Could this be a wipe? An illtimed
pick up of Onyxia has
scattered my raid party to the
four corners of her lair, and just as
everyone is running back, a Tail Sweep
throws healers and damage dealers into
her egg chambers. Countless whelps
stream forth; the healers are out of
range and the whelp battlers go down
in a flurry of swipes, along with me, the
warrior main tank. Quick off the mark,
the off-tank picks up Onyxia and tries
to grab the whelps, but more DPSers
fall as everyone frantically tries to reign
in the chaos. Surely, we’re doomed.
And then, from my fixed viewpoint
I suddenly spot a pair of healers desperately
trying to make it to the new
MT as he battles the remaining whelps
and Onyxia herself. Surely this isn't
possible? Sixteen minutes of edge-ofthe-seat
action later and the venerable
dragon hits the ground.
That's the raw power of tanking
(backed up, of course, by some nearperfect
healing). But this situation also
highlights a weakness. The tank has to
be the one that's getting hit. Holding
aggro on multiple mobs isn't easy,
especially since DPSers often react
to being hit by hitting back…which
produces their untimely demise. It's
human nature — accept it and don't
get upset when your teammates litter
the ground.
As players take on more challenging
encounters and Heroic modes, building
threat has become an essential
skill once again. This is especially true
if you've got a bevy of damage dealers
desperately trying to top the meters.
But if you focus on building the best
threat on the planet, those same damage
dealers will love you.
Research and build your rotation
around the highest threat skills.
They're not necessarily guaranteed to
be the most painful to the boss: Taunts
and interrupts tend to create a lot of
threat. It doesn't matter if they're trying
to cast a spell or not; it's all about
annoying them.
Gear can tweak your ability to build
threat, too. Gemming and enchanting
are obvious options, but changing your
gear can also be valid. It takes time, but
you're not the only one having to do so:
Our DPS brethren have been knocking
themselves out trying to get precisely
enough Hit to make sure that those big
spells and swings land. Each new upgrade
can lead to a complete reworking
of their existing gear. While we're on
the subject of Hit, if you want to ensure
that your blows don't miss, then at level
80, theorycrafters in the community
recommend you aim to get your Hit
up to 8% (a Hit rating of 263). This will
ensure that your special moves and
normal blows find their target.
There's another stat you need to
be aware of, and that's Expertise; this
dictates whether your foes can dodge
or parry your attacks. DPSers are
well aware of this stat, but for them,
theorycrafters say there's no point
going higher than 6.5% (or 26 points
of Expertise).
Unlike the rump-gazing DPS melee
classes, tanks have to stare down their
foes face to face, which means bosses
can also parry. Parrying a tank’s attack
is all kinds of bad, as it speeds up the
mob’s next attack, which means more
horrible damage incoming and a drop
in your threat production. However,
the theorycrafters tell us you'll need a
massive 56 Expertise to knock the 14%
Parry off the table. This is why it's wise
to go for the same 6.5% as your fellow
DPSers first (each percent equates to a
UNLIKE THE RUMP-GAZING DPS
MELEE CLASSES,
TANKS STARE DOWN THEIR FOES.
two-percent chance to land as it affects
Dodge and Parry) and only start chipping
away at the parry chance once
your Hit is at 8%.
If you're capped for both Hit and
Expertise, another option is to simply
do more damage. This might focus
on a particular aspect of your tanking
style; if you’re a warrior, you might
go for more Block value so that your
Shield Slams hit harder, or it could be
simply gemming for Stamina or to hit
a socket bonus that fits your build. As
long as you can do so while maintaining
reasonable avoidance and Stamina
TANKING
YOU WANT THEM
TO HIT YOU AS
HARD AS THEY CAN.
MAKING THAT HAPPEN,
HOWEVER, TAKES
SOME PLANNING.
By Alan Dexter
stats, you should find yourself producing
great threat.
Also, be prepared to adapt to your
situation. If you're facing multiple
mobs that need to be kept under
control, use your Rage/Energy/Rune
dump on swiping or area of effect
abilities rather than damaging your
main target. For instance, if you're
trying to tank a group of mobs as a
warrior tank, you'd want to dump
excess Rage into Cleave rather than
Heroic Strike. Those little changes can
make a difference.
Finally, you could get the DPS to
back off, and in some fights this will be
necessary, but on the whole this is akin
to asking you to not get hit so much.
It's the reason you're in the raid; it's
the same for them. Even so, it could be
the DPS aren't managing their threatreducing
cooldowns properly — Soul
Shatter, Invisibility, Feign Death, and so
on. Watch the threat meters. If you're
a warrior tank, or you've got one in the
group, get them to drop Vigilance on
the biggest threat producer, and see if
that helps. You're not tied to leaving
Vigilance on one member for the whole
fight, either; swap it around if someone
floats up the threat table. This can be
essential in fights where there are buffs
for the DPS to gobble up, such as when
facing General Vezax and Hodir.
If all else fails, just make sure you
keep the healers alive. They'll be only
too willing to return the favor.
Moovine the tauren warrior has been
protection spec since the mid-30s and has
been hit by just about every boss out there.
Most of the time he lives to tell the tale.
137
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