Hey, if you can't ask here, where else CAN you ask?
So, I admit to having a bit of a problem. When tanking multiple mobs, I can never seem to hold enough agro. It only really shows up when I am in 5-mans with a high DPS group. I tend to lose a lot of agro a few seconds after engaging combat. Specifically in Heroic Shattered Halls. I absolutely HATE that place, but I have like a 1/2 dozen quests to do in there but making it past what I call the grinder at the end of that first hall without a CC heavy group is nearly impossible for me.
After all available CC has been used, I usually have anywhere from 3-4 mobs left over that I have to keep off the squishies, and I can usually do it right up until that first heal is cast, then all hell breaks loose. If I haven't burned it, I use Challenging Shout to draw them back, then TC and Cleave, if its not on CD, but it usually doesn't last long. The few attempts I tried with tabbing to targets, I end up tabbing to mobs that aren't even engaged or off to the side of my LoS and by the time I get to a mob I need to contain, its already wreaking havoc among them. And being that I am the tank, I catch the blame for not holding the agro on them all.
Any advice anyone has to lend on holding agro on multiple mobs (3+) would be greatly appreciated.
Last edited by Hegas; 06-24-2008 at 10:40 PM.
I always 'spam' tc and WW when it's off c/d
further more it's prite much gear dependant, I don't need that much of heals, so my healer wont get agro that fast, as for the dps, just mark the mobs up and have a killing order, shieldslam the first and strafe around abit to TC em all and demo ofc, furthermore try to keep rotating with devastates and rev/ss
If you're not overgeared for an instance like SH switching to zerker to use WW can be quite deadly.It's also not very rage efficient imo.
The best way of tanking 3-4 mobs is to split your rotation like
1st mob: SS - 2nd mob: Rev - 3rd mob: Dev - 4th mob Dev ... and start from beginning.
On mob groups, I usually assing a caster mob as focus target, most times I don't even tank it at all (except spell reflect in some cases).
I run in -> TClap -> start rotation on mobs that are not CC'ed -> TClap when possible. When the first target is down, I assign the target wich I think I have some solid threat on as 2nd kill.
Veneratio had some good advice about multi mob and AoE tanking on his blog:
AOE Tanking: It really is your fault - Warriors - TankingTips.com
Edit: Fot problems with tabbing, there was a possibility to change the tab range in your config.wtf
Should bet SET TargetNearestDistance "X" where X is the distance in yards, I think.
But I don't know if it still works this way, some CVars have been removed in 2.3. I'm going to try it tonight.
Last edited by Khayra; 06-25-2008 at 12:32 AM. Reason: things about teh TAB key...^^
Supreme Gnomish Tanking since 2007.
What is WW?
Whirlwind - Spell - World of WarcraftOriginally Posted by Garcia
Supreme Gnomish Tanking since 2007.
but Whirlwind Requires Berserker Stance. If i had 5 mobs on me it will almost kill me
I usually use TC, DemoShout, WarStomp
Last edited by Garcia; 06-25-2008 at 01:54 AM.
A small tip is to hit 'V' key (unless you have assigned it to something else of course) which brings up a health bar above the enemies, making mouse targetting easier (so you can use mousehover devastate/sunder armor macro). If you are losing aggro while multitanking with a high geared dps group, simply tell them to go easy on dps a bit and watch their threatmeter. Also there are some nice guides on this site about multitanking, macroes and such, I'd suggest you to check them.
Yeah if you build a mouseover macro for devastate it helps make the process a lot easier.
For Heroic Shattered halls I modified my gear a touch and went with a Mage/Hunter combo. If we were fighting a caster of any kind I instructed them to burn it down without waiting at all and I didn't even try to tank that one. Make sure you are the one with the initial attack as it gives you a bit of an advantage, don't bother having the CC pull because then you have to try to break the threat lock on them for each mob.
It also doesn't hurt to pick up the axe off of Prince for initial throws. I'd recommend a shield spike of some kind on your shield. For the runs I did to finish up all my heroic quests I made myself the Molten Core aoe zapper shield from engineering. It helped on the slime pit, I combined it with my passive uncrushable set and told the Priest to only use Prayer of Mending until I was at 40% health.
Thunder clap is a good deal, demo shout is really weak (but not bad for reducing their damage output). Make sure you mark a target to kill, the skull is what I tend to use. Don't bother generating threat on the target, if it's a melee guy just chain taunt and stun while you use your skills on the secondary kill targets.
I can't remember that pull in particular, but what you can do is give the dps a "squishy"/ranged to nuke first and don't tank it at all (just let your healer know that the dps will take some damage). That should give you longer time to build up agro on the rest of the mobs. Alternatively, use concussive blow when the first (if melee) target is at 50% hp or so as it will give you valuable time.
What I find with multimob tanking is thats it either goes smoothly or its a complete mess, as soon as I have to run after one mob the rest of that fight I feel like I'm constantly playing catch up. Have health bars visible and if the dps target heads off towards the dps make a judgement call - if its below a certain % health just leave it - frost novas, rogue stuns etc should all mean it's dead before it does much harm.
**Give me a hug and I'll defend you with my life**
Blog: http://www.tankspot.com/blog.php?550-Shortypop
+1
As bad as it sounds, I am glad to hear that I am not alone. I've been feeling the same way. When it goes well I look like a "real" tank and when it goes the latter then everyone blames me.
Here is another dilema I have:
When a mob (usually the 3rd on the kill order) runs back towards someone then I am always assuming healer and chase after mob. What I want to do is this:
Did healer aggro it?
Yes - chase and taunt.
No - let it teach someone a lesson about threat.
However, I currently don't have any way of knowing without selecting the mob and looking at the target of target, determining if that is the healer, and then react accordingly. Doing this while trying to multi-mob tank is a issue.
Any tools, add-ons, etc. to help with this? As bad as it sounds, as a tank I have Omen running but the window closed. Maybe something to configure and look at here?
Kill order Kill order Kill order. I always make sure the kill order is established. Make it very clear to the squisjies if they use AOE's and aggro out of order they run the chance of wiping. Nothing against dps's but the healer is my main concern.
I always pull my self..... shoot, berserker stance, intercept where I want them and then turn mob facing away from casters, swithch to DS and thunderclap two devastates on X then SS the skull thunderclap a second time and this is when I have my party nuke skull. Also at this point is when I tell my CC to pull out the trap away from AOE of TC and trap em. Then I alternate between skull and X any time a revenge comes available I use on the other two remaining. If DPS is nuking in the right order skull and X go down fast. Hitting the rest with TC and revenge usually holds the aggro for me. If I get a runner I click it to see who it is targeting if it's not my healer or clothie their on there own if it risks losing control of the mob. One thing to remember try to pull mob away and turned away from casters. It takes a few extra seconds but it truly helps keep the focus on you.
I have been been running BRD and ST with alower lvl Pally tank IM a Prot warrior I use him to Aoe tank the skull and I just round up the rest letting DPS follow the kill order by the time the first two drop the I jhave the aggro from everyone else and the pally back up heals me. I am not swearing to this method I've used it successfully only with a skilled main healer but it definitely makes the instances go fast.
BTW I dual wield with a fast offhand to pop as many devastaes as I can then switch to shield when I hit 60%. (mobs only I use shield and faster mainhand for bosses).
omen won't help you if someone's pulled a secondary target (if you're in single target mode).
i use pitbull for party frames and set it so the health bar gets colored red when a player has agro. i'm always glancing up at the party bars to see that everyone's green, but you can also tell who it was that pulled agro that way.
also, i tried moving the change target function from the tab key to my mouse wheel and i LOVE the difference. roll forward for next target and roll back for previous target. you can spin through targets until you find the one you want very quickly that way.
I understand you wanting to teach someone a lesson about threat but if they die you're left short a dpser. If you can't tell them to stop pulling aggro then I suggest not taking them next time. Showing them the hard way will only make your instance longer and less fun as you run back from wiping again...
THAT is something i've never thought of but it sounds fantastic, nice work
How do you set mouse wheel to target? That sounds awesome?
Its in your keybindings menu. Just look through the list of functions that are bound to their actions and sooner or later you'll find it. The actions are sectioned off for ease of searching, like "combat keybindings" and "chat keybindings" and so on.
The mousewheel is your friend. I have my dps macros on my hunter bound to mousewheel up and mousewheel down. So easy its almost unfair
Tried the mouse wheel trick. Not bad. However I also used the "V" key and switched inteface mouse to click and move. This actually turns you into the target you want to attack i.e. one in front and one in back of you by simply clicking on tarhet behind you you will spin and attack automatically and will spin you back around when you retarget the next one. Just make sure you turn on sticky targeting in case you click off the target by accident.
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