There are two major skills that good healers and good tanks share: situational awareness and adaptive response. When combining these traits with a thorough understanding of game and class mechanics a player is easily spotted and remembered among those with whom they have grouped. Druids have always been quite a versatile class to play, but with the implementation of dual-specializations druids (and Paladins) now have the opportunity to truly shine. This guide is designed as a starting point for those interested in merging their beloved feral or restoration role with its counterpart.

Contents:

1. Feral Talent Spec, Tanking Emphasis
2. Resto Talent Spec, HoT Emphasis
3. Important Skills and Talents, Feral
4. Important Skills and Talents, Resto
5. Tanking a Basic Encounter
6. Healing a Basic Encounter
7. Situational Awareness
8. Adaptive Response
9. Learning and Improving

Feral Talent Spec, Tanking Emphasis – Wowhead Link

Druids have some versatility in specs used as long as the core tanking talents are taken. Plenty of sites delve into the specifics of choosing talents and do an excellent job. For detailed analysis of feral talents and abilities I’d recommend taking a look at Karthis’ excellent posts over at Of Teeth and Claws. For the sake of this guide (and primarily to keep this from becoming many, many pages long) the assumption will be that the above spec is used as a starting point and adjusted according to personal preferences.

Resto Talent Spec, HoT Emphasis – Wowhead Link

The same versatility in tanking specs applies to restoration specs. This guide reflects my preferences in playstyle in emphasizing the strength and power of our healing over time spells. Again, the spec linked above can easily be modified to suit individual preferences, though I’ll highlight the talents that are strongly recommended for restoration druids in the Important Skills and Talents section.

Important Skills and Talents, Feral

• Thick Hide
  For tanking ferals this talent is a necessity. The armor contribution from armor is increased by ten percent when three points are spent, and this makes a very noticeable difference in survivability.
• Natural Reaction
  Another necessity, increasing dodge is very important as a bear tank. The only options feral tanks have to avoid damage are by dodging the attack or by way of the new Savage Defense ability.
• Heart of the Wild, Survival of the Fittest, and Improved Mark of the Wild all provide bonuses to attributes that increase survivability. When looking at maximizing the ability to live through an encounter these talents are absolute necessities.
• Protector of the Pack is also an absolute must. Reducing damage taken by twelve percent is a huge boost to survivability, and with some bosses hitting for huge amounts of damage this one cannot be ignored.

Important Skills and Talents, Resto

• Nature’s Swiftness provides a restoration druid one “guaranteed” emergency heal. While not necessarily a must-have talent, this is definitely one that is strongly recommended.
• Swiftmend should be a part of any restoration druid’s arsenal. I’ve written one guide to swiftmend already so please look at it for more information on why the spell is so important.
• A number of talents in the restoration tree increase spellpower, and all of these talents should be included regardless of a preference for healing using HoTs or direct heals. With the bonuses provided by the Improved Tree of Life talents it is quite clear that resto druids should feel the form to be required. While it is possible to be successful without using the “wilted broccoli” look, it is not recommended. With that thought, Living Spirit becomes a very highly recommended talent as well.

Tanking a Basic Encounter

How a pull is conducted will be determined by a number of variables. Are the mobs close enough together to gain and maintain threat without repositioning them? Will crowd control be involved? Is there concern of pulling additional mobs beyond those which are intentionally being pulled? Should a “line of sight” pull be used?

Without practice deciding how to engage the intended mobs can be a difficult decision, and one that will not become comfortable without time and practice. As a general rule of thumb, the simpler the pull the better the chances nothing will go wrong. This is one area of tanking that is quite open to experimentation and learning what works best for the group composition, as well as being a skill that can only be developed and not simply read and understood.

One the mob is engaged, however, things become much more simple. As a druid there are not many skills that will be used to maintain threat, though where each skill is most effective depends largely upon the number of mobs present and the power of the damage-dealers involved. For the most part, pulling with Faerie Fire and following up with a combination of Swipe and Maul will be more than sufficient to hold threat on practically any mob in the game currently, with the exception of raid encounters. Practice in some heroics and get a feel for the skills available and the amount of threat generated from those skills. Just like healing, tanking can only be truly understood and appreciated when done.

Healing a Basic Encounter

There are two major schools of thought when it comes to healing strategies: adaptive/responsive healing and assigned healing. In general, assigned healing simply means the healer has one or two targets they are responsible to keep alive, and they do not worry about anyone else in the group. For five-man encounters this same approach applies, although it is not ideal. Typically a person accustomed to assigned healing will ensure the tank stays alive, and hopefully be able to toss the occasional heal on other group members as needed.

Adaptive/Responsive healers distinguish themselves from others by being able to read a situation and respond quickly and efficiently. Typically these are the types of players who actually enjoy healing and yearn to excel in an area that is, much like tanking, easy to distinguish between those who truly are good healers (or tanks) and those who are simply able to do what is necessary.

For Druids (and Priests) healing any situation is not just a simple matter of using (x) or (y) skill, although many approach it in such a fashion. For the sake of providing a reference point, most encounters can be healed simply by using a single, strong, direct healing spell (such as Nourish or Healing Touch).

Any restoration druid who understands the class and uses the adaptive healing approach can attest to one statement being absolute fact: no two healers heal exactly the same way. For a basic encounter one may choose to use any combination of heals available to them, and will choose the next spell based on an almost instantaneous decision that factors in a number of variables about the encounter at hand.

Situational Awareness

This is the most important skill to develop as a tank or healer. Understanding what goes on, and being able to read an encounter as it plays out, has the ability to save the group from certain failure. This is also the toughest skill to master given the sheer amount of information available in-game thanks to the proliferation of addons. Watching threat, cooldowns, timers, health and energy bars, abilities, pets, potential harmful effects, buffs, debuffs… the list goes on practically as far as one wants to take it.

Situational awareness does not simply mean know what happens in the encounter and what role one is supposed to fulfill, but to also know what happens in each individual encounter with the group. Tanks need to be aware of who may pull enough threat to require the tank to intervene in some fashion, or if a threat table resets, or if adds spawn and need to be intercepted. Healers need to understand the same concepts in order to predict where healing will be needed on the fly, all the while monitoring the health of all other group members.

It is extremely easy to get trapped in a state of “tunnel-vision.” Many healers become so focused on health they fail to notice a mob that is a little too close, or a void zone they happen to be standing in. Tanks sometimes become so engrossed in maintaining threat on a mob and keeping the DPS from pulling the mob off they fail to notice the same things. Damage-dealers become so obsessed with squeezing out that extra little bit of damage and hitting number one on the meters that they don’t see the bomb at their feet.

In short, maintaining an awareness of what happens and being able to react accordingly is, by far, the most recognizable trait that distinguishes good players from the rest.

Adaptive Response

WoW has seen article after article regarding set “rotations” that should be used to maximize damage or efficiency. While understanding the concepts involved is extremely important, becoming locked into the mentality that a rotation must be followed is detrimental. This allows no room for innovation, for reacting to a change in an encounter on the fly, for seeing something that should be taken care of and adapting to fill that role, or for being able to analyze an encounter and suggest changes due to group composition (or for learning a new encounter and reacting in a manner that benefits the group).

If situational awareness is the most important skill, adaptive response is literally right on its heels. In order to effectively respond to a change in an encounter a decent understanding of game and class mechanics is required (imagine a rogue using Eviscerate instead of Feint or Vanish when they are about to pull threat from the tank. Knowing not to do so does not require extensive knowledge of game and class mechanics, merely competency with how they work).

It is easier to see examples of adaptive response when familiarity with an encounter is already present and on a specific run things go horribly wrong. In these situations tanks and healers who rely on a given set of rules and who are not accustomed to responding to changes “on-the-fly” typically freeze, unsure what to do now that their comfort zone is gone. In many cases this is still a situation that can be recovered from, especially if the group members involved are capable of quick thought and reaction.

Learning and Improving

So how does one practice such techniques? PUGs are excellent sources of such instruction, as are organized guild/friend runs. Both have their advantages, and both should be used liberally. Make it challenging by instructing group members to help hone your skills by doing random things (though I highly encourage this not to be done outside a group of friends/guildmates). One of our most interesting examples is a particular warlock who, thanks to a comfort level and understanding with the tanks/healers, does everything possible to pull aggro. This keeps our tanks in practice intercepting mobs (or simply letting the warlock die on occasion) and responding to changes in the situation on the fly, and keeps our healers from just watching health bars and actually watching the fight unfold in order to predict when to shift focus for a moment and how much effort to put into saving him.

Practice, as the cliche goes, makes perfect. Do not be afraid to give something a shot just because you are not the best player to fill a role. I’m definitely not even close to being the best tank, healer, or damage-dealer around, but through hard work and practice I am recognized and remembered as a good tank and a good healer. What more could I possibly want?