Author: Novesette
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Are you fighting in Defensive Stance? That's the most important thing for holding aggro right there. You should be doing most of your tanking in Defensive as it adds 10% to your threat.
Now, we have two different types of tools for managing aggro (threat/hate): We've got threat-causing abilities and we have snap aggro abilities. Technically, any time we smack something with a weapon or use an ability on it, that causes threat. However, certain abilities cause a lot more threat than just the damage would indicate. Now, snap aggro abilities only get a mob's attention, temporarily making you it's number one priority. It's important after using a snap aggro ability to spam as much high threat abilities as you can, so you can move up the mob's hate list.
Here's the very basic idea of how the hate list works, and I don't know if anyone knows for sure how it functions in WoW, but this seems pretty close, or close enough for practical use: Once a mob becomes aware of you, the hate list starts. Each mob will have a "list" of priority targerts based on how much of a threat they are. At a very basic level, damage and healing output determine each party member's rank on the list. So, mobs aren't totally stupid, and sort of prioritize like we do when we solo: If Player A is hitting the mob for 500 damage a swing, and player B is hitting for 100 damage a swing, then Player A gets on top of the list, and that's who the mob tries to kill first. Then it goes on to player B, etc. However, if the mob is getting whacked for a great deal of damage and there is someone healing, the healer will usually be number two on the hate list, but could jump to number 1. So, with nobody tanking or managing this mob's hate list, you can see how this could be a problem. If the mob doesn't peel to the healer and kill them early in the fight, then healer's sure to be second on the list if the main damage dealer goes down. (Healing aggro is based on health points healed pretty much the way that damage aggro is based on health taken from the mob. And aggro spikes with crits/big hits or heals, which can cause a mob to turn. If you've ever tanked with a Rogue behind the mob, you'll notice the mob turning on the rogue every now and then, usually after a big crit.)
Ok, now here's where the tank comes in: Your job as a tank is to manage the mob's threat in an encounter. But let me be clear here: IT'S NOT JUST YOUR JOB. It's a PARTY responsibility. You can only do so much. If you're using your skills for aggro management, on a single mob you should never lose aggro for more than a second if the mob doesn't have any aggro decreasing/wiping abilities, and provided you've been able to establish solid aggro. Of course, you have to deal with a few realities at this point, because that single mob tanking is usually the exception rather than the rule:
1. Hate lists start at the pull when the mobs first become aware of the group.
2. The first person to use a hate generating skill on the mob gets a little "special consideration" from the mob.
3. On a multiple mob pull, all non-CC mobs will prioritize on a) the puller and b) the HEALER. Healing early in the fight will make them forget all about the puller.
Now, with these things in mind:
1. In general, the tank should pull. This puts him high on the hate list for all the mobs pulled, particularly the one he shot. However, the fact is that the BEST puller is the person who's best at pulling. If it's your first time tanking an instance, it's fine to let someone else pull, and to peel the aggro from them. And of course sometimes it's best to crowd control pull. I like CC pulls simply because the CC'd mobs don't come in close and it's less likely to cause accidental breaking of the CC.
2. With that in mind, whoever DOES pull is getting a nice bit of bonus threat from doing so. If a non-tank pulls, they should be using a lower threat ability. A mage pulling with pyroblast or a hunter pulling with aimed shot is going to be tough to pull a mob off of. (Yeah, hunters can Feign Death, but if it fails...sucks to be them.) Certain abilities cause a LOT of threat. Any crowd cotnrol type of ability like Shackle or Polymorph, any high damage ability, etc.
3. With multiple mobs, two things are important: 1) The group use the Main Assist to target ONE mob, and the tank should not be the main assist and 2) you get some aggro built up on all of the remaining mobs. Usually a round of sunders and/or revenges will do the trick. This is to prevent the mobs from peeling off to the healer. The main assist should be killing the mob you pulled. This will make it easier for you to pull it off of the damage dealers if you need to after you've given the other mobs some attention.
OK, on to specific abilities:
Basically, you have several high threat skills:
Sunder Armor: Generates a lot of threat, and it's an instant attack, so any time you have to rage to do it, you can hit it. If you're tanking something big, you should build up to the max 5 Sunders on it, because the armor debuff is decent. Now, one thing that screws with Sunder Armor for holding threat is a Rogue's Expose Armor, as it wipes off your sunders. (I've never had any problem with this, it's stunning rogues who are the biggest problem.)
Revenge: Revenge generates a lot of threat, probably more than Sunder Armor does. In order for Revenge to light up, you have to block, parry, or dodge an attack. This is where Shield Block comes in. You hit Shield Block, when you block an attack, Revenge lights up and you hit it. That's the basic tanking combo right there.
Shield Bash: Blizz is upping the threat generated by this skill to where it should be. Aside from interrupting casters (or silencing them if you're protection spec), it's handy for popping when Sunder or Revenge are on cooldown.
Heroic Strike: Heroic Strike generates additional threat. You're better off spamming the first two attacks, but in boss fights or any fight where you know your aggro is solid, and you need a rage dump, HS is good to spam.
Now, on to Demoralizing Shout and Rend:
Rend sucks. I use it all the time, but it's not terribly useful for tanking. It may, according to some people, help you with mobs that wipe or reduce threat, but I'm not convinced. I'll drop one on a mob just for the DoT if I have spare rage and we don't need the debuff slots for anything better. And I usually use it when soloing. But I hardly ever use it for any real value it has in tanking.
Demoralizing Shout: This is a great ability for getting the mobs' attention on a pull, and for keeping them off your healer for the first few seconds of a fight. It will buy you time to at least sunder each target. But that's it's limit. Literally, a couple seconds. If you have three incoming non-crowd controlled mobs, and everyone is assisting on one mob like they should be, then your healer is going to be sacked by the remaining two mobs a couple seconds after you demoralizing shout if you haven't done anything else to them in the meantime. Usually one or two sunders is enough to buy you time wihile the first mob is downed. Then the second mob is getting killed and you have number three all to yourself. If you have more than three incoming mobs, then you're pushing getting sunders/revenges on all the ones that aren't primary target, and there's a good chance you'll have to taunt one off the priest. Juggling more than three elite mobs can be tricky.
One more word on abilities: Your big damage abilities are not the best at holding threat. Also, if you're tanking, you will be at the bottom of the damage list but the top of the mobs' threat list if you're getting the job done. Damage != threat for a Warrior. (Now, you'll probably party with tanks who *are* at or near the top of damage for the group, who are probably really well geared, and popping some high damage moves with a good weapon to dump rage. That happens. But it's not the norm.)
Now, remember when I said aggro management is a party responsibility? Well, here are some things a party can do to screw up your tanking:
1. Engaging the mob too early with high damage attacks. If your group is either a) hitting incoming pulled mobs before you get a chance to hit them, let alone build rage for using aggro skills or b) unloading with high damage abilities right after you engage, then you need to tell them to knock it of unless they want to tank the mob.
2. Stealing your Rage. Rogues and Hunters are the usual suspects here. Here's the deal: You need to build rage when you're tanking. Generally, you're doing a LOT less damage per swing when tanking so the majority of your threat comes from BEING HIT. So, when a Rogue opens up with a stun on a mob early in the fight, he's robbing you of rage. When a hunter has his pet set to autotaunt and it's on your mob, he's robbing you of rage. If you don't have rage, you can't use your skills to build any threat at all. Now, against trash mobs, I don't sweat it, because it only matters much on a large pull and nearly all Rogues and Hunters are smart enough to use those abilities or have the pet offtank the extra mobs. When they do this, it takes a load off the tank, and it's appreciated. However, when it comes to a boss fight, they need to a) hold off on stuns and b) turn the freaking pet autotaunt off. If you have problem children in your group who won't listen and you don't have the heart to boot them or leave the group, then switching to a very fast weapon helps some, but it's not a real solution.
3. Running around when they get threat. I have no idea why any class without kiting abilities bothers to run around when they get aggro instead of /yelling for a tank to peel the mob. But they do. I can see a hunter or mage trying to move and kite a mob to shake it long enough for help to get it off (provided they move in circles and not back into stuff). But... I've seen plenty of wipes because someone ran into a patrol or another group of mobs instead of waiting for --- or even bothering to ASK for -- the tank to peel the mob. Sometimes we don't spot a mob peeling to a squishy for whatever reason, especially in raids where the screen is cluttered and you can't pull your camera far back b/c you're indoors. If folks would spend the time typing /yell Squishy in DANGER! Get this thing offa me! instead of running around, that'd be nice. In fact, squishies should macro something like that so they can get our attention
I hope my guide helped.
Your friend,
Novesette
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