Season of Discovery Feral Druid Tank Stat Priority

Before we begin, it should be said that gear in WoW Classic tends to be very unique, and as such, you will often be chasing very specific items, rather than simply following a stat priority list. Still, a more detailed explanation on each of a Druid's relevant stats will help you understand why those pieces are so sought after.

1. Hit Chance (6% is the cap against Sunken Temple bosses which are treated as being your level +2);
2. Haste;
3. Strength;
4. Stamina (more health per point);
5. Agility (grants crit, dodge and armor);
6. Critical Strike (200% on normal swings);
7. Attack Power (includes Feral Attack power from items such as Automatic Crowd Pummeler);
8. Defense (lessens the chance for the enemy to hit, crushing blow, or critical strike you);
9. Armor (less physical damage taken per point);
10. Dodge % increases (more likely to avoid damage altogether).

Hit allows your attacks to land more often, which can often be the difference between having Rage or being Rage-starved, and between quickly establishing threat on an enemy or having a quick wipe, due to eager DPSers pulling aggro on pull.

While rare in WoW Classic, there are a few Haste effects that are valuable, for example the 50% attack speed increase of Automatic Crowd Pummeler or Catnip.

These have traditionally been great for Feral due to weapon damage not being counted towards Feral damage and more Haste allowing for extra Rage and Mauls to be dished out.

Stamina is the only stat that will help you survive all types of attacks, and as such, should always be highly valued, especially for Feral Druids who get extra Stamina due to Bear Form's scaling.

As a Druid, Agility increases your dodge, your armor and your critical chance. This makes it a rather valuable stat for tanking.

The damage of your weapon is irrelevant for Feral Druids, because when you go into a form you use a standardized weapon that does not scale from weapon damage. Thus, you will want weapons that have useful stats like the Feral Attack power seen in Automatic Crowd Pummeler, which does not count towards the item stat budget as it is a simple conversion of weapon DPS into equivalent attack power for Feral forms.

Critical Strike for Feral Tanks grants more Rage from Primal Fury procs, increased Rage generation and Threat, but is not a particularly powerful stat for tanking.

Defense determines your chance to get critically hit, missed or crushed, among other things. WoW Classic's combat is table based and while Druid is unlikely to ever be pushing crushing blows off the table due to the lack of Block or Parry, it can instantly push off critical strikes by just using the new SoD Survival of the Fittest rune!

Resistance, while inherently niche due to different bosses dealing different magical damage types, can be very useful while progressing specific bosses. Wearing resistance gear of a type makes you take less damage or even completely avoid damage when hit by that type of magical damage.