So the other day I was doing my random daily Heroic which ended up being The Occulus. A true cake walk in my book. There was another paladin in the group who, after the run was over, asks me in whisper if I'd help him with his tanking. It was a nice compliment to be asked to coach someone. So bud, this is for you and any other interested Protadins that are looking for a place to start or just looking to see if there’s anything else they can learn and hopefully this loooong article will be able to provide some tips and tricks and tools to do just that.
In this article I will cover the following aspects of tanking and divide them into 5 specific articles.
- Spec (at level 80)
- Gear and Stats
General Information:
Personally I don’t have the time nor the inclination to do the theory crafting behind each talent and ability in our arsenal, I leave that to those that seem to really enjoy breaking it all down, and my source for all my theory crafting for my Protadin is over at Maintankadin’s forum, you’ll find everything you need in that one spot and much more.
Naturally different people will give you different opinions based off their successes and failures, I always say learn from other people’s mistakes whenever possible, but try things out for yourself, just because one thing is good for a handful of people doesn’t mean that it is good for a different handful of people. So that’s basically my disclaimer, you’ll read various thoughts and opinions and grab the theory crafting from Maintankadin’s forum and from there I’m positive you’ll end tanking like a pro in no time.
So, let’s get on with it shall we? Get a snack and a drink; this is going to be a long and hopefully informative article. So… I’m by no means the best tank in the world of Azeroth, I’m positive there are some that are better than I am, but I do not underestimate myself either by any means, I do consider myself to be an excellent tank. If you read my introductory post, you’ll remember that I started in WoW shortly after release and started with a Warrior and tanked for quite a while before changing characters, and I think that makes me better than some, because I started as a Warrior and thus much of my playstyle while tanking is largely attributed to the fact that I used to tank as a Warrior in WoW before paladin's were even considered as being a potential tank. So here’s how I do what I do.
In Wrath of the Lich King(WotlK), the beauty of being a Prot Pally is that we excel in AoE tanking and just about every pull in WotlK normal or heroics is accomplished by your group AoE’ing the group of mobs you pulled, that puts us ahead of the game as far as tanks are concerned, especially that the majority of mobs in WotlK are undead and that half our of our threat rotation are AoE abilities.
AoE means Area of Effect, and basically equates to 50% our threat rotation. Being a good tank doesn’t mean having the best gear and looking good, as I’ve stated in a previous article, you could be wearing gear that comes out of ICC 25 and that will not impress me, nor should it impress anyone out there and the reason for that is simply that gear in today’s World of Warcraft is far too accessible to players. In order to get pretty good gear you simply need to accumulate enough emblems of the set you’re working on and you can get an entire set pushing you over 5k gear score (in this example I’m referring to Frost emblems), alternatively, you can farm farm and farm some more and make gold and get yourself some really good crafted gear, and then there are the players that have bought a level 80 character and think they are the bomb, and there are those that buy gold (you’re ruining the game!!! Don’t buy gold!!!!!) and get their gear. So please try and avoid bragging about your gear and please do not EVER tell people they should listen to you because you have a gear score of over 5K…. it really doesn’t mean anything.
What I think being a good protection paladin tank means (and this is good for any tank really) is quite simple and I would sum it up with the following. Do your pulls smartly, always plan your next pull while you’re fighting your current pack, and ALWAYS position yourself so that your party is facing the backside of the mobs you pull, I do this because simply put, I don’t know what every single mob’s abilities are and I don’t have the time to research it all, what I do know is that if I turn my mobs away from my party they shouldn’t be taking any damage or at the very least will take very little.
Situational Awareness. This is extremely important. If you’re tanking with a close camera zoom you’re not seeing the big picture and as a tank, that’s not good. You need to be aware at ALL TIMES of your surroundings and there are things to consider when you pull one, two, three or more mobs. The amount doesn’t really matter, but what does matter is that in every instance you have mobs that are stationary and some that are called “pathers”, this term refers to mobs usually in groups of 2 or more that patrol an area or simply cover ground from point A to point B and back, you as a tank need to be aware of their presence, the path they cover and whether or not you or a member of your group will end up aggroing them if you tank pack A in your current spot. So plan ahead, and be aware of what’s going on around you.
When possible and depending on the group I will tank with my back to a wall or fixed object, again I don’t know every single mob’s ability and I don’t always remember which ones knock you back. Being knocked back is a pain, in some cases can wipe your group if your positioning was not right, getting knocked back into another pack of mobs can sometimes wipe a group that have little SA (situational awareness). So positioning is important at times, and I tend to not rely on the uberness of my healers (or sometimes lack thereof O-o).
No comments:
Post a Comment