WotLK [Guide] Bear: Feral Tanking, Effective Health Pool & You.

[Beanlord]

@mrrufus2nd I've never tanked with a bear in my life, but:
- Armor does NOT have diminishing returns.
- Armor dmg reduction in your character pane is versus a lvl 80 target, thus your percentages are incorrect.

[jendah]

I use "tankpoints" addon to get the exact EHP value of extra armor/stam. //lazy to do math myself

Spell dmg taken by tanks is very small compared to physical @lk.

1% extra reduction from armor makes you take 1k+ less dmg from each LKs strike. Since you as a bear already have a ton of hp - second strike (probably even 3rd) is not going to kill you, so armor actually comes into account at least 3 times (once for each strike), thats what makes it strong.

[MrRufus2nd]

@mrrufus2nd I've never tanked with a bear in my life, but:
- Armor does NOT have diminishing returns.
- Armor dmg reduction in your character pane is versus a lvl 80 target, thus your percentages are incorrect.

i think we establish that in a post previous to mine
i figured as much i just was half asleep when i did it. besides alot more of points still stand pretty firm. just i might be downplaying armor a tad bit.

[Raenel]

I don't really have much to add to this discussion that the people here don't already know.

Is WGG more EHP?
Yes. No one's saying it's not.

Is it wrong to get Hit rating?
Not at all, it's a preference.

Do I recommend capping hit rating?
Personally, I don't think it's necessary.

Does this mean people aren't entitled to their own preferences?
Ofc not, if people like playing with hit cap then all the power to them.

Keep in mind that WGG Donor-Only item to pretty much everyone in the PvE community, if one cannot attain it legitly then alternatives are there, one simply must make do with what he has. Popular choices are oathbinder and bloodfall, and I can stand behind these 2 choices as alternatives with little qualms.
Cryptmake is excellent, but I will say that losing such a tremendous amount of agility on a bear is quite a big loss, as we're talking well over 300 armor and 2% dodge rating, being conservative as i'm on my phone and unable to log ingame right now and can't recall the exact numbers.

To clarify, the damage reduction from Armor does indeed diminish, however, the effect per-point of armor on our EHP does not. This is because going from 98% damage reduction to 99% damage reduction is vastly different than going from 0% reduction to 1% reduction. Going from 98->99% doubles your EHP, whereas 0->1% has almost no effect on EHP. Of course, these numbers are exagerations, but they clearly illustrate the non-linear effect damage reduction has on EHP.
Damage reduction percentages may indeed look very unimpressive when we stack additional armor above 35k, but don't be fooled, the EHP benefits remain as strong as ever PER POINT of armor.

On Idols, the the agility Idols are what you want.
If you can keep up lacerate throughout a boss fight, Idol of the Crying Moon will give you the most benefit at 220 agility with 100% uptime minus the rampup time akin to all other Frost Emblem relics/idols/sigils.
However, if you cannot keep up lacerate throughout an entire boss fight and the idol stacks may fall off, Idol of the Corruptor for 153 agility is the next best idol thanks to it's superior armor, crit chance and attack power when compared to 200 dodge rating. As was stated, this is an EHP thread after all, hence why 200 dodge rating should be frowned upon when the alternatives and agility and the resulting armor a bear would gain.

Also don't forget about the hit rating necklace, Noose of Malachite from VDW 25, nor the Armor ring from Onyxia 25, the covetted Signified Ring of Binding. as these will likely also suit your preferences.

Tanks should never only have 1 "BiS" list, but instead collect all the gear they can and swap depending on the encounter they will face next. It's worthwhile mentioning the Frost resist gear here as well, Polar Vest, Polar Cord, Polar Boots, and Titanium Frostguard Ring paired with high stamina items with expertise/hit rating on them such as the Royal Crimson Cloak, the noose of malachite possibly the leatherworking BoE boots, boots of impending doom.
Do not limit yourself to just 1 gear set, as doing so will severely limit your effectiveness as a tank. Bears have less pieces to play with and swap out compared to Plate-wearing tanks but that doesn't mean we should restrict ourselves to only 1 gear set.

I rushed through my BiS lists when writing my guide, and did a very poor job of explaining the different sets that all bears should have. I hope to revisit that section in the future, as with most sections of my guide it's being added to gradually over time.

[Orlha]

http://wotlk.openwow.com/spell=16862 is a must as http://wotlk.openwow.com/spell=48560 should be on the boss 100% of the time.

Do u have any legit tested proof that this indeed does affect bosses on Warmane, I have been wondering about that for years I am using it but I am wondering if it actually work, I never found an good way to test it, and I dont really belive things until I see some results from some tests.
If u did some test provide the info please id be glad :)