So, while I'm standing in one spot, speakers turned up, waiting for tiny hearts to fly over a Night Elf's head I thought I'd write a blog post.
Since I'm going to be revamping my UI tomorrow (when I finally have time), I wanted to blather on and try to make sense of all my buttons.
I've been tanking bigger and badder things lately, and I've really been trying to "use all my buttons" as a warrior. The problem is, there's 12 of them.
Yes.
12.
Shield Slam
Shield Block
Revenge
Shield Bash
Devastate
Heroic Strike
Taunt
Thunder Clap
Demo Shout
Shockwave
Concussion Blow
Cleave
Now, this does not include, Charge, Intervene, Heroic Throw, Berserker Rage, Shield Wall, Last Stand, Enraged Regeneration, Healing Pots, Healthstones, Trinkets, "Shoot"....
What does this mean? Why do you care?
Warriors have a TON of buttons to press. I can't speak for the other tanking classes, but sometimes, it gets a little overwhelming.
So, here I go trying to reduce things down a little bit:
Heroic Strike is for (single target) boss fights. Cleave is for trash. So I swap those on my hot bar.
I want to improve. I want to do more DPS while I'm tanking these bosses. My threat is plenty high for the DPS I run with, but I still want to jack it up even more.
Ways I can improve:
-Use Concussion Blow. I basically use it as a stun on trash now. Never on boss fights. This will change.
-More Heroic Strikes. I try to hit it for every melee swing, but I miss quite a bit. I can get better at this
-Less devastates, more other threat moves. I should use shockwave every time its off cooldown.
-Keep Commanding shout up more. I'm terrible at this.
-Keep Demo shout up. Why do I keep Thunderclap up no problem, but always forget Demo?
If anyone has suggestions on keyboard layout, macros, etc that they use for tanking for all these buttons, please, feel free to share.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Personally I don't keybind all the skills that I use. Mainly because -- a number of hunter skills don't trigger the GCD. So, for example, instead of putting Steady Shot on my action bar, I could have /cast Kill Shot /cast Steady Shot as a single macro, with #show Steady Shot. I can do this for all the shots in my rotation, so instead of having Serpent Sting, Steady Shot, and Explosive Shot, I have three macros that bind Kill Shot on top. This guarantees that Kill Shot will go off as soon as the mob drops to 20%. No longer have to put Kill Shot in the bar.
Now... I never got around to actually doing this, so thanks for motivating me. Still casting Kill Shot
There's a fantastic macro for using Intervene for pets that does smart targeting. I don't use it because I don't PVP. But, there are probably a number of similar macros, add-ons, and whatnot from wowwiki and elitistjerks that will simplify your UI greatly and keep you from forgetting spells.
I find myself spamming devastate more than I should, but I forget to hammer down on H.S. more. I think there may be an add-on for shouts, but your probably like me and feel guilty about using an add-on to remember to shout. But after reading all your other posts, I realize that our tanking habits and syles are identical. woot!
-Memnock
Just a word for an addon that has helped me keep Thunder Clap, & Demo & Commanding Shouts up: TellMeWhen. It's odd to set up, since you have to place the bar(s) where you want them, then type the name of the buff/debuff you want to track manually for each icon you want to use. Only then can you actually select whether it's a buff or debuff, on you or your target (or your target of target), and so on.
But once it's set up, I have the target debuffs light up on the right side of my screen whenever they fall off, and commanding light up on the left, both next to the bars on my HUD. Instant awareness, exactly where I want it. It also works wonderfully for tracking DoTs on my boomkin, and some special boss-specific debuffs on a third bar top dead center where I can't miss them.
Post a Comment