Tank Survey

Now that all awkwardness has hopefully passed, its time for something less dramatic. Koriel from whatisboom posted a reply to the recent healer survey with a tank survey. Since it’s quite time for a technical pally post, I jumped at the occasion to join in. I don’t expect to be doing much tanking in the near future, but I did have tanking as my mainspec up until now.

What is the name, class, and spec of your primary tank?
Rykga, paladin, prot

What is your primary tanking environment? (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans)
Mostly 25 man (normal modes), some 10s and 5mans.

What is your favorite tankng spell for your class and why?
I would say Hammer of the Righteous as it hits 3-4 targets (depending on glyphs) and spreads whatever seal I’m using around. Great for tanking multiple mobs as well as soloing.

What tanking spell do you use least for your class and why?
I use pretty much all of them according to need. Maybe Avenging Wrath, since I’m often worried it’ll interfere with my shield wall.

What do you feel is the biggest strength of your tanking class and why?
Hmm, I’m not too sure. I’ve usually picked my tanking assignment based on my own personal strengths. I find we have especially good survivability due to Ardent Defender. We’re good tanks all around, but somehow we seem to have a slight advantage when it comes to taking big hits

What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your tanking class and why?
Mobility, in my opinion. Consecration is a great spell for holding on to a lot of adds, but I can’t pick it up and carry it around as needed.

In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best tanking assignment for you?
It doesn’t really matter. I’ll tank the boss or adds as needed and do a good job.

What tanking class do you enjoy tanking with most and why?
On the healing survey, the “with” caused some confusion, those who only played one healer took it as “who would you like to be your co-healer” while those with many healers stated the healer they preferred to play. I only have one tank, so I’m going to answer the question using the first meaning. I don’t really care who’s tanking with me. I’m mostly experienced with warriors and other paladins, but as long as they’re geared and doing a good job, I don’t care.

What tanking class do you enjoy tanking with least and why?
I’ve mostly tanked alongside warriors and other paladins and I don’t sense much of a difference between the two. I don’t have enough experience with DK or druids as fellow tanks to know.

What is your worst habit as a tank?
Having the wrong mob targeted when I taunt. And forgetting to put up Righteous Fury. I don’t make those mistakes often, but every time is once too much.

What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while tanking?
When other tanks taunt off me, I’m possessive of my adds, dammit! I do get annoyed if a dps hits the mob before I do and doesn’t stop attacking. In reality, it’s just a sign that I should be quicker, but it annoys me.

Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other tanks?
I don’t know enough about other classes of tanks to say, but I’m satisfied with where paladin tanks are right now.

What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a tank?
I find it difficult to evaluate my performance. On the spot, I’ll look at my threat, my reaction time, my appropriate use of CDs. Afterwards I’ll ask about what it’s like to heal me, but my healers are too nice and just say what I want to hear :).

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your class?
I’m not sure! The only people I hear talking about paladin tanking are other paladin tanks. A general mistake I see made about tanking is use of the term “defense cap”. Cap implies that once you reach a certain amount, any more is wasted. While defense won’t be your stat of choice after a certain point, it’s still useful. So it’s actually a “defense minimum”.

What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new tanks of your class to learn?
I have to say, I see some strange specs out there.

Effective Health or Avoidance and why?
Looks like Effective Health right now. I wish it were Avoidance, Avoidance seems so much more appealing to me, but Effective Health wins right now.

What tanking class do you feel you understand least?
Probably DKs. I don’t know too much about other tanking classes at all, but I’d say DKs confuse me the most.

What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in tanking?
Grid, with Clique for using Righteous Defense and other useful tools on my fellow raid members. Omen to watch my threat. One thing I use a lot too, and its not an addon, is my combat log for quick “how did I die” referencing.

Do you strive primarily for balance between your tanking stats, or do you stack some much higher than others, and why?
I like having some basic avoidance and basic threat, but I tend to stack stam above everything, except in my 5 man sets, where I use a lot of strength to up threat and dps.

Edit: Apparently this was a popular idea. Honorshammer started his own version of the survey as well.