BRF tanking strats in a nutshell

[Deleted]

Hi all, due to circumstances in the guild I'm going to be tanking on my DK with a friend on a temporary if not permanent basis. I've literally only done the first few bosses in BRF as a tank, so I'm pretty daunted to say the least. Could anyone please summarise in a lovely concise list the tank swaps or huge things to watch our for per boss? Icy veins just seems to point about the ability without specifying the stack swap and honestly it seems a dog leg to watch every single boss video when it'd be so much easier in a list I can refer back to. I have a grasp of all fights bar blackhand as I've done then as dps, but I'm pretty airheaded and always forget the stack number!

Thank you so much in advance

[Rawrzillasor]

Follow dBm taunt instructions and you will be fine

[WskyDK]

Generally two stacks is safe.
Watch each boss video and figure out the definite answer.
Seriously. Don't be the tank who doesn't watch fights.

[Deleted]

Agreed, read up on tactics or watch vids... Preferably both... My main sources of tacts are Icy Veins for quick look-ups of stuff when I need some reminding, and Fatboss for overall tacts overviews. Then I also watch other vids (mostly Vox Immortalis) if I need a specific tanking guide, I look stuff up on Wowhead if I need extra information and I try to keep up to date here and on my class forum.

[Deleted]

Gruul - Switch on every 2-3 Inferno Slices while watching your overwhelming blows debuffs.
Oregorger - Switch after every Acid Torrent (use mitigation when this is cast)
Blast Furnace - Switch on 2/3 stacks of Heat / Tempered.
Hans & Franz - you can switch if the other tank has Shattered Vertebrae although isn't really needed I guess.
Flamebender - switch tanking the boss whenever one of the wolves switches empowerment and around 6-7 stacks of Rising Flames.
Kromog - Switch on every 2 stack of Warped Armor or whatever you as a class is comfortable with (movement slowing, if you can get away quicker but your other tank cannot maybe let your stack go to 3)
Beastlord - Switch on 2 stacks of Crush Armor from Ironcrusher, 2-3 stacks of Rend & Tear from Cruelfang and around 6-7 stacks of Seared Flesh from Dreadwing.
Operator Thogar - Switch on around 2 stacks of Enkindle, may need to stack to 3-4 when split is incoming so the tank which is on the side with least mobs can take the boss with him and have 0 stacks.
Maidens - No switch necessary unless one tank decides to do both boats then you'll need to taunt his boss while he is away.
Blackhand - Switch after every Shattering Smash as it will clear his aggro and taunting late will result in some melee deaths. Also in phase 3, taunt the boss from the tank when he is targeted with a bomb so he can safely place it out of the group.

[Kanadei]

Gruul - Switch on every 2-3 Inferno Slices while watching your overwhelming blows debuffs.
Oregorger - Switch after every Acid Torrent (use mitigation when this is cast)
Blast Furnace - Switch on 2/3 stacks of Heat / Tempered.
Hans & Franz - you can switch if the other tank has Shattered Vertebrae although isn't really needed I guess.
Flamebender - switch tanking the boss whenever one of the wolves switches empowerment and around 6-7 stacks of Rising Flames.
Kromog - Switch on every 2 stack of Warped Armor or whatever you as a class is comfortable with (movement slowing, if you can get away quicker but your other tank cannot maybe let your stack go to 3)
Beastlord - Switch on 2 stacks of Crush Armor from Ironcrusher, 2-3 stacks of Rend & Tear from Cruelfang and around 6-7 stacks of Seared Flesh from Dreadwing.
Operator Thogar - Switch on around 2 stacks of Enkindle, may need to stack to 3-4 when split is incoming so the tank which is on the side with least mobs can take the boss with him and have 0 stacks.
Maidens - No switch necessary unless one tank decides to do both boats then you'll need to taunt his boss while he is away.
Blackhand - Switch after every Shattering Smash as it will clear his aggro and taunting late will result in some melee deaths. Also in phase 3, taunt the boss from the tank when he is targeted with a bomb so he can safely place it out of the group.

To expand on this list:

Gruul - One tank stands in with a ranged group, one in front. As slice starts tanking on active tank, offtank taunts and takes slice in the group, then active tank taunts back. Perform this 3 times then swap who is tanking boss. No swap needed for aoe phase.
Oregorger - make sure one tank is off to the side (the one not taking acid torrent) so you dont mix up who is supposed to get hit. Call for externals if you have no active mitigation up.
BF - In phase 2 generally one tank takes the casters and one takes security guards, casters on the elementalists, security away so defend doesn't stack on them.
Hans Gruber - Pop cooldowns for the smash or if you get 2+ verebrae stacks.
Flamebender - As above, one takes boss one takes melee wolf, rotate when the dogs swap. After she does her channel is when you need to swap on stacks (its like 9-10 but watch your debuff and taunt).
Kromog - 3 Tank if you can. The smash works on distance from current tank when he begins the cast, not on distance from boss.
Beastlord - Offtank always keeps an eye on beasts, very easy to lose track of them.
Thogar - the raid will follow you so make sure you know the train order or have a Thogar assist addon and get good at moving early. Make sure bosses arent on bombs or grenades.
Maidens - ez mode for tank, you can also taunt ge'ran so she moves with you for cleave (although she has no threat)
Blackhand - positioning the smash so that adds group can go up to stands properly is important (P2), move out of mines

[Radish Spirit]

Follow dBm taunt instructions and you will be fine

In BRF? What? Sorry, no. Taunt swaps are not a big part of BRF and DBM will not help you tank BRF dude.

[Kanadei]

In BRF? What? Sorry, no. Taunt swaps are not a big part of BRF and DBM will not help you tank BRF dude.

Well, I mean taunt "swaps" are a big part of BRF (Gruul/Ore/BF/Flame/Kro/Beast/Tho/Blackhand) but blindly taunting off when your stacks drop isn't as common - not at like it was in Highmaul (Karg/Butcher/Bracken/Ko'ragh/Imperator)

[Zeroxk]

sunniersartofwar.com/blog/2015/02/08/the-quick-and-dirty-tanking-guide-for-blackrock-foundry/

Sorry can't post links

[Dasani]

People get hung up far too much on "taunt when other tank gets X number of stacks"

Number of stacks doesn't matter and you don't have to learn or remember exact values for each boss in the game. Just taunt as soon as YOUR stacks fall off. Simple.

There have only ever been a couple of bosses where this wasn't true, and the only reason it wasn't true was due to boss taunt immunity from being taunted too often. A good example is Lei Shen, if you taunted as soon as your stacks fell off each time he'd go immune quickly because the stacks drop insanely fast. Garrosh was another one that could suffer from this.

But every other boss that exists, this is true for. Watch your debuffs instead of the other tanks'. If you ever wonder when to taunt the first time, before you ever had any stacks in the first place, just taunt on one stack. It really doesn't matter or change anything. From there, the taunt when stacks fall off rule applies.

[Kanadei]

People get hung up far too much on "taunt when other tank gets X number of stacks"

Number of stacks doesn't matter and you don't have to learn or remember exact values for each boss in the game. Just taunt as soon as YOUR stacks fall off. Simple.

There have only ever been a couple of bosses where this wasn't true, and the only reason it wasn't true was due to boss taunt immunity from being taunted too often. A good example is Lei Shen, if you taunted as soon as your stacks fell off each time he'd go immune quickly because the stacks drop insanely fast. Garrosh was another one that could suffer from this.

But every other boss that exists, this is true for. Watch your debuffs instead of the other tanks'. If you ever wonder when to taunt the first time, before you ever had any stacks in the first place, just taunt on one stack. It really doesn't matter or change anything. From there, the taunt when stacks fall off rule applies.

Bosses in BRF that this isn't true for:

Gruul
Kro
Tho
Ore
Hans
Beast

I get your logic, I do, but you are basically promoting understanding only the action you need to take (effect) as opposed to the reason you take it (cause).

By understanding the difference between, say, an extra stack on Thogar and an extra stack on Kromog, you will be able to manage tank swaps more efficiently when things don't go perfectly (which is often) or when there is another mechanic which supersedes managing the stacks (like Thogar).

[Radish Spirit]

Well, I mean taunt "swaps" are a big part of BRF (Gruul/Ore/BF/Flame/Kro/Beast/Tho/Blackhand) but blindly taunting off when your stacks drop isn't as common - not at like it was in Highmaul (Karg/Butcher/Bracken/Ko'ragh/Imperator)

Your post suggested you can just "listen to DBM" and tank BRF which is just flat false. Taunt swap timing is an incredibly minor part of most BRF fights.

Gruul it's more about where you are standing when you taunt and how you move between taunts and who takes which slices. DBM explains none of this.

Hans & Franz is all about avoiding stacks of Shattered Vertebrate entirely. DBM doesn't help with this at all.

Beastlord is about positioning and dropping Rend & Tear properly, and timing taunts with add spawns so, for example, a tank doesn't have adds plus stacks of Searing Flesh at the same time. Again, DBM is no help here really. It will tell you to taunt at really stupid times and you will end up wiping because you have a pile of adds on you plus 15 stacks of searing flesh.

Flamebender tanking is 100% about how you position the big wolf so melee can hit her without getting seared by the lava beam or hit by the breath, and using CDs efffectively for the 2nd and 3rd breaths, then swapping. Again, DBM is not smart about this.

I'm just saying "Do what DBM tells you" is not sound advice for BRF. DBM will get you killed if you listen to it as a tank in BRF. You need to understand the fight mechancis, positioning, CD timing, rhythms, etc.

[Kanadei]

Your post suggested you can just "listen to DBM" and tank BRF which is just flat false. Taunt swap timing is an incredibly minor part of most BRF fights.

I think it's safe to say you are confusing me with someone else, I never said anything like that.

Do you mean Rawrzilla?

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I'm just saying "Do what DBM tells you" is not sound advice for BRF. DBM will get you killed if you listen to it as a tank in BRF. You need to understand the fight mechancis, positioning, CD timing, rhythms, etc.

I was agreeing with you and we are arguing the same thing, approximately.

[Deleted]

Thanks very much guys. I have watched the videos of course but I wanted something quick I could refer to when my mind draws a blank as I haven't tanked enough to have full muscle memory of the fights yet! Thanks again