Blood Princes-shaman tank

[jordasniper]

is it possible for a shaman to tank the prince that is normaly tanked by a warlock fully buffed in pvp gear have about 34k health what do you think? 10 man

[rat]

I still have yet to find any reason a warlock should specifically tank this. Pretty much any class can tank it just fine. Well, any ranged class, or a real tank. Seems like its just a fad that caught on for no real reason.

[BoxofRox]

Shaman Tanks should have no problem with it, Warlocks are favored due to TBC where you used one for BT because Shaman tanks were... about as blasphemy as ret pallies. A lock back then could just spam searing pain and shadowbolts, and aggro away.

[Worshaka]

I still have yet to find any reason a warlock should specifically tank this. Pretty much any class can tank it just fine. Well, any ranged class, or a real tank. Seems like its just a fad that caught on for no real reason.

A normal tank has no real way to generate a decent amount of threat at range and if they move to melee range to generate some threat they can't survive the melee hits that prince can do when empowered.

The only exception to that is perhaps a frost DK tank which requires a specific spec, so instead of doing that you will find that most guilds will use a warlock or shadow priest to tank the caster prince because it's less messing around.

I was able to tank using my shadow priest in 25man last night and we got the achievement for no one taking more than 25K shadow damage in one hit... so it's certainly possible to do this way and doesn't require any special gear or spec.

[Puffman]

We killed them on 25 with a hunter in stamina gear no problem. As long as the tank can gather the nucleii, they can tank him, as far as I'm aware.

[Whispir]

I'm sure warlocks aren't the only class able to tank it, however warlocks are favored because they have several talents and buffs that make them a better choice such as; Soul Link, Molten Skin, and they have Demon Armor.

[Worshaka]

I'm sure warlocks aren't the only class able to tank it, however warlocks are favored because they have several talents and buffs that make them a better choice such as; Soul Link, Molten Skin, and they have Demon Armor.

I should clarify my statement...

Locks are the number choice for the reason you pointed out, they are also likely to have nether protection in addition to some of the talents above which makes them a high survivability choice for your raid. Second to locks are shadow priests because of the innate 15% damage reduction and the ability to heal for 25% of their DPS + Dispersion which would be glyphed to 1min 15 sec.

Any other class, while capable, are lacking in caster survivability... not to say it can't be done but if you're trying to min max using a Lock or Spriest are your better options. Of course if you end up with a DK tank that has the specific Frost spec that is probably best of all.

[Lysah]

I tanked the 25 man for my guild tonight on my hunter, 28.8k hp with a stoneblood flask. I had no problem keeping 5-7 spheres up at once, even empowered he was only hitting me for 8k shadow bolts, very easy to heal. Deterrance is also immunity from his lances for 5 seconds = bubble with threat = gg.

Edit:
Basically, what I'm saying is, anyone with a brain can do it.

[Cyclone Duke]

+26% healing received, a spammable high-threat max range spell, and tons of damage reduction options between the destruction and demnology tree. Anyone can tank it, but a warlock specced for it will do a much better job.

[Niisama]

My guild used an Unholy DK and he made it pretty trivial, to the point where he almost never needed heals. We lost like 7-8 people to Vortex and still downed the boss because healing was almost none-existent when you do the fight correctly.

[Melonberry]

We killed them on 25 with a hunter in stamina gear no problem. As long as the tank can gather the nucleii, they can tank him, as far as I'm aware.

And generate threat on the boss. A healer is not a good choice as I found out.

It actually worked fine until people had to attack him.

[Geckomayhem]

Perhaps warlocks just want more to do in raid? There have been fights in the past where a warlock was chosen to tank (for example, the twin emps caster in AQ40). It makes things interesting when a caster "tanks" a caster (like mages for the Maulgar fight and the council fight in BT).

[Ultralisk]

It makes things interesting when a caster "tanks" a caster (like mages for the Maulgar fight and the council fight in BT).

This makes a lot of sense to me. You don't see a mage tanking a huge, heavy hitting 'warrior-type' melee boss, do you? So why would you have a guy in a tin can tank the powerful spellcaster?

[FireBorne]

For a 10m why not let a shaman try but for 25m hunters/locks(locks can absorb shadow dmg) just seem like better choices imo. They put out alot higher threat than a shaman can ever dream of even spamming frost shock, i'm not saying it is not possible, i just dont see why would any rl choose a shaman over a lock. I would even choose a sp over a shaman, nothing against shamans though.

[Mix]

To the person who said something about locks and twin emps.

At the time locks were on par with the warrior tank health, and the caster twin did shadow dmg. So some shadow resist gear paired with the high normal hp and the fact that locks always generate an abnormal amount of threat made us an excellent choice. Other casters were squishy.

Also, for Gruul's lair a mage was preferred for spellsteal over other casters.

Nowadays, most everything can be done on normal with whatever classes you have. So rock on shammies!

[Triston]

A lock in a "tanking" set will make the encounter laughably easy. Other ranged take a lot more damage. It's noticeable. Swapped from hunter to lock and got it that attempt. Not to mention they can get a ton of threat very fast.

[Iselian]

A normal tank has no real way to generate a decent amount of threat at range and if they move to melee range to generate some threat they can't survive the melee hits that prince can do when empowered.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding this, but as I knew it he only spams Shadow Lance? I did not think he did any melee hits. Granted, I have not done the fight yet. Some clarification?

[Kênny]

If you get close to him, he will surely punch you in the face. He hit a clothie for about 45k in the twenty five man soooo. >>

[ohlins]

To the person who said something about locks and twin emps.

At the time locks were on par with the warrior tank health, and the caster twin did shadow dmg. So some shadow resist gear paired with the high normal hp and the fact that locks always generate an abnormal amount of threat made us an excellent choice. Other casters were squishy.

Also, for Gruul's lair a mage was preferred for spellsteal over other casters.

Nowadays, most everything can be done on normal with whatever classes you have. So rock on shammies!

Indeed, Illidan and Grand Astromancer Capernian are better examples.

[Snowulf]

searing pain spam also ensures no one else (should) take aggro, thats the problem with other ranged dps tanking, because they usually have to respec out of the aggo reduction talent(s)