 4.x

[TehVoyager]

Bear Tanking in 4.x!

The “Bouncy Bear Tank” is one of the most recognizable tanks in the game.
Laughed at in Vanilla, Loved for their high stamina and near indestructibility versus melee bosses in TBC, despised at the beginning of Wrath, loved again by the end of wrath, constantly nerfed to bring into line with the other tanking classes, the feral Druid tank is one of the most unique tanks in game currently. Unlike all other Variants of tank, Bears are the ONLY Leather wearing tanks. They are also the only tanking class in the game powered by Agility instead of Strength. They are also highly unique due to shape shifting and offer very useful benefits as main and off tanks because of their class perks. While Battle Resurrects and Innervates are not recommended during combat, the druid ability to quickly break movement impairing effects with Powershifts, plus the ability to become a viable DPS while not taking due to Cat form makes the druid an exceptional tank.

Stats:
The primary bear tanking skills are as follows:

-Stamina: Your big survival stat. More stamina means more life, means bigger hits taken, more survivability. I want to go out of the way to mention how Stamina interacts with Vengeance. Vengeance is a new ability gained by all tanks in the 4.x series of patches. It increases your attack power based on recent damage taken, capped at 10% of your HP. More stamina = More HP = More Vengeance = More TPS.

- Agility : Agility is our 2nd BIG stat along with stamina. Agility Powers Our Attack Power (2 AP per point of Agility in form), Crit (1% per ~325 agility) and Dodge (1% Dodge per ~244 agility) this makes Agility a HUGE stat for Bears.

-Crit: Crit is an important stat for bears because of our block mechanic, Savage Defense (more on this below!!). We get most of our crit through Agility, however, so don't go hugely out of your way to gear for Crit rating.

-Haste: Pretty much worthless for Bears as it only affects our white attack speed. Mostly useful as a "reforge" stat. you should consider converting it to Dodge initially.

-Hit / Expertise : 961 hit for Tier 11 content or 721 hit if you're tanking a heroic 5-man boss. Hit should be staying around 8%. ~781 rating for 26 expertise (minimum required) and 1682 rating for 56 expertise. Get above 26, and don't go over 56.

-Mastery: Mastery is a new stat in 4.x series and Cataclysm. Savage Defender (our Mastery) increases the amount absorbed of our Savage Defense ability.
Savage Defense: Each time you deal a critical strike while in Bear Form, you have a 50% chance to gain Savage Defense, reducing the damage taken from the next physical attack that strikes you by 65% of your attack power.
Savage Defender increases the amount absorbed by 32%. Each point of mastery increases this by 4%.
179.28 points of mastery rating = 1 point of mastery at level 85.

Stat Priorities (in order)
Hit rating (to cap)
Expertise rating (to dodge cap)
Stamina – Never can have enough
Agility
Armor
Dodge
Crit
Attack Power
Haste

Spec:
Here is your cookie cutter build. Right here.
The great thing about Druid tanks in cata is that we will suddenly have enough talent points to make the 2nd Tier of Restoration tree! What do we want there? Perseverance. It reduces all spell damage by 6% with 3 points in the talent. Spell damage has ALWAYS been a weak point with bears. Getting something to help with that is great.
The above talent tree leaves you with one point left over... I would personally go with a point in feral charge. The haste means more white hits, which means more fury swipes, and the whole thing means a bit more rage generation.

Rotation:
Single Target:
FFF asap.
Mangle
Laceratex3
Swipe/thrash
Pulverize
Laceratex3
Mangle
Swipe/thrash
Pulverize

The BIG important note about this rotation is: ALWAYS use your free mangles BEFORE you pulverize. If you have just pulverized, Lacerate should be your first ability used.
The reasoning behind this is that lacerate now procs free mangles.

Aoe tanking:
(Thorns pre-pull)
Thrash
Swipe
Lacerate on mobs
Maul while rage is available.

Enchanting

Head: Arcanum of the Earthen Ring +90 stamina and +35 dodge rating
Shoulders: Greater Inscription of Unbreakable Quartz +75 stamina and +25 dodge rating
Cloak: Protection +250 armor
Chest: Greater Stamina +75 stamina
Bracers: Major Stamina +40 stamina
Weapon: Mighty Agility +130 agility
Boots: Earthen Vitality +30 stamina and minor run speed increase
Legs: Charscale Leg Armor +145 stamina and +55 agility
Belt: Ebonsteel Belt Buckle +1 prismatic socket
Gloves: Heavy Savage Armor Kit +44 stamina


Gemming

First things first, you need a meta-gem: Austere Shadowspirit Diamond usually will fit your needs with +81 stamina and +2% increased armor value from items. But there is also the spell resistance version which gives +2% less damage taken from spells instead of the additional armor. Good option if you’re tanking a caster-only mob.

The Austere Shadowspirit Diamond requires at least two yellow gems, which means you will use at least two green gems (yellow/blue gems with stamina). The Regal Dream Emerald - 20 dodge rating and 30 stamina is your best bet for survivability. Choose two yellow sockets with good bonuses and put them in. Once that is done, gem pure stamina (+60 stamina) everywhere else regardless of socket bonuses.


Glyphing

Prime Glyphs:

1: Glyph of Mangle - Increases the damage done by Mangle by 10%.
2: Glyph of Lacerate - Increases the critical strike chance of your Lacerate ability by 5%.
3: Glyph of Berserk - Increases the duration of Berserk by 5 sec.

Major Glyphs:

In no order of importance, it all depends on the situation and you can now switch easily anyway:
- Glyph of Maul - Your Maul ability now hits 1 additional target for 50% damage.
- Glyph of Rebirth - Players resurrected by Rebirth are returned to life with 100% health.
- Glyph of Frenzied Regeneration- While Frenzied Regeneration is active, healing effects on you are 30% more powerful but causes your Frenzied Regeneration to no longer convert rage into health.
- Glyph of Faerie Fire - Increases the range of your Faerie Fire and Feral Faerie Fire abilities by 10 yds.
- Glyph of Fear Charge - Reduces the cooldown of your Feral Charge (Cat) ability by 2 sec and the cooldown of your Feral Charge (Bear) ability by 1 sec.

Minor Glyphs:

- Glyph of Challenging Roar - Reduces the cooldown of your Challenging Roar ability by 30 sec.
- Glyph of Dash - Reduces the cooldown of your Dash ability by 20%.
- Glyph of Unburdened Rebirth - Your Rebirth spell no longer requires a reagent.
- Glyph of the Wild - Mana cost of your Mark of the Wild is reduced by 50%.

Professions:

The optimal professions are Leatherworking, Jewelcrafting and Alchemy. Leatherworking has a better passive stamina bonus (155), Jewelcrafting has a really good blue trinket and Alchemy has the Alchemist’s stone trinket. All other professions except Engineering, Tailoring, Skinning and Herbalism are pretty equal and give a solid 120 stamina bonus. Engineering is hard to compare to the others and gives useful tinkers but with the changes made to them in Cataclysm, it has become rather unattractive. Finally Tailoring, Skinning and Herbalism are all useless or next-to useless professions when it comes to raiding with a bear.

Pre-raiding Best in Slot gear list

Assuming a horde Leatherworker/Jewelcrafter druid, below is the list of what I think are the best items you can obtain before raiding.

http://www.wowhead.com/profile=21825064

Helm: Helm of Numberless Shadows - Drop from High Priest Azil Heroic (last boss of Stonecore)
Neck: Entwined Elementium Choker - Craft from Jewelcrafting 525
Shoulders: Embrace of the Night - Bought with 1650 Justice Points
Cloak: Twilight Dragonscale Cloak - Craft from Leatherworking
Chest: Assassin’s Chestplate - BoE craft from Leatherworking 525
Bracers: Double Dealing Bracers - Drop from Lord Walden Heroic (4th boss of Shadowfang Keep)
Weapon: Darkling Staff - Drop from High Priest Azil Heroic (last boss of Stonecore)
Relic: Sandshift Relic - Drop from Ascendant Lord Obsidius Heroic (last boss of Blackrock Caverns)
Trinket 1: Leaden Despair - Drop from High Priest Azil Heroic (last boss of Stonecore)
Trinket 2: Figurine - Earthen Guardian - Craft from Jewelcrafting 475
Ring 1: Elementium Destroyer's Ring - Craft from Jewelcrafting 525
Ring 2: Elementium Destroyer's Ring - Craft from Jewelcrafting 525
Boots: Boots of the Predator - Drop from Baron Ashbury Heroic (1st boss of Shadowfang Keep)
Legs: Leggings of the Burrowing Mole - Bought with 2200 Justice Points
Belt: Belt of Nefarious Whispers - BoE craft from Leatherworking 525
Gloves: Liar’s Handwraps - Reputation reward from Dragonmaw Clan (horde) at exalted


With that gear on, you will be sitting at 1075 hit rating, you can remove around 114 hit rating by reforging while still maintaining hit cap or go even further to increase survivability at the cost of threat/dps. You will be at 162 expertise rating or 587 expertise rating below the soft-cap. If you are Alliance, the Liar’s Handwraps are the exalted reputation reward from Wildhammer Clan, Stormbolt Gloves. If you’re an Alchemist use your alchemist stone instead of one of the other two trinkets.


Pre Heroic raiding Best in Slot gear list - Tier 11

I ignored randomly-itemized gear in the next two best in slot lists simply because it’s hard to know what combo you can end up with. Here is the link of the two items I’m talking about: Wind Stalker Belt and Wind Stalker Leggings.

http://www.wowhead.com/profile=21824197

Helm: Stormrider’s Headpiece - Bought with a Helm of the Forlorn Vanquisher
Neck: Ironstar Amulet - Drop from ?
Shoulders: Stormrider’s Spaulders - Bought with a Mantle of the Forlorn Vanquisher
Cloak: Cloak of Biting Chill - Drop from Maloriak (boss in Blackwing Descent)
Chest: Stormrider’s Raiment - Bought with 2200 Valor Points
Bracers: Parasitic Bands - Drop from Magmaw (boss in Blackwing Descent)
Weapon: Malevolence - Drop from Halfus Wyrmbreaker (first boss of Bastion of Twilight)
Relic: Vicious Gladiator’s Relic of Triumph - PvP season 9 gear
Trinket 1: Vial of Stolen Memories - Drop from Theralion (2nd boss of Bastion of Twilight)
Trinket 2: Symbiotic Worm - Drop from Magmaw (boss in Blackwing Descent)
Ring 1: Lightning Conductor Band - Drop from ?
Ring 2: Bile-O-Tron Nut - Drop from Tron Council (1st boss of Blackwing Descent)
Boots: Storm Rider’s Boots - Drop from Halfus Wyrmbreaker (first boss of Bastion of Twilight)
Legs: Stormrider’s Legguards - Bought with 2200 Valor Points
Belt: Dispersing Belt - Drop from ?
Gloves: Double Attack Handguards - Drop from Chimaeron (boss in Blackwing Descent)

The two-parts tier 11 set bonus is really bad, 10% more damage on Lacerate dot is just not going to change anything. The four-parts however, has its uses, on some bosses I can see it being almost mandatory. Anyway it’s the first set of the expansion, and usually bonuses are rather underwhelming at that point.


Best in Slot gear list – Tier 11 Heroic

http://www.wowhead.com/profile=21813468

Helm:Stormrider’s Headpiece - Bought with an Essence of the Forlorn + the 359 version
Neck: Caelestrasz’s Will - Drop from Sinestra (last boss of Bastion of Twilight Heroic)
Shoulders: Stormrider’s Spaulders - Bought with an Essence of the Forlorn + the 359 version
Cloak: Cloak of Biting Chill - Drop from Maloriak Heroic (boss in Blackwing Descent)
Chest: Stormrider’s Raiment - Bought with an Essence of the Forlorn + the 359 version
Bracers: Parasitic Bands - Drop from Magmaw Heroic (boss in Blackwing Descent)
Weapon: Malevolence - Drop from Halfus Wyrmbreaker Heroic (first boss of Bastion of Twilight)
Relic: Vicious Gladiator’s Relic of Triumph - PvP season 9 gear
Trinket 1: Vial of Stolen Memories - Drop from Theralion Heroic (2nd boss of Bastion of Twilight)
Trinket 2: Symbiotic Worm - Drop from Magmaw Heroic (boss in Blackwing Descent)
Ring 1: Dargonax’s Signet - Drop from Sinestra (last boss of Bastion of Twilight Heroic)
Ring 2: Bile-O-Tron Nut - Drop from Tron Council Heroic (1st boss of Blackwing Descent)
Boots: Storm Rider’s Boots - Drop from Halfus Wyrmbreaker Heroic (first boss of Bastion of Twilight)
Legs: Stormrider’s Legguards - Bought with an Essence of the Forlorn + the 359 version
Belt: Belt of the Fallen Brood - Drop from Sinestra (last boss of Bastion of Twilight Heroic)
Gloves: Double Attack Handguards - Drop from Chimaeron Heroic (boss in Blackwing Descent)


First impressions:

"Oh thank god for thrash"

If you were going nuts with swipe's 6 second cooldown like I was, you will feel complete again with thrash.

What I have done is macro'd Thrash and swipe on a cast sequence with a 9 sec reset, plus maul.

Press button with 3 second delay

Thrash... two.... three... swipe... two... three....

Once you have the first two, you can pretty much just spam that key to AOE tank. Taunt the occasional pull, but it’s not terrible.

"Stampeding Roar... What is this I don’t even..."

This skill is pretty amusing, with interesting situational use. The Roar is good for the first boss in BRC for example.


Please feel free to comment and etc, I want to maintain this and make it better for the community. <3 mah druid!

Things to add still:

Epic walls of text
Dedicated Off tank spec


Sauces:
Shifting Perspectives: Patch 4.0.3a and the road to 85
Face Tanking 101 | Feral Druid Tanking
The Bear Guide - 4.0.1 edition
Combat Ratings at level 85 (Cataclysm)
http://manaflask.com/Aryu/blog/5267/

[Koalemos]

Thanks for this. I am loving the new aoe threat.

[TehVoyager]

im just glad to be able to AOE tank again. good GOD 4.0.1 till lvl 81 was TERRIBLE lol

---------- Post added at 01:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:50 AM ----------

Updated top post.

[Spatt]

Thanks for putting this together, I love my bear :3
+rep

[TehVoyager]

updated post with Gems, Enchants, Gear and profession info. updated sources.

[Rudo]

Hit rating (to cap)
Expertise rating (to dodge cap)
Stamina – Never can have enough
Agility
Armor
Dodge
Crit
Attack Power
Haste

I know this is a bit old, but thought I would update this with a bit more accurate list
Non heroic raid
Hit to cap (if you are in a 10 man where you will be on interrupt duty often)
Agility
Armor
Dodge
Stamina
Mastery
Crit
Expertise
Hit to cap if not relied on for interrupts
Haste

Heroic Raiding
Hit to cap (again if 10 man and needing interrupts)
Stamina
Armor
Agility
Dodge
Mastery
Crit
Expertise
Hit to cap (if not required for interrupts)
Haste

[burton992]

Hit rating and expertise is no where near as useful as it was in wotlk, would be nice to see a reforging section. Atm we get the best survivability and rage regen from reforging everything to dodge even crit rating, my advice would be to reforge to dodge as follows Haste>Expertise>Hit>Crit Rating>Mastery, but dont worry about your hit or expertise as next patch interups will never miss from what i gather.

[Kagamex]

Uh yeah, Since bear tanks don't really need strength I don't see why you didn't put in Neckle of Strife and Hornet-Sting Band instead of those strength items.