Getting Started as a Tank.

[Deleted]

Im looking to start tanking cataclysm raid content for my guild and was wondering if theres anything I can refer to that will tell me the mechanics of each fight for the TANK. Ive checked tankspot and searched for some other videos but alot of them dont say anything about what the tanks should do.

[Strafir]

Golden rule: The raid/party is only as good as the tank is.

No presure.

[xxAkirhaxx]

It's easy man. Hold the threat, move the boss, it's essentially just like DPSing except you have to pay attention to your health and the dmg output of the boss.

Although if you make a mistake it's way more obvious and detrimental than if anyone else does. Also, it's always your fault, no, I don't care, it was your fault.

[Danii]

tanking is fun braw ..
And yeah i for one know that some videos doesn't give the tank perspective, but just ask any other tank on your realm/guild or your raidleader who is supposed to know the fights.

[blackangel209]

Avoid the bad things the video says to avoid and pretty much just tank. If there are specific instructions needed(like when to taunt or w/e), that should be worked out in vent anyway.

[Deleted]

Research every boss fight, know every mechanic, know all the bosses abilities, know when each phase starts/ends. Research, research and research. This will give you an excellent stepping stone into experiencing first hand those mechanics you've researched. You must be using TS/Vent and have good communication skills. It's a vital part of tanking. Lot's of pressure goodluck.

[Domiku]

to start with dont level a tank from level 1 soon as you hit 15 and start instancing your probs want to rage quit the game as a tank low levels are fairly unfriendly mostly due to other players attitude. new players just plain dono what to do half the time and experienced players your meet levelling alts will just be gogogogogogogogo pewpewpewpew oh i can tank look at me weeeeeeeeeeeeee and not think about you at all.


at level 85 i would suggest getting tank kit via other means as a dps or a healer roll on it for offspec build a nice kit up get it gemed and enchanted and things. you then want to start focusing on normal high end stuff like GB and things to get a feel for tanking before going into heroics.

now allot of people wont agree with this, but most tanks will. you will inevitably come across a bad few dps in your time tanking and your want to know an effective way to deal with them. if a dps refuses to give you time to pull or overagrros. explain to them if they do it again your going to let them die (get the healer in on this also). now ya if they do it again let them die and kick them from group. if you cant kick them and your at start of the instance or have a few dps like this my suggestion is leave group right away. your have a 15min debuff wait for it to clear sign up again. your be wasting an extra 15 - 20 mins in the original group anyway and just stress yourself out so ya my sugestion is leave and hope next group is a good one.

that's main tips i can give you for starting out. good luck

[khalltusk]

If you roll a DK you start at a higher level

Best thing you can do is start doing random dungeons instantly, ignore most players rants and raves as you start out and just get used to tanking in general. as a DK tank, I found the 70-80 and then 80-85 dungeon runs really smooth (i rerolled just before cata hit and got to 80 about 1month before so had some time to get raid gear before cata hit) as a tank you get instant queues, so you can just plug on and get used to it.

Random dungeon finder is your friend! love it as I do!

as for tanking in general, just keep an eye on your party, if you see healer has mobs on him or a dps etc then be ready to taunt it off etc. I use nameplates so I can easily see where mobs go as their health bars will be up (it can get quite chaotic if its a bad pull.)

Never be afraid to pop a cd even on trash, you usually have a few 1 min CDs and a big 2-3 min CD so dont be afraid to use them it can save the day! Also if you are marking targets just ensure the dps knows which to cc which to dps, (skull x etc) some people keybind the marks (i do) some have other means for doing this but its a good habit to get into the art of marking targets and asking for someone to cc a certain mark.

main thing is be polite

[Deleted]

Some people are born to tank, some are not.
If you decide to tank, you should be aware, that its always the tanks fault, no matter what, the blame will be pointed at you. When I am tanking, I simply just ignore that, and keep on going.
So if people easily annoy you, I dont think tanking will be the right for you.
HOWEVER
Tanking also got some nice benefits
Fast dungeon queue's
There is not so many tanks in a normal group (1-3) so you got higher chance of getting the tank gear you want.
We are not many tanks in world of warcraft, so you can pretty much just pick any group you'd like, and they will need a tank.
There is probably more, but I can't mention them right now :-)

[ixirawr]

I healed on my druid all through WotLK and the start of Cata and am just now starting to try tanking.

There are some things you will need to do:
1. Add Ons. I know some people like to say you don't need them (and this is true) BUT they help a lot. Use them. Get a threat meter, get name plates that show Aggro levels. Get Deadly Boss Mods. Try out every add on having to do with tanking, and keep the ones you find useful.

2. Your health bar. You need to be looking at it at all times. Make sure it is somewhere you can see it. In randoms, sometimes the healer has to AFK mid trash pull for a few seconds (cat jumps on his lap, gf/mom/other are talking to him, phone rings). If you see your health is dipping, pop a CD. I know that as a healer, there have been plenty of times where I stopped giving out heals for 10 seconds or so, and it has wiped groups if the tank didn't do something to compensate for my inattention.

3. Mark targets AND make it clear to your group what they mean. Don't assume the mage knows that Moon = Sheep. Don't even assume the DPS know Skull = 'Kill This First.'

4. Watch the healer's mana. No mana means no heals, and a pissed off healer.

5. Take your time. An extra couple seconds between pulls adds less time to the dungeon run than a wipe does.

6. If you don't know what to do, ask. Again, you want to avoid a wipe. That DPS who out gears you and is only doing the instance for the Valor will say "OMFG!" but you should ignore him.


Read guides for your class's tanking spec. Know how to gem, know how to enchant, know the spec, and know the rotation. Every person in your group is going to inspect you, and if you didn't do these things correctly you are going to hear about it from all 4, 9, 24 other people.

[blackvivi265]

It's easy man. Hold the threat, move the boss, it's essentially just like DPSing except you have to pay attention to your health and the dmg output of the boss.

Saying that, as a paladin, saddens me. You have all these extra utilities you can use, you should be paying attention to the whole raid's health as well as other things rather than just your own.

[Argothea]

Watching both the tank spot videos and reading the comments posted there and on wowhead can be very helpful. The comments on tankspot often are people asking for advice on challenges they have already encountered, which means that you will already have an idea how to handle that particular situation if it comes up. If there are specific tank mechanics, typically a tankspot video will tell you where to tank the boss and any other relevant information. Watching the video will also show you positioning far better than just reading the transcription. And as an earlier poster mentioned, you will be more effective and better equipped to save a potential wipe if you are 100% aware of all the fight's phases and mechanics, not just your own role in it.

And a late addition: Even though they are extremely well done, the tankspot videos should NEVER be taken as the end-all, be-all to a fight. Their version of normal Ascendant Council 10 man didn't specify that there was a damage mechanic that REQUIRED you to spread out in the final phase. Not checking multiple sources to be safe can end up biting you in the bum.

[Deleted]

Research every boss fight, know every mechanic, know all the bosses abilities, know when each phase starts/ends. Research, research and research. This will give you an excellent stepping stone into experiencing first hand those mechanics you've researched. You must be using TS/Vent and have good communication skills. It's a vital part of tanking. Lot's of pressure goodluck.

^This.
Also research your class - read up on EJ's, read mmo-champ stickies. Good tank has to manage his defensive cooldowns - although in order to make great use of defensive cd's, you have know boss fight/abilities GL in tanking.

[Drummerboy]

Do not start tanking at 85 like Domiku said. This is the terrible advice for any beginner tank. Tanking at 15 is difficult because you really don't have a good means of keeping threat off others so I would say skip that if you want. Start in the low 20's and learn your basics there. Besides you get instant queues and great xp from dungeons so why not take advantage of it. If you are DK tanking wait until 60 for DnD. And when you reach 85 you can have a good tanking kit from quests and normals along the way. Needing offspec without asking is disrespectful to those who just put in the work in that role for that dungeon.
Besides why queue as offspec before 85 when the tank queue is instant?

If you are already 85 go buy tank gear off ah that can get you in normals (300+ level greens, reasonably priced blues, professions, etc). Know your primary tanking spells, bind your taunt spells and always monitor aggro. I think learning to tank at 85 can be harder due to having a ton of abilities and how hectic some fights can be if you don't know how to control your group.

[Deleted]

I have a rarely used tank alt.

Once you have your gear and addons sorted and know how to use your abilities the next thing is boss mechanics either in hc's or raids.......

Fortunatley my guild has a few very gd tanks, i got them to run me through dungeons and normal raids with me, them as dps and me as tank. They gave me advice all way through and is probably the best way to learn. Having forgiving party/raid members with you who also have a wealth of knowledge worked for me.

[Bronbowser]

Quick-n-dirty tank guide:

- Magmaw - Use defensive CDs on mangle, be prepared to taunt ASAP when boss rises again after slump when tank switching
- Tron council - Positioning of trons helps out the raid. Move tron out of blue circle. Move tron into green cloud. Watch out for adds fixated on you. Interrupt arch's. Don't attack when tron has shield on. Be prepared to pick up newly activated tron ASAP
- Chimereon. OT taunts off during double break. MT taunts back. If you are the double break tank, watch your health and pop CDs if it's < 50% during double break. For P2, kite boss and live as long as possible.
- Maloriak. MT, not much to do except making sure raid is stacked on your during red phase and during p2, watch out for flame wall. OT, kite adds, tell raid when 9 are up so that they will interrupt remaining release casts. Call out for frost traps and ring of frost when needed. Stay in range of heals.
- Atremedes. MT, not much tank-specific stuff to do. OT - you will be dpsing...
- Tot4w. Make sure healy 'jin is not in healing circle. Change platforms at the right time.
- Al'akir. MT, not much tank-specific stuff to do (other than not getting knocked off). OT - you will be dpsing...
- Hylfus - depends on drake combo, but typically will only have to worry about tank swamping when other tank has 8+ stacks of MS... Interrupt shadow cast.
- T&V. MT, not much tank-specific stuff to do - just position the boss in a consistent way. Avoid the void zones during p2. OT - you will be dpsing..
- Council. Fire tank, not much tank-specific stuff to do. Water tank, interrupt and make sure you are not waterlogged and get distance for point blank AOE frost cast. p2, not much tank-specific stuff to do. Get the right buff. Help raid out by positioning based on where the tornado/grounding spots are. p3, kite boss around the room.
- Cho'gall. The two tanks need to manage the fury debuffs correctly so that neither ever has > 1. Add tank positions big add according to strat. Interrupts depravity. Use defensive CDs when boss has Worshipping buff and/or shadow/fire buffs. During p2, help with interrupting/dpsing the tentacles...

[davesurfer]

It's easy man. Hold the threat, move the boss, it's essentially just like DPSing except you have to pay attention to your health and the dmg output of the boss.

Although if you make a mistake it's way more obvious and detrimental than if anyone else does. Also, it's always your fault, no, I don't care, it was your fault.

No no no. Lesson one of being a tank: if you die it is always the healers fault

[xxAkirhaxx]

Saying that, as a paladin, saddens me. You have all these extra utilities you can use, you should be paying attention to the whole raid's health as well as other things rather than just your own.

Yes, because I was giving a concise and accurate depiction of tanking. /rolls eyes go troll somewhere else

[Andaja]

As an oftopic, yeah, tankspot got to the shitty part when they ended videos with cinderhelms pov, and got that annoying annoying girl to narate.

Other then that, just watch those videos, they really tell what boss basic mechanics are. They even tell how to cope with them (sometimes_ but really, you need to think of that yourself as in when to move the boss, if to move the boss, when to use and should you use cds wtc wtc.