Would like to try tanking in MoP

[Slytherin 4]

I have been playing my Druid since the Ulduar season era, and I have experience in PvE feral dps. I have always "kicked around" the idea of trying bear tanking however I have no experience in tanking with any other class or with my druid personally.

I have always respected the tanking role greatly and from the research I have done thus far I would love to believe it will fit my personal play style.

My question to you all is what suggestions would any of you have to get started in a brand new expansion to make this a success? Are there any specific things I will need to focus on during my journey from 85-90 that will best prepare me for this role once I hit 90?

Also are there any additional resources available for a new tank to learn the mechanics and strategies of the new dungeons and raids (besides Icy Veins) because I definitely plan to start here with my research.

Any help you can offer regarding this topic would be greatly appreciated!

Edited August 24, 2012 by Slytherin

[MichaelTheys 10]

I have been playing my Druid since the Ulduar season era, and I have experience in PvE feral dps. I have always "kicked around" the idea of trying bear tanking however I have no experience in tanking with any other class or with my druid personally.

I have always respected the tanking role greatly and from the research I have done thus far I would love to believe it will fit my personal play style.

My question to you all is what suggestions would any of you have to get started in a brand new expansion to make this a success? Are there any specific things I will need to focus on during my journey from 85-90 that will best prepare me for this role once I hit 90?

Also are there any additional resources available for a new tank to learn the mechanics and strategies of the new dungeons and raids (besides Icy Veins) because I definitely plan to start here with my research.

Any help you can offer regarding this topic would be greatly appreciated!

can't really read this in that collor so i used to reply so i could :)

[Slytherin 4]

Sorry about the color? It was difficult to read on my end as well prior to my attempt to edit color. Any suggestions for that?

Again I apologize for this

[MadMonk 154]

Personally I find the 1-85 leveling the best way to learn a class or spec. Your talents and skills get added on one at a time, you get to learn everything one bit at a time.

Since that isn't an option I would suggest you get some tanking gear now, running LFR, heroics and if you can some normal or even heroic Dragon Soul raids. Then I would read the guides on icy-veins (obviously) to get a feel of rotations and talents. If you then run some LFRs and/or heroic dungeons to get some practice you should be well on your way towards the next expansion.

If you then go 85-90 in MoP as a tank, doing some dungeons you should be set for heroic dungeons and the starting raid.

One of the most important things about tanking is the usage of your defensive cooldowns. Guides will only take you so far and the knowledge of when to use what cooldown mostly comes from practice. As with most things, knowing your class and the encounters is really important, but without practice you won't get anywhere. So just play it a lot and that should already help.

Edit: http://www.icy-veins...nking-guide-wow is a really nice guide to get a nice view of what tanking means. It is not yet updated with the correct cooldowns and such for 5.0.4 but it is a great start to get some basics.

[Slytherin 4]

Thank you MadMonk for the tips, I really appreciate the information you shared. I will check out the guide you linked as well!

[Vlad 411]

MadMonk is right, the tanking guide is not (yet!) updated for 5.0.4 or Mists of Pandaria, but the only sections that are out of date are the ones listing class abilities. The rest of the things the guide says remain valid.

Regarding the question you posed, there are several ways to "better yourself" in preparation for tanking. I'm going to assume that you have have some knowledge of your Bear skills, even if just by glancing over them in your spellbook while looking for Feral stuff, since you've been raiding since Ulduar. In any case, our Guardian Druid guide has been recently updated and should put you on the right track for sure.

• Level as Guardian from 85 to 90. It's going to be slow and grindy (unless you do dungeons), but it will be worth it.
• Do dungeons with your guild mates while you level from 85 to 90. I can't stress enough how beneficial this will be. Normal dungeons are generally easy enough that you won't be in under much stress, but they also offer a lot of chances to come in contact with various mechanics.
• To a lesser extent, do raids as Feral Bear (in the days before 5.0.4 comes out). You can do LFR easily enough. Even though many of your mechanics will change when the new patch comes, you can still practice the essential nature of the tanking role. Also, for me it is always easier to understand a new mechanic if I already understand the mechanic that it came from.

And of course, you can always ask questions here.

Good luck!

[Soultrain 7]

Like Vlad had said do dungeons with your guild mates. This will not only get yourself more experience in the tanking role but by playing with your guild mates they can help you tweak things if they happen to know any tips. Also, if they happen to be a healer than you can get used to their heal style. There is a special trust between tanks and healers so the more you play with them the better you trust them (some random dungeon healers still freak me out since im so used to my raid heals :P) And like MadMonk said knowing your defensive CDs and what each of them does is really important. Not only just using these cooldowns for yourself either, but know when it helps the raid too. The guides on Icy-Veins definitely help a lot too.

[Slytherin 4]

Wow! I must say I'm pleasantly surprised at the suggestions I've been given, now it's time for me to get to work

Thanks again to all who responded to my questions and for providing the tips and suggestions. I'm confident once this advice is put into play it should yield success for MoP as well as the remainder of Cataclysm!! I look forward to getting started using the guide here as well.