Reforging for Feral Tanks in Cataclysm

Cataclysm introduced a new form of item customization called Reforging.  Through Reforging, a player can take a certain percentage of an items secondary stats, such as Mastery, Haste, or Crit, and trade them for another.  The system is still new, however, so many players are left confused as to which stats should be Reforged out of and into.  For Feral Tanks, read on after the bump to find out how you should Reforge your gear to get the most our of every piece of equipment.

Best Feral Tanking Spec for 4.0.1

Now that we have gone through how to Feral tank in patch 4.0.1, now it is time to make sure our talents are in the right place.  At the moment, there appears to be one clearly superior spec for Feral tanking.  Though there is some room to tweak the talent layout to suit your preferences and play-style, this spec will serve you well in terms of survivability and threat generation.  Find out why I choose these talents after the bump:

Feral Tanking Guide for 4.0.1

After a brief sabbatical, I have returned to Druid Digest just in time to help you sort through the confusion that is Patch 4.0.1 for World of Warcraft.  As anyone who has logged onto the realms recently can tell you, World of Warcraft's mechanics have drastically changed.  This is particularly true for everyone's favorite fur balls: Bear Tanks.

Don't panic though.  Many have speculated that these changes may lead to the extinction of Feral Tanks, but I am here to help put those rumors to rest.  Feral Tanks are every bit as viable as they were before the pre-Cataclysm patch.  Are things more difficult?  Absolutely, but using the tips I have outlined below, you will be back out there as a clawed threat machine before you know it.  Read on after the bump.

Best Feral Tanking Spec in Cataclysm

UPDATE: There is a new Feral Tanking Spec Guide for 4.0.1
UPDATE: Be sure to check out our new Feral Tanking Guide for 4.0.1

THIS POST IS BASED ON EARLIER VERSIONS OF THE BETA, CHECK OUT THE NEW BEST FERAL SPEC GUIDE FOR 4.0.1 FOR THE LATEST TALENT INFORMATION

Yesterday, I made a post about the problems with the Feral talent tree in Cataclysm.  Today, I will be addressing the less problematic of the two Feral specs by laying out the optimal Feral Druid tanking talent spec for Cataclysm.  Check it out after the bump.

The Problem with Cataclysm's Feral Tree

Several weeks ago, Blizzard announced they would be reducing the size of talent trees in Cataclysm.  Rather than capping at 51 points, the depth of the trees would be reduced to 31 points.  Since at least a 31 point investment investment in a single tree will become mandatory, players have a maximum of 10 points to distribute outside of their primary tree.

These changes were made with the intent of increasing player choice.  Basically, by simplifying the trees and cutting out both fluff and mandatory talents, players should be more free to spread points amongst the remaining talents as they choose.  This attempt at enhanced flexibility has been mixed in its effectiveness across different classes and specs.  Unfortunately, it has failed miserably with respect to one particular talent tree: the Feral Druid tree.  Find out why after the jump.

Cataclysm Feral Tank Spec

This post is based on the old talent lay out, hop over to my updated Best Feral Tank Spec in Cataclysm for a current one!


Some people might call me crazy, but in my opinion it is never to early to start planning out your Cataclysm specs. Towards that end, I have decided to start laying out what I believe will be the "cookie-cutter" Druid specs when Cataclysm comes out. To start things out, here is my ideal Feral Tanking Spec for Cataclysm. (00/55/21)

In my design of the spec, I was looking both to maximize bear form survivability and threat generation. First, let's look at the Feral tree. In tier one Ferocity, goes a long way towards reducing rage consumption allowing a bear tank to utilize more abilities without running low on delicious rage juice. Well worth the full five points. Sharpened Claws is also a great pickup as it increases the damage done by two primary bear abilities, Maul and Mangle, by an astounding 20% for just two points. We can pass on Feral Aggression as your rotation will likely be busy enough that you don't need extra Faerie Fires available, though the talent could have a niche use on fights where a bear needs to rapidly pick up solo adds.

Moving to tier two, I would suggest taking everything. Thick Hide is a potent mitigation talent that no bear should miss. Feral Instincts is also a solid recommendation because although AoE tanking will be limited in Cataclysm, whenever it does come up you will be loving the 30% extra Swipe damage. Additionally, it is possible (though unlikely) that Swipe will still have a place in the bear form rotation as a rage dump in Cataclysm. Lastly in tier two, Shredding Attacks will reduce your Lacerate rage cost which should be handy considering you will need to constantly rebuild stacks after Pulverize.

Tier three is a solid place to plant five points. First, two points in Feral Swiftness nets you a solid 4% dodge. Next, you will want to pick up Feral Charge to stay mobile. Lastly, Improved Feral Charge gives you a whopping 30% melee haste for eight seconds every single time you charge. Talk about a threat lead gold mine! Stay away from Predatory Instincts as, despite what the initial tool-tip says, it currently only applies to Cat Form.

Tier four should also eat five of your talent points. Fury Swipes is an interesting new talent that seems to function like Warriors' Sword Specialization. Free auto-attacks can do nothing but help your threat. Primal Fury is also a strong selection as it turns your critical strikes into delicious rage. Avoid Nurturing Instinct as you shouldn't be in Cat Form or healing while tanking.

In tier five, we pick up our first talented ability: Survival Instincts. It is a great panic button that any good bear uses liberally. You will also want to place five points in Heart of the Wild both to open Leader of the Pack and to net a respectable 10% stamina boost. Brutal Impact has some PvE utility, but is primarily a PvP talent and can be glossed over. Should you find yourself using Bash liberally, feel free to swap some points to it. Predatory Strikes is exclusively for Cats and should be skipped.

Tier six let's us boost our dodge by another 6% and even grants us rage on every dodge. Not a bad use of three talent points. Survival of the Fittest is also a mandatory tanking talent. Without Survival of the Fittest, bear tanks can fall victim to critical hits. That can't happen. The extra armor is just icing on the cake that is this truly necessary talent. Endless Carnage is a take it or leave it talent. I personally would leave it alone, but it might be worth subbing the two points I placed in Improved Mangle here or to Brutal Impact depending on your preference and play-style.

For tier seven, I recommend picking up Leader of the Pack and Improved Leader of the Pack. Tanks are designed to be in groups so passing up on such a solid group buff is almost criminal. Considering how huge a Bear Form Druid's health can get, the 8% heal every six seconds from Improved Leader of the Pack is also well worth the investment. Primal Tenacity is a Feral PvP talent; skip it. You can skip King of the Jungle too as you really should not be using Enrage while in combat once you lose your tier ten bonus because of the armor penalty.

Fill out tier eight. Primal Tenacity is a direct boost to both your threat and mitigation while Infected Wounds helps significantly reduce incoming damage and keeps mobs more easily under your control. Take them both.

At tier nine we finally pick up Mangle and have the option of reducing its cooldown with Improved Mangle. Obviously, you need to take Mangle, but whether or not your take Improved Mangle is really a matter of personal preference, though I would only spend two points here simply because the third point can be better spent elsewhere. See how your rotation works with and without it and don't be afraid to move those two points around. Primal Madness isn't a bad talent, but it isn't worth the five points in King of the Jungle to get to it.

In tier ten, Nom Nom Nom is an awesome talent, but only for Feral dps, so skip it. Do, however, pick up Rend and Tear as it will substantially increase your threat generation. Also, be sure to get the new ability Pulverize which will dramatically change how bears tank and will forever alter how you look at Lacerate stacks.

Lastly, top off the Feral tree by picking up Berserk. Not only is it a great snap threat generation cool-down (especially when holding three targets), but it is also our only reasonable way of breaking nasty fears. Take it and use it often.

Having buried a whopping fifty five points in the Feral Tree, we have another twenty one to carry elsewhere. Since Balance has absolutely nothing to offer a Feral tank, to the Restoration Tree we go!

First, plop five points in Furor. Do you really need five points there? No, but you need to get to the lower tiers and there is really nowhere else productive to spend your initial five. Then it is time to scoop up five points of Perseverance. Bear tanks have always had a bit of a weakness to magical damage. This new talent says no more! Also, place three points in Natural Shapeshifter if just to open up Master Shapeshifter below it.

Moving to tier three of the Restoration Tree, spend all of your remaining talent points here. Naturalist will increase your Bear Form Damage by 10% while Master Shapeshifter adds another 4%. Lastly, Omen of Clarity will land you some delightfully rage free attacks.

In summary, I believe this spec will get you the most bang for your buck in terms of feral tanking. If you want points to play with, the two in Improved Mangle are ripe for the picking. You could also can Omen of Clarity is you so desire, though I personally enjoy the talent. Obviously, the Cataclysm talents are still subject to change, but at the time being I think this is the best any feral tank can hope to do.

Would you do things differently? Let me know in the comments.

This post is based on the old talent lay out, hop over to my updated Best Feral Tank Spec in Cataclysm for a current one!

Battle of the AoE Tanking Abilities

Though AoE tanking is apparently at least somewhat on its way out in Cataclysm, for the remainder of Wrath of the Lich King it is alive and well. For today's post I decided to take a quick look at the different staple AoE tanking tools available to the various classes. Which are strong? Which are weak? Which will cause a killing streak? Find out my thoughts below and feel free to share yours in the comments!

Druids

Swipe: It is always easy to identify Feral Tanks in real life because they are the ones with the rippling muscles on their left index finger. Why are their digits so pumped up? Why from mindlessly hammering the Swipe key thousands upon thousands of times of course.

Swipe is really a Bear's only true AoE damage dealer and, as a result, it is only ability we absolutely need to hit when holding a pack of mobs. It is a great spell because it costs little rage (which we have a near endless supply of anyway), does solid damage to large packs, and has no cooldown. It is simultaneously terrible because it needs to be pushed ad nausea to be effective and provides no benefit other than a small burst of damage.

Where Druids Shine: The real strength of Swipe is that it can theoretically be used infinitely with little to no restrictions. A Bear Druid loaded with mobs will have near endless rage and can therefor pound Swipe as fast as a finger allows. For fights where wave after wave of mobs are rolling into your raid, a Druid will always be ready to Swipe and has no reason to worry about much of anything else. Additionally, Swipe is a physical attack, leaving the Druid free from the fear of an ill timed silence.

Paladins

Consecration: The ability that single-handedly defined Paladins as "the AoE" tank is still alive and well. Consecration is great because it is the ultimate set it and forget it spell. You lay it on the ground and, until it expires, mobs are stuck to you like glue.

Back in the day, Consecration occasionally caused mana issues for the overzealous tank, but no more. Now, so long as the modest cool-down has run its course, keeping consecrate up on a pack of mobs shouldn't come close to depleting a Paladin tank's mana pool.

Where Paladins Shine: Where a tank needs to hold both a single high priority target and several smaller adds, the Paladin is feeling good. A Consecration every eight second will get the AoE job done and you are free to focus on your priority target. Sustained AoE aggro with little effort or attention is the Paladin's true strength. Also, if the mobs happen to be undead, other tanks can forget about it as the addition of Holy Nova to the mix makes Paladins all-stars. If a silence enters the mix, however, you may very well end up with some dead healers.

Warriors

Thunder Clap: Just as Consecration defined Paladins as the AoE tanks, the existence of Thunder Clap and ONLY Thunder Clap has long relegated Warriors to the AoE tanking bargain bin.

In recent times, Thunder Clap has started to hit harder and generate more delicious aggro, but it still feels lacking. Perhaps the cooldown is just too long, or maybe the supplemental slow just isn't enough to get a plate wearer out of bed in the morning. Whatever it is, Thunder Clap is far from a Warcraft media darling.

Where Warriors Shine: In terms of snap AoE aggro, it really is tough to beat a Warrior. Thunder Clap hits hard and generates tons of threat. After that, however, it's time to wait out the cool down. Grabbing AoE mobs is in a Warriors wheelhouse, holding them is often the problem.

Death Knights

Death and Decay: You mean to tell me that Death Knights can lay down a Consecration equivalent at range?!? Why yes they can.

With great power, however, comes slightly greater cost. While a Paladin using Consecration only loses a bit of constantly replenishing mana and can move on with his or her life, a Death Knight must fork over one of each and every rune in his arsenal to generate a bed of AoE hurt. Not only does the Death Knight need to consider Death and Decay's own huge cool-down, but also the fact that using the ability actually can put his other skills on cool-down as well.

Blood Boil: Though Death and Decay gets all the Death Knight AoE press, Blood Boil is the behind the scenes workhorse of the class's AoE skills.

For the cost of a single Blood Rune, a Death Knight can instantly ding all nearby targets for decent magical damage. Add diseases to the mix and that damage goes up appreciably. Limited only by the speed rune generation, the ability is available pretty often and offers decent bang for its buck.

Where Death Knights Shine: Death and Decay makes Death Knights both exceptionally flexible and inflexible AoE tanks. They can snap a group of mobs anywhere and hold them with a set and forget AoE, but only once every thirty seconds and only if they want to sack half their runic resources for a little while. With time to prepare, a Death Knight can AoE tank like nobody else, but when caught without cool-downs, Blood Boil can be a bit too little too late.

Feral Tanking Keybinds

Below are the keybinds I use when tanking in Bear form. For general information on how to set up your keybinds see How to Set Up Keybinds in Warcraft's Default UI. Also, check out the bottom of the post to review keybinds for other Druid specs.

When reviewing these keybinds, keep in mind that I have a macro which adds Maul to every single one of my other abilities so I have no need to cast it separately. I also choose to click cast my defensive cooldowns, Berserk, and Enrage. If you want to add additional abilities to my set, you can use the Z, V, and R keys though you will need to assign other keys to auto-reply and sheath weapon. You can also use 1, 2, 3, and 4 if you don't mind moving up from AWSD. If you are going to add additional abilities I would recommend Barkskin be the first.

F = Swipe: Generally speaking, you should put whatever ability you use the most often in the F slot. It is simply the easiest key to reach when your hand is resting at AWSD. For Bear Tanks, that ability will be Swipe.

G = Demoralizing Roar: G is actually one of the more difficult keys to reach within my keybinds, so I assign a less crucial, infrequent use ability to its slot. You may want to replace this ability with Barkskin should you find yourself rarely using Demoralizing Roar.

E = Feral Faerie Fire: Just behind F and tied with C, E is an easy key to tap, so a high volume attack like Feral FF fits well here. I also like having a ranged attack on a key above the middle of the keyboard just from a conceptual standpoint.

Q = Feral Charge: Relatively easy to reach, but set off from your other keybinds, Q is the perfect choice for Feral Charge placement. This ability is situational and serves a unique purpose, so setting it off a bit makes Q a nice fit.

C = Mangle: The same logic for Feral Faerie Fire at E applies to Mangle at C. It is a high volume ability and therefore deserves a prime spot on your keyboard.

X = Lacerate: This ability is not spammed except to build up stacks and therefore makes a perfect fit for the comfortable, but not too comfortable X key. Putting it next to Mangle also keeps your single target melee abilities together for conceptual consistency.

Here are the specific keybinds I recommend for other Druid specs:

Feral DPS Keybinds (coming soon)
Restoration Druid Keybinds
Balance Druid Keybinds (coming soon)

Expertise for Feral Tanks

Recently, I have begun to wonder if Blizzard forgot entirely about Bear Tank itemization when crafting the gear made available in Patch 3.3. Sure, there is tons of Stamina and Agility to be had, but the striking absence of two pivotal Druid tanking stats on a vast majority of our class specific gear is incredibly disheartening. Those stats are Hit and Expertise. To answer your Feral Hit Rating Questions, check out our Guide to Feral Hit Rating Gear and our Bear Form and Hit Rating guide. Below I will explore the Expertise side of the Bear threat equation and explain why Blizzard has created a problem for Bear tanks tackling ICC.

What is the Bear Form Expertise Cap?

The soft cap for Bear Form Expertise is 26 Expertise or 132 Expertise Rating (the stat which appears on your gear). This level of Expertise will completely eliminate dodges from your enemies' defense tables. To eliminate parry from your enemies table you would need 443 Expertise, but I don't need to tell you how impractical and unnecessary that would be. Just shoot for 132 Expertise Rating and consider anything over that a less significant bonus.

Why is Expertise Important for Bears?

There is a common misconception amongst all tanks that Hit and Expertise are exclusively dps stats. The truth is, they are also vital threat stats because an attack which misses or is avoided generates zero threat. A lack of Hit or Expertise leaves your dps one unlucky string of failed attacks away from getting splattered by the target you were supposed to hold and all the Stamina and Avoidance in the world won't save you from their anger at the coming wipe.

Aside from the short term consequences of occasionally generating zero aggro, a lack of expertise severely harms your threat generated per second. Point for point, until you reach 132 Expertise Rating, Expertise gives you more threat per point than any other stat. You heard right, ANY OTHER STAT. That includes our precious Agility, Crit, Attack Power, Haste, and even Hit. Until you reach the hard cap of 132, Expertise nets nearly double the threat, point for point, of any other ability. If I have not convinced you by now that the stat is important, I do not think I will be able to.

Where Can Bears Find Expertise?

There are currently only three gear slots where Bears can find endgame leather with Expertise on it. Those slots are chest, feet, and legs. To reach your 132 target, you will need to equip an Expertise item in at least two out of the three. Unfortunately, you only have one random drop possibility (and it is BoE), so to get the Expertise you need you will need to part with either a significant number of badges or a significant amount of gold. Here are your options:

Chest:
Ikfirus's Sack of Wonder (BoE drop off Gunship in ICC 25)
Shadow Seeker's Tunic (95 Emblems of Frost)

Legs:
Lasherweave Legguards (95 Emblems of Frost)

Feet:
Footpads of Impending Death (Crafted BoE)

There are also a handful of rings and necks which provide Expertise, but they do not pair that Expertise with any other tanking oriented stats. Lastly, if you are lucky enough to get your hands on a Battered Hilt, the Lightborn Spire could help solve your Expertise woes.

Good luck in your hunt for this ever elusive stat. Hopefully, Blizzard will make things easier for us in the future.

Guide to Feral Druid Hit Rating Gear

On the heals of my comprehensive hit rating analysis and advice in Bear Form and Hit Rating it is now time to review some of the gear that is available to pull you out of your Feral hit rating slump. Below is a slot by slot breakdown of some of the best Feral hit rating gear currently available. For information on the Feral Hit cap and ways to work around it, check out Bear Form and Hit Rating.

Head

Mask of Lethal Intent/Hood of Lethal Intent - 75 Emblems of Triumph
Geistlord's Punishment Sack - Blood Princes (ICC 25)

Shoulders

Spaulders of Black Betrayal - Falric (H Halls of Reflection)
Shoulderpads of the Intruder - Assembly of Iron (Ulduar 25)

Back

Tank:
Platinum Mesh Cloak - 25 Emblems of Valor
Cloak of the Makers - Auriaya (Ulduar 25)
Titanskin Cloak - Mimiron (Ulduar 25 Hard Mode)
Royal Crimson Cloak - Blood Princes (ICC 25)

DPS:
Drape of the Lithe - Iron Council (Ulduar 25)
Accursed Crawling Cape - Devourer of Souls (H Forge of Souls)
Shawl of Nerubian Silk - Lord Marrowgar (ICC 10)
Might/Strength of the Nerub - Anub'Arak (ToC 25)
Drape of Icy Intent - Hordir (Ulduar 25 Hard Mode)

Chest

Choking Hauberk - Marwyn (H Halls of Reflection)
Knightbane Carapace - Crafted Leatherworking
Ikfirus's Sack of Wonder (BoE) - Gunship Battle (ICC 25) and in Sack of Frosty Treasures

Wrists

Chewed Leather Wristguards - Ick (H Pit of Saron)
Bracers/Armbands of Dark Determination - Anub'Arak (ToC 25)


Hands

Malfurion's/Runetotem's Handguards of Triumph - 25 Emblems of Triumph

Legs

Malfurion's/Runetotem's Legguards of Triumph - 50 Emblems of Triumph
Legwraps/Leggings of the Broken Beast - Northrend Beasts (ToC 25)
Gangrenous Leggings - Festergut (ICC 25)

Boots

Acidmaw Boots/Treads - Northrend Beasts (ToC 10)
Treads of the Icewalker/Icewalker Treads - Anub'Arak (ToC 25)

Rings

Tank:
Abomination's Bloody Ring - Gunship Battle (ICC 10)
Ashen Band of Courage - Ashen Verdict Friendly Reputation Reward
Harbringer's Bone Band (BoE) - ICC Random Drop


DPS:
Planestalker Band/Planestalker Signet - Lord Jaraxxus (ToC 10)
Ashen Band of Vengeance - Ashen Verdict Friendly Reputation Reward
Band of the Bone Colossus - Lord Marrowgar (ICC 25)

Trinkets

Mark of Supremecy - 50 Emblems of Triumph
Battlemaster's Precision - 34,100 Honor Points
Tiny Abomination in a Jar - Professor Putricide (ICC 25)

Weapons

Orca-Hunter's Harpoon - Marwyn (H Halls of Reflection)
Tortured Earth - General Vezax (Ulduar 10 Hard Mode)
Twisted Visage - XT-002 Deconstructor (Ulduar 25)
Dark Edge of Depravity - Yogg-Saron (Ulduar 25 Hard Mode)
Hersir's Greatspear - Blood Princes (ICC 10)
Shaft of Glacial Ice - Rotface (ICC 10)
Cryptmaker - Blood Princes (ICC 25)

Bear Form and Hit Rating

For all but World of Warcraft's healers, Hit Rating is a necessary evil. Bear Form tanking Druids are no exception. Below I will attempt to answer some of the common questions about Bear Form and Hit Rating as well as provide tips on how Druid tanks should deal with the stat.

What is the Bear Form Hit Cap?

For all classes, the "hit cap" is the amount of hit rating a particular character needs to never have an attack miss an endgame raid boss. This number is important to know not only because it gives you a target to reach to avoid losing threat because of misses, but also because picking up any hit rating beyond the cap is a complete waste.

For a Bear Form Druid, the Hit Cap is 263. Once you have reached 263 you should no longer see "Miss" pop up when you are attacking your enemies. To maximize your threat, you should try to clear this number. Also, keep in mind that if your hit rating is well above 263, you are not seeing an appreciable return on that stat and should see if you can change your gear around to bring your rating down to as close to 263 as possible.

What about Growl's Chance to Hit?

Growl is the exception to the Bear Form 263 Hit Cap. Currently, World of Warcraft characterizes Growl as a Spell rather than a physical ability like all of the other Bear Form powers. Where a physical attack only has an 8% chance to miss a raid boss, a spell has a 17% chance to miss. To remove the chance for a spell to miss requires a hit rating of 446. Removing Growl's chance to miss through hit rating would then require you to build an extra 183 hit into your gear. I am sure that I don't even need to tell you how impractical that is.

Spell hit rating is also calculated slightly differently than physical hit rating. I will not bore you with the numbers, but it works out to where 263 hit rating will leave your Growl with a 7% chance of missing. With regard to Growl, a Bear Form tank then has two options. First, they can simply tolerate the fact that Growl will miss 7% of the time (or slightly less if you are over the hit cap). Second, there is Glyph of Growl which, if you are at the 263 cap, will more than eliminate the chances that Growl will miss.

Does a Druid Bear Form Tank Need to Be Hit Capped?

The short answer is no. A Bear Form Druid can still be a capable tank while below the hit cap. However, a Druid tank needs to keep in mind that every miss generates zero threat and, depending on how far under the hit cap you are, misses can severely compromise your ability to maintain aggro.

Most Druid tanks make an effort to reach the hit cap. It increases your dps, helps your threat generation, and generally improves the quality of your tanking. So although you do not need to have 263 hit rating, you should if at all possible.

What if I have a Draenei in My Party?

The Draenei racial ability Heroic Presence generates a party wide buff that increases physical and spell hit chance by 1%. For Bear tanking purposes, this buff equates to 32.79 static hit rating. If you can always count on having a Draenei in your party, a bear tank would then theoretically need only 231 hit rating to be capped rather than 263. Keep in mind, however, the Draenei must be in your particular party, not just in the same raid.

What if I am Under the Hit Cap?

Obviously, the first line of defense for avoiding hit rating issues involves gear selection. Unfortunately, however, sometimes your ideal armor configuration will leave you a bit light on hit rating. Thankfully, there are several options for upping your hit chance beyond getting new gear.

The first option is through buff food. You can pick up 40 hit and 40 stamina by eating Worg Tartar or Snapper Extreme. If you take this route, keep in mind that you will be sacrificing the 40 agility you could have gotten from Blackened Dragonfin.

Your second option is to use an elixir, namely Elixir of Accuracy. This will give you 45 hit rating and you can pair it with either an Elixir of Mighty Defense or an Elixir of Mighty Fortitude to get full bang for your consumable buck. The sacrifice here is either the 1300 health you would otherwise get from a Flask of Stone Blood, or the 45 Agility from an Elixir of Mighty Agility should you usually choose to go the elixir route.

Your third option is to gem for hit. Rigid King's Amber grants 20 hit rating. If you choose this path, you would be missing out on the 30 stamina from a Solid Majestic Zircon or the 20 agility from a Delicate Cardinal Ruby. Again, the sacrifice is a point for point loss of agility. However, if you gem for hit, you might be able to counter some of that agility loss by picking up otherwise ignored gem color bonuses. Unfortunately, there is also the added cost of swapping in and out these expensive gems as your gear based hit rating fluctuates over time.

There are also a couple of item enhancements which can boost your hit. Enchant Gloves - Precision will boost your hit rating by 20, but you will miss out on the 20 agility from Enchant Gloves - Major Agility. You could also go with Enchant Boots - Icewalker for 12 hit rating and 12 crit, but at the cost of 16 agility from Enchant Boots - Superior Agility.

When considering these options, keep in mind that you do not need to push things too far. Obviously, clearing 263 should be your goal, but do not sacrifice your health, avoidance, or mitigation too much to get there. It is a delicate balancing act and you will need to figure out how far you want to push your hit.

What Bear Gear is there with Hit On It?

Unfortunately, you are going to have to wait for the answer to this one! Check back for my Guide to Feral Druid Hit Rating Gear which is coming soon.

Is Glyph of Berserk Good for Bears?

Yes, yes it is. In fact, Glyph of Berserk is even better for Tanking Druids than it is for Feral dps. In Cat Form, your energy will be more than empty by the time your Berserk runs its normal duration. The benefit you gain from extending your Berserk effect by five seconds is then more than marginalized. In Bear Form, however, it is a different story.

Assuming you are taking heavy enough damage, you should be able to spam Mangle throughout the entire duration of your Berserk without worrying about rage. Glyph of Berserk would then give you an extra five seconds of spamming Mangle while it continues to hit three targets. The benefit from this varies according to your spec and situation, but is appreciable either way.

Berserk itself activates a 1.5 second global cooldown, so assuming no haste, you first Mangle drops at the 13.5 second mark. This allows for a total of 10 casts before Berserk expires without Glyph of Berserk and 13 with it. At least one of those casts will need to be used to refresh Lacerate, so you can spam out 9 and 12 Mangles respectively.

If you do not have any talent points in Improved Mangle, the spell will be on a six second cooldown and you would not be able to fit in another spell cast during the five extra seconds which would have benefited from Glyph of Berserk. If you did take the talent, you would be able to squeeze in one.

Assuming a single target, Glyph of Berserk then lets you squeeze in 3 extra Mangles every 3 minutes if you do not have Improved Mangle and 2 extra Mangles if you do. A nice boost, but nothing to write home about.

Now, however, let's assume multiple targets. When dealing with at least three targets, each Mangle during Berserk is functionally three Mangles. That means that the return from Glyph of Berserk becomes 9 additional Mangles without Improved Mangle and 6 with it when you use Berserk. Clearly, that is an appreciable boost to both your threat and damage per second.

Glyph of Berserk is then a great tool for increasing a Druid tank's damage and, by proxy, threat generation. It also carries the incidental benefit of 5 extra seconds of fear immunity. If you can afford to sack Glyph of Survival Instincts or Glyph of Growl for it, you might want to give this Glyph a second look.