What changed for Bears

Every line in this table comes from Blizzard's 8 October notes. The Rage fixes matter as much as the threat number. One bug worked out Rage from your own health, so more Stamina gear meant less Rage, and critical strikes and crushing blows against you were not counted properly. Blizzard's summary is that the typical Druid should now gain more Rage from taking damage.

From Blizzard's 8 October beta notes. Blizzard gives no threat values for Demoralizing Roar.
ChangeBeforeAfter 8 October
Bear and Dire Bear Form threat bonus30%50%
Demoralizing Roar threatNone, because of a bugSome threat on every affected target
Extra Rage from your critical strikes75% more100% more
Rage from damage takenSeveral calculation bugsFixed, and tuned around 20–40% armour by level
Mana Potions in Bear or Dire Bear FormBlocked by a bugUsable
Hand-inked illustration of a bear beside a drum, a wide gold ring spreading across the ground, and three standing enemies each linked back to the bear by a red line, with Dee small behind them.
Demoralizing Roar now puts some threat on every enemy it reaches.

Opening a small pull

Demoralizing Roar is the change that reshapes the opening. It already reached a whole pack at once; now it puts some threat on every enemy it touches, giving you an early hold on targets you are not hitting. Blizzard says some threat, not a lot, so treat it as a starting point. A damage dealer who opens hard on a side target can still pull it.

From there the jobs split. Swipe hits several targets, and wowhandbook's client data lists Feral Instinct raising its damage by 30%. Primal Bite, the 16-point Feral talent whose threat Blizzard's 1 October notes roughly doubled, and Lacerate, trained at 42, are both described as causing a high amount of threat on one target. Furor's 10 Rage on shifting into Bear Form means you need not walk in empty.

This is what the notes and tooltips point to, not a measured rotation. Threat per point of Rage for each ability has not been published.

When the pack is too big

Blizzard's Deep Dive recap says dungeons should stay tactical: when there are too many enemies for a tank to control safely, crowd control is the right answer, and damage dealers still need to respect threat. A bigger form bonus does not change that design. On large pulls, agree on a Polymorph, Banish or Fear target first and keep your Rage for the enemies you mean to hold.

Talents that feed Rage and survival

Wowhandbook's tank build, from beta client 1.60.1.70205, leans on Thick Hide, Heart of the Wild's 20% Bear Form Stamina and Natural Reaction's dodge and Rage, with Blood Frenzy adding 5 Rage on critical strikes in Bear Form. Its advice for dungeon tanks is to take Natural Reaction earlier than a leveling build would.

The 8 October notes have since renamed Predatory Instincts to Natural Instinct and moved Thick Hide from script into code, so check names in your client against any calculator built on an older version.

Still to come

Not yet settled by our sources or tested in game:

  • How much threat Demoralizing Roar adds to each target.
  • Threat values for Swipe, Maul, Primal Bite and Lacerate with the 50% form bonus.
  • Rage gained from damage at specific levels after the rebalance.

Sources

Beta notes are dated because Forever is still changing.