Instance grouping guide

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

Any team play is obviously founded on the skills of the individual players as well as the power and skills of their characters. However, the strategies used to apply those skills as a team are as important to the success of the team as their individual skills; a completely disorganized party almost never succeeds in defeating difficult content.

The key to PvE grouping is usually to use threat appropriately. A mismatched or poorly specced team that understands aggro can still be very successful. A "perfect" party will also usually fail if they make grievous strategic mistakes such as trying to tank in [Berserker Stance] or nuking before the tank has a chance to build threat.

Main Roles

The most essential team strategy consists of three simple roles divided between team members: Tank, Healer and damage dealer. The tank establishes aggro on the enemies and recieves most of the damage for the party. The healer heals the tank, allowing the tank to continue to take a beating. The damage dealers, by the support of the tank and healer, actually deal the damage necessary to eliminate the enemies.

It is important to acknowledge the ability of an appropriately specced character to play a role. Many players still maintain biases that are based on past versions of the game and failure to understand game mechanics.

Tank

Main article: Tank

The tank's job is to hold aggro on the enemy, whether the enemy is group of weaker monsters or a hard-hitting, long-lasting boss. The primary way to do this is to build high, permanent threat on enemies through character skills designed to create a great deal more threat than is possible by pure damage.

The primary tank classes are the Warrior, Paladin and Druid; the talent builds for tanking in those classes focus on the Protection, Protection and Feral trees respectively.

Healer

Main articles: Instance_Grouping_Guide_Healer, Instance Grouping Guide: Healer

The healer's job is primarily to keep the tank alive to do their job. There are obvious situations where other characters need some healing, but a situation where the healer is required to heal most of the party a lot is a sign that there is a problem with threat management. [Blizzard] names the Priest and Druid classes as "Primary Healers", and Paladin and Shaman as "Secondary Healers" in the game manual. However, each class has its niche. Generally, any player specced for healing abilities is preferable to an off-speced character such as a shadow priest or protection paladin.

Damage Dealer

Main article: DPS

Every class has the ability, with the appropriate talent points and gear, to deal significant damage. Without sufficient damage from the group, it is likely that the healer's mana with run out or the progress through the location will be too slow to be practical, whether for Respawn or other reasons.

Other Roles

A team using the three basic roles, with appropriate character skills, is ten times more likely to overcome difficult content than the same characters acting seperately. Organized use of a few more tools and roles will again make the team several times more likely to succeed.

• The Leader (mark mobs with Raid Target Icons) The leader is responsible for selecting targets for Crowd Control, damage, and off-tanking or kiting.

• Puller (start the fight with the first hit on the mob) - After around level 30, this role is best fulfilled by a Hunter who has several special abilities for performing it. Failing that, the best practice is for the tank to pull via a ranged weapon or to wait for Crowd Control to begin the fight.

• Crowd Control (CC, take mobs temporarily out of the fight) - Often hinges on the type of the mob. [Polymorph] is the most popular, but most parties have several Crowd Control abilities available, like [Sap] (Rogue), [Hibernate] (Druid), [Repentance] (Paladin), [Seduction] (Warlock with a Succubus). Also, fear can be used as crowd control, though it can pull additional mobs (called adds), so you must be careful when using it. Fearing can be done by Priests, Warlocks and Hunters (beasts only).

• Since the advent of the raid icons, the Main Assist isn't used that much anymore. In some cases it's still invaluable to have one; rotating through a series of mobs is much easier through one coordinator.

• Off-Tank a second tank, sometimes really important in large pulls

• Scout (aka "The Reconnaissance") - A stealthed Rogue or Druid, a Priest with [Mind Vision], a Shaman with [Far Sight] and [Sentry Totem] (both are limited), different minimap tracking abilities; this role helps eliminate unnecessary guests by knowing when and who to attack.

• Rezzer - Responsible for reviving the fallen, especially after a wipe or near-wipe. Via any kind of Wipe Recovery, a Paladin, Shaman (can also self-resurrect with Reincarnate), Priest, Warlock (Soul Stone on a Rezzer) is used to revive the whole party.

Marking up mobs

Before the pull, the group leader should mark with raid icons all mobs which will (or could) be pulled. The players must agree on a order in which the mobs will be killed. Normally a fixed symbol is used to designate the mob which is to be the initial primary target (usually Skull), whereas other symbols indicate the CC targets. The general kill order should be healers first, casters second, anything else third. Healers prolong the fight and casters usually do high amounts of damage, while both are usually relatively easy to kill.

If there are too many mobs to mark them all, or if the group just feels lazy, it is a good idea to desginate a Main Assist (MA). The main assist should be a dps class with no other in-combat duties (like healing or CC; generally the Rogue). Party members should not pick their own targets, but rather always assist the MA. The Assist Main Tank/Main Assist macro/mod makes assisting very quick and easy.

Crowd Control

Main article: Crowd Control

When there are large groups of mobs that cannot be pulled individually, CC skills become very important. The group leader needs to know the capabilities of each party member and when to use them. There are many such abilities (the most well-known being the Mage's Sheep).

Breaking CC early (by damaging the CC'd mob) is one frequent reason for deaths. All group members need to be aware which mobs will be CC'd, and those applying the CC need to take extra care to refresh it when it breaks.

The Combat Cycle

The combat cycle that you see many times in any instance run consists of several phases, described hereafter.

• The pull
• Aggro building
• The battle
• Post battle

The Pull

Every group should have one designated puller. He should try to pull one mob cluster at a time without aggroing more mobs than absolutely neccessary, and pull clusters in a logical fashion. The most common mistakes novice players make when pulling are:

• Failing to designate an official puller. In such a case, too many times two people pull different clusters at the same time, producing a wipe.
• Pulling a mob that is too close to a second group, which aggros the other group.
• Pulling before [Sap], as [Sap] must happen before combat begins. Polymorph and Freezing Trap are both preferable forms of crowd control to [Sap], but it can be used as a third form if the other two already have a designated use.

For maximum safety, the party should wait some distance away from the mobs, and the puller should run to the group after gaining aggro, so if the pull is bad, only the puller dies and the party is safe. This requires discipline on the part of the puller to be ready to stand there to die, or to [Feign Death] or [Vanish], and on the part of the healer to not heal, and on the part of the tank to not try to save him.

Parties with a Hunter present 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, if they are chosen to pull). Additionally, at level 70 Hunters gain the invaluable ability of [Misdirection], which allows them to transfer the initial aggro they gain onto the tank.

Aggro building

After the pull, it is imperative that the group does not immediately start blasting away with all available means. Give your tank enough time to build solid aggro on the mobs. Especially warriors need to build some rage before they can seriously create aggro. One safe method is to wait until the tank is at 50% health. If he's a warrior, waiting for 2 to 3 Sunders on the mob is a good idea too. Don't shoot, don't backstab, and try not to heal - the only permitted action for non-tanks in this stage is crowd control. Feel free to sheep, sap and shackle, but stick to some plan.

Priests with [Holy Nova] can also use this early in the pull. It heals those in AoE, and damages all enemies while causing NO aggro. But pay attention not to accidentially break CC. Similarly, [Prayer of Mending] and shamans' [Earth Shield] on the Main Tank are very good, because they do not create aggro on the healer, but rather on the tank.

Warlocks and hunters, turn off auto-cast of torment and growl on your Pet or Voidwalker or just set them to passive, since their abilities draw mobs away from the tank and prevent him or her from being able to build aggro. It would sound like having aggro would be good on your pet, as long as it's not on a squishy, but if it's not in the predetermined plan, it is detrimental because the aggro can easily slide onto someone who is delivering a large amount of damage on the target, whereas if the main tank had aggro the whole time it would be easier for him to hold that aggro. Also, pets generally have less health than a main tank, and many healers don't think to heal the pet unless it's preplanned. And once that pet is dead, it is most assuredly going right for the healer or squishy dps.

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.
• DPS failing to assist the main assist.
• DPS overpowering the aggro of the tank. Biggest reason for most wipes.
• Tanks not understanding which of their abilities produce the most aggro, and thus failing to keep aggro off the Healer or Nuker.
• Tanks failing to equip a shield in situations in which the healers are running out of mana trying to keep up with physical damage taken by the tank.
• Healers not understanding the Five Second Rule and how to avoid running out of mana.
• Pulling multiple groups of mobs at once.
• Failing to act as a team.
• Breaking crowd control (Sheep, Hunter traps, [Sap], or Shackle).
• Looting during battle. This is highly unwise because it diverts attention away from the battle as the group members examine the loot popup. It is especially detrimental to the tank and the healer in their abilities, or else if they stay on their task, they may lose out on a loot roll.
• Fearing, because fear will frequently cause mobs to run away randomly into other mobs causing more aggro. (For exceptions to this rule, see the section on Fear, below).

In many fights (boss fights in particular), there is usually more to watch out for than simply tank and spank 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. When possible, fight these mobs with your back to a wall.

Post Battle

First of all the group needs to stay together post-battle. One easy mistake is that the next mobs are pulled too early before the casters have regained enough Mana. 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.
• Failing to wait for everyone to be resurrected before looting.

Remember: It's as much the Leader's job to check everyone is ready, as it is your own. You can help by making sure you communicate in plenty of time if you are ready or not; equally the Main Tank should check to see if the group is ready for the next encounter.

Dying and Wipe prevention

When a group member dies or is about to die, it often means the rest of the group will follow soon after. If it is the tank dying, the mobs will scatter and quickly kill the healer or damage dealer who is the next on their threat list. Party members should be willing to do almost anything in their power to prevent a full wipe, or speed up the party's recovery.

You are dying (Don't Panic!)

You've only got a little health left. There's a monster beating on you or a spell flying at you and your cloth or leather garments aren't doing you any good.

Do not run away! Running away does nothing to help you. The mobs will follow you all the way to the instance entrance. When running, you can't block, dodge and parry and you will be dazed. You might even aggro more mobs, almost assuring a wipe. If you move at all, move within taunt range of the tank and then stop.

Do let the rest of the party know that you have aggro. The healer and tank may not have noticed. The /helpme and /healme macros are tacky, but they are designed to get attention. The tank has ways to pull all mobs onto him, and the Healer will usually have a fast heal or some kind of shield to help you out.

If death is inevitable, try to find a place clear of mobs to make resurrecting you easier. Don't release on death. This help the party find your body and lets you share any loot.

The tank is dying (Emergency Tanking)

This scenario is quite a bit different from a damage dealer dying. It's worse than the healer dying if there is not another healer prepared to take over. When the tank dies, aggro will usually go to more fragile members of the party.

The most able members to save the party are those who can both get aggro immediately, and survive high damage. This primarily means any Druids, Paladins, or Warriors left in the party. They should use their Taunt abilities as fast as possible and start building threat. If no one is geared as an ordinary tank, any secondary tanks should try to tank an individual mob if they can get its attention.

Everyone is dying (Wipe recovery)

Main article: Wipe recovery

If a wipe is about to happen, the party should concentrate on keeping someone alive who can Resurrect. The leader should make the decision that a wipe is inevitable and announce this to the rest of the party. They should then use any abilities they have to put someone who can resurrect, and then themselves, out of combat. The Wipe recovery article has a large list of ways to do this.

This also applies as early as the pull; if the pull has gone bad, the healer and anyone else not yet in combat should run back to a safe place and watch the others die.

Some abilities allow a party member to return during battle. Don't use self-resurrection abilities while the combat is still going on, unless you died in a very precarious position and there is still a good chance to survive.

Additional Tips

• Curiosity Killed The Cat Don't touch any usable 'cog-icon' objects until the entire group is rested and ready. Several instances have usable bits and pieces - doors, levers, buttons, etc, and many of these will spawn new enemies. Only do so when everyone is ready and alert. Also, don't talk to NPCs - even friendly ones may start some event or attack you after a short dialogue.

• Watch Your Back! One common feature of the Instance is triggered 'Patrols' being spawned behind the party when it reaches certain key points. Just because you've killed everything you've seen on the way in, doesn't always mean there's nothing behind you. Have someone keep an eye out behind.

• Listen to your party. In the end this is a group effort and, as such, decisions have to be taken to benefit all. Also, do not be afraid to ask. Being marked as a newbie is better than causing a wipe because you were too afraid to ask if you could activate something and did it anyway. Although it's often forgotten, everyone was a newbie once.

• Not Out Yet. Similarly, just because you've made it to the end of the map and killed the big monster with the exotic name, it doesn't necessarily mean you're done yet. Further scripted events on the way out should not be ruled out, and if the expedition has taken longer than two hours, (wipes, etc), respawning becomes a possibility. Stay together and on high alert until the party is out to the Meeting Stone and breathing fresh air again.

Fear

Be particularly careful using [Fear] in any Instance, as more often than not, fear may draw more mobs and turn a close call into a hopeless battle. As a general rule of thumb, simply don't use fear in an instance. Cases in which fear would be an acceptable thing to do are only when:

• You are the healer and are about to die in a situation where the group can obviously not survive without you.
• You are saving the healer or the tank when he is about to die and the group can obviously not survive without them.
• You are absolutely sure that there's no possible way for the fear to draw adds.

That said, Fear can be a valuable CC tool in some instance situations. Warlocks in particular have tools to allow them to control their feared target(s). However, this should only be done by experienced players who know how to handle feared targets and are willing to go to the effort, as Fear yo-yo tactics can take a great deal of attention, lowering DPS noticeably. In general, this form of CC should be treated as a valuable asset, but also as a last resort.

Role Assignment

If you're the group leader, it's your job to know what your group is capable of and to work with it. Especially in pick-up groups with strangers, be sure that every person's specialization is known.

While it is tempting for a leader to choose roles for the whole group, remember that a player will play the role they want to play with the most aplomb. In groups below 70, there will frequently not be players specialized for tanking and healing; in fact, there will rarely even be a single one of those. Especially try not to designate roles according to biases like "WARRIOR = TANK". When confronted with several possible healers or tanks, try to let them work out their own roles.

Be warned that many players still dismiss legitimate roles for some classes. You may have to concern yourself with educating players about something as common as a Shadow Priest or a Paladin tank. Also keep in mind that player ingenuity and proper use of game mechanics can beget potential roles that are not considered "legitimate", usually because of a lack of a talent tree devoted to it and/or lack of general mention or notice, but which can nonetheless be quite potent in the proper hands. In those cases, it's advisable to harbour an air of scepticism originally, but remain open-minded and allow the person a chance to both explain and, if he seems competent enough in his explanation, to perform; that player may well surprise you and the rest of the group!

How Not To Do Things

A serious problem that is often encountered with players within WoW in particular is that although certain activities within the game (raids, battlegrounds, etc.) ideally benefit from a level of group discipline vaguely approaching that which is usually only otherwise seen within real-world military groups, the people playing the game will almost exclusively consist of civilians who are thus entirely unaccustomed in many cases to working within a group in such a focused and controlled manner. This lack of familiarity with a desirable level of discipline is in itself probably the single main cause of wipes and other failures during instances or other group-oriented activities within the game.

Poor Group Dynamics

Most of this guide is geared toward pickup groups or guilds that haven't yet established much routine in grouping or raiding. 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?

Groups fail if a member of the group ignores their role or compromises their performance in it. Many players misbehave in order to climb the damage meter. Some players are impatient or don't care about the group's procedures in pulling. Other group members may not understand the game well enough to use a shield or a certain spell. Changing this kind of behavior is the highest priority in fixing bad groups.

If you are the group leader, make sure everyone knows their role, and encourage them in those roles. Correct poor players and be prepared to boot them for the sake of the group. A poor enough player will drag down the whole group worse than not having them! As a communicator, consider saying as little as possible so the rest of the team will speak up for themselves. (While the group is forming, be slow to relinquish the "group leader" icon, since you are giving up direct power to save the run!)

If you aren't the group leader, leave the run if you see deep problems. It's best for everyone to leave as soon as you know that you aren't committed to the group. Ask the group who is going to tank as a litmus test; any decent group will be concerned with this before entering the instance. Be prepared to aid a timid group leader by offering advice or suggesting a boot.

Positive speech and action can bolster a failing group. Acknowledge your group members when they do well, but diligently correct them when they make mistakes. Give inexperienced players a chance to run the instance; frequently, newer players are good learners. Don't yell at players after a wipe; explain to them how the group may improve.

The next step

Stepping it up to Raiding? Raiding for Newbies.

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