Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting druids and those who group with them. This week John Patricelli, sometimes known as the Big Bear Butt Blogger, continues his discussion of the finer points of bear tanking.
Previously, I talked about exactly how threat mechanics work in groups. Now, you might think I was going to use that knowledge to inform our decisions on being a bear tank.
Instead, I'm going to talk about gearing up.
I'd like to start by saying, up front, that this article is unlikely to contain stunning new information that will change your bear tanking world. For those players that are firmly bear tanking their way through Gruul's Lair and beyond, you are most likely to read this, chuckle, and move on. You are already living the dream, kicking butt and taking purples. Hopefully, you will share some of your insight with the rest of us.
But for the player just starting out, eager to prepare themselves to be the best bear tank they can be, I hope that this article will be of some help.
So you want to be a bear tank. Great! Bear tanks are lots of fun, and speccing feral gives you the wonderful ability to not only be able to tank at the drop of a /invite, but also let's you solo effectively with a simple change of gear.
To be a bear tank, you need to realize that your role requires you to focus on two main responsibilities;
- Threat generation
- Staying alive
Threat generation is exactly that; you must put out enough threat to keep your enemies focused on you, while the rest of your party kills them.
Staying alive blends into two different philosophies;
Survivability is your ability to still be alive after taking a big old whack from the boss, or suffering spiky irregular damage the healer was unprepared for.
Mitigation is your ability to avoid or reduce taking that damage altogether.
Today, we are going to focus on the second of those two responsibilities, staying alive, and how to plan your gear choices effectively.
More after the break!
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