TankThePlanet

I can't promote this enough; Linedan over at Achtung Panzercow has a great article on "The First Ten Seconds". The article is a first of a series that I am looking forward to reading.

Back to TTP, my apologies for the disappearing act! Work has certainly picked up and with that so has my time allowed to game in Azeroth. I also went through a period of burn out, as the guild I run was low on healers/tanks and I felt was getting run to the ground. We've since, through some active recruiting, have fixed that problem and are now working on forming our third raid team. I also was able to, believe it or not, get a Saturday morning raid team put together that's been fairly successful.

Raiding, coffee, and pajamas. What more could you ask for?

Anyway, if you have not heard the latest build was deployed to the PTR and this is a Release Candidate. This ultimately means that the patch is soon to be deployed to the live realms. As with all tanking related blogs out there, I thought I should chime in with LFD Call to Arms changes.

While others may focus on the worst that can happen, I feel that not a lot of bloggers have focused on what good can happen with this. I am certainly in the group that states that the quality of the healers and the tanks will certainly drop a bit while folks try to learn these roles for the very first time. This will certainly affect the quality of life in-game that some, especially those DPS players, to a large degree. I imagine shorter queue times, more wait time while in dungeon while it finds a new tank or healer, and basically some pretty painful encounters.

But if you think about it, those folks who are legitimately trying to learn these roles now have extra incentive to do so. Those looking to get the mounts as fast as possible and are unhelpful to the larger player base will finally get to understand the difficulties of both roles. This may lower the amount of tank-hate/healer-hate that goes on from other players in a party, because they would have tried these roles.

I can't say how many times I've asked a DPS if they ever tanked or healed before after they've made comments about the quality of the tanks and healers. Many times they do not respond (because they have been put in place) or respond that they have not. I do not criticize healers because I've never played one. I have no right to judge you. But now the rest of the player base will have a chance to try out these roles, find it may or may not be for them, and at least have a better understanding of the tank or healer they are running with.

Wars throughout history have been fought because one side simply does not understand the position of the other. I think a better understanding from DPS about the roles of healers and tanks will promote healthy game play. However, the first few weeks after its inception will be difficult.

A few things to keep in mind, if you are a tank and will be taking advantage of this tool:

• The DPS roles in the party will be very defensive. They will more often then not have struggled with low quality tanks and/or healers. Know your audience and the environment you're joining and act accordingly.
  
• Don't become too much of a tank-diva. Even we tanks have DPS toons or off-specs that we like to run and would certainly like our tanks in our group to be just as proficient as we are without an attitude. Keep that in mind before you respond to any comment.

If you happen upon this blog and are DPS, you can help these new tanks out by providing constructive criticism and the following:

• If the tank is having a tough time with aggro, request that he marks targets and/or CCs.
  
• Focus on your tanks target and keep switching. This may lower your dps but will certainly help the tank with threat.
  
• Be patient. If you are trying to learn to tank later, you will want your party to be patient with you as well.

Good luck with the LFD: Call to Arms, see you in game!

If you started tanking the planet in the previous expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, then you probably had to adjust to the new crowd control (CC) tactics of Cataclysm. In Wrath, tanks of all classes could pull all of the mobs and tank 5-20 mobs without the fear of dying or losing aggro.

With Cataclysm, the game designers decided to reinstate the concept of CC. This concept was used during Vanilla and Burning Crusade expansions but was not utilized at all during Wrath of the Lich King.

You may know the tactics, strategies, and playstyle of your own tanking class. But as party lead it is essential to really understand what classes have CC and how to utilize those abilities.

When you spawn into an instance the first thing you should do is check your party makeup and make a mental note of what CC you have available. Next to each class below is the raid target icon that is most commonly used to denote which target the class should CC.


Druid 


Your favorite boomchickens, cats, and trees have a few CC abilities on their belt. Hibernate, usable only on beasts and dragonkin, is great for instances such as Grim Batol where there are a lot of dragon type mobs. Entangling Roots is a "Root" type of CC. The affected target is rooted in place but can still cast and melee attack. Not many druids know of their own Hibernate spell, so you may have to kindly point it out to them.

Entangling Roots should only be used on melee mobs. The party should stay out of melee range of the Roots target. Caster mobs can still fire off spells if they are rooted, unless you are having the party break line of sight.

In a pickle the Druid can also use Cyclone  for a short CC in case of emergencies. Keep in mind a target who has been Cyclone cannot be damaged until the Cyclone is removed or the duration ends.


Death Knight


Death Knights have little pre-combat CC, but they do have a slow spell, called Chains of Ice, which can be used to increase the time a mob has to take to reach the party. Unholy DKs also have a pet which can tank mobs in a pinch.


Hunter


Hunters are a versatile utility class. The primary CC ability is Freezing Trap. The Trap can be dropped on the ground at the hunter or shot via Trap Launcher at a target. The target is frozen in a block of ice, preventing any sort of action. Damage will break the effect.

If the Hunter is Survival spec he also has Wyvern Sting. Wyvern Sting can be used as an emergency CC mid-combat or as a short duration pre-combat CC to pull.

Even with all those tools, the Hunter still has access to some abilities that will slow the target (Concussive Shot) and depending on the pet may also have additional CC abilities. Check with your Hunter to see what additional abilities they have beyond the well known Freezing Trap and Wyvern Sting. Some Hunter pets can also tank in a pinch.


Mage 


The most famous of all the CC classes, the Mage has become the staple crowd control class. This is due to the massive utility of Polymorph. Polymorph will change the target into a small companion-like critter. Damage will break the polymorph, so keep any AOE away from it. Keep in mind that the critter will also jump and run around - it is not rooted.

In case of large, out of control pulls, the mage can also root everything with a well timed Frost Nova. This gives the party ample enough time to re-focus before engaging in combat again.


Paladin


Retribution Paladins have access to Repentance. If the Paladin in your party is carrying a large two handed weapon your party has access to this ability. This is a great CC option but keep in mind the paladin has to be close to use it. It is also instant cast, which means if another class is used to start the pull that the Paladin can follow it up with Repentance without grabbing all of the aggro.

For emergencies, the Paladin also has access to Turn Evil. This does cause the enemy to run in fear. This has some risk as the Turn Evil target may run into another pack of mobs and inadvertenly pull them.


Priest


The Priest brings Shackle Undead and Mind Control. Mind Control deserves a whole article itself as it changes the basic philosophy of the pull. Shackle Undead works a lot like a Shaman's Bind Elemental and is great for heroics such as Shadowfang Keep.

If your Priest is DPS, then have them utilize Mind Control to start the pull. This aggros the mobs to attack the Mind Control target. This is a small aggro lead however, as even the slightest buff to the MC target (aka Battle Shout, Commanding Shout, etc..) will aggro the mobs to you. The idea is the mobs will kill the MC target and then aggro onto the Priest, so you will have to be diligent in grabbing them before your Priest is dead.

If the Mind Control ends before the target is dead, it will grant an unbelievable lead in aggro for the Priest, so you will have to deploy your Taunt and generate snap threat.

If you are just starting out tanking have your priest Mind Control throughout the whole fight. This will lower his DPS numbers, but should make it easier for you to complete pulls and slows the tanking experience so you can learn.

When casting Mind Control, the priest cannot move or cast any other spells. As such, if the Priest is the healer of the group it is usually not a good idea to have them MC pull.


Rogue


Rogues come with a precombat Sap and Blind. Sap is can only be used out of combat and has (if talented) a large duration. Blind can be used during combat for a short 10 second CC if is needed to control the pull. Rogues are by far the fastest way to CC. Sap does not initiate combat which allows for faster CC and faster navigation through the instance. Rogues can also stunlock caster mobs and effectively tank them if needed.

Keep note that Sap cannot be re-applied during combat, so if the Sap is broken then some other form of CC should be used to keep it under control until you are ready to tank it. Sap also has limitations on what type of mobs it can be used on. Humanoids can be sapped, but check with your rogue if you are unsure if the mob you targeted is Sap-able.


Shaman


Shamans utilize Hex and Bind Elemental.

What makes Hex such a great CC ability is that it -may- be broken by damage. The Hexed target can survive a little damage so the CC doesn't break that often. Bind Elemental is a new ability for the class introduced in Cataclysm. It can only be used on elementals but prevents the mob from doing anything, including casting any ranged spells. This is a nice utility CC with fire elementals and any other ranged caster type. However it will break from damage, so keep the AOE damage away from it.

Both of the spells when used pre-pull will initiate combat. Be prepared to grab aggro off of the Shaman if it is used to start the pull. Both spells can be re-applied in combat if the CC is broken.


Warlock


Warlocks have Fear, which must be glyphed to act as a true CC. If it is not glyphed the affected target will run around. This, as discussed earlier, may inadvertently pull other enemy groups.

Locks also have Seduction, which comes from the succubus pet. This removes the pet from helping out with combat but can be used to keep an enemy completely controlled. While mostly a PVP ability, skilled warlocks should have no problems using Seduction at all in a PVE setting.

For emergencies, the Warlock can use Enslave Demon and Banish. Unfortunately this unsummons the Warlocks current pet but is effectively a Mind Control type ability. Banish is a great option to keep a Demon at bay while the party finishes up the rest of the enemies.


Warriors


Warriors have no real precombat CC. But as a tank or DPS you may want to look at a glyphed Intimidating Shout for emergencies. This acts like a Mage's Frost Nova and can be used to buy the party some time to recuperate in the middle of a battle.

Next week, we'll talk about actually utilizing these abilities and how to decide what mobs to CC and what to tank.

Good luck out there!

The Stonecore is known to be one of the least forgiving heroics in Cataclysm, partially because of the little room for error involved on the bosses and also because of the difficulties of the first few pulls.

But first, the loot!

Tanking

• Phosphorescent Ring  - Tank Ring / Corborus
• Elementium Fang - Tank Sword / Slabhide
• Leaden Despair  - Tank Trinket / High Priestess Azil

DPS

• Hematite Plate Gloves - DPS Gloves / Slabhide
• Sword of the Bottomless Pit  - DPS Two-Hand Sword / Ozruk
• Magnetite Mirror  - DPS Trinket / High Priestess Azil

Miscellaneous 

• Reins of the Vitreous Stone Drake - Mount / Slabhide 

Upon spawning into the entrance you will see a pack of Stonecore mobs with a gnome, Millhouse Manastorm.


Millhouse Manastorm

You will pull Millhouse 3 times. Crowd control (CC) is nearly absolutely necessary for each of the pulls.

Millhouse himself has a few abilities that usually mark him the primary target. His Fear will need to be interrupted. Groups that like to move fast tend to leave a bunch of mobs on the corners - an uninterrupted fear can cause the unsuspecting party member to aggro those groups. His Frostbolt Volley will slow the group, allowing a Stonecore Earthshaper with , if transformed, to nearly whipe the party with it's aoe.  Once Millhouse is beaten roughly halfway, he will run away from you to setup the next pull. Millhouse is immune to most forms of CC.

Millhouse is grouped with a few of the following:

The Stonecore Berserker is a warrior class mob with a Bladestorm . Can be rooted, but usually tanked and spanked.

The Stonecore Warbringer  is a warrior class mob with a Cleave and an enrage effect. When the mob grows red and large, stun the mob or have a class that can remove the enrage effect do so.

The Stonecore Magmalord is a caster type with some fire based abilities. It has an area of effect (AOE) spell called Magma Eruption that can be stunned/interrupted.

Stonecore Earthshaper is a  shaman class mob with a Lava Burst single target spell. The Ground Shock is a conal ability that hits everyone in front of it. Make sure you face the Earthshaper away from your party. The ability to really look out for is the Force of Earth. If this is not interrupted it will transform into a large Earth elemental that whipes the party with buffed up versions of it's normal abilities. It is for this ability that the Earthshaper is usually CCed or assigned secondary target after Millhouse. Make sure to interrupt the Force of Earth cast!

The 4th pull with Millhouse is an event where Corborus whipes out Millhouse's party.

Corborus

At the launch of Cataclysm heroic Corborus was the cause of a lot of grief. The fight was very unforgiving to movement and damage taken. Nerfs have since been applied and have made it a bit easier.

From a tank perspective this is a tank and spank with a movement phase. Your aoe add pick up skill will be challenged during the movement phase. Other then that it's really straightforward.

Dampening Wave  is a debuff Corborus will use on the entire party. The party should dispell this from you or you will take larger and larger amount of damage from Corborus. If you face Corborus away from the party you will know when he begins casting Crystal Barrage. He will turn towards the targeted party member and spray a bunch of small crystals at the targets location. The target should move out of the barrage. If the barrage targets a melee, you should move Corborus away from the crystals. The crystals will spawn floating crystals that must be destroyed. Upon destruction, they leave a stacking debuff on anyone near them that increases damage taken. For this reason, try to stay away from the crystals and let your DPS take care of them.

Corborus will eventually burrow underground. Non-elite adds will then spawn targeting random party members. Do your best to pick them up and AOE tank them down. When you see a long dust/earth type graphic on the ground, run away! This is where Corborus will jump up and attempt to drive by kill anyone in it's path. After a few attempts at this he will re-emerge and the fight cycle begins again.

Once completed, take the path through the cave/mining area. Hug the right wall to avoid some pulls on the left side. There are 3 required pulls through the cave. All the while your party maybe attacked by a group of non-elites that keep spawning and can be aoed down with little trouble.

Two of the pulls will consist of a pair and trinity of Stonecore Flayers. The flayers can be tank and spanked as a whole group. Try to keep them grouped together as possible. When you hear a very annoying, high pitched sound and the swipes of blades, you are about to get Flayed. The flayers will stop and swipe their claws in a furious fashion. Unfortunately for them, and good for you, you can simply run through them and behind them to avoid it. They won't rotate around to hit you till the Flay has been completed.

One additional pull, and maybe a second if you are not careful with patrols, will involve a Crystalspawn Giant. The giant is a tank and spank fight with the one tweak being it's Quake spell. It has a fairly lengthy cast time. Make sure you jump at the conclusion of the cast to avoid much of the damage.

Please not there are other pulls in the cave area that may inadvertently get pulled if the party's formation is not tight and folks are not paying attention.

Make your way towards Slabhide, the next boss of the instance. Carefully avoid the falling earth spikes, which are predetermined by a shadow on the ground, while you make your way to Slabhide.

Slabhide

A two phase typical dragon/drake fight. Face Slabhide away from the party so only you take damage from Sand Blast. If you see the ground earth-ing up around you, rotate or move. A magma pool will spawn (aka the bad stuff). Don't stand in it. Eventually Slabhide will move to the center of the area and fly up. Avoid the falling rocks, exactly like what you had to do on the path to Slabhide, by avoiding the shadows on the ground before the spike drops.

While the spikes are in the battlefield, Slabhide may occasional cast Crystal Storm. When this happens break line of sight with Slabhide by finding an earth spike roughly ten yards away and hiding behind it. If you pick one that is close to him you may not break the line of sight, so have an idea where you're going to go after the spikes drop before he casts this ability.

Once defeated you have opened up the transport portal (left of the entrance when you spawn in) to this point.

Hug the right side of the path as you continue on. Taking care of a Stonecore Flayer pull. When you see a group of Stonecore humanoids on your left, you can safely avoid them by hugging right. One of the humanoids, a Stonecore Sentry will walk in the middle of the path. He must be defeated prior to moving onward. If they see you they will run to each of the mobs in the area and aggro them on the party. Make sure he is safely away from the group and kill him before he has a chance to do that. Sentries always have priority over any other mob in this area.

Keep hugging right, there will be a bunch of pulls in this room. It's easier to break it up into each mob that's part of the pull, similar to Millhouse.

The Stonecore Rift Conjurer is a warlock type that will cast Shadow Bolt. The main ability to be concerned with is Demon Portal. This ability will summon a bunch of little imps that that will pelt the party with firebolts. Either CC this mob or silence it and down it quickly. The Demon Portal can be interrupted. If the imps do spawn due to a mishandled pull quickly move over there and AOE tank them down.

The Stonecore Magma Lord is the same mob explained during the Millhouse pulls. AOE fire spell that should be interrupted and/or stunned. You'll also encounter more Stonecore Warbringers who can enrage.

The Stonecore Bruiser is a large ogre type mob. It has a frontal cone attacked dubbed Shockwave, so face him away from the party. He also does a Heroic Leap type move called Body Slam. He will jump up and crash down on someone, punting them up in the air. This makes it difficult to tank if the party is largely spread out. After the jump he will run back to you, so you may not need to chase him. If the healer is geared and okay with the damage you can have the whole party stack behind him so he doesn't jump all over the place. But the AOE damage to the party will increase.

The most popular way to clear this area is to clear all the mobs on the  right side of the path. Clear a Bruiser or two and knock out any remaining Sentries. It's best to have the end of the path before Ozruk cleared up.

Ozruk

Ozruk is a pure awareness fight. It does require some raid positioning and good awareness from the tank. He has a frontal cone attacked called Ground Slam that one shots most tanks. As such, keep him facing away from the party and have your party situate themselves behind Ozruk.  When he begins casting, run through the boss as he doesn't rotate or move during the cast. Once the Ground Slam is completed, Ozruk will turn around targeting you. Run through him again to turn him around, as you don't want your party getting hit with a second Ground Slam. As such, always keep him facing away from the party, unless your evading a Ground Slam.

He has two defensive abilities, Elementium Bulwark and Elementium Spike Shield. Don't worry too much about these. You actually want to get get hit by the reflective abilities so you get the stacking damage over time spell (DoT). With your hit points the DoT will not do much damage to you. The DoT will help you break Paralyze and run away succesfully when he attempts to cast Shatter. He will always Paralyze first and then cast Shatter. Once you free from the Paralyze, run away! He will then cast Shatter - you can re-engage once he's completed that cast.

When he gets low on health he will Enrage - it can be removed. Pop any cooldowns you have to make it easier on your healer.

If you do perish during this fight don't try to run back in. He can Paralyze you anywhere in the instance and more then likely you won't have the health after respawning to take the damage at the end of Paralyze.

You can avoid a Stonecore Bruiser and some Flayer pulls in the next area by navigating the party directly down the middle of the area by the bones. The non-elite Twilight cultists can easily be destroyed. You can then navigate the party to the final boss of the instance, High Priestess Azil.

Priestess Azil

Priestess Azil is a two phase fight that will challenge your raid awareness and a little of your AOE tanking abilities.

Throughout both phases she will summon non-elite adds that will swarm the party.

First, clear the non-elites before engaging Azil.

From a tank perspective, many of Azil's abilities are nothing to be concerned with. Force Grip should be interrupted by your dps or you if you are not targeted. Curse of Blood should be removed - the non-elite adds that show up  can demolish someone if Curse of Blood is up. The key ability of the fight is Summon Gravity Well which will spawn a void zone on the ground. All targets, friendly and enemy alike, will be tossed around and taking periodical damage if they are inside.

In phase 1 is the tanking phase. You will engage Azil while she casts Force Grip, Curse of Blood, summons adds, and summons Gravity Wells. It is a good idea to also set her as your Focus target so you can easily switch to her between phases. If your party is heavy melee you will want to repeatedly kite her around, since the Gravity Wells will more then likely spawn near her and you and your melee do not want to get caught in the Gravity Well. The adds will spawn from the area you entered at. Try to position Azil so that the adds will have to go through a Gravity Well before they reach anyone in the party.

Prior to starting phase 2, Azil will cast Energy Shield and go back to the altar. Move away to avoid any damage from her. When phase 2 begins, she'll summon 3 giant boulders above her head and summon more adds. Some Gravity Wells should still be up that the party can use to kite the adds into. While you are kiting/tanking the adds, she will throw these rocks on the party dealing a large amount of damage with Seismic Shard. Similar to a lot of the bosses in this instance, move out of the way if you see the earth moving under you! This is the area she will throw one of the boulders. Once she throws three of them the fight returns to phase 1.

You may still have a lot of adds up at this point making it difficult to re-target Azil. If you set her up as your focus target prior to the fight you can easily target her. Repeat the dance until the fight completes.

Good luck!

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!

The "oh crap" cooldowns that new warriors immediately identify with are the standards:

To me, this is the end-all be-all macro for a Warrior. I judge how well a player knows how to Warrior by how they manage to Charge, Intercept, and Intervene when needed.

#showtooltip Charge
/castsequence [harm] reset=15 Charge, Intercept, Charge; [help] Intervene;

This macro allows you to bind all 3 abilities into one keybinding. Here is how it works:

First Click
1. If warrior is within 15 yards, Charge is off cooldown, and target is non-friendly, warrior will Charge target.
2. If warrior is within 15 yards and target is friendly, warrior will Intervene target.

Second Click (if warrior doesn't charge)
1. If warrior is within 10 yards and target is non-friendly, warrior will Intercept target.
2. If warrior is between 10-15 yards and Intercept is unavailable, target is non-friendly, warrior will Charge target.

Best way to use it, select your target, hit the macro, if you don't Charge, click again to Intercept (if you have the Rage). This is how you see me Charge/Intercept numerous mobs on some tough pulls. I charge one, drop a Thunderclap, Intercept the far mob, rotate 180 and Shockwave, and then Intervene if anyone has pulled aggro.

It takes awhile to learn how to use it correctly. I would advise using the training dummies and a friend to practice the clicking. It may make little sense what you read, but in practice you'll understand.

It's a common saying in my guild, especially amongst the tanks, to call out our battle cry whenever it's time to raid or do something warrior like. It started as a small joke, when we only had 1 or 2 overworked tanks in the whole guild. Whether in vent, or in guild chat, or any other type of forum, when it was time to work... it was time.. TO TANK THE PLANET.

This will be my blog about tanking the planet in World of Warcraft. I tank on a warrior. I hope to provide a resource for aspiring warrior tanks out there. I can't provide you the best info, but I can certainly direct you to the folks who can.

Consider TankThePlanet your gateway into warrior tanking. Please, don't hold it against me.

-Ordruun