Let's share some Tanking Tips and Tricks!

[Kaerun]

Love tanking?
Let's share some useful tips and tricks with eachother!

I'll start!

Stunning

See those big red circles and marks on the floor when fighting a mob?
The big baddie is about to unleash hell on you, but then suddenly *BANG* a shield to his face.

Most of the time everybody runs out of the way before getting hit, but in some situations you just can't avoid the skill.
Here's where stuns come in handy.

An example:
Handmaidens in Haukke Manor, everytime you engage them they WILL do a nasty AOE and it's quite hard to run away from it.
The use a of stunability at the start of the battle will make these mobs a joke.

*please note that certain skills from mobs (mostly bosses) can't be stunned*

[Kaerun]

Stunning Abilities:

Gladiator/Paladin
Gladiators/paladin have this amazing skill called Shield Bash which have an amazing short recast of only 6 seconds

Marauder/Warrior
MRDs and WARs get Brutal Swing, sadly it has a recast of 30 seconds, which is quite long compared to the GLA/PLD stun.

As someone who plays a lot of different jobs and classes I can really recommend putting your stun on the same hotbar key that's easy to reach for you, that way things will become automatic and you won't even have to think about it.

Remember Stunning is teamplay:
Don't hesitate to ask your DPS to use stuns when you're on the cooldown timer.
LNC/DRG's have Leg Sweep and PUG/MNKs have Steel Peak

Hope this helps for you!

[Runalong]

More general tips I'm learned from tanking/healing in WoW for a years...

1) Look after your healer!
2) Mark mobs to help dps focus damage
3) Learn how other classes work and their abilities so you can make the most out of them

[Kryzen]

You should always be one step ahead of your DPS. As they are about to finish a mob you should be jumping to the second one to start building threat on it before your DPS begin to beat the piss out of it. This will also make your assists run much smoother.

[Tomba]

Use the "hate/enmity" window above your chat window to make it easier to target a specific target. It is a great parameter than shows when a mob is about to attack another target. Then simply click (Don't know what you ps3 guys will do) on that mob on the window and you will target it right away, ready to make it hate you again!

[BedroomRockstar01]

I've mainly been running as GLD, but I've also done a couple runs as MRD. Threat has been a nonissue for me. Stick to you standard rotation, every 1-2 cycles, toss a flash as needed to keep extras from peeling off to the healer. Like others have said, stay ahead of the dps.

#1 and really the only rule that matters: Situational Awareness. This applies to every class in all MMOs, but especially to tanks. Don't get tunnel vision. Keep an eye on the corners, watch for patrols, keep your mobs facing away from the group (especially with cleave attacks), watch for stun timers, rotate your cooldowns, etc. Don't be afraid to be in charge. Most groups expect you to be the leader by default anyways. You're the one pulling trash and leading the way. Read up on the dungeons beforehand if the info is available. If no one else in the group knows what is going on, you need to be the one to tell them, because you'll be the first one eating it if the others don't know the fights.

[Kryzen]

Let your DPS perish if they dont want to assist/follow your markers! That'll teach em

[NarcissitInChains]

My experience with the aggro issue aside form the formulas and such is mostly group etiquette more than anything the lack of awareness on the dps's part. The threat icons are pretty straight forward. I posted this in another forum and these few macros greatly improved my experience in groups that I am forced to pug with.

There are always those who don't know how to conduct themselves in a group and this game is no different. So this first macro is the grouping 101 warning. I found that this combined with my "You f*ing idiot" macro have greatly improved pugging etiquette.

Method to my madness: I mark the target I pull and blast it for good aggro then flash and cycle through the rest of the mobs to build the aggro so that when mob 1 dies everyone can go ape shit. It's worked rather well for me thus far in my short 22 levels of playing a tank

SOCIAL MACROS

This is How I roll in Group - Macro 1

/party There is a threat indicator learn to use it and heed it. The targets will be marked with a 1. If you pull aggro on an unmarked mob and are not a healer, you will tank it and likely die. I don't care nor will I loose sleep over your stupidity. TY!

F*ing Idiot - Macro 2
Of course there is always the numbskull who despite my polite intro warning decides he wants to dps the mob that is usually lowest on my threat sequence. the <t> is totally optional but me personally if your that dumb I'll call you out on it. He gets this macro:

/party Congratulations you are a moron <t>. Hit the marked mobs or enjoy the run back.

MY TANKING MACROS

Pull Macro I bind this to my mouse button.

/ac "Fight or Flight" <me>
/ac "Fast Blade" <t>
/ac "Shield Lob" <t>

Mark Marcro - should have one and mine has some announcement along the lines of "Hit the BIG 1 while I grab aggro on the others." I just used the macro already built in and added the chatter.

Defensive Cool Down Macro
As I leveled I added the cool downs into the macro as I got the cross abilities. I got PUG 8, MRD 4, LNC 6 (I believe) to get all the Def CDs. Don't quote the levels but they are all under 10 to get. When I was done this is the macro I end up with.

/ac “Rampart” <me>
/ac “Foresight” <me>
/ac “Keen Flurry” <me>
/ac “Featherfoot” <me>
/ac “Second Wind” <me>
/ac “Convalescence <me>


My Keybinds:
Mouse:
I have a WoW mouse with 4 additional buttons. This game does not recognize 2 of them which makes me a sad panda. If anyone has figured that out please let me know.

Scroll is default auto run
M3 move backwards
M4 my Pull Macro

I set up move backwards on my mouse because I like to move out of shit and as a tank I try to minimize the shit my group will deal with. Since the easiest and shortest route out of POOP is move through the mob then after the ability is cast I simply move backwards. I find this technique is easy and especially for the melee classes limits a ton of movement making their dps output more efficient. It allows for your position to be optimal to limit damage to your group in low movement fights.

Keyboard:

A = Fast Blade
S = Savage Blade
D = Riot Blade
E = Defensive CD Macro
R = Flash
T = Shield Bash

At level 22 this is what my set up is. Hope that helps, and if not, it helped me kill some time at work!

[Cyrus-Wallace]

Snip

Sweet! I've been looking for useful macros and you gave me nice ideas.

I can only give you a list of things I realized while tanking and posted on my previous thread.

-Use of buffs: If there's a tough monster or a big group of monsters (3+/4+, normally) Convalescence and Rampart are a must. You help your healer because he/she's not healing you constantly, and he/she can save her/his precious MP.
-Use of other skills: Shield Bash helps me interrupt the monster's cast. If they proyect a threat area that I can't escape... that skill saves my life.
-Use of common sense: If you see the monster uses cone/straight AoE attacks, don't let the monster face your party. Go behind them so the evil dude is showing his back to your party members. Also, you help Puglists and Lancers to increase their overall DPS.
-Use of foods: Skill speed bonus + Vitality are a must for me. The global cooldown sometimes is a pain.

[Tuskai]

As a healer, i'll offer some insight in good tanking.

Dodge attacks! Just because you can tank that hit that will wipe out 2/3rds your health and I can heal it back doesn't mean I should have to, latter boss battles get chaotic and I might have to be forced between keeping myself or you alive, and I know I can Quick-cast > Ressurect when you can't.

Don't be a douche! The most douchiest players i've seen happen to be tanks, you get players like NarssicistInChains who think they're amazing tanks because they know all their macros and the basics to tanking, and even if you're the best tank in the world, the entire party is going to grow to resent you if you act like a douche. Though personally, those kinds of tanks have always been the worst i've ever seen, rarely can they keep the hate of more than a single target off the healer, and when the DPS takes the hate to save the healer they throw a fit.