Comments on: A tanking tip on situational awareness

By: KhyBearStare

KhyBearStare — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:36:03 +0000

So…it’s a couple weeks since this was originally posted, but I just found this pretty killer blog today and just have to share one of my tricks. Hopefully someone will read it…

When I’m going all kitty scratch dps on The Prince in Kara, if I’m not enfeebled I will run THROUGH him to where the tank is up against the wall. That way, when his aoe goes off, I don’t get knocked back into an infernal…I usually end up just jumping up and down a little as I hit the wall…then back up and continue the dps.

By: sheldreyn

sheldreyn — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:22:47 +0000

Nice one Lypi.

I’d also add, if the target you are offtanking has no cleave / Whirlwind like Aibility, you can tank it “close” to the MT’s target so that DPSers that have multi-target (Sweeping strikes, cleave, Blade Flurry, etc) abilities can use them. (always make sure no CCed mobs are close)

Sometimes those 5 extra hits helps down a mob sooner.

By: Lypi

Lypi — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:24:34 +0000

If you’re offtanking the second or third or whatever target, turn it so that melee DPS will have the shortest run to your mob’s backside. They’ll love you for it.

By: Minmon

Minmon — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 08:23:32 +0000

One thing I’ve found was that, if you have a mod that lets you move your unit frames, it’s great to move your personal unit frame, as well as your target and target’s target frame, nearer to the center of the screen. This lets you more easily see how your health is doing, and possibly save time if you have any emergency buttons you can use.

By: Owl

Owl — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:27:38 +0000

The camera flip is extremely useful! (btw, I’m a lurker that loves reading your blog) But just in case you can’t key your mouse to the flip, you can set a keybinding to it. I’ve used that for a long time, since I tend to tow people around a lot while they’re on auto-follow and sometimes lose them to a tree…that way I can always see behind me. And..as a priest I do like knowing what’s behind me, lol.

By: Crimeariver

Crimeariver — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:19:51 +0000

>that camera flip thing sounds neat. Too bad I have an oldstyle mouse with only three buttons

I use a basic mouse too, and I’ve bound the camera flip to the mouse wheel (rolled backward). I started doing this while running flags in wsg. It’s nice to see what’s behind you so you can plan your next move or more easily target your pursuer.

By: ChainTrap

ChainTrap — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 08:38:15 +0000

That camera flip trick is a new one on me, and a great one at that! I shall be binding the flip to that exact button, as I suspect that I’m going to find it hugely useful, both with my hunter and my feral.

I don’t have any generic tips, but I think I’m going to go and blog some pvp hunter tricks that I’ve learnt, in the hope that they’ll be useful to someone.

By: Lawn

Lawn — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 07:23:36 +0000

Druid Tank -
Save your “Image of Archmage Vagarth”, when running a raid/dungeon place the archmage where you want your group to wait while you go collect/mark the next set of enemy mobs. “Ok you guys stay here and defend Archmage Vagarth!”

Kill Order should almost always be healer, casters, and everything else. However, if you have cc measures then break up the casters and healers. I perfer to do healers on skull, and then everything else killed, while the casters are cced.

Druid Healer -
When a stray enemy is running for you and you know it’s coming, cast cyclone to stop it for 6 seconds. This will give the tank a chance to grab it after the cc is off.

No time to cast cyclone? Switch to bear form and take a hit or two before the tank picks up the stray mob. Instead of getting 1 shotted you’ll get 1.5 shotted. (Hey every little bit helps!)

By: Kikidas

Kikidas — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:48:22 +0000

Hrm. Then maybe it’s just my computer being laggy. It seems to have a GCD… I tend to pvp while I’m on the laptop at work and it’s .. not the best machine ever.

Here’s me blushing at my error. *blush*

By: Erthshade

Erthshade — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:28:37 +0000

Actually, Nature’s Swiftness doesn’t activate the GCD. If it did it would be almost completely worthless and self-defeating.

My tip that I thought was basic knowledge: if you’re tanking and something’s breaking off to run, move away from them to open up space for a Feral Charge sooner. Strafing works well, especially if you mouseturn to 90 degrees away from the mob so strafe moves you directly away. Chasing straight after rarely helps because the mobs have no intention of coming back without help anyway.