Inaiwae

Stamina gear - spikes ale more often, but less dangerous (higher health buffer). Requires more raw healing.
Avoidance gear - spikes are less frequent, but more dangerous. More demanding on heal timing during stomps.

I do not think you can say one of these is generally better. It depends what your healers are able to handle. I have tanked him in both avoidance and stamina gears and now i prefer some kind of avoidance set but with reasonable HP (about 21k in hunter group).

 

Valerian

As for as Duoing (with another druid)goes you can do Sethek and Slave Pens reasonably well (though slave pens takes a fair while with only 2), though we usually battle res skip the first boss in Sethek. The second boss in mana tombs is killable too (maybe the first if you're in full Mother SR gear).

Underbog is doable but it takes about 3 people to make it smooth and the last boss can be annoying. Could probably be done with 2 people though it would take pretty long.

The hellfire instances are just a pain, between stealth detecting dogs and boss difficulty. Really isn't worth doing.

Are you talking about doing it in a full stealth group? Cause without that I can't see how you clear Steamvaults and even then it could get annoying (healing robot boss, enrage on Kaltithresh, elementals on the first boss). With a full stealth group things become a lot easier and most instances are doable though some are still hard (like SH for example).

 

Spookeh

Probably help get to the bosses: [Nightscape Boots] and on a spare cloak- [Formula: Enchant Cloak - Stealth]

 

bluenote

I have a question for feral druids and I thought it would be better to ask here. Is there a mod that you guys use to keep track of your mangle/rip debuffs on your target? It would really help using this because I think it screws up my DPS cycle because some times I'll spam it 2 times since I am not sure if it's even up since my Pitbull only shows 8 debuffs and I can't even see it in raids.

Also, I was looking at my WWS from Brutallus and usually I tank it but I went dps for the first time and barely did around 1295 DPS. Even though I don't have a mangle bot and understanding that he has a ton of armor but it still seems low. Should I consider using 2pc T4 for this fight I mean would it bump my dps up to 1500 or am I doing some thing wrong?

 

Vykromond

DoTimer and Elk Buff Bars are the most commonly used for that purpose I believe.

You need to link your WWS to be able to receive any meaningful DPS feedback.

A tank, Vykromod.
Will he ever parry them?
Surely he can't block.

 

Spookeh

I use FeralDebuffList (from wowace.com i think)

Its just a small box about 50pixels by 20 pixels, or less? which you can drag around on screen- it shows if the target has Mangle, Faerie Fire, or Demo Roar active currently

The key unique thing from this addon is that it shows you if anyone has casted these debuffs. if you have a feral with idol of terror keeping mangle up, you'll know that its up and can just shred yourself, for example.


If the target doesn't have one of the debuffs, its red, if it does, it goes green. if demo roar is obsoleted by demo shout, it goes grey so you know (as a tank) if you need to keep it active or not.

very useful.

 

Valerian

The very old mod Debuff Filter works very well for seeing whats up and what time is left on them. Very useful I find for timing my dps cycles and timing the lacerate/swipes when tanking so as not to lose lacerate stacks.

 

MisterMerf

I use "Debuff Filter".
I have it configured to show "Mangle", "Mangle (Cat)", "Mangle (Bear)", "Demoralizing Roar", "Demoralizing Shout", "Sunder Armor", "Thunderclap", "Faerie Fire", and "Faerie Fire (Feral)". I believe my XPerl properly shows me my Rip at all times.

 

kalbear

I use quartz and simply filter for the buffs that I can apply. It's easy enough. The disadvantage of FeralDebuffList is the non-display of the rip or lacerate timers.

Xperl also shows lacerate and rip, but I prefer the text of quartz and that it is filtered for only my debuffs.

 

Promii

I did something similar with Pitbull using dogtags. The normal debuff list is tiny and under the target frame but I have it set up so that a larger icon shows on the top of the frame when the target has Mangle, Faerie Fire or Demo Roar/Shout.

I use ClassTimer for timing my own debuffs, though I find sometimes Mangle doesn't get a bar even though the debuff is clearly on the mob and I'm the only feral in the raid.

 

taigabear

The resistances that I was referring to was negative energy and the fireball from the mage on M'uru. As noted, I typically just use that flask for M'uru as earlier in the thread other bears were discussing consumables.

 

• Falk

Sorren Timers. Stylistically fits side-by-side with Bigwigs, as an added bonus.

 

kalbear

For starters, your rings are horrible. Band of the Abyssal lord is great for stam but is lacking avoidance and armor. A'dals signet is not as good as either Ring of the Stalwart Protector or Violet Signet of the Great Protector. Your shoulders are pretty oddly gemmed too. Other than that, it looks reasonable. Think about using an elixir of ironskin so you can use better rings.

 

◊ Penguin

In browsing 250+ attempts worth of logs until my eyes bleed, Negative Energy is never resisted fully or partially. The shadowbolt volleys from the spawns are though.

There's not some hidden "but he tries really hard" variable built into the game. -Slake

I always love the "it doesn't fit my style of play" line. There are only two styles of play; Correct, and Incorrect. The only people that ever use this line are people with the incorrect style of play. -Sebudai

 

chiefwigum

Yes, did you see my HR? I had two wipes last night from missing mangle/maul after the taunt and the warlock pulled aggro and it was a wipe.

 

• Astrylian

Dumb warlock. You don't need to wear those rings for hit rating.

Rawr - A theorycrafting tool for Bears, Cats, Moonkin, Healadins, Retadins, Mages, Warlocks, ProtWarriors, Trees, RestoShams, DPSWarrs, Hunters, Tankadins, HolyPriests, and ShadowPriests, EnhShams, DPS Death Knights!
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Are you an active DPSWarr / RestoSham / Tree / Rogue / Elemental theorycrafter that also happens to be an experienced C# dev? Help us turn Rawr into "A theorycrafting tool for everyone!"!

 

Blitzsieg

My guild is starting the T5 dungeons, we only have Lurker and Hydross down. My primary role is an OT. I tank the second kill on trash and OT on the bosses. I was wondering if it would be better to stack stamina or avoidance at this particular gear level. I don't have issues with threat, in fact, I often come close to passing the MT on boss fights.

 

chiefwigum

Astrylian, which two trinkets do you use to tank? You are logged out in Charm of Swift Flight. Bloodboil hasn't dropped the trinket I want and I am considering using [Scarab of Displacement] so I can use my T6.

 

• Astrylian

Depends. For OTing, Avoidance is usually preferred, because it comes from Agi mostly, and Agi gives you more DPS when you switch to DPS. However, the general questions to ask about choosing Avoidance/Mitigation vs Survival is... Do you die from burst damage? If so, stack more Survival (armor+stam). If you don't die, or you die to sustained damage, stack more Mitigation/Avoidance (armor+agi).

That's not always true, but it's the general rule of thumb.

EDIT:
Varies by boss, available consumables, and even healers. *Most* of the time for Brut it's Commendation + either Badge or Shadowmoon. Which of those two I use depends... Still got the 20def food from Fire Festival? Prolly Badge then, along with a flask. Or no Fire Festival food and Elixirs with Badge. No Fire Festival food and Flask? Shadowmoon.

Really, I swap around my bracers (S4 with def enchant vs Badge with 12def enchant vs T6 with 4stats enchant), 2nd trinket (Badge vs Shadowmoon vs Moroes), and chest (T6 with 15def vs T6 with 6stats) *all* the time, depending on which consumables I'm currently using, which is commonly based on how much I feel our success will depend on my gear (do I need to go all out? Or can I be a little cheaper and use a flask instead of elixirs?).

I also commonly trade agi and stam around all the time to get 'enough' HP for each boss, with the available buffs. Call me a pack rat, but I'm up to 13 pieces of feral T6 (different gems and sometimes different enchants). I typically aim for 21k on Brut and 22k on Felmyst. So I'll trade my gloves and shoulders with agi for identical ones with stam gems on Felmyst. Or if I'm not getting Commanding Shout, I make that same trade on Brut, and or also trade chest as well on Felmyst. As I get more Sunwell gear, I'll still try to maintain those levels of HP, but have to trade fewer and fewer pieces to get it.

Rawr - A theorycrafting tool for Bears, Cats, Moonkin, Healadins, Retadins, Mages, Warlocks, ProtWarriors, Trees, RestoShams, DPSWarrs, Hunters, Tankadins, HolyPriests, and ShadowPriests, EnhShams, DPS Death Knights!
Download Rawr v2.1 <--NEW!

Are you an active DPSWarr / RestoSham / Tree / Rogue / Elemental theorycrafter that also happens to be an experienced C# dev? Help us turn Rawr into "A theorycrafting tool for everyone!"!

 

kalbear

So let me get this straight: you believe that gaining 31 hit rating (essentially 1.5% chance to hit) is worth losing close to 1600 armor in bear form, 2% dodge, and some crit from the agility you'd be getting? Heck, in that situation I'd rather switch the badge of tenacity for shard of contempt and use better rings. You'll lose less armor, get better stats and have expertise instead of hit, which is nearly doubly as effective as hit rating is for a tank before the dodge cap, and basically as effective afterwards. The only loss there is a resisted taunt.

I think it's probably better to fix the players than it is to fix your gear marginally, especially when you're having problems with survivability. At any rate, you asked why you're taking more damage. Well, one reason is that you've got suboptimal rings. At the very least you should not need A'dal's signet of defense.

 

chiefwigum

You realize that's my 3rd pair of shoulders right? Also, after looking at my max hits are around 7100 to 7800 over the attempts, which is pretty normal. I found a 14k hit, which made me wonder what happened and that was in the caster form since the warrior tank died and I came out of bear form to wipe faster.

 

TimWischmeier

I took that role too (usual setup was 2 warrior, 2 ferals). I ended up tankink adds on Hydross, DPS on Lurker, MT on Leotheras, add tank on Morogrim (for a first kill it's perfectly reasonable to go with a feral for MT, becuase often they are more easy to heal at that gearlevel) and tanking the shaman add on Karathress (dps on vashj of course). Your target should be downed first on trash.

I had pretty good experiences with the rule of thumb "go for 20k HP raidbuffed, then stack avoidance". If i recall correctly I have been at 32k armor, perhaps a bit more. And the combination of morores + badge saved my life countlessly. It gave us some very good extra seconds on the Leotheras enrage, too.

That being sad, I think in T5 instances ferals really shine in their role "OT most, MT few, DPS the rest". Oh, before you ask: you can replace 4T4 armor bonus with 3 pieces of T5, if I remember correctly.

 

Blitzsieg

Great, thanks. Now, I was messing with Rawr, and I can drop my raid buffed health by about 2500 (leaving me with around 19,500), but I would gain almost 5% dodge unbuffed and armor would go up. Would this be worth the $$$ it would cost to replace a meta and 6 epic gems?

 

kalbear

Sorry, chiefwigum...you asked to look at your armory and point out why you might be taking more damage. Your rings and your shoulders are the only large reasons I could see. If that's not the feedback you wanted, I apologize.

 

Papajan