Tips for Dungeoneering: DPS

[TackyCat]

1. Wait for the tank to grab all around enmity

Especially if your tank is a Paladin. About 5-10 seconds. A good cue to start attacking is when the healer starts to heal.

2. Focus fire on tank's primary target

Good tanks will always mark. If you come across ones who don't mark. It means they are that bad-ass or just bad. Usually the latter. In that case, after you have waited, click on tank to see its current target, then target that target.

Tanks have to build all around enmity in the initial pull, so the first creature they attack may not be the primary target. This is also why we wait.

[TackyCat]

3. Manage enmity

Don't just keep attacking when your enmity light is about to go red (next to hostile creature list). Either stop attacking all together, or cycle through targets that are green to let the tank catch up. Resume attacking the primary target, when the light goes yellow, or if it is about to die in few moves.

If your tank is a Paladin, other mobs will usually be cc'ed, and most of the time, they don't have enough enmity built up in other targets, so just stop. If your tank is a Warrior, you should be able to cycle through targets no problem.

[TackyCat]

4. Fill in the gaps

Sometimes your tank sucks, or you have a bad pull. It happens. When healer pulls aggro, be ready to off tank. If you see the tank reacting immediately, carry on. Sometimes they are oblivious, and while the healer is too busy healing himself, the tank's wondering why he's not getting heals. Sometimes they expect White Mages to put'em to sleep, while the healer is juggling priorities in healing. That's just lazy tanking.

You have to fill in the gaps. Protecting the healer takes priority over dps. As soon as you peel it off the healer, go back to attacking the primary target while leading them back to the tank. If you have any defensive skills, this is the time to pop them.

Closing Note

You meet a bad tank, deal with it, change it up, and make it work. That's your true role in the group.