Guardian: what do I need?

Classes Druid
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Hi. So I’m striving to be more useful in PvE, and I’ve always wanted to be a bear tank of at least a respectable level.

Coming from Feral kitty, I’ve recently made the decision to go Guardian (with cat as my dps offspec still).

I’m basically looking for your advice. I’d appreciate any seasoned bears having a look at my gear and telling me what I’m doing right, what I’m doing wrong. What I need more or less of.

I’m looking to get stuck into mythic+ as of right now. Maybe I’ll think about raiding later down the line but I want to build my confidence up for now and just focus on dungeons.

Thanks for your assistance. I’m currently checking out Icy Veins.

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Hello Nightwynd.

First of all, most of the stuff you’ll need to know for Guardian can be found on Icyveins as you said you’re checking out. And sources like the Druid Discord “Dreamgrove”.

To start of with, 3x “Twisted Claws” is a good start for guardian m+, as the Base agi from it is top tier atm. You might want to try and mix some “Layered Mane” and or “Gory Regeneration” for some more sustain/meatiness.
Also as a Guardian, you want as little crit as possible, you need to get rid of your 1400 crit somehow. And trade it for some Master and Vers.
Your stat prio is Ilvl > Vers > Mast > Haste > Crit in general, more haste if you’re going dmg build, and more Vers/Mast for tankiness.
You want to gem/enchant for what stat you need.

As for Trinkets you can’t really go too wrong.
Any of the popular tank trinkets are considered viable on bear currently. Though prioritize trinkets like Edicts, Urchin, Dice. Prism is also viable if you can get your hands on one above 405 or so.

Essences.
For m+, there is mostly only one choice because it is so highly valued for bear currently. Anima Major is both a defensive and offensive Essences, because it heals and deals a great amount of damage. Plus it increases your overall heath, which isn’t a bad thing for bear.
Minor’s you have alot more choice, though you should chose them depening on what you’ll need.
Alot of magic damage? Nulification Dynamo.
You need rage? Memory.
Alot of trash mobs? Confict/Aegis.

In gameplay of Guardian, it is important you always keep up atleast 1 stack of Ironfur. And to try and make the best of your kit when in a dungeon. Like using vortex to kite on Necrotic, or to use Incap roar to mass interrupt a pack.
Using Instincts and Barksin when the healer has to deal with alot, or to help dispell your allies with Remove Corruption.

A lot of this comes from practice of course, but Guardian is one of the simple tanks to learn. And very forgiving at the same time.

I wish you luck on your future endeavors as a Bear my friend.

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Since you want to do M+ content only here is my advice to you.

As a general word of advice check the wowhead and IcyVeins guides, join the Dreamgrove discord server, this is the druid discord with hundreds of druids discussing all specs and roles.

For talents the build I run is:

  • Brambles
  • Ursol’s Vortex, when I want an extra kiting tool, especially on Necrotic weeks. Else I go with Wild Charge.
  • Restoration Affinity
  • Typhoon
  • Galactic Guardian
  • Earthwarden
  • Rend and Tear

Stat priority is:
ilvl > Versa > Haste > Mastery > Crit

Haste and Versa are your main stats for M+ run if you run the Earthwarden talent. Since Haste lowers the cd on Thrash making you squeeze out more stacks. It also lowers the cd of Enraged Regeneration .
Versa is superior to Mastery so it is always advisable to pick it.

For Azerite Traits:
The general consensus is that you should always stack 3x Twisted Claws,
1x Layered Mane is good especially on Fortified weeks,
Wild Fleshrending is a good pick for increasing your damage and aggro so picking 1 and rarely 2 is ok.
Personally nowadays I experiment with Power of the Moon a Balance trait as a damage boost trait, but that’s just me messing around.
Stay away from Gory Regeneration, it is one of the less value for the buck traits we’ve got. Instead if you want a healing trait Filthy Transfusion is an A+ along side Waking Dream a Resto trait that actually can go a long way healing you and your party.
Masterful Instincts is a niche pick but it can be decent if nothing else of importance is available.
For the middle rings try to always prioritize stat increasing straits and especially the ones that give you Versa, f.e. On my Way, Elemental Swirl etc.
For inner ring Impassable Visage, Resounding Protection are king, but the rest of the choices aren’t bad either.

For Essences:

For the Major slot 2 picks are prominent Vision of Perfection and Anima.
Vision of Perfection is my go to since it can give me an insane amount of EarthWarden procs during a dungeon run, boosts my damage in both aoe and st fights, and it also lowers my major defensive cooldowns.

For Minors, things are more diverse and interchangeable. My go to are Conflict and Strife and Null Dynamo. Versa is king as mentioned on the stat section and Bears have problems with magic damage so Null helps them with that.
If you are a dungeon with mostly physical damage like Freehold you can go for Strife and Aegis of the Deep or if you need more self reliable kiting you can go for Sphere of Suppression.

For Trinkets:

Since I assume you will be running M+ content only and you wont have access to Raid trinkets, your best choices IMHO are Lustrous Golden Plumage from King’s Rest and Harlan’s Loaded Dice from Freehold.

Lastly for general gameplay advice I will leave a link to another thread that I answered a similar question: Guardian druid competence - #12 by Joomanka-twisting-nether

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Thanks both. Appreciate you taking the time to reply.

If you wouldn’t mind I have another question; with my current setup, dyou think I’d be alright to tank up to, say, mythic +5 or 6?

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With your ilvl you can tank +10s.

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Really? Well that’s brilliant. Am I not a bit too squishy for that though?

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These days I have been gearing my DK and managed to do +10 with pugs, in 419 gear level, and DKs are squishy as hell.

So I dont think you will be squishy. Since you are new though and you probably want to take it a bit easy on yourself. Start with +8-9s.
See how it goes, and push from there. Dont blame it on yourself on the first mishap you face in a run. Make sure it’s not someone elses fault.
You will do fine.

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