Rusty Lvl 50 Tank forgot how to play

[Pleby]

Yeah, I haven't played in like a year because of money, so I forgot how to play my Tank part. I know the basic combo's I've mainly forgotten how to take aggro from other tank (s) and work alongside them. Any info would be amazing as I'm heading to bed early due to an extremely busy day and won't be able to research tonight. Thanks to anyone who leaves any comments or information. I appreciate it.

[Hugo]

Provoke and shirk is a must have role action if your are going into a trial. For dungeons you just need your DEF cooldowns.

[---]

2 role skills

Provoke to put yourself on the top of the enmity list but make sure to attack right after using it.

I usually do: (aggro combo) 1 - provoke - 2 - 3

If main tank dies and you're not 2nd on the list or someone else gets ahead of you in aggro while you're tanking without tank stance this is useful to use, but it's mainly for swapping with the tank.

For instance some bosses will put 2 stacks of debuffs on the main tank and the 3rd would kill them so you'd swap before the 3rd so you take that instead.

Shirk transfers 25% of enmity to the specified target.
Use this after a swap or you want to give them more aggro.

A lot of tanks drop their tank stance and these skills can be utillized to help them maintain a lead in aggro.

[Pleby]

Ah I think I get it, I'll find some people on my server and try it out, thanks alot, you both really helped

[RopeDrink]

To put yourself on the top of the emnity list you use Provoke. This is the guaranteed "I need to be No.1 on threat asap" move. Everything else (combos etc), simply generates emnity - it won't guarantee you'll steal attention back from someone who's going ham @ No.1 on the threat-list.

Tank swap? Provoke. Just holding aggro or picking up mobs? Flash/Overpower/ShieldLob/Tomahawk (or whatever the DRK versions are), followed by single-target combo rotations. Once you're certain you have enough aggro to stay on top (and if swapping to DPS stance doesn't make it difficult for your Healer to heal + deal damage), then you can swap to DPS stance and contribute some damage until you need to get back to emnity management.

Ultimately, just check guides for your tank of choice. Assuming the guide is relevant, it'll help you remember (and give you tips on optimization).

[Pleby]

It does, thanks alot, I did a lvl 50 boss fight today and did pretty well, managed to figure out the tank swapping, but I knew I made mistakes and these comments have helped me with them and will help me with the next one. Thank you

[Pleby]

I'll check what my bindings are and start trying this out, thanks

[RopeDrink]

Wrong.

Don't mistake a list of abilities for an attempt at explaining their optimal uses.

Nobody said anything about aggro-combos. There is also nothing wrong with the simple statement that provoke puts you to No.1 on the emnity list, regardless of whether you're being Mr.1/2-Tank or grabbing aggro from non-tanks going ham.

I know the basic combo's I've mainly forgotten how to take aggro from other tank (s) and work alongside them.

Ultimately, just check guides for your tank of choice. Assuming the guide is relevant, it'll help you remember (and give you tips on optimization).

[xyz]

1. Provoke = Max Emnity from other Target
2. Shirk = Transfer 25% of Emnity to another Targer
3. Ultimatium = Aoe Provoke, its available by lvl 50 on any tank.

[Martyboi]

Pretty straight forward stuff, i'll state how i play as paladin.

Basically, i've got 2 hotbars, one for dps and regaining MP. the other one for generating aggro. The most important is aggro. so this is the specific rotation i use. It handles the job pretty well.

Shield Oath is on as constan : for mobs : Shield lob > Provoke > Circle of Scorn > Fast blade > savage blade > rage of hollone > Flash.....rinse and repeat for aggro.

Disregarding provoke on the mobs. Cause you don't really need it. save that for instant aggro on a boss.

I keep ultimatum for emergencies, like when a big feller decideds he wants to peel away from a main pack. cast that and then it'll reel em back in. maybe even chuck an additional flash in.

That's basically tanking with paladin, in a nutshell. Other advice is to pace you're other cooldowns like rampart and bulwark. Use sentinel for big attacks. cause it makes a healer's job a stack easier.

-----

Few more tips : when gathering a mob, use a shield lob and wait for them to cluster around and then use circle of scorn or flash, personally. i prefer flash tanking. cause it's a pain when you miss one with CoS it's a 20 sec cooldown for one. Having to run about and shield lobbbing can cause aoe's to face all over the place. which is especially screwy in tight places. So like yeah. once that's all done. Just stand in a place with em' facing away from the party and presto. just break down the mobs. chucking in the occasional flash or circle of scorn.

Couple of reasons that works so well with PLD. Shield oath generates enmity, so there's a kickstart. doing this with you're shield oath constantly on reels the mobs in perfectly. So like at that time, you've got the option to sort them out there. or if you prefer to do larger pulls. They're definitely looking at you then. So when somebody asks for larger pulls. you can do it. Same deal with a next mob etc. Though i'd be sensible and wear down the first mob for a few seconds. So that you got circle of scorn to pick the next ones up, mainly for the extra aggro.

Don't be bothered about telling people if you're new tanking an instance too. Makes for better teamwork, trust me. hopefully that helps a little bit. If you happen to be using paladin.

[Martyboi]

Originally posted by BirdKoo Do you like my KWAR?:

1. Provoke = Max Emnity from other Target
2. Shirk = Transfer 25% of Emnity to another Targer
3. Ultimatium = Aoe Provoke, its available by lvl 50 on any tank.

Shirks more or less for raids to avoid excess stacks on an MT, i've yet to try on more advanced instances. but yep. that's a key tech bro :)

[Pleby]

Thanks for what's below, I learned some of these during my time playing and I was trying to work out an aggro combo and you literally just gave me, serious thanks for that one. I think I've got it down now, I just need to do more dungeons and such :p

Originally posted by o-|==>-CheezWarrior-<==|-o:

Pretty straight forward stuff, i'll state how i play as paladin.

Basically, i've got 2 hotbars, one for dps and regaining MP. the other one for generating aggro. The most important is aggro. so this is the specific rotation i use. It handles the job pretty well.

Shield Oath is on as constan : for mobs : Shield lob > Provoke > Circle of Scorn > Fast blade > savage blade > rage of hollone > Flash.....rinse and repeat for aggro.

Disregarding provoke on the mobs. Cause you don't really need it. save that for instant aggro on a boss.

I keep ultimatum for emergencies, like when a big feller decideds he wants to peel away from a main pack. cast that and then it'll reel em back in. maybe even chuck an additional flash in.

That's basically tanking with paladin, in a nutshell. Other advice is to pace you're other cooldowns like rampart and bulwark. Use sentinel for big attacks. cause it makes a healer's job a stack easier.

-----

Few more tips : when gathering a mob, use a shield lob and wait for them to cluster around and then use circle of scorn or flash, personally. i prefer flash tanking. cause it's a pain when you miss one with CoS it's a 20 sec cooldown for one. Having to run about and shield lobbbing can cause aoe's to face all over the place. which is especially screwy in tight places. So like yeah. once that's all done. Just stand in a place with em' facing away from the party and presto. just break down the mobs. chucking in the occasional flash or circle of scorn.

Couple of reasons that works so well with PLD. Shield oath generates enmity, so there's a kickstart. doing this with you're shield oath constantly on reels the mobs in perfectly. So like at that time, you've got the option to sort them out there. or if you prefer to do larger pulls. They're definitely looking at you then. So when somebody asks for larger pulls. you can do it. Same deal with a next mob etc. Though i'd be sensible and wear down the first mob for a few seconds. So that you got circle of scorn to pick the next ones up, mainly for the extra aggro.

Don't be bothered about telling people if you're new tanking an instance too. Makes for better teamwork, trust me. hopefully that helps a little bit. If you happen to be using paladin.

[Martyboi]

Originally posted by ThePlebyPleb:

Thanks for what's below, I learned some of these during my time playing and I was trying to work out an aggro combo and you literally just gave me, serious thanks for that one. I think I've got it down now, I just need to do more dungeons and such :p

Originally posted by o-|==>-CheezWarrior-<==|-o:

Pretty straight forward stuff, i'll state how i play as paladin.

Basically, i've got 2 hotbars, one for dps and regaining MP. the other one for generating aggro. The most important is aggro. so this is the specific rotation i use. It handles the job pretty well.

Shield Oath is on as constan : for mobs : Shield lob > Provoke > Circle of Scorn > Fast blade > savage blade > rage of hollone > Flash.....rinse and repeat for aggro.

Disregarding provoke on the mobs. Cause you don't really need it. save that for instant aggro on a boss.

I keep ultimatum for emergencies, like when a big feller decideds he wants to peel away from a main pack. cast that and then it'll reel em back in. maybe even chuck an additional flash in.

That's basically tanking with paladin, in a nutshell. Other advice is to pace you're other cooldowns like rampart and bulwark. Use sentinel for big attacks. cause it makes a healer's job a stack easier.

-----

Few more tips : when gathering a mob, use a shield lob and wait for them to cluster around and then use circle of scorn or flash, personally. i prefer flash tanking. cause it's a pain when you miss one with CoS it's a 20 sec cooldown for one. Having to run about and shield lobbbing can cause aoe's to face all over the place. which is especially screwy in tight places. So like yeah. once that's all done. Just stand in a place with em' facing away from the party and presto. just break down the mobs. chucking in the occasional flash or circle of scorn.

Couple of reasons that works so well with PLD. Shield oath generates enmity, so there's a kickstart. doing this with you're shield oath constantly on reels the mobs in perfectly. So like at that time, you've got the option to sort them out there. or if you prefer to do larger pulls. They're definitely looking at you then. So when somebody asks for larger pulls. you can do it. Same deal with a next mob etc. Though i'd be sensible and wear down the first mob for a few seconds. So that you got circle of scorn to pick the next ones up, mainly for the extra aggro.

Don't be bothered about telling people if you're new tanking an instance too. Makes for better teamwork, trust me. hopefully that helps a little bit. If you happen to be using paladin.

No sweat, It's all in the name of teamwork :D

[Doehardt]

Originally posted by Shirayuki Z:

Wrong. Tank swap is done by combining Provoke with Shirk, taking aggro from other tank with aggro combo is old relic from HW.

Woah there...

While you have a point in your posts that the usage of OT-Provoke MT-Shirk (tankswap) and / or OT-Provoke-Shirk (base aggro boost) / OT-Provoke MT-Shirk -> MT-Provoke + OT-Shirk (full aggro boost) is in fact a DPS gain by not having to spend GCD actions to build / establish enmity, I highly disagree that you can toss away enmity skills mid fight entirely.

For Provoke-Shirk swaps to work they need to be in 60s intervals at least. Anything faster and you need external enmity from other sources after the Shirks are on cooldown, be it from Ninja's Shadewalker when the afflicted tank carries a near-deadly debuff with him.

While a rare occurance, Shinryu from Royal Menagerie (Extreme) in phase 3 requires frequent tank swaps due to Tera Slash occuring quite often and afflicting physical damage vulnerability. While they look like lasers, his autoattacks are also physical and will boost the damage taken massively. Two swaps can be done with Shirk, the next two swaps may need enmity combos if your group does not have a Ninja, let alone a competent one that helps with Shadewalker.

TL;DR: Enmity skill tank swaps are just very rare, but definitly not a relic you trash into the bin.

Bonus!

(for everyone who wants to make their life easier with Shirk)

Shirk is an amazing skill, but having to target teammates with it is an unnecessary hassle considering your primary target for now is the other tank. Here is a macro for easy Shirk usage:

/ac "Shirk" <2>
/wait 1
/ac "Shirk" <2>
/micon "Shirk"

This macro is based on the idea that you have your co-tank on the 2nd spot in your party list based on party list sorting order. Check "Character Configuration" under UI -> Party to see what your order is when you are a tank and adjust it to your liking. If you feel the urge to notify your co-tank that you use shirk, use the following instead:

/ac "Shirk" <2>
/p Transferring 25% of my enmity to <2>.
/wait 1
/ac "Shirk" <2>
/micon "Shirk"

Best of all, it is Controller-friendly! No more targetting with D-pad first to use it! You are a keyboard user? Less keystrokes / clicks to do to use it!

Only thing to be careful about since it is a macro - either your timing needs to be spot-on for it to resolve immediately or you have to wait for the /wait 1 to resolve if it fails.

[Doehardt]

Originally posted by Shirayuki Z:

Yes, shirk has cd so obviously we may have situation where we will have to use it but it is not available these are exceptions though. All 4 Omega Savage turns tank swaps can be done everytime via using shirk.

True that.