Tanking Talent Tree
By Nabterayl on 01/04/2008 at 17:34
Tanking Talents
A full tanking build would look like this: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=0ZxhGsfroeuioVxcz. There are some common feral talents missing from that build, but this is how I would maximize a druid for PVE tanking. The core tanking talents are:
A word on the choice of the Aldor vs. the Scryers. Neither of the factions provides any gear that can't be replaced, and neither provides any recipes that you absolutely must have, unless your guild dictates it according to some Master Crafter Plan, and can't be persuaded after you copy and paste this section. The one thing they do provide that you can't replace or buy is inscriptions. This means in my opinion, for feral druids especially, that the choice of faction should predominantly be based on the choice the tanking inscriptions (the cat inscriptions are essentially interchangeable, but for what it's worth cats favor Scryers).
If you take a look at you'll see that the Scryer inscriptions favor defense and the Aldor inscriptions favor dodge:
It's true that the Aldor inscriptions give more long-term damage reduction. However, as you can see, if you can use the crit reduction, the Scryer inscriptions give nearly the same long-term DR. For this reason my personal preference for druid tanks is to go Scryer. The extra defense on the greater inscription can make the burden of finding crit reduction easier at the higher tiers of gear, and the fact that the regular inscription gives any defense at all means that a tank can be uncrittable with no defense gems even in all blues (i.e., even without Earthwarden). Of course, if you have a lot of resilience on your tanking gear and therefore don't need the extra defense from Scryer inscriptions, the Aldor inscriptions would have provided more damage reduction overall. You should consider where you plan to stop - if you don't ever expect to see your druid in full Tier 4, Aldor may be the way to go for you. But I consider the Scryer enchants the better choice for early tank gear (pre-Kara blues) and later tank gear (T4-T6).
As a side note, it's well worth grinding (or buying) yourself to exalted with your faction of choice, and especially worth it for the Aldor druid, to open up another source of defense. There are exactly six true druid tanking shoulders in the entire game (S1-3, T4-6), so it's not as if you'll be re-inscribing a constant stream of upgrades.
Tanking Talents
A full tanking build would look like this: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=0ZxhGsfroeuioVxcz. There are some common feral talents missing from that build, but this is how I would maximize a druid for PVE tanking. The core tanking talents are:
5/5 Ferocity - necessary to lower the cost of our abilities enough to keep up with realistic amounts of rage.
3/3 Feral Instinct - changes the bear form threat multiplier from 1.30 to 1.45. That’s a huge boost.
1/1 Feral Charge - this ability is our main way to catch up to mobs that got loose. Use it on mobs you lost aggro on, as an interrupt against spellcaster mobs, or against far away adds. A very versatile tool.
2/2 Shredding Attacks - Lacerate is second in the single-target tanking rotation, so anything that reduces its rage cost is a must-have.
2/2 Primal Fury - This is an important source of rage, and the key to our off-tanking prowess.
1/1 Feral Faerie Fire - it doesn’t generate a lot of threat, but it does let you pull from bear form. And the armor reduction doesn’t hurt either.
5/5 Heart of the Wild - +20% stamina is a lot. It also stacks multiplicatively with the bear form stamina modifier and Survival of the Fittest, meaning a fully talented bear gains 54% extra HP per point of stamina.
3/3 Survival of the Fittest - the stat bonus is small, but the crit reduction is huge. You need this to become uncrittable.
1/1 Mangle - our biggest, most efficient high-threat attack. You can tank without this but your TPS will drop dramatically, which is always dangerous.
A word on the choice of the Aldor vs. the Scryers. Neither of the factions provides any gear that can't be replaced, and neither provides any recipes that you absolutely must have, unless your guild dictates it according to some Master Crafter Plan, and can't be persuaded after you copy and paste this section. The one thing they do provide that you can't replace or buy is inscriptions. This means in my opinion, for feral druids especially, that the choice of faction should predominantly be based on the choice the tanking inscriptions (the cat inscriptions are essentially interchangeable, but for what it's worth cats favor Scryers).
If you take a look at you'll see that the Scryer inscriptions favor defense and the Aldor inscriptions favor dodge:
Inscription of Warding (honored Aldor) - 13 dodge rating (0.69% dodge)
Inscription of the Knight (honored Scryer) - 13 defense rating (0.22% crit reduction, 0.22% dodge, 0.22% miss)
Greater Inscription of Warding (exalted Aldor) - 15 dodge rating (0.79% dodge), 10 defense rating (0.17% crit reduction, 0.17% dodge, 0.17% miss)
Greater Inscription of the Knight (exalted Scryer) - 15 defense rating (0.25% crit reduction, 0.25% dodge, 0.25% miss), 10 dodge rating (0.53% dodge)
It's true that the Aldor inscriptions give more long-term damage reduction. However, as you can see, if you can use the crit reduction, the Scryer inscriptions give nearly the same long-term DR. For this reason my personal preference for druid tanks is to go Scryer. The extra defense on the greater inscription can make the burden of finding crit reduction easier at the higher tiers of gear, and the fact that the regular inscription gives any defense at all means that a tank can be uncrittable with no defense gems even in all blues (i.e., even without Earthwarden). Of course, if you have a lot of resilience on your tanking gear and therefore don't need the extra defense from Scryer inscriptions, the Aldor inscriptions would have provided more damage reduction overall. You should consider where you plan to stop - if you don't ever expect to see your druid in full Tier 4, Aldor may be the way to go for you. But I consider the Scryer enchants the better choice for early tank gear (pre-Kara blues) and later tank gear (T4-T6).
As a side note, it's well worth grinding (or buying) yourself to exalted with your faction of choice, and especially worth it for the Aldor druid, to open up another source of defense. There are exactly six true druid tanking shoulders in the entire game (S1-3, T4-6), so it's not as if you'll be re-inscribing a constant stream of upgrades.