The Daily Quest: Tips for tanks
by Dan O'Halloran 
Jan 15th 2011 at 7:00PM
Tanks have it rough. They are expected to know all the boss strats, every nuance of each boss phase and the optimal placement of each and every one of those pixelated loot pinatas. All the while, the DPSers are over-aggroing, the healer is running out of mana and, oops, the mage just aggroed some patrolling trash mobs. It's a tough job, but a good tank is golden.
Today, the Daily Quest has collected tips for those of you who make it all happen for the rest of us.
- Tank Like A Girl revises her top 10 tips for protection warriors. This list covers the basics that every protection warrior should remember to be at the top of his or her game.
- Plague Candles has a partial list of panic buttons for death knight tanks. Hopefully, the remainder of the list will be published soon.
Divine Pleaalso gets in on the panic button fun with a list ofprotection paladin cooldowns and when to use them.Oops, that's for holy paladins. Protection paladins should check out the EJ prot paladin guide subsection for cooldowns.- Ferocious Inspiration has a comprehensive look at feral druid bear tanking. The post covers abilities, builds, Cataclysm gear, addons, glyphs and more.
Is there a story out there we ought to link or a blog we should be following? Just leave us a comment, and you may see it here tomorrow! Be sure to check out our WoW Resources Guide for more WoW-related sites. Filed under: Druid, Paladin, Warrior, Death Knight, The Daily Quest
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Arsyn Jan 15th 2011 7:05PM
OK so you accidently pull ONE, ONE little trash mob and then alll of a sudden everyone blames the MAGES, unbelievable
GothicRebel Jan 16th 2011 8:33AM
Its the Warlocks pulling trash mobs. Not Mages. Mages have Interlect.
Mages are smart. Warlocks are not!
Srixon Jan 17th 2011 2:25AM
lol I'll tell you what I love the mages.
My fat bear ass loves cake.
Cainicus Jan 15th 2011 7:14PM
OK, I need to know what gear that Blood Elf is wearing so I can get it on my male Tauren ASAP.
Lianlin Jan 15th 2011 7:26PM
I approve of this.
Akussa Jan 15th 2011 10:23PM
The chest and pants are part of the Blood Knight non-set pieces from TBC.
http://www.wowhead.com/compare?items=24864:24867
Zapwidget Jan 16th 2011 8:00AM
It's Battleforge.
Since I have no clue how to save it in the modelviewer (probably need to log in for that?) Here's a link to the whole set on Wowhead. I never did like the look of the shield that was supposed to match.
http://www.wowhead.com/compare?items=6592.1196:6590.1193:6593.1186:6595.1193:6594.1193:6596.1195:6599.1187:6597.1192:6591.1185
Valtome Jan 15th 2011 7:31PM
That blog discusses cooldowns as a Holy Paladin, fyi.
Trilynne Jan 15th 2011 7:54PM
^this. I was dissapointed. xP
Valtome Jan 15th 2011 8:08PM
Just to clarify, I don't mean to be an angry critic, I just saw that there weren't many comments, so hopefully this will help those who are confused after clicking that link.
Dan O'Halloran Jan 16th 2011 1:36PM
My apologies for the wrong paladin cooldown link. I've updated the post with a link to the Elitist Jerk rundown of prot pally cooldowns: http://elitistjerks.com/f76/t110338-cataclysm_tanking_protection_field_manual_updated_jan_13_2011_4_0_3a/#Cooldowns
Dan O'Halloran
Evandrial Jan 15th 2011 7:33PM
unless i'm misreading, that Paladin article is for healers
Dragon Jan 15th 2011 8:41PM
Yep. that is a healing cooldown article
Neirin Jan 15th 2011 8:35PM
A disclaimer for bears: don't use that article as a resource for how to use your abilities. They got the stat priorities right, and therefore the gear things, but they were way off base on the abilities.
A list of things I noticed:
1) Thrash is better TPS than Swipe by a long shot, even if you only look at snap aggro.
2) Lacerate does very, very little bleed damage. The vast majority of the damage (and more importantly the threat) is built into the initial hit. The real benefit to having lacerate running is the Berserk procs.
3) In terms of threat, keeping up the pulverize buff is very close to the top of our priority list. In practice this actually doesn't mean you use Pulverize very often, but it's still high priority when you do.
4) FFF is indeed very good, but in infinite rage situations (almost any fight where threat matters) you're better off using other spells before FFF. It's the bottom of the barrel for priority unless you're in a low rage situation. You'll still use it very frequently, but if you can spare the rage for Thrash or Swipe, put those on CD for filler before using FFF.
Your single target priorities should be Mangle>1x Lacerate>FFF debuff>9% Pulverize buff>3xLacerate>Thrash>Swipe>FFF>Pulverize. Using survival abilities as needed, Maul when at high rage and FFF when at low rage.
This also meant their talent spec was a little off, though it's more of a situational change. The 2 points in Stampede aren't greatly useful for bears. Another point in Endless Carnage smoothes out the rotation a lot (more leeway on when to use Pulverize). The final point is fairly inconsequential, but putting 1 in Nurturing Instinct will make for some very nice clutch Tranquilities in situations where you can afford to drop bear form for a few seconds (which is surprisingly often actually).
Eregos ftw! Jan 15th 2011 9:40PM
These comments are all very true, I was not impressed with the article.
However, FFF threat has been nerf to shreds, so should only be used for the debuff. Lacerate does more threat and damage then FFF, so should be used instead of it.
Neirin Jan 15th 2011 11:05PM
*sigh* one less button to push. I'll still probably use FFF if I'm below 50 rage just to make sure I don't run out, but I kinda miss it being a big enough threat button that we would use it virtually on CD.
totemsrus Jan 17th 2011 2:24AM
I disagree.
I seems to me that the points you bring however relevant in some cases are stylistic. I doubt they would hardly ruin any group, heroic or otherwise.
I would love to dps or heal for the bear that wrote that. lol
Metric Jan 17th 2011 8:25AM
Also his gemming and enchanting priorities are off. Bears should be stacking AGI with gems and enchanting for avoidance (AGI and dodge when possible). Reforging haste and hit to dodge.
Eregos ftw! Jan 15th 2011 9:44PM
This is true, most of the time. I recently had a h -deadmines group where the whole group was polite and patient with me, did very good on the bosses, all the while pushing out 50k dps (all together, with me) and keeping me alive with no wipes.
On the other hand, had a SFK group where I came in on the last boss, I got in, cast MotW, then instantly got yelled at by a warrior and a DK for taking too long to go. Right after, the warrior pulled the boss, so I got to try out kitty in a tank spec.
After that, the dk needed my agility relic when he had an epic one, then told me I suck for going too slow.
Most of the time it's either terribad or terrigood. Rarely is it in-between.
Bvannas Jan 15th 2011 9:51PM
Ive tanked a little, but as mainly a Healer/DPS. 3 things I want to say to tanks.
1) Stop stacking stamina, this isn't wrath, my healer would rather you took less/ avoided damage.
2) Relax. Most tanks seem to be control freaks, I suppose it comes with the role, but don't panic if your at half life, have a little trust in your group. Ive seen tanks burn out from getting to annoyed at groups, or worrying too much. Most people know when its not your fault.
3) I want to say thanks to all the great tanks, and sorry to all tanks who have been annoyed by their healers/DPS, on behalf of all Healers and DPS who behave well.