How to: Tanking groups of mobs ?

Hello everyone,

I saw this great site, it gave me a lot of helpfull hints, but one (for now anyway) thing still gives me a WHOLE LOT of trouble ...tanking groups of elites...

I'm not a new player, maxxed several toons, so I know the basics, but my dear warrior here gives me grey hairs (tanking-wise) :D
(I must admit... I love playing her and she'll be my new main I believe, lvl79 now, 80 in a day or so. Fairly equipped 490 defense.)

When doing instances there's ALWAYS 1 of the mobs slipping away after a few seconds straight off to that triggerhappy mage, warlock or overanxious healer, but of course if I run after it... I take the whole group of mobs into the ranged group of players! :eek:

My 'rotation' for groups usually goes: Thunderclap - Shockwave - Devastate (tabbing to change between the mobs until Thunderclap or Shockwave are of CD) keeping taunt for when things go bad. (Since the shout has a 10min CD). :(

I hope you can help me out here with some tips 'n Tricks... and this isn't a double post... haven't found any through the search.

Cheers all !
:)

Charge
Thunderclap
Cleave
Back up a little bit to ensure all mobs are in front of you
Shockwave
Now begin a rotation of Shield Slams + Cleaves + Rev's, tabbing through the different mobs to make sure you lay down some single target threat on all.
Weave in Devastates when CD's allow
Use Thunderclap whenever cooldown is up
Use Shockwave whenever cooldown is up and mobs are in good formation

Try the cleave glyph to allow you to hit an extra target on your cleave. Do not underestimate cleve as an AoE tanking ability. It helps.

It may seem alot of cooldown watching for a new tank, but it soon becomes second nature and you dont even have to think about it.

First off grab the Devistate glyph that applies 2 x sunders per hit, and the devistate glyph that applies to 2 targets at a time.

Always charge in to pull where possible, thunderclap, then stap back a few steps then shockwave, devistate, devistate, then your Thunderclap will be up again, pop Thunderclap then you should have them all. Continue with devistates clicking or tabbing through until you can see which mob is losing the most health. switch to that target and shield slam revenge etc etc always popping thunderclap when it comes off cooldown.

Just remember as a tank you lead the pace of the run, so stay well ahead. Healers need to learn to keep uppace wise and stay in range as this is the way of the warrior.

NOte: Always pull pull pull until your healer needs a rest/drink. Always be mindful of mana and you should be sweeeet.

The rotations above will do the trick, just remember tab targeting is they key especially if you have trigger happy AoErs in your group. It helps to use nametags with an addon like Aloft. Aloft will show an orange outline to warn you about having low threat on an npc, so you can switch targets and make sure they stay on you.

Also, remember to mark your targets, to make sure single target DPS is focused on your primary target, otherwise it's really hard to hold aggro when different DPSers target different npcs.

Warriors do seem to be a bit lacking in AoE: sometimes it isn't your tanking though, it's sometimes the AoE spammers and single target DPSers focusing on a mob that isn't the primary target. The above rotations are good - make sure you have good glyphs too, personally I'd recommend Glyph of Devestate, then for me it's a toss up between Glyph of Cleave, Sunder Armour and Blocking (10% more Block after SS is used). If AoE tanking is a problem though, it might be worth taking Sunder Armour and Cleave so
Devestate hits 2 targets with 2 stacks (nice on the global CD too) and Cleave hits 3 targets.

If you find an enemy slipping away taunt it, dont bother saving it as it only has an 8 second cool down, also if you pop vigilance on that trigger happy mage if he gets agro your taunt will be refreshed. Other than that try weaving some cleaves in there as rage allows and get some of the glyphs mentioned above i think? To be honest its just like single mob tanking just using tab all the time and cleave instead of HS.

Awesome !
Lots of great tips... thx a lot everyone... gonne try and put your advise into practice !

I'll keep you updated :)

Cheers,
Jesebel

Vigilance on the strongest AoE'er helps as well.