Aggro and You!

I've been meaning to make a post on this for awhile. Hopefully by now most people in our guild who are level 70 and actively group/raid understand aggro. Aggro can be a difficult thing to understand. Hopefully I can help shed some light and help people to be more productive in the groups they are in.

So....what is aggro? Aggro is something everyone generates. Healers, DPS classes, tanks, everyone! Aggro is what a tank generates to hold a target to him/her. Why do we want tanks to hold targets? From a basic standpoint we want tanks to hold aggro so DPS and healers don't die. I may expand on this, but from a fundamental standpoint tanks hold targets so DPS and healers can survive.

Why should you care about aggro? Well, first off, if you pull aggro from most tanks, they probably wont appreciate it. If you do it often enough, they'll simply let you die until you learn. Any class out there can do solid DPS without pulling aggro off the tank. Learning how to DPS effectively without pulling agrro is the mark of an experienced and well played character.

How do you go about not pulling from a tank? Assuming the tank is doing its job, most mobs should be under the tanks control within a few seconds. Obviously that changes depending on the number of mobs, and what they are immune to. That doesn't mean unload after a few seconds. That means it safe to start DPSing. With druids and warriors you can somtimes look for lascerates and sunders. A good rule is 3 sunders/lascerates for boss fights, and 1-2 for most mob pulls. In instances like Karazhan, waiting that extra few seconds to start DPSing will make the difference between YOU causing 9 other people to die, rezzing, rebuffing, repair costs, and having a smooth run. I cannot count the number of times someone has gotten an itchy trigger finger in Karazhan and caused a wipe, all because they didn't wait 3 seconds for a tank to even HIT the target.

Healers especially need to be aware of their aggro in instances. Overhealing, throwing heals before a target has been engaged by the tank, and using the wrong kind of heals can cause wipes. Anytime a healer has pulled aggro they will most likely be 1 shot'd. We haven't had to much of a problem with this, but it's still important for everyone to realize.

So lets give an example....
Typical Karazhan group. 3 healers, 2 tanks, 5 dps classes. Tanks have engaged 2 targets (skull and x), and there's 2 shackles. Someone pulls aggro and the target goes immediately to the person who pulled aggro. That person gets 1 shot'd. Who does the loose mob go to next? If you said tank, you'd be wrong. At that point the healer has had to throw a lot of heals on the person who just died, and the tank was not generating aggro on on the target. The loose mob now 1 shots the healer. Now, in MOST situations we could survive with 1 dps and 1 healer down...however now 1 of the shackles is running loose. The tanks are frantically try to get aggro back, telling people to stop dps, but its too late.

1 small action of putting out too much dps, or not allowing the tank to get enough aggro in the first place has now caused a wipe. This has cost the group 5-10 minutes, where they could have been progressing, and now they are at square 1.

This has covered some of the basics of tanking and aggro 101. I will probably add to this. However for now I invite people to post comments, suggestions, and any questions. I would also invite other tanks in the guild to post their thoughts.

Tanking is a very unique thing. It totally changes the way you look at most instances and groups. I firmly believe everyone should tank at least 1 level 70 instance, just to get the experience.

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One of the things I've noticed that helps a TON is to have "Target of Target" on. It's a setting in your inferface screen, and as an example, when you click on a tank, it shows the tank's target in a little window under the tank's profile on your screen. As a healer, I can select the same mob as the tank, and when I want to heal the tank, I can click my heal spell, and then click the tank's portrait under the mob's portrait. Also, if I heal too much, or with the wrong spells, and have the mob targetted, I'll know, because now under the mob's portrait I'll see my portrait! That's bad!

As a DPS, on my warlock, the same thing is useful. Target the mob, and after a sunder or two, start throwing damage spells. When I've done too much damage, or done the wrong spells to cause a lot of aggro, now my portrait will show up under the mob, showing he's after me!

Any class can take aggro off a tank. If a healer uses a high threat spell (some spells say "causes a high amount of threat"), it can cause the mob to come after the healer. If a healer puts a Heal over Time (aka a HoT spell) on a tank, BEFORE the tank pulls, that's bad! The tank is now regaining health, 2 or 3 times, before he's had a chance to get a sunder/lacerate off! That means, your heal spells are causing more hate than the tank! And.... the healer gets targeted! Healers need to use low threat spells and be careful when they start casting spells on a tank.

DPS classes also have some high threat abilities. Never start with a high threat ability. As a warlock, I start off with my DoTs for 2 reasons. The first is because it lets be get many damage ticks off anytime I'm winding up a shadow bolt, and the second is because a DoT causes hate over time. There's a good chance the tank can cause hate faster than my DoT. That doesn't mean I DoT something first, it just means I have bought myself some time before the tank has a hard time holding onto the mob. By the same token, if I canst 5 DoTs, throw a shadow bolt, and use a channeled spell, I've just generated a HUGE amount of aggro, and the tank is going to have a hard time. In cases like this, it's better to throw DoTs, and wait. That's right, I said wait. Sometimes, it's better for the good of the group for you to NOT do anything.

Hunters can use similar logic. If you've played a hunter, solor or in a group, you know it's easier for your pet, or a tank, to pull a mob off you if you use a normal shot or a concussion shot as opposed to an arcane shot. Arcane shot generates more aggro. On my hunter I let my pet (the tank) get a growl off, and get a couple hits in, then I lead with serpent sting (a damage over time ability), and use normal shots. Only when I know the tank (or my pet) has a strong hold on a mob do I use arcane shot. If the mob comes after me, I concussive shot, and STOP dps! Yep, I said stop! It does no one any good to be doing the most damage if you're always dead.

Some people, myself included for a short time, have thought that if I die, so what, I rez and we move on. But as Lem said, if a healer heals you, when you pull a mob off a tank, now that healer is going to be the target, and you've dramatically increased the odds you're going to get someone else killed. Even if you're a rogue, and you pull aggro, and vanish, thinking you're giving aggro back to the tank, you may have just dropped your aggro, but all the aggro the healer got from healing you still remains.

I've never played a tank, I can't comment on their side of things, but as a healer, and as a DPS, please please please think of what you're about to do. Showing off to get to the top of a DPS meter or a healing meter is probably just going to get someone killed, and often, it's not just going to be you, it's going to be the people trying to do their job and keep you alive.

And seriously, grouping with people who get you killed isn't fun. If you're going to be getting other people killed, let me know, because I don't have the gold or the patience for that. I'll sit that run out.