I have a 54 druid and recently started a warrior the play on the side. Up until lvl 20, I ran quests and killed mobs for all my experience, and spec'd arms. Not that I'm running VC and the like, how am I supposed to tank (assuming I can tank as an arms warrior). Should I stay in defensive stance most of the time, but switch to battle to use a move such as hamstring? Or should I just stay in defensive so that I have a constant taunt, or should I stay in battle constantly so that I have all the normal moves I am used to? Basically, my question is if I am spec'd arms, what stance should I be in to tank instances and how often should/is it acceptable to change stances?
Thanks
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Defensive Stance is the key to tanking, more important than Sword and Board. It's Def Stance that gives you the threat bonuses.
I find that once I get into Def Stance I rarely leave it. Charge is used less and less. I only tend to stance dance when I'm around the sub30 Rage point. It's useful to be able to fire off a Victory Rush when multi-mobbing.
I find that once I get into Def Stance I rarely leave it. Charge is used less and less. I only tend to stance dance when I'm around the sub30 Rage point. It's useful to be able to fire off a Victory Rush when multi-mobbing.
first of all only use taunt when a mob hates a party memeber more where it should hate you more.
Second when u macro and keybind you stances in combination with weapons/sword swap you'll find your self using different stances more.
In the beginning i only used def. in instances but now (especially with multimobs) i find myself switching constantly. Keep in mind though that switching stances is not good for rage so a good management there is needed.
Second when u macro and keybind you stances in combination with weapons/sword swap you'll find your self using different stances more.
In the beginning i only used def. in instances but now (especially with multimobs) i find myself switching constantly. Keep in mind though that switching stances is not good for rage so a good management there is needed.
Generally speaking you want to stay in defencive stance and toss on a 1h weapon and a shield, as that not only lets you take the hits but also generate the threat.
Switching out to battle (and sometimes 'zerker for 'zerker rage and it's fear immunity and intercept) is useful, though, for mocking blow if you REALLY need to get something off of someone.
Switching out to battle (and sometimes 'zerker for 'zerker rage and it's fear immunity and intercept) is useful, though, for mocking blow if you REALLY need to get something off of someone.
Defensive is certainly the defacto stance to be in, but the other stances have some benefits. The 10% damage reduction of Defensive is huge, as is the threat bonus.
The first thing to realize is that without Tactical Mastery you'll only retain 10 rage when switching - so you have to balance whatever you're doing against that; if you take a huge rage hit just to pull off a move not available to defensive stance, it might not be worth it.
Apart from that, the things I find useful outside of Defensive while taking are:
1. Hamstring. Although it's nice to hope at least one of your DPSers is awake and using a slow ability, it doesn't always happen through sub-60 content
2. Mocking Blow. If a taunt is resisted or you needed to grab two mobs real quick, this ability is key.
3. Charge. I always try to charge if the pull allows for it. It's free rage that you can immediately dump into an Imp Thunderclap before switching to defensive.
4. Execute. For bosses this is a pretty sizable DPS increase as long as damage mitigation and healing are in the green.
5. Intercept. Near-instant travel ability. You're a melee class, you want to be right up on it hitting it, not slowly running towards it!
6. Berserker Rage. Used to dodge fears mostly, but I also try to hit it on the rare occasion I switch to Berserker stance (after Intercepting usually; although you have to judge whether you need your global cooldown for something more important.)
Apart from that, the majority of time ends up being Defensive stance.
Also..keep in mind my warrior is only 60. While I'm not an expert on endgame tanking, I'd like to think I did pretty well with these tips while tanking through pre-60 content in Arms (which is exactly what the OP will end up doing.)
The first thing to realize is that without Tactical Mastery you'll only retain 10 rage when switching - so you have to balance whatever you're doing against that; if you take a huge rage hit just to pull off a move not available to defensive stance, it might not be worth it.
Apart from that, the things I find useful outside of Defensive while taking are:
1. Hamstring. Although it's nice to hope at least one of your DPSers is awake and using a slow ability, it doesn't always happen through sub-60 content
2. Mocking Blow. If a taunt is resisted or you needed to grab two mobs real quick, this ability is key.
3. Charge. I always try to charge if the pull allows for it. It's free rage that you can immediately dump into an Imp Thunderclap before switching to defensive.
4. Execute. For bosses this is a pretty sizable DPS increase as long as damage mitigation and healing are in the green.
5. Intercept. Near-instant travel ability. You're a melee class, you want to be right up on it hitting it, not slowly running towards it!
6. Berserker Rage. Used to dodge fears mostly, but I also try to hit it on the rare occasion I switch to Berserker stance (after Intercepting usually; although you have to judge whether you need your global cooldown for something more important.)
Apart from that, the majority of time ends up being Defensive stance.
Also..keep in mind my warrior is only 60. While I'm not an expert on endgame tanking, I'd like to think I did pretty well with these tips while tanking through pre-60 content in Arms (which is exactly what the OP will end up doing.)
You've pretty well got it set, Axe, although hamstring isn't used all that much (I usually find it better to try and pull things farther away than to bother with hamstring.
With the intercept thing, the main use I found for it was when a mob looked at me and said, "Nuts to this I'm going to the other guy" and I wanted to catch up. Once you hit 70, intercept loses a lot of it's power with that as you get intervene (basically it's the defencive stance's charge: You charge an ally (or the enemy's target) and take a hit for them) which is very nice.
Intervene has made it so that about the only time I ever use intercept anymore is in Kharazan on Aran: When he's casting his arcane explosion I switch to defencive stance and intervene someone who's already made it to the border, then switch back to 'zerker and intercept so that I can interrupt the next cast (I save bloodrage for that).
With the intercept thing, the main use I found for it was when a mob looked at me and said, "Nuts to this I'm going to the other guy" and I wanted to catch up. Once you hit 70, intercept loses a lot of it's power with that as you get intervene (basically it's the defencive stance's charge: You charge an ally (or the enemy's target) and take a hit for them) which is very nice.
Intervene has made it so that about the only time I ever use intercept anymore is in Kharazan on Aran: When he's casting his arcane explosion I switch to defencive stance and intervene someone who's already made it to the border, then switch back to 'zerker and intercept so that I can interrupt the next cast (I save bloodrage for that).
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