The ability I’m still not fast enough with
I died yesterday, again. Who did I die to? The Yeti. Why’d I die?
`
That’s probably a little tough to see.
That’s my hotkey for Shield Wall. When the Yeti hit the wall, I couldn’t hit it fast enough. I recognized a while ago that I wasn’t fast enough on my Shield Walls so I mapped it to that. The muscle memory isn’t there yet though. Next week though, next week it will be.
But, it’s not my fault!
Now you can play the blame game all you want after you’re all dead about how so-and-so shouldn’t have got hit by the Yeti, but in the end, you’re the one who didn’t Shield Wall fast enough. If you had, you’d have lived. What else were you saving Shield Wall for in this phase anyway? Yes, you shouldn’t have to use Shield Wall, but then you shouldn’t have to do a lot of things. You’re either being compensated for or you’re compensating for someone else.
So, when the Yeti hits the wall, are you fast enough?
November 6th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
I recently bought a Logitech MX 518 mouse and bound Shield Wall and Berserker Rage to the two thumb buttons. Oh boy, am I fast now. I laugh at Auriaya’s Sentinel Blast now, as I don’t even get feared anymore.
Mousebinding definitely helps me, and I frequently use my glyphed Shield Wall.
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November 6th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Brilliant!! But I’ve got auto-attack bound there.
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Namthe reply on November 7, 2009 2:45 am:
You don’t need autoattack bound anywhere, certainly not anywhere close to your hand - right-click to start attacking.
Forn those rare instances where even you need to stop autoattack, have it boud to some out-of-the-way location.
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Traxex reply on November 7, 2009 2:51 am:
Or create a macro with one of your spells followed by /startattack. You should use ` as a panic key like Me and Vene
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Asterix reply on November 11, 2009 9:33 am:
This is good advice. I macro my autoattack to devastate’s key binding.
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November 6th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Alt 1 for me. But then I’ve got an n52, so every button is fast and easy to reach!
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Castellan reply on November 6, 2009 5:56 pm:
Same as Drae, only I have the N52TE.
3 different action bars, 12 buttons each, all on one piece of equipment. I’ll never go back to a standard keyboard…
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Drae reply on November 7, 2009 6:19 am:
I agree. there’s no way I’m ever going back.
I used to be a hybrid keybind/clicker. I had the standard rotation keybound, but clicked most potions, cooldowns, buffs, debuffs etc. Then I got owned because I clicked a cooldown and I thought it went off but it didn’t. I decided then and there to keybind everything, but I couldn’t do it far too many skills.
So I bought an n52te. Now everything is bound.
I use the Dpad for strafe and forward back. I control it with my thumb; freeing up 2 or 3 fingers that I used to need for strafe and back/forward to hit abilities. I threw my HS and cleave on the back/forward buttons on my mouse. It took sometime to get used to (about a full lock-out doing Sarth 3d… my guild was not too happy with my.. adjustment period) but I’m much faster now.
It’s a great piece of hardware, like moving from a crappy atari style joystick to a full joystick with throttle. I highly recommend the n52te. Just gotta give yourself sometime to get used to it.
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November 6th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
“So, when the Yeti hits the wall, are you fast enough?” thanks for the new sig.
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November 6th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
I use a fang pad and after setting it up once I only have to press a few of the raid target icons that I haven’t bound. Sadly I will have to teach myself to go back to a keyboard one day, but until then I’ll stick with my pad.
http://reviews.cnet.com/game-accessories/ideazon-zboard-fang-gamepad/4505-10110_7-31956925.html
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November 6th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
I personally bind my CD’s to the 3 extra buttons on my mouse.
Just above the thumb there are 2.
Closest one is Shield Wall.
Far one is a Health Boost/Heal Macro that combines:
Satrina’s
Last Stand
Enrage Regen
In that order for max effectiveness.
3rd button is behind the scroll wheel. That gets a Macro combining:
Heart of Iron
Healing Pot
Health Stone
3 O’crap buttons ready to go when needed.
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urkagan reply on November 9, 2009 11:12 am:
i think its a great usage of O’craps. the only suggestion id add is to macro satrina’s to the heart of iron and pot and stone. the reason is that the last stand is powerfull enough not to be shored by another health boost. and the heart of iron ( or glyph of indomitability in this matter) are week enough to get that health boost.
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November 6th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
Button 13 on my belkin n52 (middle finger lowest row, just between shield block and trinket2) along with a macro that uses the appropriate 5 min cd depending on what stance I am in.
I R SMRT
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November 6th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
Whenever Icehowl winds up for his charge, and after I am safely clear, I am hovering over my shield wall, ready to fire it off.
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Drae reply on November 7, 2009 6:22 am:
I hover over intervene, we tank icehowl against the wall, so it’s extremely rare there is not a melee in rage for it.
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November 7th, 2009 at 2:47 am
Yep. I have last stand(`) and Shield wall(Shift+`) on the same button.
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November 7th, 2009 at 3:24 am
The whole 1-0 keybind isn’t very good…
`-5, r, f, g, z, x, c
and shift + all of the above.
2 action bars for fast reach with regular keyboard
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November 7th, 2009 at 11:04 am
ive got Shield wall bound to my forward slash key (” \ “) this has worked out well for me. I should also note that Last Stand is bound to backspace.
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November 7th, 2009 at 11:42 am
Shield Wall? If I’m ever targeted for the crash, be it on normal or heroic, I just intervene the person closest to me and I’m gold. Makes life a HELL of a lot easier on heroic since there is no speed boost.
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Vivilros reply on November 7, 2009 11:46 am:
Someone else got smashed, I too thought he was talking about getting hit, and was like *boggle*
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November 7th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Just make a rotation for tanks to use Shield Wall (or respective abilities for other classes) whenever Yeti charges, and use em always the very second he does. Regardless if it hits someone or doesn’t you are safe. The ones not tanking at that moment and using his/her cd will just taunt off you and survive the burst.
A
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November 7th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
I’ve been fast enough 2/5 times, but one of the times it was on CD and the healers kept me up anyways (which was impressive). Hoping to improve my ratio…while also hoping I won’t have to.
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November 7th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
I use my F button for my shield wall, the ` button just seems awkward for me to hit quickly when I am tanking just how I have my hand placed on the keyboard. I use my ` button for my shout. I have shift + F bound to last stand, and shift+T bound to trinket, and T to WotF.
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November 8th, 2009 at 2:18 am
I use the Belkin Speedpad, and it’s made so many things a lot faster for me now. The thing allows you to go into three different states in which its buttons act differently. If I hold down the button that you select as the toggle, it goes into its ‘red’ mode, and the main keys for my rotation become the keys that save my life (kinda fitting I go into ‘red’ mode for my cooldowns, eh?).
I’m about four times faster, and I don’t have to stretch my pinky out to get to the button.
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November 8th, 2009 at 10:22 am
Like Ciderhelm, I have my oh sh*t buttons in their own actionbar with much larger hitboxes and closer to my character on screen, where’d I’d normally keep my mouse. That lets me with not-so-much precision, hammer a whole line of buttons in a pinch: shield wall, enraged regen, last stand, shield block, glyph of indomitability. My zerker rage is also in an actionbar of larger buttons, right next to my human racial button.
Like Mashiah, I also re-mapped my basic keys: 1-5 are normal (and set to actions I’d use less often as you get closer to 5 - 1 for example is Shield Slam, while 5 is Thunderclap), then F, C, X, Z so they wrap around my WASD hand. F is a great spammable key for me (Devestate). 2nd row of actions accessible by Shift+#. But yeah, a good gaming mouse can also make a world of difference. The only mouse-bound actions I have are my on-melee’s: Cleave on Scrollwheel Up and Heroic Strike on Scroll-Wheel down. Since i do zoom in and out a lot tho I have Shift+Mousewheel do the zooming.
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November 8th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
I really need to get used to my n52te.
I’ve had it for months, but can’t get away from my current style. I’ll also admit to the slightly dirty two hands on keyboard… Just can’t seem to give it up…
On the bright side, I think I’ve only missed my shieldwall (maybe) twice on icehowl enrages, but I’ve also had it on CD a few times (people getting stuck on pillars/glitchy wall sections FTL)
I also find it entertaining that on ToGC10, even with enrage regen, last stand, shield wall and a full health bar, you really don’t live long if someone makes him angry…..
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Drae reply on November 10, 2009 7:09 am:
It’s well worth the adjustment period. I wiped our raid for a week straight on Sarth 3D adjusting to the n52TE. Now that I’ve got it programmed into my muscle memory I’m much quicker on almost every ability.
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November 8th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
I use keyboard part (above arrows)
[insert][home][page up]
[delete][end][page down]
Shield wall | Regen | Last stand
Pot | Armor | HS
I even made them their own bar, I use Steelseries 7g keyboard and Logitech G5 with only one button which I use for push to talk so I love to use my right hand for mouse moving, marking (numpad) and cooldowns…
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/8603/ys0prep.jpg (you can see bar in the mid on left)
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November 8th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
What did you used to have it bound to, Vene?
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Veneretio reply on November 8, 2009 9:38 pm:
Ctrl-1
I’m just not very good at using Ctrl.
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November 8th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Yeah, I found Tilde to be a great button for panic hits! I have my Shield Wall bound to F1 (Last Stand to F2).
I did the same thing when I dps’d for another Warrior tank in my guild. I noticed he was Cleaving far, far, far more often than I ever did, so I have Tilde as my Cleave button (and I’ve never used Cleave so much).
Great panic button.
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November 9th, 2009 at 3:48 am
its not like im too slow but i keep forgetting about the mini-enrage and by the time i remember it (whys that yeti all red? oh yeah .. shit) i am actually too slow. so much love to my druid-backup-tank who saved the day more then once there.
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November 9th, 2009 at 5:03 am
I really need to re-work my keybinds, and get more cooldowns in easy reach. I currently use the ` as my vent key, but I do agree that it could be better used for something else. Currently I’m having a minor issue that I accidentally bump my “last stand” key (F4), when reaching for “Taunt” (F3). I also have HS bound to the wheel down, and Cleave to wheel up, makes spamming them much, much easier.
I also seem to have issues using a modifier (shift/alt/ctrl) key, can’t seem to find them properly quickly enough.
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November 9th, 2009 at 8:44 am
in my opinion modifier keys are great for things you don’t need to access often or quickly. mod key things like mocking blow or battle shout or something like that to more commonplace peers like taunt or commanding shout which you need more often. Mod keying things like all your panic buttons to one key is asking for a costly slip up every now and then (at least until you get used to it).
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November 9th, 2009 at 9:02 am
Vene’s also written a few good posts on keybindings in the past which I think are good to read.
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November 9th, 2009 at 11:54 am
I dont know about you…. but when you have shield wall glyphed for the 2 minute cooldown, it wont save me from a failed charge from Icehowl. When he enrages, he hits really hard…. you might need another cooldown to survive it…..
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Bhig reply on November 9, 2009 8:14 pm:
10 or 25? Normal or Heroic?
On 10 normal it’s enough to keep me alive. Last stand kinda works too. I’ve survived a really bad night with those two cooldowns. It does require all the healer power of the group though…
10 heroic I’m still toast unless those healers are really onto it.
No idea about 25man… never done beasts…
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November 9th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
I use the numpad for my keybinds. insert,pageup,pagedown are my panic buttons. Insert being those that require a GCD, since finger travel time will usually ensure that I don’t get blocked by the GCD.
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November 10th, 2009 at 5:07 am
I’ve got a question:
As I’m not doing end game content at the moment I wonder how fast you really have to be with your panic skills and how felxible do you have to be with your movement.
My setup is currently placed around the keyblock
qwerty
asdfgh
zxcvbn
with the main abilities mostly centered around esdf.
I used to walk with esdf until I put all my movement onto my mouse (a MX Revolution) which works pretty fine for me:
Left + Right button is run, sideweel forward is strafe left, sideweel backward strafe right and sideweel button is walk backwards.
In addition my panic skills are placed in an OPie ring I can Access with my Middle Mouse Button (the one behind the scrollweel). And partly they are placed in clickable bars, but mostly so that I can see if they are off CD.
Now I realize, that the OPie method is not just as fast as a keypress (ok Shield Wall is bound to t too, just for the case ;)) and I wonder if it will be fast enough in the endgame (which I plan to experience somewhen *sigh*).
One abilitiy though is the stnadard skill, which is triggered if I just press the Button, so that makes one fast skill and a few slower ones. Is that enough?
And is it ok to move with the mouse or will I have to do a lot of walking and targeting? I’ve had some trouble with the TAB-target function and it seems as if it is not always working accurate enough.
There isn’t a possibility to target a specific raidicon marked monster atm that I’m missing is there? That would be great…
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Bhig reply on November 10, 2009 1:24 pm:
IMO (and I’m going to get flamed) you can get away not using the whole keybinding/mouse move-target.
I’ve been bad and have been using two hands on the keyboard with everything bound around the two hand areas. I admit that I lack turn speed, targetting accuracy (tab targetting is definitely NOT ideal…) and can’t do some of the super funky advanced moves (jump, spin, SW, spin back, keep running). But to date I don’t feel that it has significantly and unduly hindered the progress.
I think if you were leading edge, and had a group that like to progress as rapidly as possible (potentially undergeared and without large knowledge pool from the internet community) you would need to change your style.
Everyone is different.
I find having access to almost 50 potential “binds” (all the number pad including the dot/del, plus the 1-0, -, =, and all modifiable with ctrl & shift) spread over two hands awesome. I am often moving, jumping, and using two skills at once. I move one hand to the mouse for rapid targeting (but I do lose access to my main rotation then), and because I also use a razor game pad I have two ways of getting access to some of the buttons. I’m now so used to having access to all those buttons and all the miscellaneous stuff (char sheet, backpack etc) that I’m finding it very hard to move to my n52te. (Doesn’t help the pally tank is a clicker who uses like four buttons apparently…)
Oh.. also have bound raid icons to the del/ins/home/end/pg up/pg dn for rapid in action raid icon swapping.
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Ker reply on November 10, 2009 9:40 pm:
I actually use a somewhat similar approach myself except i use the number pad for my “spell” rotation. The number bar itself I use 1-4 for my cd’s (1-BR, 2 SW, 3 LS, 4 etc. trinkets) and then the number pad for everything else. I move with wasd and have raid markings bound to c, v and b. My numpad i have bound . for attack, 0 for tab and then 1- 9 are my attacks with SS at 4, HS/revenge 5 and dev at 6. Ive worried about the speed with which i can switch targets before, but tbh its never once been an issue in any raid as there really isn’t alot of that needed. In heroics it can lead to some frustration as you tab through every target in the room to get to the one in front of you but even that’s more of an inconvenience than a real issue. Always wondered if anyone else went “mouse less” as well. Good to see I’m not alone
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GronkerLonker reply on November 11, 2009 2:29 am:
Thanks guys, so I think I will stick with my playstyle and see how it works out for me.
Seems as if there are a lot of different solutions for this out there :D.
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Asterix reply on November 11, 2009 9:51 am:
I use this same method since starting MC back in classic. Only time I ever use the mouse once engaged is to target a party member to intervene like when I have bile tanking worms in ToC.
Keyboard turning isn’t bad for a tank in pve. You don’t need to do a full 180 but only 90 degrees to attack. That’s a slightly longer tap of the turn key while hitting the back key. Until mobs start trying to attack you from behind, there is no tanking situation where you need to turn quickly. I use strafe to run out of blasts and charge to return afterward.
Tab-targeting works fine. The trick is to actually face the target you want targeted. Tab will choose the target in front of you first.
Frequently players say I look like a machine firing off multiple talents quickly and moving with a non-fluid, jerky motion. I do rotate my target some as I view the room since I don’t use the mouse to move my camera’s view.
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Veneretio reply on November 11, 2009 11:46 am:
Off the top of my head, the 2nd boss in ToC5 (the dude) and Malygos both favour mouse movers. I assure you there’s far more situations than that. As someone that tab targeted for a long time, I care assure you that selecting targets with a mouse is leagues ahead in most situations. (and you still have the option to tab target when it’s not)
So while, I agree with you that certainly tanking can be done the way you’re suggesting, from someone that’s done it both ways I know that it’s not the best way.
Bhig reply on November 11, 2009 1:59 pm:
Oh yeah. There are lots of situations that favour a mouse mover. And the pure fact you can look around while tanking makes mouse use superior. On the 2nd boss ToC5, when tanking, I normally just walk through him and then walk beckward through him again (remembering to rend just before, and TC during, rude DPS FTW). Walking through him works probably 80% of the time pretty flawlessly. The other 20% of the time the melee will have to reposition themselves.
And I agree with Vene. Clicking, and double handed KB tanking isn’t the ideal situation. There are just so many really good benefits from keybind/mouse. But in the same breath, for PVE I don’t think the benefits are so great that it is the only way everyone should roll. I definitely think everyone should get away from clicking though, and at least use a decent level of keybinds.
Asterix reply on November 11, 2009 2:51 pm:
Excellent points. That’s why I enjoy your site.
For the sake of discussion I’ll expand my thoughts.
For that second boss that does the blinding light thing I either just run through him a few steps or I keyboard turn 91 degrees, not 180.
Not sure what part of the Maly fight you mean. Perhaps the mounted portion? We just /follow our main healer for that part. When I fall from a vortex I already know where the spark is coming from (pings on minimap), have turned perpendicular to that point, and immediately strafe run to my tanking position.
The problem that I have with mouse targeting is in times where it seems needed is also when there are lots of mob name plates bunched up and moving. I find it easier to tab than to try catching that moving name plate.
It helps to take a step toward the target as well making it the only target in front. While tabbing you get to see your target’s target and sometimes catch one you’ve missed or that you do have aggro on but the mob is casting its spell at another player (XT trash) you can bash/stun.
I do use my mouse when not engaged, but once engaged I’m two hands on the keyboard.
Tankingtips is my favorite tank site, hands down. No better place to find discussion on what I like to know. I never read walk throughs or watch videos enjoying the discovery in game. Tankingtips provides all the tanking discussion I seek. You’re the best Veneretio!
Cordially,
Asterix of Zul’jin
Asterix reply on November 11, 2009 3:28 pm:
Bhig - I definately agree about clicking. I think we all do.
I’ve yet to meet the tank that out plays me and my two-handed keyboarding. I don’t have much experience with binding/mouse-moving, though I bet those players have little experience two-handing their keyboard. Both are good. As with anything, years of experience makes one proficient.
With clicking there is hard evidence that binding is better. That’s why I switched. I’ve yet to be shown up by a mouse mover however. Err, unless it was in pvp.
Machus reply on November 15, 2009 11:36 pm:
Simply walk two steps forward through the boss while he’s casting Radiance, and then two steps back.
Asterix reply on November 11, 2009 10:05 am:
Another thought on turning 180. I don’t like to see tanks do a fast mouse 180 and run from a mob. It’s better to strafe run away than to offer your backside to the mob to hit.
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Bhig reply on November 11, 2009 2:02 pm:
The 180 double spin was just an example of something you can do. I saw it done on a you tube video by Ciderhelm (check it out, it’s pretty impressive). It is actually a skill you could use while tanking trash (although I can’t really imagine doing it a lot). Run, spin, showckwave stun, spin run, pick up extra groups with a charge/TC…. I do this, but a LOT slower. Normally I have to SW, then try and turn, target charge and TC… It would be a lot quicker and better with mouse… In fact I normally have to switch my right hand to the mouse for the target part.
Bhig reply on November 11, 2009 2:03 pm:
It also occurred to me, that when I said SW, some people might have though shield wall instead of shockwave… Same acroynm FTL.
Steele reply on November 12, 2009 2:17 am:
@Asterix
Can you tell me how you get along with stuff like the first boss in ahn kahet where theres tons of little trash mobs along with the 1 big add you have to tank? You cant really be tabbing through all the tiny trash untill you get the guardian, are you? Cant see how to handle this without macro while having both hands on the keyboard.
GronkerLonker reply on November 12, 2009 11:11 am:
On the topic with the nameplates I definetly have to agree. I hope it gets better with the new implementation where the do not try to sort themselfes over and over again.
Also I have to mention Clique or the mouse users. I will try to setup click for me so that I can Intervene to a groupmember by clicking his unitframe with say Shift+right MB or something.
And I will try to setup some nasty stuff to trigger by clicking on the focus frame.
It has some potential as I already experienced with my paladin with all those tool spells.
The drawback is you have to remember what happens by clicking what.
Asterix reply on November 12, 2009 3:29 pm:
I never used tab to target until Nef’s adds in BWL forced me to learn a faster, more accurate way. Tab target works by selecting the target in front of you. So the trick is (this sounds trite) to literally have the desired target in front of you. One problem with this is when there are many adds in front. The solution is to not stand stationary but to step toward the target placing the undesired, already aggro’d targets to your side, or at least not directly in front of you, to where the desired target is the primary target directly in front and then tab to target.
The first boss in Old Kingdom has the guardian spawn and all other adds and boss are immune until the guardian is dead. If the party doesn’t stack on me, I drag the boss to them or at least to our healer. To be honest, in this fight I do not need to target the guardian immediately to snap its aggro. TC or SW will do it. In any event, I still step towards the guardian and then tab with nearly 100% accuracy. On the odd chance it isn’t targeted the next tab will.
I cannot remember how many years it’s been since BWL and switching to tab-targeting. I works extremely well for me. All I can say is practise makes perfect. The month we spent on Nef and his adds was my training. After years of using it one gets proficient to where streaming adds like the worms on the way to Hodir can be tabbed and attacked as each one pops up. I do move to position the aggro’d adds so that I may easily tab to my next target.
For Nef’s adds I used a forward and back method. Move up to tab target the spawn. Move back a bit while sundering it and then forward again placing the aggro’d add out of my tab’s frontal focus. Trust me this was no easy feat in a time when there was no TC in prot stance, no SW, and only Demo Shout to add threat. I still have my macro to call for my OT’s challenging shout to clear me of the multiple adds when I ran to get Nef as he landed.
Today, tanking is much easier. We have many more talents available. Tab-targeting is so effective for me that I’m our default add tank.
Forward and back isn’t always the best way to tab. For the zombies of Gluth the tank doesn’t want to get hit by them and their debuff. I used a circular path between the two spawn points tabbing to taunt or Heroic Throw then a TC or SW as I ran away to the other spawn grate. They walk slow so it’s rare you have any in front and the tabs are very accurate. I enjoy add tanking since it still takes some work unlike most tanking jobs now.
I constantly tab when I have multiple adds. How does mouse targeting handle that? I guess a mix of both. For me it’s a consistent, single process for all targeting.
The only talents my left hand controls are tab, Shield Block, HS, Cleave, Rend, target icons and movement. Tab is the ring finger, middle finger spams HS and moves left to block or right to cleave or rend, and the index finger is for movement. It’s very comfortable and I never understand the complaints about spamming HS. My right hand is on the number pad controlling everything else - about 24 talents and actions like trinkets and pots are there and its surrounding keys.
It may seem to be an impossible method but it works for me. Perhaps my experience as a youth in the drumline and drumming in bands gave me the dexterity and mental control needed for this two handed method. One may liken it more to a piano and ironically the piano is a percussion instrument.
My apologies for being long-winded, but I thoroughly enjoyed the mental exercise of describing tab to target.
Veneretio reply on November 13, 2009 12:23 am:
The simple scenario that counters every 2 hand method.
Intervene a party member.
I do this constantly to move around the battlefield quickly. How do you do this? You also can’t discount how quickly a mouse mover can turn around and shockwave something whereas turning with your keyboard is much, much slower.
PvP really teaches you that mouse movement and selection is far superior because it regularly throws you into situations that rarely happen in raids. But that’s the thing, these things do happen in raids and while they don’t always make or break a fight when they do happen, that doesn’t change that it can.
Not to mention, by utilizing my mouse, it’s not like I’m giving up the ability to tab target. I still can do it easily when the situation warrants it with the single hand that is on the keyboard.
Asterix reply on November 14, 2009 1:28 pm:
How do I target a party member to Intervene not using a mouse? It depends on the scenario. Is this in a PVE or PVP fight, does the party member have aggro or not.
PVE is what concerns me as a tank. There are two cases: either the party member has aggro from a mob or they do not.
In the first case it’s two keystrokes, I tab target the mob and press the key-bound macro:
#showtooltip Intervene
# show Intervene
/cast [nostance:2] Defensive Stance; [help] Intervene; [target=targettarget, help] Intervene
The second case, targeting a party member without any aggro is an odd occurrence. When does a tank need to Intervene a party member not under attack?
If the scenario is using Intervene simply to move about the battlefield in PVE when I’m not engaged - I can use my mouse. Though, I never need to do this. I’ve yet to be caught by the Yeti in heroic mode. In the odd chance I need to get my move on and I’m not tanking I carry Swiftness Potions and they’re key-bound.
There is only one case that comes to mind. In ToC is the only time I might mouse click a party member that has bile. I keep my cursor by the party member groups where it is easier to see the bile debuff on a party member rather than trying to see their burning toon through the fog of battle. This singular instance is insufficient to warrant a change in my play style.
However, if my co-tank is the one with bile then no mouse needed. I can instantly ping pong by tab targeting their worm (100% accuracy since it’s the only other mob), press the bound key for Intervene, press F (which is Blizz’s default for last target), and then press Charge, usually with a Heroic Throw before the Charge. Charge, Intervene, and Heroic Throw are bound to three adjacent keys for speed of use.
That is four keystrokes (without adding in the Heroic Throw). Compare that with your two mouse clicks (party member and boss), the cursor moves to the party member and back to the boss for these targeting clicks, and two keystrokes for the Intervene and Charge. Which is faster?
PVP is the only time I might feel out maneuvered not using my mouse. I have already acquiesced to this point. But, I’m a tank and don’t PVP. I have only 10k honor kills and 83/164 PVP achievements. When I do PVP, melee is the least likely to kill me. They have to survive all my stuns and Ham String to do so. If I actually PVP in DPS gear then I play exactly the same as any mouse-moving, key-binder.
I’m not sure when a 180 degree turn, SW, another 180 turn and run is used. SW requires a bit more precision and if you do this too fast it may actually miss. TC is 360 degrees, more than twice the range of SW, and one third the cooldown. Anyway, when does a tank need to do that? Maybe it has a use in PVP.
In PVE I’m trying to imagine the scenario requiring a 180 SW and cannot think of one. Kiting is easier with TC with its slowing effect, twice the range, and the fact you can put up three TC’s to every one SW.
I’m not going for any style points and only wish to get the job done the most efficiently way possible. Once I’ve seen another tank out perform me, I will change methods. I did when it was shown to me that keystrokes are faster than clicking my talents.
Bhig reply on November 15, 2009 2:30 pm:
I also two hand keyboard tank. And I pretty much do what asterix does. I find that I would normally only be intervening (in a hurry) on a target with aggro from a mob. But I also have a macro like Asterix’s. Target the offending mob. Hit the button and viola, intervened (and in my case taunted and vigilanced just for good measure).
Any other time I wish to intervene (threat reduction to give the other tank some breathing space, or just to move) I have plenty of time to move my hand to the mouse and then target/intervene.
But, I also agree with Vene. The speed, accuracy and utility of the mousers cannot be ignored. It is (even in my opinion) far superior to any other form of control. I just don’t think it’s important enough in PVE to make me change right here right now. I’m just practicing and learning as I go.
November 10th, 2009 at 5:47 am
I group the hell out of my abilities when setting up my keybinding. On every character I’ve very played my “OH SH#T!” buttons have been on 1,2,3,4 and my “oh dear, might be a bit messy” buttons are on shift 1,2,3,4. Whenever there’s a chance of something goign tits up my fingers are already there! The other day the yeti targetted “The incredible mr lag” in my guild, low and behold he managed to move!! and I’d wasted SW because my damn fingers were already on 4!
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November 10th, 2009 at 5:57 am
I use 1 for shield block, 2 for shield wall, 3 for last stand, 4 for enraged regen, 5 for Juggernaut trinket, 6 for health stone.
Like most people, most of my typing from day to day (ok I admit it, in guild chat) doesn’t include many numbers. I put strafes on d and f (use those heavily, and right under my fingers in standard typing configuration), and use w, e, r for standard rotation. t is taunt, obviously (and I don’t have to reach _down_ from the number keys to get at it, since rotation is on the letters. q has shattering throw, a has charge.
TLDR — don’t feel “bound” to the blizzard default of using silly number keys for your main rotation that you mash all day long — keep your hand comfortable and on the home keys!
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November 10th, 2009 at 8:14 am
I don’t know if anyone has said this but you can run through him when he targets you. Just run straight at him and he wont enrage. Try it next time you are in there. I thought it was too good to be true until I busted SW and did it myself the last 2 weeks.
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Sephirawth reply on November 10, 2009 8:14 am:
The Yeti that is….
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Bhig reply on November 10, 2009 1:08 pm:
Really?
We tried this before and people got squashed…
At least that’s what it looked like…
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Sephirawth reply on November 10, 2009 1:57 pm:
I know it sounds crazy but we have been doing it for 2 weeks even on heroic and it has been working for us. I did not want to try it because we are going for insanity but after we wiped on beasts the other night due to a tank DC I figured what the heck and it has worked for everyone who has done it. It does not seem that this could be inteneded though because it completely trivializes that mechanic in the fight but it is working for us none the less…….
Bhig reply on November 10, 2009 4:00 pm:
Hmm.. cool.
Might have to give this another go (sneakily just in case).
Yeah. I remember we tried this early on, and it seemed to work at first, then when we all started doing it people started to get squashed and one angry ape started charging around…. (most times I’ve ever had to use CDs to survive!! I think I used SW at least twice, and a last stand+Enraged regen once).
November 10th, 2009 at 9:38 am
Biggest thing I’ve found for the yeti is to assume someone is going to screw up and always run away until he hits the wall safely. This can buy you that extra half second to hit shield wall, your healers to start cranking heals, and your hunter to tranq shot.
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Veneretio reply on November 11, 2009 2:46 am:
Definitely. There’s no way you’ll have time to hit SW if you stand beside him and assume everyone is going to make it out okay. It’s a fine line. You don’t want to run to the other side of the arena, but you shouldn’t be in melee range either. Takes some practice.
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Bhig reply on November 11, 2009 1:53 pm:
Warbringer + Charge FTW.
I pity my pally mate, he has to run in assuming no one will get hit, otherwise he wastes time during the stun.
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November 12th, 2009 at 8:29 am
In my experience, warriors as a whole don’t use their defensive CDs enough. Sure everyone uses Shield Block like it is going out of style, but if you have a glyphed/talented Shield Wall, you should be using everytime it is up, especially during phases of boss fights you know are going to rock you, like enraged Icehowl (as mentioned here), Gormok impales in ToC 25/ToGC 10/25, p3 Anub. Using your defenseive CD proactively as opposed to reactively will make you quicker with them. You will also save your healers alot of heartache.
Even if you don’t, Shield Wall is still an underused ability that we have. Everyone thinks, “This is my only oh shit button” but it isn’t. Rotating your Last Stand in conjuction with Shield Wall will make you more effective as a tank. Most fights currently last anywhere from 3-6 minutes in ToC. With the exception of Faction Champs, I don’t see why we as warriors aren’t using these CDs proactively.
A prime example would be Incenerate Flesh from Jarax. If we are MT’ing this (which we should since we can provide our own interrupts), using Shield Wall during Incenerate Flesh allows the healers to focus more on taking care of the Incenerate Flesh victim and not us.
Sure, Shield Wall is on a 5 minute CD (if not glyph/talented), but we need to get away from the BC mentality (when it was a 30 minute CD) of Shield Wall is a must-not-touch-unless-we-are-about-to-die button. Proactivety as a warrior tank is more important than reactivety. Think of it this way. If you work in reaction to something, you allow a large margin for error do to your own reflexes (many of us do not have the reaction of a tiger..rawr). This could mean your own death, the death of someone else, or a complete wipe.
Conversely, if you are proactive as a tank, you are preventing what might happen. Of course, everything could have been fine had you not intervened that guy who is high on the threat meter or burned shield wall during P3 anub, but what if something went wrong? What if that healer lagged or missed a heal?
IMHO, our jobs as tanks is to prevent the inevitable, not wait for it to happen and hope that we are fast enough to stop the consequences of it happening.
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Steele reply on November 13, 2009 1:38 am:
While im inclined to agree with using shield wall / last stand proactivly when you expect big damage incoming (although your regular trinkets / the raid should usually do the job).. i cant imagine tanking without an oh-shit-button. I just run into situations a lot where “shit hits the fan” and being invincible for a good 20 seconds can restore everything to normal, including battlerez on offtank and the likes… I couldnt prevent shit hitting the fan when OT went down under a dozen adds or healers got silenced becase of a fault and stuff… but i can give them a break by becoming a semi-god for 20+ seconds (and jesus it feels good, for example last wednesday i had to take over ony when ot went down under adds, so it was big add + a few small adds + ony + healers out of range and general chaos … everbody agreed i saved the day so i felt like AN HERO) =)
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November 12th, 2009 at 9:03 am
Can anyone recomend a site/guide that explains what all of the choices on the keybind screen mean? I can bind tbasics and am trying to get used to a Belkin n52te but i have no idea what some of the options on the keybind screen are.
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Bhig reply on November 16, 2009 1:17 pm:
Can you elaborate (perhaps with an example)?
Do you mean the N52te bindings? Or the WoW bindings?
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Brugamenn reply on November 17, 2009 9:06 am:
Wow bindings, I have never done key bindings and have no clue what all the options on the keybind screen are. I figured out the n52 i just need to know how to map the abilities outside of the 1-= buttons.
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Bhig reply on November 17, 2009 1:23 pm:
I’ll try to explain a little here. Hopefully once you’ve worked out a few you can figure out more.
Firstly, you’ll want to turn on some of the extra action bars (unless you have an add on which does this for you - assuming you’re quite new and don’t use many/any add ons).
Menu -> Interface -> Action Bars (hope that’s right).
You activate around four extra bars. Bottom left (above your current bar), bottom right (above the other half of the UI bar), and two on the right. I don’t think I’ve missed any of the standard ones.
Once you have these up you should be able to find similar labelled action bars in the key bindings menu. I believe that box one is the left or top most box on the bar. Bind yourself silly really.
Other things of note:
Action bar bindings can use combinations of Ctrl, Alt and Shift with a normal key to provide a bound action. BE WARNED, bound keys take priority over macros. So if you have a macro and a keybind that share a key, the key bind will take precedence (no macro action).
Name plates (all, friendly enemy): I have removed all bindings for these AFTER i’ve activated the “all enemies” name plates. These are the little bars/boxes that appear above peoples heads. Removing the binding means I don’t accidentally turn them off.
Under the interface menu there are numerous useful options, scrolling combat text, cast bars, auto loot, self cast. Really just play with these to see what you like. E.G. I like all numbers, so I have no percentages showing on bars.
Unbind keys you don’t use. A lot of things are bound by default, and many of them are a total pain when you accidentally hit them mid fight.
Binding raid markings are a good idea. Particularly skull and cross, as these are almost universally the symbols for Kill First and Kill Second. It’s very useful to mid fight be able to remark a target due to circumstancial change.
My personal best advice is to play around with bindings. Read the binding, then try it out to see if you can determine what it does. If useful, keep or rebind to somewhere more useful, if useless unbind.
Good luck.
Brugamenn reply on November 17, 2009 2:29 pm:
Thank you Bhig!
Bhig reply on November 17, 2009 8:21 pm:
No worries.
Just remember that is just a tiny bit of binding really. But I think most people just find out what works best for them. No two binders are alike….
If you’re still needing more advice/help I’m sure people here can help out with more tips and advice.
November 15th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
My “problem” is not so much how to activate an ability like Shield Wall when needed, as how to avoid firing off all kinds of other abilities as well. Boss casts something? I reflect, interrupt, and conc. blow all at once. Spike damage? I enrage regen, shield wall, and also bring out the brewmaiden because my generic “trinket” key is near the others and I can’t seem to hit only the right key. Ah well
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November 16th, 2009 at 1:57 am
The one problem I have with my key binding for my shield wall is that it is my F button and it is near my mocking blow bind, G, and my heroic throw bind, D, and I will occasionaly hit it, which really isn’t exceptable, however, I never seen to accidental cleave instead of heroic strike when there both set on my wheel.
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November 18th, 2009 at 10:13 am
Last stand is F2, Shield wall is F3 and Enraged Regen is F4. Quick Escape (talented) is bound to Alt+F4…
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