AIGHT. im doing it. Tell me how to tank

Community General Discussion
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I only dps. never ever once tanked.
tell me how.
how does one tank?
how do i know im a good tank?
i was told blood dk is the easiest tank. is that truuuuuue?

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Personally I like prot pally but to each their own

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Basically, keep an eye on all party members, and make sure you’ve got aggro on everything.

That’s it lol, in terms of the very basics.

As long as stuff is attacking you instead of them, good job.

Defensives when things get iffy, or for ‘tank buster’ abilities.

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Hold aggro
Use cc / interrupts
Plan a route in m+

Pull more mobs when dps have cooldowns available and less when they don’t

Do those four things and you’re a better tank than most

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Get some good background music techno rave or something and pull everything YEAAAHHHH!!!

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Pull mobs. Hold aggro. Position mobs. Use damage mitigation. Make sure your healer’s mana is ok. Keep an eye out for any adds.

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Celldweller good for tanking.

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#1 Never point the bad guy at the raid/dungeon group

after that

  • Hold agro on every thing you pull
    See #1
  • Don’t die ( use defensives and self sustain)
    See #1
  • Your DPS is irrelevant. What matters is you hold aggro , and don’t die also
    See #1
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I’m so happy to share my feelings about this because I just started tanking again myself with my old friends! (Yay)

But here we go! Just throwing yourself into groups is a really great way to learn to tank. And that can be a little scary but if you give yourself some time to learn how to use your class very well, things will start becoming easier.

Like you want to learn your main spells, then how to use them proficiently. Once you are comfortable with the spells then you can focus on positioning. It’s a huge part of tanking to learn where to stand and how to control the groups movement by maneuvering the enemies around.

Be super patient and kind to yourself… it takes a lot of time to get everything down. If you’re looking at new raid and dungeons, it can be even tougher if you don’t know them inside out. Especially as a tank because you’ll have new role specific things to figure out. It’s okay to mess up, it really is and I know nobody wants to. It’s just part of it.

Ignore mean comments. I had a harder time ignoring people that became impatient or said mean things when I was learning fights and stuff but eventually I came to understand that the value I’m bringing to the groups was big and that putting in this work will pay off. So brush it off.

Be open still tho, not everything is just “mean”… a little honesty sometimes can feel like it’s mean because your working hard to do something new, try to take in some of the comments too when it’s appropriate.

Use the tank class that speaks to you! Play around with the classes and find the best one. I think Paladin is a great starting tank class.

Also, use resources! Look at videos that have more detailed explanation of fights and pathing. Watch something and then try it out. It helps so much. And then use good addons to help you monitor the enemies. I use Threat Plates that makes it very clear what I have aggro on and what I’m losing aggro on. Super helpful!

I’m sure there is more to add but omg try it out! It’s a lot more fun than some make it out to be. It definitely has some moments that stink but that’s all roles. lol

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I wouldn’t say BDK is easiest…

VDH
Prot Warr
BDK

Those are the 3 I play…and I rank them in that order. You might have issues holding aggro with BDK, especially a fresh tank.

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m
v
p
Love you.

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Two words.

“Misdirect loser.”

You can strengthen loser to something cruder and nastier.

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Step 1: Roll a Guardian Druid
Step 2: Follow WoWHead on talents and speccing
Step 3: Always keep Frenzied Reg on Cooldown
Step 4: Never pull more than 12 Elites
Step 5: Heal as you got and mash the spell buttons that glow

Congrats, you are now a tank.

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step 1. be a pally tank
step 2. puill the full room
step 3. go as fast as possible and leave the healer behind until they leave
step 4. stand in fire

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And wear flame retardant gear for the abuse they may (will) be directed at you.

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you’ll feel comfortable being in control and doing the role. and you won’t have to think about cooldowns, they’ll happen out of muscle memory and intuition.

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Since we can now do follower dungeons, run a few of those as tank to get acclimated. The npcs will butt pull and all kinds of stuff just like players. This will get you rotation, CD and mob management skills before you run with players.

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Tanking for the first time can definitely feel overwhelming, but once you get the hang of it, it’s really rewarding. If you’re considering Blood DK, you’re in for a solid choice since it’s pretty forgiving and self-sufficient, making it easier for beginners.

Here’s a quick rundown of tanking:

Your main job: Hold aggro (keep enemies focused on you), mitigate incoming damage, and position enemies so your team can safely deal damage or heal. You’re the leader of the pack, so a lot of responsibility falls on you to control the pace of the fight.
How to know you’re doing it right: If your group isn’t getting hit and you’re staying alive, you’re doing well. It’s also key to keep mobs under control and not running wild, so if you can manage their positioning while surviving, you’re on the right track.
As for Blood DK being “easy”: Blood DK is known for its strong self-healing and survivability, which makes it great for beginners. Death Strike is your best friend, and managing your runic power to keep yourself alive is a key part of the playstyle. You’ll also want to get comfortable using cooldowns like Vampiric Blood and Dancing Rune Weapon to handle big hits.
That said, Blood DK does have a higher mastery ceiling than some other tanks because you’re balancing multiple resources: runes, runic power, and your cooldowns. Timing your Death Strikes for maximum healing and mitigation while maintaining threat adds an extra layer of complexity, so you’ll have to be on top of your resource management as you progress.

It’s all about practice. Run some dungeons and see how it feels. You’ll get more comfortable with time!

P.S. you get some sweet perks like leading every instance and never having to wait for an invite. Tanks are typically in short supply.

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As soon as you zone in…

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I haven’t had any trouble holding aggro on my BDK as long as I was using blood boil. It is very much a pull everything, stop, and stand in your death and decay set up though.

Then again, playing a BDK like it was a DPS pulling for their tank works up to and including heroic raid level content and reward-cap M+.