You know, I really like the way the warrior tank plays in Wrath. At least at level 66, which is where my lowbie tank has gotten to.
There are two major things I like about warrior tanking. First is Charge. Warbringer is one of the best talents in the game. Charging into combat is fun. Charging around during combat is fun. Charging into the next pack when the current pack is almost dead is extremely fun.
The second thing is Thunderclap and Shockwave. The thing about these skills that I like is that they very much reward you for timing things well. There's a satisfaction from Thunderclapping at the exact right time to get every mob in the group. Or lining up the perfect Shockwave and stunning everything just right.
It's not like Thunderclap and Shockwave are hard to use. But you can make mistakes with them. And that makes using them correctly valuable.
All in all, I really like the way the warrior tank plays in Wrath. I hope it doesn't change too much in Cataclysm.
"All in all, I really like the way the warrior tank plays in Wrath. I hope it doesn't change too much in Cataclysm."
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is that the devs consider warrior tanking mechanics to be one of the great successes of WotLK and shouldn't change much. (=
agree 100%. my 6th level 80 was a warrior and it was the most fun i've had.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Between the AOE tanking of warriors and pallies, how does crowd control come back, as I have seen mentioned as a possible cata feature?
ReplyDeleteI've recently create a new warrior and took him all the way to 80, mostly via tanking randon dungeons.
ReplyDeleteComparing a warrior to my raiding tankadin:
PRO warrior
* OMG the mobility rocks.
* spell reflect for giggles - not super useful
* L80 heroic throw is a great range silence
* shield slam removes 1x magic buff - I never knew prot warriors can do this
* multitude of stuns for interrupt
* play style is very reactive - lots of things can proc
* heroic strike or cleave allows warrior to "do more damage" when the rage is available. paladins can't hit harder when they have full mana :-(
* Bleed useful when spell-locked
* lots of ways to actively reduce incoming damage - stun/disarm/demoralize shout
PRO paladin
* damage taken is consistent - paladins with holy shield up the incoming damage isn't as spiky as warrior's
* playstyle is very fixed - I mean you memorize 969 rotation in your sleep
* I like avenger's shield silence multiple targets
SAME
* blocking mechanics feels the same. group them up and hold aggro with cleave or devastate.
* aoe tanking feels the same
Not only they aren't change warrior tanking, they're bringing other tanks in line with warriors. I.e. Consecrate will not be spammable (15 sec duration/30 sec CD), so paladins will have to use at the right moment, just like Thunderclap. On the other hand, warriors get Rend spread with Thunderclap - much like DKs spread their deseases. Then DKs get their Simulacrum which is very Spell Reflect-like.
ReplyDeleteOf course, Charge is not handed out to other classes, which have things like Avenger Shield/Exorcism or Death Grip/Death Coil to deal with targets at distance.
If you like warrior tanking at 66, I think you will really love it at 80. I loved it when I hit 60, I had all the talents...then I got to 80, you get heroic throw which makes it really nice. HT the caster, charge the melee, TC, SW. Warrior right now is the funnest class I am playing, leveled from 40 as prot, and even then it was fun. You are right, it is all about timing. Watch out for dps though, that can ruin your timing lol.
ReplyDeleteWarrior tanking is amazing!! I have all 80s and protwar is the only one I still really enjoy. I'll def be taking her to 85. Warbringer is simply the best talent in the game, zoomzoom! Like you I appreciate how you can fail as a warrior, yet all the tools are there.
ReplyDeleteSome tips, shield block value affects shield slam damage. Demo shout is weak threat but good enough to grab fresh spawns. Charge does not give threat. Try a jump-shockwave! Keep Challenging Shout accessible, don't put Intimidating Shout right next to it if you have fat fingers. Shockwave and TC can let you tank big Rotface ooze. Zoomzoom to interrupt casters!
I don't know how long you've had your warr, mine is since classic so these things surprised me when I picked her back up... Mocking Blow is usable in def stance now, revenge hits 2 targets (should read talents properly, hehe), revenge hits harder than shieldslam.
@Sleepysam, TC+Consec will be choices
@Silip, spellreflect rocks for levelling/5man dps. The OK shadow blasters kill themselves real fast. Shield Slam purge is great in UK. Sword+Board is the only buff proc to watch, Revenge just lights up. Shield Block can't be always up + buffs SSlam a lot, quite different to (live) Holy Shield.
I've spent decent amount of time tanking on all 4 of the tank classes, and Warrior is my 2nd favorite.
ReplyDeleteYou already got the important parts - Warbringer, Shockwave, Thunderclap.
Spell Reflect would easily fit in my "top 10 spells in WoW" list. It's very situational, but all kinds of awesome.
I love Warrior mobility so much that I've already decided to pay to convert my Warrior to Goblin:
1- Charge group 1
2- Intercept group 2
3- Rocket Jump group 3
4- Heroic Leap back to grp 2
5- Intervene back to my team
I want to do an entire 5-man without ever actually using a movement key... :)
Welcome to the wonderful world of warrior tanking. I have been a warrior tank since 2008 and love the playstyle a lot. I also leveled a paladin, she's 78, and while I enjoyed tanking there as well, it felt very slow compared to warriors. I missed the mobility, and I missed the freedom of warrior priorities. It always felt a bit like being trapped into cooldowns.
ReplyDelete@Silip: Spell reflect IS super useful in the right situations. It for example allows me to tank the caster groups in Forge of Souls easily, because I can hold aggro on ranged mobs by reflecting their spells. Back in Ulduar, warriors were fantastic P3 tanks. You simply spell-reflected on cooldown, reflecting the plasma damage, and taunted the bombs right under the head. You would then be able to tank the bottom part and the head in P4, just via spell reflect. Pretty awesome fight. :)
I only wish they'd give prot warriors a decent pvp gear set. I'm thinking more along the lines of low damage/high mitigation. I'm not so concerned with "pwning nubz", but I can sure be a pain the butt to a flag carrier in WSG with all the stuns/slows.
ReplyDeleteOf course, there has to be a downside to warrior tanking, and it is the rage. How many times you needed urgently to push some button right now but it's greyed out...
ReplyDeleteWell, at least it is not DK's "please provide 1 rune of each kind to activate this ability" headache. DKs have it really brutal.
Taking is one of those things I just cant seem to wrap my head around. I have tried Paladin and Warrior, but being a healadin at heart, I couldn't do the tankadin thing for too long. And my warrior aspirations faltered when I realized, in all bluntness, that I wasn't very good at tanking. In retrospect I know I was too hard on myself, for there isn't proper tanking gear for the mid-TWENTIES, but that phase in my WoW career, for good or for bad, is over.
ReplyDelete