Just in time to cheer up us diehard Shamans, Halbrium has stepped up to be our Alamo, and put together a "Shaman's PvP Guide" just for us totem-droppers. Class by class, he goes over, in hilarious almost English (he's from Quebec, but there's a lot of tongue-in-cheek going on here), just what we need to do to beat everyone else in the game. From Druids ("OH NO WHY IS ANIMALS ON MY FACE?!") to Priest ("If they turn dark, you have made them angry and your brain may start to smell like burning"), he runs down custom strategies, all the while giving out great Shaman tips: "USE EARTHSHOCK CONSERVATIVLEY (like your bush!!) Because when you do that it will be very difficult for them to destory you when you are weaked at the end of the fight."

Use Earthshock conservativley (like your bush!!) indeed. The only thing missing are the hastily Paint-shopped photos of Shaman totems, but otherwise, we've got a Shaman guide for the ages. Great show, and definitely worth a Forum Post of the Day.

Alamo set the gold standard for class guides with his classic and oft-quoted "Alamo teechs u 2 play DURID!" and it's sequel " ALAMO teeches u 2 Burnin Croosaid!" His style became so popular he even recently updated a mod that announces Druid shifting in /gchat using his memorable phrasing.

Now, it's Rouges, uh, Rogues that are getting the Alamo treatment with "Zarhon teeches you to play rogz!" Take in shining gems of lewt class knowledge such as: "We haf many cool skillz! Like pickpockets to get more muniz!", "LoLstep to pwn those kiters!" and "We can pop cloakz of darkstuffs and pwn baby locks!"

And while I'm pointing out Alamo homages, you should check out Smoosh's well done comic explaining how to play as a Tree Druid. Entertaining and informative. It doesn't get better than that.

Bears make some of the awesomest tanks around. There are advantages and disadvantages to having a druid tank as opposed to a warrior, or maybe even a paladin, and we can leave the discussion of which is best for another day. You are probably aware, though, that one of a druid's main advantages in tanking is the extremely high armor he or she can achieve in bear form. Shifting to bear form increases the armor of a druid by 400%, and there are a number of leather items out there which have a higher-than-average armor that can send our physical damage mitigation through the roof.

Let's just assume that you're leveling up your feral druid, thinking about when you reach 70 and wondering what kind of gear you're going to need going into the high-end 5-person instances and raiding. The thing you might not know is, as you're leveling up towards 70, some of the best of these high-armor items are easily available through quests. These may be "just green" in some cases, but that armor rating makes them extremely valuable for a druid for a long time. They often outshine their bluer or purpler counterparts in their bearish tanking power. Continue reading for a short guide to these what these items are how to get them.

As we all know, some durids is bare and some is for fite. Today's Ask WoW Insider question comes from one o tehm durids interested in being more cat-like -- Corey asks:

My main is, and always will be a Druid. I really enjoy the class and I try to focus mostly on a feral build since I like being able to DPS as a cat, and tank as a bear. Lately I have been searching for a spec that will give the best DPS output I can get, but haven't found that magic combination of talents yet. So I ask you... what is the best DPS spec for a druid?

What say you, durids? Can you help this cat?

Don't forget to send us your questions for Ask WoW Insider to ask AT wowinsider DOT com -- see you next week!

The loot is still so phat in Outland, we still don't know which one to pick (although don't worry, lowbies, we'll do an Azeroth item next week for ya). Fortunately, reader Adam sends in his favorite new Outland item, something that embodies all the great stuff the expansion has to offer: great looking items, fun quests to get them from, and items that are perfect for those offspec folks.

Name: Staff of Beasts
Type: Rare Staff
Damage / Speed: 144-252, 3.30 (60.2 DPS)
Abilities:

• +31 Strength, +30 Agility, +45 Stamina
• Here's Adam's favorite part: On Equip, it grants you 298 Attack power in Cat, Bear, Dire Bear and Moonkin forms. That's a terrific item for feral druids, either for soloing or playing non-healer roles in groups.
• Plus, just look at it, man. That's a B.A. staff! I pity the fool!

How to Get It: Actually, like most of the amazing stuff in Outland, it's not hard to get at all, but you'll need a few friends who know what they're doing. It's a quest chain at the "Ring of Blood" arena, in the northeast corner of Nagrand. The chain's level is 67, but all the quests call for a group, so bring a couple guildies and you can do it all at the same time. Basically, the questgiver runs you through five arena battles against NPCs, each progressively harder. Beat the fifth quest, "The Final Challenge," and you'll get your choice of six awesome rewards (including a 81.5 DPS two hand axe that looks amazing, and a +160 healing mace that my Shaman would love), one of which is this very nice Druid staff. Just remember the wise words of Alamo: cat durid dosen't fite!

Getting Rid of It: Sells to vendors for 9g 96s 92c (gotta save up for that mount!). No one has been dumb enough to get one of these quest rewards and disenchant it, so couldn't tell you what it D/Es into yet. What are you still doing here reading? Go get it!

First we hear from the DPS-adin (nice video, Eso), and now everyone's favorite durid (yes, I did mean to spell it that way) is back for the Burning Crusade. Alamo, he of the classic Alamo teeches u 2 play durid! guide (and of my server, Thunderhorn Horde side), has returned, this time bringing druids all the information they need to play the "Burnin Croosaid!"

He's got everything durids need to know about the expansion, from the new treeform (tree durids is heel but dosent run) and flying form ("stormcrow is like shiny thing and peck at eyes!"). And now, Alamo is here to tell you that "durids is also very storng 4 pvp! bares and cats fite, moonkin makes moon stuff, and sum durids is 4 heel." Of course, I can't tell you the same thing in Alamo's singular voice (or his caps), but this new BC guide is a must-read for anyone playing a durid in the Burning Crusade (or just wants to be friends with one).

Alamo is a genius, and an invaluable resource to the Durid class. As he says, "wenever u is haf trubble, be tuff and ask 'what wood alamo do?'" Terrific advice for everyone, really.

[ Thanks, Nightshifter, for the tip! ]