There's a lot of content in
World of Warcraft that you can do all by yourself -- you can easily get to level 70 without ever joining a party. But there's plenty of content along the way that can only be accomplished in groups, and group play is, well, a bit different from solo play. To succeed solo, all you really have to do is kill your target before it kills you -- but in a group, every player has a specific role to fufill to make the group as a whole function. You've got someone to absorb damage (your tank, decked out in gear to help him or her mitigate damage), several someones to do damage (your DPS, which can come from nearly any class), and someone to prevent everyone from dying in the meantime (your healer). And regardless of whether you're healing or flaying minds, you're cloth-wearer who can't take a lot of hits. What does this mean? Well, my friends, it means you need to know a little something about keeping monsters on your tank and off you. And you're in the right place, because today we're going to talk about threat.
I have to say straight off that I know nothing about tanking. All I know that there is some voodoo the tanking warriors, druids, and paladins do that makes mobs
very angry at them. What they actually do
is a complete mystery, and some of them are very good at it and some of them are not so good at it. But whether I'm with someone who's tanking well or someone who doesn't have a clue, there are a few tricks I can play to keep myself safe, and that's what we're going to talk about.
First off, for those of you who are vague on what exactly threat is, we can define it pretty clearly. Each monster in the game has a "threat list." As you do something to attract the monster's attention (let's say you hit it with a spell or heal someone who's hitting it with a sword -- either of those will certainly make the monster notice you), you are added to its threat list. If you do enough of whatever you're doing to get on the top of the threat list, the monster will come over and start hitting you. Fortunately, the way monsters assess threat is quite predictable. As a general rule,
- one point of damage done to a monster equals one point of threat to a monster.
But as with every rule there are exceptions -- some skills cause additional threat on top of the damage they do. These will usually be marked in the skill's tooltip, and as a priest you don't have any extra-threat abilities to worry about (the ability
Mind Blast used to cause double threat, but the extra threat was removed in patch 2.0 -- a nice buff for players trying to PvE as shadow priests). Your second rule is that
- two points of healing done to anyone who's on the monster's threat list equals one point of threat to a monster.
And, note that threat is only applied to actual healing done -- overheals do not count. Threat is done the moment the healing lands on the target, so for a
Greater Heal, the threat will be added to your total threat the instant you finish casting. For a
Renew, you get threat every time the ability ticks and some amount of healing is done to your target. This makes the timing of your heals important -- a sizable heal landing before the tank has established aggro or after a monster has used an aggro wipe ability (they aren't common, but some bosses will wipe out their entire threat list occasionally) means that that monster is going to run straight for you. Also,
- buffing someone on a monster's threat list will cause the tiniest bit of threat.
Very tiny. So tiny, in fact, that it's rare that you'll notice it. But it is there. Aslo,
- if you're on a monster's threat list, gaining rage, mana, health, or rage causes a small amount of threat.
Let me immediately clarify the "health" portion of that statement: you only gain threat on health if it's health you've caused yourself to gain. So things like health potions and mana potions will cause you to gain a small amount of threat. (Yes, I have pulled aggro with a potion before.) And finally, to pull aggro, you need to go over your tank's threat numbers. But in order to keep the boss from ping-ponging all over the place if threat levels are close, you can jump a bit over the tank's threat level without pulling aggro. Specifically,
- if you're in melee range, you need 110% threat of the monster's target to pull aggro, and
- if you're ranged, you need 130% threat of the monster's target to pull aggro.
And even with this restriction, if you find you're having aggro issues... well, first off, I suggest finding a better group. But also you can pick up the
Silent Resolve talent on tier 2 of the Discipline tree. It reduces your healing threat by 20%, which gives you even more leeway on threat.
Are all the above numbers too confusing? Too much math to keep up with over the course of a fight? Well that's okay -- because there are addons out there that will keep track of the threat for your entire group -- and make it very clear when you're close to pulling aggro. I personally recommend
Omen, which will keep track of all of this in a clear list for you (and will talk to anyone else you're grouped with who's using Omen or popular alternative
KLH Threat Meter, to keep you all on the same page).
So now you know what threat is and how you gain it, we need to talk about what you can do to prevent it. First up,
- give your tank a few moments to preform their tank voodoo before you do anything.
Let your tank run in and give them a few seconds to press whatever buttons they need to press to establish aggro. If you start casting before they've done their thing, you could pull aggro. (The exact period of time depends on your tank's class, gear, and abilities -- run with a certain tank for long enough and you'll get used to their style.) However, if you're healing, feel free to toss out
Prayer of Mending pre-pull -- the healing done by PoM is added to their threat, not yours. So it gives them a small threat boost at the beginning of a pull and it does some healing without giving you any threat -- a win win situation! Next, if you see on your threat meter that you're getting close to the tank,
- stop whatever you're doing!
Give the tank a few seconds to re-establish aggro. This also holds true if you or anyone else has pulled aggro. Stop what you're doing and give your tank a few seconds to re-establish aggro.
Let's say that despite of all your efforts, you've pulled aggro off the tank. A mob is hitting you! Ow! Ow! Getitoff! Well, stay calm and
Fade will temporarily reduce your aggro. As soon as you hit it, the monster that's hitting you should run right back to the tank. Take a break from all threat-generating activity and let your tank re-establish aggro, and everything should be fine. If Fade is on cooldown (or didn't work for some reason), then we have to move on to the next step,
- announce you have aggro and run to the tank.
No, really. Sometimes the tank may just not have noticed that a mob has run after you. Sometimes the tank may not know quite where you're standing. When something starts hitting you, it's common to try to run away -- but that just makes it harder for the tank to find you and pull that mob off you. If your health is hurting, you can heal yourself, but you can't be expected to take much of beating regardless.
Though we don't have any other threat-reducing abilities, there are some trinkets in the game that will reduce your threat. (I tend to keep one equipped in my healing gear as a backup to Fade.) Though there are trinkets and other items of this nature scattered around the game, this one is likely the easiest to get:
- The Hypnotist's Watch trinket is obtained by completing the Voidwalkers Gone Wild quest in Hellfire Peninsula. It reduces threat on use, with a 5 minute cooldown. And, unlike Fade, the aggro this trinket causes you to lose will never come back.
Other options include:
- The Timelapse Shard, which you can buy when you become exalted with the Keepers of Time. It will reduce threat on use, with a 2 minute cooldown. (Worth acquiring just for the reduced cooldown!)
- The Grace of Earth trinket, which you can get by doing turnin quests for the Cenarion Circle in Silithus. It reduces threat on use, with a 5 minute cooldown. (However, these turnins are time-consuming and you're probably going to have trouble finding a group for old Silithus content.)
- The Jewel of Charismatic Mystique trinket, which drops from Grandmaster Vorpil in Shadow Labyrinth (both normal and heroic). It reduces threat on use, with a 5 minute cooldown.
- The Muck-Covered Drape cloak, which you can buy when you become honored with Sporeggar. It reduces threat on use, with a 5 minute cooldown. (The downside here is that you're very likely to have a nicer cloak to equip.)
- If you've got nothing else, you can buy and use Shrouding Potions to reduce threat -- but they use your potion cooldown, so beware.
That wraps up my explanation -- but if you have any tips on threat management for everyone out there, feel free to jump in our comments!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
10-01-2007 @ 7:31AM
Sarkan said...
Hey, just to clarify something.
If you heal somebody who is fighting against 5 Mobs for 1.000 Health Points. You therefore generate 500 Threat, but this is neatly divided on the Mobs, so you have 100 Aggro on every Mob not 500 on each! HUGE Difference!
Also Buffing (especially SS) does not generate a lot of Aggro, don't do that in combat!
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10-01-2007 @ 7:38AM
vern said...
I thought about farming rep for the Shrouding Potions but then i did read too many different things to be really sure that its worth it. If the invisible buff is lasting 10mn, do you really start with a negative threat ?
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10-01-2007 @ 7:52AM
Mystrana said...
If a paladin is tanking, you don't need to run to the tank in that case. Their taunt is aoe.
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10-01-2007 @ 7:53AM
Mystrana said...
erm, with a 30 yard range I think. Silly comment cut me off =(
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10-01-2007 @ 8:08AM
Kujo said...
I've noticed in a lot of groups that are going really well, the healer usually only pops a heal off on the tank when he/she reaches a certain %HP. 60 or so, if memory serves me correctly.
Most of the time, the healer never pulls aggro.
Does the timing of heals in this fashion make any difference? Or is it just that it simply falls down to the fact that if the healer waits that long, its safe to say that the tank has caused enough aggro on himself, that the heals won't put him/her over?
Would smaller heals, used sooner but less often have the same effect?
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10-01-2007 @ 8:31AM
Shandahar said...
Another sometimes handy threat trick is to throw a Renew on the tank just before he pulls/charges. the first couple of ticks might be wasted but the later ones happen with no threat to the healer.
Also useful if the tank uses Bloodrage (trades a little bit of health for some rage) before the pull.
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10-01-2007 @ 8:32AM
diggzz said...
Really need to know your tank and the mob he is tanking. If you know your Gheal Rank 2 heals for 3000 and crits for 4500 i will wait for the tank to get to -3500 hp and start casting unless its a mob which can do burst dmg. You really need just get a feel for how much dmg the tank is going to take an adjust your heals to meet the need on a given mob. Priests want to stay out of the FSR as much as possible so wait till he is low enough for the rank heal chosen to top him off cast your heal with a quick renew and PoM than sit back till he dips again while regenning as much mana as possible.
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10-01-2007 @ 8:40AM
nav said...
Prayer of mending advice: Cast a good number of seconds before the pull. You want to regenerate that mana before the fight actually starts if you can, and the prayer will sit on the tank for 30s before expiring. Let the first one proc. Now, when the tank has lost enough health for your prayer of mending to use a full amount of healing (usually the first hit will leave most of the PoM proc unused, and therefore with not that much threat generated by it) recast it. Then, you've only spent the mana of one PoM in the start of the fight and you've got the healing and threat from one-and-a-bit.
Certainly a PoM just at the pull itself is not the best way to spend your mana. Better to either cast earlier, or wait till more damage has been dealt in my opinion.
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10-01-2007 @ 8:47AM
ratatask said...
Timing matters.
As you say, if you wait longer, the tank(if he knows what he's doing) will have established aggro on all the mobs, and won't run for you.
Consider the tank running in to 3 mobs, they'll all hit him. He'll perhaps lose 1-2k hp. However, during this 1. second, the tank only has had time to smack up 1 mob. If you land a heal now, you might get aggro on the 2 remaining ones.
Learn how hard certain mobs hit, and how much damage your tank can take. Don't heal him too early - but watch out for real hardhitters that can kill the tank in seconds.
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10-01-2007 @ 8:47AM
ratatask said...
DO NOT follow the advice of "Another sometimes handy threat trick is to throw a Renew on the tank just before he pulls/charges."
Why not ?
Consider a 3 mob pull. Tank pulls runs around a corner. Your HoT's tick. They will tick before the tank gain aggro on all 3. You get aggro. It's a certain healer killer to pre-HoT your tank in many heroics atleast.
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10-01-2007 @ 8:52AM
nav said...
I agree with no 10. Poster no 6 seems to think the renew will not generate any threat because it was cast before the fight. I don't believe this is true, although if someone can correct me on that please do.
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10-01-2007 @ 8:57AM
Solidstate said...
> "Another sometimes handy threat trick is to throw a Renew on the tank just before he pulls/charges. the first couple of ticks might be wasted but the later ones happen with no threat to the healer."
No, no, no and no!
Any Priest that does that is lucky if s/he *doesn't* pull agro right away. The first renew tick to actually heal has a very large chance of happening before the tank has had time to generate agro. Even worse, that first renew will have a good chance of pulling every other mob to you since you get agro on all of them by healing the tank.
*Never* cast renew before the beginning of the fight. Let the tank get a few hits so he can generate rage and convert it to agro. Start healing only then.
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10-01-2007 @ 9:14AM
ratatask said...
to 11.
It won't generate any threat if the tank is full on health.
However, a typical pull for a warrior is to shoot the mob, and then bloodrage - which makes renew heal the hp lost due to bloodrage.
There's also the danger of HoTs healing too early
before the tank has got time to gain threat on all mobs.
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10-01-2007 @ 9:17AM
nav said...
Well, quite, because there's no healing being done. But as you say, there's a good chance it will go wrong if it heals too much before the tank has enough threat up.
And it's clearly not what number 6 meant:
'the first couple of ticks might be wasted but the later ones happen with no threat to the healer.'
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10-01-2007 @ 9:18AM
Tridus said...
Timing does matter early on in a fight because tanks need to generate some threat against every mob. If there's three mobs, it can go like this:
- Paladin hits Consecrate. Once it ticks, Pally has threat on all mobs, and all mobs should be hitting him. Holy Shield/Retribution Aura/Consecrate will all be generating more threat at that point, and you can safely heal.
- Druid will probably have to use Demoralizing Roar and Swipe, at that point it should be safe to heal.
- Warrior has to use Demoralizing Shout and Thunderclap, which generates some (but not a lot of threat). Cleave only hits two mobs, so the Warrior will have to eventually whack all of them with a Shield Slam/Revenge/Sunder to actually hold them.
The trick with this is that a small heal very early on might land before any of this has happened, and you'll pull two mobs. A big heal a couple of seconds later is safer in that case. If you're concerned, Fade after your first heal. By time Fade wears off, the tank should have everything secured.
It cannot be overstated how useful Prayer of Mending before the pull is. Thats healing threat, just like yours, only its on the tank, so he immediately has some threat on everything. It also gives you a bit of a healing cushion.
I guess the best way to summarize is that you need to do enough healing to keep the tank up, but the timing depends on your tank's skills. Warriors are the best single target tanks, and the worst tanks for large groups of mobs. If you're dealing with four un-CC'd mobs, be prepared to Fade early to help your Warrior out.
Paladins on the other hand excel at AoE tanking, due to how they're built. You can go nuts almost immediately no matter how many mobs they pull. Hell, I had one recently tank three Botanica pulls at the same time and hold all of them. It was pretty rough keeping him alive through that much damage, but no other class can hold that many mobs at once.
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10-01-2007 @ 9:18AM
ThorinII said...
"you can easily get to level 70 without ever joining a party"
Easy? You call that easy? It can be done, but I wouldn't call it easy!
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10-01-2007 @ 9:48AM
Greta said...
@3, The pally taunt is not AOE, but you do target a group member so they don't necessarily need to be close to you. But if the healer is getting hit and the taunt is on cool down, it's not a bad idea to run to the tank anyway.
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10-01-2007 @ 10:01AM
Alex said...
@6, you really need a clue. You're just completely wrong - it's bad healers like you that make tanks look bad. If you do that on almost any raid encounter, you are going to kill 25 people (thankfully yourself first so you won't have the opportunity to continue doing dumb stuff).
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10-01-2007 @ 10:29AM
vern said...
The renew on tank at pull works if you stay far enough from the tank not to go into combat.
So usually not a boss fight.If you're not in combat, you are not on the threat table of the mobs and you're still healing. I don't like too much renews or Prayer of Mending. You can not dismiss renews if you get aggro: it is still ticking, building up threat, even if you fade. HOTs can totally fuck up the Hydross fight and any fight involving an aggro wipe. POM can also be evil. Cast a POM around you during the Tidewalker fight and you will get people
killed by murlocs. When I am evil, I cast POM on people during the marshalls pull in AV (oh yeah when folks let the priest being ganked alone by a rogue, i can be very pissed).
I don't believe in threat meters (Omen or KTM), I don't have the time to look at other bars than the health bars i am already watching. The godly mod for a priest is Deadly Bosses Mods. Set a particular sound and make sure a warning will be displayed in the middle of the screen. When the threat alert pops up fade immediately and hands up from the keyboard. Do nothing, unless you really have to (dying MTs) and then resume healing at the end of the fade, but not too strong until the fade cool down is back = you have your safety net back.
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10-01-2007 @ 10:43AM
unchi said...
Protip #2 (#1 being renewing before a pull)
Throw a shield on the tank before they pull to slow rage!
Since we were covering basics another might be "do not FEAR a mob off you when you draw aggro"
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