W A R R I O R

The warrior is no mere sword-swinger; they are skilled combatants, combining strength of arm, knowledge of weaponry and practiced maneuvers to slice or bludgeon their foes into little red bits. The warrior is the most versatile of the combat classes, and they supplement their fighting prowess with the ability to rally their allies and spur them to victory. They can themselves charge into the heart of the battle, take several lives and live to tell the tale.

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Master to Student

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Lately I've been grinding heroics both as protection and as DPS. I usually log on, change to my DPS gear, queue up, and then hit up some dailies while I wait.

I love tanking but sometimes one needs a break. But I find it hard to not be the tank when I'm in another role. I'm always examining how the pull goes, how other non-Warrior classes would deal with it, and then how I would deal with it if I was tanking.

In one of my pugs I was queued in with a newly blood spec death knight tank. The DK had the basics down for his class but needed some fine tuning on a few of the tanking basics.

  • Line of sight pulling: would not use corners to group the mobs together
  • No Taunt/Silence tactic: No Death Grip/Dark Command to grab pesky casters
  • Incorrect Marking: would mark skull and x and then wouldn't get a large aggro lead while trying to get the rest of the mobs.
  • Mob Knowledge: lacked the knowledge of some of the abilities of the trash mobs and how to correctly tank through them.

One of the members of our group was very blunt and would just tell the tank what to do. As in, "move out", "get X off of me", and "interrupt". While those instructions are certainly valid they do not promote healthy education in tanking!

I broke my silence and lead the group by explaining the pulls, how the tank should handle them, what to look out for, and offering some side advice to the tank about some of the bullet points above. The reward of my teaching was a smooth run and a great whisper from the aspiring death knight tank:

"Thanks for helping me out - others just tell me what to do but you helped me become a better player. Seriously, thanks again."

While there is always competition about what class is best for tanking, it all comes down to the basics. Each of the paladin, druids, death knights, and warriors out there who tank share common knowledge of tanking. We all aim to do the same thing - and it's our responsibility as active leaders of any group or raid to help any aspiring tank with those basics.

We can certainly cross class lines to do it. Next time you are in a difficult situation with a tank; don't ask yourself whether you should sword and board. Ask yourself if you were in that position before and what would have helped you out. More then likely a quiet helping hand is what you would have needed. 

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