What am I doing wrong?

ItlanChode · 07-22-2007, 05:40 AM

I'm currently a 47 Berserker, Buckler spec'd, started playing about two weeks ago and am playing on the Naggy server. I'm full MC'd with the MC long sword as primary and the buckler version of SBS for secondary. I'm over 55% mitigation and 38% avoidance. Now my problem is.. aggro. I group with a Brigand and a Bruiser who are basically as well equipped as I am, and they rip aggro from me all the time. From what I can tell, we only have two true taunts and a third being an attack that generates extra hate. I have both taunt mastered, even a M2 on one of them, yet I can't seem to maintain aggro at all. Is it something I'm doing or them? Am I underaggroing or are they overaggroing? My taunts never go unused and I constantly use my shield bash to generate aggro as knockdowns(or atleast, should) help to increase aggro. Any tips as to what I'm doing wrong would be helpful. Thanks.

Noktaris · 07-22-2007, 07:39 AM

A tank can only do so much...in your situation I would have to say your friends are just way over doing it. Holding agro is a group effort...if your friends pull agro and die then thats there problem. Do they at least give you a few seconds to build up taunt?

If you can take the extra damage try playing in offensive mode,if your not already.

NatSTER · 07-22-2007, 12:00 PM

Get the 22% crit in Str tree if you don't have it. That should help a bit. It's not your fault though. You will always have a problem with Brigands, Bruisers, Wizards, and Warlocks. These guys have high burst damage which allow them to steal agro within the first 10-20s if they play without care. If they are good friends, you need to tell them to be careful about it. Most of the time, the mobs die before them when they steal agro, but they can also wipe you in hard/accidental pulls by dying early or causing you to waste your taunts cooldown, leaving you with nothing when an add jumps on the healer. There are also some classes that help you hold agro better. Assasins and Swashies are godly to have in group for hate transfer. Dirges and Coercers can give you more threat generation. Some other classes have threat utilities too but those are the main ones.

Slayer505 · 07-22-2007, 03:49 PM

Tanking in offensive helps a ton. It sounds like your gear is good enough for that. As long as your healers don't completely suck you should be fine. If you have to go defensive use a lower level defensive stance so you don't take such a huge hit in offensive skills. Use Weapon Shield whenever it's up. When you get Rampage and Insolent Gibe it will help immensely as well. I very rarely lose aggro doing group stuff unless some DPSer gets overzealous and opens with big hits.

JKhanh24 · 07-22-2007, 05:25 PM

Most people have already said it, but tanking is a group effort, if your DPSer's are consistantly pulling aggro, then I would stop taunting and let them die a few times and maybe they will learn to ease up on the dps at the start. If they play their class right they can do max dps without stealing aggro. And yes Brigands Wizards and Warlocks can steal aggro very easily. Best Advice i can give you is talk to them if there your friends and tell them to tone it down a bit at the start and let you build up some hate.

Kaberu · 07-22-2007, 07:18 PM

One thing to keep in mind is, "do you need to take aggro back?" If you pull a mob and take the first few hits (including CAs from the mob) the bruiser is a much better tank when taking the regular autoattacks that follow before the mob dies. If you really need to keep aggro due to the difficulty of the mob, ask him to turn off his attack proc. Bruisers have an offensive proc comparable to our reactive proc for taunting. Brigands have taunts themselves as well as a potent CA that requires aggro in order to work. Luckily, Brigands are very capable off-tanks and again, it's a case of asking whether you really need to take aggro back or not. Sometimes, just an intercept or two is fine when coupled with your shield stun. Usually, when I'm grouped with brigand or brawler friends.. I just maintain aggro on the majority of the mobs and let them peel off whatever they like. The Brigand can always ditch aggro with evade and the like and the Bruiser can always FD.

AnAnimatedcorpse · 07-23-2007, 08:39 AM

Make sure the brig is deaggroing when needed and the bruiser is feigning when needed as well.

07-22-2007, 03:49 PM	#4
Slayer505 Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 386	Tanking in offensive helps a ton. It sounds like your gear is good enough for that. As long as your healers don't completely suck you should be fine. If you have to go defensive use a lower level defensive stance so you don't take such a huge hit in offensive skills. Use Weapon Shield whenever it's up. When you get Rampage and Insolent Gibe it will help immensely as well. I very rarely lose aggro doing group stuff unless some DPSer gets overzealous and opens with big hits. __________________

07-22-2007, 05:25 PM	#5
JKhanh24 Loremaster Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 38	Most people have already said it, but tanking is a group effort, if your DPSer's are consistantly pulling aggro, then I would stop taunting and let them die a few times and maybe they will learn to ease up on the dps at the start. If they play their class right they can do max dps without stealing aggro. And yes Brigands Wizards and Warlocks can steal aggro very easily. Best Advice i can give you is talk to them if there your friends and tell them to tone it down a bit at the start and let you build up some hate. __________________ ItsChickie {Gnome} - Warlock of Golden Bears of Norrath Ralfie {Barbarian} - Guardian of Golden Bears of Norrath

07-23-2007, 08:39 AM	#7
AnAnimatedcorpse Loremaster Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Florida Posts: 206	Make sure the brig is deaggroing when needed and the bruiser is feigning when needed as well. __________________

07-22-2007, 05:40 AM	#1
ItlanChode Champion Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 6	I'm currently a 47 Berserker, Buckler spec'd, started playing about two weeks ago and am playing on the Naggy server. I'm full MC'd with the MC long sword as primary and the buckler version of SBS for secondary. I'm over 55% mitigation and 38% avoidance. Now my problem is.. aggro. I group with a Brigand and a Bruiser who are basically as well equipped as I am, and they rip aggro from me all the time. From what I can tell, we only have two true taunts and a third being an attack that generates extra hate. I have both taunt mastered, even a M2 on one of them, yet I can't seem to maintain aggro at all. Is it something I'm doing or them? Am I underaggroing or are they overaggroing? My taunts never go unused and I constantly use my shield bash to generate aggro as knockdowns(or atleast, should) help to increase aggro. Any tips as to what I'm doing wrong would be helpful. Thanks.

07-22-2007, 07:39 AM	#2
Noktaris Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 29	A tank can only do so much...in your situation I would have to say your friends are just way over doing it. Holding agro is a group effort...if your friends pull agro and die then thats there problem. Do they at least give you a few seconds to build up taunt? If you can take the extra damage try playing in offensive mode,if your not already.

07-22-2007, 12:00 PM	#3
NatSTER Loremaster Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 7	Get the 22% crit in Str tree if you don't have it. That should help a bit. It's not your fault though. You will always have a problem with Brigands, Bruisers, Wizards, and Warlocks. These guys have high burst damage which allow them to steal agro within the first 10-20s if they play without care. If they are good friends, you need to tell them to be careful about it. Most of the time, the mobs die before them when they steal agro, but they can also wipe you in hard/accidental pulls by dying early or causing you to waste your taunts cooldown, leaving you with nothing when an add jumps on the healer. There are also some classes that help you hold agro better. Assasins and Swashies are godly to have in group for hate transfer. Dirges and Coercers can give you more threat generation. Some other classes have threat utilities too but those are the main ones.

07-22-2007, 07:18 PM	#6
Kaberu Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 405	One thing to keep in mind is, "do you need to take aggro back?" If you pull a mob and take the first few hits (including CAs from the mob) the bruiser is a much better tank when taking the regular autoattacks that follow before the mob dies. If you really need to keep aggro due to the difficulty of the mob, ask him to turn off his attack proc. Bruisers have an offensive proc comparable to our reactive proc for taunting. Brigands have taunts themselves as well as a potent CA that requires aggro in order to work. Luckily, Brigands are very capable off-tanks and again, it's a case of asking whether you really need to take aggro back or not. Sometimes, just an intercept or two is fine when coupled with your shield stun. Usually, when I'm grouped with brigand or brawler friends.. I just maintain aggro on the majority of the mobs and let them peel off whatever they like. The Brigand can always ditch aggro with evade and the like and the Bruiser can always FD.