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 !