Tank Haiku

Priest thinks he can tank
Pulls mob with lolsmite and flees
Sigh, he's my husband

Mage thinks he can tank
Runs ahead of me, pulls mobs
Dies, then yells at me

Hunter thinks she's tank
Backs into mobs in corner
Feign death? What's feign death?

Rogue thinks he can tank
Evasion, dodge, parry, dead
Leather's quite flimsy

Warlock thinks he's tank
Has more sta than me, although
Mere 2k armor

Druid thinks she's tank
Why are bears tougher than trees?
Bite is worse than bark!

Druid thinks he's tank
Guess giant owlbeast moonfire
Stands out more than me

Death Knight thinks he's tank
Has flashy graphics and skills
Blizz loves them more'n me

Pally thinks she's tank
Throw shield, consecrate, hammer
Smash! I guess she's right

Pally thinks he's tank
Please don't stand in parry range!
Retnub is no myth

Pally thinks she's tank
Heals are very powerful
Heal plate's paper plate

Shaman thinks he's tank
With his DPS and shocks
He may as well be

Warrior thinks he's tank
MS or dual wield two-hand
No threat dump for him!

Female tanks are rare
We tank as well as the boys
Even in high heels

If you hear a girl
On vent don't assume she heals
And her guy is tank

Girl tanks exist--truth!
We may be rare like girl dwarves
We tank, we love it!

Ulduar Tanking: Ignis and Constructs

I have tanked Ignis's constructs in both normal and heroic difficulty and wanted to share what I think makes it a more successful endeavor.

1) Each construct tank should be assigned a healer whose job is mostly to keep him/her up. Make sure your healer is following you around. This is very important, as you may be zipping around to grab constructs or may find yourself running across the room to get them into scorch areas. Communicate with your healer to let them know how much you expect to be dashing around the room, so s/he knows what to expect.

2) Mark your construct as soon as you have good aggro on it. This makes it easier for people to find which one they should taunt off you. Use a mod for quick marking--I recommend TargetCharms. Also, make sure your pool taunters have target-of-target macros for you and any other offtank so they can grab your target quickly.

3) Make a macro that combines a /rw and a stun. Hit the button when your construct reaches 15 ticks of scorch. Your macro should stun it (preferably with shockwave due to its lower cooldown than concussion blow) and then you can back off so that it's easier for your pool people to taunt it off of you.

4) Count! I know this is hard for us warriors, since we only have 36 int and tend to communicate mostly in grunts anyway, but this is very important. Don't worry, you only need to know the numbers from 15-20. :D Count from 15 to 20 over Vent so your pool people know when to taunt it.

5) Position the scorches well. We have tried a couple different options and have finally found one that works. We tried double stacking them and then flipping the boss to double stack them 180 degrees away, but I don't recommend doing it that way because it makes for far too much knees-bent running around for the construct tanks. Instead, we made two Vs, one facing east and the other facing west. The Ignis tank stands in the north middle of the room and directs a scorch east, then moves him a bit to make the next one about 30 degrees away. Then the tank flips the boss and does the same thing mirror imaged. The effect is that the construct tanks don't have to run as far to get to the scorches.

6) Ancitipate where the scorches will happen. When you pick up a construct, try to drag it to the place with a fresh scorch, or if you want to get it into an old one, anticipate moving and keep the construct on the edge of the scorch closest to the other scorch spot. Try to avoid dragging a construct all the way across the room midway through its scorch ticks because they tick down if it's out of scorch. Try to stay on the same V the whole time. Also, if you grab a construct and the Ignis tank is just flipping over to your side of the room, you can stand there for just a couple seconds waiting for the first scorch to hit--this saves time over dragging it across the room.

7) Ancitipate which constructs come alive. They have a couple seconds where they're standing still in their starting spot but with red text over their heads. They are randomly selected and come to life after Ignis yells at them to arise.

8) Don't worry about whether you're standing in flames or not. The graphics make it very hard to see if you're getting hit with the flames or not. As long as you have a good healer on your heels, (no pun intended!) don't worry about the flames. It is far more important to get that construct in the flames ASAP and keep it there than it is to avoid taking some scorch damage yourself.

9) Lastly, I highly recommend people turn down their music and other sounds and focus on the audio clues given by this boss. They not only tell you when flame jets are happening (good for healers) but also when the constructs are going to pop. This helps you anticipate better.

10) Profit!

This is a brain dump of things I've found helpful in this boss encounter. I'll do more brain dumps of other bosses as time allows. Hopefully it will help people get into the rhythm of this boss because once you get used to that rhythm, it is a fight that any Naxx guild should be able to do.

Constant Vigilance!

You need to go read this post right now. Don't drink anything while you do, though.

Tanking Too Much Part 3: Bosses

Of course, the idea of tanking too much doesn't just apply to trash mobs, it applies to bosses too. Here is where a tank has to figure out the best use of his/her contribution to the raid. This is where the idea of tank as scalpel instead of as a blunt hammer really comes into play.

Sometimes a tank needs to strap on some DPS or healing gear and do their best at their nonpreference (more so, I'm sure, once dual specs come out). However, I really think tanks are best suited to do what they love most--they're not going to be as experienced or as geared for their nonpreferences, even if they have the spec. So I think tanks should be asked not to tank only during fights where their healing or DPS benefit clearly outweighs the benefit they can bring by doing some of the other things tanks can do when they're not main tanking, described below.

Tank as Watchdog: The tank isn't necessarily tanking. The tank may not even be hitting the boss. Instead, the tank is the watchdog of the rest of the raid--a sheepdog guiding mobs away from everyone else. This is similar to some of the things tanks can do during trash pulls.

Example 1: Kel'Thuzad--an extra tank can be used to pick up mind-controlled raid members and keep them safely out of others' way. Example 2: Instructor Razuvious--a tank stays near the mind-controlling healers and just lies in wait in case the other tanks can't pick up their targets fast enough.

Tank as Emergency Backup Tank: The tank is building as much threat on a boss or boss's minion as possible, even if the strat doesn't call for an off-tank or as many off-tanks. Main tanks go down. Off tanks go down. If another tank isn't even on the threat list, much less high on that threat list, the boss then goes berzerk and mows through the rest of the raid. An attempt that was salvageable is now a wipe.

Example 1: Patchwerk--even if you already have your top 3 HP tanks on him, it pays to have tank #4 stay and act as a Hateful sponge. Better us than the rogues. Example 2: Maexxna--it's easy to lose a tank during the Web Wrap. Have another couple tanks building threat, and even if you lose a couple, you still kill the boss. Example 3: Sarth ?D--whether you're leaving one or three drakes up, you're probably going to have 1-2 drake tanks, and a (probably paladin) tank on the adds. When a drake goes down and a tank is freed up, that tank should work on building some threat on the adds. The add tank can die easily if a healer or two goes down, but having another tank to take some of the heat or, worst-case scenario, grab the mobs, means the adds don't go immediately for the squishies if the add tank is overwhelmed or accidentally steps in a void zone.

If your guild is smart, you don't just have one main tank (see my post on Single Point of Failure). All tanks should be willing to work as a team, and take on all roles. It sounds cliche to say there are no small parts, just small actors, but it really is true in a raid. Tanking is not just about the big bosses, and it is no small role. An alert tank, whether s/he's the main tank or not, can make the difference between a raid wipe and sweet, sweet epics.

Tanking Too Much Part 2: Trash

When I'm working with other tanks on trash packs, we tend to move in a little pack. We zero in on the next pull and lump it together for the AoE damage, and we tank whatever mobs we can secure out of that group, even stacking threat on each others' mobs. The DPS, meanwhile, damages the hell outta the mobs, sometimes pushing their threat to astronomical heights with their massive crit percentages.

I will often charge in with the rest of them and grab up a mob or two to keep me busy. But from there, I will often turn my camera around (yes, sometimes I'm tanking backwards--didn't Ginger Rogers do everything better backwards and in heels?) and start watching the DPS. Many casters play it close to the wire, pushing their threat to 102.9% and calling that safe. Their crits will often push them over the line, so I will then zip around and pick up mobs that get wise to who's really sapping the life from them (hint: it ain't the tanks). I may end up dragging a mob out of the AoE cluster, but once I pick up the breakaways, I drag them back to the cluster and get them back into that AoE damage.

If that means I lose control of the mob or two I initially grabbed to another tank, so be it. A paladin--the best AoE tank in the game--doesn't need me to build threat on mobs that are well within his/her control. Paladins are one kind of scalpel; I'm another. Of course, we can generalize this to any tanking. Tanks don't always need other tanks to build threat underneath them. Sometimes this is a good idea, but building threat under other tanks is a skill that should be used as a scalpel, not a hammer.

Some good buttons to have ready are Intervene, of course, as well as Charge, Taunt, Mocking Blow, and Concussion Blow. Shockwave should be used as a last resort or for a lot of breakaway mobs, otherwise it's best used with the pack. I have an Intervene macro to target my target's target and Intervene him/her. I have the Warbringer talent so I can charge in any stance and in combat. Taunt is a no-brainer, but Mocking Blow can be used if you have to do two taunts in rapid succession. Concussion Blow can be used to give you the breathing room to get better control, if the DPS hasn't burned it down by then.

The result is this: DPS folks die less. Mobs die faster. If your guild is still struggling through content, it means less wipes to trash, more time spent working on bosses, and overall more patience from your raiders. Trash can easily eat a few DPS or healers apiece if the tanks aren't on the ball. No one wants to wipe to trash--it's embarrassing and demoralizing. If your guild has a dungeon on farm, it means a faster, cleaner raid. You don't have to spend as much time pausing for rezzes and rebuffs. You get more epics per hour spent raiding. Your guild feels more competent and confident. People don't complain about repair bills and lost consumables.

Avoiding tanking too much means a bit of a paradigm shift for some people, especially those who see themselves as THE main tank. But it's everyone's job to be watchful, especially the tanks, especially since it leads to better, more efficient raids and happier raiders.

Tanking Too Much Part 1

It is entirely possible to tank too much. No, I'm not talking about how much time you spend in heroics, or where you are in your guild's tank pecking order. I'm not even referring to the carpal tunnel you suffer in both wrists as you juggle cooldowns and stack threat like a pro.

Tanking is thought of as a hammer, a blunt intstrument. All mobs need to be tanked--therefore, they're all nails that need to be hammered down. We don't always have the subtle spell rotations or fine number juggling that our DPS and healer comrades contend with. We get in there, and we generate threat. We see trash mobs, we charge forth (for Gnomeregan!) and insult or annoy the hell outta them. We see a boss, and we put ourselves between its ugly, disgusting mug and the rest of our friends. Seems pretty straightforward, right?

Not necessarily. Raid tanks should probably start thinking of themselves more as scalpels--and different kinds of scalpels, for that matter. This is true for tanking trash and tanking bosses.

What is "tanking too much?" It is the fallacy that tanks need to be building max threat on all mobs at all times, regardless of what is happening with the rest of the raid, and regardless of what the other tanks are doing. Tanks who tank too much are living in the here and now. They see mobs, they tank mobs--they miss the forest for the trees. They don't see the other things that they can do to help the raid, not necessarily by having max TPS.

It's a bit akin to Disc healing priests--they're not supposed to be judged by their numbers, but rather by those timely shields, those quick reacions that mean the difference between life and death. The essence of tanking too much is tanking everything the same way, assuming that you must be building threat on them every minute the same way, regardless of who the other tanks are, what their skills are, and what the fight calls for. Having the highest TPS or the highest amount of "damage in" on the meters doesn't always make for the best tank. The best tanks are team players and not the stars of the show, and use their skills when appropriate and to the highest potential.

All of this requires situational awareness and a willingness to take on alternative roles. A lot of tanks take the easy way out when they're not main tank, and just whack at the boss or coast through the trash when they're not "on duty." All tanks need to be more aware than anyone else in the raid. They should always have an eye on the rest of the raid, as well as the trash mobs ahead, behind, and to the sides, and what is happening everywhere during a boss fight. Being toe-to-toe can make this difficult, but with proper camera settings and a willingness to work at it, tanks can become effective watchdogs and emergency tanks.

Tanking too much can be broken down into two areas: trash and bosses. I'll talk a bit about both with some examples of things I've found helpful.

Ul...du...ar?

So I hear we're going to have this new dungeon, and maybe it's going to be called something like...Ulduar?

Maybe?

Bueller?

Not that I don't love Naxx.  It's pretty much a giant pyramid-shaped loot piñata in the sky.  Malygos isn't bad, apart from me not having much to do during the second phase and getting vertigo from the diembodied floating after he's dead and while 25 people swarm one bitty object to get their badges.  (BTW, Blizz--enabling the raid leader to distribute badges instead of having to pick them up manually is...well, maybe not the best improvement in the game, but yaknow, it's up there.)  

Sartharion is cranky, but his 3 drakes are kinda funny.  You just know they've been sitting there underneath that giant tower for eons, sniping at each other like an old married couple.  One's griping about the others leaving the toilet seat up, while Sarth can't pin down which of them keeps leaving the cap off the toothpaste tube.  

I still would like some gear from some of these places, so I'm not in a huge hurry, but Ulduar is starting to feel a little like Christmas.  Make Tenebron, Shadron, and Vesperon like Alvin, Simon, and Theodore, singing about the new epic [Hula Hoop] they want, and you get...

Well, okay, it made sense in my mind, but hey it's almost 3 am and I'm still awake, whaddya want.