Tank in World of Warcraft

Are you a Warrior or Paladin who doesn't know how to tank for a group? Here's a guide on how to tank.

Steps

  1. FOR WARRIORS: Probably the most important thing to mention for warriors is to use a shield, it increases armor by a lot and many defensive stance abilities require it. And make sure that you're going into protection.
  2. Speaking of defensive stance, it's probably a good idea to use it unless you are very experienced and know a way to make a different stance work.
  3. In situations where you're trying to build up tons of threat on something and trying to lower damage taken (maybe there's a weak healer or the healer is low on mana) then the best option is to use shield block and then back it up with revenge. I used to think of this combo as rather useless but it has worked wonders for me in sunken temple. Just shield block and wait for revenge to activate, use revenge and wait for shield block to cool. Not only are you blocking (depending on the attack speed of the boss) 10-30% of the damage he deals overall, you're also skyrocketing yourself into the number one position and way beyond on the threat meter.
  4. If things get too thorny in the way of split threat, then just challenging shout, activate sweeping strikes (If available) and spam thunderclap and cleave like your life depends on it (it probably does!)
  5. Remember battle shout. It is so useful, yet so many people completely forget about that little button there; ten rage for a lot of attack power. It can mean the difference between 5 kills a minute and 5 minutes a kill.
    • Shoot for 490 defense for it is when you become UN-CRITABLE by npc's mind you your still critical in pvp but when you doing dungeons and raids 490 defense is a must!
  6. Always keep 3 sunders up and remember to use demoralizing shout and thunderclap when they are running low its key to keep all your debuffs on the bosses especially when in heroic modes and end game content
  7. Stamina is also a HUGE factor get as much stamina as possible so that you are able to take more hits before you die giving your healer more time to get that heal off!
  8. When tanking at 70 focus on faction rep with the outland factions they offer some of the best tank gear available before end game raid dungeons at exalted for gold instead of having the headache of getting a drop there a guaranteed items that will truly improve your game
  9. Get proper equipment for paladins. Get stam. str. or spell damage gear make sure you stack Def as well. Have a shield so that all of your Prot abilities to gain aggro and deal back damage can work.
  10. Seals are your friend. Paladins have a move that makes spell damage cause additional threat, this is the backbone of paladin tanking.
  11. Release a seal on the target ( Seal of wisdom or seal of light) this will help you in battle and your party when fighting an opponent.
  12. Judge Seal of Righteousness as much as possible since your righteous fury give all holy spells more threat try to build up your aggro by using it. In between judgment cool-downs have Righteousness up so your attacks gain more threat. If you are alliance, use Seal of Vengeance, not SoR.
  13. Keep your blessings up. The only advantage you have over a warrior in low level instances as a tank is group buffs. Always make sure to bless your entire group. Bless yourself then your group. When you see your blessing is about to wear off re-bless yourself then your group (there will be almost done as well.
  14. If steps are followed you will not need to use righteous defense to often, but use it like a taunt, targeting the group member then using it. (Target of target option helps)
  15. DON'T BUBBLE. When you bubble the mob your on could potentially kill anyone who has aggro. Since you assumed the role of a tank you have to rely on others for heals in order for you to conserve mana to keep tanking. You should save bubbles for wipe prevention

Tips

  • FOR MORE EXPERIENCED PLAYERS:
  • For groups with priests, you usually don't have to worry about it if the priests gets a little more Threat than you do. They can usually fade and their Threat will be reduced Substantially. allowing the monster to run back to you. which in most cases the monster stops attacking the priest all together. But if they get a lot more Threat, it is a wise idea to take full attention to try to get the monster off of the priest.
  • Warriors who Spend all their talent points in arms (Talent points can be read about on the worldofwarcraft.com website Here: (http://worldofwarcraft.com/info/basics/talents.html) will get a move at about level 30 called Sweeping strikes. This, combined with the move Cleave, can do the following Vs. Two Enemies: Even though you are only hitting one enemy, it's like your hitting both, and your hitting each for double damage.
    • 30+ only* If an enemy is running away to get some friends like they often do, if you have the wits, you can QUICKLY convert to berserker stance and use intercept, rushing towards them and dazing them for quite a while, long enough to finish them off.
    • 32+ only* When in PvP, or fighting a boss that is likely to use Fear, it is a wise idea to use Berserker rage, which makes you immune to Fear and all movement impairing/stunning effects. this is also good for running away from hunters, Warriors, Warlocks, you name it.

Warnings

  • Attempting to tank Out of bear form/without a shield will almost never work. Always get a shield before you even consider Trying to tank (although if you know what you're doing you can probably get away with it at lower levels).
  • If the proper tanking procedure is not followed during a fight, you will often either get kicked or cause the group to wipe/half-wipe.
  • If the priests/healer dies during a big battle, your in some pretty deep kimchi.
  • A powerful mage/warlock with some nice equipment is the most preferable solution when attempting to fight a boss like Archmage Arugal because he tends to teleport around, making it VERY hard to keep his attention on you(The Tank). his Shadow spells are really bad if you have a weak healer And even fighting Archmage Arugal is putting you at a high risk of dying, since he is one of the hardest lower level instance bosses in the game.**Patch 2.3 Nerfed him like hell and now he is at par with all other instance bosses of that level**

Things You'll Need

  • A warrior/Paladin level 17+

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Sources and Citations

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