Prot Warrior - AE tanking guide?

[Mo11]

Currently my TPS has no issues on boss mobs, however, when dealing with 4-5 pulls as a prot warrior, things become flimsy (for me atleast). A DK using D/D or the likes can easy snag one or two off of me, even if I am TC/SW when the cooldowns are up.
This is quite irratating, and frankly I think it is a prot warrior mechanic, BUT, perhaps I am doing something wrong that can be simply fixed. Are any of you other prot warriors having similar issues with TPS when having to tab through 3-5 mobs, then losing the main target due to having to tab target to gain control of the other 3? If not, is there a guide that or suggestion that may alleviate this issue? If you get some time Cider, or another tank, I think an AE tanking guide for Prot Warriors would be very useful because its frustrating the hell out of me, and I'm sure that I'm not the only one.
Thanks for your time and consideration.

[marklar]

TC, SW, and tab through the targets is what i do also. occasionally, i will lose a mob or two to a mage, but a quick SS or concussion blow usually turns it around. you can always mix in cleaves to your rotation if you have enough rage.

with a 30 yard taunt, you don't even have to chase down the ones you miss. if it's one particular player who's causing you grief, just put vig on him for free taunts - not very sexy, but it can buy you some time.

also, when doing AOE pulls, be sure are wear a high BV set to maximize your damage shield.

[Structure]

I noticed a big difference when you do some gear switching. For trash, I switch out one of my trinkets for Mirror of Truth and my gloves for SBV ones with 2% threat, and that alone has been the tipping point one whether I can hold 5-6 mobs to me or just 3.

General recipe is, Charge, TC, position for SW, and click or tab through targets while applying one threat ability to each, giving slightly more attention to mobs that are going down faster (nameplates are essential). In those situations, you also have enough rage to spam cleave for the entire duration while you're rotating in and out of targets. Between Conc Blow, Shield Slam, Revenge, more TCs and SWs, and devastate when those aren't up, you should be able to handle 5 targets fine.

But the gear swapping is what will make or break it if your formula for rotation is correct.

Edit:
If you're still having issues you can always have a rogue tricks you =P

[Tarkonn]

Yeah, by mechanics we have a hard time with AOE aggro. Druids used to experience the same problem, however their "cleave" got fixed so they are ok now.

Personally I find if I TC/SW when they are up, and spam cleave and tab to hit my SS and Rev on whoever I'm lowest on, I usually can hold the aggro no problem.

However, I have become very attuned to clicking, charging, taunting mid-charge and shield slamming mobs I may lose to a DPS. It's just a matter of warriors being more difficult to AOE tank with than any other class. We can do it, but it takes twice as much effort as any other tank.

[Vallhana of Wildhammer]

When AoE tanking came to the prot warrior many things have changed, the use of your TC and SW may not be enough and in some cases SW may lessen your overall threat gen (expecially if a DK is in party). To increase your overall threat gen you may first want to stack some more AP as TC directly generates bonus threat based on 5% of your AP, this may not seem like alot but its the fine line of gaining aggro vs losing it. Try using Battle shout over Commanders in thrash situations. Finally get a glyph of cleave and open up with a nice combo of [Charge(macro with heroic throw and bloodrage)- Cleave+TC(another goody macro)-SS(popping SB of course and trinkets)-blow all your rage spamming cleave then when then when the second TC become available again pop it and finally use SW. Now the reason you wait for the SW is for the simple fact u popped shield block and will be taking no dmg, in conjuction with the new talent Damaging Shield you will continue to generate threat unlike stunning the whole trash group (Which can lead to lose of threat do to rage starvation or too much dps). A couple things that may help you very quickly with your threat problem may be your spec (12/8/51) i believe is the best threat gen spec. your glyphs such as Major- blocking(+10% BV), Cleave(+1 target), and Resonating Rage(-5 rage cost amkes TC cost only 8 rage) works very well alowing your initail charge + bloodrage macro generate a perfect amount of threat to execute perfect threat gen some Minor are simply your choice and will have little effect except for the glyph of TC allowing 2 yard bonus range , i also enjoy glyph of bloodrage and a glyph of charge for 5 bonus yards allowing for a more aggressive and confident tanking, not to mention u will use heroic throw at the same distance as your charge to evoid any mishap . But i should make you aware before you try this to understand that cycling your SS thru the group is better threat hold STILL then a spam of cleave. Good Luck bud !

[Kraul]

The above all have good help on how to hold ag on multiple Mobs. But if your initial question was in response to tanking trash in 10 or 25 mans, and the OT DK,Bear, or Pally is pulling Mobs from you, the answer could be. WHO CARES?

As long as the trash isn't hitting the DPS or healers, the job is done. There shouldn't be a competition on who holds what mob. Just make sure they don't get to the squishies.

I consider myself a pretty good tank. But I MT with a Druid OT who just has much quicker reflexes than I do on trash. But I don't let it bother me. I make sure I get ag on at least one mob til its dead, then taunt anouther mob off him if need be. We're a tanking team, not competitors.

[Vallhana of Wildhammer]

Soma macros that may come in handy to lessen your wrist pains XD

Go!- a aggressive charge macro, very simple for beginners.
#showtooltip Charge
/cast Charge
/cast Heroic Throw
/cast Bloodrage
Smash! - an AoE type thing , for the slow clickers out there.
#showtooltip Thunderclap
/cast Thunderclap
/cast Cleave
/cast Bloodrage
SS! - a must macro, if u havent made one make it now! 9k SS ftw!
#showtooltip Shield Slam
/Script UIErrorFrame:Hide()
/cast Shield Block
/use 13
/use 14
/script UIErrorFrame:Clear()
/script UIErrorFrame:Show()
/cast Shield Slam
/startattack
bad dps! - okay this macro is designed for that one member in your group who likes to pick on the one guys your not focusing on, he always pulls threat and tells u to learn to tank make this for them and it will make your day easy sause, probally is better macros for this but meh!
/assist *enter bad dps'ers name here*
/cast Taunt
/cast Heroic throw
/cast Charge
/startattack

if u spam that no matter what hes attacking he wont get hurt ...unless you are at that point u will let him tank for himself XD

[jlafleur]

Personnally I prefer to cast Thunderclap on charge instead of using that GCD on single target special attack like heroic throw so that I can immediately shockwave when my charge finishes. The people in my raid normally don't even wait for me to start charging let alone use 2 or 3 GCDs before they open up. Usually the only trash anyone dies on now is the Dark Touched Warriors since no one can see them Bladestorming through all of the AoE or the eager beavers who like to rush ahead and discover the Shades.

[Satrina]

If you have a paladin or DK with you doing AoE threat just pick one and tank it until it dies, then go ahead and get ready for the next pull. If you bring a healer up with you, you can make the pull and have it all bunched together when everyone else arrives. Let the DK/paladin peel it off of you. Rinse, repeat, collect epix.

Smoothing the run out is a lot more productive than worrying about how to win that battle.

[Kalken]

If you have a paladin or DK with you doing AoE threat just pick one and tank it until it dies, then go ahead and get ready for the next pull. If you bring a healer up with you, you can make the pull and have it all bunched together when everyone else arrives. Let the DK/paladin peel it off of you. Rinse, repeat, collect epix.

Smoothing the run out is a lot more productive than worrying about how to win that battle.

Very true. Take the AoE pulls in the first area of military wing. Grabbing one of the whirlwinding warriors and keeping the stuns on him as well as disarming him will save your melee's life. Let the DK's and Pallies have all the mobs if they want, not your fault if they die.

The issue is Consecration is by far still the best AoE tanking spell, and D&D can be glyph'd to be very effective. If the thunder clap glyph added 20% damage we'd probably be peeling mobs off too.

My advice, get the new cleave glyph, spam cleave. I use a broken promise and have the incite and deep wounds talents and my cleaves actually occasionally peel mobs off DK's and pallies.

[Methestos]

I find that many warriors approach AOE trash pulls in a manner which is not well suited to a warrior. We have an arsenal of high threat single target abilities and a couple AOE abilities to round things off. When attempting to handle 5+ mobs, a warrior may choose to use cleave as a means of applying threat to more than one mob at a time in an attempt to spread the hate. If one ignores thunderclap, shockwave, and reactive damage (which are always used when trash tanking), the same basic ability priority should hold for AOE tanking as is the case for single target tanking.

We understand that SS > Rev > Dev as an example. We all agree that Dev >> Cleave. If a person wishes to manage a pack of mobs as a warrior, using a typical SS > Rev > Dev priority system while cycling through the mobs should be more than enough to hold the pack. The key is to be able to keep track of the mobs. This may mean watching one's total threat value on Omen as one tabs or even counting sunder debuffs. If the warrior can keep track of each of the mobs, they should not have trouble holding them. This implies that the warrior will be capable of identifying special mobs such as caster mobs that will not be taking reactive damage from melee attacks and ensuring they are given a little extra love.

[Littlejoe3000]

Currently my TPS has no issues on boss mobs, however, when dealing with 4-5 pulls as a prot warrior, things become flimsy (for me atleast). A DK using D/D or the likes can easy snag one or two off of me, even if I am TC/SW when the cooldowns are up.
This is quite irratating, and frankly I think it is a prot warrior mechanic, BUT, perhaps I am doing something wrong that can be simply fixed. Are any of you other prot warriors having similar issues with TPS when having to tab through 3-5 mobs, then losing the main target due to having to tab target to gain control of the other 3? If not, is there a guide that or suggestion that may alleviate this issue? If you get some time Cider, or another tank, I think an AE tanking guide for Prot Warriors would be very useful because its frustrating the hell out of me, and I'm sure that I'm not the only one.
Thanks for your time and consideration.

Well alot of other tanks dont agree with how i do things but personally i find that if im doing trash if i have rage at the end of a pull or if im am losing a mob im not cleaving enough. Iv never really had a problem with trash pulls if i am the person that starts the pull. But if i dont start the pull i do find it a little tough to grab everything back. Or if a pally or dk throw down a aoe i just try to taunt my targets out of thier aoe so thier is no way they can take it back unless they try too.

[CKaz]

Don't forget Challenging Shout (keeping in mind 3min CD) if yer feeling a (temp) pinch

I'm about to start experimenting with a build out more AoE tank based, since my boss/single mob threat has been fine, and I'm right now more in the 5man 70+ northrend dungeon stages and it comes up... 73 is the early sweet spot for the build.

Cleave glyph, improved Cleave with 0/13/51, if its worth further comment I'll be back

[Littlejoe3000]

Cleave glyph, improved Cleave with 0/13/51, if its worth further comment I'll be back

Personally i believe that at the stage your at (73) you shouldnt have any threat issues on 1 target, actually at the lvl you shouldnt have threat issues. If you are going to go 0/13/51 your going to find that when you hit 80 your threat is going to stay the same. But when you run into raids your going to find people that are doing 3-4k dps and its going to start getting a little tougher to hold things.