We Finally Hit Heroics!!!!

I think this post will be a semi-informative post to all the other meatshields of WoW. First of all, this was a heroics run....It's a different world. I may be behind the times of WoW a little bit so I hope this is helpful to some people.

As a warrior one of the first things I noticed I had a mass amount of rage almost all the time. For me, this was a huge change for me. This was also one of the most difficult parts to get my head around. In a normal instance I have a constant struggle on what ability to use to make sure I am holding aggro. A shield bash when its up and keep some sunders up- Usually 2-3 are effective and you can throw on 5 if you have the time. Hit revenge when its up and ThunderClap when I have the extra rage or to mix it up a bit. Thunderclap is pretty helpful when you have to grab 2, 3 or sometimes even 4 mobs at once. That way you have a little aggro and a little time to put a sunder or two on each of the guys while focusing on the main guy that is being DPSed down by the rest of the group. Simple enough once you can see what works and some experience under your belt.

Heroics= entirely new ballgame

In Heroics I have little regard for rage mitigation. I can use all of my abilities to keep aggro. However, I am hit with some very hard realities. One, even with 12k health, 481 defense and 12k armor (Ya I know the armor kinda sucks) I am still rather squishy. Two, I die if I grab more than three mobs at a time. This REALLY sucks for me cause I often tank more depending on how many CC's we have. Three, holding aggro is a HUGE pain since everyone has to unload on DPS making my jobs far more difficult.

I know what your thinking- "Gee golly Meatshield- How do you stay alive?" The answer is relatively simple. You don't. Seriously. Expect to die for a little while as you get used to things. Even with a great healer your in a world of hurt.

Here are a few things that helped me a little bit. The first (and possibly the most important) is Shield Block. Shield is on its own cool down as far as I can tell and using it will give a pretty solid relief to your healer reducing the chances for healing aggro as well. Second, spam heroic strike likes there is no tomorrow. It produces considerable threat and is not on a world cooldown. Next, let the warrior pull if possible. I know elite hunters like BRK will disagree, but it the initial aggro can sometimes mean the world. If your with a hunter and his misdirect is up let the hunter pull. This helps aggro quite a bit, but it requires a talented hunter.

This would be a simple breakdown of how I try to hold aggro-
Blood rage, pull, shield slam, sunder, heroic strike (HS), shield block (SB), sunder, HS, SB, thunderclap (TC), tab, sunder, sunder, SB, shield slam, tab, sunder, SB, revenge, sunder, shield slam

This is just a general idea and doesn't really include revenge, shield bash, or concussion blow.

Good luck, have fun, and pray your plate drops.