Hello!
I’ve been playing DPS for 11 years at this point. I main rogue and mage, pretty much. I have been a semi-casual player and still to some degree am - I LFR, dungeon, and quest. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t take my roles seriously - I’m constantly looking to improve so I am useful to the group and not just along for the ride.
I am interested in trying healing and tanking. I love raiding, absolutely love it, but honestly, I can’t even imagine playing anything other than DPS in raids. For now, I’m looking at tanking and healing in dungeons. My immediate goal is to try monk healing but I am lost on tanking.
Basically I am looking at learning tanking to help my friends with an eventual goal of tanking normal/heroic dungeons (Mythic is too intimidating for me right now), and possibly raids (LFR probably), and am curious which class would be the easiest to learn for a beginner and still be effective.
Please don’t laugh at me, I know this is a weird request.
Thank you.
I’ve found Demon Hunter to be an easy tank to learn. I’m normally ranged or heal, and DH flows nicely. I’ve done all three roles on my paladin, and they’re great once they have gear, but a little slow and squishy if you don’t. Both warrior and paladin have shields, which is helpful.
I haven’t tanked on my druid since Zul’Farrak was at level, but my husband says if you main a rogue, bear is the tank for you! Exact quote “bear, bear, bear, bear, bear!”
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You may find monk easy to get the basics as well, they only have 1 defensive cool down and the rotation is quite simple as long as you keep ironskin brew up 100% of the time.
Tanking is as much about positioning the boss as it is keeping aggro, watch some tank guide videos on you tube of dungeons.
Also don’t be intimidated by base mythic dungeons, they’re solo able by dps classes at this end of the game.
Jump on your track and have a play around, if you do it with friends your not gonna cop the flack that some dps reportedly throw at new tanks. Good luck
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Just jumping in, and I know it’s been three weeks on this post:
This is a good question and not laughable in the slightest.
My opinion is to roll a paladin. They are solid at each role and the tanking ability is fairly intuitive - you ‘shield slam’ (Shield of the Righteous, SotR, of which there are three charges) when you’re about to take high physical damage, and you cover any holes/gaps with Light of the Protector/other Cd’s (you can’t maintain SotR indefinitely, have to weave it into important parts of an encounter/cover the gaps with Ardent Defender/other cool-downs/Light of the Protector). This last part is really the main ‘juggling act’ with Prot Paladin - balancing SotR uptime.
All other tank aspects are universal, with the big one being:
Situational awareness: knowing where you are, where your enemies are, where your team mates are (and their cd’s, health and mana), and where other not-in-combat enemies and environmental effects are (at all times).
It has some really great utility for learning to tank and when a pull goes bad, such as decent self-healing through Light of the Protector (not as good as Blood Death Knights or Demon Hunters) but also tricks for aggro and invulnerability like Last Stand.
Some quick takes from me, no means definitive, but will give you some info with which to compare to other Prot Paladins:
- Stand in your consecrate when you can
- Use Avenger’s Shield (AS) prior to a SotR to boost the armor gain from SotR (if AS is not available, an 'unbuffed SotR is still a huge gain)
- Take Holy Shield for content where NPCs attack with magic (like the attendants in Shrine of the Storm)
- Take Blessed Hammer for all other encounters (though these last two trait points are pretty deep-dive and not really game breaking either way)
- Take Last Defender for an easier-to-manage tank experience
- Take Seraphim for more dps (seems to be about 15% more dps) while sacrificing some SotR uptime, due to Seraphim consuming those SotR charges).
- icy Veins can give guidance on the remainder
If you have any additional info, let me know. You can also add me to btag and if I’m available I’ll do my best to answer questions there, too
Fairlight#1833
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I am sorry to necro the old thread and it can be closed after this but I wanted to thank all of you for your options and opinions! I have rolled a protection paladin and will be trying my first dungeon as a tank once I hit 15. Thank you all again so much!!
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Hey Adam,
Former guide writer and tank trainer here. I think you made a solid choice for your first tank to learn on. Prot paladins are smack dab in the middle of the road in terms of tank rankings and are the most considerate to learn on (next to Druids). They also have some unique tools that allow them to step out in certain circumstances.
If you’d like more hands on training and mentoring to expedite your tanking endeavors and broaden your understanding of what tanking is all about so you feel a bit more confident. Can also teach you more aggressive concepts as you’re ready, or just low level dungeon tanking tips, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Questing as prot, low level dungeons, high level dungeons, isle expeditions, and even raid tanking tactics and understanding can all be covered as well as helpful and integral addons.
Direct help whether you are horde or alliance.
Prot paladin is my specialty.
Deathpony#1601
Here’s a video from last year of one of my tanks doing some crazy stuff you might enjoy.
