[Qaletaqa]

Source: Norrath Yeah, I should've mentioned that as well. While Defense is preferred, the epic PvP pieces are much better than Heavy Clefthoof.

Just to clarify, S2 chest and legs are what surpasses heavy clefthoof, though S1 is certainly usable and I consider them to be "on par" with, more of a sidegrade than anything. Boots though were surpassed back with Veteran's gear I believe (S2 non-set epics)

Yes, resilience is a grand substitute for defense, to a degree. But as mentioned above, the daze component is a factor and given how little defense druids can actually achieve (or even need to achieve for crit immunity for that matter), the more +def that can be achieved instead of resilience, the better. Gear trends so far, it doesn't look like Druids are going to be short on agility for dodge any time soon, and as some of us approach and break the 50% dodge mark when fully buffed, you may find yourselves wishing you didn't dodge so much when the hits you do take are being mitigated at armor cap vs 73lvl mobs.

Also as of 2.3 with the addition of the ZA loot and associated badge rewards, the new boots, belt, and bracers available floor even the Vindicator's non-set epics in terms of mitigation and health. Given Blizzard's track record with producing good feral tanking loot though, I'm expecting these to be surpassed by the S4 non-set epics, and would be suprised to see anything better for those slots coming out of Sunwell Plateau or Magister's Terrace.

[Nasiel]

I'm personally not a fan of using pvp gear in pve content. But for 5mans, heroics & early pve raiding content pvp gear is definitely a good solution for the tanking droods.
On the other hand with the current availability of badge rewards (cloak, neck, trinket perhaps) and early pve loot imo it's pretty easy for each druid to gain def rating cap aswell as armor capped. I however doubt that a druid will get his optimised raiding stats with the mere choice of badge loot that you have (tanking-wise).

[DeWhiskeys]

Hi,
Probably changed since the first time this guide was written (indeed changed in 2.4), Idol of Ursoc - Items - World of Warcraft seems to add 8 to initial and per application damage. Now i'm wondering if this makes it a better idol (or even the best) to generate more aggro, when mitigation is not an issue. Also considering that bleeding is now applied to undeads and constructs too.

So, what about it?

[Norrath]

No, Idol of Ursoc is still worthless. It adds very little TPS.

[Nasiel]

Indeed, the idol or Ursoc provides very little tps so isn't really a good choice over the idol of terror.

[Alent]

the Idol of Ursoc is the druid version of clicking on rend.

[Melange]

Source: Alent the Idol of Ursoc is the druid version of clicking on rend.

LOL. This.

The threat on the bleed is divided by 5.

That said, Idol of Feral Shadows, is now the best in game DPS idol if you DPS with 4T6. The funny thing about idols: there is still not a single one worth using for any spec that cannot be gotten by running 5-mans.

Edit: I have wondered how much threat that Idol of Ursoc might add when I tank those dragons in Supremus' room. I tank them by running between them and keeping a mangled lacerate fully stacked on each, since it's impossible to move them together for swipe. I could see it being the best idol to use in that particular situation.

[Alent]

Does the Idol of Ursoc stack with 4pc T5? If so that's an extra 23 damage per tick per application, to a total of an extra 112 damage on a 5 stack. It's still on such a divisor that you're looking at basically +10 tps... but it's a thought.

[liquidmetal]

I just recently started tanking as a druid and this guide has a lot of good information in it. Thanks a lot for taking the time to put it up. I have one question and one request.

Question: I always tune my characters' specs with raid boss fights in mind. From that perspective, looking at the 'cookie cutter pve build' wouldn't it be more worthwhile to take the two points from brutal impact and use them to finish off intensity? I see the the value of brutal impact for soloing and trash, but for tanking a boss it seems silly to take it over intensity to me.

Request: The yellow text is so bright that I have to highlight it in order to read it. If it could be made darker or given a contrasting highlight behind it, my eyes would thank you greatly.

Again, thanks for taking the time to write the guide!

[Alent]

I've always thought that brutal impact is worthless in PVE. everything you want to stun is immune to it, and you do not gain an extra GCD or enough time for an white swing from the increased stun duration, thereby drastically reducing it's usefulness. Whereas, well, intensity is rage!