Each time you deal a critical strike while in Bear Form or Dire Bear Form, you gain Savage Defense, reducing the damage taken from the next physical attack that strikes you by 35% of your attack power.
Absorbs physical damage equal to 35% of your attack power for 1 hit.
Duration: 10 seconds
Savage Defense (Passive)
Passive
Each time you deal a critical strike while in Bear Form or Dire Bear Form, you gain Savage Defense, reducing the damage taken from the next physical attack that strikes you by 35% of your attack power.
Savage Defense is a passivedruid ability, added in patch 3.1.0. When a druid in Bear Form or Dire Bear Form deals a melee critical strike, the druid gains a damage shield equal to 35% of their attack power. The next hit completely removes the shield regardless of how much damage was done.
This ability (together with the Natural Reaction talent) could be an attempt to make up for the lack of block (and parry) abilities of feral druids. Savage Defense as well as block value are both increased by an otherwise offensive stat — attack power and strength — so they scale based on the same principles. This change reflects Blizzard's plan to remove the differences between tanking classes.