World of Warcraft®

I havnt tanked or playd in 2 years need to brush up cheers!

Thank you for the information! Gruklaar, you did an excellent job informing me about what I'm in for playing a tank. I look forward to improving my play!

Thank you, Gruklaar, for taking the time to put this guide together. It looks like it will be immensely helpful.

I have not gone though all the pages, but I am thinking this is not all MoP relevant yet. Being a n00b Tank though I am overwhelmed by all this info, TANKs a lot.

09/27/2012 11:02 AMPosted by Tinyfoder

I have not gone though all the pages, but I am thinking this is not all MoP relevant yet. Being a n00b Tank though I am overwhelmed by all this info, TANKs a lot.

When I wrote this guide, I tried to make it as independant on expansions and patches as possible. It doesn't matter what classes, races, stats, or dungeons they add to the game, advice like "pay attention", "talk to your group", and "learn your class" will always be topical. I hope anyway!

That said, I need to update the links to gearing and whatnot. I've just been waiting for things to settle down so I link to pertinent information.

If you have any specific questions, let me know!

I'm not sure if I'm missing something, or what. Have had a few issues finding the adds on Sha of Violence, in order to taunt & hit them, rather than have them beat on the healer. Have heard suggested that I should set the healer as my focus to help that. Except I'm not seeing how that helps. I can click the interface box to show target of target, but all that does is show me who the healer is targeting, which is me. It does nothing to show me who is targeting the healer. So am I missing something? Is there an easy way to know if things are targeting the healer, so I can grab them quickly?

10/25/2012 05:12 PMPosted by Spacegoatalt

Is there an easy way to know if things are targeting the healer, so I can grab them quickly?

I can offer two tips. One is to turn on enemy nameplates. You should be flipping your camera around at all times, but this way you'll be able to see bright red nameplates for enemies. If you see an big red nameplate in a place it shouldn't be, use your mouseover taunt macro to get them to you.

The second tip is to put your healer on focus, and turn on "track focus target" in your minimap options. That way you'll know where they are (and if they're drinking between pulls).

Last, for that fight in particular, communication before engagement is key. Every time I say to my team, "If you get an add on you, run towards me so they get picked up by my cleave damage. That way I don't have to constantly reposition the boss." That usually solves the problem. And if it doesn't, it's no longer my fault, as I communicated what the team needed to do to succeed, and they chose not to do it.

So that'd be a no, then?

Enemy nameplates just add clutter for me. I've been known to turn them on for specific fights, such as that one, to make it easier to grab hard to see adds. I've also been known to make a quick '/tar blah' macro to stick on a spare button and do the same thing. shift-taunt to target, then taunt to grab and give a quick whack, then tab back to boss.

I don't have issues losing track of the healer, and their mana bar is easy to see without putting them on focus.

What a great guide. Thanks for doing this. How do u put a healer on focus. I know u can right click on their nameplate and pick a sign but is there a faster way?

Thanks, lol may have more questions!!

10/30/2012 04:00 AMPosted by Spacegoatalt

So that'd be a no, then?

The only way I know how to do it is to keep my eyes open. There may be addons that will call out when your healer gets aggro, but I haven't looked into it. I'd ask in the general tanking area. :)

How do u put a healer on focus. I know u can right click on their nameplate and pick a sign but is there a faster way?

I keybound the focus target to my x key. To keybind focus target:

- Press escape to bring up the main menu.
- Click Keybindings.
- Scroll down to the bottom of the Targetting Functions category.
- Change the keybinds for Focus Target, and Target Focus.

Hope that helps. Feel free to shout out any other questions you have. :)

Healers Have To Die is an addon that will let you know when your healers are taking damage, and who is attacking them. It was built for PVP, but it works for PVE as well. I have not played around with it much beyond the default settings, so there may be some interesting options in there for identifying the healer's aggressor.

I was always afraid to go in and tank because i know they carry a heavy responsibility. After reading this it kind of gave me more confidence to go out there and tank my butt my off.
Thanks a lot for the post! o/

Ty for all the information!
15 years of tanking here and still have a lot to learn indeed! xD

i wish i had found this when i was learning my tank class. alltho i consider myself a seasoned tank now, i found this excellent reading. but alas i learned the hard way. I run in a raiding guild and i'm one of our 2 tanks, we have ppl who are lvl'ing a tank class and often ask questions that are second nature to me now, so i sometimes miss an important point. i also run a disc priest in raids and heal as much as i tank so that i can heal our up and coming tanks and offer pointers. But you have put into text everything i wish i could impart to those i'm 'mentoring' in one spot that i can direct players to. Thank you for that. :)

Glad to see a post like this up, and I will admit to not reading it all, since it is getting late. But rather than risk forgetting my train of thought, I will post this now and risk looking silly.

Is there any positive reaffirmation about letting stupid die? I find this is something that many healers and tanks (of which I am both) have issues doing. Bad behavior is called bad for a reason, and it is best to not reward it, if at all possible. Firm but reasonable, and all that, you know?

Great guide! Just found it. Well written.

It warms this warrior's heart to see all the new tanks that have found this thread. We could always use good tanks.

Nice job OP, as someone who has tanked seriously since BC, this thread is a god-send.

Good post overall. Although some are pretty basic, most people need to know. I, myself, a 6 day player as a tank am not doing to bad. I understand a lot of what you covered, CC, and the relationship between a healer and I is definitely a biggie and need. Also, I HATE RANDOM DUNGEONS!!! WHY CAN'T I FIND SOMEONE WHO IS ACTUALLY NICE?! ARE THEY THAT GUY THAT SITS BEHIND THEIR SCREEN PICKING SCRAPS OFF THEIR BELLY LIKE SOUTH PARKS EPISODE!?!?!?! Sheesh, if they didn't want to do the dungeon right and not even coexist with the others around them don't even play, it's ANNOYING and NO ONE wants to play with you. Mistakes are mistakes people, get over it.

Other than my rants, great job Gruk, loved this post.