5 Tips for New Tanks | The War Within and Beyond

When a player decides to pick up the tanking role for the first time, these are the 5 biggest tips I would give. There are, of course, nuances to tanking that go beyond these tips - but if you are starting your tanking endeavors for the first time, I encourage you to follow these tips! Leave any additional tips or questions down below!

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Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:51 Picking a Class Your Enjoy
02:30 Start Off Easy
03:19 Play Your Mitigation
05:08 Clean UI
06:31 Develop Thick Skin
07:38 Practice Makes Perfect
08:20 Bonus Tips and Suggestions
09:45 Thank You

[JRH]

Tank tip: Don't feel like you have to do everything yourself.

I've gone through phases where I feel I need to have everything, battle rez, detox, regular rez, I have to get every part of every affix I can, and assist with healing and get every important interrupt, and pull perfectly, do all the damage, etc etc, but it's not all on the tank. It's group content. Do what you can, but don't let other player's poor performance on their class make you feel like you need to do more when you're already signed up for the hardest job yourself.

[yannickwylenmann]

I am sitting at 3k io atm with my prot pala.
I also play Mistweaver as a Alt and the mistakes i was seeing the most from tanks where:
-Not having Basic mitigation up on Pull. (Like shieldblock, Bonecharges ect.)
-Not pressing a def at the start of the pull.
-pankipressing all of thery def as they drop low.
-Letting mobs hit them in the back
And not knowing when tankbuster happen(Weakauras might help there.)
I think if tanks get this down they enjoy Tanking way more😊

[agoodshay]

One of the reasons I don't pug is just because one thing going wrong is it. My guild mates and I can laugh it off and use a bricked key to test strats.

Pugs want you to be an NPC that doesn't die and pulls everything in exactly the quantity and order that they are used to.

[LiLbidda]

Thanks for the great video Sha ❤
Have a great day

[rerere]

All great tips!
I only started playing wow this expansion, and went into m+ tanking at some point. Just as you've said, take your time, don't get discouraged by a failure, try to learn on your own mistakes. I'm not the best tank, but still with dedication was able to complete all 11s and a few 12s playing somewhat casually. It's possible, just keep practicing if you're new to the role

[tdkee]

Couple more basic ones:
- Don't turn your back to mobs, you cant dodge/block/parry from behind
- Don't cast anything with a cast bar (except Chi Burst for monks afaik). Casting stops dodge/block/parry. Paladins can be guilty of spamming flash of light when they're low and its actually killing them
- Interrupting is damage reduction so do it a lot

[LostVendetta]

Great video. I've been getting ready to dive into tanking for next season. Quick question tho, what's the weakaura that's calling out defensives for you in the middle of the screen?

[Serothil_and_stuff]

I have my route open on my 2nd monitor not ingame opening a window while in a timed Dungeon is a recipe for disaster also I'm bad at memorizing stuff, quick look over I know what I need to know for how long I need to remember. After a while the stuff that repeats becomes long term memory.

[premiumfruits]

One thing I would add, something that's important for any group activity even beyond WoW that I learned from a decade of competitive TF2 and CS: no matter what happens, never blame others. Always look at yourself and what you could have done differently, regardless of what the outcome was or who was actually at fault. You will get much farther by focusing on what you have direct control over instead of worrying about what other people are doing.

[JpDeltell]

The main question for me as a Tank is how do I know the updated routes?
All the YouTube guides are made on the PTR, but they evolve throughout the season. If I join on .5 how do I know the route? Thanks 😊

[Switchnd]

I am not a new tank but I haven't tanked in WoW since Shadowlands. Used to FFXIV tanking now. Figured I would check this out for a refresher.

[manuelius]

I started m+ just this season and also got into tanking. It's really not that Bad. In my experience so far the vast majority of players is actually really nice. Like actually friendly. It is also not that difficult. Tank busters dont one shot you Till lvl 8 unless you are very undergeared and you will learn them by walking Power Keys. I still dont know the perfect routes so I just say at the beginnint. "feel free to ping optimal route". Another point is, that even as tank if you die and get battle rez you should be fine. Also the rest can kite if you die. If they dont, it is just as much their "fault" as yours. And the last point is exactly that. No one has the right to a tank, that plays perfectly just as no dps plays perfect. One Bonus point, which I would not recommend but as a tank you just dont have to care. Got a toxic Group. Just leave you find one under 1 Minute, they habe to wait for 5 to 20.
One more tip. I found it very helpful to run the same dungeons back to back or atleast twice in one day, so you actually learn and remember stuff.

[ramones]

im generally someone who plays the spec that i want (force played holy priest in a couple expansions, much to the dismay of my guildmates) but this time around, I was trying to play brew and felt so weak. i saw what people were pulling off on prot paladin so i made one, and instantly performed better despite being way less geared. as a healer main, i also really enjoyed being able to LoH or WoG people, freedom, sac, etc. i did like that brew could vivify people and dispel people but I needed the vivifies all the time, zero to spare for others. prot warrior appeals to me as well but i get kinda drained after tanking 2 or 3 dungeons so i dont think i want another tank in the roster lol

[Sharkofspace]

I've been playing the game since 2006, but I started tanking for the first time in the middle of the last patch, and it's already getting old...

The way M+ works is the biggest reason tanking is such a miserable experience. Most game developers understand that demanding perfection from your players isn't a good idea, yet M+ demands perfection, even at the lowest level, AND doesn't provide any way to practice or learn within the game itself.

Making the content all about speed creates an environment where people just give up after the slightest mistake. You're expected to have the perfect pathing memorized before you even attempt your first +2, but even then, someone else can still screw it up for you, ruin the entire run, and you're the one who has to take the brunt of the abuse, because you're """The leader."""

[rafeyap]

thank you for summarising and sharing, agree on 2 points, have a very thick skin high resistance against toxic and practise makes perfect very important point, i always fail at first point above, 😢😢😢

[gonzo_inc]

Druid is not the easiest tank spec to learn, It's a button bloated spec than needs a complete rework. Follower dungeons would be better, if they actually included the Dung in M+ rotation and not just the current expansion ones. The M+ overall would be better if Blizzard stopped forcing coordinated content, reverted their idiot interrupt change, and stopped with the massive unavoidable damage output they worked into Dungs these last 2 expansions.

[JeroenNietDoen]

Tip 1: reroll. Tanking got nerfed and the community is extremely intolerant to new tanks.

[AntonyYTube]

New to the game, I've tanked in other MMOs at very high levels such as FFXIV and wanted to try it in WoW. But after reading the comments on this video, I'm convinced not to even bother..

[murrloc]

Tip 1: skip season 1 watch sha
Tip 2: skip season 2 watch sha
Tip 3: maybe watch sha and maybe look at season 3 tier list
Tip 4: probably can play tank for fun :)

[Catdaddy]

tip #6 dont play brewmaster because you will always be the worst tank and you will never get any buffs.