[L90 / MoP] Guardian Druid Tanking Guide (Update Pending)

Par Mike Actualisé : 04/04/2016

Do you think you're good enough to take on raid bosses by yourself? Check out my Guardian Druid Solo Guide

IntroductionTable of ContentsStat & Reforge Priority

Active Mitigation is based on stacking Agility, Haste and Crit, while sacrificing your passive defenses; Mastery and Dodge. Doing this will allow you to have enough rage generation to keep up Savage Defense and also have enough rage to use Frenzied Regeneration, as well as doing decent amounts of damage to your targets.

Agility > Stamina > Melee Hit (7.5%) = Expertise (15%) > Crit (79%) > Mastery (30%) > Haste > Dodge

hereStats

Primary

- These are your primary stats that you will most likely be using for your armor, enchants and gems

Agility - Increases Attack Power, Critical Strike chance and chance to Dodge
Armor - Decreases damage from all physical attacks -You need to pair this with Mastery to achieve 70-75% physical damage reduction
Stamina - Increases Total Health

Secondary

- These stats will mostly help you with rage generation

Hit - Lowers the chance that your attack will Miss on your target - 7.5% (2550 rating) Cap
Expertise - Lowers the chance that your target will Dodge or Parry your attacks - 15% Parry (5100 Rating) / 7.5% (2550 Rating) Dodge cap

here

Passive Mitigation

Dodge - Increases the chance to dodge non magical abilities
Mastery - Adds a percentage bonus to your Armor

Active Mitigation / Rage Generation

Haste - Increases auto attack speeds, yielding you with more rage
Critical Strike - Critical attacks increase rage given by auto attacks and your Mangle ability

Back To TopAbilitiesSymbiosis

- Click for more details

Offensive

* - This is our most damaging ability, applies Blessures infectées to the target when used
- Our second most damaging ability, also applies a bleed effect to the target which lasts for 15 seconds and stacks up to 3 times - Has a 25% chance to reset the cooldown on Mangle.
Rosser - Our AoE bleed ability, use this to apply a bleed on the targets around you - Also causes the effect on the damaged target(s)
Balayage - Another AoE ability, not as much damage as Thrash, but deals 20% increased damage to targets that are bleeding
- This is a ranged ability which you can use to initiate boss fights and other mobs, also deals a small amount of damage for inital threat - Causes the Toucher mystique debuff on the target and has a 25% chance to reset the cooldown on Mangle
- This is a stun which deals 10% of our maximum health per second for 3 second - You can pair this with to increase the damage done by this ability
- When this cooldown ability is used, it resets the cooldown on and allows it to hit up to 3 targets for 10 seconds
(NEW 5.1) Mutiler - When Griffes et crocs procs, it empowers the Druid's next Maul. Empowered Maul reduces the damage dealt by the target's next autoattack.

RosserDefensive

- Increases chance to dodge by 45% for 6 seconds, this ability has 3 charges and each charge takes 9 seconds to regenerate, using this ability before the buff runs out adds 6 seconds to the remaining timer.
- Instantly Generates 20 rage, then an additional 10 rage over 10 seconds - Use this before initiating bosses and other mobs
Régénération frénétique - Converts up to 60 rage in to health, amount healed is increased with Vengeance
Ecorce - Reduces all damage taken by 20%, this is also usable while stunned, frozen, feared, asleep or incapacitated. Lasts 12 seconds
- Increases current, and maximum health by 30% for 20 seconds
Instincts de survie - Reduces all damage taken by 50% for 12 seconds

Passive Abilities

Talents

Red - Not Recommended ~ Yellow - Situational / Optional ~ Green - Must have / Optional

Please note since patch 5.4, Tier 2 Talent Rapidité de la nature has been removed and replaced with Don d’Ysera

Rapidité féline - Most useful overall, read below to see my explanation
Transfert bestial - Situational, this can be used to escape quickly, for example an exploding debuff that may damage party members around you
Charge sauvage - Useful and Situational, but read below for my explanation

This Tier I chose Feline Swiftness, because the 15% increase overall will help you in any situation, rather than a charge to an enemy, in most cases, when a tank needs to move, its to move out of bad spots, and Wild Charge wont help you with that. Also to note that be very careful if you choose Displacer beast, and to immediately change back in to Bear form when using it, and that doing so will also reset Vengeance and your Rage, though it may come in handy in someway; I'm just stating the usefulness.

Don d’Ysera - Much better healing output than Renouveau, but not bursty, this seems like a very solid talent to choose.
Renouveau - a big burst (off the global cooldown) heal for yourself, this is amazing for a when you get hit with a burst of damage from a raid boss, it is also affected by
Protection cénarienne - Yields the most healing done overall, but only when used each time it is off cooldown

In this tier, I chose Ysera's Gift, being a passive its an extra button we won't have to worry about (yay!), and yields 4 times more healing output than Renewal. Although Cenarian Ward offers more healing overall, this is on the GCD, and keeping it up each 30 seconds isn't worth the trouble of an extra ~50k healing, also the chance of most of it being overhealed anyway by your healers, where as when you use Renewal, you know the amount will be fully healed.

- Situational, but your mangle already reduces the targets movement speed by 50% anyway
Enchevêtrement de masse - Situational, in most cases you wont need to use it
Typhon - Situational, but personally I use it as another form of ranged initation

I chose Typhoon in this Tier, because your Mangle already applies a 50% movement decrease, and you wouldnt need to waste one of your talents on it. I haven't yet found a good situation when you use Mass Entanglement, but with my experience of trying it out, the snare doesnt last too long anyway. Typhoon is the way to go with the knockback, slow, and ranged pull.

Ame de la forêt - Since the buff of this talent from patch 5.4.0, this is now a much better choice for us.
- This reduces all melee abilities and Growl to 1.5 seconds cooldown. Great for quick rage and any situations where you would want burst dps.
- The worst talent of this tier, the dps is very low, and the're pretty much useless at taunting.

I choose Soul of the Forest, for exactly what it does, extra rage from mangle, and the best part... 15% extra damage on mangle. You may also use Incarnation for any fights where you may need some burst damage.

Rugissement incapacitant - Situational, wouldn't be used too many times when tanking
Vortex d’Ursol - Situational, can also be used as a delayed initiating pull
Rossée puissante - A second stun, probably the best way to go, though it's probably optional between this and the Vortex.

This was a tie between Ursol's Vortex and Might Bash, but there's no harm in using both for different situations. In most cases though, the Stun will be most used.

- Grab this if you have high crit percentage
- Grab this if you have low crit percentage
Veille de la nature - Situational, I suppose... Probably best to be used with Berserk and multiple enemies.

Choosing whether you want HotW or DoC is quite simple. Given that DoC yields 10% extra crit on Mangle, it's a great choice for low geared druids, I suggest grabbing this if your crit percentage is below 60% in a raid environment.

Otherwise you should be choosing HotW. The 6% increase in Agility and Stamina is enough to get most people to choose this talent alone. With the healing increase this gives, it buffs Tranquility to be as good as a Resto druid's Tranquility, which can be used when you are not currently tanking a boss.

The healing from Nature's Vigil was never enough to be really used, but the damage increase is alright if you pair it with Berserk against multiple enemies if you have no chance to pop out of bear form and hit tranquility and HotW. For example Stone Guards (1st boss MV)

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Glyphs

Major

- Great paired with Fae Silence to pull or gain threat on long ranged enemies
- See above
- Not bad for a small DPS increase on multiple adds, but be careful when using maul, use it when you have spare rage to spend
- Can be useful but most times you wont be able to swap out of bear form and use it
- Not recommended for PvE use.
- Useful if there's a situation where there is no sudden burst of damage taken
- Paired with Renouveau and Item - Druid T14 Guardian 2P Bonus will make this glyph quite useful
- Unless you are in a 25man raid, this is not a useful glyph to go for.
- Helps your raid members get in to position quicker at the start of boss fights, and useful during almost all fights.

I've chosen , and as my 3 major glyphs for my overall tanking situations.

You can see a full list of Major Glyphs here

Minor

Minor glyphs are completely optional, personally I use , and

You can see a full list of Minor Glyphs here

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Enchants & Enhancements

	Active Mitigation	Passive Mitigation	Agile Mitigation
Shoulders	Calligraphie supérieure de griffe de tigre Calligraphie secrète de griffe de tigre	Calligraphie supérieure de corne de buffle Calligraphie secrète de corne de buffle	Calligraphie supérieure de griffe de tigre Calligraphie secrète de griffe de tigre
Cloak	Coup critique excellent	Protection supérieure	Coup critique excellent
Chest	Caractéristiques glorieuses	Endurance excellente	Caractéristiques glorieuses
Wrist	Agilité supérieure	Esquive majeure	Agilité supérieure
Hands	Hâte supérieure	Maîtrise excellente Hâte excellente	Maîtrise excellente Hâte excellente
Waist	Boucle de ceinture en acier vivant	Boucle de ceinture en acier vivant	Boucle de ceinture en acier vivant
Legs	Armure de jambe en ombrecuir	Armure de jambe écaille-de-fer	Armure de jambe en ombrecuir
Feet	Flou de la vitesse	Pas du pandaren	Pas du pandaren Flou de la vitesseUp to you with whichever you choose
Rings*
Weapon	Chant-du-Vent Danse d’acier	Colosse Mélodie de la rivière	Chant-du-Vent Danse d’acier

I will update this section on a later date to include profession enchants and enhancements

Gems

Active Mitigation	Passive Mitigation	Agile Mitigation
Meta Gem	Diamant primordial agile	Diamant primordial austère Diamant primordial nitescent	Diamant primordial austère
Red Gem	Rubis primordial délicat	Onyx vermillon adepte	Onyx vermillon adepte
Blue Gem	Améthyste impériale changeante Cœur du fleuve rigideReforge the extra Hit	Cœur du fleuve solide Cœur du fleuve rigideReforge the extra Hit	Jade sauvage surpuissant Cœur du fleuve rigideReforge the extra Hit
Yellow Gem	Onyx vermillon adroit Onyx vermillon mortelChoose whichever you feel you need more of	Rayon de soleil cassé Rayon de soleil subtilChoose whichever you feel you need more of	Onyx vermillon adepte Onyx vermillon mortelChoose whichever you feel you need more of

Consumables

Flasks	Flacon de la terre	Flacon des fleurs du printemps

Guardian Elixir	Élixir de mantide	Élixir des miroirs
Battle Elixir	Élixir du moine	Élixir d’armement

Potions	Potion des montagnes	Morsure de virmen

Combat - Rotations and Ability Priorities

Offensive Abilities - and when to use them

- Use this before you're about to pull for early rage
- Use this to initiate boss fights and for general pulling - keep using this to keep the Toucher mystique debuff on your target.
- Your main damaging ability, use this every time it's off cooldown, also pair it with against multiple enemies
- Use this as second priority after Mangle, don't worry about stacking it up straight away when you pull, it'll eventually reach 3 stacks.
Rosser - Use this third to apply a bleed on enemies around you, causes the effect on the damaged target(s) so it is a must ability to be used.
Mutiler - Use this for extra dps on enemies, preferably not on bosses, as you should be using instead.
Balayage - Use this only when surrounded by 4 or more enemies, any other time and you shouldn't bother using this ability

Defensive - how to use them properly

- Against raid bosses, it should be your priority #1 to keep this up as much as you can, it is your main and best form of avoidance. Build up quick and easy rage by using to help you out if you are rage starved.
Ecorce - On most boss fights, you will generally use this on the pull and every time it's off cooldown, unless certain boss mechanics make you save it later for upcoming burst damage
Instincts de survie - This is generally saved for when raid bosses start to deal massive amounts of damage, any other time, if you're feeling generous to your healer(s) you can use it to help them out a bit.
- Usually used if your health gets low, you can activate this to quickly heal yourself 30% of your hp and give yourself a health boost. I use this paired with Renouveau for an instant almost full heal.
Régénération frénétique - This is a hard one to explain when to be used as it depends on the players instinct when to be used. Basically it's going to be a choice between 45% dodge for 6 seconds or a 100+k heal. If you're feeling unlucky and know you're going to die even if you use , you can use this ability to heal yourself instead.

Additional Information

Hit & Expertise

The reason we use these stats is so that our attacked are not missed, dodged or parried. Resulting in 0 damage done to your target, and no rage gained. Which ultimately means you're going to be taking more damage from lack of rage for Savage Defense and Frenzied Rejuvenation.

Hit Rating

You should always keep your hit rating at or as close to 7.5% (2550 Rating) as possible. Having your hit at 7.5% will stop you missing your attacks on all lvl 90 raid bosses.

Expertise Rating

There are two parts to expertise, one is Dodge and the other is Parry.

At 0% Expertise (0 Rating) your chance of being dodged is 7.5% and chance of being parried is 15%. That's a lot of damage and rage you're missing out on.

You're going to want to have at least a minimum of 7.5% Expertise (2550 Rating) so that your attacks will no longer be dodged. having 15% Expertise is going to be hard, but try your best to reach it.

The difference in having expertise and not having expertise is very noticeable. I couldn't imagine tanking without it.

Symbiosis

Priority	Class	What You Get	Comments
Great	Monk		Great buff overall
Good	Death Knight		This is alright, but not one I personally would choose first.
Good	Paladin		Great for fights/trash with 3 or more targets
Situational	Rogue		Can be good for fights with a lot of magical AoE damage
Last Resort / Okay	Shaman		The damage is subpar, and the buff has 10 charges.
Situational	Warrior		A lot of the bosses so far don't have many reflectable abilities, but it's available if it's needed.
Highly Situational	Warlock		You can use this to gain rage before boss fights, if you need or want 100 rage to start a fight, though it is a bit overkill.

Priority	Class	What They Get	Comments
Good	Paladin (Holy)	(*Consecration)	Pretty good buff, comes in handy if you have no one else that can battle rez while you are tanking.
Great	Priest (Shadow)	(*Fear Ward)	Really good for fights where there's a lot of burst aoe damage like Titan Gas in Will of the Emporers. Helps out your healers a lot.
Situational	Rogue	(*Feint)	If you need your rogue to off-tank something for a short time, this comes in handy.

Check out Maliander's comment for a full list of all buffs here

A bit about me

My name is Mike, my in-game name is Opbear.

My druid was my first character I ever made when I first started playing in August 2007, and has been my main character ever since. I leveled from 1-70 as Restoration, raided as Restoration until Mists of Pandaria. I Did not play during Cataclysm, as I had a year long break from WoW after exhausting myself during WotLK.

I am now trying out a new perspective as a tank and loving it!

I also play an Enhancement Shaman which I love to play :)

Thank you for reading my guide, I know I'm not the best at explaining things, but I do try my best :)
The druid is one of the most complex classes in the game being the only class so far with 4 specializations, and any guide will surely help out a lot of people.
Yet to come: More explanations on Enchants, Glyphs, consumables Please feel free to add your thoughts and feedback in to the comments below.

Commentaires

Commentaire de Moodahla

Over all I would have to say, this is a very good guide. I would like to add a couple things though.

Edited due to guide update!

In terms of choosing Renouveau over Protection cénarienne, it really is personal preference and situation dependent. If you have good healers and may only need that once in a blue moon "OH CRAP!" heal then Renouveau is a good way to go. If you have healers that aren't that geared, or they (or you) are just starting out, I would lean more towards Protection cénarienne. True, sometimes it will get swallowed in over heals but it will also give a slight buffer to allow you to be noticed if need be. In regards to the issue of it being on the GCD, it really isn't that much of an issue. To make it easier I have mine tied into a macro with and my brewfest trinket Statue du bagarreur like this:

#showtooltip
/cast Savage Defense
/use 13
/cast Cenarion Ward

The above seems to help with both the GCD issue and (at least my problem) forgetting about all the tools available.

I hope this helps some, and once again a very well written guide.

Commentaire de 986144

Generally a nice guide but there are a few pieces of information that is purely personal preference or maybe even just wrong but credit where its due it takes guts to write a guide about a Specialisation which is partly new/ extremely changed.

Firstly most high end raiding guardians currently Spec fully for rage Generation. Crit and haste are far more favored by some than mastery and dodge plus we receive a passive 50% bonus for both. I'll never say mitigation is bad but Active mitigation Is FAR superior.

I'd suggest you at least add that stat priorities are open to debate and personal preference, add agility leg and shoulder enchants as an extra option and do the same for your gemming section by adding 320 crit gem to yellow, 160 expertise/ 160 crit purple gem to red and 160 hit/160 crit green gem to blue slot. This will let your readers decide for themselves whether to spec towards more rage generation.

Secondly your selections for talents and their worth is debatable although not far out. Mainly that SotF although mostly inferior to Incarnation does have value in encounters where you are constantly tanking. Also a lot of guardians prefer NV to HotW although the best of these is decided by the encounter.

Thirdly (if thats a word) on the subject and use of abilities, You seem to have left out the fact that faerie fire and thrash reset mangle. Also you dont seem to have given much credit too FR, in some fights it should be used as your main mitigation and has uses in most fights. Also it works off of stamina until high levels of vengence raise your ap above a certain point which activates a second formula.

Lastly I beleive a section dedicated to rage mechanics would be extremely informative to most of the Guardian community and also well appreciated

Commentaire de myrkat

While I have not raided with my Bear yet (still leveling through Panderia), I have to point out that picking Rapidité de la nature over Renouveau and Protection cénarienne and combining that with is a nice combo (I've macro'd them together); and while it's not as much healing as Renouveau alone, it may be more flexible to have a 1 minute cooldown "burst heal" vs. the 2 minute "big burst" heal.

Also, even at 90, if one takes at tier 6, then every 1 minute of a burst heal will also give them a 25% damage boost for the next two melee attacks...

For questing and dungeon grinding, these are fairly solid options. Another benefit from Rapidité de la nature is the ability to insta-cast (and not drop bear form) Renaissance. Rezzing a dead healer while actively tanking is handy. Again, probably not something needed for raids, but in 5-mans, it has great flexibility.

Finally, why prefer Rossée puissante over Vortex d’Ursol? Most bosses are immune to stun/disorient, so they're a wash there. However, for lower-level stuff, both are a great interrupt; with Roar being shorter (2 seconds) but with a lower (30 sec) recharge. I suppose if one needs something incapacitated for 5 seconds, Bash is the obvious choice, but if we're looking for interrupts, Roar seems better.

Thanks for the guide, by the way!

Commentaire de christhekiller

you should read Dream of Cenarius more carefully friend, 10% more critical strike from mangle gives more rage generation and the healing in actual practice does quite well.

Commentaire de Crunchy101

This is a good start but I feel there are some things that need to be improved.

The image displaying recommended talents needs to be updated with the Ysera's Gift and Soul of the Forest changes. You mention that you can stack Nature's Vigil with Berserk but it also synergises well with Incarnation. Every 1.5 mins you can use either Berserk or Incarnation with it making it very good.

I don't feel Glorious Stats is a good chest enchant for Guardian, you get 80 agility and 80 stamina vs 300 stamina, not a good trade off.

Whilst Agility gems are decent for Guardian you get twice of much value on secondary stats, for instance a 320 crit gem vs 160 agility.

The chance for attacks to be parried is 7.5%, not 15%.

Commentaire de XandalorZ

This guide has really helped me in learning how to tank with my new Guardian Druid; however, I want to be a crit tank, and this guide is focused on a stam build. If you made a crit build also, it would be greatly appreciated.

Commentaire de cheethawolf

Hi! nice guide, man.

"Critical Strike - Critical attacks increase rage given by auto attacks and your Mangle ability" Does this happen at lvl 20 too?
And if you have the same amount of agility and critical strike, (for example 4) what would be better for pvp?

Thanks for your time

[L90 / MoP] Guardian Druid Tanking Guide (Update Pending)

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