Guardian Druid Active Defensive CD Questions

[Xceed78 0]

Greetings all.

 

I just recently switched to a Guardian Druid. I have read the portion of the class guide on the rotation for single and multi target mobs. I don't understand how to incorporate the defensive cds into my priority system.  Thanks in advance for the help.

[Kazistrasz 216]

They're not something you push in priority. Defensives are there for when you need them to not take damage. They're not on the GCD, and only Savage Defense has any resource cost. You want to use Savage Defense when the boss is swinging on you, especially if they're swinging harder. Your other CDs should be planned out based on boss abilities and/or when you know you'll be getting reemed.

[Tarazet 144]

As a tank, your job is to keep threat on your assigned targets, stay alive, and contribute the maximum of DPS within reason, before considering any other fight mechanics. In order to accomplish these basic tasks, of course you will outfit yourself with the best gear you can get your hands on, but in MoP and WoD the model has been for all tanks to have their survival in their own hands (or paws). Active mitigation became the de facto tanking style due to how much stronger it performed than the passive options. Now, they have taken passive mitigation stats off of gear, so you don't really have a choice.

 

The basic damage rotation is at the core of your playstyle as a bear, and it has been designed in such a way that if you choose the proper ability on each GCD, you will be maximizing your Rage generation and DPS output. Additionally, the Pulverize talent means that managing your GCD's properly will provide you with a 15% damage reduction that is almost always up after the pull.

 

The second layer involves your active mitigation abilities, which are off the GCD but use the Rage resource, much of which is generated from abilities that are on the GCD, so there is a kind of rhythm to it. The changes to production in 6.0 have calmed down the spikes in Rage generation a lot, as has the general reset in stats. In 5.4 bears were capping out nearly instantly because they were critting so frequently. The idea is that you use up your stacks of SD first (provided you are taking melee damage, which is almost always), use FR whenever you are missing health, and Maul when you get a T&C proc to dump excess rage... or when damage is light and you want to push DPS.

 

Then the third layer is your big cooldowns. Barkskin has a short cooldown and a relatively slight effect, so I just macro it to an attack I use frequently like Lacerate or Mangle to get maximum uptime, but you can save it for times of widespread raid damage to take the pressure off the healers. Survival Instincts should be reserved for periods of heavy tank or raid damage, but without sitting on 2 charges for too long needlessly.

 

Berserk should be used on cooldown. It is primarily a DPS booster, so it is handy on the pull to keep threat off of your reckless DPS. On multi-target fights, it can be nice to take Nature's Vigil and use NV and Berserk together to help with raid healing, especially now that you no longer have access to Tranquility to contribute an on-demand raid cooldown. Otherwise, just use it whenever it's up. For what it's worth, I am a Heart of the Wild bear. I loved being able to pull opening burst numbers up there with our shamans and warlocks, even if it did substantially calm down after the pull.