Im currently leveling a feral druid in TBC, im 57 with mostly questing and a few dungeon drops. I know the gear will be replaced quickly and i plan on questing in Hellfire before trying to run any dungeons.
My questions are
Is feral leveling basically mangle to max CP and FB? on the off chance im dpsing in a dungeon is that really the best rotation or is shred the better choice?
Also i like to tank, but ever since the prepatch ive noticed my threat gen is horrible, i know single target is keep mangle on CD and swipe is now the best filler? even for single target? AoE threat is always an issue so im worried about tanking while leveling
Any input from experienced druids would be appreciated
Mangle spam and FB are your bread and butter in most dungeons because nothing lives long enough to warrant Rip and you often get left waiting on 42 Energy to Shred, plus the movement can make reaching a mob’s backside a bit of a pain.
Swipe is your filler when you’re AoEing and when you have excess Rage to do both Maul and Swipe in single target. You can’t do Lacerate until lvl66 and even then, that ability is just the replacement for Swipe in single target, you don’t want to tab-Lacerate.
Mangle >> Maul >>> Lacerate/Swipe for single target
Where you’ll struggle the most is when you do dungeons with trigger-happy DPS. Since you’re obviously not AQ40 geared, your AP and Crit values are going to be pretty low compared to someone like me that’s still using a lot of our old Vanilla raiding gear. A single Swipe won’t hold off an Arms Warrior who uses Charge right behind you and immediately Whirlwinds. Likewise you won’t hold a Mage who decided they wanted to do double Flamestrike into Blastwave into Dragon’s Breath and expects you to just hold all of that somehow.
Tell your DPS to chill a bit so you can establish threat on 3-5 mob packs, and be super mindful of any mobs you haven’t reached yet with Swipe since Healing aggro will peel mobs you haven’t hit right off. On packs bigger than 5, you’re just going to have to desperately tab-Swipe while Mauling and hope you keep most of them. There aren’t many of these, and those that exist tend to be non-elite packs of low health mobs, but there are some lobstrok pulls in Slave Pens that have a lot of warm bodies to manage.
Stay super active, waste no GCDs, and stay ahead of your team. Assume they’re always going to target the wrong thing or do something silly so always be thinking about how to manage your Rage and plan for runners with Bash, Growl, and Feral Charge. Don’t use those skills all at once either, Bash one, Growl another, and use Feral Charge to root a third while you get the pull contained.
Finally, install things like Tiny Plates-Threat Plates and mess with some of the settings. This is an AMAZING tool to track what is and isn’t hitting you without having to glance in a corner of your screen to read off threat values.
Also don’t be afraid to just wait until you’re 61-62 before you do your first Ramparts, as an example. Nothing makes Tanking easier than simply having the raw stats and easier Hit requirements from leveling up. My time in Sethekk Halls as a lvl66 Tank was fairly rough when so many mobs are 3 levels above me, even with my gear and an experienced DPS or two along for the ride.