I wanted to document my journey leveling a tank who mostly PUGs through Mythic+. And I also wanted to look at data to see just how bad I was at tanking … or just how bad (or difficult) it is tanking in Mythic+.
So I started keeping a spreadsheet of every Mythic+ group that I tanked for to have some actual data. I mostly wanted to see if there was anything interesting about the data other than the obvious carries or high ilvl groups.
I’m really curious to see if there is any correlation between certain types of groups that can be leveraged to form more efficient groups as I continue this journey.
A bit of background …
Some quick background on me before we get started. I’ve been playing the game on and off since vanilla. I’ve got a decent amount of tanking experience from Shadowlands and even from dungeons back in the day. I definitely wouldn’t put myself on par with any MDI players. I don’t get super sweaty when it comes to min/max or optimizing for stats. I’m not super fond of pushing super high keys (22+). At the time of this writing my DPS main is sitting at ~2,500.
For the most part, I follow the recommended path provided by wowhead, icyveins, and the internet. My main is a Havoc Demon Hunter and played primarily as a DPS through Shadowlands as well as Dragonflight.
How did I prepare for Dragonflight tanking?
I’m not going to lie … I didn’t go into this totally blind. As mentioned previously, I do have tanking experience from previous expansions and even some from this expansion on my Demon Hunter. If I were going into this without any tanking experience at all … I imagine the numbers would look much different from the learning curve.
I would say the biggest thing that I do to prepare is to know what things need to get interrupted. I think that is one of, if not, the most helpful things you can do as a player running through Mythic+. Just interrupt the right things. And if you don’t know what the “right” things are … just interrupt anything!
I also wanted to see what Protection Warrior was like. It has a lot of hype around it right now, so I wanted to give it a go. So I leveled one up from a 60 boost I had remaining, grinded him out to 70, and started on my Mythic+ journey.
One thing I’ve found out is that being a tank in Mythic+ is difficult. I’m not entirely sure if being a tank or a healer is more stressful, but they are both definitely difficult.
Don’t over do it …
Don’t try to do more than you have to as you’re getting started. For example, if it’s Explosive week … let the DPS or healer focus on the orbs. As you get more comfortable with your rotation, your cooldown, the routes, the mobs, etc … then you can start to work in extra things. For me, I had to get my rotation down … I think for me to start feeling comfortable with the Warrior tank and the Dragonflight dungeons, it took me a good 10-15 runs.
Use your Cooldowns liberally
I’m still learning the best places to use my big cooldowns and best mobs to pull … it’s a continual learning process. Don’t let players out there who think they’re gods gift to WoW let you think that you should know everything and never make mistakes. They’re full of shit.
I’ve run approximately 50 dungeons at the time of this writing. Everything from level 2 to 13 I’ve mostly sat around level 6-8 as my sweet spot over the weekend. I would say that a vast majority of those groups have gone well.
Out of the ~50 dungeons I ran with, there was only 1 group with a couple alpha-male, “this tank sucks” in a 10 RLP. I won’t get into the details of it, but needless to say, I got shit on pretty hard. I definitely think it was my fault, but no one deserves some of the vile shit that comes out of these players.
The bad parts …
This is one of the worst parts of being a tank, for me personally. You and the healer for some reason take a lot of the blame when shit goes sideways. And if you are someone who has a difficult time letting go of things. Tanking can be an absolute nightmare.
When you run into these kind of players in groups, it’s very difficult, for me, to just let it go. I continue to replay the scenario over and over in my head. There’s definitely a part of me that keeps saying to forget it and move on. But there’s another part that will sit on that memory and remind yourself that you’re not good enough. But the best thing you can do as a tank, is just forget the outbursts from people and move on to the next one.
However, while the comments might be un-constructive or absolutely uncalled for … that doesn’t mean there isn’t a lesson to learn from whatever triggered that behavior. There are learning moments from these failures! Yours and everyone else. And there are a lot of them.
As a tank, you need to be quick at absorbing your mistakes as well as other peoples mistakes. Make a valiant effort to ignore the shit comments that are made and try to look at the accidents that happen constructively.
There will be times that you pull too much, you accidentally aggro a pack, you miss an interrupt, you take a bad route … shit happens all the time in these dungeons. Sometimes your DPS and healer can recover from it. Sometimes they can’t.
Just do your best to learn from those mistakes and try to avoid them in the future. But ignore the unproductive snide comments that come out of rando’s.
It’s also important that you learn from mistakes that other people make. As a tank, if you continually have a class accidentally pull extra mobs, you should start to find more optimized, efficient or “better” ways to position groups of mobs to help other players avoid those mistakes.
Keep an eye out for these little things, because it can really help the flow of the group if you can find ways to help the group avoid their mistakes as well as yours.
I also struggle really bad with playing the blame game. As someone who grew up playing sports (baseball and football), it’s difficult for me to not think with a team mindset. A single player or event doesn’t lose a game. The team loses based on how well everyone played the entire game. Rarely, in sports, does it ever come down to a single failure by a single person.
And as a leader (in my day-to-day work life) I’ve also been trained to take the blame for accidents that happen with your team. I have a hard time shrugging off these engrained personality traits for a game. And as a tank (and probably healer), when you come across certain people or groups, it will be a blame game.
Anyways … moral of the story is, if you want to tank in World of Warcraft, I think a vast majority of the groups you come across will be decent enough to get through things. However, I think it’s inevitable that you’ll bump into those groups who are just ass-hats and will shit all over you from time to time.
But based on my data and experience … it’s not as often as your head or the internet might make it seem.
Lessons Learned from this Journey
Build up some thick skin …
It can help if you have or can build up some thick skin. Especially if you’re not familiar with tanking in general, the rotation, your cooldowns, etc.
Learning in Lower Mythic+ Dungeons …
You don’t always have to be pushing your limits as a tank. If you’re geared for a level 10 dungeon … you don’t have to do level 10 dungeons. Go enjoy a level 2 or 3 dungeon.
Stick to lower level dungeons around 0-2 as you’re learning. There is absolutely nothing wrong with running level 2-4 dungeons as you’re learning or even if you just want to go and carry a group to make 4 peoples day better.
You’ll meet a lot of really great people down there who are just there to play the game and meet people. It’s a breath of fresh air when you come across a group who is just fun to be around and absolutely destroy a Mythic+.
I’ve run into numerous people who were just farming sparks, carrying a friend, or even down there helping random people they don’t know plow through dungeons.
But when you do run into the shit heads … shrug it off and move on. It’s difficult, I get that. I’m sure healers who are starting our struggle with this as well. It’s tough out there sometimes. Not every instance is all candy and roses.
But more important to me, is the data that I collected. 1 shithead out of 50 groups really isn’t too terrible. In fact, I think it’s pretty great. I think WoW has gotten a stigma around it, that there are a lot of those chad-fueled groups and sweaty people out there. But in my experience running through Mythic+ they aren’t that common at level 0-15 (I’ll be sure to make another post when I go from 15-20).
Make Friends …
As a tank, I think I’ve made more friends than I ever have as a DPS. I truly love when I find good humans to play with and add to my friends list. I have this really nice feeling when I make a friend in game. Even if you don’t get to group with them again, it can just be nice to reach out to people from time to time and say hello.
Say Nice Things …
I make it a point to message my healers after a run and tell them “nj super smooth run” or something similar. I also do the same when I had a geared out DPS come through and carries the damage. Out of the ~50 dungeons there were ~10 that had a carry who, obviously, just made everyone’s lives easier.
I enjoy the game the most when I meet new people and also get to complete Mythic+ dungeons. I have never cared tremendously about loot. Or what I get at the end. Obviously, it’s nice when you do get something. But for whatever reason I truly enjoy the “tya gg” messages at the end.
Out of the 50 runs … I didn’t receive any direct messages directly saying “gj tanking.” But I didIreceive ~6 “gj tanking” messages after sending a message to a healer or DPS. Those are my absolute favorite.
Be a Good Human
If you run a dungeon with a DPS who is carrying you, or a tank who had a smooth route, or a healer who kept everyone alive the entire dungeon … whisper them and just say thanks!
I’ve never had anyone tear into me because I sent some positive vibe pixels to them after a good dungeon run.
Pull at a steady pace
Depending on the affixes you’re dealing with … you don’t always have to have massive pulls. Slow and steady wins the race. In most dungeons, as long as you pull decent sized groups of 2-5 continually without wiping … you will time it.
When you run into the Chad’s out there who think the only way to go through a dungeon is to +3 it and 3 pull groups with hero … don’t give in to it. Just keep pulling from group to group.
That being said … you also need to read the group too. If you’ve got 2-3 DPS who are just carrying and absolutely destroying things, pull more. You can go as fast as the group goes. If you’ve got a healer who is carrying … feel free to stretch out a bit. But remember, you run the risk of over-pulling and wiping. It’s a balance you have to learn to find.
Be observant
Be sure to setup your raid frames so that you can see your groups health and your healers mana. Keep an eye on the Overall DPS numbers. If you have heavy hitting DPS … you can start to pull bigger. If you have low performing DPS … it’s going to go slower.
Use your abilities
This isn’t exactly tank specific, but …
Know when to use your AoE stun. Your AoE silence. Your spell reflect. Your blessings. Etc. Once you have your rotation down, knowing when and where to use your utility spells is a huge boost to the groups overall progress.
Thank Your Healer
Be sure to thank your healer! You are not solely a great tank because you stay alive. You are a great tank because your healer kept you alive and let you pull more.
Sometimes you go into a Mythic+ and you feel like a wet paper sack … if that’s the case, it’s quite possibly a healer thing (but you could be under geared as well). But there are other times I would go into a Mythic+ and it feels like I’m fucking invincible. That’s the power of your healer. But keep in mind, sometimes they’re learning too!
Thank Your DPS too …
Especially when you get someone come along and carry. If you’re running a level 2 mythic and you have a 390+ item level DPS with you. Just tell them thanks for the carry.
For any DPS out there reading this… don’t be afraid to tell your healer or your tank great job after a dungeon. They deal with a lot of shit that DPS just don’t have to deal with. It’s difficult. Even if they didn’t do an exceptionally great job. It can just be such a good feeling when you get a message from someone about a dungeon run.
Be Kind to the Group
As a tank you might not realize it, but you play a big part setting the tone of the group.
There were definitely groups where a DPS wasn’t pulling their weight. Or when no one was helping with interrupts. And those groups can make the experience super frustrating. But just try to remind yourself that not everyone out there knows these dungeons or their character like the back of their hand. If you have the patience, explain to them.
Although, sometimes it’s just better to leave, because it can cause a lot of friction when you start to call people out for low DPS or missed interrupts. Sometimes … a group just isn’t going to be able to make it. It happens.
Knowledge is Power
Know the dungeons and mobs as much as possible. This is a tough one, because it takes a lot of time and knowledge to know what to pull, what to chain, what to interrupt, what routes are most common, etc. There is so much more to being a tank than just knowing your rotation. And sadly, a lot of it is just expected of you.
There are a ton of Weak Auras, Plater Add-ons, etc that can help with this too. Don’t try to memorize everything out there. Let sounds and visuals remind you when a priority interrupt is coming up.
I will say that it has gotten so much better since Shadowlands tanking though. You still need to know as much about the mobs as possible. But it’s a huge relief not having to know the perfect route or sweat your balls off hoping that you don’t pull an extra pack and screw up the damn Prideful.
Some Number Breakdown
A note about the numbers: The reading above was written before I had continued to log. It might say specific numbers up in the writing that is out of date with the actual data in the spreadsheet.
- 68 runs
- 1 asshole group consisting of 2 asshole players
- 5 gj tanking direct messages, after messaging healer
- 2 groups fell apart when not making it past the first boss
- 1 group really stuck it out after 4 wipes on RLP last boss. We finally managed to get it down and it felt rewarding AF.
- 3 new friends added onto battle.net friends list
- 18+ Deaths results in Not Timing
- 3 Non Completed Mythic+ Dungeons. All at 11+
- 13 Untimed Keys
- Doesn’t seem to be any correlation between untimed keys and average item level
- Untimed keys definitely have a lower overall score