What is a Tank?
Keeping mobs under control is a tank's first job. Everything else you do is only to further that goal.
So, considering the subtitle of this blog “Musings of a Main Tank.” I think it’s worth musing about what a tank really is. Traditionally in World of Warcraft, you think of characters as having one of three primary roles: DPS, Tank, or Healing. This is a very damage centric categorization, as you are either dealing damage, healing damage, or taking damage. If you ask me, though, this is a clumsy way to look at things. Where does casting sheep fall into this categorization? What about offering buffs or debuffs? Couldn’t you remove “Taking Damage” and “Healing” from the list if you had enough control and damage? As such, I tend to think of a different set of roles. All-in-all you have four roles, that I would split up like so:
- Dealing Damage
- Buffing/Debuffing
- Control
- Healing
Where does tanking fit into this definition, though? It’s actually quite simple: Tanking is a form of control. Unlike casting a fear or a sheep, though, tanking is a form of control that is infinitely sustainable and allows others to damage the target. The downside of such a potent control is that it requires healing to sustain. Thus, as tanks, our goal should be to have complete control of the battlefield. If every mob is accounted for, and you aren’t at risk of dying or losing aggro (That is to say, your control is reliable) then you are doing your job.
A perfect example of this concept is tanking the Nerubian Burrowers in the Anub’arak encounter (especially on heroic mode). You want to keep them positioned over ice, next to the boss, while posing as little risk to the raid as possible. To do this, you get aggro on them, stack shield block to reduce their outgoing damage (and thus improve your chances of surviving and keeping them under control), and stand so they are near the boss on the ice. It’s essentially crowd control, except you are using your own positioning to root the mobs instead of a stun or a snare effect.
