So, I think I’m a pretty decent healer. I’m not top 100 or anything, but I know how to heal a key, and I can handle pretty challenging content.
Not so much when I try to tank. I feel like I’m barely squeaking by, and hardly feel in control of pulls and mitigation in ways that I like.
I get the basics; I know how my kit works. But there’s some sort of disconnect I can’t quite figure out!
Do you guys have any recommendations for ways to improve at tanking? I feel like I’m missing something mechanical more than theoretical, if that makes sense.
Grab a friend who you consider a good tank, let them watch you in action. Hard to offer advice other than… grab all the aggro, don’t over pull, use defensives. Could also just be the spec you don’t vibe with?
Yeah just have a tank person watch you and see if they can spot anything to change.
You might want to look into some macros or addons or nameplates that might help.
For me, it’s situational awareness. It’s second nature to me while healing. But with tanking, I’m not used to knowing my buttons, while paying attention to everything around me yet.
it´s the most valuable tool for all tanks. For that to work, you need to understand how LOS is working and you need a group that understands what your doing. You can indicate the place you pull the mobs to by using the drawing tools Blizz is providing, if you so desire.
Second, always put your back towards a wall, to avoid pushbacks or hits in the back. Make sure you can sidestep, if necessary so don´t put yourself in a trap.
Third, you often need to babysit or lecture your group members, as you run the group not them. You make the decisions, you give the pace. Who doesn´t follow the basic rules of group play, may not be the best companion on your adventures.
Get “Plater” nameplates addon and configure it to change colour when you’re losing threat, or if something is not attacking you. This works best with the “stacking nameplates” option in the main game options.
When I started tanking I was also pretty bad. The biggest epiphany I had was realizing that as a tank, you are inherently tanky.
In terms of survivability, the goal is more to steady the intake of damage as opposed to flat out prevent it. This allows the healer to react without panicking.
When I started, I was trying too hard to prevent damage and then I when was out of cooldowns when I needed them, I felt like paper. Once I started thinking about it in terms of smoothing out damage intake, everything changed.
Hope that helps!
don’t pull what you can not handle use consecration to keep threat avoid using the shield throw in tight pulls. keep an eye on the runners back to wall or get pushed back to the group. dont pull right away if there are two groups of adds one of them is a patrolling mobs. let them move out of the way
quite frankly, this is a tricky time to be getting into tanking dungeons.
tanks have recently been nerfed and dps is doing massive amounts of damage. it is difficult to keep aggro on everything all the time. this is especially true if the big pewpew is just letting loose before you even have a pull organized.
while you know the game, tanking is a different mindset.
I wrote something a while back you might find helpful.
also, check out videos by quazzi, tactyks, equinox, dorki, yodatv
