🚀 go-pugleaf

  To: alt.games.warcraft
On 2011-03-23, Urbin <urbin@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> On 23 Mar 2011 07:36:33 GMT, Urbin wrote:
>>  I have a little under a level before I can start using /lfg and want to use
>>  it to get ready. I know the basic, class-independent tanking basics from my
>>  bear druid (who was levelled through /lfg, too), so I'm looking for advice
>>  that is prot warrior specific.
>
> Well, thanks again for all the replies earlier today.
>
> I have in the meantime gone to redridge, bought the level 14
> white shield and killed some mobs. Together with discovery XP
> that brought me to level 15. I then noticed I didn't have a 1H
> weapon :-)
>
> So I went back to SW and plundered some of my alts in order to
> create a [Thick War Axe]. Once that was done I queued up and
> instantly got myself a spot in Deadmine run which was falling
> apart.
>
> I have now run deadmines 1.5 times and Ragefire Chasm once. Out
> of that I got three shield drops, each a nice upgrade over the
> others and now have [Gold-Plated Buckler] (672 armour, +3str,
> +5sta) and [Buzzer Blade] (13.7dps, +5crit).

Awesome!

> I had the feeling I didn't really know what to do, despite
> having tanked before. I felt even more lost than on my druid in
> the beginning. No clue which abilities to use in what order,
> finding it hard to keep an overview. That got slightly better
> with practice but I'll need to rearrange my attacks a little on
> my bar.
>
> I noticed a few things
> - pulling without rage is even harder than on my bear, I usually try to
>   first apply a rend for the bleed effect and then a thunder clap to spread
>   the bleed to all mobs (I put the talent points into that). Is this a good
>   starting strategy? Or should I first thunderclap for Aoe snap aggro?
> - after that I mostly Shield Slam, as it uses less rage than Heroic Strike
>   and I am still fighting for rage a bit
> - I taunt if a mob leaves me and then Shield Slam it when it comes into rage
> - I try to use Victory Rush when available as it doesn't cost rage and
>   causes high threat
> - Strike seems pretty useless. At 20 rage it costs the same as shield slam
>   but according to DrDamage only does 21 damage (against 142 with Shield
>   Slam). Am I missing something or can I just leave that ability off my
>   bar?

Strike *is* useless.

> - Charge is only available out of combat and in Battle Stance. I'd love a
>   macro that puts me into Battle Stance (if not already in it), Charges and
>   then puts me back in Defensive Stance.
>   Can I do a conditional castsequence? I see two possibilities but am
>   uncertain of both of them:
>
> /cast [harm, nocombat, stance:2/3] Battle Stance
> /castsequence [harm, nocombat, stance:1] Charge, Defensive Stance

Until you get the talent that lets you conserve rage when you
change stance, a charge macro can slow down Threat building and
open you up to early burst damage. I use it when I quest, but not
in dungeons. Eventually you can charge in Defensive Stance and
all is well.

> - is there any good way to fronload rage and/or threat when pulling?

Until you can Charge without stance dancing, you'll build initial
threat with Battle Shout, which is on a one minute cooldown and
gives you a nice rage boost.

There are two different ways to tank, depending on what you're
fighting.

Single target/boss: Battle Shout if necessary. Keep Rend up.
Shield Slam when it's up. Keep a stack of three Sunders on the
target. Use Heroic Strike or Thunderclap when Rage is plentifull,
and you have nothing better to do.

Multiple targets: Battle Shout if necessary. Rend, Thunderclap,
Shield Slam the skull target. Shield Slam when it's up. Keep Rend
rolling on everything using the Rend/Thunderclap combo. Build a
Sunder stack on the skull, and pass out Sunders to other mobs if
you fear losing AoE threat. Use Heroic Strike if your Rage is
plentifull, and you have nothing better to do.
 
Glyph of Sunder is the the first glyph you will want at level 20,
as it makes tanking multiple mobs much easier.

If you pull, pull with your bow or thrown, never with Taunt. This
is to protect the DPS, who are often ignorant about Taunt.

Vengeance is great if it's up, but it really won't be much when
you tank.

Using those techniques, I've never needed to Taunt.

Eventually you'll replace Sunder with a talented new power.
You'll eventually Cleave instead of Heroic Strike to dump Rage on
multiple targets. You'll get Revenge!

-- 
Neil Cerutti

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