Feral Tank Stats and Reforging:

There are two schools of thought in terms of reforging as a feral tank. Depending which side of the coin you choose, the stat priority will change. You could reforge for Dodge or for Mastery/Crit. Dodge is generally considered the way to go as a starting tank, until your gear gets slightly better. Reforging for Mastery/Crit will help your Savage Defense shield grow, lowering spike damage. Plus it has the added bonus of allowing you to do a little more damage in cat form. The stat priorities are as follows:

Dodge Tank:

Agility > Stamina > Dodge > Mastery > Crit > Hit (up to 8%) = Expertise (up to 26 rating) > Haste

Mastery/Crit Tank:

Agility > Stamina > Mastery > Crit > Dodge > Hit (up to 8%) = Expertise (up to 26 rating) > Haste

Stat Breakdown:

Agility – Our go-to stat. Agility grants Attack Power, Crit, and Dodge. The former two will increase threat, while Dodge increases your survivability. Agility is the only stat that does both, and is easily our most valued stat.

Stamina – Higher stamina means higher health pools, and it scales wit Vengeance. The general thought with Stamina is to get enough of it to survive, and then enchant for agility.Dodge – Fittingly, increases your chance to dodge. It is the best secondary stat for a dodge tank, and scales incredibly well with feral tanks.

Mastery – Another amazing secondary stat, mastery will increase the amount your Savage Defense shield can absorb.

Crit – Obviously increases your chance to critically hit, but Savage Defense procs from critical strikes. The more crit you have, the more often you’ll have Savage Defense up.

Expertise and Hit Cap – Expertise reduces your chance to be dodged and parried, while hit reduces your chance to miss. These are the best stats for threat generation, which is generally a non-issue for bear tanks currently. However, if you seem to have problems holding aggro, reforge into this.

Haste – Increases threat generation, but not nearly as much as Hit or Expertise. Always a bear’s worst secondary stat.

Reforging:

Situation 1 – Threat:

If threat is ever an issue, put hit and expertise at the top of the stat priority. Reforge out of haste and crit, and into expertise or hit. With the new threat changes in 4.2, this should almost never occur, except in the rarest cases.

Situation 2 – Dodge Tank:

If you are a newer bear tank, I recommend reforging into dodge. Threat should not be a concern, so you should reforge out of haste, expertise, hit rating, and even crit where possible and into dodge. Do not, however, reforge out of Mastery. Even as a dodge tank, mastery is a valuable stat.

Situation 3 – Mastery/Crit Tank:

This is my current build, and I recommend it to most tanks. It gives great survivability with less spike damage, and gives a bit more damage if/when you switch to cat form. You’ll want to stack Mastery and, to a lesser extent, Crit. Reforge out of Haste, Expertise, and Hit Rating. Dodge is still a very worthwhile stat, so only reforge out of it if you have no other option.