Target priorities on heroic mobs

[Clive]

Hey guys,

as I started to be the tank since the first instance I've ran through with my pally, I am used to mark caster mobs to be the first to be killed. Casters simply dealt with the most horrible damage I could think of. Until yesterday. First heroic instance: Ramparts. While melee mobs deal with huge amounts of damage on every single swing, caster mobs seem to need like 1,5 to 2 seconds for an amount that seems to be equal to one or two swings of their melee bros. Before heroic caster mobs gave me the chills, now it seems to be the complete opposite. What's going on? Are melee mobs on heroic really that "buffed"? Or is that just a (wrong) feeling I got?

My tankadin: http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sheet ... n=Cuirasse

Thank you.

[fantine]

It depends on the instance, really. Ramparts has some of the nastiest melee mobs out of any heroic, and is really one of the hardest heroics if you're under geared because of mortal strike. You should always CC the destroyers - especially if your healer isn't very well geared.

Conversely, if you're afraid of caster mobs, wait a long time before setting foot in Shadow Labs because the shadow priests there eat tanks for breakfast.

[caboom]

It depends on the instance, really. Ramparts has some of the nastiest melee mobs out of any heroic, and is really one of the hardest heroics if you're under geared because of mortal strike. You should always CC the destroyers - especially if your healer isn't very well geared.

Conversely, if you're afraid of caster mobs, wait a long time before setting foot in Shadow Labs because the shadow priests there eat tanks for breakfast.

he is quite right the destroyers hit quite hard but they are nowhere near the nightmares u can face in other instances(i can still remeber the 1st time i was face to face with the dual defender packs in SP, oh and they hurt )

anyways the way i do it, for mgt at least(where is one of the only places i still use CC, is i cc the casters and have the melees beat on my shield), it's rly the best way, and taking 3k / hit from warlocks toppled with a debuff that ticks of 2k is a no-no.

generally as u get ur 1st kara pieces and badge pieces u'll have enough armor(and avoidance/bv) to literally ignore melees, and always start with healers and casters, and also you have the fact that u generate more threat on the melees trough holy shield so you can do a decent amount of threat on them while focusing on the casters.

[Ghort]

Personally, I've always burned down or had the Destroyer's CC'd on mutliple destroyer pulls... But after he's down and I'm not eating mortal strike, it gets ALOT easier for the healer to keep me up the rest of the fight.

[Worldie]

The isue with destroyers is that they drop aggro, and with RD on 15 sec cd, you don't want to tank more than one.

[Makaijin]

The isue with destroyers is that they drop aggro, and with RD on 15 sec cd, you don't want to tank more than one.

The destroyer drop aggro? I must've done Heroic Ramps countless times and I've never seen them drop aggro. The only reason I burn them down first is because of their mortal strike.

[Worldie]

When they knockback you, they drop aggro and go for someone else.

It's not cool when 2 of them go for the healer.

[Tesragal]

When they knockback you, they drop aggro and go for someone else.

Only on normal mode. Their knockback doesn't reduce aggro on heroic mode - and I'm really glad about it.

On topic:
I generally tell DPS to burn casters first, because they are usually lower on health and can be easily disposed of, but can dish out reasonable amounts of unavoidable (if sometimes resistable) damage.

If there are other really annoying non-caster mob in the pull, CC them and kill them as soon as the squishy guys are dead.

It always depends on the dungeon in question and the mobs you face, but some simple rules always apply (casters = squishy, but high damage you can't dodge, parry or block; melees = higher health and armor, but most damage can be avoided or mitigated).

[Makaijin]

Normally I tend to prioritise DPSing in the following order;

1. Mobs that have some form of CC (fears, MC, gouges etc), not just CCing me, but more importantly CCing the healer. Getting no heals for a few seconds could mean life or death.
2. Mobs that have some form of healing reduction debuff (ie mortal strike), makes things hard for the healer, even worst the more mobs you are tanking.
3. Healers, they just prolong the fight unnecessary.
4. Casters, due their high damage output and low health/armor,
5. Lastly Melee.

As for which mobs to CC before or during pull, it depends how much CC you have available. If it's a big group or you don't have much CC available, I'd priortise CC in the same way as the above list. Like if only I had 1 rogue to sap, I'd sap the MC mob and just tank the rest.

But if it's the other way round, as in you have more than enough CC so that you only have to deal with 1 mob at a time per pack, I'd prioritise CCing from the bottom of the list, and deal the problem mobs first, so that if and CC breaks early it's not as big of a problem.

If course this is just a general guideline, and there are exceptions. It's just common sense really.

[caboom]

When they knockback you, they drop aggro and go for someone else.

Only on normal mode. Their knockback doesn't reduce aggro on heroic mode - and I'm really glad about it.

this, they don't drop agro on hc and i can confirm that. ppl usually cc them cuz they hit *that* hard.

[Judged]

well on hc ramparts particularly, a decent rogue can solo the casters reasonably easily so that's always an option for the casters.

But, as a general rule of thumb i usually deal with the problem mobs first (fears/MC/ etc) then healers, casters and finally melees. Unless of course you have a mage in which case you can make them chain sheep the problem mob and deal with it after. I find it makes the run go a bit smoother