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Relatively new to tanking. I've been doing OK, Gotten a commendation for every beginner dungeon I've participated in, but I'm looking to improve if I can.
I specifically wanted to ask, in your opinion, which is better for the tank to concentrate on in boss fights, keep at the boss or, go after the adds? Or does it vary according to the exact situation? Any advice you could give would be appreciated.
i too have the same question
When i tank i just roll my face on the keyboard and whatever i hit first is waht i tank. Seems to work
But i think the answer is ... It depends on the adds/boss/team makeup. Some adds in earlier dungeons i was able to tank along with the boss, while others it was just focus on the boss
it all depends on the dungeon. in copperbell, the adds are ignored and healer gets to cast medica or just cure spells. in the first boss of the sunken temple of qarn, the adds are 2 bees that have an insta-kill move that is their death, final sting. if someone other than the tank gets hit with it, its usually foloowed by their immediate death.
In most boss fights it seems the boss itself is the main priority for tanking. If you can manage to pick up aggro on the adds as well without losing your aggro on the boss, then great. But most of the time the DPS characters can take care of the adds ok on their own if you don't get to them. That's just a general rule of thumb, though, and it may vary in specific fights.
My highest tank is a 28 GLD. This is primarily from the viewpoint of a DPS (lvl 42 BRD) and occasional healer (lvl 45 SCH).
It more or less depends. In some fights, like Copperbell, the adds don't have aggro tables (attacking only the rock, or the dps, etc) or they're designed to be tanked by the DPS. It really boils down to the mechanics for each dungeon and fight.
In general, you will want to grab the adds when you can. Keep an eye on the enmity bar to see how much give you have. Many bosses will spawn adds after a short while. You will have had time to build up a lot of enmity and if you have a comfortable lead compared to the other dps, you can devote more time to the adds, although 2 flashes and a halone usually will keep them on you until they die. I guarantee you that most dps players will focus down the adds first unless the boss is at 10% hp or less. If you're running a dungeon for the first time, ask and players will tell you whether you should avoid the adds or grab them.
I think it depends on the boss, and the players that are with you. There are some bosses who become invulnerable during an add spawn, so that one is pretty obvious. Before a boss fight begins I will usually ask they want me to tank the adds or stay with the boss. Also if its a full party, then talk with the other tank and set it up before hand who is doing what to avoid confusion.
You should work on grabbing adds in almost every fight. Typically adds don't spawn for a while into a fight so you have hate already built up and DPS will ideally be dogpiling the adds so you don't have to worry about them pulling hate on the boss. Your healer will be fine unless they are overhealing or AOE spamming which is only necessary in a handful of fights.
Grabbing the adds just makes things less stressful overall. It means the melee DPS don't have to worry about bouncing hate and can hit the enemies' backs and sides to improve their DPS, it's less damage that the more fragile ranged DPS would otherwise be taking, and one person taking higher damage is a lot easier on healers than 2 people taking moderate damage. The more people on adds means they die quicker as well.
Even more important is that it will help you practice spiking hate on freshly-spawned targets and improve your reaction time to things spawning which is incredibly useful in endgame stuff as a tank.
Off the top of my head, the only exceptions pre-50 have been Copperbell mines for the aforementioned reason and the Sunken Temple of Qarn final boss. The qarn boss spawns adds that must be killed on tiny floor areas and tanking both them and the boss will just tend to make the boss push the adds out of the way and off the pads where they need to die.
Post-50 there are a few dungeons where some adds will be hate-ignoring and will keep attacking a target that you may or may not be able to change, and if it's the latter typically you are better off not worrying about them.
As has been said, it depends on the dungeon but usually yes - grab the adds.
To the exceptions that have already been said, I'll add the first boss of Cutter's Cry. The 'standard' tactic is for the healer to kite the adds but please discuss this with your healer beforehand.
Grab adds if you can but as others have said it only matters in certain situations.