So I’ve tried to write my blog so far as a collection of thoughts and ideas for fellow wardens – this post will be for those grouped with us wardens.  This is both a what to do in a group (with a warden, and some are just good general practices) and what drives me batty.  I’ll start with a few general thoughts and then some class specific ones.

  • yes, we are tanks – and can be very good ones at that
    • but a quick check of traits isn’t a bad idea – traiting full spear line is not a good sign for tanking 😉
      • You should see the fist line (main threat line) or shield line (defensive and healing buffs)
  • There are some wardens out there who haven’t grouped much before even at 60, so you might be well served to check to see how much they’ve tanked
    • if they haven’t tanked much – if might be good to have either a champ or guard as backup
  • we don’t have a quick snap agro skill – so it will take a little longer to pull agro back to us
    • also, it takes us a little longer to get the initial agro – but once we have it, rarely do we lose it
  • It might not be bad to check out this post of mine to see our various skill icons and animations
    • Warden skills and icons
    • for example, If you see us crouching down – we’re getting ready to ambush, so let us pull
  • as with all tanks, it is usually better to let us do the pulling
    • granted, there are some cases where root pulls are best
  • decide on roles up front – we can interrupt, remove corruptions, and tank
    • but it is usually optimal to spread those duties out or at least have back-ups assigned
  • Picking (and actually assisting) a main assist for DPS really helps out
    • you should be doing this anyway
    • This will make a HUGE difference if you’re in a PUG.
      • make sure the display is enabled by the group leader
      • and that folks have it turned on in their UI options
  • In my opinion we make better main tanks then off-tanks
    • ward+guard or ward+champ is a LOT of fun 🙂
  • many of us (myself included) enjoy tanking lots of mobs, don’t worry we can handle it
  • we scream – seriously we’re very loud so you might want to turn down your combat sounds
    • best all time for me was 2 wardens, 2 captains, and a minnie in war-speech 😉

Class specific

  • Captains
    • For the tactics buff, I’d ask the warden.  I usually prefer parry (hardest avoidance to cap) or power for longer fights.
    • silence really sucks for us (can’t taunt, nor use gambits with taunts in them) – so Muster courage is greatly appreciated
    • please don’t use your snap agro skills on a mob we’re tanking – save them for the mobs beating on the squishies
      • it just makes it hard to tell if we lost agro or if it will be coming back to us
      • the only exception to this is when you plan to ping-pong agro (turtle fight for example)
  • Guards
    • put your protection on us and you’ll get our block/parry responses – and there will be quite a few
    • No sense in fighting for agro – decide up front and either tank or go into overpower mode
      • see the 3rd comment on captains
  • Champs
    • Use your Ire skills to transfer threat as needed
    • Communicate concerning interrupts as we can both do them well, but only one usually needs to
    • watch your initial DPS, but once we have good agro feel free to open up
    • champs and wardens are pure AoE fun!
    • see the 3rd comment on captains
  • Burgs
    • Enrage (I think that’s the skill) can be helpful to dump more agro to us
    • You can get a conjunction in even when we ambush – just get it off before our daze wears off
    • call out conjunction attempts as we do have some gambits with a chance to stun, which grant conj. immunity
    • Any debuffs are always welcome 😉
    • share the fun (sharing stealth) allows us to insta-ambush
  • Loremasters
    • wounds (disarms especially) and stuns suck – so help us out when you can
    • we’re very power hungry, so be ready
    • debuffs are your friend
  • Hunters
    • watch your initial DPS – once we lock agro you should be good to go, but don’t go all out at the start
    • keep an eye out for poisons
  • Minstrels
    • Be mindful of over-healing, as we do have a bunch of HoTs and our morale will constantly fluctuate
    • Call to Greatness gives us a nice defensive buff and threat bonus – good to use on start of boss fights
    • If we get low on power we might suggest you not heal such that we can get to 50% morale and regen power
  • RKs
    • Your HoTs are a nice pairing with ours
    • Using your “do not fall” skills are great for bosses with big nasty dots (thinking Forges here)
    • Watch overhealing
    • see 3rd note for Minnies

I’m sure there are things I’m forgetting, or that I don’t know as I haven’t played all the classes at high levels – feel free to comment or email anything I’ve left off.

I also re-found this link to the lorebook on a similar topic – warden entry.