AoE Tanking: Cleave vs Heroic Strike

[Bonham]

I recently managed to level my Warrior alt to 80. So far, I'm absolutely loving Prot's playstyle. It's in some ways reminiscent of my lock's many specs that rely on priority systems, and as such, I wouldn't be surprised if Prot warriors had the most intensive, fun tanking rotations in the game.

I believe I've mastered single target threat generation; one of my favorite things about the class is its reliance on skill, and that if you have it, you can manage to keep threat on people decked out in very relatively high end gear. However, I've stumbled upon some conflicting views on AoE tanking. I already prioritize TC>SW>normal rotation whilst switching targets, but I'm unsure of whether to be spamming Heroic Strike or Cleave.

Tankspot's guide to Prot Warriors gives a very indepth guide on threat priorities, and according to them, Heroic Strike is far more valuable even when pulling multiple mobs, due to it's relatively high threat production and Cleave's mechanics (which divides threat among the targets). But when Googling "Cleave vs. Heroic Strike", it seems that most people favor Cleave, because it still does generate some threat on multiple targets. Elitist Jerks also favors Cleave, although it gives no explanation as to why.

Which ability do you suggest I use, and why? (I may as well set up a poll, in case this generates some discussion) Thanks for your time

[c4tuna]

Cleave if you're AoEing a group down, HS if you're focusing a target and keeping residual threat.

[Nikkaszal]

It depends whether or not you're doing focus-fire or AoE.

With an AoE pack you don't need max threat on a single target, you want to spread it around as much as possible. Thus, Cleaving is more apt.

For a focus-fire pack while tanking multiple mobs (H-HoR comes to mind) you can hold the extras with Tclap and Swave while HS'ing the main kill target.

[catablitz]

What the guys above said is the general rule. However as you mentioned skill is included and I add that so is decision. For example it is not a weird scenario that you will HS one mob and devastate another while block is up so you revenge the third.

[Coreva]

I have alot of experience as a warrior tank doing it since burning crusade and i have to say that you should only really need heroic strike on situations where you need to dump rage or bosses, between revenge/devastate/shield slam i have no threat problems on single target.(not talking about raid situation ofcourse where you constantly have 100 rage) If you are fighting more than 2 targets you should be using cleave and also be glyphed for it to hit 3 targets. Total threat you get going this route will be significantly better. Thing is you want to divide your threat among what your holding for aoe or else one or two are going to squirt off. I even go as far as constantly rotating targets for devastates while cleaving. Cleave is quite expensive so just watch the rage carefully.

[Mijen]

Cleave by far. However, dont forget you still have to alternate targets even with cleave.

[Deleted]

I never use HS in AoE tanking, it's simply not worth it and to me always seems a sign of a poor warrior tank. It is a very simple priority system that I use personally and works just fine; TC & SW in between tab (or mouse) targeting the mobs for SS, Revenge, and Devastate while constantly spamming Cleave. In cases where the dps will single target one mob, a boss or just the badass of the group, I still do not use HS. I simply hold the entire group with the AoE abilities I mentioned and put all of my single target attacks; SS, Rev, and Dev on the mob that is being focused on and I still manage to hold threat just fine.

A good example of the last statement would be the first boss of Hall of Lightning. You can never truly predict what the DPS is gonna focus fire on, some go for the boss and some go for the adds but it's just something you need to play a bit by ear.

[Saverem]

LOL, never seen a poll result as concrete as this.

It's unanimous... When you're AoEing, use Cleave over HS.

[brabal]

Cleave

19 100.00%
Heroic Strike

0 0%
Meh, if your priorities are tight, it doesn't matter

0 0%

hmm.. well. id think cleave. simple thing is that cleave does LESS threat but it does more damage. and basicly since in this expancion threat isnt important. hit some more damage. but ye. only cleave if you have the rage

[Deleted]

I always cleave when more than 1 target. Yes, threat drops but the only time I can recall a scenario where this is an issue in WOTLK is if you're tanking raging spirits on LK.

Cleave is, perhaps the biggest benefit of it, additional damage. Damage gets shit killed sooner. Use it.

[Deleted]

Meh. I can't bother about using Cleave for two reasons.

1.) My action bars and keybinds are full. It's too much of a hassle to remap my keys or have buttons switch places. Yes, I'm lazy.
2.) Heroic Strike is superior in most cases, due to the +threat component. Is someone focusing fire on one mob while the rest of the group AoEs? Heroic Strike the focused mob while you spam AoE abilities.

Cleave may pull ahead if you glyph it, but apart from leveling and farming HCs when you just hit level 80, you don't want to run it glyphed anyway.

[Deleted]

Meh. I can't bother about using Cleave for two reasons.

1.) My action bars and keybinds are full. It's too much of a hassle to remap my keys or have buttons switch places. Yes, I'm lazy.
2.) Heroic Strike is superior in most cases, due to the +threat component. Is someone focusing fire on one mob while the rest of the group AoEs? Heroic Strike the focused mob while you spam AoE abilities.

Cleave may pull ahead if you glyph it, but apart from leveling and farming HCs when you just hit level 80, you don't want to run it glyphed anyway.

Saywhat?

Cleave is a DPS increase and unless the other DPS are really good, or you fail, you don't NEED heroic strike on a 60k HP heroic mob.

Always use cleave, it's amazing extra damage, not even considering the threat compontent.

[Deleted]

Saywhat?

Cleave is a DPS increase and unless the other DPS are really good, or you fail, you don't NEED heroic strike on a 60k HP heroic mob.

Always use cleave, it's amazing extra damage, not even considering the threat compontent.

I should've put more focus on my point 1.) cuz I'm just lazy.