Tanking Guide

[Valks 2,375]

On 7/3/2018 at 12:10 PM, Guest Agis said:

Great guide! ? You could add a point in the conclusion about using the proving grounds maybe?

Definitely will look into it ?

[Nukee 0]

On 7/3/2018 at 1:10 PM, Guest Agis said:

Great guide! ? You could add a point in the conclusion about using the proving grounds maybe?

I agree. Proving Grounds is an excellent way to practice tanking.

[Guest summae]

It seems quite strange to me that only one class, Death Knight, has 2 active mitigation skills, one involving a "made up" effect - Recently Used Death Strike - caused by an instant damage/self-heal skill that in itself has no duration. Other classes, most notably perhaps, Demon Hunter, have similar damage/self-heal skills and yet don't receive some residual buff from their use?

Seems unfair, as the other Death Knight skill, Marrowrend, would seem to possibly maintain bone shield indefinitely, whereas the Demon Hunter skill, Demon Spikes, would seem harder to maintain? 

Not sure though, as I haven't played in a long time, just curious.

[Valks 2,375]

On 8/24/2018 at 11:12 PM, Guest summae said:

It seems quite strange to me that only one class, Death Knight, has 2 active mitigation skills, one involving a "made up" effect - Recently Used Death Strike - caused by an instant damage/self-heal skill that in itself has no duration. Other classes, most notably perhaps, Demon Hunter, have similar damage/self-heal skills and yet don't receive some residual buff from their use?

Seems unfair, as the other Death Knight skill, Marrowrend, would seem to possibly maintain bone shield indefinitely, whereas the Demon Hunter skill, Demon Spikes, would seem harder to maintain? 

Not sure though, as I haven't played in a long time, just curious.

This AM "check" is only relevant when a boss requires the use of an AM ability, such as the 2nd boss of Black Rook Hold in Legion. It's pretty irrelevant now, but is still included in case bosses are added in BfA that have the same thing.

For these checks, you only have to use the ability a split second before the boss' ability, then it doesn't matter until the next cast, which is normally a long way off. 

The absolute worst case scenario in these checks, even for tanks with the worst possible generation, is delaying the spell by a few seconds.

[Guest Bobifle]

There are 3 categories of ppl, those who can count, and those who don't.

Quote

Taunting a mob has two effects:

1. It forces the mob to attack the player who taunted it, for 3 seconds.
2. It grants the player who taunted it an amount of threat equal to that of the player who had aggro on the mob at the time of the taunt.
3. It increases the threat generation of the taunting player for the same 3-second duration.

 

[Guest mvniamvr]

The "translation" is a webdesigner's portifolio

[Valks 2,375]

9 hours ago, Guest mvniamvr said:

The "translation" is a webdesigner's portifolio

Thanks, I'll get that removed!

[Guest Faedae]

Question: 

I haven’t mained a tank since Cata—I swapped to healers at the end of cata and stuck to that role until now. Going into Shadowlands, I intend to swap back to tanking. 
 

Is it still true that you have to face the mob to dodge, parry or block? This article mentions it, and that was always the case, but a player I know that has really high knowledge said they removed that. Can anyone confirm or deny if this is still the case? Or do some classes have it removed and not others? (He tanked on a DH)

[thegreedyturtle 0]

Great starter guide!

I want to highly recommend you include a short positioning section that explains how you cannot block/dodge/parry attacks from behind. No need to get into the details of them, just explain that you should never have your back to a mob.

And never sit down!

[Corathus 0]

Hey there. I just started working on a Vengeance DH and I'm very much looking forward to tanking. 

I tried installing Omen, but there is no setting menu in the game. I have made several attempts to stop other addons but for some reason I cannot find a way to get Omen to show up or work. I also started using TidyPlates, but configuration is a bit complicated.

I seem to be doing pretty decent when tanking. I just feel like I'm tunneling or not able to see vital information like actual threat gauges. I'm having a hard time knowing when I am doing a good job and when I'm not, other than seeing that everyone is alive, including me and making sure I'm the only one losing the most health.

Any help or assistance with improving my awareness would be great. I still feel like I'm in confusing territory and I want to be able to be good at this role.

[Mwahi 1]

On 12/17/2020 at 1:22 PM, Corathus said:

Hey there. I just started working on a Vengeance DH and I'm very much looking forward to tanking. 

I tried installing Omen, but there is no setting menu in the game. I have made several attempts to stop other addons but for some reason I cannot find a way to get Omen to show up or work. I also started using TidyPlates, but configuration is a bit complicated.

I seem to be doing pretty decent when tanking. I just feel like I'm tunneling or not able to see vital information like actual threat gauges. I'm having a hard time knowing when I am doing a good job and when I'm not, other than seeing that everyone is alive, including me and making sure I'm the only one losing the most health.

Any help or assistance with improving my awareness would be great. I still feel like I'm in confusing territory and I want to be able to be good at this role.

Hello,

I apologise for the long wait and wish you a happy new year.
First of all, it is great that you are interested in tanking, Vengeance DH is in a really strong place right now.
The addons will take some time getting used to and setting up as you prefer them for sure but once they are done it will be worth it. There should be plenty of guides/videos available for both of the addons on various sites.

It is really hard to know if you are doing great as a tank or not if you are just beginning. In general if you know your class and are using mitigation properly while also holding aggro it is a good start. Be sure to read the Vengeance DH guide to learn about the ins and outs of the class. Outside of that it comes down to playing the game. If we take Mythic dungeons as an example the best thing you can do is know what to pull and what not. As a tank you are expected to "lead" the party so knowing which way to go and what is necessary and what not is very important. Other things you can do is keep an eye on your healers mana and let them drink if needed, position yourself properly so you do not outrange the healer and/or force the DPS players to move too much. Be sure to interrupt abilities and use your classes utility to the fullest (various Sigils, interrupt, mobility etc).

The more you play the role/class the better you will get at it - i hope this answer helped clear out some things.
Good luck in your tanking!

[Silver001 0]

This guide recommends the Exorsus Raid Tools, but that add-on has not been updated since 2016 (patch 7.0.3) in CurseForge and the website link in the CurseForge description http://mods.curse.com/addons/wow/exorsus-raid-tools leads to a url that is no longer in service. Do you have a recommendation for a different add on that serves that same purpose, and if so, would you please update the article? Thank you.

[Mwahi 1]

On 10/24/2021 at 7:19 PM, Silver001 said:

This guide recommends the Exorsus Raid Tools, but that add-on has not been updated since 2016 (patch 7.0.3) in CurseForge and the website link in the CurseForge description http://mods.curse.com/addons/wow/exorsus-raid-tools leads to a url that is no longer in service. Do you have a recommendation for a different add on that serves that same purpose, and if so, would you please update the article? Thank you.

Hello,

Exorsus Raid Tools has been renamed to "Method Raid Tools" - it's still the same addon. When clicking on the "Exorsus Raid tools" link in the guide it should lead to: https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/method-raid-tools

I will be sure to update the naming, thank you! 

[Guest shaman_tank]

"If any of this seems daunting, fear not, and remember that the best quality of a great tank is confidence!"

this is so true. going into every pulled scared to die and fighting for your live is the worst thing you can do as a tank. just take the initiative and be aggresive with pulling. dont let the dps pull. and always be decisive. dont ask dps players questions what route for example. i just shows that you are not confident/prepared which can spire out of control very quickly.  prepare and tell them what to do. if you are actually worried about a pull or something dont show it. dps players need to feel your confidence so much that nothing ever could happen to them as long as you are there. like little babys/divas they are :D

[Guest shaman_tank_dream]

On 8/26/2020 at 5:56 PM, Guest Faedae said:

Question: 

I haven’t mained a tank since Cata—I swapped to healers at the end of cata and stuck to that role until now. Going into Shadowlands, I intend to swap back to tanking. 
 

Is it still true that you have to face the mob to dodge, parry or block? This article mentions it, and that was always the case, but a player I know that has really high knowledge said they removed that. Can anyone confirm or deny if this is still the case? Or do some classes have it removed and not others? (He tanked on a DH)

 i always parry while strafe jumping backwards. have like 20% parry on dk and can literally see the animation with my 2h sword. so no i dont think they removed it. dodging is the same i think. i dont know about blocking because real men dont use shields it makes your *filtered* look smaller. jk prob the same aswell why should they remove the mechanic and leave the stats in game just for fun 😄