A basic guide to bear tanking (since it seems people really need it)
Ok, I'm slowly levelling my toon to 76 (well not slowly, I've gone from 68 to 75 in 3 days), but here are my observations:
1. The 3 original classes, mage, bird, and bear are the most popular
2. Fox seems to be a distant fourth
3. Rhino is not as popular
The issue I have is that I've met maybe a couple of hundred players. Perhaps a quarter were bears. So let's say 50 bears. I've met perhaps 2 bears that knew how to tank - so a 4% success rate.
And ... they do not know how to tank! They run into the middle and cast beckon and stomp. This is bad. It causes group dps to decline because:
1. Mages (and birds via Blast Shot) need their targets bunched together not scattered as these skills have a fixed radius
2. It takes longer to kill the targets when the mage cannot use hot flash, lightning, and the birds cannot Cruel Blast, or use Thorn Wall (combines with Lightning for the powerful Nature Strike)
3. Where multiple bears are present, chaos ensues.
The point I have noticed is that even with elixirs, a good group will substantially outperform a mediocre group, although the skill cap is somewhat reduced. I'm not so crazy about other classes (although mages/pallies that don't rev are a problem - apparently there are people have said "it wasn't worth putting the 1 skill point into rev" before), but the point is that the bear is the only class that has the ability to be of negative value to the group because of their scattering tendencies.
Other issues
1. A lot of bears do not taunt. Not a huge deal as everyone uses elixirs, but it's an issue. Taunting enhances the bear's survivability and keeps aggro off of dex and int classes.
2. A lot of bears do not seem to use Hell Scream.
3. Some do not even use Rage or Iron Blood (resulting strength bears with 4X elixirs dying an alarming amount of the time).
Back in the Sewers, this would have resulted in bootings for this type of play.
So here is my old guide to tanking, which I hope more people will read.
Tanking
As a bear, you'll be the first one in the fight. You're in front. You'll get the worst of the enemy fire. It's a matter of keeping yourself and the party alive. Mages rev the dead. Tanks prevent people from dying to begin with.
Against Mobs
What makes a bear is the potent crowd control abilities. You're not going to be the one that gets the most kills. Instead, your job is to go in and create the conditions in which the team can wipe out their intended targets quickly, while sustaining minimal damage.
At times, I feel that bears are under-appreciated and are treated unfairly. Experienced players will know the value of a good bear that uses crowd control and can tank effectively. On the other hand, there are some truly terrible bears out there that if you booted them, the team would actually go faster because of their tendency to scatter mobs.
Bears have become the least welcome class in the end game and there is something of a "noob" bear perception. The reason why is because the majority of bears do not tank nor use their crowd control abilities effectively. Many bears focus purely on being an attack bear. Many bears have told me that their job in the team is to spam their slashes and to fire their main weapon. In practice, bears won't be able to do as much damage as a dex bird nor an int mage with this mentality. This has contributed to their bad rep. Essentially, they are a warbird with bear skills. Warbirds will outdamage them.
The other reason why bears have a bad reputation is that there is the perception that bear players tend to "mess up" the most. The very worse thing a bird could do would be to kill a teammate by blowing a barrel up (or a fire vent) with the blast shot or to repulse a boss near death, causing them to reset. Mages can set off fire vent or barrel too (fire blast is notorious for this). But bears when they don't use beckon and stomp can routinely cause mobs to scatter. They can also taunt fire vents or stomp near them causing an explosion. Stomp, like repulse for birds can also cause a boss to reset.
As a bear, you'll have to work hard to diminish this rather unfair perception. Unfortunately, fair or not, the perception is there. Crowd control and tanking are what separate good from bad bears.
So how does a bear tank? Before you begin, bring enough health potions to last the run. Tanking can be pot intensive, especially if you are a dex bear. The objective of tanking and crowd controlling is to drive a mob into a position where they can easily be killed by AOE spells, while keeping the mob off the rest of the party.
1. Survey the area: You'll ideally want your targets to be against a wall when you tank, so find a wall (easy to do in most dungeons - large rooms like in the Bandit Boy Stronghold first room can be a bit of a challenge - drive them to "9 clock position" in that room - away from fire vents and away from the spawning point in the event that the round-up fails). Against large open areas like the Graveyard in Symphony, try hugging the walls and driving targets towards the walls.
2. Buff. Cast evade, iron blood, and rage. You'll need the first two for survivability and the last one to supplement the team's damage.
3. Approach the mob and cast taunt. The targets will have a red "glow" and will be drawn towards you. You can cast Hell Scream now to minimize the amount of damage you take. Alternatively, you could delay Hell Scream a bit until either a mage debuffs or a bird casts shattering scream to form the "terror". Up to you - experiment and see what works. In PUGs though, I recommend casting Hell Scream early as there is no assurance that your teammates will debuff.
4. Go against the wall and beckon. Remember, the objective is to drive the targets against the wall and keep them there. I know that this sounds bizarre, but when you beckon - don't select a target to auto. Beckon (strangely) works better when you do not auto a target.
5. Move away from the wall and opposite to the direction that you beckoned. In a hallway, stand in the middle of the hallway. In a room, stand about 3m away from the wall. If you didn't cast Hell Scream earlier, do it now. The stun effect of the beckon has probably worn off and if your team hasn't debuffed, they won't. (Chances are, you're in a PUG that has players who do not understand the concept of debuffing.) Ask them politely to debuff next time. If they don't, next time, cast Hell Scream as directed in step 3.
6. Cast stomp. This will combo to form "smash" and slam the mob against the wall. This is why having a wall is so critical. Otherwise, the mobs would just scatter when you stomped them, making all that you've done pointless. Putting them against a wall makes it easier to kill.
7. Assist your team in killing. By now, archers should have casted blast shot/cruel blast, mages should be nuking, and so on. You can assist your team in killing. Priority targets are enemy dex units (aliens with blasters and bandit boy birds, along with the green slime mages with fire weapons). They should be taken out with your slashes and crushing blow.
8. As soon as you see the majority of the enemies near death and you're reasonably certain that the team can kill without the need for a tank, move on. It's important that you stay ahead of your group. Nobody wants a bear that stays in the rear and is afraid to die. You won't be getting very many kills if you do that anyways - the birds will get the kills with their cruel blast and mages with their AOE. Repeat cycle for the next mob.
You'll want to always stay one step ahead of the group. Don't expect to get many kills as a bear, but at the same time, you can expect the least amount of deaths. Good bears often have much higher PvE K/D ratios compared to their squishier counterparts. Your job is not to kill, but to tank; a good party will understand that.
Thoughts
For the first time you do this, you'll want to wear the most tanky set that you can afford. Why? It allows the most room for error. As time goes on, you will build in your ability to pull a mob and confidence. You can transition then into more damage-oriented equipment or even wing and talon (if you are dual spec). Eventually, assuming that you are dual spec, you'll be confident enough to use a bow or in the case of strength bears, you'll be confident enough to respec and accept some losses in durability. The reason you want to do this is to improve the team's damage, making runs faster. It also gives you some kills too (it can be quite difficult getting kills as a strength bear - you'll find the wing and talon to be a huge step up in damage output).
Regardless of whether you are dual spec or strength, you're going to be expected to tank. So be prepared for the possibility of tanking. If you are dual spec, make sure that you are carrying both dex and str gear at all times. You don't need end game pinks - ordinary drops will do nicely.
