Mastering tanks, one boss at a time.
I’ve finally leveled my druid to 110. This is the first time this character has been max level since she was my main back in Cataclysm. Readers who have been around here a long time might remember her.
I’ve resisted playing her for a few expansions because on TankCast we want to cover all the tank classes, and Arielle has druid pretty damn well covered. But those glowy bears and cats were too much for me!
Continue reading “Microblog: A Sunnier Bear Redux”
Don’t freak out. It’s still beta; it’s all a work in progress. Bears in Mists of Pandaria are still like bears in Cataclysm but with the cat half of their toolkit cut out and nothing filled in to replace all that flavor. It’s up to us to keep things from staying the way they are. With the power of <announcer voice> CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM!
To start out, look at the difference between my beta monk’s action bars and my beta druid’s.
1. We’ve got some really good looking utility talents coming our way that will be awesome for tanks and actually provide a unique flavor that warriors don’t have. MoP is looking like the first expansion where bears are more than warrior clones and are turning into true guardians of nature.
(With very little information to go on.)
In an attempt to better understand Brewmaster monks, I’ve compared them to Guardian druids. I tried comparing similar abilities side-by-side, but many skills do not have a direct correlation between classes. A couple skills fit into more than one category, so they’re on this list more than once. I probably also missed some skills, so if you find any mistakes, please let me know.
Bears will still be the only offensive tank. That is, Guardians benefit from haste and crit, and will probably have more reasons to cap hit and expertise than other tanks. These stats will increase our rage generation, which leads to more frequent Savage Defenses and Frenzied Regenerations. Brewmaster monks, on the other hand, don’t appear to benefit from these offensive stats. I think they will love dodge, since each dodge gives them a huge amount of Chi (their primary resource). Parry will make their rotation a bit more dynamic and probably increase their damage.
So there was an update to the Mists of Pandaria talent calculator a few weeks ago. I actually wrote most of this post back when it was timely, but I’ve been so busy with work and being burned out on raiding that I haven’t gotten around to polishing it until now.
Continue reading “MoP Talents for Guardians Version: February”
I was on the latest Team Wafflecast with several talented bear druids. We answer bear-related questions about the current state of the spec, speculate about bears in Mists of Pandaria, and other things.
I pretty much just sit in a corner and answer questions when Arielle makes me, because I’m very shy. D: There were three hardcore 25man tanks so I felt a little lonely, but I learned that 25 man requires many more tanks than 10 man. Three tanks on heroic Spine?! And other things!
Anyways, enjoy!
In 10 man, Heroic Madness is more difficult than Heroic Spine, and will probably remain difficult even after successive nerfs. Don’t get fooled into thinking that you’ll be done with this tier after just one or two nights of wiping, because it will probably take many more. Heroic Madness is very stressful for healers, but pretty straightforward for tanks and dps.
As with most my guides, this is intended for tanks because that’s the role I filled. I hope there are helpful things for other roles, but I am not an expert in those roles. I expect you to know the basic mechanics of the fight before diving into this guide. There are many solutions to complex boss fights like these, and the way we did it is not the only right way.
Continue reading “Heroic Madness of Deathwing 10 Tanking Guide”
This is a difficult fight for tanks and healers, and an extremely boring fight for damage dealers. Each phase gets progressively more intense until you finally reach the chaotic finish. It’s widely believed to be the most difficult fight in Dragon Soul because it requires highly focused dps, a lot of blood control, and lucky strings of avoidance while kiting. After all the nerfs it has received, I’d rank the 10 man version far below Heroic Madness and Heroic Warmaster, but it is still a difficult fight.
As with most my guides, this is intended for tanks because that’s the role I filled. I hope there are helpful things for other roles, but I am not an expert in those roles. I expect you to know the basic mechanics of the fight before diving into this guide. There are many solutions to complex boss fights like these, and the way we did it is not the only right way.
Continue reading “Heroic Spine of Deathwing 10 Tanking Guide”
Last night I had trouble sleeping because I thought of a talent I would really love to see in Mists of Pandaria and I got all excited.
Grants the druid the passive benefits of bear form even while out of bear form. While casting, the druid has immunity to spell pushback and takes less damage equal to his dodge chance for X seconds. Y minute cooldown.
So basically bears would have bear-level armor, damage reduction, and uncritability even in caster form (or cat form, or travel form). The “takes less damage equal to his dodge chance” part is the same as a Deathknight’s Army of the Dead ability, where it’s only there to compensate for the lack of avoidance while casting.
