Any tips/techniques for mana conservation when tanking?
Read a couple that reached out of the screen and slapped in the face saying "No Duh" like downranking Holy Shield, downranking the second or third Consecration, etc. Is that advised in most situations?
Any others that I'm missing?
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For me personally I'venever had much of an issue with mana. Granted that could be that I'm only doing the occasional heroic/normal 5 mans. But from what I've heard as long as you're getting healed, a part of your mana should be returned to you. The other option would be to use food that give you Mp5 buffs. Other than that, just downranking here and there should help, also I always have a few mana pots for those real clutch situations
What level are we talking here? Pre-70 there is a valid argument for downranking in many situations. Consecration and Holy Shield usually come first. Blessing of Wisdom may be vital.
At 70, downranking becomes not only less and less useful, but a heavy drawback. Rank IV Consecration retains most of your additional Spell Damage so it can be fairly efficient in situations places like Black Morass when you're running with ungeared DPS.
Heroic+ tanking mana conservation comes down to not being stupid. I've never been a believer in holding back on the threat potential. I should always be a few seconds away from going OOM if I'm doing things right. My method of mana "conservation" (perhaps "management" works better) is then to take more damage. Bigger pulls, sit down liberally (eat the insta-crit) etc etc. A heroic boss fight usually lasts long enough for me to deplete my mana pool, drink a pot, and MAYBE with slow DPS use half of that mana going all-out. I try to use every single point of mana that I can in a trash pull, the lower I end with the better. When time isn't an issue (Black Morass) I'll ideally be drinking after every single pull.
In the few situations where I want to reduce my mana usage (rather than increase my mana generation) the first thing I do is make sure the DPS understand what's going on and make sure they know kill orders solid. Rank IV Consecration should keep you ahead of the healers alright, especially with reactive damage thrown in. Then it becomes a matter of burning one target at a time with moderate DPS on them. Sometimes I'll forego judging (especially if it's the 2nd or 3rd target and already has a threat lead by the time the DPS gets to it). If it can be afforded, I'll drop Holy Shield. While the mana that Holy Shield uses is like a spitball on your mana pool compared to other abilities, it's threat:mana ratio is pretty poor and the actual amount of raw threat you can expect from it is significantly lower than even Consecration at the right gear level. Also, you take slightly more damage when you aren't casting it for better returns.
While I can imagine it being possible to get by with downranking in heroics if your group isn't stupid and follows directions well -- you really can't afford it in any kind of raid. Even in Kara -- taking more damage is a far better solution. You'll lose Attuman & Midnight or Rom and Jules pretty easy downranking, but you can glue them to you going all out and sitting anytime you have a free GCD and can't mess up your timing. Sticking to the "intro" raid (since I really don't know what level we're talking), Curator needs his own mana management (and many of the techniques used on him can be copied to Rage Winterchill or other bosses that hit like pansies). I tend to keep SoR up, judge occasionally (not every CD), keep Holy Shield up, and Consecration maybe 2 or 3 times per phase while unloading everything (with wings) on evocations and the enrage.
Most fights where it REALLY matter that you throw out huge numbers (to beat timers that are meant to be a challenge) you can rely on the boss dealing enough damage to support a full threat rotation though.
Edited, Aug 23rd 2008 2:34am by Losie
At 70, downranking becomes not only less and less useful, but a heavy drawback. Rank IV Consecration retains most of your additional Spell Damage so it can be fairly efficient in situations places like Black Morass when you're running with ungeared DPS.
Heroic+ tanking mana conservation comes down to not being stupid. I've never been a believer in holding back on the threat potential. I should always be a few seconds away from going OOM if I'm doing things right. My method of mana "conservation" (perhaps "management" works better) is then to take more damage. Bigger pulls, sit down liberally (eat the insta-crit) etc etc. A heroic boss fight usually lasts long enough for me to deplete my mana pool, drink a pot, and MAYBE with slow DPS use half of that mana going all-out. I try to use every single point of mana that I can in a trash pull, the lower I end with the better. When time isn't an issue (Black Morass) I'll ideally be drinking after every single pull.
In the few situations where I want to reduce my mana usage (rather than increase my mana generation) the first thing I do is make sure the DPS understand what's going on and make sure they know kill orders solid. Rank IV Consecration should keep you ahead of the healers alright, especially with reactive damage thrown in. Then it becomes a matter of burning one target at a time with moderate DPS on them. Sometimes I'll forego judging (especially if it's the 2nd or 3rd target and already has a threat lead by the time the DPS gets to it). If it can be afforded, I'll drop Holy Shield. While the mana that Holy Shield uses is like a spitball on your mana pool compared to other abilities, it's threat:mana ratio is pretty poor and the actual amount of raw threat you can expect from it is significantly lower than even Consecration at the right gear level. Also, you take slightly more damage when you aren't casting it for better returns.
While I can imagine it being possible to get by with downranking in heroics if your group isn't stupid and follows directions well -- you really can't afford it in any kind of raid. Even in Kara -- taking more damage is a far better solution. You'll lose Attuman & Midnight or Rom and Jules pretty easy downranking, but you can glue them to you going all out and sitting anytime you have a free GCD and can't mess up your timing. Sticking to the "intro" raid (since I really don't know what level we're talking), Curator needs his own mana management (and many of the techniques used on him can be copied to Rage Winterchill or other bosses that hit like pansies). I tend to keep SoR up, judge occasionally (not every CD), keep Holy Shield up, and Consecration maybe 2 or 3 times per phase while unloading everything (with wings) on evocations and the enrage.
Most fights where it REALLY matter that you throw out huge numbers (to beat timers that are meant to be a challenge) you can rely on the boss dealing enough damage to support a full threat rotation though.
Edited, Aug 23rd 2008 2:34am by Losie
Some tricks I've picked up for tanking groups.
If you're fighting 1 monster at a time - use Blessing of Wisdom, Seal of Righteous, and Holy Shield.
If you're fighting less than 4 monsters - use Blessing of Kings, Seal of Wisdom, and Holy Shield.
If you're fighting 4 or more monsters - use Blessing of Sanct, Seal of Wisdom, Holy Shield, and Consecration.
Take on as many monsters as you and the group can handle. This pushes a few things for you: everyone else's mana goes down as well, you regain extra mana from more heals through Spiritual Attunement, Reckoning procs more often giving Seal of Wisdom more hits which is more mana.
Do not use Avenger's Shield unless you need the extra threat boost, as it's a big mana hog.
If you're tanking solo, it can sometimes be wise to not use Consecration at all as it is a big mana eater. It really depends on the situation.
If you're fighting 1 monster at a time - use Blessing of Wisdom, Seal of Righteous, and Holy Shield.
If you're fighting less than 4 monsters - use Blessing of Kings, Seal of Wisdom, and Holy Shield.
If you're fighting 4 or more monsters - use Blessing of Sanct, Seal of Wisdom, Holy Shield, and Consecration.
Take on as many monsters as you and the group can handle. This pushes a few things for you: everyone else's mana goes down as well, you regain extra mana from more heals through Spiritual Attunement, Reckoning procs more often giving Seal of Wisdom more hits which is more mana.
Do not use Avenger's Shield unless you need the extra threat boost, as it's a big mana hog.
If you're tanking solo, it can sometimes be wise to not use Consecration at all as it is a big mana eater. It really depends on the situation.
Sorry this is off topic, but what do you mean by this Losie?
I've never come across that term before.
Losie wrote:
sit down liberally.....
..... and sitting anytime you have a free GCD
..... and sitting anytime you have a free GCD
I've never come across that term before.
In combat if you sit down you will automatically take a critical hit. So, if you are not taking enough damage, you can sit down from time to time to make sure you take more damage. This crit will happen regardless of how much Defense you have.
Also I think just means anytime that you are not needing to refresh one of your spells as that will cause you to stand back up, possibly before you get hit, meaning you sat for nothing. Best times would be right after you have just refreshed your Holy Shield and/or Consecration since you will then have time to wait before you can cast again.
Edited, Aug 23rd 2008 9:55pm by Maulgak
Also I think
Quote:
sitting anytime you have a free GCD
Edited, Aug 23rd 2008 9:55pm by Maulgak
Quote:
In combat if you sit down you will automatically take a critical hit. So, if you are not taking enough damage, you can sit down from time to time to make sure you take more damage. This crit will happen regardless of how much Defense you have.
never knew that was an option, very nice way to grab a little extra threat. thx for the info
Yea.. that's exactly what I meant. When you sit down your entire combat table (the 95% of it that is adjustable) is replaced with Critical Hit, so as long as your healers aren't going to be going OOM by healing you more (which is also a factor to consider) you can sit to take more damage and get more mana returned.
GCD refers to the Global Cooldown. While sitting doesn't trigger it, you don't want to be doing it while you should be doing something else.. Your free GCDs are meant for other things that aren't part of your normal rotation (drinking pots, repositioning, etc etc) and sitting definitely fits that bill :D
GCD refers to the Global Cooldown. While sitting doesn't trigger it, you don't want to be doing it while you should be doing something else.. Your free GCDs are meant for other things that aren't part of your normal rotation (drinking pots, repositioning, etc etc) and sitting definitely fits that bill :D
MOAR MOBS!
(not quite as helpful as the other posts I know but it had to be done :P )
(not quite as helpful as the other posts I know but it had to be done :P )
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