Recently, I have been neglecting my hunter somewhat. I know… Ten lashes for Lehyton!
Lately, I have really enjoyed tanking with my Paladin. Plus, I have found that learning to tank properly has improved my overall gaming skills and understanding of encounters significantly.
The most important first principle of tanking is to stay alive. That cardinal virtue is generally subject to the following maxim:
1. If the tank dies, it’s the healer’s fault;
2. If the healer dies, it’s the tank’s fault.
Oh, and of course…
3. If the DPS dies, it’s their own darn fault!
In this last item of the maxim lies a truth that far too many DPS have not yet grasped – and that in fact, I myself did not fully understand until becoming a proficient tank.
Now by “proficient”, I do not mean that I am one-shotting ICC25 or anything… but I am comfortable tanking ToC25 and ICC10.
Rule 1: Watch your threat!
The thing that tanks get berated most for by DPS is failing to maintain threat, often resulting in a DPS pulling threat at a critical moment. This can wipe a raid.
This is never the tank’s fault!
Yes, you heard me. Unless your raid is struggling in a DPS race against a hard-enrage timer, there is NEVER an excuse for a DPS class to pull threat from a tank unless they are too pig-headed to watch their threat meter, or unless they are not prepared to take a small DPS hit on the meters.
Threat is a cumulative concept. From the moment a boss is engaged, that boss created a threat table which tracks every member of the raid and ranks them according to their overall level of threat. Yes, I know you know this.
So why do you keep pulling aggro off your tank?
Tanks generally do poor DPS. That’s because tanks take stamina and mitigation-based talents instead of damage-increasing talents. Tanks also equip gear that stacks Defense, Block, Dodge, Parry, etc… instead of Strength, AP, Crit, and other juicy DPS stats.
Now while some of the tank’s talents increase threat, the point is this… A tank, doing his/her very best to hold threat on a target by mashing every attack they have, will rarely be able to out-threat an equally well geared (and played) DPS class (taunts aside). That’s why almost all DPS classes have one or more threat-reducing or re-directing talents. You need to use them regularly.
Rule 2: Help your tank!
As hunters, we are brilliantly equipped to assist a tank with holding threat. Misdirection, Feign Death and (if you are a NE) Shadowmeld will all help with this.
Most of you will already be familiar with Misdirection. Use it, and use it often (even during a fight) to help your tank with threat. Even if you’re not second on the threat meter, your added threat to the tank’s pool will help whoever is nipping at the tank’s heels. Whenever you get within 85%-90% of the tank’s threat, Feign Death. If it is on cooldown, misdirect.
If you do happen to pull threat, get yourself as close to the tank as possible before Feigning Death. TAUNTS CAN BE RESISTED, and worse, they generally have a 5-8 second cooldown. It sucks to be you if the tank’s taunt is resisted, and your FD is resisted too. It happens, trust me. Yes, if you’re a NE, Shadowmeld might save you – but whatever happens, get close to the tank to cause the minimum disruption to the raid. Melee DPS hate chasing bosses as much as tanks do.
And once again, if you so happen to pull a mob during a mass-pull, try to get the mob as close to the tank before feigning. This will make the tank’s Crowd-Control job that much easier, and possibly unnecessary (if you drop the mob in a Consecrate or Death and Decay, they should go directly back to the tank).
Rule 3: WAIT before dropping your Volley!
I always wondered why so many tanks are so fond of chain-pulling mobs. I originally thought it was because they were showing off. Now I know it is because there are many DPS out there who do not understand the concept of threat, and AoE threat in particular.
When a tank runs into a group of mobs, they will generally all run towards the tank. The tank is the first target to enter their aggro radius, so they attack him. This is not threat!
The tank has zero threat on any target until that target suffers some damage at the hands of the tank. If you drop Volley on that group, and there are mobs that have not yet been damaged by the tank, then YOU will soon be tanking those zero-threat mobs.
Of the four tank classes, all have an AoE damage/threat ability (though Warriors and Druids are considered by many to be weakest AoE threat tanks). Wait until the tank’s AoE ability has been used before dropping Volley, and you will be that much better positioned to do lots of damage and create minimum crowd control problems.
The Paladin’s primary AoE threat-generator is Consecration (a yellow glowing effect bursting out from the Pally’s feet). The DK’s AoE threat ability is Death and Decay (a red glowing effect, larger than consecrate and which can be targeted away from the DK if desired). A Warrior uses Thunder Clap (earthquake animation at the Warrior’s feet). Druids use Swipe, but it is limited in the number of targets it can hit (and is difficult to see as it has no distinct animation like the others). Be very careful dropping an early Volley on a large group of mobs (more than 3) with a Druid tank, and ask the tank before the pull to signal on vent when to use Volley. If in doubt, assist the tank in single-target mode.
Misdirection can be used with Volley or Multi-Shot to attach some initial threat to a number of mobs in a pack simultaneously. However, be careful – once the timer on MD wears off, the rest of the volley will be generating threat.
Happy pewpewing, Hunter friends! See you at the top of the Recount charts 
-Lehyton
