Each week, Matthew Rossi will be bringing you a whole new column about our clanking friends, those men and women who managed to learn how to say something profoundly foul in dragon, undead, even the clackity speech of giant bugs. Amazingly, 'so's your mother' will offend a giant statue enough that it ignores being lit on fire and frozen at the same time, if you say it in the right tone of voice.
If you've been tanking forever, have done all the 60 and 70 endgame instances, and are wearing purple and orange all over your 'toon as if you were the offspring of a traffic cone and Grimace, then this installment of The Care and Feeding of Warriors is going to be telling you things you already know. It seemed important to spend at least a little time going over the basics of tanking, however, for all those people who have picked up the warrior class and now find themselves strapping sword and board on and heading into an instance for the first time. I promise, we'll get to issues of PvP balance, DPSing, and other fun stuff in the future. But the main role of the warrior is to tank. If you're in a five man, you're usually there to tank the instance, and if you're in raid, you will probably be asked to tank from time to time even if you're a full DPS spec. Tanking is neither everything nor the only thing warriors do, but it is the most common and the role we're most associated with, and all warriors need to be good at it.
Warriors are unique among the classes in World of Warcraft due to the rage mechanic. While druids sometimes find themselves using rage, warriors are the only class that hasn't an option to switch to something that starts at full like mana or energy. As a result, a warrior starts every fight at his weakest and gets stronger as he takes and deals damage. While this difference is essential to just about every aspect of the class's performance, it is in tanking that it becomes the most crucial. In effect, a warrior tank starts out with less rage to use his abilities, while everyone else in the party starts out with their gas tank full, so to speak.
This is the origin of the oft-heard phrase 'wait for sunders', three words so ubiquitous in the game that there are even guilds named after them. When you're tanking, if your group won't let you establish solid aggro on a mob, you simply won't be able to do your job. No warrior can tank without the support of his group or raid, because ultimately the entire time you are struggling to hold aggro on mobs, your party is generating aggro through damage and by healing, and while their aggro expands with the damage or healing they do, yours is static and based primarily on your tanking abilities, your damage being secondary. In essence, while tanking you are actually fighting with your own party for the monster's attention, and if they play poorly they can easily outstrip the threat you can generate to keep the monsters focused on you.
It almost... almost... goes without saying that unless you grossly out-level and out-gear an instance, you should be tanking in Defensive Stance and using a main or one-hand weapon and a shield. But while we've all done that instance run where the warrior didn't have a shield or hadn't trained D-Stance yet, I'll mention it anyway just to be safe. While even our humble correspondent has, at times, found himself tanking in an unorthodox manner, that doesn't mean he recommends doing so.
The primary abilities a tank should rely on are Sunder Armor, Shield Block, and Revenge (which will usually be used together), and Heroic Strike. Taunt should be held in reserve for when you lose aggro on a mob, as using it when you already have aggro on a mob is a complete waste of the ability. Taunting when you have aggro has no effect at all, save to put Taunt itself on cooldown, so only use it when you lose aggro or see a mob running towards the healers. All of the abilities listed above will be available to you by level 20 if not before, meaning that you can begin to practice your tanking by the time you're starting Ragefire Chasm or the Deadmines. A brief rundown of each ability I mentioned and how they work follows. Please note that I am using the base levels of the ability, and not the improved ones available through protection spec because this is intended to be a general guide for new warriors.
Sunder Armor lowers the armor of a mob you apply it to and also generates a high amount of threat. It's a good idea to get five sunders stacked on a mob as soon as you possibly can, and then refresh the stack once every 20 to 30 seconds to make sure the armor debuff stays that high. This will increase the damage your melee can cause while also helping to keep your threat high. Note that if you are in a group with a rogue, you will not be able to sunder the mob if they use their Expose Armor ability.
Shield Block increases your block rate by 75% for 5 seconds or until you block an attack, whichever comes first. As a result, it will not only greatly increase your own damage mitigation, but by practically guaranteeing that you will block, it allows you to use Revenge, a counterattack move which you can only use when you have successfully dodged, blocked or parried an incoming attack. While Revenge is not based on weapon damage and is never a particularly damaging attack (it was enhanced in 2.1.1) Revenge is one of the highest threat moves at a warrior's disposal and, barring instant attacks that require speccing into protection, is the best instant threat generator most warriors have. It's common for warriors to work to get five sunders placed on their target before switching to spamming Shield Block to force a block, and then Revenge for its high threat, refreshing sunders in-between this process.
Heroic Strike, which costs 15 rage and replaces your next attack, is useful for when you've got enough rage to spare and don't have Revenge or Sunder available for some reason. It doesn't rely on the global cooldown and does generate significant threat, although inferior to the other abilities already mentioned. If you're swimming in rage, it's not bad to throw a few HS into the fray. Some warriors swear by a very fast tanking weapon because it allows them to use HS more effectively, since HS is not an instant but rather replaces your next attack.
Okay, we've covered some basics. There's a lot more to warrior tanking than just these, however. Next time we'll talk about how the other classes can help you with abilities like Misdirection and Sap and how to itemize your fledgling warrior for better tanking as you level.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-22-2007 @ 3:21PM
Jed Burgess said...
I'm sorry, but leaving out shield slam kind of invalidates this as a reasonable guide to follow. Shield slam will constitute a huge portion of your agro generation and should be used at almost every opportunity. Sure, it's high up in the defensive tree, but it's a core staple of a very effective warrior tank.
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6-22-2007 @ 3:35PM
Matt Rossi said...
I've already recieved comments mentioning that I left out shield slam, and yes, I did - it requires a reasonable investment in protection and this guide is meant for people who haven't made that kind of commitment yet.
That being said, if you have Shield Slam (and for that matter, Devastate) you most certainly should be using them.
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6-22-2007 @ 3:52PM
Claymore said...
Thank you for repeating that tanks need to use d-stance and shields. It's amazing how many people think that tanking is about dealing damage.
Thanks again,
The priest trying to heal you...
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6-22-2007 @ 3:55PM
CthulhuCalling said...
A pretty good guide to tankage can be found at http://www.mmolecule.com/articles/article.mmo?id=13086ecc-c821-4e37-a79c-75b25c587e9c
Goes a little more in-depth.
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6-22-2007 @ 4:28PM
booga said...
While Druid's mana _may_ start at full after a shift, our energy very much does not, TYVM. Nor can we use thistle tea, or rage potions. Also, some of us are full-time tanks, and are very much used to having to have the snot beat out of us before we're any use to anyone. "Sometimes" my furry fanny.
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6-22-2007 @ 4:46PM
MattRossi said...
Sorry, booga, but every druid tank I've known uses the old shift into humanoid form, cast renew and thorns, and then shift back into bear for a faerie fire/feral charge pull a great deal. Druids have more flexibility than warriors and are not as rage dependent because they can shapeshift for moves like that one. It was also my understanding that druid energy refills as fast as rogue energy does. Didn't mean to offend, just stating it how I see it - bloodrage, I suppose, is the warrior solution to these issues.
The level 70 druid in my horde guild is now levelling a 62 warrior, and he tells me that rage is a lot harder to come by as a warrior, so take it for whatever it's worth.
As for Shield Bash, it's a very situational move and is indeed excellent against caster mobs. I didn't mention it because I was more focusing on basic threat generation, but those of you who mentioned it were right to do so.
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6-22-2007 @ 5:02PM
Homer said...
Great read, nothing i didnt already really know but still a good write up for beginers.
As a side note, other names than "the care and feeding of warriors" that are acceptable include "I can't do that" and "Need more rage"
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6-22-2007 @ 5:25PM
Sabethaya said...
A Warrior who refuses to use a shield or D-stance for mundane tanking makes me a sad panda. So does a Rogue who uses Expose Armor when with a Warrior that they expect to tank.
I wouldn't be so down on Heroic Strike; if you're actually tanking something that takes a little while to kill, you will probably build a lot of extra rage, and should be doing Heroic Strikes on every normal swing, in between sunders, shield blocks, and revenges once your rage gets above 40 or so.
Shield Block is on its own timer, and I would recommend hitting it every single time you can; your healers will definitely appreciate it.
Shield Bash is a basic tanking ability, too, that allows you to interrupt a cast once every 12 seconds [it also stops them from casting spells of that school for 6 seconds]. Watch for a casting bar, and Shield Bash when they're nearly done casting [prolonging the time when they're not doing something to you or your party], but don't wait too long, as lag may cause it to happen right after the spell finishes.
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6-22-2007 @ 5:45PM
Jeremy said...
Back in the bad days after release, when warriors were extremely gimped; I got so tired of hearing "Need more rage!" because my warrior couldn't hit anything unless it was at least 3 levels lower. I would start yelling back at it. Oh yes, I had plenty of rage.
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6-22-2007 @ 6:27PM
superfrank said...
Is it really true that you want to get 5 sunders up ASAP?
If revenge does more threat than sunder, then surely you want to be doing shieldblock to make revenge come up all the time, and only dropping sunders when you have spare rage.
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6-22-2007 @ 6:32PM
Sylvina said...
I always thought Shield Bash was an effective aggro generator too. Why isn't that mentioned?
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6-22-2007 @ 10:06PM
BenMS said...
I read this tanking guide. It's pretty good. It mostly covers end-game tanking, and hasn't been updated for BC, but it's a very good primer.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=12732617&sid=1
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6-22-2007 @ 10:15PM
Dan said...
@8: I've never had the problem of a rogue messing up my sunders. I do, however, have both a prot warrior and a rogue, and I've recently started tanking again after being fury for a long time. I never realised how immensely disturbing it is when rogues Cheap Shot a mob that you've pulled when it's halfway over to you, or when you're trying to get rage. I've often been accused of over-nuking on my rogue and stealing aggro - now I've seen it from a tank's PoV too. I promise, from now on I will always think of the tank when I'm playing on my rogue. I just hope other rogues will do the same when I'm tanking.
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6-23-2007 @ 3:06AM
Scalin said...
Great read, I love seeing warriors getting some luvvin'.
I'm one of the warriors (now) that agrees with spamming HS once you're swimming in enough rage to choke a kitten with a wet noodle. Before the expansion, most good/decent tanking weapons were kinda slow, 2.0 and better. But they started throwing in 1.6 speeds, and I love them (the tier 1 swordsmith 1-hander does me just fine until I can get a bloody Sun Eater to drop). I'm prot now, so I do use Shield Slam (Devistate is just a better way to refresh Sunders as HS does more threat). Once I get 5 sunders, just spam the HS and Revenge buttons on my keyboard while clicking on Shield Slam when it's up. Works well enough for me :3
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6-23-2007 @ 10:18AM
John Dube said...
@6
Sorry, Mike, warriors have it a little easier for initial rage generation. Allow me to enlighten you about Druid Rage mechanics a little bit.
Druids equivalent of a warrior's Bloodrage ability is Enrage. While Bloodrage generates rage instantly and more over time, Enrage only generates rage over time (withut talents).
Interestingly enough, in order for a Druid to generate rage instantly, the druid must invest talent points in, of all things, the Restoration tree. There is a first tier, 5 point talent that will allow the druid to have a 100% chance to generate generate 10 rage when shapeshifting (enough to do feral charge (druids do not have a free rage noncombat charge)). Druids also have a third tier, 3 point resto tree talent that generates rage 10 rage instantly when rage Enrage is used.
Those a pretty steep prices for 10 points of rage. And, while form swapping for free rage from the tier 1 talent seems nice, the global cooldown makes it impractical to do during combat. If the druid is tanking and swaps forms for the free rage, the druid's exposed at 25% of thier tank armor for at least two seconds. That can get real nasty, real fast.
With some minor tweaks from talents and class abilities, bear druids have exactly the same rage mechanics as warriors. The reason that druids seem to generate more rage is that druids do significantly greater white damage than a protection warrior.
That's why my guild uses a prot warrior main tank and a druid off tank for Gruul. The prot warrior can stay ahead of the druid on aggro and rage becuase the prot warrior is also getting the rage from damage from Gruul. The druid off tank gets seom rage from damage from the hurtful strikes, but really has no problem keeping up with the prot warrior becuase we generate so much rage from white damage.
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6-23-2007 @ 11:52AM
Kevin said...
This was an excellent, excellent article. I learned a lot from it. Thanks!! That MMOlecule article that CthuluCalling posted was great as well, so thanks for posting that, C.
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6-24-2007 @ 7:13AM
popor on eu-lightbringer said...
This is a good general guide especially useful for single target tanking on a boss. I have no problem with this and can keep most bosses stuck to me like glue. What I find more challenging, however, is multiple target tanking of all the trash pulls, when there are typically 3 to 5 mobs.
Therefore, I would appreciate it if in one of your next articles, you could concentrate on this. Focusing on how a warrior can best use intimidating shout and thunderclap to spread agro on multiple targets, and keep them ALL focused on him.
Other challenges for me are: one, coordinating with CC (sap, sheep, etc.) and two, when to charge vs. when to pull with ranged attack.
I would love to see some of this addressed in later articles. Alternatively, if any commenters, can point me to useful guides covering these things.
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6-24-2007 @ 10:18AM
Steve said...
Good article thanks, and I agree with popor, tanking 1 mob is relatively easy (when your mage stops critting for 3500), but it's hanging on to multiples that's the trick. I finally prot specced at level 65 and my mate is helping me out by letting me practice in the lower dungeons but the first thing I wanted was wing mirrors to let me see who'd snuck past.
It's also a shock to find that if you go full prot that you suddenly can't quest for toffee solo until you learn how again. Definitely made the toon brand new for me though and I can't see me going back to rage or arms.
Interested in slam though as I'd prety much ran in, thunderclapped, spammed sunder and got the first taunt in as soon as the first ranged attack from the mage came in to make sure. Will have to try revenge and slam, which tbh I rarely use and see if I can keep the taunts for breakaway mobs.
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6-25-2007 @ 10:04AM
Station said...
Hey, lets do one for all three tank classes. I would love to see a pally and a druid article. Please note, the tanking differences can be significant, esp. with pallies.
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6-26-2007 @ 8:02AM
MartinC said...
Not bad, but you failed to mention the skill with the highest threat generation of all, Shield Slam! This is the Warriors #1 skill for aggro generation.
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