Choosing a tank class?

[Pea]

I'm in a small dilemma!

I don't know which class to choose.. I wanna have a blast tanking heroics and raids.. like I did in WotLK I just don't know what to do it on!

I have been tanking before.. on alts.. warrior and paladin.

But now in cata I'm thinking about choosing a bear (Leveling from scratch is not a problem).. To me it just seems they are the most "boring" and squishy in heroics/raids of the 3?

Guess what I'm looking for is somekind of clear text with benefits and disadvantagesof each of em.. DK is so UP it's out of the question :P

looking for advice on what to choose.

[Fetzie]

Just for the record, DK tanks are supposed to be only "bad" if you are doing 25 man heroic firelands (maybe 10 man heroic, not sure because we don't have one). Anywhere else they are fine.

[Loganisis]

Meh. By the time you gear one of them, the rest of your raid will be so geared (or should be) that it doesn't really matter (as it sounds like you haven't geared any of them to tank).

Play the one you like. I can pretty much guarantee you'll do best with the one you like most.

[Dobraine]

pally/warriors are great for chain pulling 5 mans :P generally I get on my warrior just to do that best time was 10.1 mins in a herioc sfk was happy, but I find druids aren't great for the chain pulling, In raids each of my warrior and druid has it up and downs but I like the fact with the right spec and stuff you can go kitty and pull decent dps

[Tengenstein]

Warriors: lots of movement, lots of things to keep track off, alot of buttons
Paladins: lots of passive benefits, Lots of external CDs, quite good for soloing
Bears: lots of flexibility, can do very good DPS when not actively tanking
Deathknights: Lot's of active defences, very good at soloing

or for what it actually matters in performance

Warriors: Gritty Tank
Pally: Pretty Boy tank
Bears Hippy tank
DKs: Emo tank

[Gokusan]

warriors: Gritty tank
pally: Pretty boy tank
bears hippy tank
dks: Emo tank

lol Im a Pretty Boy and it ROCKS

[Fetzie]

lol Im a Pretty Boy and it ROCKS

Pink > all

[leethaxor]

DKs: Emo tank

*Cries quietly in a corner*

[Destruyen]

But now in cata I'm thinking about choosing a bear (Leveling from scratch is not a problem).. To me it just seems they are the most "boring" and squishy in heroics/raids of the 3?

i take the same or less dmg than full ctc warriors and paladins, so maybe the bears who are squishy are doing it wrong?

i switched from playing a warrior that i played since vanilla to a bear this xpac and i love it. much more fun to play while tanking and not tanking. pulling 20k dps chain pulling heroics and in raids is pretty awesome too, without even going kitty.

i would suggest any but dk unless you aren't going to be tanking raids...i've heard they take way too much spike dmg outside of 5 mans to keep up with bears/paladins/warriors.

[Tengenstein]

Like the Hippy Tank above says hippies are more than viable tanks, their flexibility while not tanking makes them probably the best "offtank" class in the game, a significant adavantage on fights like Shannox or Rhyolith or even Beth and Alyzrazor, where portions of the encounter require only one tank.

[Destruyen]

i do not agree with calling bears hippy tanks...

[leethaxor]

i do not agree with calling bears hippy tanks...

in my experience bears have more rage issues then warriors
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If ya know what I mean

[Loganisis]

i take the same or less dmg than full ctc warriors and paladins, so maybe the bears who are squishy are doing it wrong?

i switched from playing a warrior that i played since vanilla to a bear this xpac and i love it. much more fun to play while tanking and not tanking. pulling 20k dps chain pulling heroics and in raids is pretty awesome too, without even going kitty.

i would suggest any but dk unless you aren't going to be tanking raids...i've heard they take way too much spike dmg outside of 5 mans to keep up with bears/paladins/warriors.

Bears armor is WTF!!!! Our GM's 359ish alt-bear had something like 44k armor. I'm around ilvl 370 in my tanking gear and I am at 37k armor. It was something like 6% DR... (damage reduction, not diminishing returns) Add in a bubble and higher avoidance and bears are very comprable single-target in terms of incoming damage. May not be quite as smooth, but could easily be less total damage. And the huge armor boost would seem to make it smoothier with the higher DR and bubble.

But.... as always "so maybe the bears who are squishy are doing it wrong?" A good tank is a good tank is a good tank.

[Destruyen]

yeh raid buffed with devo aura i have a tad over 54k armor on my bear....it's pretty sweet

[Loganisis]

yeh raid buffed with devo aura i have a tad over 54k armor on my bear....it's pretty sweet

Nerf bears! LOL :P j/k

[pulled]

war > all imo for playstyle

But pally best atm in raids. Simply because shield tank with best raiding cds in game.

[Gokusan]

42k armor and ctc capped.... BEEF CAKE

[uglie]

Level yourself a bear to 85, gear it up some and see which you like the best. I would advise that if you're going to be part of a solid raid group to try and not have 2 of the same class of tank.
I leveled my bear in wrath but have heard that aoe aggro at low levels is a good challenge until 81 when you get thrash.

[Gokusan]

I leveled my bear in wrath but have heard that aoe aggro at low levels is a good challenge until 81 when you get thrash.

Once you get swipe ae threats no longer an problem and thats like lvl 25 ish

[Meshuggah]

Bear is a lot of fun for me personally. It took one run through on a 5 man to get the rotation down for single target and aoe. It's very simple with a few key binds. I would really like to try a warrior though. They just look like so much fun.