Druids as tanks While in Bear Form the Druid becomes an effective tank whose primary role is to absorb damage and prevent others from being attacked . The Bear Form . The Druid ' s is obtained at level 8 . When a Druid shapeshifts into a bear the following happens : A Druid lives off of his or her agility and superior stamina in bear form . Agility is of particular importance because not only does it increase the chance to dodge ( avoidance ) , it also gives attack power ( AP ) to increase damage done and threat on a target ( threat per second , or TPS ) . Agility also increases the chance to critically hit , which is a Druid bear ' s basis for proccing to block some of the incoming damage . Stamina is also important for it is the basis of the Druid ' s health . With enough stamina , a Druid bear can take on the challenge of being a tank . Advantages of a Druid Tank . " Updated as of Patch 4 . 0 . 6 . " Disadvantages of a Druid tank . " Updated as of Patch 4 . 0 . 6 . " Threat Generation , Pulling , and Maintaining Threat . " Updated as of Patch 4 . 0 . 6 . " Various Aspects of Druid Tanking . " Updated as of Patch 4 . 0 . 6 . " As of Cataclysm , no longer exists . now scales with level . Mitigation , Avoidance and Defense . As of patch 3 . 1 , druid tanks gained the ability which allows them to absorb a certain amount of damage from melee attackers , effectively giving them a block . Since the ability procs based off of critical strikes , agility is now more important than ever for druid tanks . Agility increases Dodge ( Avoidance ) , Critical Strike , and Attack Power : As of Patch 4 . 0 . 1 , Defense has been taken out of the game for druids . Healing a Druid Tank . " Updated as of Patch 4 . 0 . 6 . " Due to tanking class changes in Cataclysm , all four tanking classes have been brought closer together . While there are still differences between stats and stat priorities between each tanking class , all tanks generally take the same damage . Snap Aggro . Druids have both a single target Taunt and an AOE Taunt . In times where a Druid must generate a lot of threat in a short amount of time , the use of Mangle and Maul together can establish a high amount of threat within the period of one attack . It should be noted that both of these abilities can crit , generating around double the threat . Another useful tool for Feral Druid s is which requires no rage and assists in initial aggro establishment as well as allowing a Druid to perform a ranged pull without having to shift out of Bear Form and use a mana - based ranged spell . Faerie Fire also has the benefit of not having any travel time , which allows for better control of when a mob will be pulled . Knockbacks . " Updated as of Patch 4 . 0 . 6 . " Feral Druids can almost immediately recover from many knockbacks using and ( interrupt ) . If neither of those are available , can give the Druid enough of a speed boost to re - engage his or her target . Fear . Some encounters , notably High King Maulgar , Nightbane , and various trash in Gruul ' s Lair and SSC , are made easier with fear - eliminating abilities . Groups with a Druid main tank in these encounters must either use or s . Druids can also use fear - dispelling trinkets such as / , although these are all on relatively high cooldown s . As of patch 4 . 0 . 6 , no longer cancels fear effects . Disarm . Druids are affected less by being disarmed than other classes as their attacks are made with claws and teeth . This means that often they may be affected by the Disarmed debuff , but it doesn ' t change their attack power or prevent them from using their special attacks . This can be rather useful in encounters such as General Rajaxx . On the other hand , sometimes the Disarmed debuff is enough to trigger an effect , as with the Ethereal Thief mobs in Karazhan . Weapon Enchants . Even though Druids couldn ' t previously make use of chance - on - hit weapon enchants , this has been changed in patch 3 . 0 making many of them viable for Druids to use . For Cataclysm ( as of Patch 4 . 0 . 6 ) , and are very affordable weapon enchants for druids . For a higher - end enchant , is a very expensive option . Tanking - related talents . " Updated as of Patch 4 . 0 . 6 . " Both the Feral Combat and the first few tiers of the Restoration talent trees have talents which improve tanking ability in some way . Restoration