The Cataclysm guide for the beginner Tank

“If the tank dies it’s the healer’s fault; if the healer dies it’s the tank’s fault; if the dps die it’s their own fault” –Unknown wipe victim

I have been playing WoW for more than six years, and during that time I have lived the changes that have been made to Tanking. Make no mistake, some people who considered themselves to be a ‘good’ tank in wotlk are in for one hell of a shock in Cataclysm. The tanking experience is NOT the same as it was in either Vanilla or Wrath.

I have written this guide to assist and educate those new to tanking or for those considering trying it. It is very much a generalised guide, and focuses more on the principals of tanking and ‘good practice’. It is not aimed at any particular tank class and can just as equally be applied to Pala, Druid, DK or Warrior.

What is a Tank?
A role taken on by a group member within a dungeon or raid. Only Warriors, Druids, Deathknights or Paladins can be tanks. There are two basic components that determine if you are a tank or not; Talent Build and Gear. You cannot be a Tank unless you ‘build’ your talents accordingly. Equally you cannot ‘Tank’ unless you have appropriate gear, i.e. a druid tank cannot tank in caster leather.

What does a Tank do?
The job of a tank is very, very, simple – keep the attention of ALL the mobs you are fighting so that they don’t attack anyone else in the party.

While you must protect the dps in the party, to a certain extent they are masters of their own fate. If they dps too early, or worse dps the wrong target, they will die and most of the time there is little you can do about it. Don’t feel bad about that, and don’t allow their own self destruction escape them, i.e. tell them they screwed up (in a nice way).

Your absolute priority is to protect the healer. The healer keeps you alive and don’t forget that.

Who should play a Tank?
Anyone CAN play a tank, but I would suggest that you only do it if you are a confident person. Personally, I don’t tank, and there are good reasons for me not doing so: I don’t enjoy it, it makes me nervous, and I’m not confrontational enough.

That does not mean you cannot learn to be confident at tanking. If you are determined to tank then I would suggest you start out by tanking with friends or guildies to begin with. Learning to tank while in PUGS will destroy your confidence. Lets not lie, people in PUGS can be jerks.

How does Tanking differ in Cataclysm from Wotlk?
The short answer, a lot. The long answer, a lllooootttt.

Actually, tanking is different not so much because the mechanics of tanking have changed (though they have), but more so due to the following:
1. Boss and trash encounters are generally more complex.
2. Mana management for healers is much, much, more difficult.
3. The dps, for the first time, have to engage their brain.

The tanks I have encountered in Cata so far have been pretty poor. And you know what, that’s not their fault. The fault lies squarely with Blizzard for making tanking so passive in Wrath. Prior to Cata you could stand in the fire and not have to worry, because you knew the healer could keep you up. That’s not the case anymore. Players have to think, know encounters and be faster to react. The margin for error is substantially slimmer in Cata. I for one am extremely glad about this.

So how do I Tank?
For me, there are ten basic rules to tanking. Every player will have their own interpretation of what makes a good tank, but by sticking to these rules you wont be far off the mark.
1. Understand Threat. Threat is what you create when you use your spells (attacks). You must create more threat than anyone else in the party. If you read your spell descriptions you will notice that certain spells create more threat than others. You will also notice that some spells are clearly designed for single target use and others for use against packs of mobs. Learn what to use and when, in order to generate the greatest amount of threat. Lastly be in the right stance, presence or aura.
2. Understand your Cooldowns. Some of your abilities will have limited use, i.e. they can only be used every 30 seconds or 2 minutes. Do not fail to use these, as they can greatly reduce the amount of damage you take (and how much mana the healer wastes). More importantly, use them at the right time. Good times to use CD is when a boss uses an ability that causes his damage to peak OR if you see the healer is low on mana. Try to ensure your abilities are off CD for a boss encounter. Nothing will annoy the party more than having to wait 2 minutes.
3. Understand the Healer classes. All healing classes have their strengths and weaknesses. Learn them. Watch for healers using special abilities on you and try not to use your own specials at the same time.
4. Be in charge. Your party will look to you to set the pace. You are the tank after all. But that does not mean you can charge ahead like a bull in a china shop. If you see people are eating then wait. If you are not ready don’t give in to people yelling “CAN WE DO THIS FAST”. The bottom line is that dungeon queues are in excess of 20 minutes for most servers, and that’s mainly due to tank shortage, if someone wants to leave then let them. Learn to communicate with your party. Your confidence or apparent lack of it will either make the party happy to have you or make them nervous.
5. Watch the Healer’s mana. Healer mana is not limitless in Cata. I really cannot state this enough. You MUST keep an eye on the healer’s mana, both in and out of combat. Give the healer time to drink between encounters.
6. Know the bosses. All boss fights have different mechanics, and all bosses have different abilities. Learn at what point during the fight to use your CDs. Learn where to stand and not to stand. Learn when to move and where to move to.
7. Know the trash. Trash can sometimes be just as deadly as a boss, not least because larger groups are harder to control, especially if you pull an extra pack by mistake. Be careful when pulling trash and move them in to a position where you will not pull further groups. Always take out pats first. If you want crowd control then insist on it. TELL your party what to do. In fact, there really is no excuse not to CC. A cc’d mob cannot hit anyone, and that means one less mob for you to worry about and less mana the healer has to use.
8. Mark up. Marking up is a good way of telling people what to do without using words. Make yourself a little macro to use at the start of the dungeon. Something like:
Kill order = skull, cross, star, triangle, moon
Star = sap
Triangle = hex
Square = trap
Moon= sheep

I would also suggest you macro your function keys to quickly enable you to mark up mobs fast and ‘on-the-fly’.
9. Be aware of your surroundings. Sometimes you have to fight packs in a small space. Be aware of other packs and pats. Watch out for ledges and drops. Try not to back a pack up to a wall – the party is behind you and if they are squashed up against the wall their camera angle will be all messed up, making it harder for them to be able to target and see whats going on.
10. Enjoy it: in my experience you either love Tanking or you don’t. Tanks who don’t enjoy doing it generally don’t make good ones. After all, what’s the point in doing something if the only reason for doing it is that you feel compelled to do so?

---------- Post added 2010-12-22 at 12:20 PM ----------

Please delete. Dont know how this got posted twice. This is not my entry.