Heroic Multi tanking

This is my first attempt in writing a "guide". As i'm not fluent in english, this is prolly not perfect, but well, let me know what you think about it.

I got the idea to talk about this because i heard complaints from guildmates when going in a "pick up" group.
So, what to do when you have to face multi targets.


First, i will talk about a semi multi tanking option : A warlock doing CC.

Helping a Succubus to stay alive:

Actually, a good warlock shouldn't be a problem, but well, reality is not exactly that way :)
What to do when a warlock will do Crowd control : let's say, you have a mage, and a warlock for CC. ignore mage's target, he/she will do his/her job with sheep.
Pull the warlock target, so you'll get initial aggro, this may save the succubus' life when seduce breaks,
and if you have time, also go on with a shield slam, and you're pretty sure each time charm will break, the target will go after you and not after the warlock's pet.
This should get you some warlocks as friend ;)


Now, the real subject, multi tanking.
i will call the mob to focus : Mob A, then the others, mob B, mob C, etc.

At first, I warn (well I warned as now we are used to play with each others), but be sure that it is clear for your group :
If there is more than 2 targets, they have to let you 3 seconds before going on dps like mad on mob A, unless you have a war "spe Fury" in your group (I will talk about that later).

The easy part : 2 mobs.
This should be pretty easy. Pull mob B, and start with a shield slam on it, then switch to your real target : Mob A, sunder, sunder, slam, then go on with your normal cycle.
Put on a Thunder Clap to be sure to keep mob B on you, and you're done. add a sunder or two on mob B at some point if you want to.

The fun part : 3 mobs
this may hurt a little bit, as mobs start to hit hard or pretty hard in heroic mode, depending on your stuff ;)

An important part in this will be kill order: for sure, target special mobs first if you lack of CC for them, i'm sure you know what sort of mobs i'm talking about if you've done some Mechanar for our beloved Sun Eater ;D.
Else, focus casters first, as they should go down faster.
Always keep "common mobs", or mobs with most HP for the end of the fight.

That said, let's go to the tanking part.

=> Pull mob C (this gives you a little bit more aggro with dmg dealt from pull), if there is a mob to be CC go to them and launch a Thunder Clap before your mage sheeps.
This done, your 3 targets will attack you, and you should get enough rage from their hits to do the following :
Shield Slam mob C, switch to mob B and Concussion Blow it, then switch to mob A, and do your Threat cycle.
Don't forget a demoralizing shout, this will add threat on the whole pack of mobs.

Drop some Thunder clap when it's up, and switch to mob B and C for a sunder armor every now and then. Just be sure not to switch to mob B and then to mob C during your cycle.
Else, you can be sure, you will loose aggro on mob A. Instead of this, 4 seconds before Shield Slam is up, sunder mob B, then go back to mob A for a Shield Slam, then target mob C and do your sunder armor.

** If you face mobs with weapons, you can add a disarm on mob B or C.
** If you're ahead DPSer, you can throw in a Shield Slan on mob B, so you're sure, he will not leave you.
** If you have a plate DPSer in your group, or a shaman well stuffed, you can let him focus mob A from start, instead of waiting for 3 seconds, as he should survive until you're done with Mobs B and C. This will let you get back aggro from him with one taunt and start with significant aggro.

Be sure to have thunder clap active all the time so they will hit less hard.
And disarm, concussion blow each time it's possible (Concussion Blow on a mobs not focused help to build aggro on them.
In addition to the aggro part, this will also reduce damage taken. Don't forget we are in Heroic :)
When Mob A dies, switch to mob B, and Concussion Blow it if it's stun. while it is stun, switch to mob C and Shield Slam it to keep aggro, then go back to mob B, and do your job :). If Concussion is not up, switch to Mob C first and hit the beautiful Shield Slam key, then focus mob B

Now that you get the idea, it's the same for 4 mobs, etc.
With 4 mobs, we have most of the time a caster, so actually, i get a shaman or druid (in dps stuff) to tank it and the group focus it to get it down really fast as i keep aggro from the 3 others.
If no casters, i deal with them all.

Well, that's not perfect, and there are propably other ways to keep aggro from several mobs, but this may help a little bit if you're confused.

Jezika, Uldaman, European Server.
http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sh...daman&n=Jezika

Good guide. A few pointers in this guide that I need to give a try :D.

I generally simply go for focusing each mob down. Improved Thunderclap and Cleave holds a surprisingly great deal of aggro, assuming the healer can keep me up. I don't think I've lost aggro once with proper DPS focus and a good healer, even in heroics (though I've not done a lot of them).

most pugs have problems with multi mob pulls due to lack of focus fire as norrath mentioned, but there are good pointers here that can be utitilized by the tanks here.

U don't use cleave on double tanking pulls?

Here is my cycle for tanking 3 mobs. The most important part is focused fire, with the kill order being A, B, C.

0: pull
1.5: TC (usually try to TC before they are even in melee range)
3: SS mob A
queue cleave
4.5: sunder/revenge mob A
queue shield block
6: demo shout
7.5: TC
queue cleave
9: SS mob c
...etc...

I try to save concussion blow for when my HP gets low or a mob starts to run.

Starting with thunder clap is imperative because of the damage mobs do in heroics. Your clothies can get 1 shot, and you need the rage so you must keep three mobs on you. Simultaneously, you must reduce incoming damage.
Cleave and TC should hold aggro on mob B, occasionally you will need to sunder mob C (cleave only hits your main target and 1 additional).

Another important part of multi-mob tanking is switching targets before the mob is dead. switching at 15% is a good number for me, although I could probably switch earlier.

I never use cleave and I multi tank fine. I prefer to save the rage dump on a well timed threat move rather than cleave =P

Great idea about pulling the second or third target as opposed to the main one first, I'll keep this in mind. And about Cleave; I can't believe I forgot all about it! >_<

I'd like to add that it's a great idea to bind the "Set Focus" and "Target Focus" to a hotkey--this should help save time when switching targets.

Not just that, but Spell Reflect can help mitigate damage (obviously), and the increased rage from the damage taken from tanking more than one mob would ensure that you have enough rage to spend on it.

1. Be a pally-din.

2. Drop consecrate/pop holy shield.

3. Profit.

:)

I abuse [item]Goblin Rocket Launcher[/item] to no end for pulling in heroics. (For that matter, I use it to pull SSC, and TK, and so on). However, I'll usually rocket launcher pull the first kill target, because the rocket launcher also causes a 3-second stun, and then I lay a few shots into the 2nd and 3rd kill targets before the first reaches me.

For SH, when I'm sometimes tanking 5 mobs at once, I'll spam TC, and occasionally (usually once the current kill target is at low HP), I'll spam tab-cleave for a few seconds, to spread a little aggro around.