Thursday, July 5, 2007
More fun with bad players
I was taking out ogres again in Feralas when this Druid who is 2 levels higher than me decides it is his day to gank. He waits until I am fighting an ogre to hit me from behind.
Now this Druid is not on his game. He is 2 levels above me at the time and stays in cat form the entire fight. Druids... you can NOT stay in cat form and fight me... I will kill you! Druids dodge more in cat form which means... OVERPOWER! Cats have less AC( read: Damage Reduction ) which means MORE WHITE DAMAGE. Druids are a hard fight only if they switched to bear and keep healing themselves. Cat form is like a Rogue without the ability to sap/stun. Rogues without these abilities are my FOOD.
Lesson for the day... if you hope to kill me little druid, you need to wait til I am almost dead or you need to be a lot better at playing your class.
Now this Druid is not on his game. He is 2 levels above me at the time and stays in cat form the entire fight. Druids... you can NOT stay in cat form and fight me... I will kill you! Druids dodge more in cat form which means... OVERPOWER! Cats have less AC( read: Damage Reduction ) which means MORE WHITE DAMAGE. Druids are a hard fight only if they switched to bear and keep healing themselves. Cat form is like a Rogue without the ability to sap/stun. Rogues without these abilities are my FOOD.
Lesson for the day... if you hope to kill me little druid, you need to wait til I am almost dead or you need to be a lot better at playing your class.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Tanking 101 (Single Target)
Here it is folks... Your first guide to basic tanking.
Tanking: is when you become the sole target for all DPS for a group. It is your job to stay at the top of the aggro list and bear the brunt of the dmg. Warriors are built for this.
Like I said before, this is a blog for Warriors. My personal beliefs aside ( Warriors make best tanks ) we are willing to concede that Paladins and Druids do a fair job. I will also concede that a good Druid/ Paladin will outtank a poor Warrior any day of the week. So Warriors here is your wake up call. Learn to play your class and you will be better than other classes at tanking. Don't learn to play the class and you make them all correct in thinking they are better than you.
Tanking is mainly done in instances. You need to be in Defensive Stance.
Pulling/ Gaining Aggro
As our friend over at BigRedKitty will tell you, Warriors do not make the best pullers. That particular honor goes to Hunters and they can have it. Warriors have NO way of dropping aggro if they make a bad pull.
Rule#1
Let Hunters pull!
However, if you are in a group without a hunter, you become the next best puller because you have the best damage mitigation and the mobs are going to be hitting on you anyways. How to pull? Well there are 2 ways: Melee pull and Range pull. Now Warriors can equip all range weapons and you should have at least 1 equipped at all time with ammo to go with it. Now BRK can tell you that I ran out of my fair share of ammo. Ah well.
Range Pull
Use the (gun) to target something and shoot it. Simple eh? Well, remember to shoot the one in front and try to only pull 1 target. You will mess this up... you will pull 5 and you will LEARN from every encounter with pulling. You don't just start off great at anything in this game, so expect some a learning curve.
Melee Pull
Now these are not a No-No. But! They are more likely to pull multiple mobs! Now what about Charge? What bout Enrage? Don't I need Rage to tank? Yes, you do! The good thing about the melee pull is that you will acquire some Rage while doing it. I don't think charging a target is inherently bad, but you do need to be very aware of pats.
Gaining, Keeping and Holding aggro
At this level of play 1-20 you have the basic capabilities of tanking. Since so many of you liked the breakdown of fighting here it is for tanking.
Sunder, Sunder, Revenge( whenever it pops-up)Sunder, Sunder, Sunder.
Sunder is you bread and butter for tanking. Let's review
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One thing to remember about Sunder is that it needs to reapplied or it will fade. You can not get to 5 Sunders and then quit hitting the Sunder button. You can throw in a Heroic Strike which adds DPS and Threat and you can always and should hit Revenge when it pops.
What about Rage?
The great thing about tanking is the mob should only be hitting you and with you hitting it rage generation should not be a problem. If it is you can always hit Bloodrage or pop a rage potion if needed.
How do I integrate Heroic Strike in?
Heroic Strike can be used in any stance so make sure it is on you Defensive Stance tool bar. Honestly, HS is a guilty pleasure. Once you go tank your job is no longer DPS it is Threat Generation and with that said if you have an extra amount of Rage that you no longer need hit Heroic Strike if you feel like it.
You can now modify the attack pattern to look like this.
Sunder, Sunder, (Revenge), Sunder, Sunder, Sunder, Demoralizing Shout, Thunderclap, Sunder, Sunder, Block, (Revenge) Sunder, Disarm, Sunder Sunder.
WTH?! Did you just throw in all that stuff we normally do when fighting a mob? Yes, I did. The only thing you need to remember when tanking is... you are still fighting a mob just like you do on your own. All of those things still work and work well... they should all be done... AFTER you have 5 sunders and are sure no one is taking aggro.
Aggro Stealers and the Taunt button
Ok, classes that like to steal aggro in my humble opinion are as follows. Mages, Rogues, Priests and Hunters / Other Warriors.
Now any class is capable of stealing aggro, but the above list has been my personal experience. When this happens, then and only then do you tap the Taunt button. Taunt is used reacquire aggro. It is NOT used to gain aggro. Aggro should be gained by your first hit or shot.
This was a very small guide to tanking 1 mob... I have plenty more to spout about tanking and next up will be multiple mobs and when things go to hell in a handbasket.
I bet this guy thought WTH?! a Warrior?!
This Druid was 2 levels above me. He was 45 and I was 43. Yes, I hit him while he attacking a mob, but he was at 100% health and we were attacking the same mobs.
This was a rough fight! Druids are tough mainly because of 3 things which are a) Bear form b) Entangling Roots and c) Heals.
Bear form gives them armor comparable if not a little better than the plate you are wearing so they have just as much Dmg Reduction in this form. Also, there are those damn roots that stick you in one place while they go off and give the self love they call healing. Now listen up, IF you are on a PvP server you must have Second Wind. I know this skill is further up the Arms talent tree than I have gone so far, but I am going to list it here now.
| Second Wind | Rank 1 |
|---|
| Second Wind | Rank 2 |
|---|
This is a talent that Warriors have to have in PvP land. We get stunned and CC (Crowd Controlled) so much that if we can't get some Rage and Health while they are doing it we may as well not play the game. I remember doing BGs before this came along and Sweet Monkeys it was rough.
I wish I could type up a play by play of the fight but it was long. Needless to say, I had to drop a pot and burn retaliate. There were also quite a few Pummels involved. Retaliate was the last to go... after he went Bear and let himself get down health a bit, I made sure he was Hamstringed and sat on top of him while Retaliate and Mortal Strike and Execute did their job. After 4 Warriors dying all the time in PvP, I am finally a better player and can kill any class I want given the chance. It's true that you need to know the other classes and how they fight because if you know how they fight you know what's coming next.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Stranglethorn Vale
As anyone who plays on a PvP server knows... Sat night... STV?! = MADHOUSE!
This past Sat night was no different. There was so much gankage you could barely walk out of Booty Bay without getting tagged.
Here's my story...
A BE hunter complains in General that he is getting ganked right next to the opening of Booty Bay. Well, he couldn't be that close or the guards would help him. Being the good Horde that I am, I go to help him out. I get there in time to see his latest ganking by a lv45 Dranaei Shaman and a lv39 Dranaei Pally. I charge in and get some more added help by a mage and a druid who happen to be passing by. Problem solved right?
Erm not so much...
The problem isn't the allies so much as this BE hunter who standing ON THE ROAD so he can not gain aggro by moving into Mistvale Valley to kill his gorillas. OMG! I wouldn't be able to resist either if someone was sitting there in the middle of the road!
As I am killing the gorillas too trying to get an aged sinew, I remain in the area. Well, the allies are there for gorillas too and I end up spending the better part of 15 min paying for the defense of my moron BE hunter. I was killed 3 times by the above Shammy, Pally and a Rogue they managed to find... stupid Gnomes!
They eventually leave me alone, but it still rankles that they killed me so much. I go back to killing my gorillas when a bit later I see them again. I don't see the Rogue and fairly certain since they are already fighting that she isn't there.
Now, how does a lv 44 Warrior kill a lv 45 shaman and a lv39 Pally? Well, you get the gorillas to help of course! These two were on the last part of Stranglethorn Fever trying to get the Heart of Omokk. Anyone who has done these quests knows that you fight wave after wave of gorillas until Omokk appears. I wait... wait some more... and there is Omokk... when Omokk goes in, I charge 3 seconds after. I kill both of them and run off.
Cowardly!? Hell no!! It's called tactics!
This past Sat night was no different. There was so much gankage you could barely walk out of Booty Bay without getting tagged.
Here's my story...
A BE hunter complains in General that he is getting ganked right next to the opening of Booty Bay. Well, he couldn't be that close or the guards would help him. Being the good Horde that I am, I go to help him out. I get there in time to see his latest ganking by a lv45 Dranaei Shaman and a lv39 Dranaei Pally. I charge in and get some more added help by a mage and a druid who happen to be passing by. Problem solved right?
Erm not so much...
The problem isn't the allies so much as this BE hunter who standing ON THE ROAD so he can not gain aggro by moving into Mistvale Valley to kill his gorillas. OMG! I wouldn't be able to resist either if someone was sitting there in the middle of the road!
As I am killing the gorillas too trying to get an aged sinew, I remain in the area. Well, the allies are there for gorillas too and I end up spending the better part of 15 min paying for the defense of my moron BE hunter. I was killed 3 times by the above Shammy, Pally and a Rogue they managed to find... stupid Gnomes!
They eventually leave me alone, but it still rankles that they killed me so much. I go back to killing my gorillas when a bit later I see them again. I don't see the Rogue and fairly certain since they are already fighting that she isn't there.
Now, how does a lv 44 Warrior kill a lv 45 shaman and a lv39 Pally? Well, you get the gorillas to help of course! These two were on the last part of Stranglethorn Fever trying to get the Heart of Omokk. Anyone who has done these quests knows that you fight wave after wave of gorillas until Omokk appears. I wait... wait some more... and there is Omokk... when Omokk goes in, I charge 3 seconds after. I kill both of them and run off.
Cowardly!? Hell no!! It's called tactics!
Devil Theory
Function: noun: a theory of history: political and social crises arise from the deliberate actions of evil or misguided leaders rather than as a natural result of conditions.
So, along with the wife to be and my best friend, I have started a guild on Lightninghoof. I wanted to make our own tabard which I am redesigning when I get home and I wanted a place of my own. The guild will be very small and focus on endgame PvP and fun.
I have ran my own guild one time before. Trust me when I say that running a raid guild is time consuming to the point where it is a hassle and keeps you away from you family.
I am thinking that if I can keep this guild small and friends only that I can avoid the problems of having a big raiding guild.
Any of the readers are welcome to an invite tho.
Anyone else have any experience with small guilds of friends only?
So, along with the wife to be and my best friend, I have started a guild on Lightninghoof. I wanted to make our own tabard which I am redesigning when I get home and I wanted a place of my own. The guild will be very small and focus on endgame PvP and fun.
I have ran my own guild one time before. Trust me when I say that running a raid guild is time consuming to the point where it is a hassle and keeps you away from you family.
I am thinking that if I can keep this guild small and friends only that I can avoid the problems of having a big raiding guild.
Any of the readers are welcome to an invite tho.
Anyone else have any experience with small guilds of friends only?
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Levels 12-20
Time for another installment of skill sets.
Level 12
10 Rage
Instant
The warrior shouts, increasing the melee attack power of all party members within 20 yards by 35. Lasts 2 min.
Woot! Upgrade!! Make sure Battleshout is always on!!
Requires Melee Weapon
Requires Battle Stance
Instantly overpower the enemy, causing weapon damage plus 5. Only useable after the target dodges. The Overpower cannot be blocked, dodged or parried.
What is this?! Something new!! You know all those mobs that like to dodge your attacks? We have a nasty little surprise for them. Overpower lets us put that dodge strait down their throat. This is quite useful for Rogues and Hunters when PvPing against them.
Requires Shields
Requires Battle Stance, Defensive Stance
Bashes the target with your shield for 6 damage. It also interrupts spellcasting and prevents any spell in that school from being cast for 6 sec.
Notice this needs a shield, now you should be using a 2H axe per our previous posts. But if mobs are really really tough on the spellcasting at lv12 ( I am not sure where you found those! ) You can use this skill. This skill is really helpful later on when tanking in instances.
Level 14
10 Rage
Instant
Reduces the melee attack power of all enemies within 10 yards by 35 for 30 sec.
Now this one is really nice. This is your one button DO NOT HIT ME THAT HARD! button. Not quite as important to me as Battleshout but really nice and should still be incorporated into our attack pattern.
Attack pattern now looks like this.
Charge, Battleshout, Rend, Demo shout, Thunderclap, Heroic Strike (Hamstring when necessary).
Requires Melee Weapon
Requires Defensive Stance
Instantly counterattack an enemy for 55 damage and a high amount of threat. Revenge must follow a block, dodge or parry.
More tanking skills. Revenge is like Overpower except is only works in defensive stance and it works on more things. Revenge is also a really great Threat generator. What is Threat? you ask. Threat is generated when you do damage to a mob. The more damage you do to that mob the more the mob thinks YOU are the problem. This is what you want when tanking. Jeez... I need to get around to Tanking 101 soon. Sigh.
Level 16
Next melee
Requires Melee Weapon
A strong attack that increases melee damage by 32 and causes a high amount of threat.
Upgrade!!! You know what this is by now... Use it!
Requires Melee Weapon
Requires Battle Stance
A mocking attack that causes 22 damage, a moderate amount of threat and forces the target to focus attacks on you for 6 sec.
You want a little tanking with your Battle Stance? This is it. This skill will pull aggro off another toon and give it to you. Remember, except for Paladins which are equal in armor, you have the most Damage Reduction! So pull that aggro from that Fire specced mage after he takes a hit or two for pulling aggro. It's always nice to help your clothies.
More tanking! This does exactly what it says... you have a 3 in 4 chance of blocking 1 attack. This is very nice for tanking. Imagine... you just didn't get hit?! WTH?
Level 18
This is so nice for many reasons. In fighting 1v1 you always Disarm and laugh while the hit you with their unarmed skill. Now this ability can be dodged (DAMN!) but when that Pally decides to bubble and still hit you with their weapon... just take it away!
20 Rage
Requires Battle Stance, Defensive Stance
Blasts nearby enemies increasing the time between their attacks by 10% for 14 sec and doing 23 damage to them. This ability causes additonal threat and will affect up to 4 targets.
Upgrade!!!
Level 20
Upgrade!!
Retaliation
Requires Battle Stance
Instantly counterattack any enemy that strikes you in melee for 15 sec. Melee attacks made from behind cannot be counterattacked. A maximum of 30 attacks will cause retaliation.
New!! Now this is really nice!! Now look carefully, they hit you you hit them back IMMEDIATELY. Unless they hit you from behind ( Known as Rogues ) which are not behind us because we pivot with the jumping fruits right?! This skill is really helpful when attacking 3 or more mobs or if you are getting hit in a PvP situation. If you pop this skill in a PvP situation make sure you stay as close to the toon as possible. The better players will see the Sword animation that surrounds you and they will back off from attacking you. But! They normally do not retarget so run up next to them and do some more damage with it. It has a 30 min cooldown so make sure it is either PvP used or in dire (read Will die!) situations.
You retain up to 10 of your rage points when you change stances.
Once upon a time, this was a talent you had to train... Screw that Blizzard!! So the made it a skill. This means you still have 10 rage if you had it before when you switch to Defensive Stance to Disarm that bubbling Pally!!!
See you later with more.
Level 12
| Battle Shout | Rank 2 |
|---|
Instant
The warrior shouts, increasing the melee attack power of all party members within 20 yards by 35. Lasts 2 min.
Woot! Upgrade!! Make sure Battleshout is always on!!
| Overpower | Rank 1 |
|---|
| 5 Rage | 5 yd range |
|---|
| Instant | 5 sec cooldown |
|---|
Requires Battle Stance
Instantly overpower the enemy, causing weapon damage plus 5. Only useable after the target dodges. The Overpower cannot be blocked, dodged or parried.
What is this?! Something new!! You know all those mobs that like to dodge your attacks? We have a nasty little surprise for them. Overpower lets us put that dodge strait down their throat. This is quite useful for Rogues and Hunters when PvPing against them.
| Shield Bash | Rank 1 |
|---|
| 10 Rage | 5 yd range |
|---|
| Instant | 12 sec cooldown |
|---|
Requires Battle Stance, Defensive Stance
Bashes the target with your shield for 6 damage. It also interrupts spellcasting and prevents any spell in that school from being cast for 6 sec.
Notice this needs a shield, now you should be using a 2H axe per our previous posts. But if mobs are really really tough on the spellcasting at lv12 ( I am not sure where you found those! ) You can use this skill. This skill is really helpful later on when tanking in instances.
Level 14
| Demoralizing Shout | Rank 1 |
|---|
Instant
Reduces the melee attack power of all enemies within 10 yards by 35 for 30 sec.
Now this one is really nice. This is your one button DO NOT HIT ME THAT HARD! button. Not quite as important to me as Battleshout but really nice and should still be incorporated into our attack pattern.
Attack pattern now looks like this.
Charge, Battleshout, Rend, Demo shout, Thunderclap, Heroic Strike (Hamstring when necessary).
| Revenge | Rank 1 |
|---|
| 5 Rage | 5 yd range |
|---|
| Instant | 5 sec cooldown |
|---|
Requires Defensive Stance
Instantly counterattack an enemy for 55 damage and a high amount of threat. Revenge must follow a block, dodge or parry.
More tanking skills. Revenge is like Overpower except is only works in defensive stance and it works on more things. Revenge is also a really great Threat generator. What is Threat? you ask. Threat is generated when you do damage to a mob. The more damage you do to that mob the more the mob thinks YOU are the problem. This is what you want when tanking. Jeez... I need to get around to Tanking 101 soon. Sigh.
Level 16
| Heroic Strike | Rank 3 |
|---|
| 15 Rage | 5 yd range |
|---|---|
Requires Melee Weapon
A strong attack that increases melee damage by 32 and causes a high amount of threat.
Upgrade!!! You know what this is by now... Use it!
| Mocking Blow | Rank 1 |
|---|
| 10 Rage | 5 yd range |
|---|
| Instant | 2 min cooldown |
|---|
Requires Battle Stance
A mocking attack that causes 22 damage, a moderate amount of threat and forces the target to focus attacks on you for 6 sec.
You want a little tanking with your Battle Stance? This is it. This skill will pull aggro off another toon and give it to you. Remember, except for Paladins which are equal in armor, you have the most Damage Reduction! So pull that aggro from that Fire specced mage after he takes a hit or two for pulling aggro. It's always nice to help your clothies.
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Level 18
|
This is so nice for many reasons. In fighting 1v1 you always Disarm and laugh while the hit you with their unarmed skill. Now this ability can be dodged (DAMN!) but when that Pally decides to bubble and still hit you with their weapon... just take it away!
| Thunder Clap | Rank 2 |
|---|
| Instant | 4 sec cooldown |
|---|
Blasts nearby enemies increasing the time between their attacks by 10% for 14 sec and doing 23 damage to them. This ability causes additonal threat and will affect up to 4 targets.
Upgrade!!!
Level 20
|
Upgrade!!
Retaliation
| Instant | 30 min cooldown |
|---|
Instantly counterattack any enemy that strikes you in melee for 15 sec. Melee attacks made from behind cannot be counterattacked. A maximum of 30 attacks will cause retaliation.
New!! Now this is really nice!! Now look carefully, they hit you you hit them back IMMEDIATELY. Unless they hit you from behind ( Known as Rogues ) which are not behind us because we pivot with the jumping fruits right?! This skill is really helpful when attacking 3 or more mobs or if you are getting hit in a PvP situation. If you pop this skill in a PvP situation make sure you stay as close to the toon as possible. The better players will see the Sword animation that surrounds you and they will back off from attacking you. But! They normally do not retarget so run up next to them and do some more damage with it. It has a 30 min cooldown so make sure it is either PvP used or in dire (read Will die!) situations.
| Stance Mastery | Passive |
|---|
Once upon a time, this was a talent you had to train... Screw that Blizzard!! So the made it a skill. This means you still have 10 rage if you had it before when you switch to Defensive Stance to Disarm that bubbling Pally!!!
See you later with more.
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