About tank-switching

[drumsmani 47]

As a fairly new player, I have been playing mostly as DPS. I am trying to maintain a tanking off-spec on one of my toons. For now, I mainly tank only for guild groups in dungeons and low level content.

 

The guides for various raid bosses talk about situations under which a tank-switch is necessary. How does one monitor the debuffs on the other tank to know when to taunt the boss off that tank? I know boss-mods alert bit different between ranged and melee dps for some fights, do they also have some alerts for tanks? Or should I have the other tank as a focus target (and enable debuffs to be shown on focus nameplate) and monitor that? 

[Zagam 1,982]

They work for tanks as well.  Also, anything that forces a tank swap includes a debuff icon.  Just look at your target's debuffs...when acquired, swap.

[nicarlitos 13]

I usually put set the other tank as my focus target. Works or me.

Communication is key though.....make sure your mic works :)

[Rrasis 13]

I find the easiest way to do this is Target of Targets Target. it's a setting in most Ui's that allows you to see the Target of whatever you are targeting so you can monitor who the mob is beating on. This will help you with both tank switching and tanking in general, I like that it's easier to tell when the mob is focused on you and not beating on some helpless mage.

[drumsmani 47]

Thanks for the replies. I agree communication is key, but my guild is not doing any MoP raids at the moment. So, if I muster enough courage, I will be trying to start tanking in LFR and I usually see only rage communication in there. :P 

 

Target of Target's Target seems like a good idea too. Maybe I will start experimenting with that and/or focus target frames while continuing to play as DPS and see if I can place them in the right area in my screen and get used to monitoring the relevant debuffs. 

[kitsu 55]

i like vuhdo. it has lots of ways to display buffs and you can setup a main raid panel as well as a private tanks panel. the main raid can be small and the private tanks can show targets and have whoever you want in it. i like to see who everyone in a ten man is targeting.

 

this screencap shows how you can make target of target display but i dont have it tracking stacks on tank debuffs cause im just a mindless dps.

 

i just have that bottom panal showing target and focus and as long as youre out of combat you can add anyone to that panel by setting them as a "private tank".

 

theres lots of vids on youtube on setting it up.

Edited August 9, 2013 by kitsu

[Shine 144]

there is a number of addons that can help you with these kinds of things aswell, I use TellMeWhen and made a setting so that an icon appears when my focus target (the other tank) has any of the MoP Raid tankswitch implying debuffs. the icon that appears shows the image of the debuff and displays the number of stacks.

there are various other addons that allow you to track these things aswell.

[Estarriol 167]

I like the KISS method for most of my tanking needs. With the standard UI, you can see many of the tanking debuffs just on your raid frames, but I also like to have my offtank as my focus target. Just makes swapping easier. When you're tanking LFR, look up the guides before you go in. There's few things more frustrating thank tanking with someone who has never bothered to learn the fights. Also, if there's a stacking debuff, ask the other tank how many stacks he or she would like you to taunt at. It'll make things smoother.

[Tarazet 144]

I don't use any addons - I just have the raid frames display debuffs. On Durumu the panel gets crowded so I have to set focus on the off-tank to monitor his stacks of Serious Wound, but otherwise it has been enough information for all the encounters I've done.

[graht1 0]

I always set the other tank as my focus target.  Between that and Deadly Boss Mods I've never had a problem monitoring the buff(s) that require tank switching.  In addition to watching buffs it's also a good idea to watch the other tank's health.  Sometimes they'll have a run of bad luck, or forget to use their cooldowns, and you'll see their health steadily dropping in which case you might want to taunt "early".

 

And you have to know the fights of course so you know when to tank switch, or those fun times when you have to educate the other tank.  And be aware that there are some tanks in LFR that think of themselves as "bad ass" and they will tell you when to taunt.