Provoke Mechanics

OK, sorry if this has been posted somewhere else, but does anyone know how Provoke works?

As far as I can tell, it puts you at the top of your party's aggro "list" (I know it doesn't work outside of dungeons, like in Fates for example), just above whoever was at the top before you cast it, but if you don't do anything to follow up (like a shield or axe throw) you're likely to lose aggro since whoever was at the top of the list is likely to keep gaining aggro.

But...how does it work, really? I don't have much experience using it, but from conversations with tanks and watching them try to switch off aggro during Turn 2, it doesn't work exactly like I described above. Or is that how it works and something is just going wrong or being overlooked/missed?

It gives you the same enmity as the person on top +1 point of enmity, maybe a little more.
What the tanks do in turn 2, is they set up a BB/RoH combo, then after they provoke they use a combo'd S
SS/BB or SB/RoH to maintain a lead of agro.

It's like you said, it gives you the same aggro as the person who has it +1 aggro point. That's why if you do nothing to get more aggro after Provoke, you'll lose it right away. If the tank dies and gets raised, if the provoke then do their combos, they'll get aggro back right away.

A good idea is to provoke then shield bash it to keep it from running to the person with hate. It will give you enough time to do a hate combo before it wears off. Of course this only works on mobs not immune to stun.

It is vital for an aggro switch that the first tank completely stops doing anything. If that is done with clear communication you can take and hold aggro from them with a single fast blade/heavy swing. It essentially resets the aggro gap between the tanks back to 0, like the start of the fight and any attack from either has the same effect as the opening attack. Issues will only arise if they end up fighting over aggro.

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Originally Posted by PArcher

But...how does it work, really? I don't have much experience using it, but from conversations with tanks and watching them try to switch off aggro during Turn 2, it doesn't work exactly like I described above.

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Provoke puts your hate level at JUST above the person who is currently on top of the enmity list. This is why it's great for getting back into the fight after being raised.
As soon as the person who was previously on top of the hate list does an autoattack or even uses a buff, they will be put ahead again - so you need to start generating enmity very quickly after using Provoke.

Standard operating procedure on Turn 2 is to wait until the other tank has 4 stacks of the debuff on him, then Provoke and immediately use a combo'ed Fast Blade -> Savage Blade -> Rage of Halone combo (or the WAR equivalent) to get sufficient hate over the previous tank for them to autoattack again and switch to a less-enmity-generating rotation. It helps if you have the first part of that combo pre-queued (Fast Blade) so that you can firmly establish hate within the span of one GCD.

I guess we were just overthinking things.

Thanks for the clarifications :)