The Bear Druid acts as a tank in a group. As there is no leather armor with defense rating a Feral Bear Druid is able to completely remove the chance to be critically hit via talents, for a 6% critical strike reduction. This is mandatory for every tank, and most freshly dinged 80 Warriors, Death Knights and Paladins need to collect every defense rating they can get their hands on in order to become immune to critical strikes. Just like a Cat Druid the bear Druid provides the Leader of the Pack Aura, increasing the raid's critical strike chance with ranged and melee attacks by 5% and allowing players who score a critical hit to heal a small amount of damage. Additionally the Bear Druid is able to take a talent that reduces an enemy's attack speed - an effect very similar to a Warrior's Thunder Clap. With his Mangle attack the Druid will also increase the bleed damage taken by 30%.

Since Bear Druids are unable to block or parry incoming attacks they rely on other stats to keep them alive. A Bear Druid will typically have a higher armor rating than a plate tank and a greater health pool. The huge amounts of agility usually found on Druid Armor also gives them a higher chance to dodge incoming attacks. This enables them to compensate the other shortcomings.