Are you a conservative or a liberal tank?

[styil]

I feel like there are two broad styles of tanking: those who are conservative and those who are liberal

Conservative
Very conservative with the use of tank cooldowns. Attempt to hold onto as many tank cooldowns as possible for 'oh sh*t' moments in the raid so the healers are free to focus on everyone else. This however is at the cost of higher overall damage taken.

Liberal
Very liberal with the use of tanking cooldowns. Use them practically when they're off CD to reduce overall damage taken. This however is at the cost of potentially not having them if an 'oh sh*t' moment happens during an encounter.

I would say that I am more of a conservative tank. I like to save those CD's for when an attempt has taken a turn for the worse so they can stabilise the raid. I know that once that crisis is over they will have my back once again.

[Barnabas]

Anti federalist tank.

[Deleted]

I am Blood DK so i am "use a CD or you are dead on almost any mechanic" tank. Being conservative is something impossible for my class

[Arlee]

Anti federalist tank.

Lol

I tend towards caution more than I should even when I am running with healers and dps I know very well. I've been pushing myself to use my CDs more regularly, mainly barkskin because for a long time I wasn't using it at all really and it's pretty worthwhile to use on CD. I've also started to use survival instincts more to help mitigate known big hits than using it for "oh shit something's gone wrong" moments.

Oh yea ima Bear in case you can't tell from the abilities I mentioned

[Cazz17]

What would you call someone who uses cooldowns when they're meant to?

[Jazzhands]

A mix of both is best, and typically how I play, especially in raids. For bosses you should know when big attacks are coming and what CDs to save, and also be aware of times where damage income is consistant for more steady use.

Spellblade is a good example. Her damage between annihilate is pretty low, but without CDs you're pretty much guaranteed death from annihilate. So I typically use demon spikes/shield trinket but make sure one will be up for annihilate along with soul barrier, and hold Meta for true of shit moments.

[Jimson]

I am a communist tank. I feel incoming damage should be distributed by need.

I don't raid tank, but in mythics+ I don't hesitate to use them if my health drops low. No sense "saving" them if the alternative is a death.

[Zandalarian Paladin]

I'm a socialist tank. I make sure everyone gets the same amount of damage taken as I have!

EDIT: Argh, got beat by a minute. And I felt so clever o.o

[Fiddlewick]

I'm a libertarian tank and don't believe that things such as 'big cooldowns' should determine my freedom of play.
I only use my dps spells to avoid being controlled by this.

[Killface1]

This question doesn't really make sense. There are certain abilities that you're expected to use active mitigation for (melee swings, etc) and certain abilities you're expected to use cooldowns for (solosoaking bonds on guldan). If you're using CD's for white damage, you're doing it wrong. If you're not using CD's for the actual big hits, you're also doing it wrong.

[Shoat]

I'm a liberal tank, constantly using cooldowns.... because my co-tank is a flimsy paladin (more like "paperladin" amirite?) and he dies on 30-energy fel-scythes, causing me to tank gul'dan alone... while most of my healers are on fire or busy healing people who're on fire. Movement, amirite?


Anyway, I assume you're only discussing non-trivial fights here? Because on trivial fights I might seem conservative even though I'm just lazy as fuck - then again it's always difficult to tell the difference between those two things.

This question doesn't really make sense. There are certain abilities that you're expected to use active mitigation for (melee swings, etc) and certain abilities you're expected to use cooldowns for (solosoaking bonds on guldan). If you're using CD's for white damage, you're doing it wrong. If you're not using CD's for the actual big hits, you're also doing it wrong.

I'm pretty sure this thread is intended to be just for fun, no decent tank is just one of those two extremes, just like no decent person should sort themselves into one of two extremist political views when there are way more healthy options inbetween.
Also, solosoaking bonds does not really require cooldowns (unless it's on mythic I assume? Not that I've gotten that far). You just... have more than 75% health and casually walk out.

[styil]

This question doesn't really make sense. There are certain abilities that you're expected to use active mitigation for (melee swings, etc) and certain abilities you're expected to use cooldowns for (solosoaking bonds on guldan). If you're using CD's for white damage, you're doing it wrong. If you're not using CD's for the actual big hits, you're also doing it wrong.

Yes, but you don't need to pop all 67 of your cooldowns for solo soaking Gul'dan bonds, which means you have other cooldowns which you can use to either soak white damage, or conserve for a crisis moment.

[barackohmama]

I'm a nihilist tank. I never use cds

[Rixis]

I'm a druid tank, so I can pop cooldowns all the time and still have some ready. Cooldowns for days /rawr

[murbaez]

I guess im an adaptive tank. I try to conform to the group and situation more than anything. If we have new healers, i generally save some CD's for OH SH*T moments. IF the healers aren't especially attentive i do that too, just to be able to try and solo the boss in a sense. IF i get into mythics with a healer i never played with, i generally try to trial them first to see what their capable of. I generally lean on the conservative side but willingly adapt to the situation if it means that things go smoother.

[Deleted]

If you are either of those you are doing it wrong.

Tanking is about using CDs when appropriate. That means having a CD up when needed, but not wasting it when not needed.

In most cases you should use your CDs proactive. If you pop a CD when you are already at low health you waste a lot of the CDs potential. Tanks should know the encounters very well. they should be able to pop a CD to take pressure of the heals in high HPS situations. They should anticipate when they need CDS. They should hold onto a CD for those cases when something goes terribly wrong and you can save the day.

Just sitting on your CDs just means you only pop them when you drop low, which is a waste. Just using them whenever they are ready is a waste, too, because CDs are much more potent when used smrt. So yeah, use them smart, not conservative or liberal.

[Deleted]

I'm pretty sure this thread is intended to be just for fun, no decent tank is just one of those two extremes, just like no decent person should sort themselves into one of two extremist political views when there are way more healthy options inbetween.
Also, solosoaking bonds does not really require cooldowns (unless it's on mythic I assume? Not that I've gotten that far). You just... have more than 75% health and casually walk out.

You're a bear aren't you ?

Not that it's hard to solosoak them in HM, but if I ever just walk out of the bonds as a warrior without any CD up I'm just a dead pile of plate on the ground.

[Soisoisoi]

I use them to reduce overall damage when possible and have them for when I need them. Basically, I'm not a moron who does one or the other like the listed options.

[SoulSoBreezy]

I feel like there are two broad styles of tanking: those who are conservative and those who are liberal

Conservative
Very conservative with the use of tank cooldowns. Attempt to hold onto as many tank cooldowns as possible for 'oh sh*t' moments in the raid so the healers are free to focus on everyone else. This however is at the cost of higher overall damage taken.

Liberal
Very liberal with the use of tanking cooldowns. Use them practically when they're off CD to reduce overall damage taken. This however is at the cost of potentially not having them if an 'oh sh*t' moment happens during an encounter.

I would say that I am more of a conservative tank. I like to save those CD's for when an attempt has taken a turn for the worse so they can stabilise the raid. I know that once that crisis is over they will have my back once again.

This's one of the more discussion-based questions you've asked in a long time. I tip my hat =).

OT: I'm a moderate. You bet I'm going to use my CDs at every possible opportunity, but not when they're off CD. It's my job as a tank to have full understanding of incoming damage spikes and plan my CDs around that to let the healers conserve their own mana and CDs. If managing my heals isn't predictable, we have big problems.

[Heladys]

I tanked in the days of 30-minute shield wall cooldowns, the deeply-ingrained instinct to be highly conservative and hoard your cooldowns is really hard to break. What if I really need it more later?

Don't get me wrong, I do it - but I have an internal wrestling match every time.