Crowd Control: The List.

So, hey, Cataclysm brought tactics, crowd control and caution back from the dead! Hurrah for proper tank work, with marks and interrupts and dancing around angry flayer claws. But, uh, all these new crowd control moves can be a little confusing. In fact, even the older ones are a bit dusty after spending the whole of Wrath loitering, unused, on people’s action bars. So here’s the list:

DRUID

Cyclone. This is only a six-second effect with diminishing returns, so you’re not going to be using it as a fight-long CC effect. The target is immune to damage for the duration, however, so at least it won’t break when your boomkin goes Hurricane-happy.

Entangling Roots. This spell doesn’t incapacitate a mob: if they have ranged moves, they will use them, and if any of your party runs too close, even melee mobs will take a swipe, irrespective of that person’s threat. Make sure you mark a melee mob for roots, and pull the rest of the pack away from it.

Hibernate. The mob is incapacitated with this spell, so you just need to make sure no damage is going to hit it and wake it up. The limited types of mob this can be cast against is important to keep in mind: while Hibernate shines in Grim Batol, it’s useless in those instances that operate a strict no-beast-no-dragon employment policy (Throne of the Tides, for example).


HUNTER

Wyvern Sting. A straightforward incapacitate effect. What you need to keep in mind is that this skill is a talent in the survival tree, so your hunter won’t necessarily be specced into it.

Freezing Trap. The hunter’s trademark CC (usually indicated with the blue square when you’re marking, by the by). Trapping has been made much easier for hunters with their Trap Launcher, which propels their trap wherever they want. A trap doesn’t work directly like Wyvern Sting, though: there’s an instant between the trap hitting the ground and the mob freezing in place. This is important to know as a tank because the trap won’t necessarily go off in time if you pull as the hunter fires the trap – the mob may leg it out of the way.


MAGE

Polymorph. Probably the best known CC skill, usually marked with moon and often referred to as sheep – even though mages turn mobs into anything from cats to tortoises. A Polymorphed target wanders, as the tooltip states. This doesn’t mean it’s going to meander all over the battlefield, but a Poly’d target can occasionally edge into the range of Thunderclap, so watch out. Additionally, Polymorph heals its target to full. This is important in Grim Batol, where you’ll want to avoid asking your mage to sheep a target you’ve already burned to low health on a dragon.

Frost Nova. Another short-duration skill like Cyclone. I’m mentioning it because it has the potential to be the bane of your existence as a tank. Nova applies the same root effect as a druid’s Entangling Roots, which means the mob will go for whoever it can reach if a mage freezes it a couple feet away from you. This can be hard to see in the middle of a crowd – it looks like they’re all on you, but ho, that rogue is taking damage. A mage’s instinctual reaction to pulling aggro can be to Frost Nova as well, and if a mob’s rooted, it won’t run back to you when you taunt. Beware.


PALADIN

Repentance. Another straightforward skill. It can be cast on pretty much everything other than elementals, so it’s very versatile. Only retribution paladins will be specced into it, however.


PRIEST

Mind Control. There are some very neat tricks a priest can play with Mind Control. If they pull with it, for example, the other mobs have a habit of beating the CCed target to death so you don’t have to. They’re nice like that. Mind Control also affords the priest use of the target’s different spells. Using it on a high-damage target won’t just take that damage off you, it’ll turn that damage around and aim it at the mobs. The downside of Mind Control is that it incapacitates the priest. If your party needs to dodge fire, goo or whirlwinds, asking your priest to MC can be problematic.

Shackle. Incapacitates the target neatly, but only works on the undead.

Psychic Scream. Glyphed, this is essentially a short-term AoE stun that breaks with damage. Unglyphed, it has everything running every which way. It’s important to know the difference. The long CD also makes this ineffective as a proper CC skill.

ROGUE

Sap. This cannot be used on a target that is in combat, so make sure you give your rogue time to stealth over there and apply the effect before you pull. It can’t be reapplied after the pull, either, so if you see Sap break make sure you pick it up. Sap’s range isn’t as horrendously short as it once was, but the rogue still needs to get moderately close to use it. If you have the choice, try to mark targets close to the front for Sap, rather than those hiding behind layers of friends.

Blind. This is only a ten-second effect, but you may see your rogue using it when another form of CC wears off. The target wanders like a sheeped mob. Glyphed, Blind will actually remove DoTs from the mob, so it can be very helpful in re-CCing mobs that have been freed with an accidental DoT (hello, Thunderclap and Rend).


SHAMAN

Hex. Works just like sheep on mobs (unable to attack, but wandering about – in this case, probably ribbiting), with the added bonus that Hex can take a few hits before breaking. Can is an important part of that statement, mind you. Hex might be a bit more durable, but it’s not going to hold up for too long.

Bind Elemental. The shaman’s newer ability, Bind Elemental looks like it’s a root effect when cast, but it actually incapacitates. It’s in the name, but I’ll say it anyway – only works on elementals!


WARLOCK

Banish. A very strong CC that works on elementals and demons. Banish incapacitates the mob and makes it immune to damage, so it can’t be broken. Your warlock can remove it by recasting.

Seduction. This is a tricky move to use as it involves the warlock’s succubus. She needs to be summoned, then needs to run into range to seduce. While seduce is active, the succubus is stuck in place and can be killed by splash damage if you tank the mobs right up near her. She is channelling, so damage will also reduce the duration of the CC.

Fear. Thanks to this glyph, Fear is now a strong CC choice for a warlock. It incapacitates the mob for the duration, and will break through damage.

P.S. Too much 'incapacitate' hurts the typist's brain, oh yes.

Basic Positioning: Trash

So, now that I have power cables for my computer and my monitor...

Trash can be overlooked when you're first getting ready to take the plunge into heroics. How many people could honestly say that when a group to heroic Gun'drak dropped them an invite their minds immediately leapt to the horrors of tanking groups of trolls rather than dodging Poison Nova and being beaten on by Moorabi's mammoth form? There's (rightfully) a lot of focus on having enough defence to tank bosses and enough avoidance and health to survive the beatings they dish out when we're first preparing to tank heroics, but it's wise to remember that while trash may not drop emblems or require so much defence, it still makes up the bulk of the instance.

So, what should be considered when approaching a trash pack? For this post, I'm going to focus on positioning. There are several elements to keep in mind when moving mobs around:

1. How easy will it be to move them? Some mobs are casters or ranged and hence unwilling to run up to you like their more compliant melee counterparts. With Gag Order in our toolbox, prot warriors have two silences to hand to help them move casters around. While Heroic Throw makes things easiest as you don't even need to get too close to the caster to silence it, Shield Bash is perfectly viable, especially when teamed with one of your charge skills. Ranged mobs (spear throwers and hunters, usually) are somewhat more annoying: your best bet is to run right up to them and move them back slowly. Both forms of ranged mobs fall victim to the line of sight pull: attract the pack's attention and leg it behind a corner so they have to turn it to hit you.

2. Are there patrolling mobs in the area I need to avoid? Tanking in the path of a patrol is generally inadvisable. Figure out a safer place to hold your pack and shift them over there pronto.

3. Is this pack particularly close to another? If yes, you may want to pull your pack back a bit to avoid accidentally body-pulling the next. Even if you think you'll be fine tanking on the next group's doorstep do consider the fact that your meleers are going to want to attack the mobs from behind and may well blunder too close to the next group if you don't make sure they have space. A good method of pulling back is to use a ranged technique to grab their attention, run back a few paces and then charge when you have them roughly where you want them.

4. Do these mobs have frontal cone/cleave effects? You should be turning most mobs away from your group anyway, but if a mob has an attack liable to flatten non-tanks in front of them that's just an extra incentive to do it and do it fast. If you don't have room to turn them all away around, at least turn them to the side.

5. Can these mobs fear? While you may be able to break out of fear sharpish or even pre-emptively with Berserker Rage, most of your party members are unlikely to be capable of the same. Try to move fearing mobs away from other groups, and also consider the possibility that your healer might be feared around a corner and out of line of sight from you.

With all this considered, you should have a pretty good idea of where to tank your packs and how to move them as you like. Threat can be generated on the run with Thunderclap and Demoralising Shout, and if you're used to strafing you can even Cleave, Devastate, Revenge and Shield Slam over your shoulder. The king of multi-target tanking, however, is undoubtedly Shockwave.

Shockwave comes into positioning for two reasons: you need to position mobs for it to hit as many as possible and it makes positioning yourself relative to the mobs infinitely easier. As any tank is liable to know, mobs can be stupid sometimes: if you twitch to the side some of them may take this as an opportunity to sneak in behind you. Therefore I find it best to use Shockwave as soon as possible, preferably when the mobs are still running at me. For this to work, I need them all running at me from the same direction, so Shockwave tends to dictate which mob I want to charge into. As my screenshot key tends to lock up my game for a second, here are some out-of-instance-where-I-could-kill-people mobs as an example group:

If I charged a middle mob I'd have the rest collapse in from the sides. While I could handle this by taking a few steps backwards after charging, then Shockwaving, the simpler solution is to charge one of the mobs on the end. If I did this from my current angle I would have to then swing around to face the rest of them. The stun from Charge should keep my target in place but there's always a chance that I lag for a second or the mob resists Charge's stun, so it's somewhat safer to change the angle of my attack so that I don't need to move at all for every mob to be in Shockwave's cone area of effect. Something like this:


Once Shockwave is off you have a few seconds of group-wide stun in which to get to whichever side of the pack you want. It's the perfect instant to turn them away from your party.

Of course, most mob packs don't come in handy straight lines. Nevertheless, there's usually a "corner" mob that gives you a good position from which to hit the others, and if you need some initial threat while you move around a bit before Shockwaving there's always Thunderclap. Good places to practice this include the shoveltusk packs in Howling Fjord or the mammoths running around in the Storm Peaks. It's definitely worth experimenting with there, as the AoE-happy nature of WotLK DPS demands solid AoE tanking, which in turn demands a good grasp of Shockwave.

New Eighty: Gear

Well known fact: the defence cap for raiding is 540.

Lesser known fact: the defence cap for heroics is 535.

I make mention of this because the Quest for 540 Defence seems to be a pretty common affliction for new tanks simply because 540 is thrust down our throats by every resource as "the magic number". And it is, when you get to raiding but for now? Screw it.

Alright, so. Even if you've picked up all the dungeon tanking rewards as you've been leveling up you are not going to be defence capped or, indeed, particularly close to it. When you look at the gear that made you a successful tank pre-80 and realise that you're missing a massive amount of defence it can be somewhat daunting, but never fear: Blizzard has provided for us in the form of the crafted armour Aelystriel is modelling to the left there.

These pieces are the Tempered Saronite Helm, Shoulders, Breastplate, Belt, Bracers and Boots with the Daunting Legplates and Handguards. They provide absolutely gigantic lumps of defence rating and stamina at the expense of, well, everything else. There is enough strength on them to ensure your warrior doesn't become a limp noodle, but mostly you're just going to have to accept the single-mindedness of them so that bosses don't splatter you on sight. Alternatives include The Crusader's Resolution from the Crusader's Pinnacle quest chain in Icecrown and any pieces from normal instances you might be sporting, such as the Void Sentry Legplates. I only advocate buying a replacement for a good blue piece you picked up from questing or an instance if you're still below the defence cap - although the crafted pieces listed above are great as boosters they aren't worth picking up just for the higher item level.

Other easily-obtainable upgrades include the Dream Signet, created by jewelcrafters. The correct sort (of the champion) will provide 28 defence. If your gear is anything like mine was, this will be an increase of 28 defence and very useful. Jewelcrafters themselves can create the Monarch Crab figurine which will last you a long time indeed. Tattered Castle Drape is usually on the auction house for a fair price, while the rich amongst us can always pay out for a Durable Nerubhide Cape. Good weaponry can be obtained through the Wanted: Ragemane's Flipper quest in Zul'Drak.

But I don't want to get too tied up in specifics. When I finally finished making myself heroic-ready, my gear was as shown here and if you really want an exhaustive list there's always the one set up by Kaliban. What's more important than the individual pieces, however, is how they add up: health values, defence rating. I would say that, to tank your lower level heroics like Nexus and Culling of Stratholme, you should be aiming for at least 18.5k health, meaning near to 20k with Commanding Shout active. Much less and your health pool is not going to be sufficient to survive more than a few boss swings, even when defence capped. In the harder heroics like Utgarde Pinnacle and Azjol-Nerub you want something closer to 21k. Trial of the Champion demands that much for normal mode, never mind heroic.

So, how can you quickly boost your health? Heavy Borean Armour Kits. You can stick them just about anywhere and the eighteen stamina each one provides will stack up quickly. Alternatively, there are plenty of enchanting options for you to choose from: stamina on your shield, health on your chest et cetera. It really depends on how much you're willing to spend on gear you'll be replacing as soon as possible, but consider the importance of wealth compared to the importance of making a good impression on people you group with before you go with the cheapest option. After all, if you do well and befriend a leatherworker... you have patches for life.

New Eighty: Spec

As any warrior tank who's done even the slightest bit of research will notice, our class is unique in that we have two distinct paths to go down when speccing to tank: threat or survival. The highest threat builds will go deep enough into the arms tree to pick up Deep Wounds while survival builds keep the majority of their points in protection. The benefits of both have been discussed at length across the interwebs where raiding is concerned but what about for the new, poorly geared tank?

My belief is that you should spec for survival. A tank sporting crafted blues is going to have to work hard to maintain threat, yes, but look at it this way: a tank sporting crafted blues is also going to be particularly flimsy. Your threat can be boosted by the party with Misdirection or Tricks of the Trade. Threat-related issues can also be reduced through careful aggro management on the part of your damage dealers. Your survival, however, is entirely down to you and the healer, and while a well played, well geared healing character may be able to keep you up through some frantic spamming, even the best healer cannot outdo their global cooldown. By this I mean that as long as you aren't utterly incompetent, low threat can be dealt with. Dead tank cannot.

With this in mind, my first spec shaped up like this: 5/10/56.

While some of the choices - such as Deflection, Anticipation and Toughness - need no explanation as to why they help to bolster a tank's survivability, some of the others only occurred to me as I was peering through my potential talents.

The first is Improved Thunder Clap. This should really be taken in any build as the rage cost reduction and increased damage are brilliant for AoE tanking and boss fights alike. From a pure survivability point of view, however, it reduces the damage you take by improving the debuff your Thunder Clap applies to enemies around you instead of buffing your mitigation directly. The slower attack speed obviously reduces how many times a mob will hit you before your damage dealers take them out and also provides a sliver of extra time for a heal to reach you between swings.

Similarly, Booming Voice and Improved Demoralizing Shout reduce damage done to you by lessening just how hard mobs are hitting when Demoralizing Shout is up. While Booming Voice is more about reducing how frequently you have to refresh Demo Shout, I found it usually meant I only had to use the skill once per trash pull, allowing me to focus entirely on my threat and positioning.

Gag Order, meanwhile, reduces caster mobs to melee swings thanks to the silencing effect. It also makes it easier to cluster mobs correctly when a caster might have made it more difficult, hence reducing any time in which your back would have been turned.

For the most part, when speccing a new eighty prot warrior you need to consider which skills will come in handy most often in a heroic instance. While Improved Revenge, for instance, might provide some manner of threat boost when fighting a raid boss, in a heroic a lot of your work is in moving groups of mobs around. An uncontrolled stun proc can actually make this more difficult for you. Improved Spell Reflection, on the other hand, lets you protect party members from randomly targeted spells like Novos' Frostbolt in Drak'Tharon Keep or Paletress's Smite in Trial of the Champion, while also providing protection if a caster stands in Grauf's breath while you're doing Skadi's gauntlet event. A lot of what you can find on raid-centric sites does still apply to speccing for heroics, I just feel it's worth keeping content in mind when making decisions between extraneous talents.