Warrior tanking in classic, HELP

[Butser]

Hi guys,

I'm lvl 48 and I have some issues keeping threat. I'm arms specced. But when I charge in and go to defensive stance my damage is zero. I use shield block on CD and use revenge everytime I can but still I lose threat in a second. Even the healer over aggros pretty quickly.

I checked Icy-veins and the only thing i see is, keep shield block up > sunder armor till 5 stacks. Point is I hardly have any rage to build up sunder armors. I'm lucky if I can do 1 sunder armor because I lose rage on the Shield block.

And what about AoE tanking? I read something odd about spamming battle shout because it gives a high amount of threat?... Or should I tab and use sunder armor?

If I go arms I can smash it all and have decent threat (because of the insane AoE with sweeping strikes + WW/Cleave). But I'm really squishy.. especially when I'm in berserker stance :P


So what am I doing wrong?
1. Am I not able to tank dungeons with Arms spec?
2. Should my party members wait longer to attack?
3. Is my rotation not correct? (should I ignore revenge?)

[Toast515]

It's classic, respec prot.

[Ogarash]

Hello!!

Well...tanking in Vanilla is not the same box of cookies a it is in Retail. Not by a long shot. So let's look at what you're doing.

You're Arms specced. I will gather here you have full specced into Tactical Mastery and Impale, which are quite important. Impale and Bleeding Wounds are amazing for AoE Threat especially if you toss in a Thunder Clap when you charge in before you dance over to Defensive Stance. You might get a nice crit in in there with the TC and bleed the targets a bit.

First things first: Focus Targets
There is no point in trying to tank the non elites in dungeons. They are quite harmless because they do way too little damage to your non tanking buddies.
Everyone in vanilla should be prepared to take some damage from mobs, everyone. You're there to keep the worst off them. So focus on the elites.

Mark the targets you wish to be focused. Ask for a few seconds. Tell people you're learning, they'll understand. If a rogue starts unloading on an elite mob you've not even sundered once or twice, then that rogue is to blame seriously. It's like having a death wish. Then again...rogue. Can probably tank that single mob as long as he doesn't whine about it.


Crowd Control:
Too many mobs for you to handle? Call for some crowd control. CC can and should be used especially in dungeons at your level like Zul'Farrak, unless you're running with people used to aoeing. Then you're better off just going full arms and DPSing shit to get stuff down asap and only tank bosses. You'll be squishy as you say but if you prepare the healer and he's fine with it, why not? If you die, well then, you die. If nobody else dies, congratulations! You did what you're supposed to!

So to your questions:
1. You are able to tank with arms. It will however not be as good as Prot. I did the same thing and once I specced prot ( when I could specc Anger Management and 31 pts for shield slam ) it started getting better. Apart from shield slam however, past the first 16 points in protection or so there are no real threat talents, which is why stuff like fury tanking is as viable as it is. That being said, Shield Slam makes shit stick to you like hot glue. It's decent damage and huge threat.
Improved Taunt is also amazing in dungeons. 2 seconds off the CD on taunt is alot in dungeons. You'll be able to grab back fast.
Prot is not as bad at killing stuff outside of the dungeons as you think tbh. You'll miss Sweeping Strikes though.

2. I adressed this above.


3. Focus on what you have. Revenge should NOT be ignored. It's one of the best if not THE best threat generator you have. You spam that shit hard.
Shield block is great, but unless stuff is hitting like a truck and you're rage starved to boot, keep off it. You'll just rage starve yourself even more since you're taking less damage. IF you have the rage for it then by all means. But if stuff is not hitting you, you'll have no rage. Prioritize spamming sunder and revenge only. Once stuff is on you especially more stuff, you'll be getting rage from being hit and have enough to use your other stuff. Assuming you have Anger Management, charge in, stance dance and spam that sunder. If it's a boss, then taunt it first to make sure you have time to apply sunders because the people with you might get a bit jumpy. Use your taunt liberally otherwise. It will make things stick to you so you can build threat and you'll often feel like you're just a taunt machine.
Don't go out of defence stance unless you have to. Charging in is not that good in vanilla at times. You have much less control and stance dancing affects the rage. If you're ending a pull with 25+ rage (assuming Anger Management ) don't leave Def stance. Only if you're sub 15 or something like that where charging in will make you generate up to 25 when you go back to defensive stance. Otherwise just stay there and pool your rage.

Hope this helps

[Butser]

Hello!!...

Thanks for the reply. This will help me alot. Have to say I don't have the bleed talent. I didn't pick it since bleeds are pretty meh if you burst them down in a few seconds. (During questing)

And what about AoE tanking is it simply with the battle shout? Or is that utterly nonsense? Never seen that before...

[Ogarash]

Demo shout does threat not battle shout. You can and should keep that up. You can get some aoe threat with it but there is no real aoe tanking in vanilla, unless you have Thunderfury

[Butser]

Well a druid can semi aoe tank with swipe. Well thats how I mainly tanked with my druid. Just swipe spam... :P

[Reikly]

Demo Shout has a 53 Threat at max Rank.. it only better than thunderclap in 5++ pull mob, thing that u should avoid in a dungeon of ur level. It cost less rage, its true, but in the first 6-8seconds off a initial pull, tanking its about TPS/GLOBAL used. After that u can use demo if u want while manage the rest of ur rotation monotarget.
Furthermore, i saw a lot of Arms tank in leveleing and.. well, it might work but u arent a real tank. Spec prot if u wanna tank dungeon, or be prepared for a Little chaotic runs if not (or if the heal itsnt well geared for that)

The rest, Ogarash did a very good answer for ur questions, i dont have more to add it. Good luck

[czarek]

Its vanilla dude tank dps is literally none its all about making threat by skills not dps. Go prot boost def stats hf. Arms tank is hybrid spec just for mortal strike and in general off tank spec and mostly rare spec.

[tikcol]

Ditch your shield if you have it and focus on doing damage not mitigating it. You're not a wet noodle you're a warrior. This isn't 2005, don't spec prot. You have 2—3 taunts, use them and spam demo shout in aoe packs. Don't listen to plebs telling you to spec prot especially at low level

Warriors in my guild tank in fury spec in bwl.

[Reikly]

of course, in raid environement with well gear, u have to spec to Fury Tank spec for TPS. But thats a other question, and never arms aniway