Tankin 101 !

By Thordar Icebane

A tank is an essential part of any raid environment

They keep the DPS and Healers safe !

There are a few key elements to tanking which can create the base for a great tank

The number one most important factor is Knowing your class!!!

Without class knowledge there is very little hope for you being a successful tank several factors fall into this class knowledge area this includes Itemisation, Talent Speccing and Rotation

Getting to know these will benefit you greatly in battle and will lead to victory !

Lets get stuck in then !!

Itemisation:

* MAINTAIN OVER 540 DEFENCE AT ALL TIMES [UNLESS YOU'RE A BEAR TANK] *

Tanking is all about surviving taking damage by using abilities to reduce damage taken and also having your talents specced so you take less damage.

Key stats you should go for in terms of survivability are Dodge, Parry, Armor, Stamina and for warriors and paladins Block [Agility is also a viable stat since it gives both dodge and armour]

How you balance these stats is your own call but make sure you dont focus on one stat more than others because of diminishing returns.

Another thing to maintain is threat holding ability, This is very useful in making sure that the mobs/boss is attacking you and not the DPS or Healers

Your threat can be increased by a combination of: Hit rating, Expertise and Strength/Attack Power but these come with gear so its not greatly important to gem for these stats especially Strength/Attack Power

Threat:

Threat is important to a tank as its what they are designed to create and maintain, but threat is not the be all and end all of tanking, it doesn't matter if you pull 5,000 threat per second or 15,000 as long as you maintain enough aggro to keep the mob from the dps without them having to hold back it's all good.

Rotations:

It is also important that the spells you choose to use are used efficiently to both keep aggro but to maintain your own survival which is vital as a tank. Power management is also very important because if you dont have any power you will be unable to use any offensive or defensive abilities [this also applies for dps]. As a rule i would always start combat against a boss with the highest threat move i have available since the DPS will probably go all out from the start and you dont want a threat wipe after all :)

Heres the big one....

**SPACIAL AWARENESS**

This is vital for a tank, without it you are nothing. Spacial awareness in a nutshell is knowing what to do, where to do it, when to do it, and how to do it. If you master this you'll be amazing other key factors include knowing positioning of not only you but other party/raid members and other mobs/adds in relation to you and the boss. And remember in a raid environment its not only you tanking, so sharing out responsibility is key, dont try to grab a group of adds in a 25man instance on your own, its unnecessary and is a strain on the healers keeping you up rather than steadily healing 2/3 tanks with minimal effort considerationis key !

Combining all these factors together will help get you on your way to becomming an imbah tank who will be worshiped across the server and people will kneel down before your awesomeness !!

If you have any questions regarding class specifics or wish for further details relating to this guide then dont hesitate to whisper me in game !!

Commander Thordar Icebane signing off !

Kel Thuzumped !

After much plannin' and organisation, a brave band o' Gryphon Hammers made their way into the filthy stinkin necropowhat'sit known as Naxxramas!!

Knowin' the task ahead to be a dangerous one, tha Hammers came well prepared bringin plenty o' healin' and damage dealin ! Makin' camp in the centre o' the putrid abode, we slowly purged the place o' its evil taint!

The first night saw us tackle the Arachnid quarter, takin' down Anub'Rekhan, a bizzare Crypt Lord, who just looked like a big angry beetle! Next up was a poor deluded lass by the name o' Faerlina - word had it she was a widow? Maybe her fella saw fit to top 'imself wakin up next to that ugly wench every mornin! Lastly was a mighty fearsome lookin' giant spider named Maexenna who tried hard but couldnt keep us under wraps no matter how hard she spun her evil webs.

Second night had us at the Plague Quarter where some o' the foulest monstrosities resided! Noth the Plaguebringer fell swiftly to our might and was soon followed by Heigan the oh so Unclean who tried in vain to scupper our merry dance but the fleet of footed Giobhniu and Gendundrup led the Hammers to the ultimate victory! We rounded the night off in style by givin' a good spankin' to a big steamin pile
o' moss who called himself Loatheb.

On a roll by now, the next night we plundered the Military Quarter and put paid to some Death Knight types starting with Instructor Razuvious, even turnin his own men against him to ensure victory. Next up we clobbered some fool named Gothik the Harvester who thought splittin' us up would make life (or undeath) easier for him - FAT CHANCE! We just dished out twice the hurt! Last up was rag tag bunch callin' themselves the Four Horseman. Well.... after a run in with the Hammers they were nothin' more than the Four No-More-Men !

After a short weekend break we returned to test our mettle against the Construct Quarter which gave us our first real challenges, starting with a warm up against the uggliest punchin' bag we ever set our eyes on by the name o' Patchwerk. After makin short 'werk' of him we moved onto some pervy lookin' freak in a gas mask and wellies called Grobbulus who had a terrible wind problem! Despite his fouling of the very floor around us, we dodged and moved around and burned him down quick smart and rushed onto face the evil guard dog o' the place known as Gluth! GAH !! - we banged our heads against this ugly puppy for an hour or more but couldnt quite get our act together so back we came the next night to sort him out, doing so in double quick time!

Havin' laid our toughest foe up to this point to rest, full o' confidence, we went to town with some bizzare creation named Thaddius who tried to exploit our positiveness and mess it with some o' his negativity - but he cocked it right up and took a good thumpin in the process.

On we marched on to the Frostwyrms Lair and home o' Sapphiron and her master Kel Thuzad!

Operatin' with speed, accuracy and deadly grace we showed Sapphiron the might o' the Gryphon Hammers and before he knew what hit him, he was back to being a rotten pile o' bones leaving only the dreaded Arch Lich to tackle!

Relentless in the pursuit o' our quarry we marched into the throne room o' the founder o' the sodding Cult o' the Dammed himself - Kel'Thuzad!

Despite some underhand attempts to bamboozle us with his undeathly pals, we waded through his trash and unleashed the might of Aerie Peak upon his scrawny bones!

Word is that he and his minions are only weakened for a time so more trips back to the cursed place will be required!

Congratulations to all - Giobhniu, Cordax, Gendundrup, Drail, Savaraco, Dantenes, Valku, Coldwood, Gnarls, Shrissa, Borlin and yours truly ensured an epic victory for the Gryphon Hammers in only our first week in the joint!

Seeing is Achieving !

After a recent meetin' at Aerie Peak some new assignments were made.

Haviik has been promoted to Force Commander aka co-leader joining Gnarls in assisting the smooth running of the guild.

Cordax has been promoted to Coalition Envoy (Officer) and Damacles has been promoted to Gryphon Master (Officer).

It was agreed that both Cordax and Skubbz will be responsible fer lookin after day te day responsibilities regarding those of seasons 61-70 and also recruitin' fer this rank.

Thinor was also promoted to Gryphon Master and is charged with lookin' after everyone up to 60 seasons. Recruitment is also part of his remit.

Since everyone is goin' bonkers fer the new achievements, we thought we would jump on the bandwagon and base many of the guild activities around the various achievements that are on offer.

The respective officers have been tasked with creating events of all kinds (PvP, World PvP, RP, Dungeons, Raids) that culminate in members gaining an achievement at the end of it. For example, Thinor has spoken of leading dangeorus world exploration missions that will involve Gryphon Hammers travelling the lands far and wide and may involve the odd Horde town sacking !

Keep yer eyes peeled to tha' guild calendar fer upcoming events!

/ooc A small reminder to all new members and old ones alike who havent registered on the forums - please can you do so!

In the coming weeks we will be implementing a DKP system that will allow us to manage raid loot better than we have been doing.

This will probably be a tried and tested system but I am toying with the idea of adding or subtracting DKP for good or bad guild conduct.

This includes but is not limited to, participation in Guild events and raid attendence/punctuality, recruiting new members and for those with Officer rank or above, organising sucessful events.

I really want to push this guild as Wrath of the Lich King drops - as aways your feedback is very welcome - either drop me a mail in game or post something on the forums.

The Gryphon Hammers made their first foray into Karazhan last week! The cursed tower and former home of the Last Guardian Medivh has recently been inhabited by a demonic prince and his allies and we took it upon ourselves to try and cleanse the foul stench o' demons and their chums!

It transpired early on that we werent welcome in the gaff when the stablehands accused Borlins pet ravager Spike of an 'unholy liaison' with one o' their horses. Chaos errupted culminating in a right old tussle with a spooky lookin steed named Midnight who was soon joined by his owner and head stablehand Attumen the Huntsman! We made sharp work of him and even relived 'im of some o' his trinkets that just happened to have fallen out of his pockets during the fight.

Tales had been told of the ghostly former steward and head servant of Medivh, a skinny bugger named Moroes, who supposedly was throwing a party for 'im and his ethereal pals! Well, I ask ye, what party is a party without the Gryphon Hammers being there?! So me and the lads decided to gatecrash the place....

Needless to say, Moroes and his 'guests' were none to pleased that we turned up uninvited and a melee ensued when young 'Scrapper' Stouthead remarked that they should 'share some o' their pies with the lads' upon which Moroes drew his daggers and attacked poor Stout, wailing away at him! Normally this wouldnt be an issue, Stout can more than hold his own in any one on one, but the cowardly Moroes decided to enlist the help of his pals and o' course theres nothin The Gryphon Hammers dislike more than an unfair fight so we laid into them good and proper!

After banishing their sorry and tortured souls we stopped for some grub only to find the stuff somewhat tasteless and bland and not to our liking at all! But still, party crashed, job done and on we went.....

Our human emissiary Valku had heard word of a den of eniquity somewhere in the place the housed supposed 'ladies o' the night'.....

Now how can you have a boys night out without visting such a place?? It was at this point our way was blocked by none other than the 'Madam' of the place known as 'The Maiden of Virtue'.

Valku tried to sneak us in without paying but the Maiden was having none of it but said if we could defeat her in combat she would give us a freebie with her best gals - sounded like a good deal at the time but alas we came a 'cropper and I think we underestimated her girly slaps and shrieks.

At this point we called it a night as rumor was she had the next night off so we thought we would come back another day to see if we could sneak in the back door or something....

For Aerie Peak!

Torgar Troggstalker

Last night (Tuesday the 16th) saw our first PvP outing for the Gryphon Hammers.

10 brave lads (with one guest from another guild) made their way into Eye of the Storm and Warsong Gulch to do battle with the vile Horde!

Chaos ensued and much blood was spilled.

The first effort was utter madness and saw us take a hefty defeat but once we rallied and got ourselves organised, the Horde stood no chance and were crushed next time out in both battlegrounds!

Our last match was Eye of the Storm again but unfortunately some flag whores from Hakaar realm spoiled the party and lost us the match despite the brave Hammers charging headlong into swathes of stinkin' Horde.

Special thanks goes to our healers Gwenlyn and Naug who did a brave job but also our front runners and damage dealers such as the tireless Borlin, the totally mad Spyre, the unstoppable Stouthead (now a member!) and who can forget the immovable Maramros ?! All the time sneaking away in the shadows (until he buggered off that is!) was none other than the stealthy and dangerous Valku.

All of you did a great job considering it was our first guild PvP foray - 2 wins, 2 losses - not bad in my book!

In other news we have recently merged with a rogue clan of Wildhammer dwarves thought lost to us.

Led by the burly Gamleck, he and his boys are now proud members of the Stormhammer regiment. May their Gryphons fly straight and yer hammers fly true!!

Another notable addition is the fine warrior Stouthead! Formerly of another dwarven guild we are chuffed to bits to have him on board. The almost legendary Naug has also joined our ranks and the fact that he has seen fit to join us is proof that our guild is to be taken seriously once again!

Tonight sees our first trip into the cursed tower and former home of Medivh - Karazhan! Good luck to all!

For Aerie Peak!

Torgar Troggstalker