Raid Tanking, Working together With other tank

[evgeniy3d]

Hello every one, got a question for professional tanks.

I can not understand mechanics of tanking in raids - how redirect bosses between tanks in 10-25 Totc and ICC r.

I almost ready to go ToTc 10 with my fresh Prot paladin, but can not understand one important issue. Me and another tank have to play"ping-pong" with the boss? - I get aggro, and after few second another tank takes aggro and this sequence or aggro redirection repeats? Every 10 seconds lets say Boss must change its target, right? Same question applies for 25man raids with 4 tanks - we have to follow being a primary target of the boss one by one?

I think this is correct strategy, if not pls correct me.

How i have to decide that this is time for me to stop generating aggro to let other tank take boss and right after how to understand that this is the time for me to get boss generating max treat on me by hand of reckoning or righteous defence before other tank die?

Or there is some tanking addon to assist there? So far got only Omen threat meter.

[Barta]

This is a boss-specific question. Certain bosses place debuffs on tanks that require a switch. In most cases, bosses are tauntable. You switch by taunting off the other tank. When you switch all depends on the particular encounter. Check out the "Movies" tab along the top here at TankSpot and watch the fights you'll be tanking.

[sacredgoat]

Normally the reason why tanks play "ping-pong" with a boss would be because of the debuffs bosses give them. These debuffs generally either do 1 of 2 things; Increase the tanks incomming damage or decrease heals effectiveness; either way tanks will taunt off each other so the debuffs will run out.

As for add-ons, Deadly Boss Mods or like add-on is really a must have. This add-on puts up cooldowns timers on your screen warning you of incomming abilities and such. On those off days, it will even tell you to move out of that dame fire under your butt

Another must do suggestion would be to review the Vidieos guides of the bosses you think you will encounter. Nothing is more annoying for the "raid" then walking up to a boss and everybody not knowing what they are doing. Become familiar with the content you will be running.

[Gnarly]

Deadly Boss Mods or even raid frames showing debuffs can help with this in most cases. Depending on the fight the tanks will usually get a debuff of some sorts that reduced armor, reduces threat, applies a bleed effect, etc. After the other tank has too many of the debuff you will need to pull off of him. During this time he will drop the debuff while your debuff stacks on you. When you reach your debuff max or he becomes clear of the debuff he will pull off of you. DBM will usually let you know the current debuff count as they are applied or the raid frames will show it as a debuff also. You will need to ask the other tank how many stacks of the debuff you should be taking for the current fight if they are familiar with the fight. In 25s of toc or even ICC we never run more then 3 tanks, usually 2 on most fights.

[cael]

Start off with this rule: 1 boss = 1 tank
- if your the off tank just apply debuffs and never pull aggro. Let one tank tank the whole encounter.
- Swithching makes the encounter more difficult for healers especially if your just trading aggro, they have no idea who to heal.

Rule 2: Only taunt/out aggro the main tank if the encounter requires it.
- each encounter may have different reasons to tank swap, just make sure everyone in the raid knows when that will happen. again see healing
- this can be becuase of a damage debuff the tank is taking, aggro debuff, any number of things that reading up the the bosses abilities will tell you why.

Rule 3: never take the boss off the main tank.

[Mawini]

4 tanks???

I think you have some major misconceptions. Go read some of the boss strategies on this site.

[Bodasafa]

As a redundancy check to complement a Boss Mod, I also have the following.

I set up a focus frame that shows debuff Icons. When we approach a boss fight that requires tank swaps, I set my focus frame to the tank I follow in the taunt rotation. I watch for the icon of the debuff they have and the stack count to determine when I should take it. I then watch my personal Debuff bar to see my stacks, once they reach the required amount I hit ESC and sit there for a moment and let the next tank get aggro, before resuming attacks.

Basically your answer lies in a few good addons.

[Darksend]

I agree with the focus solution, but vent is also key.

[Kazeyonoma]

Merged your two threads together, please in the future, don't post twice into the forums to try to get more responses, our community is an active one and will respond to your thread as they see it.

[Joowa]

That is not completely true.

I think the main part of raid tanking is it really helps if you know the other tank very well. You know how that other guy (or girl) will tank, and when they are in trouble. Sometimes if they are on the main boss, and I see they are in serious danger of dying, I will pull even if for a few seconds to let them get healed up.

Also, several times 1 boss may have a cleave or fist that does massive damage that has to be shared between the two tanks.

It all depends on the fight.

[Loganisis]

Have you tanked Naxx? It's basically the same as the Gluth fight. Might be other examples in Uldar, but never ran it past Ariyla (long story). If you haven't tanked Naxx, Plagueworks would be a good 'mechanics' tune up to run. Patchwerk is an example of the 'damage soaking' and Gluth of the taunting.

Examples of taunt-off fights in ToC and ICC (there are more in ICC I'm sure) - Gormock (ToC), Saurofang (ICC), Precious (ICC-mini-boss), Stinky (ICC-mini-boss), Festergut (ICC).

"Damage sponging" bosses would be Morrowgar in ICC - where the job of the second tank is basically to server as a HP pool to share the cleave-like strikes.

****

If you can get your guild to run Naxx as a warmup, that might help a lot - but vent and DMBs are key as you're learning the fights.

[evgeniy3d]

Thank you for your replies, now im sure about aggro rotation mechanics.

U saved a lot of lives

[Griff]

One addon that I like alot for this kind of encounter is SatrinaBuffFrames - it lets you put an icon for just about any buff or debuff you might imagine just about anywhere you like on your screen so its easy to see the debuff timers so you know when you are ready to taunt. A key to successful taunt rotations is to not use any of your really big threat moves for a second or two right after the taunt as you don't want to pick aggro up again before your ready. Its a good time to refresh your own short duration buffs and debuffs on the boss. For NRB, depending on your healers, you also might want to back out of the immediate range of Gormok as he does an aoe that, when combined with the bleed from the impales, will increase the healer load if you are eating it. It shouldn't be an issue for a solid healing team but its something to keep in mind. Just make sure to get back in to position ahead of your taunt time.

[Eisen]

One addon that I like alot for this kind of encounter is SatrinaBuffFrames - it lets you put an icon for just about any buff or debuff you might imagine just about anywhere you like on your screen so its easy to see the debuff timers so you know when you are ready to taunt.

Quoted for emphasis. I started using SBF for this when I was raid leading in Naxx to manage the debuff stacks on the Horseman fight. Since then it's been extremely valuable. Any debuff I have flagged as a "msut watch" (ie Gormok's Impale stacks) shows right about my HUD health display at double the normal size.