Tanking Guide

[Fouton 266]

In LFR, Sha's tank swap mechanic is removed. Everything else will be the same as always. As Brew said, Fallen Protector and Spoils never had one, since you always pick 1 thing and stick to it.

[Guest High]

The guide:

While your threat output will generally be stable, the fact that raid bosses have a 3% chance to parry your attacks can cause problems

 

Patch notes 6.0.2:

Tanking specializations receive an additional 3% reduction in chance to be parried. Tank attacks now have a 0% chance to be parried vs. creatures up to 3 levels higher.

 

Also the guide insists that there is no reason to taunt when you are at the top of the threat meter and you have aggro, but you produce 200% more threat from abilities for the 3 seconds that it lasts, that is very important and useful, specially in boss 'immunes' to taunt.

[Vlad 411]

The guide:

 

Patch notes 6.0.2:

 

Also the guide insists that there is no reason to taunt when you are at the top of the threat meter and you have aggro, but you produce 200% more threat from abilities for the 3 seconds that it lasts, that is very important and useful, specially in boss 'immunes' to taunt.

 

The guide:

 

Patch notes 6.0.2:

 

Also the guide insists that there is no reason to taunt when you are at the top of the threat meter and you have aggro, but you produce 200% more threat from abilities for the 3 seconds that it lasts, that is very important and useful, specially in boss 'immunes' to taunt.

Thank you very much.

 

Fixing this!

[Fouton 266]

The guide:

 

Patch notes 6.0.2:

 

Also the guide insists that there is no reason to taunt when you are at the top of the threat meter and you have aggro, but you produce 200% more threat from abilities for the 3 seconds that it lasts, that is very important and useful, specially in boss 'immunes' to taunt.

 

When a boss immunes to taunt, the threat gain doesn't get applied either, so it would have no effect on those fights.

[Jepetto 0]

I realize this is an off topic question for this forum post but I really don't know where else to post this to get some enlightenment.

 

I've been researching tanks and their gearing optimization (I have all 5 tank specs and tend to make cheat sheets for gearing when new content is given).  I've looked at versatility, I thought that it would be the highest valued tanking stat since it seemed to play well with most masteries as well as the resolve mechanic and found that its no higher then #3 on anyones priority list. 

 

The one that really confused me was druids, with their lack of a parry and blocking mechanic I would have thought it would have made it one of the highest desired stat, especially since they have an on demand heal (Frenzied Regeneration).  I could understand warriors and monks having it lower on the list because they don't have as much active healing as druids and paladins but I still thought it would have been higher then haste or crit in cases and yet not always.

 

I guess my questions for those stat priorities are:

 

1.what is the criteria for stat priorities, is it survivial base, threat base, balancing the two?

2.why is versatility (a stat the reduces damage of both magical and physical damage) considered secondary to stats that reduce the damage of only one type, stats that provide avoidance or haste.   (I do realize that crit and haste both have indirect relationships with surviviability)

 

I had thought that with the addition of versatility that 1 of 2 things would have happened:

1. the stat's weight would have been so high that it would not be worth stacking versus other defensive stats.

2. the stat's weight would be such that its the most desired stat and that blizzard  would end up having to design boss damage around tanks having high damage reduction from it. 

 

I figured it would takes stamina's role that it had in previous content of "once you hit a comfortable level of surivial from stats, stack versatility" especially since parry and dodge has always been seen as less desirable due to their spikey nature. 

[Guest Nefrau]

I can't find the post atm regarding versatility but supposedly were only going to get a bit of it on trinkets and the like due to the very nature of possibly being THE best secondary stat.

[Hydranth 2]

As a player who's been playing since it first came out, I haven't played since the first two weeks of Cata X-pan. As soon as I checked out the WoD, I knew I had to come back. I wanted to tank but my lack of confidence to tank was absent. I found this site and forum, read through it, and had a better grip at what makes a tank, a tank. After reading it, I got into the right talents and glyphs, and dominated some heroics. Looking forward into tanking some mythics and raids in the next expansion.

 

Thanks People! 

-Hydranth

[Fouton 266]

I realize this is an off topic question for this forum post but I really don't know where else to post this to get some enlightenment.

 

I've been researching tanks and their gearing optimization (I have all 5 tank specs and tend to make cheat sheets for gearing when new content is given).  I've looked at versatility, I thought that it would be the highest valued tanking stat since it seemed to play well with most masteries as well as the resolve mechanic and found that its no higher then #3 on anyones priority list. 

 

The one that really confused me was druids, with their lack of a parry and blocking mechanic I would have thought it would have made it one of the highest desired stat, especially since they have an on demand heal (Frenzied Regeneration).  I could understand warriors and monks having it lower on the list because they don't have as much active healing as druids and paladins but I still thought it would have been higher then haste or crit in cases and yet not always.

 

I guess my questions for those stat priorities are:

 

1.what is the criteria for stat priorities, is it survivial base, threat base, balancing the two?

2.why is versatility (a stat the reduces damage of both magical and physical damage) considered secondary to stats that reduce the damage of only one type, stats that provide avoidance or haste.   (I do realize that crit and haste both have indirect relationships with surviviability)

 

I had thought that with the addition of versatility that 1 of 2 things would have happened:

1. the stat's weight would have been so high that it would not be worth stacking versus other defensive stats.

2. the stat's weight would be such that its the most desired stat and that blizzard  would end up having to design boss damage around tanks having high damage reduction from it. 

 

I figured it would takes stamina's role that it had in previous content of "once you hit a comfortable level of surivial from stats, stack versatility" especially since parry and dodge has always been seen as less desirable due to their spikey nature. 

 

A few things on this. Versatility provides only a small amount of damage reduction (26 rating is just short of 0.5% damage reduction, where as I'd get over 1% block and about 0.85% phys reduction from 26 mastery for a paladin) along with a decent damage and healing gain (26 rating is short of 1% damage/healing, though again my paladin's mastery gives me 1.13% AP and just short of 1% healing towards my self heal). It's just not strong enough of a stat to provide you with the increases you need to out-weigh other stats. I don't know in comparison for other classes, but I can say for sure as a paladin it's just not as optimal, though relatively close.

 

As you say, other stats don't reduce magical damage for most classes, so they aren't as valuable, but most of the spiky tank damage is almost always physical. There are some fights with heavy explosions of magic damage, but that's often where a minor (or sometimes major) cooldown is used.

 

As for current optimization of stats, the idea of it has always been to balance yourself with an excellent survivability, but having room to get some DPS gain without the cost of too much survivability. It tends to revolve around the top-end theorycrafters/players of the class and what they find to be the best, through sims and practice.

 

I'd also say you have the wrong understanding of Stamina from previous content. It's always been intended for you to hit the point where you arent getting 1-3 shot from hits with stamina, then stack into complete survivability stats so that you just take less damage overall. Stam stacking has been frowned upon for quite a while.

[Guest *Rozza^]

In the 4.4 Encounter Knowledge section it would be really useful to link to a site that produces descriptions/summaries of encounters so we can read up. 

 

Thanks.

[Vlad 411]

In the 4.4 Encounter Knowledge section it would be really useful to link to a site that produces descriptions/summaries of encounters so we can read up. 

 

Thanks.

We produce guides for all raid encounters, and as with every patch since 4.2, you can expect to see them up on the website a few days before the encounters go live. As for dungeon bosses, these are typically simple enough that a browsing of the dungeon journal should do, but if not you can always look for youtube videos of kills.

[Guest Wuulfy]

Thanx for this guide, guys. You've done a great job. With all the basicness of this article, I still got some new details on tanking. 

Now I'm considering to return to tanking, though I havent done it since WotLK.

And yeah, these tricky platforms 

[Guest Gberck]

Hi I never comment on articles, but I thought you deserve praise for a great article!! I had a BM hunter as my main, I love instances so I started to notice that I was learning the instances and usually provided advice to the tank (made friends as well by doing that), I read your guide as I was scared to step to the role of a tank, now nearly 100 levels later my prot tank is my main an enjoy so much tanking that I find it hard to do anything else!! I just enjoy that added stress and responsibilty which makes for a more immersing game!!

Thanks again for one awesome guide!!!

[Vlad 411]

Hi I never comment on articles, but I thought you deserve praise for a great article!! I had a BM hunter as my main, I love instances so I started to notice that I was learning the instances and usually provided advice to the tank (made friends as well by doing that), I read your guide as I was scared to step to the role of a tank, now nearly 100 levels later my prot tank is my main an enjoy so much tanking that I find it hard to do anything else!! I just enjoy that added stress and responsibilty which makes for a more immersing game!!

Thanks again for one awesome guide!!!

I'm very happy to hear that. You are welcome!

[Guest ßloodtheomen]

*Applause, very well done!

[Guest iv82much]

Great article, I have had a lot of experience tanking/healing/and dpsing.  One word of advice I give people who want to be good at upper level dungeons/raids: Level as what you want to do.  I have a holy priest who has never had a point in shadow for years (since creation).  I leveled healing instances for the most part, over 90 percent of leveling xp.  Same thing for my Prot Warrior tank.  By the time I was max level, I was very comfortable with my build and role.  

 

Now, obviously this is not the fastest way to level, but at least take some time and get a feel for being a tank or healer as you are leveling.  I personally dislike questing, it gets boring very quick.  

[Guest Jade]

What an amazing guide!

Thnx so much for the effort you put into that, it helps a lot

[Guest SethAluma]

Hi,

Thanks for the guide.

I would like to let you know, though, that ThreatPlates is an outdated addon, and that its functionality has been integrated into the base TidyPlates addon. Just set your tanking spec (spec #1/2) in the settings to the "Tank" role and you will have threat plates.

[Guest Konasol]

Vlad,

I have been tanking in WoW for many years and most of the concepts you have defined are worn in, but, even veteran tanks should read this as the content is very detailed and may improve play. I appreciate the information and intend on putting the things I learned into action soon. 

Thank you very much for the time and effort you put into forming this guide.

[Necrontear 0]

Thank you so much. This is best tanking guidance i ever read. I don't have enough gratitude words to tell, so, just thank you for your support.

[Valks 2,375]

10 hours ago, Necrontear said:

Thank you so much. This is best tanking guidance i ever read. I don't have enough gratitude words to tell, so, just thank you for your support.

Really glad to hear that the guide helped! Good luck with tanking!

[Guest Mezumiiru]

I was looking through the Blood DK guide, trying to figure out how the Active Mitigation (with capital letters) works. Because I know that some bosses have special abilities that debuff you or otherwise penalize you if you mistime the Active Mitigation (such as Dargrul's Molten Crash). There I noticed that only active mitigation (small letters) was discussed, i.e. damage reduction/healting tools on a short cooldown.

Perhaps it would be good to discuss the Active Mitigation spells (one per tanking spec, I think) a bit more in depth? I'm not sure if there are situation in Legion raiding where this is important; so far I've only seen specific Active Mitigation requirements in dungeons.

[Valks 2,375]

On 12/24/2017 at 10:31 AM, Guest Mezumiiru said:

I was looking through the Blood DK guide, trying to figure out how the Active Mitigation (with capital letters) works. Because I know that some bosses have special abilities that debuff you or otherwise penalize you if you mistime the Active Mitigation (such as Dargrul's Molten Crash). There I noticed that only active mitigation (small letters) was discussed, i.e. damage reduction/healting tools on a short cooldown.

Perhaps it would be good to discuss the Active Mitigation spells (one per tanking spec, I think) a bit more in depth? I'm not sure if there are situation in Legion raiding where this is important; so far I've only seen specific Active Mitigation requirements in dungeons.

This is included in the Blood DK guide, which I assume is what you are looking for:

Quote

It is worth pointing out that for boss abilities that check whether or not an "active mitigation" effect is active, you are interested in the  Recently Used Death Strike 3-second buff which is applied by using  Death Strike and  Marrowrend.

Hope this helps.

[Guest Mezumiiru]

On 28/12/2017 at 4:07 PM, Blainie said:

This is included in the Blood DK guide, which I assume is what you are looking for:

Hope this helps.

Actually, I was more thinking of the general Tanking Guide. There was no mention of Active Mitigation (capital letters) there, as far as I could find.

[Valks 2,375]

On 12/31/2017 at 12:33 AM, Guest Mezumiiru said:

Actually, I was more thinking of the general Tanking Guide. There was no mention of Active Mitigation (capital letters) there, as far as I could find.

Ah, I see! I thought you meant in the Blood guide specifically. I'll ask the writer to add it.

[Guest Agis]

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