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)
- but a quick check of traits isn’t a bad idea – traiting full spear line is not a good sign for tanking 😉
- 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.