So, I rolled a dwarf warrior and I am now level 14. I am preparing for the Deadmines as a tanking role, but I am a bit worried that I will screw it up.
I know that I must use Protection Stance to tank and that Revenge and Sunder Armor create lots of threat. And I even got myself an addon (called ProcAlert) that notifies me on procs like Overpower, Revenge, etc.
One of biggest worries so far is: if other players pull too many mobs by accident and I will have a hard time keeping up. And in general being overwhelmer by too many mobs, and not knowing what to do with which mob.
Can someone please explain tanking mechanics in a rather easy way and how I can be a better tank (at least at lower levels)?
I am interested in making life as easy as possible when it comes to macros, addons and other nifty tricks. I tend to get easily stressed so I want to alleviate the pressure of tanking.
Main thing to do is sunder everything as quickly as you can with multiple targets by tab targeting through them. Just keep repeating this taunt if you lose aggro on one and always mark a skull. Truth is it will always feel tricky aoe tanking especially if you have people doing aoe instantly. Most of the time the skull target will die within 5 seconds if focused this is where conclusive blow is amazing in dungeons (when you learn it).
Biggest tip though is it’s not always your fault when it goes wrong in classic people need to give tanks a chance to get aggro so if you find your instantly losing threat on pulls that’s usually the dps fault not yours, tell them to chill.
i do not want to scare you or discourage you from tanking, but its a sh*tfest to be honest.
Most groups i tanked for were utter … ( add your favourite curse word - plural ) not minding marking, not waiting for tank, pulling everything ( especially mages ) etc. yeah they are mby having fun, but you will not its tough life.
And do not forget to check your healer mana
after you survive lvling, you win sir. You will be in demand, you can chose your groups, you can even make unreasonable demands, but thats up to you
Have fun mate
PS : Do not delve to dungeons on min requied lvl. If it is like 35 - 42, go there 38 +/-, recently i in rather similar position, tanking dung a bit underleveled, it was like math on college, there was merely not a single number, all parries and dodges and misses
Kinda depends on your spec.
I run impale/anger management prot.
This way i can open with charge + thunderclap.
I have my defense stance and taunt on the same macro, tap once to dance, tap again to taunt, you can also insert weapon swaps, which will happen on the first tap, but i switched to solo macros for those, since having it on your stances limits gameplay a bit.
Tab sunder like mad.
If you have some rage to spare, mitigating with block with also grant you revenge procs.
Heroic strike is a good threat builder but it shares the same swing as your white attacks, so you’re not building rage meanwhile other than you being attacked.
Having berserker stance + bers rage easily available is also good, i tend to use this after thunderclapping at start, then go back to def.
Shield slam is great for threat, especially with impale, but not the best when aoe tanking since you need the rage.
Another thing that’s important is having your mocking blow easily accessible, so even if you’re losing threat on a target, you can rotate both taunt and mocking to keep it on you while you focus another mob.
I can post a few macros later today when i get home.
Also, a lot of people frown upon prot these days since fury tanking is a lot better for threat.
You do need a bit of gear to run this though and it can feel awkward at first.
I for one like all the builds but i’m an old fashioned kind of guy and will probably stick to prot until i get AQ40 gear.
A lot of this is situational tbh, if you have a group that’s spamming aoe the second you pull, threat is going to be a pain to build, no matter what you do.
I’m probably forgetting a lot since i’m pooping but i always like helping a fellow tank and learning from the other posts.
Ps: marking will only be helpful in 1/10 groups.
Psps: you can ignore half my post until you’re a higher level because i’m an idiot and can’t read.
Others have covered the “technical” side already.
Just accept that you won’t be able to hold all mobs (in lower dungeons you will hardly keep aggro on more than 2). Don’t let that panic you, it’s normal. People will do a ton of stupid stuff because they are inpatient and/or not very good at their class, don’t let that make you think it’s you that is failing.
Don’t let others to pressure you to pull faster than you and your healer are comfortable. You can ask the healer if he wants you to go faster or slower (but ignore if dps wants you to be faster). Don’t forget to check healer mana amount before pulls, wait for him to drink.
As you level up you will get more tools that will allow you to hold aggro on most mobs and to be able to compensate for your/others mistakes.
Sunders and revenges as usual. But no demo shout and/or thunderclap. Just use battle shout on packs. Buffing 5 man gives much more aggro than ds/tc. For further info i advice you join fight club warrior discord.
I honestly found the shouts to have an underwhelming effect to threat in general (compared to past experiences) .
Is there any way you can provide numbers?
its tough life.
