How to Use WWS: Tank Edition

Written by Kaite

Monday, 09 February 2009 05:50

Note: This post was written before Crushing Blows were removed from the combat table.

TANK SPECIFICS

There's A LOT for tanks to look at in these logs. It can be pretty overwhelming sometimes. If you don't know where to begin, start by answering these questions for each boss attempt.

*This is less important for feral tanks, since they can't get their avoidance high enough to be uncrushable.

I'll go into a little more depth on each of these questions now:

1) How many times was I crushed?

Crushing blows often lead to tank deaths. It's easy to check how many times you were crushed on each encounter. Simply click on any of the numbers next to "Melee" in the "Damage In" table of your character sheet. The line will expand to show a lot more information, including the number of times you were crushed. A few crushes are to be expected against faster hitting mobs, but anything more than 1% of all swings is unacceptable for slower hitting mobs. If you're getting crushed a lot, it probably means you're not refreshing your holy shield or shield block often enough.
NOTE: for a feral tank, you shouldn't be looking at how many times you were crushed, but rather the average damage of your crushes. If the average damage you're taking is more than a normal attack on a warrior/paladin tank, then you need more armor.

2) Why did I die?

As tank, it's up to you to be the meat shield and stay alive as long as possible. It's a common mistake to think that the healers are always at fault for tank deaths. There are certain things tanks can do to keep themselves better alive.
Here are some possible answers to this question:

I didn't get healed.
This is always a possibility. Why didn't you get healed though? Did you move out of range of your healers? Were the healers overwhelmed with splash damage because you didn't have the mob positioned properly? There are lots of reasons for why you didn't get healed. If you don't know, don't be afraid to ask your healer(s), "Hey! How come you didn't heal me?!" They'll most likely be looking at the logs and trying to figure out the same thing for themselves.

I was under geared.
Try comparing your log results to other tanks' logs. Specifically look at the average damage you were taking from each type of attack, and the % of "All Miss." If the average melee damage was too high, then you didn't have enough armor. If your "all miss" % was very low, you should try to get some more avoidance (defense, dodge, and parry ratings).

3) If raid members died before me, why did they die?

As dedicated meat shield, it's partly your responsibility to protect your dps and healers as best you can. Usually, the best you can do is 1) hold aggro, and 2) position the mob appropriately.

Their own fault
If your raid member died before you because of an environmental hazard you had no control over, it's not your fault. However, don't be afraid to ask your raid leader if you in some way could have caused that hazard somehow. For instance - raid members getting caught too close to an infernal during Prince is not usually your fault. But if they got too close because YOU didn't move Prince how you were supposed to, then that's partly your fault.

Positioning
It's your job to keep your raid protected from frontal and rear area of affect casts. Did someone die to a cone of cold or tail swipe because you didn't position the boss/mob properly?

Aggro Lost?
Did you lose aggro in the middle of the fight for a brief second? If that happens, you should work with your DPS on figuring out how to better balance your threat vs. their DPS. Also, don't be afraid to ask another tank to look at your "Damage Out" stats to make sure that you're using all of the right abilities often enough. Maybe you had an excess of rage and weren't using heroic strike enough? Or you weren't using shield slam enough? Or maybe your weren't sealing/judging with the best combination of spells often enough.

Initial Aggro?
Did you not pickup initial aggro fast enough? Some bosses reset their aggro table in the middle of the encounter and it's up to you to take back the aggro immediately. Looking at the log files helps with this - you can see if the boss attacked someone else before they hit you.

It's messy, but in the end, you'll probably end up using the "Browse Log File" function more than you'd like to. It makes things easier if you use a filter while doing so.

DON'T be afraid to ask for help if you're having trouble reviewing your own performance. And don't be afraid to ask for help if you know you're having problems with a particular encounter, but you can't find the evidence in the log files.

This post is a work-in-progress, so feel free to PM me if you have any suggestions.

Last Updated on Friday, 13 February 2009 13:35