[Warrior] To get started as a tank.

[tehd3str0y]

Hai guyse, i just posted this guide at mmo-champ, thought you'd enjoy it too ^,..,^
here goes..
So, you you wanna be a tank, getting hit for other people.. and getting the credit for it? ^^
Then you've ended up in the right place, you’re gonna find a small overview of all the basics about the mighty Warrior, no fancy formulas to remember .. yet.

In this guide you can find:
* The basics about being a tank, the benefits, and the bad side
* Gear, gear and gear. What items to use and where to get em.
* Talents. I'll show you different talent trees, and explain what they're about.
* Threat, how to build it, how to sustain it.
* AoE tanking
* Addons.
and some extra

Right, to start off,
You, as a tank, be you whatever race you may,
your role is to keep the weaker people safe, holding the monsters' "aggro"
off them. Tanks, having lots of armor, high hp and good avoidance (better than
dps / healing specialized people) have fairly low dps, to even it out, so you won't be doing much good at grinding, unless you have your dps gear aswell.
Since the most people playing World of Warcraft are rogues, hunters or warlocks,
the need for tanks is pretty big, so you really shouldn't have a problem finding a group, hence that no tank - no group, in most cases, at least.

Gear.
Your primary focus would be getting your Defense skill to 490, for being crit immune.
Why? Because crits made by mobs do double the damage, and you wouldn't want that.

*Helmet
Your first choice should be Felsteel Helm, for having 3 sockets and fairly high (33) defense rating, and socket it with either 3x[Solid Star of Elune] or two of those and a [Subtle Living Ruby] in the red spot.Have it made by a blacksmith friend, if you aren’t one, or check the AH, they’re usually around 50 gold.
Your second choices, however, could be either Greathelm of the Unbreakable
from the Grand Warlock Nethekurse in Shattered Halls, or
Warhelm of the Bold from the last boss in Botanica, Warp Splinter.
You could also use Myrmidon’s Headdress from the „The Warlord’s Hideout“ quest, given next ot the Coilfang Reservoir summoning stone.
You should also get the Keepers of Time Revered – Glyph of the Defender head enchant or the ZG head enchant (which is a bit better imo)

*Necklace
Mark of the Ravenguard first, from the „Brother against Brother“ quest, outside Sethekk Halls portal. Then, Strength of the Untamed. It’s the best one before epic ones.

*Shoulders
First, get yourself Pauldrons of Brute Force and fill them with sta gems.
Then, get yourself a group for Shadow Labs, kill murmur and loot Shoulderguards of the Bold once again, fill it with sta gems.
Also, add the Aldor/Scryer Honored (or Exalted) tanking shoulder enchant to it.

*Chest
Get yourself a Jade-Skull Breastplate from Mecha and enchant it with +150 hp.
OR if you’re having troubles getting a mecha group, go to Arca, which is way harder, and get Breastplate of the Bold . Fill it with sta gems, and enchant 150 hp.

*Cloak
Devilshark Cape 12 def rating (or 12 agi/dodge, if you prefer) enchant, and go! This cloak is even better than the kara tanking one.
Though, i’ve seen it only drop ONCE, during running my 3 lvl 70s to exalted with CE, so you might call it my bad luck, or try getting Burnoose of Shifting Ages from Caverns of Time: Black Morass (Opening of the Dark Portal)

*Bracers
You can choose between Sha'tari Wrought Armguards and having Bracers of the Green Fortress made by a blacksmith. Both are pretty good. Enchant it with Fortitude (12 stamina)

*Gloves
Lots of choices here.
Felsteel Gloves Blacksmith / AH. 2 Stamina gems.
Thatia's Self-Correcting Gauntlets Dalliah the Doomsayer, Arcatraz
Gauntlets of the Chosen Scryer Revered.
Gauntlets of the Bold Warlord Kalithresh, Steamvaults.
Once again, i’d go for the Felsteel ones. Enchant your gloves with 2% threat, or 15 agi.

*Belts / Waists
Sha'tari Vindicator's Waistguard from the „How to break into Arcatraz“ quest.

*Pants. Just.. Pants
First, have Felsteel Leggings made.
Then, get your Keepers of Time reputation to Revered for Timewarden's Leggings
Fill ’em with sta gems, add Clefthoof Leg Kit.

*Boots
Boots of the Colossus are probably your best choice. Two sta gems and Clefthoof Kit.

*Rings
Another wide choice.
Protector's Mark of the Redemption from Dissension Amongst The Ranks... quest in SMV
Elementium Band of the Sentry from Harbringer Skyriss, Arcatraz
Crystal Band of Valor from Tavarok, Mana-Tombs
Andormu's Tear Hero of the Brood quest, The Black Morass
use a combination of these for the best result.

*Trinkets
Adamantine Figurine From Blackheart in Shadow Labs. and Dabiri's Enigma from Dimensus the All-Devouring questline in Netherstorm.

*Weapon & Shield
Shield - Platinum Shield of the Valorous from the first boss in Shadow Labs, or Aegis of the Sunbird from High Botanist Freywinn in Botanica. 18 Sta on it.

Weapon –You should probably go for Grom'tor's Charge from the Cipher of Damnation questline in SMV. Don’t bother enchanting it unless you have loads of money, if you do, Executioner.

Ranged –just some blue with +stamina, or get an engineer to craft Gyro-Balanced Khorium Destroyer for you.

A warrior equipped with following gear:
Felsteel Helm – Subtle Living Ruby, 2x Solid Star of Elune, +10 Def Rating / +10 Stamina / +15 Block Value enchant
Strength of the Untamed
Shoulderguards of the Bold, 2x Solid Star of Elune, 15 Dodge Rating, 10 Defense Rating
Devilshark Cape, 12 Def rating enchant
Jade-Skull Breastplate, 150 hp
Bracers of the Green Fortress, 12 sta
Felsteel Gloves, 2xSolid Star of Elune, 2% threat
Sha’tari Vindicator’s Waistguard
Timewarden’s Leggings, 3xSolid Star of Elune, Clefthide Leg Armor
Boots of the Colossus, 2xSolid Star of Elune, Boar’s Speed
Elementium Band of the Sentry
Andormu’s Tear
Adamantine Figurine
Dabiri’s Enigma
Should have the following stats unbuffed:
Health: 12274
Defense Rating: 376
Defense Skill: 509
Dodge Chance: % 17.35
Parry Chance: % 11.36
Block: 141
Block Rating: 62
Block Chance: % 19.22
Avoidance: % 59.29
Attack Speed: 1.6
Attack Power: 638
Hit Rating: 4
Hit Chance: % 91.3
Crit Rating: 0
Crit Chance: % 4.45

Meaning, that equipped with that gear, you are more than capable than tanking any heroics, and even MTing kara.

Talents

There are quite a few different talent trees, many differing only on personal preferations.
11/3/47 is the most common raid tanking one.
8/3/50 is quite good for 5mans due to Improved Revenge. Less getting hit -] less manacost for your beloved healer.
The talent trees slightly vary depending on if you want 5/5 Cruelty for the threat, Improved Shield Wall, if it makes you safe, or Improved Bloodrage. You might even want 1/5 of Unbridled Wrath, but never take Improved Disarm, Tactical Mastery or Improved Shield Bash for prot.

Threat, threat, threat....

First off, your main threat dealing ability, Shield Slam! Use it every time it pops!
Secondly, Sweet REVENGE!! Keep it in cooldown!
Third, Devastate. Always start off with a Shield Slam, then start building up the sunders ASAP!!!! The armor reduce GREATLY helps the raid dps, and rises your Threat also!
Fourth, for ragedumping, Heroic Strike is a great way!
Here’s what you should do while tanking:
Spam devastate, always have Shield Slam and revenge in cooldown, keep shield block up, and hit the EVIL BOSS WHO WANTS TO MURDER YOU AND YOUR FAMILY with a few *Heroic* strikes!
Your skill while doing this all will improve quickly on the go ^_^


So called ’AoE tanking’

Warriors aren’t so great in AoE tanking, as paladins or druids might be, BUT, we have our uses.
Warriors mostly are single target tanks, but if it goes to crowds, we can manage.
Firstly, you should keep Thunder Clap out of cooldown, use Demo Shout, and keep your shield block in use.
Then, you should do two rounds of sunders, but use your revenge and shield slams on primary target.
Example:
If you have 4 .. Fel Orcs, let’s say, on you, here’s what you should do – Mark the primary DPS target with a skull (or tell the group leader to)
After pulling the mobs (or having the mobs pulled to you by your friendly neighbourhood hunter) pop your Bloodrage, shield slam the primary dps target, quickly swap target, Devastate, swap target, devastate, swap target, devastate, swap target (you should be back to Primary Target again) Shield slam, devastate, revenge, switch target, devastate, switch target, devastate, switch target, devastate, Switch target, and keep tanking this one till he dies. Don’t forget to keep Thunder Clap and Demo Shout up.

Addons you should get:
Firstly, get Omen Threat meters so the group will see your threat, and you will see the group’s.
Secondly, UI mods and damage meters will greatly help you on your way to glory.
I greatly recommend PitBull and Bartender3.

Anyways, this guide should get you off tanking the bad guys and saving the good guys from harm.

It’s my first guide, and i wrote it for .. 3 hours i guess, so please don’t be too harsh on me
Thanks for reading it, I hope you learned something useful from here xD.
Best regards, t3hd3stroyerer.

[Obama]

This could be helpfull... IF my ****ing warrior was't banned today.

[Gelormino]

/target Obama
/lol

Hmm, I took a quick scan through this and it looked good...Thanks for the share...Ill rep you if I didnt reach my limit yet

[tehd3str0y]

This could be helpfull... IF my ****ing warrior was't banned today.

i lost my t5/t6 one 6 days ago (my second account). i feel your pain.

[tehd3str0y]

/target Obama
/lol

Hmm, I took a quick scan through this and it looked good...Thanks for the share...Ill rep you if I didnt reach my limit yet

thanks a lot for the good words
just trying to do my share of the work :P

[shadow987]

lol nice post on the warrior although I hate playing warriors xD

[zoidberg891]

Nice guide for pre-kara tanks but I recommend DTM(diamond threat meter) over omen. It works with omen and ktm and you can also see the threat of people without a threat meter. It also displays threat of other targets when holding more than one.

[tehd3str0y]

Nice guide for pre-kara tanks but I recommend DTM(diamond threat meter) over omen. It works with omen and ktm and you can also see the threat of people without a threat meter. It also displays threat of other targets when holding more than one.

good point ^^

[[Blaze]]

Psh, I'm a paladin, soz I don't care. XD

[RaZZal]

Nice guide mate

[Desta_Bawz]

Nice guide, +rep

[Rytnax]

Very nice, currently building my tank now, thank you

[Wankalot]

The talent builds are crappy...5/5 cruelty IS A MUST because it will give you a boost in aggo.Also i'd recommend getting the s2 1h-weapon and shield at least because they are bitchin.Also you should consider using more s2 gear for your tank set,it will give you a bigger healthpool and you will be uncrittable.When you get kara/badge gear you will start to shape your avoidances/damage reduction but until then s2 is just ok.
For multi-mob tanking u MUST use cleave.

-crappy guide overall

PS:S2 shield is sex.
PS2:For necklace,get the SSO exhalted necklace,its really great(and greater if u're aldor exhalted)

[Ferag]

^ true.

S2 Shield is what you need to get.

Other than that, pretty good guide .. I'd rather go with WoW Forums -> Warrior Guide Collection -- Read This Or Die though

[kooli]

Good guide!