Bear's Manual to Tanking
Now with extra large pages for clumsy claws. By Legende - Khadgar Europe

Welcome, druid, to becoming a good bear. I trust the great Bear Spirit has been generous with his knowledge to you as well about shapeshifting into a bear, with body and heart. If he hasn't, then before reading this guide you should speak to him in Moonglade, and you should really visit the class trainer more often. This column will guide you through your furry adventures as a bear tank, from the basics to the very limit of humane play, but is aimed at a bear in the stage of heroic dungeons.
I'll try to update the bear tanking guide as nessecary if major changes occur in future patches. Latest update was during patch 3.3.0. This guide will only discuss bear tanking in PvE, to tank players in PvP you need to become a Moonkin with Starfall. I'll be using many game terms throughout the guide. They are marked with an asterix (*) and are explained at the end of it all.
If you'd like to add something or discuss something, feel free to chatter about in this thread! Every bear is different and might want to share how they like to roar. I'll try to answer as many questions as possible, I'm good at that.

Table of Contents
1. Strengthes and Weaknesses. Why would you breed bears?
2. Tanking and you. Basics of the tanking principle in general.
2.1. Tanking. Your function, your goal, your dream.
2.2. You. Behaviour in a group is key to having fun.
3. Abilities. Comprehensive list of the buttons you're going to maul.
3.1. Offensive abilities. Methods to gain threat.
3.2. Defensive abilities. Methods to reduce damage.
3.3. Utility abilities. Methods to become useful.
4. How to use abilities. The important part of being bear is how to use your claws.
4.1. Single enemy. Fair one versus one combat but with a healer on your side.
4.2. Double enemy. For when you've had too much alcohol.
4.3. Trash pack. Ordinary trash packs in a dungeon or raid.
4.4. Swarms. Learn how to defeat legions of enemies at the touch of a button.
5. Talents of a Bear. Pretend you have talent as tank by filling them in that way.
6. Gear. Making a dodgy and healthy bear.
6.1. Equipment. Making a good-looking tank was never simpler but never harder.
6.2. Enchants. Making your fur shimmer.
6.3. Gems, statistic weighings. Tuning your bear to the finest.
7. Frequently Asked Questions. And their answers are also included.
8. Useful links. Includes further reading, add-ons and talent builds.
9. Legend. I always liked that chapter.

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1. Strengthes and Weaknesses.
Why would you breed bears? Because they're fun to play in your opinion perhaps, or because you think they're strong. Perhaps you just liked the way they can sit on gnomes or their dance? Let's take us through the strengthes and weaknesses of bears!

Bears in general play it safe. They rely on a relatively large amount of armor and a larger health pool than other tanks. This all counts towards our survivability, our ability to absorb large amounts of damage in a very short time and to reduce overhealing*. However, you will also take more damage overall than all other tanks. We have less evasion* (dodge, parry and miss) than other tanks, since we can't parry and generally don't have much Defense Rating. On top of that, armor and dodge are suffering from many Diminishing Returns* and we have little ways to reduce that effect. We have very little defense against magic damage save for our large health pool.
Bears are very versatile, especially in easier encounters. We've got sharp claws and strong paws for good damage too and if the enemy has a time-out for a while (fear, a long stun, long cast, or some boss ability that causes it to pause damage), experienced bears may even switch to Cat Form and start out with full energy for that extra burst of damage. We may also switch to Cat Form longer if another tank is found, because in roughly the same talent build and gear you'll deal some sharp amounts of damage as well. They make for excellent off-tanks.
Bears are also rather easy to play. Threat is for most not a problem any more. Once you're in the hang of it you'll easily take everything on. We are also very mobile; without Consecration or Desecration we can go and shuffle about all we want during combat. However, possibilities are also a bit limited here and there. We don't have many good panic buttons to use when things are getting bloody. Selecting gear is very simple too as you never have to worry about becoming immune to Critical Strikes.
I found as well that it rarely gets boring to play a druid, but this may be a personal opinion. There are four specialisations possible and every one of them has rather extreme differences and interesting theory to craft.

Pros:

• Large amounts of health and armor.


• Predictable damage intake, and less overhealing.


• Hybrid combat, fitting in the needs of the situation.


• Easy to play.


• Mobile tanks.


• Easier itemisation due to Survival of the Fittest.


• Variety as a druid in general.

Cons:

• Taking slightly more damage overall.


• More pressing diminishing returns allow for less progress in gear.


• Almost no mitigation of magic damage.


• Limited panic buttons.

Bear in mind that these differences are diminishing. The generic trend throughout the patches is bringing tanks closer together. This mostly means we're trading in health and armor for mitigation* and we're recieving some extra panic buttons.
The next chapter will go into more detail what tanking is.

2. Tanking and you.
If you've ever been in a dungeon or raid group where enemies can hit harder than a female gnome you will have seen them. Vast and superior, leading the group into unknown peril while glimpsing over the edge of a broad shield, and always bravely charging in first. These are the tanks and you want to become one.

2.1. Tanking
If you thought becoming a tank was about riding in a huge machine and firing missiles at enemies and the occasional rocket at your healer, you're all wrong. As a tank you will be expected to take all damage but not too much damage. The function of a tank is subject to opinions. Generic opinions are as follows:

• Thou shallth reduce the damage the entire group takes as much as possible.


• Thou shallth take the hits of ev'ry activated enemy.


• Thou shallth make sure thee group stayeth alive.

This means you have to take on the attention of every mob that is in combat and not incapacitated, asleep, stunned, frightened, charmed, rooted, disoriented, banished and polymorphed. Especially, keep them off your healer. The healer cannot stop healing, there is no excuse for losing threat against a healer. The healer is also the one that keeps you alive and is probably quite vulnerable to attacks. Whether or not the duty of a tank is to keep them off damage dealers as well even if they don't mind their threat, can turn into a long discussion sometimes. Taking attention is abbreviated as 'having aggro'. This is done by attacking (generating threat). The player with the most threat will nearly always be the victim of the NPC. To take over aggro from someone, you have to have 10% more threat than the current target in melee, or 30% in range.
This also means you have to take as less damage as possible with all these enemies on you. Bears have their armor, dodging, being missed, and (from level 40 and up) their Savage Defense as mitigation*. We can also reduce the healing needed on ourselves by applying Regrowth, Rejuvenation and/or Lifebloom on yourself when you have a couple of safe seconds, before combat for example. There are many debuffs to give to your enemies as to make them deal less damage, and things like Bash and Improved Leader of the Pack help too.

2.2. You
As a tank you will often be charged with leading the group. Nearly all groups at level 60+ will be led by the tank. The reason for this comes from the fact that a tank should (nearly) always be the first one to start the combat. This makes all enemies head initially for the tank and makes it much easier for you. You are given leadership to mark your foes with the raid target icons. You'll want these marks since they make the fight much easier for you and your healer. These are the possible markings and their meaning (though the meaning of some icons is often mixed up):

• Skull: First target, main priority of damage dealers.


• Cross: Secondary target, sometimes held by a second tank.


• Circle: Tertiary target / Sapped by a rogue / Hibernated by a druid / Sleeped by a hunter.


• Moon: Polymorphed by a mage / Hexed by a shaman / Polymorphed by an engineer.


• Star: Shackled by a priest / Sapped by a rogue / Mind Controlled by a priest / Stunned by a paladin.


• Diamond: Banished by a warlock / Seduced by a warlock (only female warlocks) / Seduced by a Succubus / Enslaved by a warlock / Generic utility.


• Square: Trapped by a hunter / Sleeped by a hunter.


• Triangle: Shackled by a priest / Mind Controlled by a priest / Generic utility.

You can apply a mark to something by selecting it, right-clicking the portrait and selecting Raid Target Icon from the context menu and then the icon you want. There are ways to make this marking faster and easier by means of add-ons (see chapter 8).
Because you are the leader of the group, you will get some extra (dis)advantages as well. You'll get the last call/roar upon whether or not a party member should be removed from the group for one. I beg you to use this power wisely, to have mercy for your fellow party members. Remember that there are actual persons behind that character with their own opinions on how good they are performing and with their own tactics and with their own errors. Mercy is often answered with friendship. Also note that excessive bragging about how shiny your fur is and how sharp your teeth are can make people dislike you as well. Behaviour is the key to have fun, the funkey.

3. Abilities
If you're interested in which abilities you should use in which situations, then skip to the next chapter. There's nothing to see here! In this chapter I'll list the bear's abilities and what they should be used for by a really good bear. They're divided into three categories: offense, defense and utility. Browse here if you're wondering what an ability does and how you can use it.

3.1. Offensive Abilities
Maul: At maximum level this is the best method to put all that excess rage to use. It costs 15 rage plus (!!!) the rage you'd have gotten with your normal attack. It doesn't use a global cooldown but it'll use up your next melee attack. Damage is your normal attack plus 694 at level 80, but is increased by Mangle, Savage Fury (talent) and Rend and Tear (talent). It comes up to 2.500 damage by a good level 80 bear and has a hidden threat bonus as well. I recommend though you'll only use it when you have more than 50 rage, as it calms you down very fast.

Swipe: Your AoE attack. This is a good move to pick up and maintain several targets, but be careful, as it can also break Crowd Control effects and you'll get the blame for it with extra hard beatings. Does ~400 damage to all enemies around you. This doesn't mean though that you can have your enemies all around you all the time, since you won't be able to dodge attacks from behind.

Lacerate: This druidic version of the warrior's Sunder Armor functions in a similar way. It is a Damage over Time effect that can be placed on your enemies five times. It also does some minor damage upon applying and generates a large amount of threat when applied. Combined with the Primal Gore talent (makes it critically strike), this also accounts for some mitigation. Ticks for around 700 for a good level 80 bear when applied 5 times.

Mangle: Likely your most useful ability as it is instant, rather cheap in rage compared to Maul, and generates a decent amount of threat. Causes 115% damage plus 299 at level 80, and generates hidden extra threat as well. It has a cooldown though, of 6 seconds. It increases the damage of many other Bear and Cat Form abilities by 30%, so this is the single best talent for all feral druids. Good opening move! Does ~2.000 damage, perhaps a bit more, at level 80.

Faerie Fire (Feral): This attack does a minor amount of damage, but generates a decent amount of threat and reduces the armor of the opponent by 5% for eternity. This is a good way to upgrade your threat in your rotation, so you should use it whenever time allows it. It is also your only ranged attack in Bear Form and breaks some Crowd Control abilities, which makes it an excellent move to pull with.

Thorns: This is a buff, that lasts 10 minutes (or 1 hour if you have the associated glyph). It does a (very) minor amount of damage to your attacker for every strike they deal in melee. This makes them stick a bit better to you. Do not cast it on non-tanks because it makes them stick a bit better to them as well. Damage is increased by the Spell Power of the caster, so it might be useful to equip a healing/moonkin set right before you cast it and then switch back. Does 73 damage for a level 80 bear without Spell Power when he/she cast it.

3.2. Defensive Abilities
Demoralizing Roar: This reduces the Attack Power of all enemies in melee range by a decent amount. 571 Attack Power reduction at level 80, with the proper talents. In boss fights at your own level, this reduces the damage they deal with about 16%, so keep this up at all times!

Bash: 4 second stun. This may be useful in trash packs since the stunned target cannot deal damage for 4 seconds, but its main use lies in the interrupt effect that comes with it. Use it when you see the enemy casting a dangerous spell. If you can, use it at the end of its casting. That way he may stay casting a couple of seconds, and not doing any damage, giving your healer a brake.

Savage Defense: Passive ability learned at level 40, to mimic the Block effect of a warrior and a paladin. This will give you a shield that reduces the damage of the next physical attack that strikes by 25% of your Attack Power, every time YOU deal a critical strike. The shield is removed nearly immediately after the strike lands though, it will rarely (but it might) absorb more than one blow. Very effective against targets with weak attacks, like trash packs or swarms. Absorbs ~1.200 damage for a decent level 80 bear.

Nature's Grasp: This will try to root the next enemy that attacks you in melee. I often like to use it in trash packs. Just click the button, watch how it roots one of them and step back. Be sure to grin at them while they're grasping for you just out of range. However, the rooted target will attack someone else if you are out of range and that someone is in range. Be sure to get the rest of the mobs well away from it in order to make the melee damage dealers follow you. Don't walk away if the rooted target is the primary DPS target and there is melee about.

Barkskin: Quite simply, reduces all damage you take by 20% for 12 seconds. Doesn't use the Global Cooldown, and is usable while stunned, frozen, incapacitated, feared and even in your sleep. Try to use it as often as the Cooldown allows, but you may delay it if you expect to take some fast damage in a couple of seconds. When you're stunned, for example, you will not be able to dodge. Those are good times to use it, for an optimal effect.

Cyclone: Skilled druids may use this ability if they're very low on health and there is only one enemy left (and it can be stunned). This stuns the target for 6 seconds but makes it immune to all damage as well during that time. These 6 seconds might give an undergeared healer time to heal you up. It requires you to exit Bear Form though and it has a cast time of 1.5 seconds, so you have to know what you're doing at low health.

3.3. Utility Abilities
Growl: This will cause the target to attack you. Often referred to as Taunt because it has the same effect as this warrior ability. This makes the enemy attack you and makes your threat equal to the threat of the player it was attacking. Do not use it when the target is already attacking you, it won't do anything then. Use it in stead when you've lost aggro of your enemy to get it back to you. 8 seconds cooldown.

Challenging Roar: This will cause everything near you to attack you for six seconds. It is not a Growl with area of effect, because when those seconds are over, all aggro will be restored. They'll happily desert you again and go for the player that had aggro before it if you're not careful. Use those six seconds well, to Swipe and Maul and perhaps to add a Growl in the mix. 3 minutes of cooldown, 2.5 if you have the glyph.

Enrage: This generates 20 rage and another 10 rage over 10 seconds but also reduces your armor a bit. It is best used when not in combat. It'll pause the rage diminishing when you're not in combat. That makes it very useful to maintain the rage you had for a while longer while your group is recovering. With some talent builds this also increases your damage by 15%. This makes it a semi-useful threat boost too when used in combat. 1 minute cooldown.

Cat Form: Use it when the enemy is stunned for a while for an extra burst of damage. Useful with the restoration talent Furor, which gives you full initial energy when you go to Cat Form. In some situations it might be useful to start the fight in Cat Form with Pounce, mainly if a target has to be burned down very very fast. I use it often when soloing Zul'Gurub to take out the Gurubashi Axe Throwers. From level 40 and on, Cat Form also reduces falling damage you take, so you may use it after a hefty knockback effect to mitigate the falling damage. Dash is also useful in some situations, especially for kiting.

Frenzied Regeneration: This is a panic button. It eats up most or all of your rage but heals you too. These heals can critically heal as well, based on your Spell Critical Strike chance. There is a glyph that makes healing effects 20% more powerful when this is active, including the healing effect of the ability itself. It heals for 30% of your health if you had enough rage, but it heals more than that because it critically heals sometimes. It heals more too if you combine it with Survival Instincts, approximately 50% of your health! 3 minutes cooldown.

Survival Instincts: Another panic button, talented this time. This grants you 30% more maximum health, and keeps the maximum health minus the current health value the same (so you'll get some extra current health as well). After 20 seconds, the maximum health and temporary current health is lost. This makes healing through tricky situations somewhat easier. Makes the effects of Frenzied Regeneration and Improved Leader of the Pack 30% greater too. Losing that 30% health cannot immediately kill you, you won't be reduced below 1 health. 3 minutes cooldown (to match Frenzied Regeneration).

Feral Charge: Causes you to charge to an enemy and rooting them in place and interrupting any spell casting. This is not a smart opening move because it may cause you to be out of range of your heals. Use it when you are knocked back, it'll cause you to leap through the air, very funny, and prevents falling damage then (charge effect). Use it also when Bash is on cooldown and one of the enemies is charging a heal (interrupt effect). Use it when an enemy is going for your healer or a vulnerable ranged damage dealer (root effect).

Berserk: Makes you forget all fear for a while. Also makes Mangle hit up to 3 targets and have no cooldown. When fighting mobs with fear spells, wait for them to use those and then pop Berserk. If not, use it in tricky aggro situations. Against some bosses, you can use it as a bonus of threat after you've refreshed Demoralizing Roar and five stacks of Lacerate. 3 minutes cooldown.

Mark of the Wild / Gift of the Wild: Buff that increases armor, attributes and resistances. Grants 1050 armor, 52 to every attribute, and 75 to all resistances at level 80 with proper talents. Make sure either of these buffs is active on every party member (and their pets) at all times. The Gift of the Wild is just an AoE version and with longer duration, but requires a reagent to use.

Rebirth: Revives one party or raid member during combat and grants them some health and mana to start with. This is one of three combat-resurrections in the game, the others being either for shamans only, or as a precaution the Soul Stones by warlocks. Very powerful but you have to exit Bear Form for this. When your healers are in control of your health, you can move in range of a fallen party member, use Barkskin and revive him or her. It might be worth your while even if you are unlucky enough to take one strike of a boss in humanoid form. Always use this if your healer died in a 5-man group and you think the party can still be saved if that healer didn't die. Best when used in combination with Survival Instincts and Barkskin, and perhaps even Frenzied Regeneration. 10 minute cooldown, and requires a reagent if not glyphed.

Hibernate: This is a Crowd Control ability. Puts one beast or dragonkin target to sleep for up to 40 seconds at level 80. If the sleeping enemy takes damage, he'll awaken. Do not use it on yourself, you might become very sleepy all winter in Bear Form. Requires caster form to use, so it is best used before combat.

Entangling Roots: This can also be used as a Crowd Control ability. Roots one target for 27 seconds and does minor damage. Damage might also break the effect (including the damage of the spell itself). The enemy will still attack players that are in range, so use it only on melee targets and stand well back from it. Requires caster form to use, so it is best used before combat.

Teleport: Moonglade: Teleports you to moonglade. Use this when your party doesn't like you.

Abolish Poison / Remove Curse: Removes one curse or multiple poisons from your target. Also requires caster form to use, so use it sparingly and when you can afford the time in caster form. An example use is Noth the Plaguebringer in Naxxramas, when you see a curse not being dispelled for 9 seconds you can save the day by removing it and preventing massive damage on the entire raid.

Soothe Animal: Used in caster form before combat. Makes an animal a bit blind so you could perhaps safely wave and walk past without it attacking you.

Innervate: Used in caster form so use this carefully when you think you won't be taking any damage. This restores 225% of the caster's base mana pool worth of mana to your target. At level 80 this is about 8.000 mana. Instant cast, luckily, but has a cooldown of 3 minutes. Use it when a healer is having trouble with his mana. Be cautious to use it on priests and druids though, since these classes have very good ways to regenerate mana themselves as well.

4. How to use abilities
You can use abilities by pressing the associated button! No, there is much more to the game than that as you well know. You've come to this chapter to read about which abilities to use in what situations and you've come to the right place. Bears are actually quite easy to control. Here's how it goes.

4.1. Single Enemy
As simple as it may seem, there is still some theory going on here. Positioning is important here. Begin your pull with Regrowth and Rejuvenation if you have such time and effort, and use Faerie Fire (Feral) to pull him/her/it/whateveritis. You are the only one that may be in front of your creature, all melee damage dealers HAVE to be behind him. This is because mobs can parry, and every time they do, their next attack comes 10% faster. They can't parry attacks from behind so it makes them do more damage and it makes you take less damage.
You'll also want to face the enemy, this is considered polite (and enables you to dodge and attack). Some enemies have cleave abilities, frontal cone breaths, tail swipes, chain lightning and the like; it is your task to consider those and turn the mob in the right direction so only you can get hit.
The abilities you use to gain threat is important. These are going to be yours, for a single enemy:

• 1. Keep up Demoralizing Roar.


• 2. Keep a stack of five Lacerates up.


• 3. Keep Mangle on cooldown.


• 4. Keep Faerie Fire on cooldown.


• 5. If you have plenty of rage, turn your auto swing into a Maul (and keep Infected Wounds in mind).


• 6. If you have more rage still, fill up the Global Cooldowns with Swipe.

This is a priority queue. Number 1 is most important and number 6 is least important. In this way you'll do most threat while still keeping all mitigation up. Single enemies also give most opportunities to shift all over the place whenever you have the time. If they're casting something long, running away to some object or person, stunned or in general not paying attention to you, you can use that time in Cat Form or caster form for extra damage/healing/battle-resurrection/Night Elf dance/innervate. Show them what us druids are made for.

4.2. Double Enemy
In many instances you'll face two or more enemies to hold, nowadays much more than in ye olde days. This is where that Maul glyph is very important. The Maul glyph makes two enemies nearly the same as one. There is a new priority list for this one and it's a bit longer. Mark up the main target with a skull, the second with a cross, and pull with Faerie Fire on the main target. You'd best start with Maul this time to get sufficient threat on both targets. Here goes:

• 1. Keep up Demoralizing Roar on both targets.


• 2. Keep a stack of five Lacerates up on the main target.


• 3. Keep at least one Lacerate on the second target.


• 4. Keep Mangle on cooldown on the main target.


• 5. If you have plenty of rage, turn your auto swing into Maul (and keep Infected Wounds in mind).


• 6. Keep Faerie Fire on cooldown.


• 7. If you have more rage still, fill up the Global Cooldowns with Swipe.

As you see there are three changes. You are to keep Demoralizing Roar up on both targets, Maul has moved up one place in the queue, and you have to keep up one Lacerate on the second target. Why that Lacerate, do you ask? This is because Lacerate can critically strike (if talented that way) without using your Global Cooldown more than once. Each Critical Strike absorbs ~1.200 damage for you. It is a mitigation concern. It doesn't matter much wether you build that stack of five on the second target as well or if they fade. The Damage over Time effect of Lacerate doesn't produce much threat. Try to if you can.
Selecting the secondary target before combat and typing "/focus" may help a great deal for a beginner. This enables you to see Demoralizing Roar and Lacerate on the secondary target.

4.3. Trash Pack
This is what you'll see most and this is what will become boring after a while, though it can be challenging in the beginning. Trash packs usually contain several standard melee enemies, some casters or ranged enemies and sometimes a healer (but rarely more than one). When you pick these up you must first group them together so you can hit on them all at once (you swinger). There's a good trick for this: caster enemies usually stop casting when their target is in melee range and start fighting with their hands. They are then prepared to follow you, but if you go too fast they might get out of melee range again and resume casting. When you've grouped them up, make sure there is no melee enemy behind you since you won't be able to dodge its attacks.

Usually you want to kill the healers first. For the rest, mark the most dangerous creatures to be slain first, as to reduce the load for your healer. If nessecary you can also mark an enemy to be Crowd Controlled. Most Crowd Control prefers a ranged enemy, because Damage may break it and your Swipe and the Area of Effect of your damage dealers may hit it. While killing them, you should mind every ability and mind that today's brainless melee damage dealers will follow the main target as if glued to a handsome. When there is a whirlwinding enemy in the trash pack, you can be so friendly to take the main target a bit away from it when it whirls (think Halls of Lightning, the Terrestial Watchtower with those Stormforged Runeshapers). Some abilities can be interrupted, namely the heals of a healer, random Shadow Bolts, Whirlwind, basically every ability with a casting time in a trash pack. Remember you have two interrupts: Bash and Feral Charge.
The priority queue is a bit less strict here as it will be subject to moving, rage, abilities of the enemies. To start, pull them all together while using Swipe and merge in Demoralizing Roar as soon as possible with the trigger-happy damage dealers. Here's the general idea:

• 1. Keep up Demoralizing Roar on all targets that can melee.


• 2. Swipe once in a while, at least once every 10 seconds.


• 3. Keep several Lacerates up on the main target. If you expect that target to live long, it deserves a higher stack.


• 4. If you have plenty of rage, turn your auto swing into Maul.


• 5. Keep Mangle on cooldown on the main target.


• 6. Use Lacerate on as much targets as time allows. Just one apply is enough, for the Savage Defense.


• 7. Nevermind Faerie Fire, fill up all extra time with Swipe. Rage will soon be no problem then.

4.4. Swarms
Swarms are very large pulls of weaker enemies. The best example I can give is in the Halls of Theory in Magister's Terrace, the Brightscale Wyrms there. A modern day example is in Drak'tharon Keep, just after Novos the Summoner, this batrider with his bats. Bears are not very good at these at all but it is a rather simple rotation. To start, pull them or move in between them and make sure there are no creatures behind you (or at least as few as possible). It helps to drag them a bit away from the rest of the group, so you can see when a target changed its mind and makes for that warlock with his Rain of Fire. Start off with a Swipe and then Demoralizing Roar, and then keep yourself to this priority list:

• 1. Keep up Demoralizing Roar. When it is active on your current target, it is likely also active on all others.


• 2. Maul an enemy once, then use tab to switch your target.


• 3. Swipe in all Global Cooldowns except for Demoralizing Roars.

When you see a target wandering off towards one of your ranged damage dealers, or when you see the message "losing threat" popping up in between the angry mob, it means you've lost one. Select the enemy that wandered off towards your clothies with your mouse and growl at it. When it doesn't wander off you'll have to use the tab key to find it, it is probably attacking a melee damage dealer.

5. Talents of a Bear
A bear is not a bear by pressing that blue paw above your action bars. It may look like a bear, feel like a bear, sound like a bear and smell like a bear, but a bear is not a true bear before it has chosen to become a bear in talents. There are several talent builds to choose from. If you would just like a simple list of them, find chapter 8. Useful Links. In here I will handle the bear's talents and choices you have to make.
I like to divide talents into degrees of usefulness. There are some key talents that every feral druid will have, some important talents that most feral druids have, and some minor talents that can be switched over without much loss or concern.

Let's first handle the basics, the key talents every feral druid will and should have:

• Feral Swiftness: Increases your movement speed in Cat Form and dodge chance in Bear Form. 4% dodge for us right there!


• Sharpened Claws: Increases critical strike chance. Prerequisite of Primal Fury and Primal Precision.


• Primal Fury: Grants an extra combo point on a critical strike with a Cat Form ability, and 5 extra rage in Bear Form by a critical strike. Good source of extra rage.


• Primal Precision: Increases expertise by 5/10 and refunds some energy of a finishing move if it fails. For bears it just reduces the enemy dodge and parry chance by 2,5%.
  
• Predatory Strikes: Greatly increases attack power. Prerequisite of Heart of the Wild.


• Heart of the Wild: Increases all the statistics you need: Stamina in Bear Form, Attack Power in Cat Form, and Intellect in caster form.


• Survival of the Fittest: Increases attributes and armor, and most importantly, makes bears immune to Critical Strikes without a single Defense Rating.


• Leader of the Pack: Grants an aura that increases physical critical strike chance by 5% for all party and raid members in range.


• Protector of the Pack: Simply reduces all damage taken by 12% in Bear Form, also magic damage. Also increases Attack Power.


• Mangle: Major threat ability, also important for Cat Form due to the increase in bleed and shred damage.


• Rend and Tear: Increases Maul damage and critical strike chance of Ferocious Bite by great amounts. Prerequisite of Primal Gore.


• Primal Gore: Very important for Cat Form and for Bear Form. For bears it makes Lacerate critically bleed, improving the effect of Savage Defense.


• Naturalist: Increases damage done by 10%.


• Omen of Clarity: Sometimes causes abilities to cost no rage/energy/mana. Great threat improvement for bears.

The following talents are important for bears but might be less useful for cats. Many people will not choose them for this reason, because they like cats better. The fools. You will need these for tanking!

• Thick Hide: Increases armor from leather items by 15%.


• Survival Instincts: Ability that temporarily grants you 30% extra health and maximum health, useful panic button.


• Feral Charge: Useful ability that causes you to run or pounce up to the target. Interrupts their cast and roots them as well. Can prevent falling damage.


• Natural Reaction: Grants a large amount of dodge chance in Bear Form and generates rage when you dodge.


• Infected Wounds: Our equivalent of the Thunderclap effect. Reduces attack speed by 20% and movement speed by 50%. Effectively reduces damage you take from melee hits by approximately 20%!


• Berserk: Useful panic button, greatly increases threat output on 3 targets by removing the cooldown of Mangle and making it hit 3 targets. You need it for Cat Form too.

For the rest it is mostly just a choice and a weighing. Some abilities are more defense-orientated and some more useful for threat or utility. Let's walk through these and choose a result afterwards.

• Ferocity: Reduces cost of Maul, Swipe, Rake (cat) and Mangle (bear and cat) by 1 rage or energy.


• Feral Aggression: Increases the effect of Demoralizing Roar by 40% and increases Ferocious Bite (cat) damage. Effectively reduces damage income by ~8% with five points but other classes may apply it too.


• Feral Instinct: Increases Swipe damage and increases effectiveness of Prowl (cat).


• Savage Fury: Increases damage of Maul, Mangle (bear and cat) and rake (cat) by 20%. Produces pretty powerful Mauls.


• Shredding Attacks: Reduces energy cost of Shred (cat) by 9 and rage cost of Lacerate by 2. Cheaper Lacerates.


• Brutal Impact: Increases duration and reduces cooldown of stuns. PvP talent mostly.


• Nurturing Instinct: Increases your healing spells by measure of your agility. Useful for Cat Form hybriding. Doesn't work on Improved Leader of the Pack.


• Improved Leader of the Pack: Quite underestimated talent, causes you (and party) to heal for 4% of maximum health upon a critical strike. Restores mana too for yourself.


• Primal Tenacity: Reduces duration of fear effects. The reduction of damage while stunned only works for Cat Form. Also reduces mana cost of forms.


• King of the Jungle: Primarily cat talent. Increases damage during Enrage and grants some energy with Tiger's Fury. Turns Enrage into a utility button for producing more threat, and makes the feral forms cost less mana.


• Improved Mangle: Less useful than it sounds. Reduces cooldown of Mangle and energy cost for the cat version.


• Improved Mark of the Wild: Increases effect of Mark and Gift of the Wild. Also increases your own total attributes by 2%.


• Furor: Grants a bit of rage to start with when you enter Bear Form. Has no use for us during the fight though. Also grants initial energy when entering Cat Form.

That should give you enough information to weigh your own talent build, but if you're lazy because you just came out of hibernation, or just don't have enough brains in Bear Form, you could also have a look in these hand-crafted, all-in builds. Just add water!
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#0ZqGGsfrzceRcczVkbE0z:0zMcMz All-around bear tanking best-of-all.
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#0ZqMGsfrdceRIczVkbA0z:0zMcMz 100% mitigation bear.
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#0ZxGGscrzceRcczAkbE0z:0zMcMz The most common bear talent tree.
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#0ZxGGsfrzceRccuVkbA0z:0zMcMz Hybrid bear/cat feral build.
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#0ZVGGscrzfeRccuVkbA0z:0zMcMz My own build, tuned for soloing Molten Core and northrend dungeons.

For common talents, using the wisdom of the crowd:
http://www.quickarmory.com/stats/?c=Druid#Feral Combat
http://www.wowpopular.com/Druid/Talents

As for glyphs, there are a number of specific tank-glyphs for us, four to be precise. These are your options:

• Glyph of Frenzied Regeneration: While Frenzied Regeneration is active, healing effects on you are 20% more powerful.


• Glyph of Growl: Increases the chance for your Growl ability to work successfully by 8%. Growl cannot miss any more.


• Glyph of Maul: Your Maul ability now hits one additional target.


• Glyph of Survival Instincts: Increases the percentage of your maximum health received from Survival Instincts to 40%.

Myself, I chose to omit Survival Instincts and chose the other three. There are two useful minor glyphs for bears as well. This makes the final minor glyph available for your utility spells, like Glyph of Unburdened Rebirth. These are our minor glyphs:

• Glyph of Challenging Roar: Decreases the cooldown of Challenging Roar by 30 seconds.


• Glyph of Thorns: Increases the duration of your Thorns by 50 minutes when cast on yourself. Very useful.

6. Gear
Clothing make the man. Handsome leather tunics make the bear. Many people wonder still what equipment they should carry and how they could tune it fine. Before reading on, know that I am one such player that values looks as well as function. My bear set is too important for that but I downgraded to the Heroes' Dreamwalker Raiments for my cat set because the Tunic of Indulgence I have is just too ugly. I'll try to keep my opinions for myself from here on!

6.1. Equipment
Bears don't have much brain power in their small furry heads, they like to keep it simple. Therefor, what bears need in their gear is also rather simple: Agility and Stamina. Agility for dodging, stamina for when you didn't dodge. Armor is also quite important to us but there are few ways to tune that. Keep in mind that bonus armor (on a trinket, ring, weapon, necklace or enchant) doesn't get multiplied by our Bear Form.
Different people need different statistics. Websites like good ol' emmerald.net are actually quite inaccurate, especially nowadays with the Diminishing Returns. Also, Stamina becomes more valuable in higher level raids. Some people have a neverending discussion on the most important question of our time: Mitigation or health, which is better?
The generic idea is to have enough health to survive and use the rest of your gear for mitigation. Enough health means that the healer can safely let you go for a couple of seconds to heal other players and then catch you again in their eternal juggle, even if you don't dodge the next couple of attacks. Some people like to brag about the amount of health they have, but those are usually the ones wearing their Frost Resistance set just because the health amount is the only statistic visible from the moment you get invited to a group. What amount of health is enough is subject to discussion as well. My own experiences ask me to aim for a maximum of 28.000 health for a heroic dungeon (with only Mark of the Wild), just to make pick-up groups stop complaining. 30.000 health is excellent for Naxxramas and Obsidian Sanctum, 32.000 health unbuffed is a maximum for the Eye of Eternity and Ulduar. Trial of the Crusader is another tier ahead, about 35.000 is a good maximum. The Icecrown Citadel has not yet been visited by me. In a raid you can count on about 20% health extra due to the raid buffs (Greater Blessing of Kings, Prayer of Fortitude, Blood Pact, food, possibly a flask or elixir).
The rest of your gear should aim for as much mitigation as you can. This mostly means just Agility. Other statistics though that increase your mitigation are Dodge Rating, Armor, Defense Rating and Expertise Rating. For Savage Defense you need Agility, Strength/Attack Power, Critical Strike Rating, Hit Rating and Haste Rating. Commonly a bear in heroic dungeons starts out with 30% dodge and grows up to about 40% or even more in high-end raids.
Let's have a look at some of the starter's gear for level 80, sorted by source:
Quests:
- Headguard of Retailation (UP)
- Choker of the Betrayer (Zul'drak)
- Exotic Leather Tunic (UP), Hardened Tongue Tunic (HoL)
- Handwraps of Preserved History (CoS)
- Signet of Bridenbrad (Icecrown), Frog-toe Band (Icecrown)
Reputation:
- Choker of Feral Fury (Argent Tournament), Susurrating Shell Necklace (Argent Tournament)
- Spaulders of Frozen Knives (Sons of Hodir)
- Cloak of Holy Extermination (Argent Crusade), Cloak of Peaceful Resolutions (Wyrmrest Accord)
- Darkheart Chestguard (Knights of the Ebon Blade)
- Dragonfriend Bracers (Wyrmrest Accord)
- Glitterscale Wrap (Oracles)
- Mind-Expanding Leggings (Kirin Tor)
- Boots of the Neverending Path (Knights of the Ebon Blade), Treads of Nimble Evasion (Argent Tournament), Treads of the Earnest Squire (Argent Tournament)
- Silvery Sylvan Stave (Argent Tournament), Whale-Stick Harpoon (Kalu'ak)
Crafted:
- Weakness Spectralizers (Engineering - BoP), Eviscerator's Facemask (LW)
- Titanium Earthguard Chain (JC)
- Trollwoven Spaulders (LW), Eviscerator's Shoulderpads (LW)
- Durable Nerubhide Cape (LW)
- Knightbane Carapace (LW, expensive!), Polar Vest (LW), Eviscerator's Chestguard (LW)
- Bracers of Swift Death(LW, expensive!), Eviscerator's Bindings (LW)
- Seafoam Gauntlets (LW), Eviscerator's Gauntlets (LW)
- Death-warmed Belt (LW), Polar Cord (LW), Trollwoven Girdle (LW)
- Eviscerator's Legguards (LW), Leggings of Visceral Strikes (LW)
- Footpads of Silence (LW), Polar Boots (LW), Jormscale Footpads (LW), Eviscerator's Treads (LW)
- Ring of Earthen Might (JC), Titanium Earthguard Ring (JC)
Bind on Equip drops:
- Drake-Champion's Bracers (Oculus Hc), King's Square Bracers (CoS Hc)
- Treasure Seeker's Belt (AN Hc), Ley-Whelphide Belt (Oculus Hc)
- Chain Gang Legguards (VH Hc)
- Stained-Glass Shard Ring (AK Hc)
Badges of Justice:
- Idol of Terror (Still the best idol until the second-last boss of heroic Ulduar)
Emblems of Triumph and downgrades:
- Hood of Lethal Intent, Conqueror's Nightsong Headguard (tier 8,5)
- Shard of the Crystal Forest
- Duskstalker Shoulderpads/Pauldrons
- Platinum Mesh Cloak
- Conqueror's Nightsong Raiment (tier 8,5)
- Wristwraps of the Cutthroat
- Gloves of the Blind Stalker
- Belt of the Twilight Assassin
- Leggings of Wavering Shadow
- Boots of Captain Ellis
- Clutch of Fortification, Signet of the Impregnable Fortress
- Glyph of Indomitability, Valor Medal of the First War
- Idol of the Corruptor
Emblems of Frost:
- Sentinel's Winter Cloak
- Shadow Seeker's Tunic
- Cat Burglar's Grips
- Vengeful Noose
- Corroded Skeleton Key
- Idol of the Crying Moon
PvP: The 'Dragonhide' Sets are for Feral druids, and the 'Leather' special sets too.
Normal Dungeons:
- Hood of the Furitive Assassin (HoL)
- Amulet of Wills (HoS)
- Bewildering Shoulderpads (FoS), Shoulderpads of the Infamous Knave (TotC), Ceremonial Pyre Mantle (UP)
- Eerie Runeblade Polisher (HoR), Drape of the Undefeated (TotC), Centrifuge Core Cloak (Oculus)
- Blackened Gheist Ribs (HoR), Drake Rider's Tunic (UP)
- Gloves of the Argent Fanatic (TotC)
- Flayer's Black Belt (PoS), Belt of Fierce Competition (TotC)
- Shaggy Wyrmleather Leggings (PoS), Leggings of Brazen Trespass (TotC)
- Uruka's Band of Zeal (TotC), Ring of Carnelian and Bone (PoS), Dragonflight Great-Ring (Oculus)
- The Black Heart (TotC), Seal of the Pantheon (HoL)
- Tower of the Mouldering Corpse (FoS), Hewn Sparring Quarterstaff (HoL)

Heroics:
- Frayed Scoundrel's Cap (FoS Hc), Mask of Distant Memory (TotC Hc), Mask of the Watcher (Oculus Hc), Shroud of Darkness (VH Hc), Helm of Cheated Fate (GD Hc)
- Fossilized Ammonite Choker (HoR Hc), The Warlord's Depravity (TotC Hc), Ancient Pendant of Arathor (TotC Hc), Shadowseeker's Pendant (AK Hc)
- Spaulders of Black Betrayal (HoR Hc), Spaulders of the Careless Thief (Nexus Hc), Sprinting Shoulderpads (AK Hc)
- Cloak of the Gushing Wound (VH Hc), Shroud of Reverberation (HoL Hc), Cloak of the Enemy (Nexus Hc)
- Choking Hauberk (HoR Hc), Crystal-Infused Tunic (Nexus Hc)
- Chewed Leather Wristguards (PoS Hc), Armbands of the Wary Lookout (TotC Hc), Bindings of the Tunneler (UK Hc), Advanced Tooled-Leather Bands (HoL Hc)
- Charged-Bolt Grips (HoL Hc), Gilt-Edged Leather Gauntlets (UP Hc), Bile-Cured Gloves (CoS Hc)
- Sharp-barbed Leather Belt (UK Hc), Batrider's Cord (DTK Hc)
- Fleshwerk Leggings (PoS Hc), Gored Hide Legguards (GD Hc), Ravenous Leggings of the Furbolg (UP Hc), Legguards of Swarming Attacks (AK Hc)
- Blighted Leather Footpads (HoR Hc), Treads of Dismal Fortune (TotC Hc), Slag Footguards (HoL Hc), Gorloc Muddy Footwraps (GD Hc), Boots of the Whirling Mist (HoS Hc)
- Mark of the Relentless (TotC Hc), Keystone Great-Ring (DTK Hc), Band of Stained Souls (PoS Hc), Band of Torture (Oculus Hc), Hemorrhaging Circle (GD Hc), Mobius Band (CoS Hc)
- Ick's Rotting Thumb (PoS Hc), Essence of Gossamer (AN Hc), Offering of Sacrifice (GD Hc)
- Orca-Hunter's Harpoon (HoR Hc), Marrowstrike (TotC Hc), Staff of Trickery (VH Hc), Enraged Feral Staff (UK Hc), Lightning Giant Staff (HoL Hc)

6.2. Enchants
When you've got your gear you will still be worthless if you don't enchant it properly. Here are your options, for most people from good to cheap:
Head: Arcanum of the Stalwart Protector (30sta, 20def), Arcanum of the Defender (16def, 17dodge), Heavy Borean Armor Kit (18sta)
Shoulders: Master's Inscription of the Pinnacle (15def, 52dodge, inscription only), Greater Inscription of the Pinnacle (15def, 20dodge), Greater Inscription of the Gladiator (15resi, 30sta). Heavy Borean Armor Kit (18sta), Lesser Inscription of the Pinnacle (10def, 15dodge).
Back: Major Agility (22agi), Mighty Armor (255armor), Superior Agility (16agi).
Chest: Powerful Stats (10stats), Super Stats (8stats), Super Health (275hp), Heavy Borean Armor Kit (18sta), Greater Defense (22def).
Wrists: Fur Lining - Stamina (90sta, LW only), Major Stamina (40sta), Greater Stats (6stats).
Hands: Major Agility (20agi), Glove Reinforcements (240armor), Heavy Borean Armor Kit (18sta), Superior Agility (16agi).
Waist: Eternal Belt Buckle (extra socket).
Legs: Frosthide Leg Armor (22agi, 55sta), Jormungar Leg Armor (15agi, 45sta).
Feet: Greater Fortitude (22sta), Superior Agility (16agi), Heavy Borean Armor Kit (18sta).
Fingers: Stamina (24sta, enchanting only).
Weapon: Mongoose (120agi & 2% haste proc*), Blood Draining (400-2000 healing when falling below 35% health).

6.3. Gems, statistic weighings
Sockets exist to finetune your gear. Remember the statements in chapter 6.1. Try to reach that health milestone and then shift over to mitigation. There are varying degrees of power in these gems, but their names have a very easy setup. The degrees of power are, from powerful to weak, the Dragon's Eyes (Jewelcrafter only, maximum of 3), Stormjewels (Fishing daily, maximum of 1) and epic gems, rare gems, perfect uncommon gems, and uncommon gems. The first word in the gem indicates what statistics it grants. That is the word I'll give for each socket. Remember, you don't have to follow the colour, it only grants you the socket bonus if you do!

These are your options to fill sockets with when you don't have enough health yet, when you're below your health treshold*:
RED: Shifting purples (agi+stam).
BLUE: Solid blues (stam).
YELLOW: Enchanted tear (stats, but unique-equipped) or Enduring greens (def+stam).

These are your options to fill sockets with when you're above your health treshold:
RED: Delicate reds (agi).
BLUE: Shifting purples (agi+stam).
YELLOW: Enchanted tear (stats, but unique-equipped) or Enduring greens (def+stam).

Simple, isn't it? Tell you what, the Meta gem is even simpler. There are two options:
META: Austere Earthsiege Diamond (2% armor, 32stam).
META: Effulgent Skyflare Diamond (2% less magic damage, 32stam).
For most cases and especially in dungeons, the Austere Earthsiege Diamond is the better of two. For some fights the Skyflare Diamond is better, but fear not! You'll be able to make the choice yourself when you're far enough to need the Skyflare Diamond. If you can't make that choice, the Austere Earthsiege Diamond is for you.

These simple, small lists are made with the relative stat values. This is related to the method Blizzard divides the statistics on armor but beats that system. To determine which item is better you could give each statistic a value. This is also how www.lootrank.com works. The item with the highest total value is best for you then. These are the approximate values for a bear in Naxxramas:
Attack Power: 1 (baseline)
Agility: 7.5
Stamina: 7.3
Dodge Rating: 5
Armor: 5 (in leather)
Defense Rating: 4.5
Strength: 2.2
Expertise Rating: 3.5
Hit Rating: 1.8
Haste Rating: 1.3
Crit Rating: 1.2
Armor Penetration Rating: 1.1
Bonus Armor*: 0.8
Health: 0.3
Fill those in in www.lootrank.com and you'll get this list of items:
http://www.lootrank.com/wr.asp?Cla=1024&Art=4&Gem=3&Str=2.2&Arm=5&mh=1.3&Sta=7.3&bar=0.8&mcr=1.2&Agi=7.5&Def=4.5&mhit=1.8&Dod=5&map=1&fap=1&arp=1.1&Exp=3.5&Ver=6

7. Frequently Asked Questions
Some questions keep recurring, so I felt like having a section added to this guide to answer those questions in short. Remember, asking is free and even appreciated!

Q. How effective is Savage Defense?
A. Savage Defense (the blocking simulation for druids, based on critical strikes and attack power), is very much the same as other blocks but with a fundamental difference. Blocking has a chance to occur on every of the opponent's hits, Savage Defense has a chance to occur on your own hits (e.g. the critical ones). This makes Savage Defense more effective than blocks against a single target, and less effective against multiple targets. There is a catch, though. Savage Defense will absorb ~1200 damage for every critical strike, and against multiple targets you will critically strike more often as well with Swipe, Maul and Lacerate. Ergo, it'll be more effective against multiple targets. Its effectiveness doesn't scale as well as the blocking of paladins and warriors with multiple enemies, but it does scale.

Q. I can't keep up with the damage. How can I produce more threat?
A. Firstly try to follow my instructions on chapter 4 and 6, for maximum mitigation while keeping threat as great as possible. If that doesn't work for you there are some ways to improve your threat in trade of mitigation.
- Enchantments and gems provide a way to finetune your bear. Take stamina in lesser value and try to get more agility from gems and enchantments. Also, get yourself the "Enchant Gloves - Threat" or "Enchant Gloves - Armsman" on your tanking gloves.
- Be more threatening in your rotation. Especially Lacerate plays a role in this. If you're having trouble with threat, do not bother to place Lacerate on secondary targets, but do your best to keep it on the main target. In the beginning of a fight, you may also want to wait with Demoralizing Roar until you have an advantage of threat.
- Use your abilities. Don't forget Berserk! You might want to choose King of the Jungle in your talent tree to make Enrage a useful threat ability too.

Q. What consumables should I use in a raid?
A. This is an easy one. Bears like fish, especially agile river-fish. Myself I use Blackened Dragonfin, which is very expensive but gives 40 stamina and 40 agility. In cheaper occasions, a dungeon for example, I tend to eat my Dalaran Clam Chowder or something else cheap I bought from the Auction House for a bargain.
As for flasks and elixirs, try to stay away from the Flask of Stoneblood. Remember that it gives health, and not stamina, and will not get multiplied by your Dire Bear Form. In stead, choose the Elixir of Mighty Agility, or when you need more health the Guru's Elixir. Your Guardian Elixir should be the Elixir of Protection, or when you really need more health the Elixir of Mighty Fortitude.

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.

8. Useful links
Theorycrafting*:
http://elitistjerks.com/f31/t29453-combat_ratings_level_80_a/ -- Elitist Jerks thread about diminishing returns* in evasion*.
http://www.wowwiki.com/Formulas:Damage_reduction -- Formulas of mitigation from armor.
http://elitistjerks.com/f73/t49702-feralbynight_cat_bear_simulation_tool/ -- Simulation data for (high end) cats and bears.

Gear:
http://www.codeplex.com/Rawr -- Program to calculate your statistics and list gear that is best for you. The bear model is mostly up-to-date.
http://www.lootrank.com -- Lets you fill in values for every statistic and list the item with greatest value then.
http://www.lootrank.com/wr.asp?Cla=1024&Art=4&Gem=3&Str=2.2&Arm=5&mh=1.3&Sta=7.3&bar=0.8&mcr=1.2&Agi=7.5&Def=4.5&mhit=1.8&Dod=5&map=1&fap=1&arp=1.1&Exp=3.5&Ver=6 -- Lootrank filled in for a Naxxramas bear.
http://www.emmerald.net -- Outdate website for feral druids. The WotLK Beta Gear List was useful for patch 3.0. You'd better use Lootrank or better yet Rawr.
Do not trust your simulations blindly. They are simulations of the simplest of fights. Rather, ask a healer how he or she felt about healing you and try to find the statistics that match with your weaknesses.

Addons:
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/simple-raid-target-icons.aspx -- Easy icon marking, by doubleclicking the enemy.
http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info8459-OmenThreatMeter.html -- Monitor threat values, see how much danger there is of losing aggro.
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/visualheal.aspx -- See when a heal is incoming.

Talents:
http://www.quickarmory.com/stats/?c=Druid#Feral Combat -- Popularity of specific talents in percentages.
http://www.wowpopular.com/Druid/Talents -- Listing of the most popular talent builds.
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#0ZqGGsfrzceRcczVkbE0z:0zMcMz -- All-around bear tanking best-of-all.
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#0ZqMGsfrdceRIczVkbA0z:0zMcMz -- 100% mitigation bear.
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#0ZxGGscrzceRcczAkbE0z:0zMcMz -- The most common bear talent tree.
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#0ZxGGsfrzceRccuVkbA0z:0zMcMz -- Hybrid bear/cat feral build.
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#0ZVGGscrzfeRccuVkbA0z:0zMcMz [i]-- My own build, tuned for soloing old raids and easy dungeons.

9. Legend
Don't you know what this or that term means? I'll explain it in short here. These are the terms marked with an asterix throughout the guide.
*Bonus Armor: Extra armor that is not aquired via the white text of cloth, leather, mail or plate. Armor on jewelry for example. This is not multiplied by Bear Form.
*Diminishing Returns: The effect of mitigation becoming less effective when you're gathering more of it. See chapter 8.
*Evasion: Chance of evading an attack by dodging, parrying and being missed. Bears cannot parry.
*Health Treshold: For a certain instance you need a certain amount of health in order to survive (think of Maexxna and her web-spray). More than that is not needed. This is the Health Treshold. Also known as survival softcap.
*Mitigation: Reduction in the damage you take. 80% mitigation means that a blow of 1000 damage becomes on average 200 damage against you. Includes Evasion.
*Overhealing: Wasted healer mana caused by too much healing. Healing done while the tank already has full health counts towards overhealing.
*Proc: Programmed Random OCcurrence. These trigger sometimes when striking the enemy, being hit, or using an ability. Usually once every minute or so.
*Theorycrafting: Calculating how statistics work through for the game, and predicting what's going to happen via math.

Reported for sticky, am considering tanking on my new feral druid (although kittyform is fun too) and I certainly know where I'll be looking for information if I do.

Sticky!

Nice work, though i dont agree with all you wrote ;)
Youve got some mistakes there too. Most important one imo: Predatory Instincts- the AoE dmg reduction works only in cat from now (think back in BC it did work in both forms) making it useless for bears - unless they changed it again.
Anyway will try to post things here mor or less regulary.
Definitly deserves a sticky ;)

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Q u o t e:
Youve got some mistakes there too. Most important one imo: Predatory Instincts- the AoE dmg reduction works only in cat from now (think back in BC it did work in both forms) making it useless for bears - unless they changed it again.

---

It does? I've never used Predatory Instincts myself, I must've missed the patch note on that then. A slight review is in order in the talent section. Thank you for your contribution!

---

Q u o t e:
Protector of the Pack: Simply reduces all damage taken by 12% in Bear Form, also magic damage. Also increases Attack Power in Cat Form.

---

A minor detail but PotP only increases Bear form AP and not Cat Form ap.

---

Q u o t e:
GREEN: Enchanted tear (stats) or Enduring greens (def+stam).

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Make that Stam+crit, tbh


These days i generally pass on any item that doesn't has Crit rating, agility and stamina on it :/

I would suggest a few edits in your post here and there, but overall, it is a pretty solid guide :) (atm i don't have the time for it :p)

For the Addons: Get BadKitty, it also shows timers on your debuffs/class cooldowns when in bear form, making it ideal to time your lacerate/demo roar refresh to maximize your dps and tps output as tank.

As a veteran feral, I say Kudos!

A lot of effort put in here reported for sticky!

Bear tanks with face is missing!

Was reading the forums when i bumped my head against this wall of text. Now come tank in naxx plzz.

/wave

Awesome guide, just what I needed for my druid alt =)

I'll be there tonight Romanojax!
Thank you for your feedback, friends. Some of it has been added to the guide.

just wanted to say: You're a sick, sick, sick person for writing all this..

just plainly awesome! :D

Im very happy with this guide, i was missing a druid tanking guide on my guild forum.
I must say you did a amazing jop.

tyvm :)