In role playing games there are almost always multiple classes of characters (for example World of Warcraft has: Warrior, Palidin, Shaman, Druid, Hunter, Rogue and Priest). I am fairly confident that you can group these classes into three very basic categories: Healers, DPS, and Tanks. Healers obviously are good for keeping other characters alive. DPS stands for Damage Per Second, basically this is any class who is good at doing lots of damage to a Monster Or Boss (MoB). And a Tank is the character who takes all the punches, and holds the attention of the MoB.
In solo combat none of this really matters much. But when you get a group together, the idea is to have the Tank charge in, get the MoB’s attention, and hold it (through aggro/threat). The MoB will start whaling on the Tank (who typically has a lot of armor). This is why you also need a healer, to continually heal the tank so he doesn’t die. Everyone else in the party is there to actually kill the MoB through high damage attacks.
A tank basically needs two things to do his job: Damage mitigation, and threat generation. Damage mitigation is, obviously, the tanks ability to moderate in force or intensity the damage he or she takes. Usually this is done by wearing heavy armor, and using attacks and abilities that slow or reduce the MoB’s attacks.
The second requirement, threat generation, is sometimes overlooked, but easily as important if not more important than the first. Remember, the tanks job is to hold the MoB’s attention so the rest of the party can kill it (also, this makes things easier for the healer, who only has to heal one target). Threat is generated by doing damage and healing, so everyone generates threat. Its the Tanks job to generate extra threat (by using specific threat generating attacks) to stay ahead of the rest of the party.
Let me start by stating that I’m a tank newb, I know of tanking, but have little experience and I wont pretend to know it all. I have yet to actually gather all of this gear and actually test it out, so a lot of this is theoretical.
I have tried to choose gear that is relatively easy to obtain (IE, no BOP world drops), but check the extras for a few pieces that you might want to keep an eye out for.
Weapon & Shield
Damage Mitigation through armor, and threat through damage. With those two thoughts, there is no other way to be a tank than with a one handed weapon with good damage, and a shield to block attacks.
[Gold-plated Buckler]
Armor
Head:
[Blood Elf Bandit Mask]
Shoulders:
[Silvered Bronze Shoulders]
Back:
[Sporid Cape]
Chest:
The quest Supplies to Auberdine can be obtained at level 19, after finishing the The Tower of Althalaxx series (5 parts). This quest isn’t for the faint of heart, and I recomend getting some high level (40+) friends to come help you. The reward is the [Chestplate of Kor] and doesn’t seem like much, since its one of very few uncommon item in this guide, but before level 20 its the best you can get. If your lucky enough to get [Phantom Armor] to drop while your in Shadowfang Keep, you can use that at level 20. Or you can complete the appropriate quest for your faction to receive either [Brutal Hauberk] or [Fire Hardened Hauberk] (Horde & Alliance respectively)
Wrists:
[Cavedweller Bracers ]
Waist:
[Runescale Girdle]
Legs:
Before you run through Deadmines, you’ll want to start The Defias Brotherhood quest series. Because the last part of the series is to kill Edwin VanCleef (the end boss of Deadmines). The reward from this series of interest is [Chausses of Westfall].
Feet:
[Silver-linked Footguards]
Trinkets, Rings and Amulets
Head:
Head:
Head:
Extras
Because you probably wont always be tanking. Sometimes you want to do some solo play, and you need some more DPS so you can actually kill things, not just take their hits. Either the [Sin'dorei Warblade] or [Smite's Mighty Hammer] should do the trick to give you a good amount of DPS, and both are relatively easy to obtain. They are both 2H weapons, so you wont be able to equip a shield.
Keep your eye on the Auction House, and trade channel for [Silver-linked Footguards] and [Thorbia's Gauntlets]. Both are either world drops and/or extreemly rare MoB drops (wowhead and armory seem to disagree on this). Since both are BoE though, you can just buy them.
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