Druids used to make pretty poor tanks back in the days of Vanilla WoW, and they didn’t get much better with the release of World of Warcraft Classic either. Luckily, things changed significantly in Season of Discovery, a reimagined version of the game that finally gave Feral Druids the love they deserve. These days, Druids are surprisingly good at tanking, even though they’renot quite top tierjust yet.
The main reason why Feral Druids have become a viable spec for tanking has everything to do with theRune Engravingsystem. Runes unlock powerful abilities that help players overcome some of the most glaring shortcomings of Feral Druids. Having said that, Runes alone won’t be enough to make you a good tank. Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about becoming an effective Feral Druid tank in Phase 1 of WoW Classic: Season of Discovery.
RacesRunesRotationStat PriorityProfessionsTalentsBIS GearConsumables
Best Races For Feral Druid Tank In Season Of Discovery
The only race available to Alliance Druids in WoW Classic is Night Elf. The race providessomevalue to DPS players, but has little to offer for tanks. The only Racial worth noting is Quickness, which increases the player’s Dodge Chance by 1%. While Dodge Chance is an important stat forRogue tanks, it’s fairly low priority for Druid ones. The only other defensive Racial here is the +10 Nature Resistance, however, that won’t come into play until later phases of Season of Discovery.
Similarly, Horde Druids only have one race at their disposal as well. In this case, it’s Tauren, a race that’s quite a bit better for tanking compared to Night Elf. This is largely thanks to Endurance, a passive Racial that increases the player’s total health pool by 5%. That may not sound like much, but every little bit of extra health can go a long way when you’re tanking. War Stomp is another Racial worth mentioning, especially since Feral Druids don’t have access to a ton of AoE abilities.
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Best Runes For Feral Druid Tank In Season Of Discovery
Runes are the main reasons why Feral Druid tanks have become viable in World of Warcraft Classic. That said, it’s important to pick the right Runes as you can only equip three of them at any one time. The good news is that, for the most part, it’s pretty obvious which of the twelve Druid Runes offer benefits for tanking. There are a couple of situations when you may want to swap between Runes depending on what sort of build you’re going for, but otherwise things are pretty straightforward. Here are the three Runes we recommend sticking with for Phase 1:
Survival of the Fittest is arguably the most important Rune for Feral Druid tanks in Season of Discovery Phase 1. The 6% reduction to Critical Strikes alone makes Survival of the Fittest worth equipping over other chest slot Runes, but then you also have a flat 20% damage reduction on top of that. Granted, you only get 10% damage reduction when you’re not in Bear form, but that should almost never happen while tanking.
Skull Bash is your go-to legs slot Rune for fights that require mobility and interrupts. The Rune isn’t essential since you generally have allies who have their own interrupt spells, but it’s still better than the alternatives in most cases. The only scenario where you may want to swap Skull Bash for Starsurge is when you need to deal a big burst of damage before a fight in order to quickly generate threat.
There are no less than three viable Rune options for the Hands slot, although we recommend sticking with Lacerate since it’s the only one that helps you generate threat. Both Mangle (melee) and Sunfire (ranged) are better for dealing damage, though, so feel free to swap things around as the situation demands. The fourth hands slot Rune is meant for healers, so no need to worry about that one.
All Druid Runes and Locations | WoW Classic: SOD
Discover where to get the new Druid Runes in World of Warcraft: Season of Discovery
Feral Druid Tank Rotation In Season Of Discovery
Players are capped at level 25 during Phase 1 of Season of Discovery, so your rotation will be as basic as they come. There are no big cooldowns or combos to worry about, so expect to spend most of your time spamming the same small handful of abilities. The rotation will gradually become more complex in later phases but, for now, tanking in Season of Discovery is a cakewalk provided you’re good at prioritizing targets and maintaining threat.
Charging into battle like a maniac is a classic tank move, so don’t hesitate to use it whenever you get the chance. That said, there are instances when it’s smarter to pull individual targets from afar before jumping into the fray. In those cases, you’ll want to consider swapping Skull Bash for Starsurge. Either way, once you’re in the thick of it and have a bit of Rage to spare, you’ll want to use it to case Demoralizing Roar to decrease the melee attack power of nearby enemies.
Your core rotation mainly consists of stacking Lacerate on your main target while spamming Maul whenever you have Rage to spare. Keep in mind that you can only stack Lacerate up to five times. If you’re using Mangle instead, the rotation becomes even simpler since the ability comes with a one-minute cooldown.
When tanking multiple enemies, make sure to use Swipe to aggro nearby mobs so they don’t accidentally start attacking your allies. If some enemiesdobreak away from the main group, you’ll want to taunt them using Growl to bring them back asap. Just remember to use it wisely because Growl comes with a 10-second cooldown and you won’t have access to an AoE taunt.
Stat Priority For Feral Druid Tank In Season Of Discovery
Just like any other spec in WoW Classic: Season of Discovery, Feral Druid tanks need to prioritize certain stats over others if they want to be good at their job. Some stats like Strength and Stamina are pretty obvious, but there are a few that some players may find unusual. Below we’ll go over the Feral Druid tank stat priority and explain why these stats are so important.
Hit Chance
Importance:Hit Chance is an essential stat for many classes in WoW Classic, and Feral Druids are no exception. That may sound strange at first, but it makes sense once you think about. Every time you miss an attack you also miss out on the opportunity to generate threat. As we covered earlier, you have a very limited number of abilities to work with in Phase 1 and it’s imperative not to waste them.
Notes:Threat aside, missed attacks also hinder a tank’s ability to generate Rage at a consistent rate. Luckily, you only need 6% Crit Chance to ensure that you won’t miss any attacks against most targets. The only exceptions are BFD raid bosses.
Importance:Stamina increases your maximum health pool and, as such, is your most important defensive stat. Offensive stats are very important in WoW Classic for threat generation, but tanks should never forget about investing into their defenses as well.
Notes:Every point of Stamina gets you 10 extra points of health. Druids benefit from Stamina more than most other tank classes due to how health stacking works in Bear Form.
Importance:Strength is an offensive stat that has a direct impact on your Melee Attack Power. In other words, it affects how much damage you do. You already get a bunch of extra Melee Attack Power just by shapeshifting into Bear Form, but having even more of it never hurts.
Notes:Druids get two points of Melee Attack Power for every point of Strength they have. For some classes, Strength doubles as a defensive stat as it dictates the amount of damage one can block with a shield. That doesn’t apply in this case, though, since Druids can’t equip shields.
Importance:Agility is a defensive stat that offers multiple benefits. The stat increases your Armor rating, Dodge Chance, and Critical Strike Chance, all at the same time. Agility also increases Melee Attack Power, however, that only applies to weapon-based classes.
Notes:Much like all other classes, Druids gain two points of Armor for every point of Agility they have. In addition, Druids also get 1% Critical Strike Chance and 1% Dodge Chance for every 20 points of Agility.
Critical Strike Chance
Importance:This stat improves your chances of scoring a Critical Strike, thus allowing you to generate threat faster. A Critical Strike deals twice as much damage as normal.
Notes:Druids can’t gain extra Critical Strike Chance by increasing their Agility since their attacks are not weapon-based. However, you can still improve your odds by equipping items that come with Critical Strike Chance as a stat.
Best Professions For Feral Druid Tank In Season Of Discovery
Professions can be a bit of a hassle to level up, but they should never be ignored since they enable players to acquire valuable items and materials. It’s up to you whether you want to use those for your own needs or sell them at the auction house for a pile of gold. If you’re primarily interested in thegold-makingaspect, we recommend sticking with Skinning and Herbalism. Otherwise, we suggest going with Leatherworking and Alchemy. Here are some of the benefits you may expect from these two professions:
Leatherworking
Leatherworking is a pretty obvious profession to have for a Druid. You can use this profession to craft a wide variety of useful items that will help you both while leveling up and during the endgame. The main highlight here are the Void-Touched Leather Gloves, a pair of unique leather gloves specifically designed for tanks. Other pieces of gear like the Deviate Scale Belt or the Earthen Leather Shoulders are not to be ignored either.
Alchemy is another crafting profession that provides many benefits to tanks. This profession can be used to craft consumables like Greater Healing Potions, Elixirs of Ogre’s Strength, and Elixirs of Fortitude, all of which will improve your tanking capabilities. Stocking up on consumables for raid night is pretty much mandatory for tanks, so might as well try to craft everything you need yourself.
Waylaid Supplies By Profession Guide | WoW Classic: Season Of DIscovery
Why buy items and consumables to fill Waylaid Supplies shipments when you can simply craft them yourself?
Best Talent Build For Feral Druid Tank In Season Of Discovery
Talent points are very limited in Phase 1 of Season of Discovery where players are capped at level 25. Hence, you’ll have to make do with some fairly unorthodox builds until later phases of the game. The Feral Druid tank build is almost identical to theFeral Druid DPSbuild and focuses on getting procs from Omen of Clarity, with the other talents only offering small bonuses.
BIS Gear For Feral Druid Tank In Season Of Discovery
For a full breakdown of the best in slot items for Feral Druid tanks in WoW Classic: Season of Discovery check out the link below.
Feral Druid Tank Best in Slot (BIS) Gear Guide | WoW Classic Season of Discovery
Here is a comprehensive look at the best in slot gear and weapons for Feral Druid Tanks.
Best Raid Consumables For Feral Druid Tank In Season Of Discovery
Even though Blackfathom Deeps is a relatively easy raid, some of the bosses in there can still give players trouble. This is especially true when we’re talking about tanks that don’t have a lot of raiding experience. But regardless of whether you’re a newbie or a veteran rank, you should never go raiding unprepared. ensure to pick up some of the consumables listed below before heading inside BFD.
Offensive Consumables
Defensive Consumables
Phase 2 Consumables & Professions - Bank These Items in WoW SOD
Keep an eye on ingredients used in any of these recipes to ensure you have a solid stock before their prices rise in Phase 2
