Posted on by Sunnier

Tank Comparison: Low Level Abilities

Even with the upcoming changes to Swipe, I still believe that bears are way too weak at low levels. Their passive and active defenses are frighteningly low, and they have very few tools to do the job until later in the game. In this post I will compare the rate druids learn tanking skills to the rate other tanks learn them, and show exactly where low level druids fall behind.

— Last updated: Patch 4.1 (April 26, 2011) —

I classify spells as either aiding in threat generation or survivability, though some skills can be classified as both. I also include talents, though I will only put them in the level bracket once they can be maxed out, and I assume (though this is rarely the case for leveling characters) that people spec into survivability talents before other talents. I don’t include passive talents that cannot be easily compared with talents in other trees. Remember that Death Knights don’t come into the picture until level 55.

Levels 1-10

At this level, we only have two tanks, paladins and warriors. Druids don’t get bear form until level 15. Only warriors have a passive damage reduction and threat increase this early on. However instances at this level can be tanked by a priest if you wanted, so balance isn’t a huge issue.

Warriors

Paladins

Levels 10-20

Druids finally come into the picture. In 4.1, Swipe will be learned at level 18, down from level 36, and that helps druids out with threat. Tanks also now have access to talent points. All tanks get a taunt and their passive threat increase by level 15. Paladins get a cooldown, albeit not one of the staple cooldowns. Warriors have two spammable skills, an AoE at this point, and a ranged pull, so threat management will be easiest for them. Druids learn their 10% damage reduction debuff far earlier than other tanks, which is probably an attempt to compensate for their lack of armor or passive defenses.

Druids

  • Threat Generation
    • Mangle (10)
    • Bear Form (15): Passive threat increase
    • Growl (15): Basic taunt
    • Maul (15): Rage dump, usually won’t have enough rage to use it.
    • Swipe (18): AoE attack, short cooldown
  • Survivability

Warriors

Paladins

Levels 21-30

The tanking specs are starting to feel more necessary at this point. All tanks can now reduce enemy attack speed. Paladins and warriors gain minor damage reduction cooldowns. Paladins learn a whopping three AoE abilities, and they really start to shine in the multi-mob tanking department. Druids still have no passive damage reduction, no increased armor, and no cooldowns.

Druids

Warriors

  • Threat Generation
    • Cleave (24): AoE attack and rage dump
  • Survivability

Paladins

Levels 31-40

All tanks can become uncrittable during this level range. Druids finally get their block-like skill and the extra armor that compensates for lack of actual block. Both warriors and paladins have two cooldowns each by level 40, while druids still have none. Paladins also gain a passive damage reduction, something warriors got at level 10, and something druids won’t see for another 20 levels.

Druids

  • Threat Generation
    • None
  • Survivability
    • Savage Defense (40): A druid’s block-like ability
    • Thick Hide (talent): Major armor increase, can no longer be crit by npcs

Warriors

Paladins

Levels 41-50

Druids and warriors learn their major cooldowns by level 50, something paladins won’t get until level 85, though paladins still have their minor and some flavor cooldowns to hold them over.

Druids

  • Threat Generation
    • None
  • Survivability

Warriors

Paladins

  • Threat Generation
  • Survivability
    • Holy Shield (talent): Minor block increase OR
    • Vindication (talent): 10% damage reduction debuff (can’t have both of these talents by level 50)

Levels 51-60

Druids learn a ton of defensive skills during this bracket, and finally have their passive damage reduction. This bracket almost gives druids too much, and could probably be spread out better. However, their AoE and single target skills are still severely lacking. Shield tanks don’t get much of note. Death Knights have hopped on the tanking train, though they’re only here starting from level 55 (and can only enter instances after 58).

Druids

Warriors

  • Threat Generation
    • None
  • Survivability

Paladins

  • Threat Generation
    • None
  • Survivability
    • None

Death Knights

Levels 61-70

Finally, 31-point talents come into play. Death Knights get their another huge batch of skills, including their taunt! While we’re on the subject, Death Knights learn their basic taunt way too late. They have a psuedo-taunt in Death Grip, but lacking a real taunt makes instances a little frustrating.

Druids

  • Threat Generation
    • Lacerate (68): Spammable ability
    • Berserk (talent): Threat cooldown, aids in both single target and AoE threat
  • Survivability
    • Pulverize (talent): Minor Savage Defense increase

Warriors

  • Threat Generation
    • Shockwave (talent): Long cooldown AoE attack
  • Survivability
    • None

Paladins

Death Knights

Levels 71-85

Things don’t change much for the next 15 levels. Druids finally get their strong AoE ability, Paladins get their major cooldown, Warriors get a minor cooldown.

Druids

  • Threat Generation
  • Survivability
    • None

Warriors

Paladins

Death Knights

Conclusions

Druids grow up much slower than other tanks. They don’t get the armor they need until level 33, any cooldowns until level 49, or any passive damage reduction until 52. All of these weaknesses combine to make a very squishy tank up until the level 50-60 range. That’s too long too wait.

When I rerolled my druid, I didn’t have any heirlooms or experience bonuses. My gear was the same as anyone starting fresh, and tanking was nearly impossible for me. The hopeless aggro issues I experienced back then should hopefully be fixed, but the unhealable damage I took when tanking trash will not be. Even me, an experienced tank who has faced everything from Brutallus to the Lich King couldn’t handle the damage from a trash pull. How is someone new to gaming, or even someone new to druids, supposed to do it?

To help out new druids, I think it would be beneficial to learn some skills earlier (why is everything learned in the 50-60 range!).

  • Barkskin should be learned in the 20 – 30 range, so that bears get a minor cooldown at the same time as other tanks.
  • The armor bonus of Thick Hide should obtainable earlier. I think the best solution is to wrap that bonus armor into the Feral Specialization passives, so that bears have that extra armor right away, just like how warriors and paladins get extra armor and the ability to block as soon as they equip a shield.
  • As long as we’re moving talent bonuses around, the passive damage reduction of Natural Reaction should be combined with what’s left of Thick Hide, so that druids learn the passive damage reduction at the same time as paladins.
  • Finally, I wish Lacerate could be learned earlier so that bears have a spammable threat generator. However, that issue is not so pressing with the changes to Swipe.

These improvements don’t affect anything about the final product bear, though it would probably affect the PvP feral’s build and the hybrid cat’s build slightly. Last time I checked, people weren’t so worried about a PvP feral taking too little damage, in any case. However, I will accept the fact that these improvements are probably just a pipe dream. I just want more newbie players to join the bear tank ranks without being intimidated! But they’re simply minor changes, and sadly I can’t imagine any streamlining of the feral spec to occur until the next expansion.