Pulling Mobs: Am I retarded?

[wicked_chicken]

Dear Tankspot,

Before I want to get into my issue, I want to thank everyone for creating and contributing to such a great community. That being said,

I've been playing a Warrior Tank since BC. I've taken about a year off, and have come back to Cata. I've done a lot of reading up on the changes and new theory craft, but there's one issue I've been having considerable trouble with.

Picking up multiple adds after a CC pull.

As everyone is probably aware, instances seem more difficult that ever. With simple mass tanking now more or less out of the question, I'm attempting to work with CC more and more. The problem I'm running into is this.

There are more mobs than I can catch. (Due to CD's or whatever)
I do not have enough rage to use abilities.
I cannot charge into my mobs for reason XYZ.

Even if I attempt to Commanding Shout, my rage window seems entirely too short. (Read: Non-existant) Generally, I prefer to charge and start smacking everything (Like the good ol' days) but I run into party members whining about "My abilities do AOE".

The simple solution to this, at least to me, is to tell them not to use that ability. But hey, I like to accommodate people every now and then.

I'm curious to know how people pick up adds (>3) on a multi-CC pull. If anyone would care to enlighten me, I'd dig it.

Thanks,
Munyàn
(Firetree)

[Martie]

Some experiences I've had.

Crowd controlling the right mobs is important. If there are mobs that don't run into melee by themself, those should be crowd controlled.
Crowd control from long range, then charge/engage after the mobs are far enough from the CC'ed mobs so you can use shockwave/thunderclap to grab initial aggro.
Taunt is your friend. Charge one, taunt another, use some ability to tag them all.
Skull is your friend. Mark a skull mob and ask the dps to hold off on AoE for a few moments.
Don't tell people what to do and what not to do - ask them to do something specific. If they do it right, thank them. It doesn't make much of a differnce, but it does make them feel better about themselves.

[tunaktunak]

Also if you have DK in group inform him that is ok with you that he death grip casters. Silence can also help to move mobs closer

[wicked_chicken]

Some experiences I've had.

Crowd controlling the right mobs is important. If there are mobs that don't run into melee by themself, those should be crowd controlled.
Crowd control from long range, then charge/engage after the mobs are far enough from the CC'ed mobs so you can use shockwave/thunderclap to grab initial aggro.
Taunt is your friend. Charge one, taunt another, use some ability to tag them all.
Skull is your friend. Mark a skull mob and ask the dps to hold off on AoE for a few moments.
Don't tell people what to do and what not to do - ask them to do something specific. If they do it right, thank them. It doesn't make much of a differnce, but it does make them feel better about themselves.

It's occurred to me that I could attempt to stay in the back of the group, and charge into the party as mobs approach, then thunderclap and enter a standard routine. Thank you for the suggestions.

[nserafini]

Marking targets is key. I start off with

1 - Battle or Command Shout ( depending on buff's, ) to generate Rage

2 - Target one mob and Heroic Throw

3 - Select a second non-cc'd mob and charge in

4 - Once I charge in, make sure you're out of range of the cc'd pack and thunderclap

By that point i should have the mobs I wanted, unless ( as is normal ) the DPS attack SKULL the second I charge in. When that happens, I have TAUNT still available, so I've got that going for me.

You do have to be mindful of your AoE attacks. Sometimes you can't just clap or cleave or shockwave, because you'll un-CC something.

[Reev]

My method:

Set up target marks.
Let the CCers pull with their CC
Commanding/Battle Shout. This puts you on the remaining mobs' aggro table immediately, and they should start running to you if they're not casters.
Heroic Throw any remaining casters.
In the rare situation where there are 2 un-CC'd casters, wait until the first reaches you and starts casting, then charge the other caster, shield bash, and walk it back to the other.

When all or most of the mobs have reached you, TC/SW/Rend/TC and go into your normal AoE rotation.

This works for me on 99% of pulls. As long as you CC the casters, it's usually quite easy to let everyone else run to you.

[Quinafoi]

Probably your best friend in the world is the hunter who pays attention and learns their new abilities.

Camouflage is the best tool ever for Crowd Control pulls. The fact that the hunter can launch their Freezing Trap to CC their assigned target and be the first person on the aggro table, means all units will run towards the hunter (because they can't attack the hunter from ranged). Casters and ranged units can be rounded up very easily if the hunter simply stands behind the tank, everything goes to the hunter. For instance those packs of like 8 or so ranged mobs in Throne of the Tides leading up to Mindbender Ghur'sha that don't have a lot of health but when they all focus fire on a single person they drop like a rock in a split second... Hunters using Camouflage correctly can completely trivialize pulling them because they all have to run to try and melee the hunter since they can't shoot him.

Sadly too few people understand how to use this tool and to make pulling casters and ranged mobs significantly easier.

[mangaart1st]

Another rarely used method of tanking a pull as a warrior that has multiple casters is Spell Reflect. Believe it or not, its very easy to control a caster by just reflecting every other or every third spell back at it so long as no one is dpsing it.

You can do this very easily till your Heroic Throw is back up then toss and pull them back to the rest of the pull. Spell Reflecting is especially good in these situations if your talented with Sheild Specialization as it will generate 60 rage every time you reflect a spell(if 3/3)

[Wornox]

Hi mate, Here are some tanking strats I have been using, if they're of any help:

Single Mobs: Heroic Throw, either Charge or Heroic Leap, Shield Slam, Macro, Devastate until max popped, revenge, heroic strike rinse and repeat. Like most experienced raiders, I obviously use both mouse and keyboard key bindings to activate any AND ALL cd'd talents which are ready to pop. I leave minimal rage unused unless talents are simply not ready. There are no talents off cd which I don't smash on for maximum threat and tanking mitigation. I always maintain a close eye on HP and the healer's mana as well as popped cd's (latest dbm's and add-ons) so I save my shield wall and enraged regeneration and other CD'S for utmost emergency UNLESS the fight demands it within the strat.

Multiple targets: Well, I am used to marking and raid leading and dungeon leading so let's assume things don't change and we keep on going on with cc / multiple pulls that require the kind of accountability CATA has displayed: Skull, X, Sheep(Moon), Root(Circle), Sap(Star), Fear(Diamond), Trap(Square) etc etc etc. Heroic Throw second kill (usually a mana adds who heals or a melee who does ridiculous damage to my poor frame....After initial threat on X, CHARGE in to Skull and execute the ABOVE stated rotation on that target while tabbing across to X to ensure threat is maintained (shield slam / taunt etc). Skull dies then smash on X, making next target first CC to likely break such as star (sap) etc. This rotation goes through, repeating until we are down to the last, poor little add that didn't know he would die when he walked in to that dungeon that morning.

In terms of counter-effecting: Shield bash, s/wave, TC, pummel etc all serve their purpose in CATA raids, as I have learned. Interrupt ftw or someone (tank included) dies J

[Forsaken_Wartank]

Backpedal a little to get that charge off on the pull. If I notice I am to dang close, back up and charge when you can smack the thunderclap and shockwave buttons and not break CC.

That charge + commanding shout = enough rage to get a good lead on DPS. I had someone pull the other day when I said brb. If your trying to do every pull with the mobs standing on you when you start, yikes, yeah that would suck.