The Tank
The Tank is an essential part of any team and being a good tank can very seriously determine the fate of many battles that you will have while playing WAR. A good tank is always wanted by other players, as they provide safety for the team and create opportunities for your DPS to burn down the enemy.
This guide is built to help tanks with their game.
General Tank Tips
In First, out last. You need to be the first out there, so people attack you, instead of the squishy friends of yours. If you have to, let your team know that you want to go in before them to draw the enemy's fire.You should also be the last to retreat. Don't wuss out and run away because you have lost some health. When the tanks run away, they entire other team pushes forward. This is bad for your squishies.
Harass casters. By attacking People who have long build up times, you not only set their abilities back, but make them panic and force them to back away. This prevents damage to your team and also helps to kill the enemy!
Don't be afraid of death! If you're dying, do what you can to survive, but don't avoid it like the plague. MUCH better you than the person who can rez you.
Control the Crowd. Using Crowd Control (CC), funnily enough! You'll want to root, snare or knockback Other tanks and Melee DPS. Be sure to turn your screen around to keep an eye on your team, and watch their health, for anyone who might need assistance.
-A great way to do this is to cast your AoE roots as you see the melee pass you to go after your support team.
Play with your team. Playing with your team is not only a whole lot of fun, You'll do a WHOLE lot better if you're with your team. Don't ever lose them to go chasing after one guy. If you find yourself running into 10 enemies and your team isn't near you, watch out!
-A great mod to help staying near your team is the Group Icons by Rhekua
Playing Offensively
Playing for damage, often with a Two-handed sword involves KILLING!!! Yuss...... but you are still part of a team. Even if you're fighting, you still play your part.
Open with Damage over Times' (DoTs). If, for whatever reason your enemy gets away from you, you'll still be doing damage to him. The damage from it also builds up slowly, meaning that healers are less likely to panic at a sudden health drop, and thus not heal your target. Perfect prey for a huge blast of damage.
-You can keep an easy eye on your dots (as well as LOTS of other things) with the mod Aura by Wikki
Save your snare for prey on mid-low health. Once they see they're hurt, they'll want to run away, if you put it on them right BEFORE they want to run away, there will be no escape for them. Muahahaha!!
Time your Taunts! One of the MOST overlooked aspects of Taunt is that it is an Interrupt! It will cancel any spell you target is building up, as well as making you deal 30% more damage. Don't cast it as soon as you start attacking. Fool them into thinking they are safe, then hit them with it when they least want it! This takes practice and skill to do as you need to keep an eye on your enemy to watch for the animation of their spell.
-Fighting a Warrior Priest/Disciple, you see the animation for Divine Assault/Rend Soul and taunt them. This cancels their attack, and denies them precious health as further increases the amount of damage you do to them.
Don't waste your morales. Morales such as Demolishing Strike, Raze and Champions Challenge shouldn't be tossed out at random. Save them for the opportune moment. Read all your morale's fully, and conceptualise on who and when the best time to use it would be e.g.
-Demolishing strike is great to help burn down a tank who's harassing your friends because it reduces their armor, but not so good against a Squishy DPS class, because they have low armor anyway.
-Champions challenge is great to grab those pesky Melee DPS classes who are beating on your squishies and hold them in place, while your team kills them, and your friend moves out of range, or hold down the kiting healer for your team to get him.
Status Effects, Status Effects and MORE Status Effects. You may think a 100 point reduction in resists is kind of average....but for the person on the receiving end, it can be the most annoying, and often lethal thing you can do.Find effects that will help you and you team and use them. For Example, the Chosen has an Aura which lowers all resists called Discordant Instability. The Sorcerers AE nuke, Shattered Shadows is Spirit based, meaning that whoever the Chosen is around will be taking more damage from the Sorcerers shattered shadows.This kind of thing helps you and your team to take down the opponents team faster!
Strength or Weapon Skill?!? Sometimes there's a bit of a toss up about which one you want. As an offensive tank, weapon skill provides armour penetration, meaning you'll hit harder on armoured targets, and Parry, your defence against melee attacks. Strength on the other hand directly increases the damage you do. There is no Right way to prioritise them, either way you will need a little of both. How much is how you want to customise your play.
You still have guard! Throw your guard on another Melee DPS to give them that much more survival in combat! (thanks duckers!)
Playing Defensively
Just because you have a shield and you're on defense duty doesn't mean you should stand around!
Guard your Guard! Don't throw guard on someone then run off! Whoever you throw your guard on, you need to stay with. If you go out of range, they aren't guarded and will take full damage!Also, you don't need to keep your guard on one person if another person is getting wailed on! You can Float your Guard. This means you deactivate if from one person and throw it onto another to give them the benefit of guard.
-The Follow My Lead by Aiiane mod makes it easy to show who you have your guard on!
Stay Aware. You should always be on the lookout for a friend in trouble. Keep an eye on health bars, and on the battlefield and try to predict where the enemy will go.
Snare, Root, Knock Down, Knockback. These are your tools, and you need to use them! Snare Melee DPS who are chasing your friends, root packs of enemies charging in, knock down the person about to kill your healer, Knockback the pesky tank.....whatever it is, you need to use them to help your team! You use these to create opportunities for the rest of your team to do their job. You won't always get it right, but practice really does make perfect.
Challenge to save! The Tanks ability Challenge reduces the amount of damage the enemies are doing to everyone but you! DPS classes go nuts for 15% increase in damage, so imagine their horror when you take away 30%! Often they don't realise you've done it, and keep trying to fruitlessly kill the person they were attacking. It does have a long cooldown though, so try and get any many enemies as you can with it!
Hold the Line, and the little known Reverse Hold the Line (Something, as far as I'm aware, I came up with ). Even if no other tanks cast Hold the Line, you may just give them enough to avoid getting killed!Hold the Line is usually done from the Front, however if the front is too dangerous (for example underneath burning oil in a keep) a Reverse Hold the Line can be done. From the back of your group, turn your character so you are facing away from the group. Then cast hold the line on everyone.
Warbaby wrote:
The other place to use it is on defending a keep/fort. Put 3 tanks facing away from the ramp into the lords room with guard on and mashing hold the line on each of the other tanks blocking the ramp. That way they are out of most of the aoe bombs, but giving a high defense to the blocking tank line. If one of the blocking tanks go down, the reverse hold the line tank that was guarding that tank fills their spot until they are rezzed.
Dont just stand there dude! Even a fully defensive tank should be moving around, even into the thick of the battle! You should be attacking those annoying DPS, however, you may want to do that in little forays, returning after you have satisfied your blood lust. If you see someone heading over to your friend however, you should be on them like white on rice!
Toughness or Wounds? The Answer is both. If you neglect one, the other comes back and bites you in the bum! Again, it's up to your preference, however there is supposed to be diminishing returns for toughness (toughness is changing in 1.3), but there isn't for wounds. Toughness makes you take less damage from each attack, while wounds increases your overall Health.