Tips to get over Tanking nerves

Community General Discussion
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Hey, so I could use some tips and advice from some veteran tank players out there, I will explain my situation.

I have been playing WoW religiously since the start of BFA, I took a break half way through dragon flight and am coming back to the game to prep for the new expansion.

My main is a Ret pally and I am leveling a Warrior that I want to be my #1 Alt. I want to tank with both characters on M+ & Raids but I just don’t enjoy tanking not because of the gameplay but because when tanking I feel a sense of pressure like everyone is watching and judging me while I play. Which I don’t have the problem of when playing as dmg.

If I pause to pull up the map and make sure I did not miss something in a dungeon a dmg dealer will just run past me and pull or complain about wasting time.

I judge how many mobs to pull at once based offy item lvl and the skill lvl of our healer and when I pull the perfect size mob the group will either complain that it was to small or to big or will just not say anything and pull more causing us to almost wipe which they then blame on me…

Complaining rant over… These are things outside my control I need to focus on what I can control which is my anxiety about tanking, I am not a know it all Mythic raider but I am decent at the game, I raid heroic and I know dungeon mechanics so I should not be nervous about knowing what to do because I am good at the game. I have tried joining countless guilds to see if a pre built group would be better then pugging but they are all either already have established friend groups that have all the roles filled or they have no one that actually plays the game in it…

So any tips or advice?

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I hate PUG tanking, but the way I normally handle it is to run the dungeons a few times as DPS to see what routes they are using and how big their pulls are. Once I get it down, I just copy what they did.

Probably not the best method, but it works for me.

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Dont worry about the group. Focus on you and what you can handle. Ilvl/gear is meaningless, a 490 healer could keep you up better than a 510 for example

Youre familiar with the routes of the dungeons, so dont worry about the maps. You know where youre going. Most dungeons do not have a lot of extra trash to skip, so id generally over pull rather than risk missing something to start off with (Brackenhide is the exception, lots of extra trash in that one).

Run a full set on m0 and practice big pulls and get a feel for them. Then try them in 2s while collecting Wyrm crests and flightstones

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Sound Advice.

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The nerves are definitely the hardest part about tanking. What helped me was just to keep throwing myself into the fights until I was confident with the mechanics and routes. Sounds obvious but when you give yourself the chance to get it all down that’s when the nerves will wash away. Stay on mission and do what you want to do!

Just remember all the times you’ve been in a raid or group and the tank left. How 20 people with tank specs can’t even switch over.

You’re doing something that takes time and effort to learn. So don’t worry too much about what others have to complain about.

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First and foremost get thick skin fast. Get over what others think and do your own thing.

Use follower dungeons as a tank and go to:

https://keystone.guru/routes/dragonflight/season/4

Pick one dungeon at a time and practice the routes with followers that won’t yell at you. When you get comfortable with your routes and followers move up to +2 keys and repeat what you just did in the follower dungeon. Absolutely 100% ignore chat unless it’s someone that has something constructive about the run to say. If they body pull in the back, they’ll tell you so you can pick it up. Then resume with the run. Tell the group when you want lust or just say YOLO lust, it’s only a 2 and have at it :stuck_out_tongue:

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The first thing to note is that each tank is different, and deals with mitigation differently. If you are anxious about tanking I’d say start with your paladin. It is the most basic of all the tanks, have no real special resource to keep track of, and it has “Oh ****!” buttons that can help when getting used to tanking.

Unfortunately the best advice to get over this kind of anxiety is… practice. Get comfortable with your tanks and try different tanks. Like I said, each tank has different mitigation. My favourite tank is Brewmaster simply because of how stagger works to passively mitigate and one actively clears the damage instead of actively mitigating the damage other tanks do.

So try different tanks but do so against the tanking dummies with one goal: stay alive as long as you can. You don’t have to go into a dungeon to try this because at the end of the day, as long as a tank is alive and pulling, the run is still going. No matter how big or small your pulls are. Once you have the comfortability in the style of tanking you prefer, then I’d say optimize damage and excessive utility (and I say excessive utility because for an example, Brewmasters have like an additional 4 buttons just because of utility spells which are largely unnecessary for general tanking purposes).

Now onto more specific things!

Download the addon MDT - Mythic Dungeon Tools. It is a map tool that allows you to plan a route. There’s already existing routes but to just have a map like that where you can see percentages, packs, routes, etc.; merely having a better map to get comfortable in a dungeon with an already established plan is a MASSIVE help!

I still overpull though so… be better than me… ^^’

If you specifically want to get into M+ and start doing higher keys there’s one thing I will advice you to do: if you get flamed, harassed, or blamed for stuff that ain’t your fault … just leave the group.
Don’t normalize getting used to being the one who takes the blame of other players if what they are saying is offensive, excessive, or clearly unfair and creates a negative environment. By leaving toxic groups you keep yourself sane and you don’t normalize subjecting yourself to the whims of toxic players and their toxicity.

And one final piece of advice I will ALWAYS mention:
Don’t have an ego. Yes if you get unfairly treated just say “I’m out, take care in future runs”, that is a good thing. But don’t go “You pull it, you tank it” - if someone pulls something, intentionally or not, just tank it.
It doesn’t do anything good to leave a mob running amok just because of an ego. If it is really detrimental to you, tank it, kill the pack, and don’t move. Just say “don’t pull for me” if it is that bad, continue with the dungeon, and then refer to above if it continues in a way that is negatively affecting your dungeon experience.

But this ego thing is so important because everyone makes mistakes, and it is important to be able to distinguish between someone being an awful person and someone making a mistake. When one no longer makes a distinction between those things, at that point you end up in a toxicity spiral which just makes the overall experience worse for everyone - you included.

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The only tip I can think of is this. Pull at a steady pace, and never have nothing to do. As the mobs are nearly dead you should be moving to the next pack. Never leave the group with nothing to do if you can help it. DO NOT pull extra just because the dps did. Let the dps tank or pull extra to you. You can grab a few extra if an extra mob pack got pulled from the back or a patrol saw you. Do not chase the dps though.

If the dps grabs extra and pulls them to you, just tank them. (Don’t get mad at them if they pull extra and you live) only if you die.

You’d be surprised how often dps can either just live or will bring the stuff to you. Now if you do wipe because a dps pulled extra than you have a clear blame for who caused the wipe.

If you can keep this steady pace while ignoring what the dps do, whether they follow obediently or pull way more than you will look like a competent tank.

Never chase after the dps. It is a show of weakness, and it is stressful.

There is one reason you should stop, and that is for a res. Especially if it is the healer that somehow died. Being the tank that stops to help someone is a good show of leadership, if you ignore them and keep moving it tends to cause problems.

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It’s helpful to get an addon like Mythic Dungeon Tools so you can create routes. Something I do if I’m unsure if see how much % the final, unskippable part of a dungeon gives. For example, I know that in a dungeon like Nokud Hold that the last 2 Mini-Boss Centaur before Balakar are roughly 5%. Therefore, I should try to hit 95% before leaving the desd people area.

Other than that, some general pointers:

  1. Try not to move the pull erratically, or pace back and forth after gathering a group. Only move the pull as absolutely necessary in order to remove yourself from stuns or sanguine. If you move too much, some DPS specs will be unable to reach their full DPS potential as you will likely end up moving the pull out of their ground AoE.

  2. Face the pull away from group, and try to move it 1 direction only. If you move in circles, a large risk of clipping anyone who happens to be in melee with a cleaving attack will become present, and these usually 1 shot non-tanks

  3. Understand that Tanking is actually just the easiest role in the game. You have nigh infinite survivability, things that one shot healers or DPS just kind of tickle, you get instant group invites, etc. This is all to say that you should not feel pressure. If a group disintegrates, you can easily join a new one.

  4. Always ask yourself what you could have done differently when something goes wrong. When trying to improve at anything in life, the people who look at themselves first and foremost are the ones who will find the most success and have the greatest improvement.

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Heres a tip.
Open up google and look up how to tank instead of asking here.

You will get your answers way faster with a quick google search instead of waiting for people to respond to a forum post.

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Looks above at the 8 replies with pretty good tips for tanking (yes, I’m including mine).

Or alternatively they could ask here and get good advice.
You are on a forum. Sometimes the best thing a person can do is simply not respond to a topic when you provide nothing to the topic at hand.

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The healer should be the only one you worry about. If they want you to pull bigger / look bored, or vice versa, adjust your cadence accordingly. Never worry about the DPS.

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He could recieve all that and more with a quick google search.

I am providing just not the way you would like im not going to give him advice when anything i say can be found in 30 seconds by just looking it up

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There’s a massive difference between “the information is out there” and “what is relevant information.”

If the mere ability that information exists within reach of a search online was the solution you seem to think it is … then on the 15th of January 2001, all stupid people would’ve ceased to be stupid. Which, safe to say, didn’t happen.
(No, I’m not saying anyone in this thread is stupid for that matter. I’m simply providing an example as to why this line of thinking is quite wrong.)

There are multiple ways of obtaining good information. One of them is asking a question where one can obtain more information that one wants, or just have one’s own specific points addressed. So no, merely saying “Google it” doesn’t provide with more, it provides with different kinds (and usually an overload) of information.

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So you assume all the information you can find online is irrelevant? Lol sure buddy.

And the best most efficient way is googling.

Or you can just type that question into google and recieve the information lol

And asking a bunch of randos on the forums doesnt provide different kinds of info?

Lol everything he needs to know can be googled theres no case to be made against that.

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Thanks everyone for the advice it has been useful and just like you said here Shadybolt by using forums I got answers tailored to my exact concerns which was very helpful and I had an opportunity to communicate with the community which I enjoy and is the point of forums.

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Since you seem quite keen to say “Just Google it”, may I suggest Googling what a “strawman fallacy” is. Since I said nothing of what you implied at all.

I guess you think teachers are pointless as well in that case. It do be funny that you didn’t even try to Google the date I mention since you seem beyond belief silly now.

For information that is largely subjective and doesn’t have a single objective answer?
Yes. I actually think that, because that’s the truth of the matter.

Glad one could be of help!

Sorry if your thread got slightly derailed but glad you got some good advice to try out!

Have fun tanking, and don’t worry about things - it gets significantly less stressful the more one does it. I have done it for years at this point so I’m very comfortable with it and don’t feel any worry about it at all.

Now it is just fun to play a game of “How much can I pull 'til I die” and when my partner is healing me they usually say “Pull like you hate me!” So… tanking is a lot of fun, and once one is comfortable with it, regardless of however long or short amount of time it takes, you get to do fun and stupid things to see what happens! xD

So yeah, have fun! ^^

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Googles it and it sends me right back to the forums lol

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OP came and went and this discussion will continue about what’s relevant information vs a Google search.

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I have anxiety out the booty, so let me give the best advice I got:

Chuck it in the muck it bucket.

Dew it. Just dew it.

Thats what my friend told me, just ignore your brain cuz it wants to mess with you. Flip it off, tell your brain you CAN dew it, and give it a shot.

Sounds like bunk, but actually telling your own brain to mess off is a great thing.