I'm new at tanking/mmo rpg's in general

So I was hoping for pointers on holding agro. I'm a level 32 worrier and I'm tired of doing it wrong. So any one out there want to help? If you have in pointers on techniques let me know, or is it just normal to be bashed on doing the tank role?

Hi,

When you pull trash mobs, pull them in with Tomahawk, then hold them in place with Overpower. Do turn on your Defiance as well if you aren't already doing that, that gives enmity modifier bonus to all your weapon skills. Your basic aggro rotation is Heavy Swing -> Skull Sunder -> Butcher's Block for single target aggro. The key thing to do is you have to maintain aggro on every mob that you have pulled. Healing generates universal aggro, so if you don't keep those other non-primary mobs aggro'ed from time to time, they'll run off towards your healer.

Other than that, mark your targets, so DPS don't focus different targets.

I won't go into class mechanics but that's the basics of keeping aggro. Good luck, and do let me know if you need further elaboration.

Thanks :) i do ok tell boss battles in instances then I just fall apart plus I'm on a ps3 so marking targets is pretty rough maybe I should go out and practice on lady bugs... Lol

Marking on PS3 is only slightly more difficult than when using a Keyboard, the key is practice, practice, practice. Put the mark 1,2,3 etc on your second or 3rd hotbar and practice using it. You'll need to get used to switching between multiple hotbars if you want to be good at your class at Level 50. Anyway good luck mate and don't give up.

If it seems like any one is flaming you, do your best to pick through the anger and get something useful out of it. It's gonna happen, for sure, but as long as you try get better you'll be fine.

butcher's block w/o combo have eminity as well.

The additional enmity / aggro moves I think generate the most aggro in ascending order (might be wrong)

Skull Sunder out of a combo
Tomahawk
Butcher's Block out of a combo
Overpower
Skull Sunder in a combo
Butcher's Block in a combo

(Don't know where Steel Cyclone fits in all this actually)

I didn't understand this when I first started tanking and new to 2.0. As a gladiator, I would repeatedly use Shield Lob on targets. Or I would only Flash once. And sometimes I would let the ranged pull, because I thought I could easily recover from it like in other games.

Having a weapon that is within 3 levels of you will also help significantly. If you are on the lower level range of a dungeon e.g. if you are 32 with an older weapon and your teammates are 35, using levxel 35 quality weapons, they may easily snatch aggro away at this point.

I suppose a lot of factors. But the folks above advice should work. You'll mainly want to make sure the healers don't overtake you in aggro. Then it's a matter of finding some agreement with the DPS. Spoken or unspoken.

I few other common mistakes I see from new players:
- Keep your weapon updated! (If it's 5+ levels below the DPS players then they may overwhelm you with aggro)
- Never use provoke when you already have aggro (this is more common to players from other MMO's)
- If a mob is close to death (or even half if your far ahead in threat), start dumping threat/enmity into another target

Contact me in-game later today. I'll help you out.

Thanks for the feed back guys. :)

This site has very interesting information:

http://www.daevaofwar.net/index.php?...sjob-analysis/

Well if you're a 32 worrier, you need to relax. All joking aside, tanking requires some pretty thick skin sometimes. You will always be the first one getting a finger pointed at you, even if things go perfectly. You alone are usually expected to lead runs, to mark if needed, to tank while doing so, and to make it all look easy. Watching videos of non-speed runs of dungeons will help you learn pull mechanics, as well as pull placement. PLD/GLA have the slight advantage of Flash being their primary AOE emnity puller being full radial, while Warrior has a front conal. Since you are of level, I would reccomend running Haukke Manor often,it will let you be near your true level, and have access up to Butcher's Block. Also you can use Brutal Swing between combo hits and not lose your combo. For tanking before 50, usually you can completely ignore Fracture, the emnity it produces is quite low. Stick with BB (Butcher's Block) combo, hitting your primary target with Heavy Swing, tab/swap to second target, hit it with Skull Sunder, tab to first target, hit it with Butcher's Block, then overpower to keep everything on you.

Tanking for noobs.

1. Most DPS are bad and will blow every CD on a mob you are not hitting.
2. Marking targets help, but (idiot bardtards) some dps will still do this.
3. Let bad dps die.
4. If a range tries to run away from aggro then let him/her die. They should run to you.
5. Healers can be douchey so don't hesitate to drop a group.
6. Avoid Braylox, Vale, and Qarn in Duty finder..trust me.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Anienai

Tanking for noobs.

1. Most DPS are bad and will blow every CD on a mob you are not hitting.
2. Marking targets help, but (idiot bardtards) some dps will still do this.
3. Let bad dps die.
4. If a range tries to run away from aggro then let him/her die. They should run to you.
5. Healers can be douchey so don't hesitate to drop a group.
6. Avoid Braylox, Vale, and Qarn in Duty finder..trust me.

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These days on my server, it's more of bad tanks than bad DPS for under 50 dungeons..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ooshima

These days on my server, it's more of bad tanks than bad DPS for under 50 dungeons..

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So it is the least played role over the most played?

Understood.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Anienai

So it is the least played role over the most played?

Understood.

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I don't see the link. My comment was made with reference to yours.

Tanking for noobs.

1. Most DPS are bad and will blow every CD on a mob you are not hitting.
2. Marking targets help, but (idiot bardtards) some dps will still do this.
==> Marking targets help mostly, yes there will be one or two stupid DPS that hits otherwise, but generally it is a non-issue if you know how to hold group aggro. One or 2 mobs may run to your BLM if it drags.

5. Healers can be douchey so don't hesitate to drop a group.
6. Avoid Braylox, Vale, and Qarn in Duty finder..trust me.
==> These dungeons are actually great learning lessons for tanking. Telling "n00b"/new tanks to avoid them and drop because people can be douchy, how on earth does these tanks learn?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Anienai

Tanking for noobs.

6. Avoid Braylox, Vale, and Qarn in Duty finder..trust me.

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Brayflox and Qarn are fun dungeon and a good learning ground for new tank and should never be avoided, I have tank both on my still levelling WAR a number of times and both dungeons are not hard to tank.

Thanks! I have not played for about two months but I'm getting back into it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Codek

I few other common mistakes I see from new players:
- Keep your weapon updated! (If it's 5+ levels below the DPS players then they may overwhelm you with aggro)
- Never use provoke when you already have aggro (this is more common to players from other MMO's)
- If a mob is close to death (or even half if your far ahead in threat), start dumping threat/enmity into another target

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2nd bullet point is very helpful to know (coming from a FFXI player)...

Here's what works for me. I don't think I ever lose aggro unless I'm spacing out and forget to do something.

One Mob:
Tomahawk (or if doing a long pull to get it away from other mobs, use provoke, then tomahawk once in range).
Generally you can just go into BB combo.


Two Mobs, with two more more mobs, I'll start splitting SS and BB apart. Remember both skull sunder and butcher's block have increased emnity, but they don't necessarily have to go to the same target, so long as they're just done in the same combo.
Open with 2x Overpower or one steel cyclone.
Hit Mob one with HS=>SS
Hit Mob two with BB=>HS=>SS
Hit Mob ones BB=>HS=>SS=>BB etc
now do whatever the heck you want, or repeat cycle your aggro combo around between the two if you don't feel comfident in your aggro generation.

Three Mobs
Steel Cycle => Overpower
Hit Mob one with HS=>SS
Hit Mob two with BB=>HS=>SS
Hit Mob three with BB=>HS=>SS
HIt Mob one with BB
and then do whatever

same works for 4 mobs.

If your DPS are OP for your gear, throw an extra overpower in at the beginning.
If your having trouble maintaining aggro, mark the mobs, and do a full combo on the first one, the go into splitting your combo to cement your emnity on the rest.
If you lose aggro, immediately provoke => Tomahawk and hten do a full combo on the mob when it comes back to you.

around 5 or more mobs, I'm assuming your doing a big pull.
Blood Bath => Steel Cyclone
Vengeance => Over power
Berserk => Over power
Dat Crit Buff you get from Monk =>Overpower
and then just keep overpowering and putting in CD's inbetween as you see fit.

alternatively you can used unchanged instead of steel cyclone to get a little more juice out the first few overpowers.


Finally, in my experience, flash seems to generate less emnity then overpower and definitely less then steel cyclone. Also on war, you don't get enhanced flash and thus no blind benefit from it. Additionally, flash is really boring, (and it kinda feels like there's a slight delay then compared with Overpower, but maybe thats just me). Basically, Flash is a backup for if your out of TP. Once your geared, confident in your rotations, and not really worried about TP though, you don't actually need flash (I mean you can still use if it if you want, I know alot of wars that use it anyway). I don't even have flash on my bar anymore, I just don't ever need it to hold aggro.