How do YOU tank ?Follow

I hit them over the head so they can't run.

No, seriously, that's pretty much how I do it. I use Tab to shuffle enemies for easier multi-mob tanking. I don't use any spiffy addons, though. At least not directly. Threat meter and such, yes.

Edited, Mar 16th 2008 5:17pm by Mazra

Well... I play in 3rd person first off. That means I get some great bear butt shots. Vent (communication with the rest of your party/raid) is a must here.. as changing perspective doesn't always help you see exactly what you want. (Great, I went from seeing my bum against wall to his thigh... please elune tell me I have him in the right spot!...am I standing fire? DEAR GOD I'M STANDING IN FIRE!!!!)

Second I like to use a little function under the interface "Show Target of Target" because if he's not looking at me, he's looking in the wrong place! Of course the key is to make sure he never takes his eyes off you. ::winks, smile:: I'm so charming.

For multiply mobs I like tab about my fiendish entourage. A bash here, a lacerate there, swipe for all!. To make sure they love me... that damn healer always taken my fan base...I'll show them who's the STAR!!

I tend to like Omen, but overall stay pretty Add-on light. My old girl here.. well she's going out to pasture soon and I don't like to over load her. So I stick to the WoWUI, which is okay. I'm pretty **** attentive when it comes to my UI. Heck really the only macro I use is "ZOMG!! >> Healing Injector >> Bear >> Think he saw that puff of smoke?"

I'm told your no tank if you don't use Bongos. I loaded it once, it scared me so I deleted it. ::shrugs:: Everyone has their own style and what works for them.

I took 2 minutes to create a macro with that, and put it on my action bar. I aggroed 3 mobs and I lacerated without changing target the three mobs easily!

The only thing I have to figure out is how to bind it on my mouse (I haven't tried to find it yet.. i had other things to do=))

On another note, I found that site http://sigil.monkeys-at-keyboards.com/DruidTanking.htm while googling for the lacerate macro (keylogger free). Pretty interesting information!

I use bongos. But no other UI or macros for tanking.

I pull an offtank target first, click to main target and then start the pounding with some swipes thrown in for threat maintenance on all mobs.

I find that I'm doing enough dps with swipe to maintain threat across all mobs.

My experience with PuGs is that the healer will simply take aggro too fast by healing someone who doesn't need it just yet. Even with 2,000+ attack power, I just can't hold aggro using only Swipe. I apply 2-3 Lacerates on everything.

I haven't had any trouble getting people to nuke the skull. In fact, they tend to unload so much damage on the skull that I don't even bother with the Lacerates on that one. Pyroblast, Aimed Shot, Ambush, you name it. Standard procedure for me is to keep 2-3 mobs focused on me while the rest of the group takes out the skull, then I apply skull to one of the targets I'm tanking and go from there.

Edited, Mar 17th 2008 1:38am by Mazra

What's nice about swipe is it hits the three closest targets, so tabbing between multiple targets won't actually affect who you hit with it, if you want to change targets while swiping just take some super excite pills like rogues do and run back and forth while spamming it.

Edited, Mar 16th 2008 10:59pm by franktehtank

I use Pitbull, Bongos and Omen, mostly. There are others, but for tank, those are the ones.
I use 3 diferent macros for tanking. One for lacerate my focus target (I always do a /focus on a target before pulling the mobs), one for lacerate on my mouseover target and another for potion/shift back(when I'm in kitty form, the macro changes into a powershift macro). The first and second I bind in "Q" and "E" and the third in my middle mouse button. Oh, and the bindings are set for "this profile only" or something like that, since Bongos allow me to do that.

Other than that, I have 3 profiles at Bongos for my char. One for tanking (most bindings to bear skills and one bar with some cat/healer skills in case of need), one for dpsing (most bindings to cat skills and some for bear/healer skills) and one for healer(most bindings to healer and some for dps spell/bear) and I change the profile I'm using accordingly to where I'm going.
In fact, I just created a fourth profile for when I'm offtanking, where I don't use healer skill, but use more cat skills accordingly.

I guess that's it.

edit. I forgot one really important. I use ClosetGnome, since I'm allways with my tank and dps set and sometimes with my healer set too. So I created 4 types of gears set in CG (tank, dps, healer, HybridOT) and binded in 4 different keys that I never use (´, [, ~ and ]). Since my keyboard is "ABNT2", those buttons are close to the big "enter" button (would be somthing like this http://oui.com.br/n/e107_files/images/teclado-abnt2.png) so I know I would never "miss-hit" them.

Edited, Mar 17th 2008 4:38pm by Brisin

I agree with DK about lacerate - too much trouble gettin it on multiple mobs. I use it, mangle, and maul (when i have enough rage) on my primary target and swipe to hold multi mobs (healing aggro is easy to overcome if you're appropriately geared).

For pulls that involve CC, I use my magicks to get aggro on as much as i can before they get to me, then periodically cycle through the off-targets by clickin on the mobs with my mouse and spammin my ezmode macro (mangle,lacerate,lacerate,lacerate,repeat). I know it's not the most efficient use of my rage, but what the heck, gets the job done... **This really only applies when yer cc'er can't seem to get his/her cc off before the mob closes distance and you end up fightin mobs with sheep etc standin around gawkin at yer skillz. Happens alot when you pug as much as i do.

I've tried the mouseover targetting thing, but honestly I use my mouse way too much for camera adjustment and character movement... and i gets me all confused... but i could see how it would be great for someone who wasnt already so stuck in his ways ;)

I don't use any spiffy addons... obviously omen... that's all you really need. Tankin with a grid+clique thing wouldn't be a good idea imo, because there's alot that goes on that you'll miss (patrols come to mind) if yer concentrated on a grid in the corner of yer screen.

When I pull, I always back up until the mobs have closed about half the distance to me then i run in - this is key in makin sure I'm the one to hit stuff first and get my aggro established.

Tankin casters is my favorite though - start in bear, interrupt spell casts with charge... bash... switch to caster, warstomp... switch to cat, mangle, maim another spellcast... finish the fight in cat... I really feel like the shapeshiftin furballs on meth druids are meant to be :) This only works when the caster mob is the only mob to tank obviously or yer prolly gettin hit too hard in cat/caster forms.

Well I'm tired of talkin for now, yall have a good day

-B

After few days, here's how I feel about what I tested... obviously not using Grid since it displays the party (but I keep an eye on it just to see who is getting hit). Clique doesn't work on no unitframe (like mouseover). So pretty useless to tanking.

About that lacerate macro... I didn't used it THAT often. I used it few times to make sure I keep the attention of the mob (especially when there was 4 on me!) Otherwise, it was Mangle/Lacerate main target, swipe and sometime a single lacerate on another target (he was beginning to notice that BElf that was healing us!)

Will I keep the lacerate macro? yeah why not. Will I change my tanking method to use more often? not really... I will use it if I think about it =)

I didn't really installed any new addon to help me tank. I already had a unitframe addon (i prefer seeing my health and target in the bottom of the screen than on top), the threat meter obviously. I added Recount... never had a damage meter before.. kinda fun :D