My second real attempt at warrior. Actually I still have my Dranei, but I'm not into alliance right now. I fell into a good guild that I like on horde shu halo. So I rolled a warrior there. Long story short, I want to be a tank. We actually have a decent number of healers on the server, but not many tanks. Perhaps I was tired of my shammy healing in pugs with duel wielding warriors. I've gotten into 4 pugs in outlands instances with warriors not using shields (none ended very well :)). There just is a serious lack of tanks on our server. So I'm interested in it.
We'll start with low level tanking as I'm only level 13. I take it sunders are best on the main target. I'm thinking about putting in a couple points in improved thunderclap to hold throuh healing aggro. Will that be enough? I know I don't have things like revenge, not sure when I get them (or is that a talent?). So it's just sunders and thunderclaps for the most part? And lastly, what about taunt. I noticed it's just melee range. I take it we just have to be on our toes and head towards the dps or healer if a mob pulls then taunt? I was thinking about setting up some macro when I get intervene, but I don't think I get that for a long while.
I know practice is the only way to get good as a tank. But I'm just looking for some tips to get me started, so I don't embarass myself. The good thing about this char over my alliance is I have money to buy decent equipment. I'm not broke like my alliance chars are. My 42 dranei warrior couldn't afford plate- and still can't. And everyone on that server is on end game, and I couldn't even find a group for VC. That's where I wanted to learn how to tank.
As for my build, I was thinking some kind of hybrid. I already have 4 points in fury for the talent to improve crit chance. The others will go in arms to get improved tc. Maybe a few in prot. But I won't go full prot until outlands.
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Welcome to the challenge of tanking. I have a 40 warrior, having played 35 levels without a clue. Some nice person had a 70 main warrior and taught how to play. Stance is important but everything depends on the game you play. Groups, tanking is good, solo is for surviving. Stay arms or go DW fury. You can tank with either build. Use saunder in every stance, anytime you can. Hamstring should always be ticking away then just go for damage. Heroic strike is a nice touch.
first off, revenge is great and u get it very soon (somewhere before lvl 20). secondly, ive lvled a fury warrior to 70, and am working on one in arms now. up until 70, spec as if ur primary aim is to dps. instances r easy to tank as dps spec up until 70. as for Tclap, i imped it in arms as well. not only is it good for tanking, but the extra dmg from the imp is good wen trying to solo multiple mobs. taunt is a great move wen u lose and are trying to get bak aggro. usually on a pull of more then one mob, i Tclap and sunder my target or targets. if any of them run for dpser or heals, i run at him, taun and sunder him a few times. remember, taunt has no affect if the target is already attacking u. i also like the anger management talent from arms, becuz sometimes wen i dont have a bunch of mobs on me i get low on rage and it helps alot, just a recommendation. it also helps wen soloing. hope this helps and gl with ur warrior!
My first warrior I kept prot then decided to switch to arms at lvl 35. I wish I would have started out that way first. It made leveling and dpsing easier and faster. I was still able to tank any instance as long as I kept a shield ready. At 60 I switched to full prot because I made a warrior to tank not dps. By switching at 60 I was able to run Outland instances and start getting used to tanking using prot abilities. I took some advice from some other tank friends of mine and now I'm doing great. Great agro build up and control.
My advice is to keep a dps build until at least lvl 55 or 60. After that if you want to tank I would switch to prot. You could switch at 70 but you'll have to get used to the changes between prot and dps builds then. Personally I'd prefer to change before then to start getting used to it. Your repair bills will be cheaper the sooner you learn to properly tank.
My advice is to keep a dps build until at least lvl 55 or 60. After that if you want to tank I would switch to prot. You could switch at 70 but you'll have to get used to the changes between prot and dps builds then. Personally I'd prefer to change before then to start getting used to it. Your repair bills will be cheaper the sooner you learn to properly tank.
Also, you need to remember that most people who run instances at low levels are idiots (not all, but most). Your DPS will pull before you get aggro, etc... Everyone wants to be a hero instead of playing their part in the group.
With others pulling aggro, that means less rage for you (since mobs won't be hitting you). Rage starvation makes it very hard to tank. Here is where a DPS spec helps out. When you output more damage, you'll gain rage faster. Then you can use your threat generating abilities (i.e. sunder, revenge, TC, etc...).
Oh, and don't forget to use Bloodrage. It'll be your best friend :)
Hope that helps.
EDIT - Oh, and yes, you do have to run to the mob for taunt to work. Range is very short. Quite annoying actually... Your best bet is to have taunt bound to a key, and taunt the mob while they are still in range (i.e. before it gets to healer or DPS). For example, once you see the mob stop attacking you, taunt it immediately, and follow up with a sunder. That way you don't have to run anywhere.
Edited, Jan 23rd 2008 10:24am by YJMark
With others pulling aggro, that means less rage for you (since mobs won't be hitting you). Rage starvation makes it very hard to tank. Here is where a DPS spec helps out. When you output more damage, you'll gain rage faster. Then you can use your threat generating abilities (i.e. sunder, revenge, TC, etc...).
Oh, and don't forget to use Bloodrage. It'll be your best friend :)
Hope that helps.
EDIT - Oh, and yes, you do have to run to the mob for taunt to work. Range is very short. Quite annoying actually... Your best bet is to have taunt bound to a key, and taunt the mob while they are still in range (i.e. before it gets to healer or DPS). For example, once you see the mob stop attacking you, taunt it immediately, and follow up with a sunder. That way you don't have to run anywhere.
Edited, Jan 23rd 2008 10:24am by YJMark
After charging in and laying down a TClap, I find that getting a sunder up on each of the targets significantly helps the healers from pulling agro. After that, focus back on the main target and lay on a few more sunders. Use Revenge every time it's up, and don't be afraid to pop in a Heroic Strike if you have excess rage.
Jophiel wrote:
I managed to be both retarded and entertaining.
Quote:
Perhaps I was tired of my shammy healing in pugs with duel wielding warriors. I've gotten into 4 pugs in outlands instances with warriors not using shields (none ended very well :))
I'm guilty... only when I run guildies thru SL and below instances for a certian item or kara frag. I stay in tanking gear, but I equip my DW swords lol. I always say to the healer (who's a guildie) "if I'm taking too much damage let me know", which I don't take a lot, I'm actually getting less than a normal tank running it with a shield
. Always put on my shield for bosses tho. Yeah, at your level the only thing you can really do is: charge in, t. clap, stance dance (or stance dance 1st if you have tact. mastery), Demo. Then start Sundering the 'Skull' marked mob (or the 1st dps mob). In early levels, people generally don't mark the mobs, so it does get hectic, but don't give up. I think the 1st time we actually marked almost every pull was ZF and ST.
In Outland instances it'll be more organized. Marking, steady CC, etc... making your job easier.
All I do is constantly spam abilities. Devastate is my spam button, when Shield block is ready I hit that, when revenge pops up I hit that, when Shield slam is up I hit that, all the while spamming Devastate. Some people throw in H. Strike.
I really don't mess with it. It waits until your next melee swing, where I can just constantly bombard the mob with Devastates, which renew Sunder and give +attack for the # of Sunders on it. I am going to try throwing in H. Stikes and seeing if I just rock the threat bars, I'm doing more than fine now.. but anyway to up my threat I'll test it.
thx for the advice. I did tank my first instance (as a warrior) the other day with RFC. It's an easy instance to tank anyways. And I was a bit higher level for the instance, so there was no real challenge (we only had 4 people in party though). And no real chance of others pulling aggro.
It's definately more challenging than healing. My shammy is so well geared in regular 70 instances I can put on earth shield and healing stream totem and practically go to sleep (at least on trash). I can't say I like tanking as much as healing, but it's challenging and different, which is what I'm going for.
Is anger management worth it? I'm level 25 now and not sure where to put the rest of my talents. I was going to use a 2 hander, but levelling is so fast now, in order to keep my 1 handed weap skills up, I pretty much have to use it the whole level. And using a shield is nice for spell interrupts as well. I kind of like using a shield. I just don't want to give my current one up because it looks so cool. :). But it's a level 20 shield. So I'll get one around level 26 off the AH.
Levelling this warrior has been so much easier than my dranei warrior. Mainly because I have a main to finance him. I was relying on quest items too much with my dranei, and quest items are usualy like 4 levels below your current level. In short, they suck. Most of my stuff I get on the AH. I know I should keep up with my BS'ing more. My BS always seems to lag a bit.
As for tanking, I think I did ok. They said I did good. It's just a lot to keep track of. Watching cc mobs, watching everyone's health, watching the mobs. Watching for the revenge to light up. What about shield block, should I be using this? probably don't need to on lower levels. But 72+ hard hitters you probably have to.
Here's my profile. If you have any recommendations on talents, let me know. Thanks. OK my profile isn't coming up on armory.
right now I have talents in: 5 in cruelty, 3 in heroic strike, 2 in deflection, 3 in imp thunderclap, 2 in imp. charge. I'm not sure where to go after that. Like I said, I don't think I'm going to be using a 2 hander.
It's definately more challenging than healing. My shammy is so well geared in regular 70 instances I can put on earth shield and healing stream totem and practically go to sleep (at least on trash). I can't say I like tanking as much as healing, but it's challenging and different, which is what I'm going for.
Is anger management worth it? I'm level 25 now and not sure where to put the rest of my talents. I was going to use a 2 hander, but levelling is so fast now, in order to keep my 1 handed weap skills up, I pretty much have to use it the whole level. And using a shield is nice for spell interrupts as well. I kind of like using a shield. I just don't want to give my current one up because it looks so cool. :). But it's a level 20 shield. So I'll get one around level 26 off the AH.
Levelling this warrior has been so much easier than my dranei warrior. Mainly because I have a main to finance him. I was relying on quest items too much with my dranei, and quest items are usualy like 4 levels below your current level. In short, they suck. Most of my stuff I get on the AH. I know I should keep up with my BS'ing more. My BS always seems to lag a bit.
As for tanking, I think I did ok. They said I did good. It's just a lot to keep track of. Watching cc mobs, watching everyone's health, watching the mobs. Watching for the revenge to light up. What about shield block, should I be using this? probably don't need to on lower levels. But 72+ hard hitters you probably have to.
Here's my profile. If you have any recommendations on talents, let me know. Thanks. OK my profile isn't coming up on armory.
right now I have talents in: 5 in cruelty, 3 in heroic strike, 2 in deflection, 3 in imp thunderclap, 2 in imp. charge. I'm not sure where to go after that. Like I said, I don't think I'm going to be using a 2 hander.
Dude - you have a ton of alts. :) I didn't notice that before. Nice.
There are a million ways to spec, and you need to pick what suits you best.
Anyway, if you plan on Dual Wielding (since you mentioned you didn't want to go 2H), I've heard that Fury is the best. Re-spec, and dump all your talent points into Fury.
If you really want Imp TC, then get it, and then dump the rest of the points into Fury.
The FAQ sticky also has sample builds. Pick one you like, and start filling it out.
Oh, did I mention Fury?... :)
There are a million ways to spec, and you need to pick what suits you best.
Anyway, if you plan on Dual Wielding (since you mentioned you didn't want to go 2H), I've heard that Fury is the best. Re-spec, and dump all your talent points into Fury.
If you really want Imp TC, then get it, and then dump the rest of the points into Fury.
The FAQ sticky also has sample builds. Pick one you like, and start filling it out.
Oh, did I mention Fury?... :)
GYFFORD, Pie Eating Champion wrote:
Some people throw in H. Strike.
I really don't mess with it. It waits until your next melee swing, where I can just constantly bombard the mob with Devastates, which renew Sunder and give +attack for the # of Sunders on it. I am going to try throwing in H. Stikes and seeing if I just rock the threat bars, I'm doing more than fine now.. but anyway to up my threat I'll test it.
I really don't mess with it. It waits until your next melee swing, where I can just constantly bombard the mob with Devastates, which renew Sunder and give +attack for the # of Sunders on it. I am going to try throwing in H. Stikes and seeing if I just rock the threat bars, I'm doing more than fine now.. but anyway to up my threat I'll test it.
if you have more than enough rage to keep all your other cooldown abilities on cd (shield slam, tclap, shield block) then you should definitely weave heroic strike into your rotation. you can still hit devastate as many times as you want as it's an instant attack, but on your next attack swing you'll get heroic strike's nice damage/threat bonus instead of a normal swing.
fromanthebarbarian wrote:
GYFFORD, Pie Eating Champion wrote:
Some people throw in H. Strike.
I really don't mess with it. It waits until your next melee swing, where I can just constantly bombard the mob with Devastates, which renew Sunder and give +attack for the # of Sunders on it. I am going to try throwing in H. Stikes and seeing if I just rock the threat bars, I'm doing more than fine now.. but anyway to up my threat I'll test it.
I really don't mess with it. It waits until your next melee swing, where I can just constantly bombard the mob with Devastates, which renew Sunder and give +attack for the # of Sunders on it. I am going to try throwing in H. Stikes and seeing if I just rock the threat bars, I'm doing more than fine now.. but anyway to up my threat I'll test it.
if you have more than enough rage to keep all your other cooldown abilities on cd (shield slam, tclap, shield block) then you should definitely weave heroic strike into your rotation. you can still hit devastate as many times as you want as it's an instant attack, but on your next attack swing you'll get heroic strike's nice damage/threat bonus instead of a normal swing.
I tried this on the Prince fight last night. I'd press H.Strike, then spam Devastate, when H.Strike went off on my next melee swing, it 'refreshed' my tool bar. Meaning I had to wait on the little whirlwind refresh animation to finish before I got to use Shield Block, Shield Slam, and Revenge.
I personally did not like losing that Shield Slam time. Maybe it's because that was new, and needs some adapting on my part, I don't know... but it's still iffy if I'm going to use it. I do more than fine with the big 3 cycle.
GYFFORD, Pie Eating Champion wrote:
fromanthebarbarian wrote:
GYFFORD, Pie Eating Champion wrote:
Some people throw in H. Strike.
I really don't mess with it. It waits until your next melee swing, where I can just constantly bombard the mob with Devastates, which renew Sunder and give +attack for the # of Sunders on it. I am going to try throwing in H. Stikes and seeing if I just rock the threat bars, I'm doing more than fine now.. but anyway to up my threat I'll test it.
I really don't mess with it. It waits until your next melee swing, where I can just constantly bombard the mob with Devastates, which renew Sunder and give +attack for the # of Sunders on it. I am going to try throwing in H. Stikes and seeing if I just rock the threat bars, I'm doing more than fine now.. but anyway to up my threat I'll test it.
if you have more than enough rage to keep all your other cooldown abilities on cd (shield slam, tclap, shield block) then you should definitely weave heroic strike into your rotation. you can still hit devastate as many times as you want as it's an instant attack, but on your next attack swing you'll get heroic strike's nice damage/threat bonus instead of a normal swing.
I tried this on the Prince fight last night. I'd press H.Strike, then spam Devastate, when H.Strike went off on my next melee swing, it 'refreshed' my tool bar. Meaning I had to wait on the little whirlwind refresh animation to finish before I got to use Shield Block, Shield Slam, and Revenge.
I personally did not like losing that Shield Slam time. Maybe it's because that was new, and needs some adapting on my part, I don't know... but it's still iffy if I'm going to use it. I do more than fine with the big 3 cycle.
heroic strike is not on the GCD, meaning it does not interfere with shield slam or revenge. shield block is also independent of GCD and afaik it does not share a cooldown with HS. ever had a white hit, devastate, HS and shield slam all going off almost at the same time (devastate and SS are on GCD)? it's silly crazy threat if they all land and one or more of them crit.
Gyff, you saw something other than what you thought you did. Heroic strike is not on the global cooldown, in the same fashion as shield block and spell reflect. You can use it independant of all other abilities. Something might have activated your GCD, but it wasn't a HS. You must have accidently hit something else.
Scholar
32 posts
There's some really good advice in this thread that I will not try to improve upon. The only addition I would make for good tanking is (if you aren't already doing it) mouse turning/moving and key bindings. Moving with the arrow keys (or a/w/s/d) and clicking spells and abilities may work for single mobs - and maybe even two mobs - but it gets cumbersome when the count gets higher and the crowd controllers aren't around.
When I was playing my priest or mage, I found that I could do fine with a/w/s/d moving/turning and key bindings for spells. Tanking is quite a bit harder and requires quicker movements to be effective. It took me a little while, but it helped tanking quite a bit once I got the hang of it.
Good luck!
When I was playing my priest or mage, I found that I could do fine with a/w/s/d moving/turning and key bindings for spells. Tanking is quite a bit harder and requires quicker movements to be effective. It took me a little while, but it helped tanking quite a bit once I got the hang of it.
Good luck!
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