Listen up, Hombres. I know I usually don't do this for anybody but fury warriors, but a few people I know want to learn how to tank like a boss. And because pugging a Fury Warrior is the WoW equivalent of being the fat kid on the playground, I have extensive experience tanking both pug heroics and a smattering of 10 and 25 man content. Now to figure out where to begin...
Part I: Talent Build
This is the tanking build I use. It is by no means "standardized," but it holds a lot of utility for heroics and raids, and is rather balanced between threat generation and damage mitigation/avoidance.
Take special note of the glyphs. I absolutely love the Glyph of Revenge, as well the Glyph of Blocking.
Part II: Rotation
I talked about rotation a lot in my "How to Fury" post, and it's no less important here. It is the thing that makes a tank stand out in a raiding environment, although, admittedly, it is slightly less important in heroic tanking situations. The single target rotation is "First-Come-First-Serve," and attacks should be prioritized in the following order:
1. Shield Slam! (Every time it's up)
2. Revenge
3. Devastate
4. Heroic Strike above predetermined rage threshold (I like 65, personally)
It should be noted that Shield Block should be used prior to Shield Slam every time it's up, unless you are saving it for defensive purposes.
Tanking multiple mobs uses the same type of rotation, except you should use thunderclap and Shockwave as often as they come up to add to your group threat. Your rotation will likely be altered depending on who is in your group, who's being an ass hat, who's attacking off targets, etc.
Part III: Addons and Macros
One might wonder how to keep track of all the procs in a build that uses Sword and Board and Glyph of Revenge. It's simple, really.
I absolutely abuse Power Auras Classic, for both my dps and tanking needs. I keep the 65 rage threshold animation from my fury rotation turned on, and add animations for Sword and Board and Glyph of Revenge. Terribly terribly useful if you have trouble seeing your body amidst all the aoe effects.
It's also worth mentioning that Omen isn't a bad addon to have, although it's not nearly as important to a tank as it is to DPS.
Now for my favorite part: My macros!
Shield Slam!
#showtooltip Shield Slam
/use Gnomeregan Auto-Blocker 600
/use Coren's Lucky Coin
/use Lavanthor's Talisman
/cast Bloodrage
/cast Shield Slam
Yes, I realize Coren's Lucky Coin isn't something that people can find anymore. But I still have mine and I'll use it until they remove block from the game.
The reason we have this novel condensed into a macro is to keep you from needing to think too much about your special block trinket use and rage generation. I have the same utility built into my Bloodthirst and Whirlwind macros, to increase rage generation passively, without ever having to glance over and check to see if Bloodrage is off cooldown.
Charge
#Show Charge
/cast [help, exists] Intervene; [harm, exists] Charge; Intervene
Charge and Intervene, in a nice one button package. Win.
Mouse-over Devastate
/cast [modifier:ctrl,harm,nodead]Sunder Armor;[target=mouseover,harm,nodead] Devastate
This macro isn't nearly as important as it was in BC. But it is still pretty useful to be able to reach and click with a secondary mouse button and hit a devastate while you're heroic striking the main target. Seriously useful in heroics, not so much in raids.
Part IV: Gearing up
Gearing up to tank heroics is easier than it used to be. The hard and fast rule is that you -must- have 535 defense to tank in heroics (and 540 in raids). Other than that, it's whatever gear you can strap on until you can find yourself in a position with enough gear to optimize your tank suits.
Some general tips:
- In the beginning, gem for stamina (unless you're not def capped)
- Block value is really nice to have in heroics, but isn't so useful in raids
- Austere Earthseige Diamond is probably the best meta for tanking. Eternal Earthsiege Diamond is an interesting substitute if you're not def-capped or really like block
When you get there, you'll want to try TankPoints. This wonderful addon allows you to determine mathematical survivability against your predetermined amounts of incoming damage. That sounds like a mouthful, but basically you tell it "He's gonna hit me for a truck load" and it tells you "Oh, well this piece of gear is better than that for this amount of damage." As a baseline, the numbers originally packaged were 10505 for heroics, and 24365 for Naxx.
Closing Thoughts
I think the most important part of tanking is something that is difficult to teach. In a group of five strangers, they will look to you for guidance. You will, more often than not, be the designated party leader, and you must deal with the situation with a confidence and awareness that isn't easily described or taught.
Do not be afraid to make mistakes, but don't be afraid to ask questions, either. Take your time in dungeons if you're learning the pulls, and it isn't a sign of weakness to use the CC in your party.