Instance grouping guide

Original by Albino on Burning Legion.

Overview

As the veteran of many a good Instance Group, and even more "bad" Instance Groups, it has occurred to me that the difference between success and failure in an Instance has less to do with the Classes/Levels involved than it does with the simple fact that many people do not know how to function in a Group environment. Most novice players tend to believe that an Instance Group is the same as grinding mobs with four of their friends. Nothing could be further from the truth, and this belief is responsible for an incredible amount of needless death, failure, and lost time.

Anyone who has ever been with a veteran Instance Group knows that the difference between a knowledgeable group and a novice group is like night and day. A veteran group runs smoothly, quickly, and accomplishes their goals with a minimum of downtime and death. Conversely, a novice group quickly turns into frustration and chaos. Yet a "bad" group can quickly become a good one with only a small amount of effort, if everyone involved is willing to cooperate.

Expert Instance Groups all exhibit the same characteristics, regardless of the actual composition of the group. Those characteristics are:

• Teamwork
• Patience

• The ability to focus on one task at a time.
• A knowledge of each member's role in the group.

The Pull

This is Stage One of the battle. There should be one designated Puller. Attempt to Pull one mob at a time without Aggroing the entire group, and Pull mobs from weakest to strongest. The most common mistakes novice players make when Pulling are:

• Failing to designate an official Puller.
• Multiple players Pulling more than one mob.
• Pulling from the middle of a group.

When there are large groups of mobs that cannot be pulled individually, the pull becomes more complex. This is when crowd control skills become very important. The designated puller should know the capabilities of each party member and when to use them. The most well-known crowd control is the Mage's [Polymorph], but there are several others, some of which must be used before aggroing the mobs. See Crowd Control for more information.

The party should know which crowd control abilities are going to be used before the pull. Usually a simple "sap left, poly right, hit the one with the red arrow" is sufficient, but take time to prepare for difficult pulls.

Parties containing Hunters can make use of a pulling tactic called the Perfect Zone of Ultimate Safety which, if done correctly, allows for 100% protection from bad pulls for the entire party (occasionally excluding the hunter himself).

The Battle

Battles in an Instance should be precise and controlled. Novice players often behave the same way in an Instance that they would when soloing: they separate and attempt to fight individual skirmishes. This defeats the entire point of Grouping, and virtually guarantees a Wipe. Instances are designed to be almost impossible for a single player, so your Group must try to act as a single entity. The most common mistakes novice players make during battle are:

• Scattering, thus drawing Adds.
• Failing to assist the Main Assist.
• Failing to keep Aggro off the Healer (or Nuker).
• Pulling entire groups of mobs.
• Failing to act as a team.
• Looting during battle. --Dracomage 17:49, 8 Nov 2005 (EST)

Post Battle

This wouldn't seem to be much of an issue, but nothing distinguishes the novice from the professional more quickly than how you behave after a fight. First of all, you simply must have a team leader, and that team leader must keep the group together post-battle. Too often the Tank, having been kept at full health the entire battle by the Healer, will simply run on to the next group of monsters, totally disregarding the fact that the Healer now needs to regain Mana, or activate Quest items, etc. Many Instances are very complex, and it's easy to lose a group member if you run off without making sure everyone is ready. And once a group splits up in an Instance, a Wipe is the next inevitable step. The most common mistakes novice players make post-battle are:

• Abandoning Casters who are regenerating Mana.
• Wandering from the group, becoming lost or Aggroing mobs.
• Failing to wait for members who need to accomplish Quest tasks.

If you don't know your group's looting procedures, now is a good time to ask.

Now let's examine some important aspects of Group Dynamics.

Know Your Role

Partying Help
Tactics
Partying Instancing
Group Roles
Tank Healer Damage
Functions
Leader Crowd control Main assist Puller Rezzer Scout
Related
Aggro Hybrid classes Meeting Stone Pickup group Wipe

The problem with most MMORPG players is that they want to be unique. While this is fine if you solo or duo, it's a liability in high-level Groups and/or Instances. In Groups, it's best to remember the words of Tyler Durden (Fight Club): "You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake". A lot of players get all huffy and say "I'm going to play my character my own way." That's fine, but it has no bearing on the purpose of this guide. This guide exists to improve your group experience, not to stroke your ego. If you refuse to play your designated role within a group, you are a detriment to those around you.

Ask most good Group players what they hate worst in other group members, and 99% of the time they'll say, "Tanks who think they're Rogues and Priests who think they're Mages." Within the group dynamic, each member has a certain expectation of what the other group members will be doing. When that member goes against these expectations, chaos ensues, and a Wipe is virtually guaranteed. With that in mind, let's examine the role each member plays within a group.

The Leader

Normally, this will be whoever started the group. However, sometimes the Leader will be a group member who has knowledge of the task at hand. In any event, it's important that you have one, and that everyone knows who it is. The Leader charts the path through the Instance, decides when Pulls should be made, and makes sure that everyone else in the group knows what role they're expected to play.

What you need to know as the Leader

People are counting on you to hold the Group together. If the group starts to devolve into chaos, it's your job to restore order. Use /wait when applicable.

As leader you need to maintain the pace of pulls - ensuring that your party has enough health and mana for the next battle. You need to announce if the party is going to wipe (and wipe-prevention is needed - See below: Surviving a Wipe). If no rezz is availible, you need to decide who releases and runs back to rez, or if the entire party/raid runs back to rez. You also need to decide and announce the loot rules then ensure they are followed. --Dracomage 17:49, 8 Nov 2005 (EST)

What you need to know to assist the Leader

Don't wander off on your own. Don't pull Aggro on the group. Don't argue. If you don't feel that you fit in the group, leave. And when the leader or the puller says "Stay," then stay.

The Puller

Under no circumstances should anyone but a hunter pull (unless of course, for the obvious case that there isn't one in the party or raid.) This may seem counterintuitive, as most people will, wrongly, want the tank to pull because of the "problem" of aggro transfer. Unless there are no mages sheeping or rogues sapping (a highly unlikely event), then transferring aggro is no more complicated than usual and much, much safer. Only a hunter is equipped to safely turn a bad pull into a full abort, saving the party from a wipe and the healers from resurrecting the puller. See The Pull for more information on this topic.

What you need to know as the Puller

Don't pull from the middle of a group. Try to pull as few mobs as possible. If you are not the Tank, keep the group well away from you so that if you have a bad pull, they don't fall into the aggro radius of the extra mobs - you can be resurrected to try again. Bring the mobs to the party, not the party to the mobs. If you're pulling a ranged mob or caster, make sure you go back all the way to the group, and even beyond.

Only pull mobs specified by the Leader and only once he has given you permission to pull. Also make sure you are not pulling the mob that is targetted by the Sheeper for crowd control. --Dracomage 17:49, 8 Nov 2005 (EST)

What you need to know to assist the Puller

Under no circumstances should anyone other than the Puller cause Aggro during the Pull. If you're a Mage, do not Poly into the group unless the Pull gains Adds, and then only when the Adds are expected. Unexpected Adds will cause the pull to be aborted by the puller, aggroing mobs on an aborted pull will hurt. Remember to give the puller plenty of room so that in the case of a bad pull, only the puller dies. When a ranged mob or caster is being pulled, stay where you are until the puller goes even farther back from the group so that you don't aggro any more than the puller did.

--StarGazer 17:44, 21 Jul 2005 (EDT)

The Sheeper

If you have a Mage along, their role in the opening stages of a battle will be to [Polymorph] any Adds. One often hears Mages complain that "Polymorph is all they bring to a battle." That's absolutely untrue, but Polymorph is the strongest skill that Mages bring to a battle. Why complain about your strongest skill? That's like a Warrior complaining that all they bring to a battle is Tanking skills. It's very important that Polymorph be used correctly, and that the other members of the group refrain from attacking Polymorphed mobs. Most newbie groups get all excited and try and attack everything at once. This is a recipe for failure.

Of course, Polymorph only works on humanoids and beasts. Depending on the mobs in the instance, you may find that someone else is taking care of crowd control. Priests, for instance, can Shackle Undead. If you don't have a mage in your party, you might have to rely on a Rogue to sap or a Warlock's succubus to charm. A mage is still ideal, though, because that is intended to be his primary role.

What you need to know as Sheeper

Be sure the party knows which mob you are going to sheep, that way they know not to start attacking it or fire off AoE or DoT just before you sheep it. The simplest way to do this is to work it out before the fight starts. Or to have a simple rule like "the rightmost mob" or "the highest level". You might even want to make a macro to annnounce your target just before casting the spell. Make sure your target has no DoT on it as this will break the sheeping. Don't get too distracted casting damage spells that you miss an opportunity to sheep an add.

What you need to know to assist the Sheeper

Do not attack Sheeped mobs. Period. Have this tattooed on your hands if you need to. A Polymorphed mob can stay that way for a long, long time during a battle, and it's one less mob you have to worry about fighting. If your mage has said he will sheep mobs attacking cloth wearers (especially Priests), it requires a little discipline on the part of the cloth wearer to not attack the target.

Mods that can prevent sheep breaking include: DefendYourself and Sheep Defender only use one of the these mods at a time. --Muert 16:47, 19 Nov 2005 (EST)

Picking a target

Just a little additional note: It often helps to pick your sheeping target before the pull. This is not to say you should sheep before the fight has started, that is a fantastic suicide method as stated above. I find it does help, however, to let the party know which mob you will be sheeping. Obviously this requires some practice as you have to judge which mobs will accompany the pull, though, it never hurts to say "if the caster adds, I'll sheep it" or some such. Furthermore, you need to wait a while before sheeping. If you sheep a couple of seconds after the pull, odds are that sheep will wander back into mobs you're not ready to fight yet. This last point is negated if you have the misfortune to be puller and sheeper at the same time, as you can frost bolt, let the mob crawl towards you and pick another target just in time to sheep before the add engages you. --Malichi 02:17, 23 Jan 2005 (EST)

Helpful tip: a mage can visually mark a mob using Detect Magic, a very inexpensive spell. I typically use a macro like this:

/p I'm going to sheep this %t.
/cast DetectMagic

After the pull, obviously do not sheep mobs that your Melee members are attacking, as you'll just be wasting the spell. A polymorphed creature very rapidly regains full health/mana, so casting it on a damaged target should only be done as a last resort.

As to not attacking the preselected Poly target, if the mage still has that target, you can select the mage and hit F or type /assist <mage name> to see which target he has selected.

Breaking Polymorph

There are a number of differing opinions as to when you should break poly. One extreme is the player who breaks poly as soon as he's run out of other things to kill. Doing that to a dangerous elite when the party is low on health and mana can get you killed. No serious player breaks polymorph when there are other active mobs except by accident.

The ultra-cautious approach is to always, even if you've killed every other mob except for one single Polymorphed creature, allow it to remain polymorphed until it breaks Poly naturally. This allows the maximum time to heal or regain Mana. This approach is fine if you prefer the game slow and methodical. However, it is worth bearing in mind that, while a poly is active, you are still in combat and cannot eat or drink. There is also the difficulty that it can catch you unawares, and that mob will head straight for the mage. Finally, especially if a warrior has a full rage bar, it might actually be better to let him unload that rage immediately. As with all of these things, it's a matter of judgement, but the following guidelines for breaking should help:

• Eliminate all other mobs.
• Check the rest of your party's mana and health.
• Try to get aggro on a tank and off the mage.
• Especially true for groups you don't know: ask them if they're ready.

There's an even simpler rule: Let the puller decide. Deciding when to break polymorph and when to pull are similar decisions. --Xwrn

The Healer

Nearly every group needs a primary healer. Priests are the most versatile healers, but Druids and Shamans are also generally capable of being primary healers. Paladins can heal, but their heals are generally weaker and they cannot usually uphold the role of primary healer. The primary healer's job is to maintain the health of the rest of the group throughout the instance.

Usually in a five-man group there is also a secondary healer, one who has a different main role, but who will switch to healing in difficult situations.

As a Healer

• You are there to heal. Period. If you're not there to heal, you shouldn't be there at all.
• Pay attention! A cloth wearer can die in a few seconds if he is attacked, always have your eyes on the party members' health bars.
• Don't waste mana on other things than healing, unless you are absolutely sure you won't run out of it.
• The most important party member to keep alive is you, the healer. Don't be a hero, you can't heal anyone if dead.
• The second most important member to keep alive is the tank, he will always take damage, but at a relatively slow and predictable rate.
• Your job isn't to keep everyone at full health, it's to keep everyone alive. If at the end, everyone has 2% health, it's better than everyone at 100% and one dead. If you've got a tank complaining that he's fallen to 80% health, he needs to get a grip.
• Be wary of your party members' armour classes in order to know what kind of damage to expect. A cloth user will usualy need to be healed before someone in plate, etc.
• Be prepared to instantly heal/shield mages, especialy when they do AoE spells. Their health drops like a stone when beaten.
• Try to keep an eye on what's going on around you, not just the party's health bars. That might give you a hint on who will soon need healing and also make sure you keep party members in sight.
• It's also a good idea to keep an eye behind your back for patrols, since you are usually the one staying furthest behind the others and it might take a while for the tank to realise you are under attack by another group of mobs.
• For the sake of all healers involved, please use a macro (maybe have party skills/macros organized all on one quickbar) such as:

/cast Holy Light(Rank 3)
/s <<< Holy Light on %t >>>

This macro is because someone needs to know when they are neglected (in favor of another, or simply general negligence) so that they might drink a potion or a secondary healer might help them. But you must make sure that from where you'll be standing, the comment will reach everyone involved. The reason for the /s is that in most cases, people will be talking in party chat, and healing should stand out for anyone to see. Also, it's irrelevant to know from afar that one party member is healing another.

Secondary healers should switch to healing if:

• The primary healer is out of mana. The primary healer should notify the group when this happens, by typing /oom, or having a macro that says something to that effect.
• The primary healer is being attacked. In this case, the group's first priority must be to pull the aggro off of the primary healer. Not only is it difficult to heal when being attacked, but if they cast more heals, it will generate more threat and make it more difficult for the group to pull the mobs off. So it is the secondary healer's job to heal them.
• It is a very difficult pull and the healer cannot sustain sufficient healing per second.

Working with a Healer

• To assist the healer, the most important thing is to keep aggro off of them. You should pay attention to who the monsters are attacking -- if there's even a small non-elite on the healer, his healing capability will be drastically reduced.
• The second most important thing is to stay in range and in line of sight. If the healer gets errors when he tries to heal you, either he has to figure out where you are and then move his character, or he will simply let you die because other people need healing more. Remember, he is watching life bars and not the world around him.
• Try not to take aggro from the tanks if you dont have to, especialy if you have poor armour and little health.
• Also remember that the Healer likes to occasionally gain experience, loot bodies for Cloth, and activate Quest items, just like you. Since the Healer is in back of the group, he/she has to do all these things after the battle is over, so do not simply run off looking for the next group of monsters. Also be aware that while the Healer is filling your Health bar, they're draining their Mana bar. Be considerate and allow them to recharge.

The Tank

Regardless of which class is Tanking, it must be remembered that the primary job of the Tank is to hold Aggro. Much as Priests must avoid the temptation to Nuke, the Tank must avoid the temptation to try and duel one mob at a time. The Tank absolutely must realize that they are there to keep the mobs off the Cloth classes. If you see an Add go after your Priest, it's your job to pull it off. Far too often Tanks will just stand there, slugging it out with one mob, while the rest of the party dies. If your group is working properly, a Tank ought to be able to hold Aggro on multiple mobs at a time. Remember, as a Tank, it's not your job to kill the mobs. It's your job to keep the mobs from killing your other group members. As long as you have Rogues and Mages to dish out damage and a Healer to keep you alive, the one and only thing that you need to worry about is making sure that every mob in the fight is hitting you, not someone else.

What you need to know as a Tank

Your job is to hold Aggro. Period. Especially keep mobs off your Healer, as the Healer is the guy keeping you alive. Use taunt, sunder armor, and the shield block/revenge combo for the best effect.

You need to do your best to mitigate damage so that the healer isn't streaming their mana into you. Increase your dodge, parry, block and melee defense ratings the best you can and most of all wear a shield and sit in defensive stance. In addition to this, you should not be using spells like Death Wish when you are the main tank, especially for boss fights and larger battles. These skills and stances have their value, just not when you are the main tank.

Remember to change your targets. Once you have generated sufficient aggro, you should move onto the next in the attacking group (not an idle mob out of combat) so that when the rest of your party is done killing the original, you have already instilled some hate in their next target.

What you need to know to assist the Tank

Do not pull Adds. The Tank has a hard enough time without you pulling extra mobs on to him. Assist the Tank, and kill what he's fighting. If you're a Healer, know the Tank's health bar better than your own.

Avoid AoE damage as this will aggro all the mobs onto you and then the tank has to herd them all back onto him.

If you're getting attacked DO NOT RUN. Running does nothing but make it harder for the tank to target the mobs attacking you. Stand still or move towards the tank.

If the tank doesn't notice you're being attacked, say something.

Allow time for the tank to build aggro before attacking. Generally, healers should try to avoid healing the tank for the first few seconds of the fight, and other classes should avoid doing massive amounts of damage or threat at the outset.

Wait for the Leader and/or Main Tank to announce that you should start assisting the Main Tank. Only then start dealing damage. Usefull macro for assisting the Main Tank: /assist <MainTank CharacterName> --Dracomage 17:49, 8 Nov 2005 (EST)

The Scout

Usually a rogue or druid with their stealth, a Warlock using The Eye of Kilrogg, or a priest using [Mind Vision]. The scout is anyone who can stealth to scout ahead around corners and inside rooms to avoid the party running smack into a pile of mobs. While not a critical part of a party they can be useful in tight, twisty, dense instances. Also, remember that Hunters can scout ahead, behind, around corners, through doors, etc. all at once provided their tracking is set to an appropriate type.

Should the scout draw a lot of aggro, too much for the party to deal with, let her die. Do not attack, do not assist, do not heal. Allow the scout to die. Once the scout is dead the mobs will have no targets and the battle is over. She can then be rez'd and the party can continue on their way having avoided a wipe. A good scout knows they're expendable. See Surviving a Wipe for more details.

About the most important thing you can know about working with a scout is this: If the scout is stealthed and moving forward DO NOT FOLLOW HER! This may seem obvious but it happens all the time: The scout sneaks stealthly into a room filled with mobs only to find a party member lumbering behind her. There's a natural urge for other party members to want to edge forward and have a look. Even if you can stealth too, resist the urge to go forward and take a peek, you'll just get in the way.

The Main Assist

Organized groups will assign a Main Assist or MA. This is not the same as the Main Tank or MT. The MA is a member of the party who will NOT be changing targets in the middle of a fight, but will hold his target on the same adversary until dead or nearly dead and then select the next target for destruction. The MT must remain free to change targets to round up aggro or pull aggro off his healer or the mage when his/her sheep wears off. Rogues make great MAs, as do Hunters and Paladins. Note: this was taken from a post by Tursi on the WOW general forum. If you use this technique in your group you'll never go back :-)

Following is a copy of the original post by Tursi Don't be a Newb: Learn to Assist!

It's been a while since I've pinged this concept across the community board and felt it was time for a refresher course for the thick-skulled Battle.net kiddies who think they "know it all" and for folks new to the game who want to stand out in both their Pickup Groups (PUGs) and in their guild.

The Single Target Concept Imagine the benefits of being able to quickly shift an entire group's damage output onto one target at a time. Realize that regardless of the number of mobs being engaged at once your group's potential DPS output remains the same, with the exception of AoE nukes. However, the number of mobs multiplies the damage being taken by the group the longer each mob survives. Quickly eliminating individual sources of incoming DPS is the most efficient means of disposing of enemies. (It does absolutely no good to get 8 mobs down to 5% health when all 8 are beating on your group at 100%.)

There are countless other benefits to focusing on one mob at a time including reduced mana drain on healers, reduced heal aggro on healers, and avoidance of trap, sheep, and seduction breakage. (Those familiar with this please expound, I don't want this OP to become too bulky.)

The built-in Assist Function As with several other MMOs, WoW comes complete with an Assist Function. It is defaulted to the "F" key and may be remapped using the Key Binding menu under "Targeting Functions." The function is also available as a macro command, "/assist" or "/assist [Player Name]"

What it does: Hitting Assist while targeting another player or mob will result in your target shifting to their's. Say I have a Monstrous Plaguebat targeted and you have me targeted. When you press Assist, you will now be targeting the same Monstrous Plaguebat. If your buddy targets me and hits Assist, he will also start targeting the same Monstrous Plaguebat as you and I.

Organized groups will assign a Main Assist or MA. This is not the same as the Main Tank or MT. The MA is a member of the party who will NOT be changing targets in the middle of a fight, but will hold his target on the same adversary until dead or nearly dead and then select the next target for destruction. The MT must remain free to change targets to round up aggro or pull aggro off his healer or the mage when his/her sheep wears off. Rogues make great MAs, as do Hunters and Padadins.

At some point almost everyone has heard the phrase, "Set your assists to [So and So]." True to human nature, if you had no clue what was being said you probably said nothing. What this means is that a MA has been assigned and that all party members should edit their Assist macros to include "/assist [So and So]".

This is how you now target. If you're Tab Targeting, you are a newb. All targeting should now be filtered through the MA. Using Assist eliminates any question as to whether or not you are on the correct mob. If you've ever been yelled at for being on the wrong mob consistantly, this is what you were being yelled at for.

Practice this, grab a guildie and work on it if you have to. (I recently spent almost an hour teaching a MC geared druid what Assist was all about. He was absolutely clueless.) Groups that successfully Assist perform better than a group 5 levels higher that does not. (I have witnessed a group of all lvl 35s wtfpwn Scarlet Monastery, and a group of all 40s wipe 3 times only halfway through.)

Being a newb is your prerogative. Take this for what it's worth.

Edit and Post-Script For anyone interested in seeing an Assist tutorial added to the game, please visit: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-suggestions&t=552685&s=new&tmp=1#new and voice your support.

Here is a basic step-by-step procedure for creation of an "Assist" macro for anyone who's never worked with the Macro Editor before and the people who love them. It's very simple, even for first timers.

1) Open your macro editor either by typing "/macro" or by opening the Main Menu (Esc) and clicking "Macros."

2) Click "New"

3) Name it. (ie "Assist") Originality 4tw

4) Select an Icon. Any will do, whatever makes you happy inside.

5) Click "Accept."

6) In the macro text window type: /assist Tursi

6a) (Optional) Next line: /p Don't yell at me, I'm assisting on %t!

6b) (Optional) Next line: /raspberry

7) Drag the icon from the Macro Editor onto the hotbar.

8) For each new MA the macro will need to be edited to include the name of the MA in place of "Tursi." To edit the macro simply re-open the Macro Editor, click the icon you made for "Assist," and edit the text in the window. Then close the window.

Damage Dealers

After the fight has started and the Tank is holding Aggro, everyone who is not the Tank, Healer or Sheeper should assist the Tank. The biggest novice mistake anyone makes is to abandon the Tank and start dueling with non-aggroed mobs. Grouping is not about seeing how many mobs you can fight at once. It's about being fast, efficient, and safe. Target the highest level/Elite mob that's attacking your Tank, and help him kill it as quickly as possible. Please note: The exception to this is when you are trying to take down many mobs at the same time. Warlocks using large amounts of DoT spells, Mages using AE, and pets helping via off-tanking will be attacking other targets as well. In this kind of situation, the safest and most efficient choice (though many disagree), is to weaken most of the mobs before starting AE and making sure the tank is changing targets frequently while the Warlock's DoTs and AE take effect.

-- AlexanderYoshi 10:45, 20 Jan 2005 (EST)

All Damage Dealers should have the follow macro on their quick bars: /assist <MainTank CharacterName> Use this before the pull and make sure this targetted enemy dies before you switch targets. If the initial target dies, hit the macro button again to acquire next mob targetted by the Main Tank and assist with killing it. The only exception is the Off-tank who's responsibility it is to tank any adds that join the fight, or to get agro off the Healer. --Dracomage 17:49, 8 Nov 2005 (EST)

When It All Goes Wrong

Incorrigible Personality Types

Most of this Guide is obviously geared towards Pickup groups or Guilds that haven't yet established Raiding parties. If you're in a group that already works, you probably don't need this Guide. But what if you're in a group that doesn't work, and there doesn't seem to be a way to fix it?

There are basic "incorrigible" personality types that will destroy any group.

The Accidental Aggro-Master (Affectionaly referred to as 'Leeroy')

This is the guy who's always running off from the main group, pulling Adds on the group from every direction.

The Family Outfitter

This guy whines for every single piece of equipment, because "he has a brother who needs it."

The Rambo

This type of player has an irresistable urge to go and kill mobs, and believe in their god-given invincibility. After each kill, they immediately go off in search of the next one, not caring what the rest of their party is doing. Usually results in their death and party wipe, and is almost always followed by "Where was my heal?"

The Lone Wolf

You never even know who this guy is, because his locator dot is always half a zone away.

Speed Racer

The inevitable member who runs at top speed towards every chest, Quest device, or shiny object in the Instance, usually resulting in Adds, a scattered group, and a Wipe.

The Jackass

The guy that complains about everything. He's usually a Warrior complaining that the Mage is "rolling on all the Cloth items."

The Ninja

This jerk is related to the Speed Racer, but also will roll on every BOP (Bind on Pickup) item wheather can use or not, AND will grab every chest/item he/she can. There have been instances that this type has waited till everyone else has passed on an item, then pick it up and hearth home. These types deserve KOS.

When you find yourself Grouped with people like this, your best course of action is to simply find another group. If that's not an option, then do your best to ignore them, and/or ask the Group Leader to handle it. If you are the group leader, simply Boot them and find a new member. If they are the Group Leader, either deal with it or leave, but keep in mind that you're probably destined for failure.

Dying with Dignity

You're gonna die. You've only got a little health left. There's a monster beating on you or a spell flying at you and in a few more hits it'll be all over. What can you do?

DO NOT RUN! I can't say this enough. You can't escape, the mobs will follow you all the way to the instance entrance (and worse, if your party wipes, those monsters will remain at the instance entrance to greet you as you reenter the instance, often requiring an instance reset). You can't dodge their attacks. Running just makes it harder for people to help you. It makes it harder for the tank to get the mob off of you and save you. You might aggro more mobs making the rest of the party's time even more miserable. Running does nothing to help you. However, bearing this in mind, if you have reincarnation or a soulstone, it is appropriate to die a way back from the mobs so that you can resurrect without aggroing them.

Do let the rest of the party know you're dying. The healer and tank may not have noticed. A simple yell of "HEAL" or "HELP" will do. The tank has ways to pull all mobs onto him or a priest can shield you.

Do try to die in an easy to find place clear of mobs to make rezing you easier.

Don't release on death. This allows you to share in any reward after the battle. It also leaves your name above your head and a dot on the minimap so the healer can find you to rez. It is often hard to locate a dead party member in a pile of corpses or in lava if they have released.

Do remember to pop a healing potion. If you run out of healing potions see if another party member will give you one for such an emergency.

Surviving a Wipe

So a horde of mobs is racing towards you and certain doom is at hand. You're all gonna die. What now? It is possible to recover from this sort of situation and avoid a wipe, if certain key members of the party act quickly, decisively and without remorse. The whole idea is to keep someone alive who can rez.

First, the leader has to decide that a wipe is inevitable and announce this to the rest of the party so they can take appropriate actions without doubt or hesitation.

If the puller is distanced from the party and none of the other party members have attacked he can simply die. Do not assist the puller. Do not heal him. Do not attack any of the mobs. Once the puller is dead the mobs will have no targets and the battle is over. The puller can be rez'd (it helps if he dies in an area clear of mobs) and try again.

Then most important is the actions of the priest, or any member of the party which can rez. If the healer does not aggro any mobs they will not attack him after the rest of the party has died. This means she can escape death and rez the rest of the party. So in a wipe situation the best action for the healer to take is nothing. Just back away from the fight and let everyone die. Then resurrect them. This may seem cruel but if a wipe is inevitable it is the fastest way to get the party going again.

Druids can try to cast [Rebirth] on a partymember who can rez, if this happens, the reborn partymember should wait until after the battle, then resurrect and rez the rest of the party. Also, casting rebirt on the main tank might effectively prevent a wipe. If a wipe does occur, the druid might be able to sneak back in, past mobs, and cast rebirth on a partymember who can then rez the rest of the party.

Any rogues can use [Vanish] to escape the fight and save themselves. If they happen to be engineers they can use jumper cables to have a chance of resurrecting the healer. Otherwise they should return to the instance entrance to clear the way for the rest of the party's return.

Any shamans in the party can be a lifesaver in case of a wipe. Their [Reincarnation] ability allows a shaman to resurrect himself and start resurrecting the entire party. When the leader announces the inevitability of a wipe, or when the situation is indicative of a wipe, the shaman should find a safe spot to die. This simply entails running off and finding a space clear of mobs. When everybody's dead, all the mobs have run off and everything has calmed down, the shaman can reincarnate and start resurrecting. A very important aspect of this, is that the shaman should never, ever, reincarnate in combat, as he will reincarnate with minimal mana and health and waste his ability for at least 40 minutes.

Paladins can place another rezzer out of combat and safe with their devine intervention spell. The Paladin sacrifices himself with the spell (and a reagant) to ensure 1 person's safety. That person will not be able to move or do anything for a couple of seconds. There after (if out of range from mobs) they can then proceed to rez the group. --Dracomage 17:49, 8 Nov 2005 (EST)

See the Wipe page for more.

Summing It All Up

In summation, it's not difficult to have a good Grouping experience. However, it's even easier to have a disastrous one. Remember that teamwork is the key, with each person filling their role to contribute to the success of the whole. The entire group must focus on each task as a team, or the entire group fails. == Per Class Tips ==

Shaman

As a Shaman

• Don't forget to use your totems, particularly the ones with party-wide effects. If there is another shaman in the group, coordinate totems as the effects of party-buffing totems do not stack.

• Avoid Searing Totems as they may aggro additional mobs.

• Use [Earthbind Totem] and [Frost Shock] to slow monsters from running away.

• Unless you're tank, avoid [Rockbiter Weapon] or  [Stoneclaw] as you'll pull aggro away from the tank. Though they can be useful in a secondary or emergency tanking role.

• Avoid [Earth Shock] like the plague, as it will draw aggro from the tank. The exception may be when you need a quick shot of threat to deflect attention from a squishy.

• Should a wipe be inevitable and you can use your [Reincarnation], take precautionary measures and find a spot clear of mobs to die. This enables you to use your [Reincarnation] ability safely and resurrect the entire party.

• Keep an eye on the main healer's mana as you may need to switch to secondary healer. In a difficult fight, conserve mana by avoiding shock spells so you have plenty to heal with.

• Remember your totems have an aggro radius too. Don't set them too close before a fight. If a patrol comes, you may need to reset your totems to a new location to avoid adding them.

Working with a Shaman

• Stay close to the totems he drops. Many of them affect any group members (or enemies) within 20 yards (distance may vary), and if you run away, drawing the monsters with you in most cases, you're basically wasting the shaman's mana. On the flip side of that, if the mobs start to stray a bit, try to draw them closer to the shaman's totems.

• If the Shaman is taking on an Area of Effect role in a situation, do not draw the mobs away from the [Magma Totem] which has only a 8 yard range.

Hunter

As a Hunter

• Make sure your pet is on passive, fights will descend into furballs and you will lose track of your pet. Also, this is a great way to get yourself booted from a raid or party. Keep your pet on passive.
• Note, the one and only exception to this rule is dealing with Area of Effect mobs.
  • You only have two Area of Effect attacks and your pet can retarget faster than you can (keep your pet on passive). In this single case is it acceptable to put your pet on defensive, and only when you are positive you can survive the pounding you are going to receive.

• Don't send your pet in until the mob is fully pulled away from any adds and make sure you do not have your pet set to automatically taunt. It is bad to pull the aggro off of your main tank, it makes it tougher for the healer of the group to heal multiple targets. Your pet does not have the damage mitigation of the main tank and will require more of your healer's mana and attention to keep him alive. When/if the pet dies, any mobs that he was aggroing will propagate to the next highest source of threat and if the healer has been doing a lot of healing, it could migrate right to them.

• Use your tracking skills to alert the party of any incoming patrols.

• Hunters make great pullers, however don't assume you're pulling, and in most groups the warrior will still be pulling. However in the cases where your group aggrees to let you pull, do not stand where you shoot. After your initial shot, you should back up to pull mobs back through your group. If you do not move back, you have negated any point to you being the group puller.

• In most cases you and your pet will make for a great offtank role (moreso when you have achieved the ability to use mail armor at level 40). Your pet's taunt will easily help to pull mobs off of the softer cloth wearing members of your party, just remember not to activate it for automatic usage.

• If you're using a Freeze Trap, make sure you specify in some way which mob will be drawn into the trap so your party members will know not to attack it. You may choose to say not to attack the one with [Hunter's Mark] on it, or to only attack that. Also note that, especially as [Hunter's Mark] increases ranged attack power against that target, it's typically easiest to mark a mob and tell your party to attack it. Then, pull with [Concussive Shot] to slow it down to make sure one of the other mobs reaches the trap first.

• Maybe you've heard about the [Feign Death] + Trap combo. This works because if you and your pet are not fighting anyone (attacking or being attacked) and you [Feign Death], you leave combat. As you stand back up, you are still out of combat, and can lay a trap. Use this to your advantage to re-freeze an enemy in crowded situations or drop an Explosive Trap for some good AoE damage.

• On the same note, when you use [Feign Death], your health and mana bars drop to nothing as if you were really dead. This can give your healers a heart attack, so you may wish to make a macro that alerts them in party chat that you are, in fact, not dead and will be getting back up as soon as the action around you cools down.

• Learn how to set up and properly execute a Perfect Zone of Ultimate Safety. Know what to do when a pull goes bad and be prepared to educate others.

Working with a Hunter

• Don't think you can pull better than he can. Nothing draws less aggro than rank 1 [Arcane Shot], you can't outrange him, you don't have a pet to sacrifice, you don't have [Disengage] and you can't [Feign Death] when the pull goes horribly wrong. However many hunters do not know how to use these skills, so do not be afraid to teach them this, or tell them to let the main tank do the pulling.

• Those cute little blue things the hunter is always placing on the ground are Freezing Traps. They only work out of combat, and they affect the first mob to come within range. Do not attack the first mob to come around the corner if you see the hunter laying one of those down. Attack the second. Do not put a DoT on something that may become trapped. Wait to choose your target.

• A good hunter can use their Detect skills, traps, [Eyes of the Beast], [Eagle Eye], and [Hunter's Mark] to plan and setup a pull before it begins. If they ask you to not attack until the mobs reach a certain point or to go after a certain mob first (usually indicated by [Hunter's Mark]), it's usually a good idea to listen to them (unless of course they're bad at this).

• Learn how to set up and properly execute a Perfect Zone of Ultimate Safety. If a pull goes bad, leave the pulled mobs alone. The hunter should be able to abort the pull and the mobs will go back where they came from. If the hunter dies, the mobs will also go back where they came from (if left alone), and the hunter can be resurrected to try again.

Rogue

As a Rogue

• Only certain mobs run, use [Crippling Poison] when fighitng those mobs to slow mobs when they run away.

• [Crippling Poison] can also be used to effectively off tank mobs by kiting.

• [Sap] is not as effective as other CC options. With out improved sap you are exposed afterward. With [Improved Sap] you still miss one in ten saps. Make sure your party knows what version of [Sap] you have (imporved or not) before you use it.

• It is possible to use 2 Non-imp Saps simultaneously by having a 3rd party count for you.

• Announce which target you are going to [Sap] (using a macro).

• Use your [Kick]! Keep an eye out for casters or healers that are standing back and warming up spells. Disrupting their spell with a [Kick] will often send them running up into melee -- making them much less effective.

Working with a Rogue

• Do NOT follow a Stealthed rogue! It's really hard to be sneaky with a warrior clanking along behind you.

• Do not set a rogue as main assist. A rogue cannot be assisted while in [Stealth] by people not in his immediate party.

• When a rogue is Sapping, the mage must wait for sap before he sheeps. Else, mobs will be in combat.

Druid

As a Druid

• You will usually be expected to be the primary healer.
• Know your role in the party and stick to it. If you're healing, don't go into bear form and pretend you're tank. Don't switch to cat form and try to follow the rogue in on scouting missions. (This doesn't mean you never should use forms when healing, but remember what your role is).
• If you are scouting, be ready to let yourself get killed rather than drag a bunch of angry mobs directly into the party.
• If you have Innervate and there is another priest healing in the group/raid, consider using it on him instead of yourself. Then you can go cat or bear and help with the fight.
• If a wipe is imminent try to cast [Rebirth] on a partymember who can rez, if this happens, the reborn party member should wait until after the battle, then resurrect and then rez the rest of the party. Also, casting [Rebirth] on the main tank might effectively prevent a wipe. However keep in mind who is soulstoned so you don't waste your rebirth for naught.
• After a wipe you might be able to sneak back in, past mobs, and cast rebirth on a party member who can then rez the rest of the party. You might want to inform your party of this in the beginig so they dont rez directly.
• Bring reagents for [Rebirth] and [Gift of the Wild]!
• Put [Mark of the Wild] on your party, or [Gift of the Wild] if you are higher than level 50.
• Put [Thorns] on the tanks to help them keep aggro, never put thorns on healers.

If you are tanking

• [Demoralizing Roar] creates aggro on everyone around you, use it often.
• Use [Growl] to pull mobs of squishy party members, especialy the healer.
• Save [Challenging Roar] for emergencies.
• [Maul] is good for keeping aggro on a single target, Swipe and [Demoralizing Roar] can be better for keeping aggro on multiple targets.
• Let the healer heal you, but dont die, use [Frenzied Regeneration] in emergencies.

If you are healing

• Go bear if you are attacked, you dont want to die and can hardly heal when being beaten anyway.

Warlock

As a Warlock

• Unless your party needs a secondary tank, don't use your Voidwalker. Use a damage dealing minion such as the Imp or Succubus.

• See "Additional Notes" about using fear. When in doubt, don't use it.

• Make sure your minion is on defensive or passive.

• Create a [Soulstone] for the healer. That way, should she die and be the only one capable of rezing, you can bring her back.

The Warlock should pay close attention to the timer, and ensure a new Soulstone is placed before the previous one runs out. --Dracomage 17:49, 8 Nov 2005 (EST)

• Create Healthstones for your party members. In instances it is easy to use [Drain Soul] fairly often, so it should be no problem to keep everyone around supplied with healthstones all the time. Don't forget to tell everyone to ask for a new one, if they used theirs.

Working with a Warlock

• As Warlocks can heal themselves with Healthstones, try not to heal them if their HP is above 60%, you're wasting mana or unless they ask for a heal. Warlocks will RARELY heal themselves with Healthstones. They are horribly mana-inefficient. They will use thier life-leach line of spells.

• PLEASE!! If a Warlock is scouting, (Using the Eye of Kilrogg - Little floating green ball) Watch their body, they can't see or hear what is happening to them, they're off elsewhere. Don't forget that they use it to help you too. Nothing worse than scouting for the group and come back to see they've left you behind and now you're being attacked. SPECIAL NOTE : This spell doesn't stop once under attack, and the Warlock doesn't hear anything. In essence, the Warlock is only there physically.
  • The same goes for Hunters using [Eyes of the Beast].

Paladin

As a Paladin

• At the beginning of the Raid/Group, set a macro to use [Divine Intervention]:
  

/target [Party Member Name]
/s <<< Casting Divine Intervention on %t >>>
/cast Divine Intervention

If the leader announces a wipe is going to occur, cast [Divine Intervention]. You must weigh whether or not the spell is worth the effort into the instance thus far, as the cool down is 1 hour on the spell. Discuss at the start of the raid who you have targeted and what Divine Intervention does. Target someone who can Ressurect. When the spell resolves, the targeted person should begin running back to a safe place to res people after the mobs have dropped aggro.
MAKE SURE you bring reagents for the spell!

• Watch the healer's life bar. Casting a [Holy Light] on them can be an effective way to draw aggro away from them, especially if the Main Tank has fallen or can't make it to the healer in time.
• Use your healing if the main healer(s) can't keep up with all the healing required. It's helpful to set a macro to notify when you're healing someone.

• Debuff ( [Cleanse]) Diseases, Magics and Poisons. Some fear affects are magic and can be Cleansed.

• Buff Party Members. Blessings can be a pain to manage because of their limited timer, but they are beneficial. Be sure to coordinate with other Paladins for strengths of buffs (buffs don't stack) and to give multiple types of buffs to party members.

As a Paladin recast your Blessing often - do not wait for them to expire. --Dracomage 17:49, 8 Nov 2005 (EST)

• • Buffs for Party Members:
    In general, you should ask what folks prefer. If they have a good reason, accomodate. Here are some basic starting points, though:
    • Paladins: Coordinate with other paladins to not duplicate/overwrite buffs of their own. [Blessing of Might], [Blessing of Wisdom] or [Blessing of Kings] generally work well.
    • Rogues: [Blessing of Might] or [Blessing of Kings].
    • Mages/Priests: May ask for [Blessing of Wisdom], but the best option for them is [Blessing of Salvation]. If more than one Paladin is in the party, [Blessing of Light] or [Blessing of Wisdom] is also good.
    • Warriors: [Blessing of Might] or [Blessing of Kings] or [Blessing of Sanctuary].
    • Warlocks: [Blessing of Wisdom].
    • Hunters: [Blessing of Wisdom] or [Blessing of Kings]. Do NOT use Might as it only affects melee attack power.
    • Druids: Changes depending on their role. [Blessing of Wisdom] if they are healing or spell casting; [Blessing of Kings] if they're playing a versatile role; [Blessing of Sanctuary] if they're tanking. ( [Blessing of Sanctuary] is in the Protection talent tree, and requires 10 points applied before it. Where Sanctuary is unavailable, Might might be desirable.)

• Salvation is good for keeping classes that generate a lot of hate safe. It is the most effective blessing currently in game and unless your group manages aggro spectacularly (ie a non-PuG) then everyone in the group except the main tank should expect to have this blessing cast on them.
• Light is simply good any time you want to be able to heal that character more effectively. Of course, this does deprive them of a Blessing that improves them more directly.
• Just about anyone can use Kings, as it improves everything. Still, other blessings are often a better choice to use, particularly on casters.

• Use auras effectively. If the primary source of damage is physical, use  [Devotion]. If the instance is firey, use Fire Resistance. If there are more than one paladin in the party, coordinate auras. They don't stack.

• In AoE Nuke sessions, it's effective to combo [Seal of Fury] with [Consecration] while the Nuker takes out the group. The holy damage from [Consecration] can draw aggro away from the mage and to you.

Working with a Paladin

• Ask for Blessings if the paladin is not diligent in giving them out. They require very little mana, and while they last only 5 minutes, they do benefit. Remind the Paladin between battles to reapply blessings, if they don't remember on their own. Please however do not demand blessings or changes to applied blessings.

• Until patch 1.9, do not expect to be buffed in groups larger than a standard party all of the time. Give your paladins time to buff in larger boss battles in the raid fights. Too often everyone else in the party gives their ready signal and the Paladins have not finished buffing and the fight starts, everyone half buffed and the paladin missing most of their mana.

• If the paladin has recently been resurrected, ask him to put up his aura if he has failed to do so. And if you want a specific aura, request that (do not expect to get it).

• Ask for [Cleanse] if you need one. It's hard to keep track of lots of people's buffs/debuffs.

Priest

As a Priest

• You will generally be expected to be the primary healer. See above in the Healers section for more information.

• In a five-man instance, when all is well, you should generally use [Greater Heal] for efficiency on the tank and [Flash Heal] on any other players who are being hurt. If you have the Improved Renew talent, use [Renew] on hurt players as well. (If you don't, it's less mana-efficient than [Flash Heal].)

• When all is not well and the group needs significant healing during a fight, switch to using [Power Word: Shield], [Flash Heal] and [Renew].

• [Fade] when you get aggro. If you have monsters on you and you can't [Fade] or it didn't work, inform your group immediately so they can help you.

• Don't use [Psychic Scream] except in very specific circumstances. See the "additional notes" below.

• Pre-battle, a Priest should make sure that everyone in the group has Fortitude. Unfortunately, casting this tends to completely deplete your mana. Make sure other players allow you some downtime after you rebuff.

A note on power word shield

Ideally, if you're going to shield someone, it should be pre-combat, which gains no aggro. The only other use for shield in a battle is as a "don't die" button. Shield is very mana-inefficient compared to [Renew], [Flash Heal] and [Greater Heal]. The first mistake a new priest makes is shielding the puller just after he has pulled. Although shield is threat-efficient, it happens all at once upfront, and you will see the mob run at you every time you do that. On the other hand, shielding a character who is dying because they've unloaded a massive amount of damage will rarely make you a target.

This must be said: if you find yourself using Shield a lot during a battle, it's a sign that one of the following things are wrong:

• You're not paying enough attention to your Heals.
• Your Tank isn't holding Aggro.
• Someone in your group is pulling Adds when they shouldn't.

The people who will typically need Shielding are Mages and other low-armor Nukers who have temporarily gained Aggro. Watch the lifebars of your Mages in particular, as one large Nuke can gain them a lot of unwanted attention from mobs.

Working with a Priest

• See the Healers section for more information. You need to keep aggro off the Priest and stay within range and line of sight.

Mage

As a Mage

• Before heading off to the instance, make sure you have enough reagents for portal and [Arcane Brilliance] spells.
• There is almost always some waiting before the group is ready to start an instance. Use that time to make plenty of food and water for everyone. As you move through the instance, it's a good idea to maintain an extra stack or two in your inventory so you can just hand it off instead of wasting time creating it on the spot.
• You should not pull aggro unless you are using AoE attacks. If you are getting aggro on a regular basis:
  • You aren't letting the tank build enough hate. Wait a little longer before attacking, or slow down your casting (especially if you are getting a lot of crits).
  • You aren't paying attention. If the tank switches targets because of an add or because the healer grabbed aggro, don't mindlessly attack the same mob unless it's going to die relatively quickly.
  • Your tank isn't doing a good job.
• Frost/ [Ice Armor] vs. [Mage Armor]:
  • Frost/Ice Armor is good for situations when you expect to get hit (mostly when using AoE). In addition to the extra armor, it slows down a mob's movement and attack rate, reducing the damage you take and making the healer's job easier.
  • Mage Armor lets you regenerate mana while casting, and gives you some extra magic resistances. Since you generally shouldn't be getting hit (especially in high-end instances where one or two hits may be fatal), this is a good general choice for keeping your drinking downtime to a minimum. Also, the extra resistances are useful if you are expecting magical attacks (such as Baron Rivendare's damage field in Stratholme).
• [Blink]/ [Frost Nova] combos or Rank 1 Frostbolts are good for stopping/slowing down runners. You can sheep as well, but it's not recommended unless the mob is very likely to bring adds and you don't think the group can handle them.
• If there is a bad pull or difficult adds, don't be afraid to unload your mana bar quickly on the mobs. With your AoE attacks, you can dish out more burst damage than any other class. You may go down, but the extra damage you do may be enough for the remaining party members to prevent a wipe.
• Try to give your healers a heads-up if you are going to AoE.
• Sheeping tips:
  • ALWAYS keep an eye on your sheep. They seem to break at the worst times. Also there is a nice addon called SheepWatch that shows a progres bar greatly easing the job of resheeping.You can get it here.
  • NPCs are not affected by diminishing returns. Feel free to resheep as much as you need. Resheeping a sheep before it breaks is a good idea.
  • If you can, try to keep your sheep a little bit away from the main fighting. It's easier to watch it, and you don't have to worry about unexpected AoE attacks from other party members breaking it.
  • [Presence of Mind] works with [Polymorph]. Use it if you need a quicker sheep or if your casting is being interrupted.

Working with a Mage

• Don't break the sheep!
• Mages generally use AoE to kill mobs that aren't Elite. When they do this, try to hold the aggro of the Elites and let the mage (and other AoE attackers) handle the non-Elites. === Warrior ===

As a Warrior

• Warriors generally have far more Threat 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 Main Tank.
  • A higher level helps hold agro slightly, but isn't as important as skillful use of specials.
  • A Protection Talent Build is by no means necessary to be an effective Main Tank, particularly below Raid-Level Instances, where a Fury or Arms specced Warrior can do just as well.

Main Tank

See Tank section above. Also:

• Always use [Defensive Stance] with a shield and one-handed weapon.
• Spend a bit of time and money beforehand aquireing good armour and a decent shield - you'll be taking a hell of 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.
• Be aware of which specials to use to generate Threat quickly, in particular; [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 specials to create the most [Revenge] opportunities.
• A successful [Shield Bash] also makes caster enemies very angry, as well as locking thier spellcasting and forcing them into melee. Practice the timing needed to get this right while soloing.
• You cannot [Charge] in [Defensive Stance], so use a ranged weapon and lure them back to your group. Hunters are better shots, but you only need one point of damage.
• Taunt is temporary agro only; use the time it gives you to swiftly generate real Hate; Sunder, Revenge, etc. The same applies to [Challenging Shout] - the AOE Taunt. Unless additional Threat is generated during these durations, the Taunted enemies will return to thier original target afterward.
  • Taunt has no effect on an enemy that is already fighting you.
• Only ever Ragedump if you are confident you have all agro under control. Otherwise, keep reapplying Sunders - even past a stacked five, they still cause additional Threat.
  • 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 (5/5), allowing 25 Rage carrythrough.
  • 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.

All Warriors

• [Piercing Howl] (Fury Talent Shout) helps chase down runners and is worth investing in.
• Shouts do not break Sheep or Sap. Thunder Clap will.
• Do not use [Intimidating Shout] in an Instance (See Additional Tips: Fear, below) - it rarely helps. Intimidating Shout is particularly dangerous as it affects ALL nearby enemies, not just one, like the Priest and Warlock versions. (It may be safest to remove this from your hotbars entirely.)
• Hand over any Drink loot/Mana Potions to those who need them, esp The Healer.
• A Full Rage Bar grants no additional bonuses, don't let it happen.

Working with a Warrior

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

• Don't run. Warriors generate Threat quite quickly and can Taunt, but these actions take a few seconds uninterrupted fighting to charge up and have an effect, and this is difficult at best if the Warrior has to chase the target down first. Call for help, but stand still.

• Buffs to Stamina are particularly useful to the Warrior, greatly increasing available HP (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 agro easier.

• Avoid using damage absorbtion 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, Voidwalkers, etc. 'Rogue' or 'Mage' type pets work best.

• 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.

Additional Tips

• Be especially careful using fear in any Instance, as more often than not, your fear as a last ditch effort may draw more mob and turn a close call into a hopeless battle. As a general rule of thumb, simply dont use fear in an instance. Cases in which fear would be an acceptable thing to do are only when

1: You are the Priest and are about to die in a situation where the group can obviously not survive without you.

2: You are saving the Priest when he is about to die and the group can obviously not survive without him.

3: You are fighting a boss which can quickly drop a character and you have already taken out all nearby mobs. This is the only time in which the tactic of fearbouncing could be recommended in a party. * DON'T RUN! Running away is usually useless anyway. Mobs will often chase you all the way to the instance entrance so running doesn't help. Also your back side is a MUCH nicer target then your front, do you want to die facing your foe, or running like a scared little girl? Who knows you may just kill the mob before it kills you, or weaken it enough that someone else can kill it, preventing a wipe, and maybe the healer can rez you.

• • A large proportion of 'tank' type mobs can, and will, use a Daze type attack which slows you to a shuffle anyway, further adding to the futility of flight.

4: In general, kill healers first, casters second, anything else third. Healers can prolong the fight. Casters can do tremendous amounts of damage, but are usually relatively easy to kill.

5: The puller might run ahead to draw in a mob. Don't run up with him; stay back with the rest of the party. The puller will draw the mob to you, away from any adds. When in doubt, stay behind the tank.

6: When in doubt, attack the tank's target. You can usually do this by selecting the tank and pressing F to assist, then T for attack. These keys depend upon binding and interface configuration, so you may have a different setup.

7: Particularly in the high level instances, there is more to watch out for than simply being nuked or beat on by the mobs. Make sure you aren't making life harder in battle by standing in range of an AoE attack when you're a long ranged attacker, or standing in places that may get you attacked by patrols or other nearby mobs. On the same note, watch out for mobs that can fling you away, into the air. They'll run at you and you'll go flying--make sure this doesn't send you toward another group of mobs or maybe worse, off the edge of a cliff.