Tactics for Everyone

To be an effective player you have to know your job.  You have to know what your fellows expect from you and how to fit into a group of adventurers smoothly.  This section won't be a guide to soloing Pallys or Druids from 25 to 50, there are plenty of places to go for information like that.  What I hope to do here is to give you a good set of guidelines for being a well-liked and trusted team mate.

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Previous Segments

Know Your Role

Playing the Tank

Laying the Smack Down

             The tank is the cornerstone of any group.  They are designed to take a beating while dishing one out.  They protect the casters by taunting the mob and holding its attention squarely on themselves.  You may believe that it's a simple role with no real tactics beyond running in and slashing or bashing the foe till it stops kicking; well that's fine at level ten in an area with few social mobs, but in a middle to upper level group the tank has to be a bit wiser.

            I can't stress enough the importance of communicating.  A good tank alerts the group when a mob is incoming, he or she checks with the casters for mana before rushing out to pick a fight, and takes personal responsibility for keeping the less melee inclined adventures from getting their heads bashed in from an uncontrolled pull. 

            While we're on the subject of pulling, it should be noted that the primary tank isn't always the puller.  In a good group with multiple tanks you can employ a technique referred to as 'chain pulling'.  In this scenario, the secondary tank (or even a druid or bard) hunts down the preferred targets, brings them back to the group and deposits them in front of the main tank.  Once the target is properly agroed on the main tank, the puller leaves to find a new target while the group dispatches the pull.  It's a good strategy, but a dangerous one for an inexperienced group so take care.

            If you are in a group with multiple tanking characters, take a few mobs one at a time to see who is actually the better tank.  Who has the better taunt, who can take more damage, who takes less damage in the long run...  If you find your group is always waiting on the cleric's mana meter before the next mob is pulled, then it may be time to compare Armor Counts and rethink your role.  Remember that it's the effectiveness of the group as a whole to keep in mind, over confidence and bravado will often set your group up for a long corpse run.

            There are several tanking classes.  From a purely statistical point of view, Warriors and Monks are the best tanks.  Their melee skills are attained at the earliest levels, and they have inherently high AC and HP.  To give an example, I was recently in a group with a 44 ranger and a 38 warrior that were almost dead even on stats and ability to taunt the mob.  Equipment will affect these factors of course, but I've found this principle to hold true in general. 

            The down side of these two classes are their complete lack of magical ability.  This however is offset by much higher chances to land critical blows as well as fewer areas to develop to be a well-rounded character.  Make it a point to work up all the skills at your disposal; sense heading and binding wounds can be major assets to a group once a competent skill level has been attained.

            The other primary tanking classes are the Paladin, the Shadow Knight, and the Ranger.  They each have their pros and cons which I intend to discuss in future articles, but for now suffice to say that these three classes all make excellent tanks as well as having the ability to fill minor gaps in the group strategy through the use of their various magical abilities and inherent skills. 

            At this point I'd like to mention the Magician class.  They aren't typically associated with tanking and for good reason.  Magicians have almost no melee skills to speak of in general.  What they do have are pets.  Pets shouldn't be main tanks unless there are simply no other classes available to fill the role; however, when employed in conjunction with a solid melee class they can be a devastating asset.  Once again I won't go into specifics on the magician class right now (I do need to conserve material for future articles after all ;) but I will tell you that any tank who has had a fire elemental backing him up won't complain when a magician joins the group.  When played well, a good pet can play crowd control in the event of an over-pull as well as cut down on time spent wacking away at a mob.

            Now lets talk about what I like to call the short-stop classes.  By this I mean Bards and Rogues.  At first glance they appear to be tank classes.  You must resist that notion.  These classes typically won't make a successful tank.  What they do make are excellent gap fillers in a group's arsenal. 

            The bards with their manaless songs can buff, heal, damage, and take a moderate amount of damage, but if you try to main tank one you will get a nasty surprise.  They can wear heavier armor types and have good melee skills, but their offensive and defensive skills will never allow them to stand toe to toe with a mob for any serious length of time without major help from the healers.  A better tactic for this class is to assist with the fighting while twisting several songs to make the tanks and casters more efficient.

            The rogue is a similar case.  They aren't tanks in the classic sense although they can take a hit better than a caster.  I tend to think of rogues as weak tanks (don't take offense, just giving you the perspective of someone who has spent many hours in the healer role) with BIG right hands.  They shine brightest when they are behind they mob, apparently forgotten until WHAM! so and so backstabs for colossal damage!  If you play this class, it's a good idea to remind your group that you serve them best from behind the mob.  If you have a rogue in your group, remember to keep the mob in front of the group where it's easiest for the rogue to sneak around behind without drawing unwanted attention from other mobs.  Another tip worth mentioning for this class, if you find yourself at the top of the mob's hate list just take a step or two back while the main tank beats on the mob to divert it.  This will often return the mob's attention back to the main tank where it should be.

            Here are some do's and don'ts for you to keep in mind. 

A) Try to resist the loot reflex.  It becomes habit to loot the mob the instant it falls over when you're always at the front nearest to it, but you'll find yourself more well-liked by the other group members if you share the wealth a bit.  Nothing is quite as satisfying after a protracted battle as hearing the sound of coins hitting your purse when you loot a body, be sure you let everyone else have their turn. 

B) Don't pick fights if someone asks for a med break, even if you know you can handle it by yourself.  This little habit just makes the casters nervous and won't do good things for your popularity. 

C) When you pull, try to keep it as clean as possible.  Nothing is quite as intimidating as having four or five mobs running toward your group, even if they're low blues. 

D) Don't get cocky.  No matter how good your group is, no matter how well rehearsed they are, there will always be mistakes made and those mistakes always seem to come right when you're feeling invincible.  Be patient and calm, don't pace and run about while the casters are medding, it makes them nervous.  Try to hold some energy in reserve in case an emergency does come crashing down on you and your friends. 

That's it for this week, good hunting and be safe.

Check out next week's article:

Playing the Healer or 70 CCs of HPs STAT!