According to RIO addon (timed only):
Bear (KSM) - x35 of 5-9 /// x45 of 10-14 /// x10 of 15+. I quit tanking the second I got KSM.
Rogue (KSM) - x40 of 15+ /// x25 of 10-14 /// x13 of 5-9
This Holy Paladin - x12 of 5-9 /// x23 of 10-14 /// x1 of 15.
(edit: reason for bear having this many of 14’s is cuz I now just do 14’s for weekly vaults)
I joined in 8.3 Summer of 2020, right before SL prepatch. Picked bear to be main. Goal was to basically aim for the top in IO tanking scene. Being pug only, it’s hard. Granted, I am not best player, so I made mistakes quite frequently. But, as tank, I had to learn all the mechanics and routes, learn MDT and how to build routes etc, what group compositions are the strongest per given scenario. Learning the game as tank is probably, by far, the best way to learn everything.
As bear at the start of the xpac, it was “slower” due to gear limitations. With Rogue and Paladin, LFR+Campaign got me to ~190. I would basically run all on 5+ to get IO to display my main KSM and that allowed me to get into 8’s and 9’s.
At around ~200 I would step into 10’s and never go lower than that.
That’s the right way to go imho.
Good indicator of that would be how good are you keeping tank alive, as with prideful, not only you need to keep tank alive, but also everyone else.
The higher you go, the less mistakes people make (generally speaking) due to experience, but mistakes are much more punishing.
So I can just suggest the second you feel like 5-9 is too easy, try to get into 10. 10-12 are roughly the same imho, while 13 and up is where it gets rougher.
A few times of every dungeon. The advantage of pug groups is that a lot players do things differently, aka different tactics, routes, order.
To be really efficient and effective, I think it’s important to know which packs are hard, which mobs hit the hardest and who does aoe or heals.
Then, you will know that pack only has 1 hard hitting ability, so no need to pop CD’s if group goes low, while pack is basically bashing non stop.