Bark/Oak Skin & Damage Reduction

C

CrackerJ

Dalayan Adventurer
I've recently been having crazy fantasies about druid tanking. I know were not a tanking class, but regardless, it brought a few questions to mind.

Has anyone gotten any rough numbers against Bark and Oak Skin? The descriptions tell me that it will be direct damage reduction and not a percentage.

I also had a question about damage reduction. If I get hit for 5 and I have damage reduction 10 will the hit be for 0 or 1? If 0, does my damage shield still go off?

Thanks guys.
 
If the hit lands for less than your DR, you get the "your magical skin absorbs the damage" or something similar. I don't know if rune is considered first or DR.
 
I don't know exact numbers but i can tell you from experience aren't ok aa's they are must haves because of how much they do reduce dmg. I completely believe in druid ds/tank style just ask anyone that knew me:p
 
I'm fairly sure that if dr can bring you to 0 dmg it has to be applyed after the rest of the mitigation is done.


so

ac/class/aa
dr
rune
 
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druids will get beat up on no matter the DR. What makes druid tanking is Dmg Shields, how good you are at hittin 2 on your keyboard (thats my number for quick heal) and the amount of hps you have.

druids have a soloing limit obv for tanking. You can technically sit there and DS a undead frog down and heal alot but its not very efficient. Zones like HHk (1st floor) and Velks are more druid tanking areas. HHK though is more for those that have enough hps (due to AA's and equipment) to deal with 1-10 mobs on them at one time. 9 mobs at once on first floor is problematic. And 9 of the wuss mobs in there, you can't take 2 librarians and curator head on with DS then will kick you in the nuts with nukes and fears and melee. Velk''s you can solo just about anything in there minus the named golems and ezirar (sp?) guards DSing it down. The kobold camp before the castle is a bit tricky if you get named and lots of elders.

As for AAs. Barkskin isn't as important as avoidance AAs imo.
 
if your 65 and serious about trying to solo ds tank as a druid start in plaguelands bears snakes scorps works extremely well to learn your limits ds's you should have

spineskin line
ds line
tmap ring
token of living lava if you can get one
ds potion

Any others you can get but make sure your fully buffed and you need to have the ability to use your big heal or else your going to run out of mana befor you kill anything.
 
I started ds tankin w/ my druid while farming giant heads lol

I'd pull like 30 or so in EW and just quick heal when I needed it. With all the aa and like 15 DR, I was gettin hit for 10's and absorbed, with an occasional 30+.

*EDIT*
As for the numbers on the DR of bark/oak, I have no clue. But its most definitely worth it. My druid can take hits better than my monk in just about every lower lvl place.
 
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Just want to say that I share your fantasy.

Unfortunately, I ended up focusing on more of the healer/dps AA's at around 150 AA, just to keep up with my friends, since they really want my druid as a healer, backup healer or dps. [I did max Oak Skin fairly early and it made a noticable difference.] I have yet heard them ask me to tank my druid.

But, it is nice to be able to tank for a short period of time on a bad pull. And when I am boxing, I do let Notpit tank the adds when he can. Obviously it is all about manna efficiency. But once I finish all my defensive AA's I am looking forward to doing more.

I can't forget the war event I was in when some druid was tanking/soloing almost the whole time. I forget who it was, but obviously he was a high level druid with all his AA's maxed. But it was frikking impressive to see him tanking almost as good as the real tanks!

I am not sure if any druids have a set of tank gear, but it is something I may want to work on somewhere down the road.

Druid tank FTW!
 
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Looks like I need to buy a token of lava and upgrade some of my armor pieces to higher armor versions. Had a few follow-up questions.

What are some good damage reduction pieces to aim for? I'm a Woodelf Druid so I cannot wear the Robe of Deflection =(. I've got money to spend and I am not adverse to long quests and camping.

What other defensive AA's do druids get besides Combat Agility, Lightning Reflexes, and the HP one?

Does DS still go off when damage goes to zero?

What Tmap ring?

Thanks for all the constructive feedback and experience. This is a dream, but it is slowly becoming reality.
 
A hit reduced to 0 by your AC/mitigation shows as a miss in your text log, a hit that is reduced to 0 by your AC/mitigation AND your damage reduction from items shows up as 'your magical skin absorbs the blow,' so Damage Reduction is calculated after AC/Mitigation. (which is exactly what Wiz said)
 
sugious82 said:
What other defensive AA's do druids get besides Combat Agility, Lightning Reflexes, and the HP one?


What Tmap ring?

Thanks for all the constructive feedback and experience. This is a dream, but it is slowly becoming reality.
Click to expand...

ring of everburning or everfreezing essence - gives an additional 5ds, stacks with everything, also gives like 2% fire/cold focus afaik. lasts about 5mins
 
That is pretty much all the defensive AA's. Natural Durability is the HP one. Of course one can increase STA as well (Innate Stamina and Advanced Innate Stamina) to get a few more HP. If tanking, the melee ones don't hurt, but can't be a high priority, though the Divine Rage proc is helpful. Form of the Earth Mother can be used in some circumstances with increased stamina and regen. Oh, and Hidden Strength would be another defensive AA.
 
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Great feedback guys. I just got the tmap ring.

I just need to fine some decent DR gear and to get Bark/Oak skin.
 
to make a good druid ds tank you really need around 400 AAs (if yuo focus on both healing and defensive AAs). The healing you need regardless because more healing you have better mana efficiency you have (including more HI).

CC dwarves also you can DS down with less gear than it takes to do castle area in Velk's. They just seem to have a decent amount of hps so take longer (thus having healing AAs and HI4+ is very nice)

also invest in Innate Cammo. Helps you get past useless mobs to once you need in some zones.

but you want to max

hidden str
innate (advanced) sta
Innate (advanced) wis
lightning reflexes
blunt/avoidance specialization
focus/mind (think thats what its called) specialization
Healing AAs
DR AA's
Earthmother

but as you see thats alot of AA's.

But without a bunch of AA's DS does wonders on lightblues or easier dark blues. So fiddle with different zones find one you can DS tank easily.
 
if your going to be DS tanking anything you need to have your all of your healing aa's done or anything that cons something to you is going to kill your druid between heals trust me you'd be surprised at how many liten blue mobs you need to tank to make it more efficient then just nukeing said mobs to death and letting the increased down time speed med get you to full and nuke again.
 
Here are my current stats:

All Healing AA's Maxed
Combat Agility 3
Mitigation Specializations Nearly Maxed
Healing Increment V
Mana Conserver IV
Casting Speed Increment VI

Chillburn Ring
DS Pots
Spineskin


To Do:
Bark/Oak Skin
Living Lava Token
Damage Reduction Gear
Lightning Reflexes

I will definitely have to try out CC dwarfs when I get a few more AA's. And I will need to explore some more on my own for other viable DS tanking spots.

Thanks again for all the constructive feedback. I love it!
 
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