Keeping hate on multiple targets

[Vamp]

Like everyone had been saying, practice threat management. Use these situations to get better at regaining and keeping hate throughout the fights. I always mark my targets and ask to have a mob put to sleep. This leaves me with keeping aggro on only two mobs which is easy. Just be sure to give the other mob some love as you drop the first one. If your dps is all over however, mark the target the highest dps is on and keep some hate going to both targets. Don't punish you healer when the dps won't listen. Besides, being able to overcome difficult situations makes you a better tank in the long run.

[Dilleria]

Gorlio, I understand where you are coming from. I do think tanks need to be accountable for themselves regardless, but I've had times where I'll mark everything from mob 1-4, beg them to follow the order, they don't...one starts shuffling between 2 mobs and I'm supposed to pull aggro from 3 mobs because the DD's wanna "be awesome"....sorry man...it starts to get frustrating...A tank can only do there job so much...that's why it's a team effort.

[IndigoHawk]

In addition to making sure your rotations are good and flexible, if your group won't coordinate, prioritize. If you can't keep all the aggro, keep some of it, and keep an eye on your healer. After the fight, remind people how they can follow your lead.

An important part of being a tank is remaining calm and providing leadership. Don't spam abilities while losing control of the fight. Don't split your focus if you'll lose aggro on a more important target. However, switch to a DPS or healer target if necessary, as being stubborn makes the fight harder. Being a leader means making the most of bad players, and showing them what you expect and how they can improve. Your team should lose when they don't follow your lead, not because you've panicked and stopped leading.

If your group mistakenly says you're bad, remind them how they can assist you.

[Aphel]

Marking targets is important. If there are 3 mobs and you've marked all of them, it gives the DPS a sense of what to hit next. If you only marked 1 mob out of 3 then after the first one goes down you're going to have trouble with threat unless you've been keeping flashes up.

This is just my opinion, but I think people who are having trouble keeping threat on multiple mobs are the ones who don't mark.

If you've been marking, keeping flashes up and still losing aggro, then it might be an over-zealous DPS or something.

[IndigoHawk]

Marking targets is important.

Marking becomes less important when DPS understand the tank's strategy.

For 3 mobs, often there is 1 strong and 2 weak. Most tanks prioritize weak to strong, occasionally prioritizing strong if it's significantly more dangerous or annoying. If the tank engages one 1 weak mob, kill that one. Then move to the next weak, then to the strong. If instead the tank engages the strong, kill that one, then work through the weak ones. 3 mob groups are routine.

I also start with the weak mob on the right and move left. This makes it easier for people to know what to expect.

For big fights with adds, I mark a target if it gets confusing, but the basic rules of assisting the tank, working weakest to strongest, and right to left is often good enough.

If there's confusion, ask the tank about their strategy.

[Asmodeus]

I think marking is overrated when tanking, we keep seeing this but dont really see how to keep aggro itself. The first 3 or 4 dungeons you can get away with fb/sb/roh/flash but it doesn't cut it later on. If you need to mark the mob then the you need to take a few mins to explain the gameplan before running off all leeroy jenkins.

The game might make you believe that is all but you need to rotate your attacks, fb/sb/roh on first mob flash and then rotate your combos, fb on one sb on the next one roh on the next then flash etc. Also gear is very important on a tank, if you have all white gear you gonna take more damage etc and everything will be that much harder over all. After the first 3 dungeons don't be afraid to farm for some gear. Macros are your friend when it comes to buffs, use it and abuse it.

edit:

True..

I don't mean it is a bad idea only that it's seems to be something that is said over and over and doesn't seem to be the most important thing in tanking. Dps should know to stick to your first mob you attack, like you say team make makes a difference too. Seems to me if they stay on the first critter till its dead by the time it dies it doesn't really matter which one they hit as you should have decent aggro on the rest via your rotations an flash, ofc I will say at beginning of quest if mob X pops up kill that one first if there is a kill order, I just expect dps to use a bit common sense.

What is great if when person casting sleep marks the mob so we all know to leave that one alone, dps avoids it and I can drag rest of mob away from it.

They need to get rid of the post limit in these forum it's silly, we can't have a proper conversation with that in place lol

[Aphel]

True, Asmodeus. It's always a good idea to rotate your threat hits on different mobs. I agree with gear as well. But how is marking overrated? Since playing gladiator I've always marked. I can't imagine how you'll be able to run into a group of mobs and try to hold aggro while your DDs go ballistic at everything. It takes 3-5 seconds to mark, and saves you much much more pain later on.

As a side note: the makeup of the team really does influence your decision making too. If you've got mage/archer in your party then crowd controlling the mobs makes it easier on the healer since you'll be taking less damage. If you've got none of those then be prepared to pop your cooldowns when that massive damage comes.

[Strelnikov]

Tanking is very gear dependant. I have had a few tanks with a scant 10-20 points of HP higher than me. Every chest we opened I silently rooted for a new chest plate for the tank.

I am currently working on a level 17 glad, and I will say this it is harder than it looks.
I finished satasha last night and am now ready for tam-tam. Some classes do such awesome burst damage >>archers<< that they can pull any mob simply by attacking it.

Your suggestions on focus and marking are good ones. I haven't given up on my now 32 whm, just seeing how the game plays from another perspective.

Thanks Tanks!

[xRitzx]

There's 2 aggro bars and both of them are useful as a tank. I'm surprised the current target aggro bar hasn't been mentioned here because it's the most accurate and very useful on the main target.

Current target aggro bar:

As you can see in the yellow-highlighted area of the screenshot, there is a bar next to yours and your party-members HP bars. This is a scaled indicator (0-100%) on how much enmity you and your party members have towards your current target.

Group of enemies aggro bar:

Red Circle/Square (flashing) = 100% enmity (you are being attacked)
Orange Circle/Square = 75-99% (be really careful)
Orange Triangle = 50-74% enmity (be careful)
Yellow Triangle = 25-49% enmity (not much to worry about)
Green Circle = 0-24% enmity (nothing to worry about)

Credit for the images and explanations goes to: http://www.daevaofwar.net/index.php?...sjob-analysis/. If you want to learn more about tanking follow the link and read the tanking guide.

[Falcrow]

i had my dps going all leeroy jenkins earlier,takes aggro and blames the whole party saying he's "done" this before :/