[Toppdogg]

Hi All, first time poster...

I've been playing WOW for just over 4 months, recently hit 80, and have been tanking for about 4 weeks now. Am an Orc Warrior.

My question is related to keeping threat from mobs with 4 or more NPCs. One example of this is the room in HOS where guys just keep coming.

My usual strat for attacking a mob is to charge in (or taunt), thunderclap, shockwave, demoralizing shout, and then a combo of shield bash, devastate etc, tabbing through each NPC. This works well, and I generally keep 100% threat, bar the odd NPC that runs off to the healer, which I then get back with a taunt or weapon throw.

The problem I have is when there are multiple adds, and how to keep all the threat on myself from them as they join the fight. I use Commanding Shout when available to get the attention of all those in range, but when NPCs are running around all over the place attacking all players, what is the best strat for rounding them back up and getting threat back on me... particularly with that HOS fight I mentioned above.

Another good example is the harpoon room in UP where waves keep coming out.

Tips and advice appreciated.

[Jjvalour]

I prefer shockwave first, in order to keep them in place for a moment for followup thunderclaps and cleaves.
When the mobs are really spread out like you're describing, you want to use challenging shout when you've gotten as close to as many as possible.
Don't let your group members slack off either, if you fear you may have a fiasco on your hands, have as many of them as can manage it to drag the mobs on them back near you so you can pick them back up.

[ndb1983]

In a situation like that I put Vigilance on the healer and make sure all party members know to bring the mobs to me without doing any damage to them so I can get them off.

[blackpandemic]

Source: ndb1983 In a situation like that I put Vigilance on the healer and make sure all party members know to bring the mobs to me without doing any damage to them so I can get them off.

This is critical. Far too many times I've had a pug mage yell at me for not taunting an add, which he has kited half way across the instance. Make sure you point out that if they aggro, take it to the tank, against their instinct to run away.

I personally would never ever start with Shockwave as the probability to miss is way too high. Start with a TC, back up a few paces, then SW. I just tab target Devastate unless I see "Losing Threat" pop up in which case I'll do more of a single target rotation on that one add. Other than that, keep up TC and you should be solid.

[Eisen]

Positioning is a real key for fights like this, too.

Know where the enemies are going to come from and make sure you're between them and your party (or if you're all spread out, at least your healer). Don't always just spam TC every time it's up...you might not have it at a more critical time.

Once I have most or all of the targets fairly close, that's when I'll usually shockwave. Also, don't forget you have HT when caster adds appear (like in UP during Skadi)

Watch Cider's video on awareness and camera control too, that's probably the biggest key to dealing with multi-mob fights.

[Grousey]

Agree with Eisen.. it's far too tempting to spam TC when it's up if you are tanking multiple targets. you seem to have tab threat down so save your TC for grabbing new mobs to the fights. this is the strat you should be using for the likes of VH too when new mobs spawn from portals.. you learn where mobs come from and it all gets alot easier.

[Shortypop]

One thing, which relies on both you and the rest of the party is to make sure the mobs spawning have to run straight by you and ask the ranged and healers to keep their distance. So in HoS, you want to be on the stairs with your healer and ranged at the back end of the room. In UP you want to be in the doorway and the rest of the party up the passage from where you've just run.

Some simple things
- don't be afraid to play around with how far/near you are zoomed out
- show nameplates can be useful for targetting
- in UP particular don't be afraid to save rage when the last mob of a wave is at low health, if you can keep decent rage ready for the next wave you will make your life so much easier.
- use conc blow reactively as a taunt, especially for mobs on low hp, they should be dead by the time they unstun, or proactively on low hp mobs for the same reason.

Apart from that and the rest of the advice given here it's all a matter of practice and of knowing when not to bother taunting (mobs under 10% for example will probably be dead before they do any serious damage). I'm a huge fan of shockwave, it does take some getting used to, but if you go into a lvl 60 instance and practive rounding and positioning mobs it will get easier.

There are some spec choices which may make your life a little easier and once you gear up you can start to gear towards more threat stats which also helps

[Valalvax]

Don't forget you can use Demoralizing Shout to pick up mobs

[Bezurk]

Personally, with lots of adds like that, pick up any especially outlying adds with Demoralizing Shout, Charge or Intercept - it generates a tiny bit of threat, but the purpose is to draw the enemies to you (although if you have a trigger happy ranged dps / aggro magnet healer it can be problematic). Then a TC for AoE threat. After that, position yourself (most likely move back) so you can hit as many mobs as possible with Shockwave. By the time the stun wears off TC should be off its CD, so pop it again. While you do all of this, pop Shield Block - mitigation / total avoidance is nice and your targets will be hit with a Damage Shield, which is a bit more threat. After that use Cleave (ideally with glyph) and Devastate (with Glyph of Sunder Armor) and pop TC / Shockwave when they are off cooldown.

[Korbandallas]

This is an issue I have as well although I'm fast coming to the conclusion its less of me losing threat due to bad rotation but rather clueless deeps who just go balls to the wall. My initial rotation for grabbing multiple mobs is charge, SW, cleave, DM, cleave, and then I start tabbing each one and hit devastate. I save TC for grabbing a wayward mob who I lose. Naturally I'm sure there is a better rotation for multiples but thus far this doesn't seem to be too bad.

[donthoto]

I have been playing with a few other tricks lately for situations where there are 5 or more adds. I had a frostmage in the party as well so he could freeze them when I was loosing aggro.

I set up the following macro:
#showtooltip Retaliation
/cast [stance:2] Battle Stance
/castsequence [stance:1] Retaliation, Defensive Stance
/cast [stance:1] Defensive Stance

It requires two clicks: One to get to defensive stance. When the cooldown is done, click again to activate retaliation and get back to defensive stance. If I don't have all aggro I will then Challenging Shout.

After this I will use a Saronite Bomb and kept TC on CD as often as posssible.

Anyone else find this useful or too much work?

Question: Do you ever re-apply Demoralizing Shout for the threat alone, or wait for it to expire on the targets first?

[muzzi]

do hc every day
u will learn everything