General "Tank" GuidelinesFollow

Figured I would post a simple set of rules to follow to keep your non-tank group members happy. Here goes...

Rule #1
As a tank class your number one duty is to keep the aggro off of the non-tanks. Taunt and Shout are your friend, as well as any AoE attacks. Heroic Opps are good, but useless if your party members die. If you can get a HO off, wonderfull, if not - don't waste time waiting for your HO activator, or linking abilities to pop.

Single mobs are easy to hold aggro on, it takes some SERIOUS damage/healing to pull a mob away from you if you are using taunt. Durring these encounters you have a lot more room to work on getting HOs off without jeapordizing party members.

Multi-mob encounters, however are a little different. TRY to get a AoE HO off first thing. What I do when I start the encounter is start attacking at a distance, then run to the first mob (go for priest/caster classes first) as soon as I stop moving I activate my HO, follow it up with one of the linkers, then use shout to hit each mob, doing damage and taunting each in the process. I follow it up with Assult to further damage each mob and gain more aggro. After that I use my AoE Direct Damage spell to cause even more damage/hate.

To then maintain aggro, if I can get a HO off, I start the HO - if it gets broken I still continue the same path as if it were working, finishing with Shout to again gain more aggro.


Rule #2
Keep your gear updated. Keping your gear updated means less damage or also means you have more HP. This means the healers spend less time healing you and don't run out of power as fast.


Rule #3
Make sure your group members ASSIST YOU and only YOU. A few exceptions may apply, such as if you have someone to Off Tank any accidental encounter adds. Noone should be fighting any other mob except the one you are concentrating on. If you have an off tank, he/she should be the only one that might have to switch targets. One of several situations that may call for this would be if things went bad for some strange reason and a caster was being pummeled, at this point if your Shout does not pull it back, the off tank should engage that mob and get it off of the caster. Everyone else should still be attacking your mob.


Rule #4
Be fast in multi-mob encounters, when you see the main target is about to die, switch your focus to the next target and allow the rest of the group to kill the first one. Start building aggro on the next target so everyone can assist you as soon as the previous mob dies. This keeps the fight going smooth and allows you to direct priorities durring the fight.


Rule #5
Know your abilities and/or spells. If you don't know what they do or the best time to use those abilities then you really are of no use to the group, using the wrong abilities in the wrong situation can lead to major problems. AoE attacks/spells used when a non-aggressive mob wanders through the fight will hit that mob and bring it into the fight, adding unnecessary encounters which could cause a wipe.



Those are just some basic general rules, things I have found to work best and keep me getting groups. A lot of this is common MMO gaming strategies, but you would be surprised how many people really don't know this. If you are one of those people, it's nothing to be ashamed of, it's just something you need to work on. =)

Good rules. As a fighter thread, I have a question that may be appropriate-

I have a 12th Crusader and an 11th warrior. The crusader is using an iron ******* sword (two handed on the fast side) and I am trying the dual-wield route as the warrior. I had originally thought that with two fast weapons (1.2 right now, iron short sword and dark brigand dagger) I would minimize the effect of any single MISS in combat, averaging out to the same damage over time, but having it come in reliable little chunks quickly.

Well, it doesn't seem to be working out like that, and I am wondering what other tanks think about weapon choice. My crusader, who does have a slightly higher AC since he is my first character, died innumerable times, so had more money, seems to kill the same critters easier than my warrior does. In fact, my warrior needs to run on occassion, if too many of his HO's miss or otherwise don't pan out.

The crusader seems far more reliable.

What tends to work out better in your experience? Big slow weapons, or smaller faster ones? Two or one?

Thanks!

You have to equip two "dual wield" swords. I messed up and bought an iron longsword and iron shortsword when I hit 10... you can't use the longsword in a dual-wield setup.

Both your weapons have to be tiny.

Good guide in general but I have one thing to point out.




For the love of god, please watch the AoE attacks! Not just because of surrounding mobs but for your enchanter's (or anyone else attempting crowd control) benefit. Don't wake up the mez'd mobs.

If you have someone doing crowd control, you'll most likely find your AoE's worthless.

I also had someone try to tell me that shout effected all mobs in the area.. Not true, don't listen to that if someone tries to tell you. Feel free to spam shout at will because it only effects the mobs you're fighting and won't wake up any mez'd mobs (unless you finish a HO with it).

Edited, Wed Nov 17 10:18:38 2004 by subvert

That's the stupidest thing I've heard all day but it's still early.

If you'd rather have a crappy AoE then crowd control so be it, I'll be sure to /point and /laugh as they're trying to scrape the paste that was your body off the floor as I pass you.

I agree, I addressed this in the information I provided however. AoE is good for certain situations, just watch what is going on, but if you dont have someone parking mobs AoE shout and AoE DD is awsome for keeping all the attention on yourself.

When I see the Fighter type AoE's doing more damage I might rethink this but I just don't see it being worth it at this point. It's been pretty crappy so far.

Edited, Wed Nov 17 10:50:53 2004 by subvert

It's not about the damage. It's about the agro. Another fine example that you haven't a clue. You ever even fought in BB?

No you are right on.

They made the AOE stuff in this game right.

Also the HO AOE stuff rocks.

There are times when you need a mez When you are obviously fighting bigger stuff than the group, or you have a smaller group.

I believe he is referring to the same thing I am referring to, AoE HOs, not your normal AoE attacks - though when you chain 2 AoE regular attacks together, that is two fast simultanious multi-mob hits, every little bit helps to hold aggro - specially when you are not activly attacking that single mob.

Bottom line is you DON'T NEED an Enchanter necessarily.

Nobody said you did need one. Just that if you do have one, it's not worth spamming AoE's because it's not worth it.

However, you said not to invite Enchanters because you can't be bothered with watching your AoE's. That is just a very stupid thing to say.



Edited, Wed Nov 17 11:09:09 2004 by subvert