Tanking vs multiple mobs

[chOgg]

I'm a level 36 bruiser, and I almost always group with my girlfriend, a 36 warlock.  With her AE spells, I usually have a hard time keeping the encounter mobs that I'm not currently tanking off her.  Should she use implied targetting for the initial pull and then use /assist to select my target directly while I switch target's to keep aggro from all of them while she AE's, or should we both maintain a single target and just have her use less AE spells?  Is there a guide somewhere to multiple-mob tanking that I can read for all the nuances?Thanks!Thoral, 36 Bruiser, Mistmoore<div></div>

[AaronSnow]

<DIV>Multi mobs is always a pain with a bruiser, especailly with the new social aggro stuff. I usually body pull stuff, to our grp. Once mobs are out of aggro range, I apply a knockdown on first mob then followed by strongest single taunt. I then switch to next target, and use a quick hit, then a group taunt. After that i use both of our AoE attacks, and stay on that one till he is dead, and then switch to next mob. Usually dont have aggro problems after that. Most important thing is to make sure you have best taunts available, and upgrade your spells the best you can. More damage we do, the easier it is to keep aggro.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Its always fun tanking with a high lvl nuke happy fury :smileyvery-happy: Also if you have a brig in the grp, just be ready. They always pull aggro.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[Colossaltitan]

Make someone else in group the "MA" and you just target mobs as you see fit beating on them after your AoE stuff is burnt in order to hold aggro on them.

[Gungo]

<DIV>Work on the by hook and by seas heritage get yourself the Crook w the Aoe encounter proc. Work in the wis AA Line. Then you should not have any aoe agro problems until about low 50's when you will need to replace that 2 hander w something a bit stronger. You cna try having her stay on your initial target but she will still draw aoe agro its what warlocks do best.   </DIV>

[Madmoon]

Wizards and Warlocks pull monsters off of everyone, excepting maybe guardians.  Try and get a few rounds of AE, say a taunt and then our AE spin attack.  At 50 we get a second, try and cycle all three in before the wizard goes all out.

[Raidi Sovin'faile]

<DIV>A well played, well geared Sorcerer (Wizard or Warlock) has a relatively unique situation to have their Damage only restricted in how much aggro the Main Tank can maintain. The more aggro the tank can do, or the more aggro debuff the Sorcerer gets, the more damage they can push out.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Which means they <STRONG>have</STRONG> to hold back compared to other classes, even with their own dethreats. A warlock or wizard going full burn will pull aggro, unless you have 4-6 people devoted to aggro control (usually only happens in raids).</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>This doesn't mean they should only do single target damage. In normal grouping, fights usually don't last that long... maybe 30s to a minute or so. Bosses might be a bit longer.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>There are a few things you can do to keep aggro with groups.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>First off, like was mentioned, getting a weapon with an encounter or aoe proc can help quite a bit. Mallet of the Overlord is a good high level example (although rare as hell). The Wisdom AA line will net you an extra AoE attack, on a 60s timer (fits nicely between the 30s and the 90s ones). Yeah, the level 50 special will help lots in boosting that initial aggro.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Then you can look at how to kill things. If you landed the first inital hit, it seems like others have a little harder time pulling aggro off you. In another thread on the Monk forum, someone mentioned this might be because the person that has aggro currently will keep aggro until someone else not only matches the threat of the person, but also surpasses it enough. Essentially, there's a threshold that needs to be passed... an amount or percentage <EM>over and above</EM> your level of threat before the mob decides to switch targets.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>This means you need to make sure everything gets on you right off the bat. Tell others to hold the AoE's for a second or two when you pull. Many creatures tend to be spread out at first, and an initial AoE or Group Taunt can miss one or several of a group. This means if someone else hits it, it'll go on them and you have to work harder to get it back. Make sure everything is close enough before hitting those encounter threats.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>As for tactics to keep aggro during a fight... if you are grouped with heavy AoE people, such as warlocks. Then don't burn down a creature til it's completely dead before moving on.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>If you look at other mobs, their health will be dropping too... which means, if you move <STRONG>off</STRONG> the current target, it will still get hurt from the aoe's. Since you've built up a lot of hate on the single target, you can switch off early and let the AoE's kill off the mob.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>This means things will die a little closer together, and some things might live a little longer than otherwise. This can sometimes be a bad thing, especially if it's a healer, but most of the time, switching when the target hits around 30% to a new fresh target works very well.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Also, if you quickly switch to another target, hit your taunt or big damage hit, then switch back, even with folks using implied targetting you won't run into too many issues. I tend to wait and see a big hit go off over the main creatures head before doing it, so I know the wizard or whoever won't be casting a big hit when I switch for half a second.</DIV> <DIV>Note that you don't have to wait for an ability to finish casting before switching back... it will finish and land on the thing you were targetting at the time of the cast, even if you are targetting something else once it finishes casting.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Just keep this imagery in mind... if a mob's health is in yellow/orange, you have aggro. If a mob's health is green, it can go any time. Sometimes in the big groups (3-4+) I will bring one mob down to 50% saving my big hits, switch to another i haven't hit yet, spam the big CAs, switch to another one and bring it down to 50%, then move to any others I haven't hit yet. Usually by then mobs start dying off, if your warlock is going strong with the AE's.</DIV><p>Message Edited by Raidi Sovin'faile on <span class=date_text>07-19-2006</span> <span class=time_text>07:14 PM</span>

[Plague Mast]

<P>This is slightly off topic, and probably not going to help too much but here goes.  Many of us rerolled our characters in our early days, after getting a real feel for strengths and weaknesses of classes.  In my opinion Bruiser and Warlock are quite possibly the most mismatched duo out there.  If you love the warlock, play a paladin (can also rez which is useful when no healer avaiable and some wimpy add kills your wife's toon).  Paladins can steal hate from another person with the ammends line.  My warlock can lead with max ae damage and will not pull agro from any decent paladin with ammends placed on me.  Bezerkers also seem to hold agro from warlocks pretty well, but nobody will match the paladin in saving a warlocks behind, and freeing him up to nuke ae's like mad.</P> <P>If you are in love with the bruiser, help your wife rebuild a mystic or defiler (shamans).  Shamans specialize in wards, which basically are the brawlers best friend.  Since we have rather low mitigation, healing after damage is done can be dangerous.  Wards basically stop you from taking damage in the first place.  A good brawler / shaman duo can do some pretty amazing things.</P> <P>If you love the bruiser and she loves the mage, try a wizard.  Some say that wizards can pull agro really easy, but a bruiser build well and pounding away on a single target is pretty tough to get agro from if you do your cast order right.  Dots early, then light nukes, then the heavy nukes to kill em.  Warlocks on the other hand, could never use all of their ae's with a bruiser and not expect to get 2-3 of the mobs from a 4 group mob on them.</P> <P> </P>

[DarkMirrax]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Plague Master wrote:<BR> <P>This is slightly off topic, and probably not going to help too much but here goes.  Many of us rerolled our characters in our early days, after getting a real feel for strengths and weaknesses of classes.  In my opinion Bruiser and Warlock are quite possibly the most mismatched duo out there.  If you love the warlock, play a paladin (can also rez which is useful when no healer avaiable and some wimpy add kills your wife's toon).  Paladins can steal hate from another person with the ammends line.  My warlock can lead with max ae damage and will not pull agro from any decent paladin with ammends placed on me.  Bezerkers also seem to hold agro from warlocks pretty well, but nobody will match the paladin in saving a warlocks behind, and freeing him up to nuke ae's like mad.</P> <P>If you are in love with the bruiser, help your wife rebuild a mystic or defiler (shamans).  Shamans specialize in wards, which basically are the brawlers best friend.  Since we have rather low mitigation, healing after damage is done can be dangerous.  Wards basically stop you from taking damage in the first place.  A good brawler / shaman duo can do some pretty amazing things.</P> <P>If you love the bruiser and she loves the mage, try a wizard.  Some say that wizards can pull agro really easy, but a bruiser build well and pounding away on a single target is pretty tough to get agro from if you do your cast order right.  Dots early, then light nukes, then the heavy nukes to kill em.  Warlocks on the other hand, could never use all of their ae's with a bruiser and not expect to get 2-3 of the mobs from a 4 group mob on them.</P> <P> </P><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR>Totally agree with the warlock / pali links , two of our guildies religously xp together without his amends shes dead , a lot ... a whole lot !</P> <P>and as for the last part bruiser/Wizzie hehe check the prevouious post that what i love ! my bruiser and wizzie work sooooo well</P>