Tank
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- This article is about the game term. For other uses, see Tank (disambiguation).
A tank is a character whose primary role in a dungeon or raid is to absorb damage and prevent others from being attacked. Tanks are the strong bulwarks that put themselves between the mobs and the more vulnerable party members. The tank's task is to guide their group through the instance, and survive the beating dished out by the mobs by using their defensives.
Though a primary target, tanks are never the only ones taking damage in a dungeon or boss encounter, and as such it is imperative to coordinate as a team.
Tanking basics
Tanking in a dungeon is primarily based on the tank's knowledge of the instance or encounter, and their ability to survive, making them the role with the the most potential learning. A knowledgeable and prepared tank should know the safest and quickest route through an instance, and have an idea of the most dangerous mobs (or groups of mobs) and how to deal with them.
Tanks should acclimate themselves with their abilities to know what actions to take when they expect to take damage, or how to recover once the damage is already dealt. This can include avoiding potential damage, like stepping out of damaging terrain or interrupting a mob's cast. In fact, the best way to avoid damage is to kill the mobs as quickly as possible — and as such, tanks should also do their best to deal as much damage as they can.
As with any role, preparing for an instance by buffing up and enchanting/gemming/using consumables will make success more likely.
While threat once was a major factor in tanking, tank abilities naturally generate substantially more threat than their party members, and it is largely a non-issue.
Tank capable classes
Please add any available information to this section.
There are six tank specializations: Protection warriors, Guardian druids, Protection paladins, Blood death knights, Brewmaster monks, and Vengeance demon hunters.
Many classes may briefly substitute as tank in certain situations, but without an actual tank, a group is normally destined for a swift end.
Protection warrior
- Main article: Warrior#Specializations
Guardian druid
- Main article: Druid#Guardian
Protection paladin
- Main article: Paladin#Specializations
Blood death knight
- Main article: Death knight#Specializations
Brewmaster monk
- Main article: Monk#Brewmaster
With Monk tanks, their primary mitigation is with a unique mechanic called 
[Stagger], which defers a portion of damage taken, smoothing damage spikes. The monk can optionally negate this deferred damage by using 
[Purifying Brew]. The stagger amount can be increased with 
[Shuffle], 
[Mastery: Elusive Brawler], and 
[Fortifying Brew].
Vengeance demon hunter
- Main article: Demon hunter#Specializations
Minions as tanks
Some pets can actually serve as tanks. In the early game (prior to the level cap), pets can even sometimes replace a full tank. In such a situation, the healers should always remember to heal and buff the pet.
Pets usually can tank a single mob adequately. Theoretically, it is possible to have several mobs on one pet by switching targets, but in practice the threat generation of pets will not be high enough to keep aggro off the healer for an extended period of time.
Hunter pets
Hunters can have an assortment of beasts as pets, and some of them can actually serve as temporary tanks, or can be used while questing. All pets have a taunt-like ability 
[Growl], and hold aggro reasonably well. The use of the pet can allow the Hunter to solo various group quest bosses without the help of other players.
Tenacity family pets are the best for tanking, both due to their extra health and armor and their available talents. Turtles and beetles are the best at tanking tough enemies due to their 
[Shell Shield] and 
[Harden Carapace] abilities mitigating damage.
Warlock minions
The voidwalker minion is designed as a tanking pet. Although the voidwalker lacks a true taunting ability, it does have two abilities which generate rather high amounts of threat: 
[Torment] and 
[Suffering]. While it is unsuitable for tanking any sort of instance, it does allow warlocks to solo many "group" quests quite easily.
Emergency tanks
Some classes have abilities that can effectively serve as tanks, if only for a few seconds. This can often buy enough time to combat resurrect the main tank or to finish killing the enemies if they were already near death.
- DPS Warriors have access to Taunt for threat and
[Spell Reflection] and 
[Die by the Sword] alongside their usual defensives for temporary mitigation. It's possible for warriors to carry a one-handed weapon and shield and switch to them mid-combat to benefit from the shield's armor and allowing them a small block chance. - Feral Combat Druids can shift into
[Bear Form] and do a passable job of tanking with the range of taunts and mitigation available to them, however their Bear Form is considerably less durable than a Guardian druid's by default. Restoration and Balance Druids, due to their gear itemization, will perform very poorly in Bear Form and probably won't survive long or generate much threat. Restoration Druids are likely more useful continuing to heal in an emergency than attempting to tank. - Shamans can use
[Earth Elemental] which lasts for 2 minutes. Healers (either the shaman themself or other party members) can heal the elemental during this time.
General tanking tips
- Keep an eye on the healer's mana and do not pull more mobs if they are too low.
- Make sure to keep the camera zoomed far back for better situational awareness.
- Practice moving around while not turning your back on mobs, both backing away and strafing away or around.
- Practice toying with caster mobs and a nice wall, rock, or corner to get a feel for how line-of-sight pulling works.
- Stay aware of patrolling mobs and be ready to rescue group mates with some quick threat generation moves if someone else unexpectedly pulls.
- If there's a choice between rescuing the healer or any other party member try to pick the healer. It is possible, if the healer has enough mana, to kill a mob pack without damage dealers.
- Watch for various kinds of normal or cone AoE attacks that mobs use. Position yourself and the mobs to prevent as much of their potential damage as possible from hitting the group.
- Learn which mobs use fear and which mobs run at low health. These are probably the most common cause of adds, and thus wipes. The best way of dealing with both is to pull well back so feared players won't run into new groups.
- If the healer is capable try pulling many mobs, or even many groups of mobs, at a time. This allows the damage dealers to use AoE.
See also
External links
Icy Veins General Tanking Guide