Tanking Turn 4

[Pesmergia]

Any tips for a tank stepping into Turn 4 tonight? ilvl 79.

Don't wait to see the mobs when you go to grab them. Go by the spawn agro list (defaults to the bottom left on your screen).

That list shows the mobs before you can see them, and will save you an extra GCD.

[NavocSkjold]

This is all excellent advice!!! Thank you all. Hopefully we down it later this week and I can post a victory kill!

Love the community.

[Traek]

Thanks for the input, I'll tell my healers to stay closer to me when P5/6 starts (im usually in the middle and the healers are more to the edges). I'll save Fight or Flight for that part too (at least I wont use it on P4) to generate more threat.

Ya, this sounds like your main issue. Healers should generally be on the back of the Dread (again sometimes depends on strat), or at least in the same area to have mobs easily gathered for tank. Running around tab targeting and trying to keep things in range simply won't work out well for just about anyone. Lol We keep our DPS and healers pretty organized in their positioning, and it makes for a very smooth fight.

It's not that I NEED to use Cover on that part, I just find it easier to Cover the aggroed healer. I almost never use Cover, might as well use it at least once in my game life =P

Sorry if I came off snappy, I didn't mean it that way. I think using cover is actually smart if the situation arises, its just the situation arising usually means someone did something wrong to begin with. This might not even be you, but poor positioning like we are mentioning, leading to terrible tank threat gen and healers getting pummeled till the tank can pull out ahead.

Anyways, good luck on your group's T4, its a pretty fun fight once you get things rolling.

[Maelwys]

P5 - MT stand at 2 o'clock; OT stand at centre, aggro Soliders/knight, move to clear location so aoe won't hit the group/ or the group move away from you (common sense dictates how you will move)

P6 - MT stand at 2 o'clock; OT stand at centre, aggro Solider/knight+2spiders ONLY (Hallowed Ground, then rotate defensive cooldowns, run along the edge and kite them until only ONE dreadnaught remaining)

IMO those are the two phases that make or break a T4 run.

For P5, picking up aggro is usually straightforward enough, RoH combo on the nearest knight/soldier, shield lob the second. Then rotate your aggro combo on them whilst moving a little SouthEast
If there are still spiders left do NOT keep flashing as the reflective stoneskin from the knight will cause your Flash to damage you.

P6 picking up aggro requires practice and a lot of people have their own method of doing it - it also depends on the P5 kill order.

Personally, usually I'll start by using a raw RoH on the first (MIDDLE) soldier/knight, then shield lob the one that spawns to the south, and immediately pop Tempered Will (to prevent Soldier/Knight pullbacks).
Finally I'll Shield Lob a spider (if we're not feeding them) and THEN I'll pop Hallowed ground and start Flashing whilst dragging everything South East.

I'll Hallowed Ground here for two reasons:
(i) so both Healers can focus on the Dreadnought Tank for ten seconds
(ii) so I can use flash to pick up aggro from everything without eating reflective damage from the Knight's Stoneskin.

(Also... If we're killing the P5 Dreadnought first and I still have an old Soldier/Knight from P5 on me, it's VERY handy to take no damage for a while here whilst trying to build aggro on stuff)

In order to grab the second spider (if we're not feeding them) I'll use Provoke --> Shield Lob after I've Hallowed Grounded and Flashed the soldier/knight/spider at least twice. The healers can put up with being hit by a single spider for a few GCDs, and I REALLY want to get solid aggro on the new Soldier/Knight and drag them out of PBAoE range of the rest of the party ASAP.

The P6 Spinner Rook is nearly always focussed and killed by a DPS, whether via kiting or via use of a limit break.

I'll usually not kite everything about after I've pulled it, because I'm a little overgeared and we usually have at least one melee on the team... but it's certainly possible for a tank to take a lot less damage via careful kiting. Just be wary of the Soldier/Knight "pullback" abilities.

Assuming the P6 pull goes well, it's usually a clear run.

[Kuwagami]

If there are still spiders left do NOT keep flashing as the reflective stoneskin from the knight will cause your Flash to damage you.

Wait.. What ? Never seen that happening, even when I was spamming flash on P2. Flash is a non-damaging ability, thus should not be affected by the miror effect

[Maelwys]

Wait.. What ? Never seen that happening, even when I was spamming flash on P2. Flash is a non-damaging ability, thus should not be affected by the miror effect

PLD version of flash inflicts Blind, and results in the PLD taking approx 700-800 damage from the Knight Stoneskin.

[Kuwagami]

PLD version of flash inflicts Blind, and results in the PLD taking approx 700-800 damage from the Knight Stoneskin.

urgh, good time to be a WAR

[Judge_Xero]

For my group

P5 MT picks up the dread OT takes the Knight and Soldier and the group DPS them down. Then moves to the Dread. Healers stand to the west of the Dread.
P6 MT grabs the 2nd Dread with a combo RoH and holds it where it lands. OT grabs the Soldier and Knight. Melee DPS LB the Rook. The spiders will run to the healers and the 2nd Dread will eat them. All other DPS stay on the 1st Dread while MT pops Hallowed. When 1st Dread is down move to Knight Soldier and then 2nd Dread.

[Asdamine]

If there are still spiders left do NOT keep flashing as the reflective stoneskin from the knight will cause your Flash to damage you.

I have to admit, that is news to me. Thanks!

(You made me feel like a noob now... lol)

I'll usually not kite everything about after I've pulled it, because I'm a little overgeared and we usually have at least one melee on the team... but it's certainly possible for a tank to take a lot less damage via careful kiting. Just be wary of the Soldier/Knight "pullback" abilities.

I usually kite regardless how over gear the group (or myself) is. Mainly because I want to help lessen the burden on the healers.

There is a skill (for paladin) that makes you immune to pull-back/knock-back for a couple of seconds (forgot the name) and I always reserve that for P6 and use it frequently.

I usually stop kiting when I see P5 dread and P6 rook are dead, then it is pretty much GG at that point.

Edit: Ah, "Tempered Will", just re-read your post and saw it.

[Braxton]

We do P6 a little different, our smn throws Titan on the rook and they burn it down, then we LB the knight, soldier, old dread then new dread. Finishing waaaay before level enrage happens.

I never understand why people kite, if tanks manage their CDs properly and your DPS is somewhat decent, mobs don't live that long