Warrior Instance Guide

The Warrior in Instances

The job of the Warrior in an instance group is almost exclusively that of Main Tank. The Warrior has access to a huge array or weapons and armour, an immense Armor Class, a large pool of Hit Points, and a large suite of abilities designed to make enemies focus on the them, and not the less robust members of the party around them.

The only time a Warrior is likely to find themselves in an instance, and not Main Tank, is if there is another Warrior doing that job already. Extra Warriors then become Secondary Tank/Main Assist, or Damage Dealers.

As a Warrior

* Warriors generally have far more aggro management options than Paladins, Voidwalkers, Bear-form Druids or Hunter pets - you will be expected to tank.

* If there is more than one Warrior in the group, decide beforehand who is to be the Main Tank.
o A higher level helps hold aggro slightly, but isn't as important as skillful use of special abilities.
o A Protection talent build is by no means necessary to be an effective Main Tank, particularly before instances where a raid group is required, where a Fury or Arms specced Warrior can do just as well.
o If you can't decide who is to do the job, select the Warrior with the highest AC, including their Shield.

Main Tank

See the Tank section. Also:

* Always use Defensive Stance with a shield and one-handed weapon--unless a situation calls for the use of a skill in a different stance and you have the talent Tactical Mastery. An example of the latter: Healer pulls aggro, you switch to Berserker Stance and Intercept the mob, stunning it and giving you time to regain aggro.

-- This is a broad statement and should be taken with a grain of salt. There are many Tanking abilities that are good in a Main Tank role that can not be called upon if you solely remain in Defensive Stance. Hamstring Mobs that are "Runners", and Execute. I understand this is a guide for a Main Tank just getting his feet wet. I just want to make that beginner knowledgable to the fact that you dont need to stay in Defensive Stance to be a good tank. I tend to Stance Dance all the time based on the situation. If a mage is about to aoe, I use Bloodrage mass taunt, and cleave/ sweeping strikes and whirlwind.

-- While the above statement about a single handed weapon and shield is broad, the reason why it's still useful is because it does tell you what most people are going to expect. Even if you don't stay in Defensive Stance, if you don't have a shield, casters in particular tend to assume that you either want to dps rather than tank, or that you don't know what you're doing.

* Spend a bit of time and money beforehand acquiring good armor and a decent shield - you'll be taking a beating and having a decent AC helps the healer help you. Never use leather or cloth items, no matter how good the bonuses, and switch to plate as soon as you can afford it, after level 40.
* Be aware of which special abilities to use to generate threat quickly, in particular; Shield Slam, Sunder Armor, Revenge, and Heroic Strike.
* When tanking boss mobs, alternate between Shield Block and Revenge for maximum threat and survivability. Shield Block will almost always light up Revenge immediately afterward. Time these two special abilities well to allow for the most Revenge opportunities.
* A successful Shield Bash also makes caster enemies very angry, as well as locking their spellcasting and forcing them into melee. Practice the timing needed to get this right while soloing.
o In addition, most of your high-aggro moves are disabled if you get Disarmed. Listen for the shhhing! noise of that happening, and start off your being Disarmed with a Shield Bash, which causes decent threat on its own! Follow up with Battle Shout and Demoralizing Shout spam until you get your weapon back (better yet, get a weapon chain and don't get Disarmed at all).
* You cannot Charge in Defensive Stance, so if you're pulling, use a ranged weapon and lure them back to your group. Assuming you have tactical mastery, you can charge and then switch to defensive stance to start a fight with more rage--but be extremely careful that you don't aggro more than you intended to if you take this approach.
* If a hunter, rogue, or mage is pulling, you can charge, switch to defensive stance, and use Demoralizing Shout to cause aggro on all enemies to gather them up, without causing damage that might break sheeps. If charge is not appropriate, use Bloodrage to get the rage for the shout.
* Taunt momentarily forces a mob to attack you and permanently brings you up to the level of aggro of the mob's target. However, if you needed to taunt, it's most likely because they were causing more aggro than you, and are likely to continue to cause even more. Follow up a Taunt immediately with a hate-generating ability to cement your aggro. In extreme cases (e.g., a higher-level mage or rogue), it can be better to stockpile rage until you do lose aggro, then taunt and unload to try and hold aggro longer.
* Taunt has no effect on an enemy that is already fighting you.
* Mocking Blow is temporary aggro only. Use the time it gives you to swiftly generate real threat using Sunder, Revenge, etc. The same applies to Challenging Shout - an AOE taunt. Unless additional threat is generated during these durations, the taunted enemies will return to their original target afterward.
* Only Ragedump if you are confident you have all aggro under control. Otherwise, keep reapplying Sunders - slam each target with 3 sunders before moving on to the next target. Apply up to five on each. Better is Shield Block/Revenge for maintaining hate.
o One good quick Ragedump in a hectic situation is: Berserker Stance, Berserker Rage, Whirlwind, Defensive Stance. This causes a satisfying amount of AOE damage, and generates extra rage to counter the Stance Swapping. Works best with Tactical Mastery Talent (3/3), allowing 25 Rage carry-through.
o Charge followed by Demoralizing Shout, Thunder Clap, Defensive Stance is a good way to get all the enemy mobs to focus on you right off the bat. Generally works best to Charge the moment your party's crowd control (if any) goes off, Demo Shout to immediately get attention, then make sure you dragged everyone far enough back to NOT break the crowd controlled mobs before Thunder Clap. If the crowd is particularly large, it's a good idea to follow up with the previous ragedump Berserker Stance, Berserker Rage, Whirlwind, Defensive Stance to solidify that much more aggro on everyone before starting to throw sunders. Don't be afraid to ask your party to hold off on all DPS for the first few seconds while you do this.
o In the event of a VERY large crowd, (the Lyceum in Blackrock Depths comes to mind) tanks will want to be alternating Thunder Clap and Whirlwind, and while both are on cooldown jump to Defensive and spam Battle Shout. This gets a small amount of aggro on pretty much everyone around you -- usually just long enough for the artillery to AoE them down.
o Experiment to find other effective pressure release combos, but always finish with a Stance move back to Defensive. Don't spend too long in other stances, as this puts the rest of the group at increased risk.
* As a main tank in higher-level instances, you will be "punted" fairly often. This reduces your aggro, takes you out of the fight for a moment, and can cause falling damage as well. If you have Tactical Mastery, it is possible to switch to Berserker Stance and intercept out of the air, potentially avoiding falling damage and getting you back into the fight a couple of seconds sooner. Remember to switch back to defensive stance and taunt afterwards. If you have a full rage bar, it may be better to just stay in defensive stance and take the damage.
* Main tanks can pop Battle Stance just long enough to Execute a target near death (following up by resuming Defensive and throwing sunders once more). Indeed if he's being beaten on particularly hard, his rage bar will spike the moment he stance switches and the Execute will be exceedingly powerful and may well finish off the mob. On bosses in particular, repeated Executes will usually out-threat your threat moves! Use discretion though; if you're having trouble holding stuff, keep your focus on holding it and only do this in situations well under control.
o If there is a Warrior offtank present however, it's best to let him do this while the main tank focuses on keeping aggro.

Secondary/Off Tank

* Use Battle Stance and a big two-handed weapon, or Berserker Stance and two fast one-handers. A shield is unecessary in this role. Also, Slam with a two-handed, slow weapon is good for both dealing damage and avoiding stealing aggro (since it doesn't generate as much hate as Heroic Strike and it reduces your weapon speed to a 1.5s 'cast').
* Avoid threat specials, and instead concentrate on the more subtle Warrior attacks: Rend, Hamstring, etc.
* Take on the Shouting for the both of you: Battle Shout and Demoralizing Shout. Keeping these going frees up the Main Tank to concentrate on generating threat.
* Thunder Clap can help, but watch your spacing, avoid drawing new enemies into the fray with it, and avoid breaking crowd control with it.
* Be aware that without being beaten on, you will generate rage at a much slower rate; make best use of Bloodrage to compensate. Charge is also a good quick burst of free rage, but be careful when getting a run-up, that you don't trigger fresh enemies. Rage Potions can help - collect Sharp Claws for this.
* Act as personal bodyguard for the healer. Be ready to switch to 'Tank Mode' if any mobs get through, and the real Main Tank can't get to them in time. Switch to Defensive Stance and Taunt until the tank can get there. Switch back again once the situation is under control (Mocking Blow can help in an emergency, but a stance swap is more reliable).
* Execute stuff that's about to die, as many times as it takes. (The Main Tank is certainly capable of doing this as well, but his focus should be on aggro management and shouldn't divide his attention unless the situation is well under control)

All Warriors

* Piercing Howl (Fury Talent Shout) helps chase down runners and is worth investing in.
* Shouts do not break Polymorph (commonly known as 'Sheep') or Sap. Thunder Clap will.
* Be wary of using Intimidating Shout in an instance--it rarely helps due to the fact that it's a fear-type effect. Intimidating Shout is particularly dangerous as it affects up to 5 nearby enemies, not just one, like the Warlock version of Fear It can be used in situations where all enemies have been cleared out in a large area, so that you don't have to worry about adds. Also, the enemy you have targetted when you use this skill will not be feared, but frozen in place. In a close fight where there's just one enemy left but your party needs a few moments to bandage and get enough mana for another spell, this can buy you the time you need.
* Hand over any drink loot/Mana Potions to those who need them, especially the healer.
* A full Rage bar grants no additional bonuses. Should your Rage bar become full, you still have plenty of available attacks, and you should use them as soon as possible. If the main tank starts raging up past 40'ish it's probably time to ragedump by spamming Heroic Strike with the sunders and Slam (see here)---> [1].
* All warriors should have a good shield and good one hand tank weapon.

Working with a Warrior

* Warriors actually do best when being beaten on - their Rage, increases when damage is dealt and when taken. Check your skill's tooltips and avoid using anything that increases 'threat' where at all possible, as this will make the enemies more likely to turn to you.

* Don't run from an enemy that is attacking you. This is very important: call for help, but stand still! Usually the first thing people do is to start running to get away, but this will make it more difficult for a warrior to help getting that mob off you. Warriors generate threat quite quickly and can Taunt to lure the enemy into attacking them, but these actions take a few seconds of uninterrupted fighting to charge up and have an effect, and this is difficult at best if the Warrior has to chase the enemy down first.

* Buffs to Stamina are particularly useful to the Warrior, greatly increasing available HP (Power Word: Fortitude, etc.). Buffs that increase the damage done, either via Strength, by the weapon itself, or damage shields (Thorns, etc), will help the Warrior maintain aggro.

* Avoid using damage absorption buffs on Warriors, as this can slow the rate their Rage charges up. Best saved for when the Warrior is unable to be healed normally for any reason.

* Avoid using pets that actively Taunt themselves; Bear Growls, Voidwalker Taunts, etc. 'Rogue' or 'Mage' type pets work best if a real Warrior is on tanking duty. Shamans should avoid using Stoneclaw Totem.

* Warrior Crowd Control is practically non-existent, being mostly Snare-type movement debuffs, so it generally falls to others to finish off runners, and deliver killing blows. Watch the main fight and save a bit of mana for a few instant casts; either Frost-type lockdowns, or large Direct Damage nukes.

* Casters: Standing outside melee range helps the Warrior to maintain Aggro. Characters standing out of melee range will not draw aggro until they exceed the threat level of the mob's current target by 30%. Inside melee range, characters draw aggro when they exceed the threat level by only 10%. Make a warrior's job easier and back up a few steps before unleashing your fury.