Augmentation
Let’s talk how to *properly* augment for raiding. There are 2 paths you can take that seem to be basically interchangeable. You can go the Heroic Stamina route or the Heroic Agility route, Heroic Dexterity is a trash stat for tanking in raids compared to the other 2. Heroic Stamina is obviously going to focus around increasing your Hit Points for spike damage, along with this it increases your melee shielding. Seems great, however melee shielding does dick all and should be ignored. There was math done on it to be around 200 points off a hit per point of melee shielding. Heroic Agility centers around how hard you can be hit for and avoiding said hits. It increases your Avoidance stat as it’s Modifier. I personally run Heroic Agility and have forever. Personally, I think if you don’t die from spike damage than running Heroic Stamina does fuck all for you. However, having the ability to *potentially* decrease how many times you are hit in a fight can add up quickly to your benefit. This advice is generally just for your Type 5 Augmentation type selections. When it comes to your regular augments (The type 7/8) ones I just use the ones with the best HP/AC ratio, using the 10 HP = 1 AC formula, which may or may not be wrong. It’s what I use, and I stand by it for no specific reason whatsoever, change is scary!
Weapon augmenting comes down to a personal choice in most situations. I have been running a stat augmentation in my tanking weapons since HOT. The only reason to run anything else is for DPS or because your agro blows big time and you need all the boosts you can get. There are debates around using a Rune proc augmentation over a stat augment, the thought process I use between the 2 is the stat augment will apply to literally every hit that encounters you as opposed to 1 hit in total per proc. Maybe when they provide a bigger rune than 1050, I’ll hit the drawing board again!
Agro
Agro is the pinnacle of your skills in this class. Can’t tank if you don’t have it, right? Agro is also fickle and changes in power from expansion to expansion based off level increases and power increases of certain DPS classes. This is generally the 1 thing that is lacking the most for guilds everywhere. Brace yourselves, shit’s about to get CRAY.
Spam Agro – All of these things should be spammed all the time to generate and maintain your agro. Roar, Gut Punch, Insult, Taunt, Warlord’s Grasp, Shout, Wade in To Battle, Harmonious Precision/Expanse, Phantom Aggressor, *Warlord’s Fury* (Agro modifier, use it if Rage or Dicho aren’t going), *Shield Sunder* (Decent sized melee hit most of the time, DPS still builds agro, defensive recourse on top.)
Timed Agro – These are abilities I save for certain situations and do pairings with to get a higher potential agro lock.
*Rage of the Forsaken + Blast of Anger* - Gigantic agro hit, the biggest we can hit in 1 ability whilst Rage is running. Blast is a 1m CD and Rage is a 2m CD so you can Blast twice before Rage comes back, always pair these 2.
*Rage of the Forsaken + Dragonstrike Blades/Rampage* - This is our AOE agro bread and butter hits outside of Harmonious Expanse and Wade in To Battle charges. I always start an add spawn with Rage + Blades or Rage + Rampage (Provided no Mez is occurring.)
*Undivided Attention* - Agro lock + AC buff and agro modifier. If we’re burning from the start use this for the love of god. Locks you for 18 seconds, provides an agro decreasing multiplier for everyone hitting the mob.
*Ageless Enmity and Area Taunt* - These are no fail taunts, use them when you lose agro or when you need to tank swap if applicable. I generally use Area Taunt as my go-to since I’ve had Ageless dupe me in the past, although it hasn’t failed in years at this point!
*Projection of Fury* - This is just a longer CD version of Phantom Aggressor, use when you need it. I like to use it when multi-tanking adds personally.
*Rage of Rallos Zek* - If agro is becoming a super huge problem, pop this force proc and equip 2 Spike of Anger proc weapons. Watch all your problems disappear at that point, cause DD agro + % agro being procced like mad is the epitome of OP AFK-Attack.
Remember that your agro is only going to be as good as your ability to stay on top of your CD’s. Also, if you’re worried about saving abilities, don’t. If your job is to tank the boss, you unload IMMEDIATELY. Add tanking on a warrior is a different story based off your spawn rate, that will require appropriate splitting and cycling. You should be constantly “buttoning” as a tank, regardless of which class you are.
General Advice
I attached a picture of my AWESOME UI. I circled 3 things with arrows that I use very heavily.
Flash of Anger *OH SHIT* key - This is a mapped key that is bound to my middle mouse wheel button. While monitoring my health bar this allows me to immediately not die basically. Anytime I drop below 30% I spam this little baby as fast as possible. I strongly recommend doing something similar, it saves lives!
Hit Box - I monitor my hit intake for frequency and quality. My eyes are glued to this box for most of the time when I am tanking. On some raids I pop discs purely based off of what I'm seeing in this box, sometimes we can't rely on rotation when shit starts hitting the fan. I strongly recommend making one if it's something you don't pay attention to.
Health Window - For obvious reasons.
Tank Swapping & Tank Death
A tank swap and a tank death are basically the same situation, the only reason difference is losing DPS/Healer classes if you fail to hit your mark. These points in the raid are very crucial, if not done properly it can lead to a slow wipe. ALWAYS preface your agro with Flash of Anger, Fortitude Discipline or Armor of Experience. Your healers NEED time to swap to you to heal. After you’ve disced pop your Ageless Enmity or Area Taunt, drop the agro bomb directly after a success. DO NOT DROP REGULAR AGRO TILL A SUCCESSFUL TAUNT. You want to build agro up ON TOP of the top agro spot, not beneath it. If you have slow reflexes you should be building agro before there is even a concern for you to take over tanking. Some people have fast reflexes and can snatch agro from 0 immediately. If you can’t do it INSTANTLY, build the 2nd agro spot. We have an agro meter, use the damn thing.
Disc Rotating
Disc rotation is going to somewhat vary from fight to fight, depending on if it’s heavy spell damage or heavy melee damage or a decent mix of both. When you’re rotating discs it’s important to spread out the damage about as even as you can. To further elaborate on that, think of a line graph. You want to try and keep your “line” as flat as possible, this is for your healers. You can absolutely blow many discs at once if you need to but there’s only a certain threshold you need to keep in order to stay alive. Heal frequency and damage input is what creates your threshold. So, with all that said, let’s get into it! Let’s talk about absorb damage and mitigation stacking. When it comes to absorb damage, the highest affect will take hold. We do have the convenience now of the game itself being able to determine this for us, that doesn’t mean waste CD’s though! Mitigation stacking is different, generally if it’s in a different slot it will stack in most cases. Same slots will not stack, only the highest percentage will take hold. We’ve got several of both types along with buffs we can receive from other classes to get added in the mix as well. Typically, what I do is use my short CD abilities first, this allows me to tank with a pretty steady damage intake for 20+ minutes on normal fights. As I mentioned above with the Hit Damage Intake chat window, I use that very heavily to decide my next ability when things start to go off the rails. So, this isn’t an “always holds true” way of rotating your discs. The following is a small explanation of what I do and the order that I typically follow for regular fights.
Dichotomic Shielding – Nothing gets hit with this EVER unless it’s an emergency. Of course, if you aren’t running an actual disc, you’ll want to be running the Resolute Defense line.
Guardian’s Bravery (Anguish BP Click) – Mitigation that stacks with everything. I very frequently combine Pain Doesn’t Hurt and Third Spire of the Warlord (If I don’t have Divinity on) with this.
Warrior’s Bulwark – This is a large threshold rune, you DO NOT need to combine anything with this. It does fade after 3-4 rounds at this point though.
Culminating Stand – Everyone knows what this one is, again you DO NOT need to combine anything with this. It holds its own very well, normally Pain Doesn’t Hurt is still running when you get here so both together is generally fantastic.
Flash of Anger – I sometimes must use this to bridge a small gap in disc timers, no big deal it’s on a short enough CD.
Dichotomic Shielding – We’ve reached the recycle point of this CD, pop it again.
Guardian’s Bravery – We’ve reached the recycle point of this CD, Pain Doesn’t Hurt will also be up. Pop both, Third Spire will not be back up at this point, but it will be close.
Glyph of Dragon Scales – This thing is very hugely overpowered. Never pop anything with this, even in dire circumstances this is enough to keep you alive 99% of the time.
Dichotomic Shielding – SURPRISE! Time to use again.
Guardian’s Bravery – Smaller surprise! Use again with Pain Doesn’t Hurt.
Culminating Stand – BIGGER SURPRISE! Time to get our drank on, pop it.
(I typically don’t double Glyph in any event so we’re moving on to our other things)
Warrior’s Bulwark – Bridge that disc gap with Bulwark this time, Flash if needed.
Dichotomic Shielding – BOOM BABY
Guardian’s Bravery – Oh boy! Pain Doesn’t Hurt and Third Spire time as well!
Warlord’s Tenacity – So this isn’t a mitigation tool, however this is basically a whole extra hit from a mob. Normally I just run Tenacity with what’s left of Pain Doesn’t Hurt. If you’re getting wailed on use your BP click as well.
BP Click – If you didn’t use this during Tenacity, use it now. If you did use it then it *should* last till Dichotomic recycles.
(You pretty much get what’s going on at this point, most events don’t last past a rotation this long, let’s get into special stuff)
Resplendent Glory – Use it whenever you need more heals, there’s not really any perfect use for this. If you’re getting your ass beat or your healer died, then use it.
Warlord’s Bravery – This thing is like Guardian’s Bravery except it’s on a much larger CD and has limited counters. Again, if you’re getting destroyed pop it or save it for a disc bridge.
Diplomatic Papers – I pepper these in whenever I don’t have Pain Doesn’t Hurt running and am lacking an absorb.
Brace for Impact – I keep this on CD, I rarely ever run out of charges so trying to time this button is pointless.
Blade Guardian – I hit this on CD, it doesn’t fire for me personally too much. Has a long buff timer compared to its CD timer so no worries if you hit it upon zone in.
Imperator’s Charge – Hit this on CD, make a trigger if you have multiples in group. This is much more powerful than Imperator’s Command. Your healers thank you.
Fortitude Discipline – This is my most unused defensive discipline surprisingly, I save this for emergencies or if there’s a weird engage I might do.
Spell Discing
Spell discing is very important in today’s raids. Using these discs appropriately can save your bacon quite a lot. Generally, I have a Gina timer running for whatever AOE/DD is about to smack me in the face so I can time my discing for maximum use. These are basically just going to be your personal defenses against big spell hits. Unlike your melee discs, you don’t have a seemingly endless supply of these. So, hit these by themselves and don’t combine unless you absolutely must.
Dichotomic Shielding – Your best spell defensive, can sometimes last through 2 hits depending on the AOE/DD timer.
Geomantra – We know what this is, timing it correctly does help despite it being on the small side.
Mark of the Mage Hunter – This will last for a few hits due to the long duration of the ability. Just like Geomantra this is unfortunately a small absorb.
Pain Doesn’t Hurt – This is going to be your smallest absorb for spells, but it’s better than nothing.
Warlord’s Tenacity – Just like with your melee discing this allows you to take a much larger spell strike, so while it doesn’t absorb any of the strike it will help you live through it. Combine with PDH sometimes depending on heal situation and your other CD’s.
Flash of Anger – This is like Warlord’s Tenacity in how you’re using it. Basically, you’re going to pop this to avoid any damage ON TOP of the spell strike. Assuming your healers aren’t AFK you should end up topped off before the spell lands and you’ll survive.
Epic 2.0 – This doesn’t help with a ton of raid AOE/DD’s now, but there are some that get flagged as resistible. This is just an increase to your spell resist rate by 20%. I try to use it with PDH for when you don’t resist the spell.
**Glyph of Dragon Scales** - This is super awesome for spell absorption along with the melee portion. I don’t normally include it in my rotation, just because it’s new and I’m not used to it!
DPS
Use your 2-hander if able, otherwise Duel-Wielding isn't too terribly far off from max DPS output.
Primary Burn - Brutal Onslaught
Secondary Burn - Offensive + War Sheol's Heroic Blade
Tertiary Burn - Mighty Strike + Glyph of Destruction or Vehement Rage
Battle Leap - This is now a permanent aura, hit it as soon as possible once you've zoned into wherever you're fighting
Spam abilities - Shield Sunder, Bash/Kick, Gut Punch, Knee Strike, Stormwheel Blades
Anytimes - Second Spire, TDS BP click. I call these "anytimes" because you can basically hit them with anything and everything and get roughly the same amount of damage out of them.
Rage of Rallos Zek - The best time to use this is during a HHE (Hundred Hands Effect) modifier is running, outside of that circumstance just make sure you're at the max haste available to you.
Rampage - Rampage adds a nice boost to us for 1 combat round, the best time to do this is with your 3 main burn discs running. Obviously if all 3 are down when this repops (which is natural) that shouldn't stop you from hitting it.
Stacking - The reason for those combos is due to stacking. War Sheol's Heroic Blade does not fully stack with Brutal Onslaught, Mighty Strike or Glyph of Destruction. Brutal Onslaught does not stack fully with Glyph of Destruction. Vehement Rage doesn't stack with Offensive disc.
Offensive - BE CAREFUL! This disc will lock out your Last Stand for 4 minutes AND it will lower your mitigation by about 35%. All of that on top of the
mitigation lost by 2-handed proficiency is staggering.
Vehement Rage - Vehement Rage is a random throw away disc you can use on CD, it doesn't stack with Offensive and I wouldn't run it with your primary or secondary burn. If I stack this with anything it's normally Mighty Strike discipline.
Intensity of the Resolute - This is a special, it's best use is going to be when it's combined with Mighty Strike. Will not stack with Vehement Rage or Offensive Disc.
Optimal Sustained - I'd hold off on using all 3 of your actual burn disciplines in rapid succession unless the event is only going to last 3 minutes or less. Optimal route would be to use Rampage with each of your 3 main burn disciplines. So, given Heroic Rage's duration I'd give it about 10-15 seconds after Brutal fades before you pop it, just to ensure you get that mod on your Rampage. However you can go ahead with Offensive directly after Brutal fades, if you're choosing to lose your LS CD. Mighty obviously being used when Rampage pops again.
Boss Engage
Pretty straight forward and simple, this has been the same for years. Before you start the encounter or pull the mob use Flash or Fortitude WHILE you position the mob. On the move take the time to start dropping your agro on the mob. Drop your load as quickly as possible and re-cycle everything as it pops. Occasionally you’ll have to save some stuff for weird events like Prince in EOK that has a ton of agro resets.
Multi-Add Agro + Tanking
This is probably one of the harder things to do on raids. This requires a lot of target cycling and balancing of your agro abilities across whichever mobs you’re wanting. There’s no real set way to do this correctly, depends on the events and who your other tanks are etc. Liberal use of Expanse and Wade In To Battle are generally a good part of it. Tanking wise just pretend it’s a boss when you have multiple adds, can follow the boss disc rotation on adds and be absolutely find *most* of the time.
Edit: Formatting doesn't copy over and I don't want to spend a ton of time making it all perfectly symmetrical. Best of luck!
