Inexperienced Tank Looking For Garrosh And Tanking Advice

[Deleted]

Hello.

While i am playing wow for several years now i just recently started playing my first tank class - a warrior ofcourse - and before that i never played anything that was really complicated at all. (warlock, hunter, some non-raid twinks, always dps)

I pretty much suck being a prot warrior right now i think and that is basically because i don't have the experience to know what def cd to pop when and things like that. Started like 3 months ago, and was thrown into SoO as soon as possible. Not that SoO is that hard but well.. i definitely feel like i play as bad as possible and i want to change that!

We have our little 10man group right now, "progressing" in SoO non-hc, and i am our second tank beside our main tank pally most of the time - we don't have big problems throughout the raid except when it comes to garrosh - it's not only my missing experience but i'd like to improve on what i am missing, so that's why i thought i create this thread and ask for some specific and also some generalized advice on tanking as a prot warrior from players that clearly know what they're doing.

First of all the garrosh fight - again, we're still on normal and i doubt we will ever even remotely see the HC encounter, but what i'd like to know is 2 things in this case.

Phase 1 and generally, tanking garrosh -> def cd's what and when exactly? is it simply keeping Shield Block up all the time and popping Shield Barrier when the iron star hits the wall? Or is there more to it? What about Shield Wall? Keeping it on CD or saving it for damage spikes?

Phase 1, getting the adds - how most effectively? I am always struggling with getting adds if i am supposed to, especially here - i haven't tried yet - but i imagine it being not that easy since i can't use the banner and Thunder Clap would come a bit too late..

Then the second bigger question is tanking in general.. Would it be possible that an experienced prot warrior kind of posts his actions in this or any other encounter? Just to see how it's done right, depending on "when the boss does this ability, you counter it with x"?

I hope this thread isn't too much asked around here since i really want to improve on my tanking game but am struggling with it watching only video guides of bosses etc.

Thanks!

[idefiler6]

Keep shield block up as much as possible, barrier when it's on CD. Save your shield walls for things like if you have to pick up adds or something.

[Lithix]

Phase 1 and generally, tanking garrosh -> def cd's what and when exactly? is it simply keeping Shield Block up all the time and popping Shield Barrier when the iron star hits the wall? Or is there more to it? What about Shield Wall? Keeping it on CD or saving it for damage spikes?

Going on what you've explained and without taking a look at your gear or logs, I'm just going to spitball it here.

First off, pop a defensive cooldown when Garrosh casts Hellscream's Warsong, try Demo shout first off, if you feel its not enough, throw in a Rallying Cry to cushion the damage, if that's not enough, drop your shield wall and keep your shield block up (Should be doing throughout Phase 1 and it smooths out damage for healers to keep you up better. Shield Barrier when Iron Star hits, as you said, is a great help, Last Stand if you feel you need it or dont have enough rage for Shield Barrier.

TIP: Don't stun adds, they have a nasty habit of all hitting you with hamstring once they come out of the stun and that's all of the adds, hitting you, at once

Having Rook's Unlucky Talisman & Vial of Living Corruption is a big plus. Rook's Unlucky Talisman for Iron Star and having reduced cooldown time on all your defensive's from Vial of Living Corruption, is just amazing.

You have a lot of things to help dampen the damage, dont be scared to use them.

Just remember, its a team effort, if you need help, call for external cooldowns. Aura Mastery, Pain Supp, Iron Bark, etc.

Phase 1, getting the adds - how most effectively? I am always struggling with getting adds if i am supposed to, especially here - i haven't tried yet - but i imagine it being not that easy since i can't use the banner and Thunder Clap would come a bit too late..

If you're just picking up adds and have no need for the extra dps, dont use the Thunder Clap glyph, this will keep the cooldown low, swap in a heroic leap glyph to help. Get them early, so not to let the tank tanking Garrosh pull aggro as he will have a fair bit of vengeance to do so. Heroic Leap, Thunderclap, Mocking Banner, Cleave, Dragons Roar, should all be enough to get you from one said to the other and pickup the adds.

Other than that bud, its just practice and learning the fights mechanics and when to use what

[Deleted]

Hey, thanks for answering.

I know i kinda forgot to post a link to my gear but well, the EU's armory is down atm so i basically did not post it because of that. I can however post my last ask mr robot profile since that's basically up2date with the exception of the legendary meta gem that i aquired yesterday and impending victory instead of second wind.

askmrrobot.com/wow/gear/eu/anetheron/patcheazy

I hope that you're able to see it at all and that it's not just cached for me in my browser.

To your answers some questions...

TIP: Don't stun adds, they have a nasty habit of all hitting you with hamstring once they come out of the stun and that's all of the adds, hitting you, at once

So when i'm tanking garrosh and we have the adds under him to cleave them down, i also should not shockwave them in order to prevent the other tank from being hit by multiple hamstrings? (obviously logical but i just ask to make sure...)

First off, pop a defensive cooldown when Garrosh casts Hellscream's Warsong, try Demo shout first off, if you feel its not enough, throw in a Rallying Cry to cushion the damage

That's regarding tanking the adds, right? Makes sense at least.

Thing is right now i am basically holding demo shout with berserker rage and recklesness on cooldown so i never really used it "when needed". That seems to be wrong...

I guess this helps me out, i will try to apply it on this id, also in general i will try to use my def cd's more logical. Thanks!

[Lithix]

I can however post my last ask mr robot profile since that's basically up2date with the exception of the legendary meta gem that i aquired yesterday and impending victory instead of second wind.

Take Enrage Regeneration, Its a great little defensive and also has a short cooldown time, using it when enraged or with zerker rage gives you a bigger heal off the bat With you gear/hp, you will get a 175,594+- heal and a nice hot for 5 seconds after that!

So when i'm tanking garrosh and we have the adds under him to cleave them down, i also should not shockwave them in order to prevent the other tank from being hit by multiple hamstrings? (obviously logical but i just ask to make sure...)

Yeah, even if you're cleaving down the adds, there shouldn't be a need to stun them. The Hamstring ability sorta gets reset when a stun hits, more often than not, so letting them do their Hamstring attack is all well since they dont do it all at the same time, healers are able to keep up.

That's regarding tanking the adds, right? Makes sense at least.

Thing is right now i am basically holding demo shout with berserker rage and recklesness on cooldown so i never really used it "when needed". That seems to be wrong...

I guess this helps me out, i will try to apply it on this id, also in general i will try to use my def cd's more logical. Thanks!

Yup, this will be for adds since his Hellscream's Warsong buffs the adds with 150% more damage, using a cooldown here, helps healers out and prevents you from getting blown up.

Your gear is not bad at all, you're going avoidance which gives you nice rage and great damage. Keeping up Shield Block on adds will be fine, bleed off with Shield Barrier if needed. Your healers will be able to heal you, it shouldn't be a problem.

Give it a bash, see how it works out. Don't be scared to use defensive cooldowns at first, until such time you know when the important points are to use them

[Deleted]

Few tips though I've only been back about a month now since I last quit so take it for what its worth.
If you struggle to grab adds you can ask to take garrosh first and then have the other tank taunt him(garrosh) off you when adds are mid this gives you the benefit of vengeance which makes a huge difference.
The best thing a prot warrior can have is situational awareness which can only really be gained by experience. You have to be adaptable to what is happening around you cause at any second things can go tits up and its largely falls to us to fix it.
Also I guess dont be scared to use your defensive cd's you have alot of them and the cd's arent too long nowadays so you arent penalized heavily.