Stratagy guide for tanks anyone?Follow

Hrm. If there isn't a guide there should be. I'll think on it. In the mean time, some tips:

- Spell Upgrades in Order of Priority

• Taunts and other hate increasing spells/skills (Shadowknight caress line for example)
• Buffs
• Other (normal non-direct hate increasing damage spells or combat arts)

- Always always always play in third-person camera mode
You'd be amazed how many tank actually play in first-person view. You can't see incoming adds from all angles, you can't see where all your group mates are positioned, you can't protect your rear from a paladin. Just don't do it. 3rd person camera wins.

- Do not "lazy-target"
Lazy targeting is the bad habit of acquiring your target by allowing a mob to hit you when you don't have a target. Tanks who get into this habit are often slow in acquiring their next target during a group encounter or worse, stand there while a group member is being beat on because they didn't notice one mob in the encounter peel off. Always acquire your next target through direct mouse-click right as or possibly a second prior to the previous enemy dropping. This is more efficient than tabbing (which can cycle you through too many non-essential targets to be effective) and allows you to grab the next logical target or priority threat.

- Use direct taunt skills at every opportunity
Hate is added through both direct taunts and damage dealt (and friendly damage healed). Your priority each encounter is to build up your hate fast and early. You won't be able to sustain the damage that the casters and scouts can lay out so you need to get a far enough "hate lead" early before they can get their hooks in. Open with your direct taunts and your big damage spells/CAs. Build a large enough hate lead early and the mob should be dead before the DPS'ers catch up to you on the list.

- Don't be wishy-washy.
It may sound silly, but a groups viability can hinge on the confidence of the tank. This doesn't mean that you need to be reckless, but you need to be decisive. People can smell a weak group and will frequently abandon the group early or at the first sign of trouble if they sense that the people within the group are incompetent. The tank is the biggest showpiece of the group's mentality as a whole. Take charge. Put your foot down and tell the group how things are going to be. Get this in your head: You're the ****ing tank. Be a leader, be strong and confident and people are much more likely to follow your direction or stick around when things go south (wipe, lost target, etc.). There's a thread on the official boards about personality types as related to primary in-game class. Almost without exception, people who have plate tanks as their mains are extroverts. There is a reason for this. Attitude goes a long way towards being a successful group leader and as a tank, that's what you are.

- Don't be afraid to let that over-zealous nuker/scout/bruiser die.
Seriously. Some people just need to learn a lesson. Some people just need killin'. Look, hate-management is everyone's job. Not just the tank's. If the tank is losing aggro to a wizard every other fight, 8 times out of 10 it isn't the tank's fault. If someone is consistently pulling hate from you, stop saving them. Instruct your healer not to heal the over-nuker/dps'er. If they want to play tank - let them try it without help. Let them eat the deaths. Either they will learn to tone it down and play nice in the sandbox, or they will leave. In either case you win. You either have a reformed member who is now being productive and efficient, or you got rid of someone you probably didn't want to be grouping with anyway.

- Know your group members
More than any other archetype, a tank needs to have an understanding of the abilities and nuances of every class. Tell the warlock to lay off the Absolution line early. Ask the assassin why they haven't given you their Shadows hate transfer. Understand how to work positioning for the scouts. Understand how you'll need to react when the coercer's charm breaks or when you see the big nuke particle effects from your wizard.

Don't be afraid to tell other people what to do. You're the director of the group. You are the leader. Again: You're the ****ing tank.

If you have any specific questions, feel free to fire away.

Edited, Jun 25th 2007 3:25pm by Stugein

Thanks for the pointers, Stugein! I'm sure I'll find them helpful.

First of all, good choice on the zerker. With a decent group you will not lose aggro, and it has reasonable damage output for soloing.

One thing to consider when tanking is Area of Effect spells. Do you want the rest of the group hitting on all the NPCs in the encounter & surrounding area? This will be fine if you are cycling through the mob and taunting each one to keep the hate levels up. I personally prefer the rest of the group to leave off the AoE spells, as that is a way of holding the whole mob. If the tank is the only one AoE'ing, it is the only one doing damage to the non-targeted NPCs, so will always keep aggro. Of course you will always get the odd scout who wants to attack a non-targetted NPC, but if he wants to pull it off you and tank, it's his funeral. Once the encounter is all but won, the rest of the group can pile in with AoE.

In answer to Stugein's list of spell upgrades:
Taunts, taunts, taunts
Buffs - as most of your zerker ones are for group in-combat health regen
AoEs - Hold non-targetted mob aggro until you get around to them
Other spells

If you have any off-tanks, try to get them co-ordinated with the knock down spells. Any enemy on his back is not going to beat on you, so keep him on the floor as much as possible.

For tanking, you are not really wanting to do damage - that's the job of the finger wigglers & scouts. You want to hold aggro. Save your power for taunts.

Glad to help, URS. Keep applying those tips and you'll start to develop your own tanking style. As always we're here to help with any Q's you may have. You can also poke us in IRC from time to time (see .sig).

While searching the forums, I've come across a few debates about whether a tank should use a shield. Is it important? And also, my understanding is that Berzerkers hold agro by taunts but also by damage, whereas the guardian holds agro mostly by taunts. Is this correct? If so, then should I NOT use a shield as a Berzerker?

Also, THANK YOU everyone for your thoughtful replies. They've helped a lot and I've really enjoyed trying to tank. I also took the liberty of copying some of the posts into a post on my guild website (I made sure I told them where the posts were coming from, so they can find the originals). Its been fun, because its generated a lot of discussion on my guild site too.

Edited, Jun 27th 2007 3:11pm by UnRealScientist

My serker uses a buckler because I chose the Stamina line in AA's. Buckler Reverse is in that line so buckler is what I went with. I read a lot of posts about the AA line for the warrior before I chose it. So far I have very happy with my decision. I am currently using the oak buckler which isn't too bad for lvl 32. I know there must be better but I don't raid so the field is limited.

Sometimes we need a challenge to cause us to rise. I played with a troubador that had no sense of humor and couldn't role play for ****. I ended up telling him that I would make a better troub that he would. My troubador is my main and I have loved every minute of it. Well, almost. I hated the first change (2004?) on the mastery line of spells/buffs. I felt really useless for a few days until I got used to it.

Anyway, good luck at being an outstanding tank who will go down in server history.

Zoo

Yeah, see stats are tricky for a tank. Tanks, more than any other class, really need a good balance of stats because they don't really have a "primary" focus. You need to strike a balance between them all to be effective. Your job is to gain aggro, maintain it, and survive it's consequences. STR is required for your melee damage but also is your primary statistic for determining your power pool (thus how frequently you can taunt and CA without breaks). STA affects your hitpoint pool. AGI affects how well you evade hits. WIS affects how well you resist spells cast on you by the enemies (also key to survivability and successful tanking (a stunned, rooted or worse charmed tank is no good to anyone). In the case of a casting tank like a Shadowknight INT is even important because it affects your spell damage output. So while your primary concern should probably be STA and STR you certainly can't afford to ignore the others like non-tank classes can with their primary stats.

Link your guild site. It'd be interesting to see what other people think.

A woman can probably tank fine but, I love my healer being a female. I mean...a female healer transforms her group into her 'children' and tries to take the best possible care =D. And the female healer often shows genuine remorse when one of her children died in battle. =p

I know quite a few females with tank alts...but kinda ignore them and don't enjoy the tanking role as much.

I'm a 65 SK and a female and I've once been told by the main tank of our biggest raid guild on the server that I do far better than most of the tanks he's seen at my level. I was 55 at the time and he was on his ranger so he got to sit back and watch me. So a female Can do very very well as a tank class.

If you have to follow along as an off tank and watch the mt do his business, especially if hes the same class as you so you recognize each spell he casts. It does help you learn which spells are best cast in each situation that might arise.

Yeah, tick of the healer and you will end up D-E-A-D

Zoo