A few things that will make you a better tank. Part 1

After a few runs I have had in the recent past, I have decided to cover a few things that will make a tank a much better tank.  These are not your normal "get hit capped/more dodge/blah blah blah" stuff.  This will make you a better tank in that you will find that your runs will be smoother and nicer, which makes for a much better experience.  This will be a multi-part post that, by the end of the last post, you should have everything you need to make your life better in game.

The first this I recommend to EVERY tank out there is.......stop and roll a healer.  Yes, you heard me correctly.  Stop tanking and to roll a healer.  don't respec or dual spec and get a healing spec.  I mean start from square one and start healing.  Put all your points in healing as soon as you get them and then, at lvl10, Take off ALL your heirloom gear, replace the removed items with normal green/white items you can find and queue for BGs.  First, this will heal build healing skills.  Good healers learn that you can't just stand there and heal, there are times you have to heal and run as much as you can. This is easily learned in doing battleground.  A big orc warrior or little gnome rogue is not gonna let you just sit there and heal, you have to learn to heal and move to stay alive and keep people alive.  Stay with the group, the only way to learn good healing skills is to stay with the group and heal as much as you can.  Remember, don't get healer tunnel vision. This is where you are healing everyone so much, you forget to heal yourself.  This happens far more then you would think.

Now that you have leveled to 15 in battlegrounds, KEEP your heirloom gear off and queue in for random dungeons.  Now you learn some of the major tanking points in game.  You will now see how often a tank runs in for the next pull before you are ready and have mana back.  You will now see how often YOU are blamed for not keeping people alive, even though you were out of mana, siad you were out of mana but the tank went in anyway.  Here is where you will learn that healers are not supposed to loot ANYTHING, you are just supposed to keep up and heal.  You.....are a healbot.  You will also find some groups that the tank will listen to chat.  Will wait for you to get mana, will let you loot and will not go charging in if you have less them half mana.  Learning this all first hand, you will see what the healing classes go through in almost every run they get in to.

If you want to become a better tank, both for your sanity and for the good of the group (since running a dungeon/raid is a GROUP activity), you will do this until about lvl20 or lvl30.  It will only take you about 2 days to do this and you will learn just about everything you need to know.  Remember, you will not truly learn anything if you run to the AH and twink yourself out.  If you really want to do this, and I recommend you do, you will do it properly and do this in normal level appropriate gear.

My next blog will cover step 2 in becoming a better tank for you and your group.  When all is said and done, you will be a far better tank then you are now.  Trust me, I've done it.

More changes for feral druids in 4.2.

In an earlier post, I went over a few of the changes we can expect to see in feral druids when 4.2 goes live.  With the PTR still up and running, the changes keep coming.  Here are the changes that we can expect to see at this point in time if 4.2 were to hit today.

Blizzard feels that bear damage abilities were scaling too fast with higher gear levels compared to other tanks, so they have made the following changes to try to balance out druids with other tanking classes (booo). Keep in mind that these numbers are all for lvl85 feral druids.

• Faerie Fire (Feral) base damage has been raised to 2950, up from 679. Attack power scaling has been decreased to 10.8%, down from 15%.

• Maul base damage has been raised to 35, up from 8. Attack power scaling has been decreased to 19%, down from 26.4%.

• Pulverize weapon damage percent has been decreased to 60%, down from 80%. Damage per Lacerate application has been increased to 1623, up from 361.

• Mangle (Bear) weapon damage percent has been decreased to 190%, down from 260%. Bonus damage has been increased to 3306, down from 754.

• Swipe base damage has been increased to 929, up from 215. Attack power scaling has been decreased to 12.3%, down from 17.1%.

• Thrash initial base damage has been increased to 1042, up from 339. Initial damage attack power scaling has been decreased to 9.82%, down from 19.2%. Periodic base damage has been increased to 581, up from 189. Periodic damage attack power scaling has been decreased to 1.67%, down from 3.26%. In addition, a bug was corrected where armor decreased the periodic damage done by this ability.

• Lacerate initial base damage has been increased to 3608, up from 2089. Initial damage attack power scaling has been decreased to 5.52%, down from 7.66%. Periodic base damage has been increased to 69, up from 16. Periodic damage attack power scaling has been decreased to 0.369%, down from 0.512%.

• Natural Reaction damage reduction has been increased to 9/18%, up from 6/12%.

So lets take a look at the information they have given us.  Overall, they are giving us rather large increases in initial damage done. In the area were we normally see our attacks scale up quickly, we will be seeing it slow down a good deal.  Now I know that some people are already freaking out about this. "They are nerfing us again!  Why does Blizzard hate feral?".  This could not be farther from the truth.  First off, they are probably tired of hearing the other tank classes complain that we are becoming insane as a tanking class.  Feral has always been looked down on and since the drop of 4.1, we have been coming back with a vengeance.  Second, if you look at the stats they are showing us, you will most likely not really notice any significant changes while tanking, in either lower level content or in current raiding content.

The only real change we might notice is from Natural Reaction:

• Reduces damage taken while in Bear Form by 18% (was 12%), increases your dodge while in Bear Form by 6%, and you generate 3 Rage every time you dodge while in Bear Form.

Any time we see an increase in damage reduction in the feral class, this is a big thing.  We already have a large about of damage we do not take through our avoidance (agility/dodge rating), so any amount of damage after that will now be reduced by 18% at the top end.  Lets put this in hard terms.  If you get hit for 47,000, after Natural Reaction kicks in, you will have only taken 38,540 worth of damage.  That's a pretty big number. Before the change, you would have taken 41,360 worth of damage.  That to me is a significant change for the good.

All in all, I'm interested to see how these changes play out in the long run.  Regardless of how the changes affect feral tanking, I know that I for one will not give up and still go out there and show those other tanking classes how it's done!

Remember, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to comment below.  I will respond to any questions quickly.  If you like this blog, become a follower and spread the word about Neo's Challenging Roar!

Gemming and reforging feral tanks

One of the best things introduced in to WoW is being able to reforge your gear. Although a great tool, reforging is a bit of a tricky thing.  It fine tunes your gear, but the second that your gear changes, it becomes the first thing to change to rebalance everything. I have found through my time as a feral tank that reforging should go in the following order:


Expertise Soft-Cap > Hit > Dodge > Mastery > Crit > Haste

Now, lets make a couple of things more clear, this is the base diagram if you need EVERYTHING. Now, if you are at the expertise soft-cap and are hit capped, then you would start looking at dodge next.  Some will tell you that you need to only reforge in to dodge or some will say mastery. My experience has shown me that you will always get the best results by getting that expertise and hit up to where they should be.  Remember, if you can't hit them, you can't hold them and all the other stats seem to become meaningless. If you are not where you should be with hit or expertise, always reforge haste or crit in to the needed stat as these are the last stats you will ever need to worry about.




Gems are also a wonderful tool that Blizzard has given us.  It really can make all the difference if you add the correct gems to your gear.  Gemming should be done in the following priority:

Expertise Soft-Cap, Agility, Stamina, Mastery, Crit, Haste.

You might notice that hit is missing.  You should, as a general rule, avoid gemming for hit.  You can get this through gear, enchants or reforging. People will argue with me on this order, and I'm ok with that.  Everyone is allowed to have an opinion.  However, this order is what I have found works the best as a priority list. Remember, if you can't hit them, you can't hold them.  Secondly, you will have good amounts of stam on your gear as is, getting your dodge rating up should be the highest next priority next to hit and expertise. You won't need huge amounts of health if the mobs can't hit you.

Now the biggest discussion is always "should I got for the socket bonus?".  The answer is yes.....and no.  Let me explain, deciding on if you should go for the socket bonus is entirely based on your stats and what you really need. For example, if you are wearing:


Cuirass of Calamitous Fate
Binds when picked up
Chest Leather
1282 Armor
+120 Agility
+180 Stamina
O Yellow Socket
O Blue Socket
Socket Bonus: +12 Attack Power
Durability 165 / 165
Requires Level 80
Item Level 245
Equip: Increases your critical strike rating by 90 (1.96% @ L80).
Equip: Increases your haste rating by 90 (2.74% @ L80).


As a tank, you will most likely be able to make better use of this chest by tossing in agility and stamina gems.  You could toss in some multi stat gems to get the bonus, but to be honest the +12 attack power is just very much to make it very useful to a tank as opposed to the stats you'd get some solid color gems and forgetting about the bonus.

However, if you had:


Assassin's Chestplate
Binds when equipped
Chest Leather
1669 Armor
+321 Agility
+512 Stamina
O Red Socket
Socket Bonus: +10 Agility
Durability 165 / 165
Requires Level 85
Item Level 359
Equip: Increases your hit rating by 173 (1.44% @ L85).
Equip: Increases your critical strike rating by 243 (1.36% @ L85).


You will every definitely want to put in an agility gem or expertise gem to get this bonus.  The bonus is a sizable plus in a a key tanking stat that it is worth getting.

I hope this helps out and answers some question.  If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to comment on here and I will asnwer them very quickly.


Remember bears, keep up the good work!  We have to show these other tanking classes how it's done!

If you don't know, just ask.

So I'm sure you have all had this situation happen, probably in the same place too.  I get in to a group for H Blackrock Caverns, not my favorite place but not too bad (just glad it wasn't Grim Batol).  Kill the first trash, down the first boss pretty easy.  All is going nice and smooth.  We kill the next trash, still smooth.  Now we are at the next boss.  I have the rogue block the middle beam, feral druid block the right and mage the left while I tank the boss between the rogue and druid cat.  I always make sure to ask "Everyone know what to do with their target?" to which the healer replied "Ummm, heal him?" ( I love a touch of comedy in a run, lol). I got a yes across the board so  I made the pull and everyone jumped in to position quickly.  Interrupting the fear and doing good so far......until the druid turns in to a giant freakin mob bent on killing us, followed by the rogue.  Ok, we all come back in, rebuff and remark the mobs.  I charge in, position the boss........giant freakin mobs, again.  Come back in, rebuff, remark, charge in......HUGE BEAR KILLING MOBS.....AGAIN!!!!!!   After every wipe, there are a ton of excuses from "I don't know what happened, I was right there." to "I was feared" (which could account for 1 mob, not 2).  So we come back in and I, as nicely as I can being as how the cat was a guildie of mine and having the GM going off on you is usually a bad thing, I like to keep it down as much as I can, say, "ok, just so we are all on the same page, block beam until you get 70-80 stacks of debuff, get out of beam, wait for debuff to tick off, get back in beam, rinse & repeat.".  Everyone says "ok", so we rebuff and I remark.  I make sure everyone is ready and then I charge in as I have done for several tries.....and what do you know, we down her with no effort at all.

Look people, if you don't know the detail of a fight, just ask. If you are afraid you will look dumb because you don't know, you will look even worse after you have killed you party members. People don't mind filling you in about the details of a fight, not everyone has done them all.  But people get a bit mad having to spend gold on repairs that could have been prevented had you just said something, not to mention wasted gold on any food, pots or elixirs that were used and wasted on a fight that ended in death due to lack of knowledge. So please, for the love of all that is good and right in this world.....

If you don't know, just ask.

It's called a "minimap".

So, I took a break from tanking for a night and played my arcane mage.  I love this toon and love all the buffs that they have given us in this latest patch (thank you Blizzard).  But I have noticed a pattern with some tanks that, as a person who normally plays a tank, I just don't understand.  Let me paint a picture for you so you can see exactly what I'm talking about....

The group engages a boss and, due to most people not ever having been on that fight, the group wipes.  No big deal, everyone releases and starts to come back in and meet up at the boss.

Tank: ready?

Hunter: r

Mage: r

Death Knight: r

Tank charges in and......wipe.

Tank: WTF?

Hunter: What happened dude, you got one shotted.

Tank: Healers fail

Healer: I wasn't even in the room. Did you see a "r" from me? No, you didn't.

Tank: WTF NOOB!

*Tank leaves party*

Ok, now lets point out a couple of problems with this entire situation.  First off, the healer was partially at fault as he/she could have said they weren't ready.  HOWEVER, the tank did notice the "r" from everyone else and I'm assuming that he/she can count that there were only 3 "r" responses.  Which would be that 1 person was not ready, so why pull.  If you are not sure if they are or not, you can just ask, it won't hurt or burn to be nice and ask, lol.  Next, there is a simple thing in game, even addons to make it far more customizable, that makes this entire situation really a tank fault problem.  It's called a "minimap" and it sits on everyones screen displaying where all people in your group are at any given time.  If you ask "ready?" and you see that one of the dots on your minimap are not where you are, then someone is not ready.  It really is as simple as that. I have been seeing this kind of thing alot with tanks when I play dps and I just don't get it.  

Come on tanks, you are giving the rest of us a bad name. A tank is supposed to have full situational awareness of what is going on around them in order to do their job, but if you fail to watch your minimap to see if everyone is there for a pull, it is not much different then going in to a pull with a healer out of mana.  It causes undue stress and strain on the group and usually leads to wipes and people leaving the group.  And since everyone wants to have a nice smooth run, just please, join the rest of us and pay attention to eveything around you.....even your minimap.

Do they really think "gogogogo" works?

Ok, we've all seen it, we've all know people that do it to some degree, so here is my question.  Do people really think that chanting "gogogogo" at the tank is gonna make us move any faster?  I can tell you right here and now.....No, it won't.  If anything, it'll make us slow down.


Here are a few key things that dps NEED to realize about tanks.

1: Tanks don't wanna die.
2: Tank want to keep healers happy.  Happy healers = better heals (generally speaking)
3: We all know that mobs do different things. Part of a tanks job is to set up a pull so that it is easy to round up mobs or set up for any needed CC to keep the healer from burning through mana and keep people from dying.
4: If we were just in a large group fight, chances are we popped a cooldown.  If we are just sitting there, we might be waiting on it to cooldown or maybe to let a taunt come off cooldown.  If this is the case, we aren't moving until it does.
5: And this is a big one, WE WATCH HEALER MANA!!  If the healers mana is low, I can guarantee you that we will not move until the healer has mana again.  Why?  See item #1.


Also, if a dps uses the "gogogogo" method to get a tank to go, and he/she doesn't move, pulling for the tank...well.....lets just say more times then not you will find yourself back in queue for a tank.  Which these days, if you are looking for a tank for your run, you'll be waiting awhile.


If you just wait and let the tank go at his/her own pace, you will find that you will have a much nicer, smoother and more productive run.  After all, which takes more time, a tank that goes a bit slow and you one shot everything?  Or a tank that is rushed, makes a couple bad pulls (or the dps does) and you wipe a couple times, wasting time running back in and to where you left off?  Hmmmmmm?  (Pssst, here's a hint.  The second one will take longer.)


Keep this in mind next time you run a dungeon and spread this information around and who knows, maybe you will see more tanks coming back out to play more often.