Guide to Pre-Karazhan and Pre-Heroic Bear Druid Tanking Gear

EDIT: 11/20/07. Season 3 is starting on Tuesday 11/27. That means a new feral Gladiator set (without the +heal, adds +hit and armor ignore, very nice for PVE) is coming out. Season 1 Gladiator gear is becoming buyable with honor points and new Leather and Dragonhide boots, belts and bracers are coming out. Even if you don't like to PVP much, I highly suggest grinding the honor as much as you can stand, until you collect these epics.

Bear gear has always been kind of interesting to find, because Blizzard apparently likes to put the best bear tanking stats in unlikely places. In the world of bear tanking, greens can easily outshine epics. In the Burning Crusade, nothing much has changed. Since some of the best gear is crafted or quested, it's pretty easy to quickly gear your bear up to step into Karazhan or Heroics.

Before looking at the individual pieces, a quick review of Bear tanking stats is in order.

Armor: Armor mitigation is capped at 75%, which is around 35,880 armor against level 73 opponents. Bear Druids are the only tanks that can hit that cap currently. Armor does NOT have diminishing returns. Druids have less avoidance than other tanks, at least when looking at this level of gear. So, armor is GOOD. It's our primary tanking stat. A good number to shoot for when gearing up is at least 20k to start. More is better.

Stamina: Armor doesn't really do anything against magic damage, and bears will be eating more crushing blows than other tanks, so a good amount of STA is important. Aim for at least 12k health self-buffed.

Defense/Resilience: Since there are some decent bear pieces to be had with Resilience on them, and since Defense isn't as useful for bears as warriors/pallies, I'm including it here. With that in mind, Defense is still a bit better for bears. With Survival of the Fittest, 415 Defense will make a bear uncrittable. That's pretty attainable, but while gearing up, you can use some Resilience to bridge the gap.

Dodge: A bear's only avoidance stat. Dodge Rating and Agility gives us dodge. I'd advise stacking Agility as it gives Crit as well as Armor, and gives a bit more Dodge than Dodge rating. (.07% per point of AGI vs. .05% for Dodge.) Starting out, aim for about 25% Dodge.

Crit: Crit is nice because it gives us free rage through Primal Fury, and some free ability uses from Omen of Clarity. Don't bother with Critical Strike Rating, though, just get it through Agility.

OK, on with the list:

HEAD:

Stylin' Purple Hat (Crafted) No reason not to get this one, as it's a crafted item with pretty easy materials.

NECK:

Mark of the Ravenguard (Quest) Nice high STA neck with Defense. Easy to get quest reward.
Strength of the Untamed (Cenarion Expedition Rep - Revered) Less STA but adds in Dodge Rating. You'll be going for CE rep anyway, so may as well grab this one.

BACK:

Thoriumweave Cloak (Mechanar Drop) 390 Armor and 35 STA in one slot, 'nuff said. Easy farm.
Bogstrok Scale Cloak (Slave Pens Drop) Get this early and it will hold you over for quite a while.

SHOULDERS:

Gladiator's Dragonhide Spaulders: (PVP) If you like to PVP, you should grab these. Even if you don't like to PVP, these are pretty easy to get, only costing 11,250 Honor and 20 AB badges. Even if you don't plan to get any other PVP gear, if you're not downing HKM yet, the lack of tanking shoulders makes these a good investment.

Shoulderpads of Assassination: (Sethekk Halls Drop) Best blue drop shoulders. Not quite as good as the PVP shoulders, but very nice.

CHEST:

Heavy Clefthoof Vest (Crafted) Seriously, no excuse not to get this vest. You can go with other options that give better offensive stats for tanking five mans, but for heavy duty tanking, this is your best choice.



WAIST:

Manimal's Cinch (Quest) Remember those greens I was talking about? Here's one. Get it.

WRIST:

Umberhowl's Collar (Quest) Same questline as Manimal's above.
Veteran's Dragonhide Bracers (PVP) Pretty easy to get from PVP, a bit better than Umberhowl's.

LEGS:

Heavy Clefthoof Leggings (Crafted) Get 'em.
Ash Tempered Legguards (Quest) HUGE Armor on these, pretty easy to get. Can use while gathering mats for/saving money for Clefthoof.

HANDS:

Wastewalker Gloves (Shattered Halls Drop) Not sure on drop rate on these. I've run a ton of SH and haven't seen them drop yet though.
Verdant Gloves (Quest) If you don't get lucky on drops, or just don't like farming Shattered Halls, these are solid.

FEET:

Heavy Clefthoof Boots (Crafted) Get 'em.
Veteran's Dragonhide Boots (PVP) A bit better than Heavy Clefthoof.

RINGS:

Iron Band of the Unbreakable (Old Hillsbrad Drop) Not unique, can get two of these. If you're getting your Violet Signet, you can just farm one.
Wind Trader's Band (Quest) A really quick quest for a druid, nice STA and tanking stats to hold you over until you get two good armor rings.

TRINKETS:

Mark of Tyranny (Quest) Still one of the only Armor trinkets in the game. Still great for bears.
Smoking Heart of the Mountain (Crafted, BOP) Ditto.
Badge of Tenacity (BoE, World Drop) Probably the Holy Grail for tanking druids since patch 2.1. Hard to track down, but worth it.

Once you can do heroic CE instances, you should hit Underbog for an Argussian Compass. I know this is a pre-heroic gear list, but it's worth mentioning.

WEAPONS:

Earthwarden (Cenarion Expedition, Exalted Rep) Get it.
Braxxis' Staff of Slumber (BoE World Drop) Grab one of these as soon as you hit 64, it will last you until you get your Earthwarden. Usually can be had fairly cheaply at the AH.

GEMS and ENCHANTS:

I'm not going to run down the whole list. Generally, go for STA first, then AGI.

As a general guideline, good choices for gems are:

Red: 8 AGI
Yellow: 4 AGI/4 Hit Rating (Hit Rating is hard to come by on bear tanking and PVP gear)
Blue: 12 STA

However, use common sense and adjust to what you need based on the rest of your gear.

If you want to go over a comprehensive list of bear tanking gear, go here. As with all my guides, I tried to keep the options limited to what's easily available to a casual player, but Emmerald's list is a great resource if you like browsing for gear.

Note: Emmerald's list is not up to date with current S3/Vindicator's gear, though it does provide a good guideline for lower gear levels.

How to Pick a Grinding Spot

Some people make a distinction between the terms "grinding" and "farming." I don't make that distinction. Grinding simply means continuously killing mobs. The goal is to minimize downtime and maximize kills. Whether you are killing for experience, crafting materials, or to make cash, you will want to apply the same basic principals to picking a good grinding spot.

While some classes are more efficient at grinding than others, by following a few basic guidelines, you should be able to pick a spot that suits you.

1. Ease of killing. This will vary between classes and specs. The key idea is to pick mobs that you can kill quickly and without taking too much damage. For low DPS classes, this usually means green con mobs. For casters, this usually means melee-only mobs, which are easy to kite, or simply kill before they reach you. For melee DPS classes without heals, this means mobs with low armor/health, to minimize downtime for recovering health. The best way to find out if the mobs you want to grind meet this requirement for your character is to simply go kill some. See how many you can kill between downtime, whether that means drinking to refill mana, or eating to regain health. A good number to shoot for is 4-5 kills between breaks.

2. Mob Density. The ideal grinding spot will let you continue to kill so long as you can do so. You want to find a spot that lets you quickly move to the next kill without running the risk of unwanted adds coming and ruining your fun. (In fact, if you have movement impairing abilities or spells like Judgement of Justice or Curse of Recklessness that prevent running outright, you should use those while grinding.) Ideal mob density will vary according to your class, and your ability. For AOE grinders, such as Mages or Protection Paladins, very tightly packed groups that are easy to round up en masse are ideal. For slower killers, runners become a problem, so you want a bit more breathing room between mobs.

3. Respawn Rate. You don't want to move between camps of mobs if you can help it, since movement time takes away from killing time. You'll want to find a spot where the mobs respawn at a rate that matches the time it takes you to clear their camp. If you kill fast, you'll want a fast respawn timer, if you kill slow, you want to avoid mobs spawning on you while you're fighting. Mob density and respawn rate are closely related, as they will be determined by your killing rate. This varies highly between individuals, and even over the course of a character's progression, so the best way to find an ideal mix is to experiment.

4. Player Traffic. You want to avoid competition if at all possible while grinding. Even the best grinding areas can only support 2 to 3 players at most and allow for optimal grinding. It's good to have a back up spot to go to if your primary location is busy. The amount of traffic in an area varies greatly by server and by time of day. Also consider teaming up with someone else. This is especially helpful if you're grinding for reputation, less so if you're grinding for experience or to make money. Sometimes a person is in area simply to complete a kill quest, and will welcome the company. By helping someone finish a quest (kill quests are about the most boring type), you might make a friend, as well as get your area back to faster.

5. Type of Mob. If you're grinding for a specific drop (many recipes fall into this category, dropping only off of certain mobs in certain areas), then your choice is made for you. However, if you're grinding for experience, reputation, money, or crafting materials, you can often maximize your efforts by choosing mobs that yield two or more things you need. For example, if you're grinding to level, you'll notice most grinding guides point you toward humanoid type mobs. This is because humanoids drop cash, cloth, and have a higher chance to drop useful (green or blue quality) items. The benefit here is that you get cloth for bandages or for sale. Bandaging is a huge downtime saver, and cloth is always a good choice for the Auction House. Cash is obviously spendable and doesn't take up bag space. Green or blue drops may be used or sold on the Auction House. Here's a short list of mob types and expected drops.

Humanoid: A favorite type to grind on. Drops cash, cloth, higher chance to drop green/blue quality items. The only downside to Humanoids is that their abilities vary greatly, and some humanoid mobs can be too tough to make grinding them worthwhile. Most humanoid mobs run in fear when at low health, which can increase the chance of getting unwanted adds.

Yetis: Yetis are humanoids, but they don't follow the normal rules. Yetis drop cash, but not cloth. Instead, Yetis are skinnable. In addition, Yetis always live in mountainous areas and caves. This makes Yetis the ideal mob to grind for characters that are Miners and Skinners, a great money making combination. They do not flee in fear, which makes the chance of attracting adds lower.

Beasts: Beasts can be skinned, and drop various body parts, which are gray "vendor trash" items. They generally have a lower chance to drop green/blue items (though this is not always true) than humanoids. Most beasts do not run in fear at low health levels. (Plainstriders and some Raptors are two exceptions I can think of offhand.)

Demons: Demons will fall into either the Humanoid or Beast categories above as far as characteristics. Generally, biped demons will have humanoid loot types, and animal types will be skinnable and have animal type loot. Floating heads follow humanoid guidelines. Demons don't flee in fear at low health.

Dragonkin: Dragonkin are essentially like Yetis. They are skinnable but otherwise have humanoid type loot tables. In addition, several types of dragonkin can drop Whelpling vanity pets, which can go for quite a bit on the auction house. (These have an insanely low drop rate, by the way.)

Giants: Generally follow the same rules as Humanoids. Most giants running around are elites, and not closely spaced enough to be worthwhile grinding, even if you're capable of grinding elites at a good pace. Elite dragonkin are always a better choice.

Elementals: Elementals drop cash (even though they have no pockets), have a small chance to drop green/blue quality items, and drop high value vendor trash as well as specific types of crafting supplies that sell on the Auction House for good money. These latter will be either white or green quality items with a name such as Elemental _____ , Essence of ______, or Mote of _______. (The blank will be Earth, Air, Fire or Water depending on the type of elemental.) Which one an elemental drops will depend on the level of the elemental. Currently, Motes, which can be combined into Primals, are the highest value. Rock Elementals in the Badlands are a favorite mob to grind for people saving for their first mount, as the vendor trash value is high, they have good density, don't do high damage, and don't have any particularly annoying attacks to deal with.

6. Location. When picking a grinding spot, you'll want to also have a good location. That means easy access to vendors (to sell trash drops, which add up), a mailbox (to mail salable items to an auction house alt). It's also nice if you're fairly close to the nearest graveyard. Although mobs should be easy to kill, sometimes accidents happen. Another consideration for location is the availability of resource nodes if you have a gathering profession, such as mining or herbalism. Since you'll be in the same spot for an extended period, you'll be able to get in a good amount of gathering if there are a couple of resource node spawns nearby.

Sango's Journey Part 5: Ashenvale and the Zoram Strand

Joana's Guide takes Sango to strange shores for a quick level.

I took a few days off Sango, and while I'd like to claim it was a clever ploy to maximize my rested experience, I was really just farting around PVPing with my 70s. Another reason for the procrastination was that I really didn't want to take the hike across Ashenvale to the Zoram Strand.

This was another short section of the guide, designed to go from level 21 to 22, and to get you the Splintertree and Zoram Strand flight paths. Once again, I found myself in contested territory. I merrily went on my way, killing spiders and bears and wolves, oh my! Then SPLAT, level 64 ally Warrior. (Yay for Armory spying.) Unfortunately, my Druid was pretty far away, so no retribution was in store for my little Gnomish friend. Oh, but it will be, yes, it will be. So, after a bit of punitive killing in Astranaar, I was on my merry way.

The Zoram Strand part had me do Vorsha the Lasher, which was one of the quests that Joanna suggests you can come back and do around level 24 if you can't complete it at 22. It was a pretty simple quest, helping an NPC kill two waves of three mobs each, then a hydra with a pretty cool paint job. At 22 this was pretty simple for a Warlock. I think with the talent points and spells available at this stage that Sango is catching up in solo power to an even level hunter, so the guide should be pretty easy to follow going forward.

I only varied a little bit from the guide this time around. I ran into one of the mobs for The Ashenvale Hunt, Ursangous, so I killed him. He was a hair bear, and a scary bear, but I unpacked my DOTs and it all turned out well. I flew back to Splintertree for an easy 1950 experience before hearthing back to the Barrens at the end of the section. I'd say it was worth it. I don't think chasing roaming mobs is on the schedule for the guide, so doubt I'll be told to track the three beasts in Ashenvale down later, but if the opportunity arises to pick one off, my advice is to go for it.

Total time played to 22: 1 day 4 hours 35 minutes

Time played 21-22: 3 hours 20 minutes