What I intend with Paks is tanking. I already have two to three ranged dps, a dedicated healer, and a melee dps. So, tankadin, ho! It's been quite the experience. My roommate recently got her warrior up to 80 and did some tanking. She's been telling me about the differences in roles and perceptions. So, between what she's told me and WoW Wandering's posts about tanking, I've had some good recent information about switching roles to being the tank.
Wow. It really is different. There's nothing really different in the physical mechanics of how you do it. "Target mob, cast spell." No, this is all psychological. The group is depending on *you* to go get that mob. They're waiting for you to finish up and go get the next mob. They're depending on you to keep that mob off of them. They're depending on you to know where to put that pack. They're depending on you to know to turn that a-bomb around. And to line of sight that caster. And to not get out of line of sight of the healer. And to pull it off the mage. And...And this is just five mans. I haven't even gotten def capped yet, let alone tanked a raid.
I feel that my guild has blessed me with amazing healers, which is what has allowed me to be as successful as I have so far in tanking. (Xiriia, Korth, Bung...free enchants for life, you guys. Wow. I can't believe how you keep a nub like me alive.) I've done several heroics now, and haven't had *too* much difficulty on any of them. Most of the wiping and failing is coming from me mis-pulling, honestly. I know the instances pretty well...but I'm starting to feel like I've only really watched the action and thrown in once it started. Now I am in the center of it all, getting punched in the face.
And you know what's really remarkable about my relative success so far? ...I still have no idea what I'm doing. Here's what I do to tank:
- Mark what I think might have to go down in what order? Geez, I never really payed
attention...I just shoot the skull...oh, good, the healer made a suggestion on alternate marking...
- Throw Avenger's Shield and hope it doesn't miss the caster
- Freak out about Avenger's Shield missing the caster, forget about Hammer of Justice, run up to the caster, get hit in the back a few times by the rest of the pack
- Retarget the skull
- Lay down a consecrate
- 969 on the skull, trusting to a paladin's built-in AOE tanking to keep the mobs on me and off the Flamestrike-happy mage
- Pray
- Get crit from not being def capped
- Note mana is low
- Note Divine Plea is on cooldown
- Consider letting Holy Shield drop off to get more heals
- Realize that the mobs have started eating the healer's face
- Try to gather them back up, this time with no mana
- ...?
- Profit!
- Apologize to the group for sucking and the healer for not being def capped
(I'm fully convinced that the "...?" there is actually filled with the awesome of healers.)
I've commented in blogs before that I think tanking is easily the most difficult of all the roles. I've done them all in the past (I was forced to be a druid tank in TBC...which is why I quit that guild and rolled horde), and I've done them all much more extensively in Wrath. I would say that (good) DPS is the most activity intensive, healing is the most concentration and focus intensive...but tank is the most pressure. As noted above, they're all waiting for you and depending on you. The positioning, the pacing, the order...it's all your job. I think it is easily the least passive role in the game.
Now that I've gotten some experience simply doing it under my belt, I can put some polish on my technique. Fortunately, I walked in with some really good information from Honor's Code on the 969 rotation. I can't even begin to tell you how much easier it made my life to *begin* tanking knowing that and with the rotation lined right up on my toolbar. And I recently gleaned some great information from Righteous Defense on what's coming in the new patch and how that's going to affect me.
Now I just need to figure out how to get def capped and a better way to pull mobs off people. (Right now, I'm using a click-to-cast healer addon keyed to Righteous Defense to keep aggro on me. This is usually because I have *no idea* where or what mob moved off me if it's not a boss. I really need to get some more situational awareness.)
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You are a brave, brave man.
ReplyDeleteI found tanking hideous. HIDEOUS! I had the same problem - I'm so surrounded by mobs and consecrate and damage and spells that I literally do not see when a mob leaves me and eats the healer.
And I don't know any dungeons or pulls.
My 2nd spec is now a holy/prot healing spec to see how it goes with the mana changes in 3.2.
Tank on! Someday when I shake off the healing nerves (every now and again I completely lose confidence) I'll heal you without judgment. Well, I'll judge light or wisdom, but you get the picture!
Congratulations on embracing the front line defense!
ReplyDelete(pun intended.)
I remember I went through quite similar thoughts as you, the first time I tanked - regular VH, at 80, uncrittable, barely 20khp unbuffed. Immediately after we cleared that, though, I was dragged to H-AN... Ugh that was scary.
(My group's mage is a Frostie, though, so Blizzard was the falling pain of choice ;) )
As far as the rest, though, it sounds like you have a firm grasp of the "in battle" part of tanking.
You should definitely learn pulls and patrols, or at least watch when grouping as your non-tank characters - it'll help you quite a bit.
Some groups request you to focus on specific mobs (the sorceror dragonkin in HVH, for example) but with most "regular" heroics, AE is the name of the game, and you're just there to keep them bunched up :)
We have a large number of threat abilities, but only four work quickly...
These are both instant taunts
Hand of Righteousness
Righteous Defense
These are not, and instead let you dump a lot of threat:
Avenger's Shield
Hammer of the Righteous (I love the SLAM! sound!)
Hopefully your DPS knows that it is their place to use their own threat-losing cooldowns before you use a taunt. In guild groups, I almost never have to use RD, plus, HoR works better for singles.
You may wish to create a macro you can use for casting RD on your healer, though, just in case.
Unfortunately your Armory is currently showing your Ret gear, so I can't make any Prot gear suggestions :)
Talent-wise, you have a decent setup. A lot of paladins, however (like the vocal ones on WoWHead) will tell you to take the 5 points each out of Divinity and Reckoning, and instead throw it into Ret*.
Heart of the Crusader, Conviction, and Crusade are great for helping you, the tank, generate extra threat.
*Some paladins like to put 2 points into Imp Hammer of Justice (prot) for the interrupt cooldown decrease.
Glyph-wise, get rid of the Glyph of Spiritual Attunement. You should be using BoSanc when tanking, especially now that it's +10% stamina, plus the awesome mana regen effect it gives you. With that gone, put in the Glyph of Seal of Vengeance, which gives you a solid 10 Expertise which helps prevent you from being dodged/parried... which goes back to helping you create threat :)