Warrior defensive rotations with CDs please

[Bloodclaw]

I apparently have been sent for a loop since 2.1 and am having trouble figuring out decent rotations in combination with CDs.

Could someone please help me in figuring things out?

Thanks-
Bloodclaw

[Kyros]

I can't recommend doing rotations because Tanks are much more of a prediction/reaction job than an upkeep job. Having the perfect rotation to have a buff up 100% of the time is not really going to do better than learning each enemy's pattern or your own groups quirks. Doing a rotation will end with you "wasting" cd's and not having them up when you really need them.

The basic Idea should be splitting your CD's via timers/efficacy. Pop the lesser cooldowns often, and the big guns on stuff that hurts or when you are in danger. On WAR, your lesser cooldowns are: Foresight, Fleetfoot, Awareness, Bloodbath and Convalescence. Your big guns are Vengeance and Thrill of battle.

IB is an exception. If the enemy has an easily-predicted attack, you should time it with it. If it doesn't, just spam it as soon as it's available. Keep Storm's Path up all the time.

[samircury]

Basically I keep SP debuff up and pop IB before any major dmg like Death Sentence or Montain Brust, I only use vengence or thrill of battle if for some reason i cant comb IB+SP or when i have some healing/life debuffs, on garuda ex fight to hold the double wreck wheel dmg u need to combo IB+SP+vengence.

think this is it, it changes fight to fight

btw sorry for a poor english this is not my first language

[SpookyGhost]

Keep SP up all the time.

IB for scripted huge hits - if they don't exist just use it on cooldown (see: T1, T2, etc.).

Foresight + Bloodbath + Featherfoot are all 90s cooldown so I just pop all of them initially between GCDs. Vengeance is good for moments of high burst damage or mitigating a big hit when your healers are getting MP starved (best paired with IB for 6s of huge mitigation). Conv still works the same, Thrill still works the same, pair 'em together if you need to for an extremely powerful CD.

Thassit.

[Skaenryss]

I have my Bloodbath and Berserk tied together on a macro, and another one with Foresight and Featherfall. They all have the same CD, so I just pop em when they're ready. My macro is good and they always go off one after another. Everything else is individually pressed. I tried weaving my buffs in one at a time, but found it to be a pain in the ass. Is there any real benefit?

[Alwryn]

Remember the theory of relevant mitigation.

It's not about how much damage you mitigate over the course of a fight that decides the outcome, it's survival. Every fight that could be called difficult has burst mechanics, wheelx2, MB, DS, incinerate spam, etc. These burst mechanics can kill even the best geared tanks, an unmitigated DS + auto can take me from full to zero in less then a second.

So the point is, just don't spam defensive cooldowns, know the fight and use them at the proper times.

[Skaenryss]

So the point is, just don't spam defensive cooldowns, know the fight and use them at the proper times.

Kk, thank you. I'm getting to that point, but I have to keep practicing. Just this weekend, though, my tanking improved big time.

[Marxam]

Always have Inner Beast up before big hits and from there pick one or two of your defensive cool downs. I macro Foresight and Featherfoot, Vengeance and Convalesence, together because they both have the same cool down and allows me to have four skills in two slots. I can spam them together or after the cd wears off. Either way they both work hand in hand and can help you in a pinch.

[Nalou]

I make a rotation with the lesser cooldowns, namely: foresight, bloodbath, featherfoot, awareness (or) mantra. Their uptime and cooldown give me a defensive buff about 100% of the time.
(I skip Mantra if I want Flash or Internal release abilities)


I don't think any of these cooldowns will save me from death, they are too weak or too random. I also cannot see any appropriate time to use them during fights. I'd better pop Inner Beast, Vengeance, Convalescence or even lolmgang to save my ass or recover from a bad hit.

In fact, I noticed I was pretty much ignoring these weaker cooldowns, because it was tedious to think about when to use them, or which one to pick. So I made a macro with all these 5 cooldowns in, and when a buff goes down, I press the macro again to get the next one. This way, I don't have much to think about them and I almost always have a basic defensive buff, and I use them on cooldown, so I don't waste their slight buff effect.


In fact, I see these skills as the shield of the warrior: won't save my life, but I'm happy to have one on me.

[Darksword]

I use 2 defensive macros. I call them "Oh Crap! Level ONE" and "Oh crap! Level TWO!"

Level one is:

Thrill of Battle
Vengeance
Convalescense

This is a fantastic macro. You instantly heal 1000+ HP, get higher max HP, take 30% less damage, and are healed for a lot more for several seconds. This is my Diffraction Laser / Cad just hit 6 stacks / I just pulled half the dungeon macro.

Level two is:

Second Wind
Foresight
Featherfoot
Bloodbath
Inner Beast (if up)

This one gives you a minor heal and then stacks a bunch of your little buffs, topping it off with an IB for good measure. This is my GP defense macro, or what I pop if level one in still on CD and I'm getting tagged hard. Follows nicely into Berserk and Overpower spam on large groups of trash.

Aside from that, just always keep Storm's Path up and blow Inner Beast on cooldown.