Tanking as ret

[Ahms]

you can tank as ret very well but it's not your spec that's going to get you killed as a tank, it's more of the groups expectations

'omg pally tank aooeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee'

[Elsie]

you can tank as ret very well but it's not your spec that's going to get you killed as a tank, it's more of the groups expectations

'omg pally tank aooeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee'

I see no problems with this. Divine Storm hits 4 targets (99% of pulls are 4 targets) and you can consecrate. Divine Storm applies the seal of vengeance dot and possibly Divine Vengeance dots. Retribution aura hits about as hard, too.

The only thing you lose in terms of aoe threat is one handed weapon specialization (overcome by a macro if need be for initial threat) and holy shield. And avenger's shield I suppose (though it isn't up every pull anyway).

[Avias]

you can tank as ret very well but it's not your spec that's going to get you killed as a tank, it's more of the groups expectations

'omg pally tank aooeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee'

I see no problems with this. Divine Storm hits 4 targets (99% of pulls are 4 targets) and you can consecrate. Divine Storm applies the seal of vengeance dot and possibly Divine Vengeance dots. Retribution aura hits about as hard, too.

The only thing you lose in terms of aoe threat is one handed weapon specialization (overcome by a macro if need be for initial threat) and holy shield. And avenger's shield I suppose (though it isn't up every pull anyway).

The loss of holy shield and redoubt is huge when you are blocking for 700 damage. Holding the threat is easy, its surviving the onslaught that can be daunting. Bring a good healer if you plan to AOE tank and instance down as ret.

[Ahms]

you can tank as ret very well but it's not your spec that's going to get you killed as a tank, it's more of the groups expectations

'omg pally tank aooeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee'

I see no problems with this. Divine Storm hits 4 targets (99% of pulls are 4 targets) and you can consecrate. Divine Storm applies the seal of vengeance dot and possibly Divine Vengeance dots. Retribution aura hits about as hard, too.

The only thing you lose in terms of aoe threat is one handed weapon specialization (overcome by a macro if need be for initial threat) and holy shield. And avenger's shield I suppose (though it isn't up every pull anyway).

The loss of holy shield and redoubt is huge when you are blocking for 700 damage. Holding the threat is easy, its surviving the onslaught that can be daunting. Bring a good healer if you plan to AOE tank and instance down as ret.

yup yup

[Elsie]

you can tank as ret very well but it's not your spec that's going to get you killed as a tank, it's more of the groups expectations

'omg pally tank aooeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee'

I see no problems with this. Divine Storm hits 4 targets (99% of pulls are 4 targets) and you can consecrate. Divine Storm applies the seal of vengeance dot and possibly Divine Vengeance dots. Retribution aura hits about as hard, too.

The only thing you lose in terms of aoe threat is one handed weapon specialization (overcome by a macro if need be for initial threat) and holy shield. And avenger's shield I suppose (though it isn't up every pull anyway).

The loss of holy shield and redoubt is huge when you are blocking for 700 damage. Holding the threat is easy, its surviving the onslaught that can be daunting. Bring a good healer if you plan to AOE tank and instance down as ret.

Next time please read what I'm replying to first. The lack of HS/redoubt obviously lowers survivability. It's a given.

[Ahms]

well me or him didn't mention agro we mentioned being killed by dps who believe every pally spec can survive thousands of mobs at once and its ok to always pull more with no cc

[Talima]

I slap on all my tanking gear and go to town. The only time I have big problems is against big burst damage boss. The dragon in Nexus took me down twice over the course of three runs when she frenzied.

I had problems with that boss till I started using divine protection as soon as she enraged.

you can tank as ret very well but it's not your spec that's going to get you killed as a tank, it's more of the groups expectations

'omg pally tank aooeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee'

I sometimes think that's a problem, but it usually turns out be an idiot dps attacking X first every time.

I have more problem with the "OMG u r ret, not prot/holy, we need TANK/HEALR /kick". More so when I'm healing than tanking though.

The having to run up and judge to pull is rather annoying, though I often just repentance one mob in a group to pull+cc.

[semp]

The thing i miss the most tanking as ret is the frisbee. The times this is the worst is when im grouped with another ret. They cant seem to wait 5 second before using DS to let my concetration to build up some threat on the off mobs. Really wishing SotR hit 3 mobs as well, or DS was moved back to partial holy damage to help threat.

Hopfully once I catch up in levels and am not tanking instances 2-3 levels above me I can start to 2h tank, but those mobs chew me up without a shield atm.

[Dragonzbane]

So far I've done UK, Nexus, AN, Old Kingdom and Voilet Hold all as Ret with not too many issues.

In the earlier instances people just attacked whatever they wanted during trash. I've had no trouble with agro on bosses it's really the damage that I worry about, that and to a lesser extent pulling.


I've been tanking things over my level and as long as too many groups aren't pulled I hold up pretty well. The other night I did Voilet Hold at L73 with a Shadow Spec Priest healing and that went okay. It is sometimes troubling tanking a mob 4 levels over you and worrying about cruching blows and crits.

The only times I've really had trouble was with those large elemental packs in Old Kingdom, they put out some serious damage.

[Thels]

I'm leveling as ret, and fill in the slot that's needed (dps/tank/heal). So far, nobody ever needed me to dps, though I've tanked and healed about evenly.

I tank in my tanking gear (T5/ZA/bit of T6) and a twohander (the one dropping from Zuljin), which works fine.

One skill not to overlook while tanking: Repentance! Almost everything is vulnerable to it nowadays, and I can offset the more damage I take, by running in and placing repentance on a caster, then pulling back so I don't have to worry about Consecration or DS hitting the CC'ed mob.

There's actually quite a few runs I've been on, where my Repentance was the only CC we had available.

After hitting 75, sword and board style tanking should generate enough threat with SotR.

[Nich]

After they made DS and CS deal physical damage, I've done as much as possible to avoid tanking whenever I've been ret.

I haven't really had any issues tho' by throwing on my t6/sunwell tank set and just using SoB. Use divine plea on every CD and I barely ever sit to drink, despite always using consecrate.

Life got so so much easier, tho', at 75 when I picked up ShoR. Instant attack that deals 1k+ holy damage? Yes please.

As others have said, the biggest issue is lack of a reliable ranged pull - I tend to rely on judgements or exorcism.

(I actually have more of a dislike for healing as ret than for tanking as ret - no holy shock to chain fast heals makes me sad)

[Dragonzbane]

As others have said, the biggest issue is lack of a reliable ranged pull - I tend to rely on judgements or exorcism.

Still rolling along as ret and every instance I've done it's been as a tank.


I did has one problem though:
A couple days ago a bunch of guildies took me to CoT: Strat to tank.

That was painful because I was tanking as Ret and only L76.

My threat was low vs. the L80s in the party and I took a lot of damage, as to be expected. Most of the mobs were 3-6 levels above me so lots of misses, resists and lots of crushing blows on bosses.

We did make it through though and only wiped once, that was during Meathook when the healer got stunned and I took a bunch of crushes back to back.

[Zhaine]

Only thing i hate about ret tanking is that i have to manually pick up every pack instead of AS'ing them (

The only instance i have actually tanked as ret was violet hold at about level 76.

Although ive healed lots of instances as prot, struggled abit on the last 2 bosses in CoT: Strat though, damn those bosses do alot of damage

[culhag]

I'm wondering about tanking normal lvl 80 instances.
Is it viable to just throw on the tanking set or do you have to be prot specced as well ?
Do pugs usually accept ret tanking or do they demand that the tank is specced prot ?

[amh]

Depends entirely on your healer, I reckon. Threat on up to four targets (divine storm) is just sick as retribution, in addition to the fact that you outdps people by an even larger margin.. :)

Plan on using a shield?

Edit: I managed not to answer the question -_-
If you want to tank as retribution often, then I suggest you get a gear-addon that lets you swap in entire sets, else it gets confusing really quick. I got a very decent 2H-tanking set (I think our DK-tank hated me for a while), just replaced anything with BR / BV with avoidance. It got harder and harder to maintain it as I leveled up though, ret-tanked my last instance at level 74,9.

Essentially, tanking as retribution is very painful. No HS, little BR on gear -> druid without feral bear-form. I used a 2H just to grind through it quicker, took sick amount of damage anyway.