Comparing Tanking Classes

[Nathadan]

Our guild is a dedicated but slow moving progression raiding guild so we may be a little behind the curve.

We're completing our cycle of heroics and raiding baradin hold getting ready to do our first major raid this weekend.

Me and a friend (i'm a pally tank, he's been feral tank since BC) were comparing our tools and there really just isn't a comparison. I have several interrupts and other tools to position casters and he barely has 2 functioning stuns. He's read the guides and they just don't seem to be giving him the answers he's looking for. Other than extremely broken feral tank DPS what advantages does a bear have over other tanks and what would you suggest to this frustraited bear tank we have?

Please halp!

[Reev]

Hmmm. Let's see. Off the top of my head:

Immunity to Polymorph/Snare effects.
Battle Res
AoE Sprint
High Damage
Crowd Control (Cyclone/Roots/Hibernate)
Thorns
5% crit buff
Can do dps reasonably well in the same gear/spec, so can dps during phases where no offtank is needed.


That said, I do feel like a prot warrior's toolset is larger, but being a bear does have some advantages. You still get all the abilities you have in Caster form, and I think some bears forget there are often times in most fights where you can pop out and throw up a Tranquility, or help dispel, or CC something, or whatever.

[Nathadan]

The aoe sprint is pretty much just a joke imo :P

I was speaking specifically about the ability to manage a pull... and after the initial pull, a bear popping out of bear form to re-CC any mobs or cast something is probably a bad idea... so, I'd agree with you but only as far as the initial CC. Once CC is broken what does a bear do to silence/reposition mobs... by comparison the pally stun is on a pretty short cooldown not to mention avenger shield procs are advantagious.

I'd like to hear from other experianced bear tanks that are successfuly doing heroics and raids.

[Sebadoh]

Doesn't he spec for Skull Bash? I believe the talent reduces the cooldown to 10 seconds (may be wrong but still, it should be comparable to if not better than Hammer of Justice). Shouldn't be too hard to deal with a caster mob that way.

It definitely does look like a pain to be a Druid with all these tools at your disposal yet being unable to use 2/3 of them because you're getting punched in the face all the time. Makes me glad my tank is a DK.

[Wootly]

With Skull Bash and Bash, I generally have no problem dealing with the positioning of casters. We have none of the same abilities to reduce spell damage done to us, but overall druid tanking isn't that bad.

Most of my time spent tanking as a druid is ensuring I'm stacking my lacs, keeping pulverize up, rotating my various dmg reduction spells (Survival Instincts, Barkskin, DR, Bash) and getting insane mangle crits with vengeance. Because of the way Savage Defense works, our mitigation increases by quite a bit the longer the fight goes.

Single target threat....no issues at all. No one can touch me, ever. I don't even worry about it. AoE threat is very weak, but as long as you understand your spells and tab target lacs for threat/SD, keep mangle on CD, maul with thrash and rotate thrash/swipe cooldowns and make use of DE/FF where needed it's not impossible, just challenging.

Different healers I've asked have said that the damage I take varies and is a bit more unpredictable than other tanks, but like I said, with a few minor exceptions I'm pretty satisfied. We might not have as much mob-management utility as Paladins, but I make due.