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Managing threat while healing?
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Post by
mikar
Greetings,
I am still fairly new to WoW having just the one char which is now lvl 69 - namely a resto druid played mostly in dungeons.
Now, I have a past as a cleric in EQ where I could mostly predict when I would get aggro and when not and how to manage said aggro - but I have yet to develop that feeling in WoW.
So, I realise that most of the time I just need to heal when healing is needed and that its often the task of the tank to ensure I dont get (too much) aggro from that - but apart from that what can I do to manage my aggro? I am guessing that staying outside melee range helps but I unsure how much.
Post by
Shadax
The basic concept of threat is that 1 damage produces one threat on the mob the damage was done to, while 1 point of healing produces one threat on all mobs in combat. There are TONS of fractional modifiers that get thrown in, generally reducing threat from DPS damage and Healers healing, while increasing threat from tanks. With regards to the specific melee range question you're asking, that DOES have an affect. For a target in melee range to draw aggro, they have to achieve above 110% of the threat of the current aggro target. For a target at range to draw aggro, they have to achieve above 130% threat of the current aggro target.
Something else you can do is get an addon that displays threat. I've personally always liked Omen, but there are plenty out there. Check out the various addon sites. I generally use Curse, but that's just because I can't be bothered to search for better ones.
Post by
39134
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
tarumi
I'm also a lvl 69 resto druid and I can say that about 50% of the time I pull aggro off the tank. I stand back with the rdps but it seems to not matter. I've learned to try and work around it but I just assume everyone is really really bad at tanking it seems :\
My advice is to make sure to run the hell to the tank if you pull aggro! Otherwise, not much you can do at this point it seems. Also make sure to wait a couple sec until you put a heal on the tank.
Post by
MegaVolt
I'm also a lvl 69 resto druid and I can say that about 50% of the time I pull aggro off the tank. I stand back with the rdps but it seems to not matter. I've learned to try and work around it but I just assume everyone is really really bad at tanking it seems :\
Yes, they have to be extremely bad.
I've leveled several tanks and a healer should
never ever
pull aggro.
When a new pack is pulled the healer might get aggro for a second until the tank lands his first hit on them.
As a healer you simply have to heal the damage. Not healing results in a dead tank, it's as simple as that. There is no threat management for healers.
It's the tanks job to keep mobs off you and since healing aggro is ridiculously low this job is
very
easy for every tank. If the tank doesn't manage to do that he just plain sucks, it's not your fault.
Easy rule for blame in a dungeon:
If the tank dies, blame the healer (heal the tank, always!).
If the healer dies, blame the tank (tank, keep stuff of the healer! it's your primary job).
If a dps dies, blame the dps (don't stand in fire!).
Post by
mikar
I see, thanks. A few followup questions.
Do HoTs I have cast add threat each time they heal the target or only when I cast the HoT? I assume its each time it ticks but confirmation would be nice.
Do all my heals add the same amount of threat per point healed? Including WG, the end heal from LB, Tranq and whatever other different types of healing may occur from my spells?
Does overhealing add threat or only the actual amount healed?
Does casting Thorns on the tank while he is aggro cause threat (I assume so) and if so how much? I usually prebuff Thorns but sometimes the tank does not cooperate.
Post by
80642
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
curlymon
Casting thorns does cause some minor threat, from what I've read, but not much. Not enough to matter anyway...
It causes like 40 total threat. which means if the tank body pulls and you toss that on him you are on a threat table like this:
You - 40 threat
Tank - 0 threat
Just hold off a half second.
Post by
Calda
A few things. If there are 5 mobs. Tank (say druid) hits swipe for 30 dmg each. Each mob now has 30 threat on tank. You heal tank(non-overhealing) for 100. You now have TWENTY threat on each mob, as the total threat of healing is evenly divided between all the mobs in combat.
Also, on a note. The bloom effect of lifebloom is (unless they changed it) threat generated to the person healed, not the druid casting it.
Post by
Shadax
Yeah, I wanted to say that I read somewhere at some point that they were changing/going to change lifebloom to apply bloom threat to the healer. The reason that it causes threat for the person who had the lifebloom on them is that the final bloom is actually a seperate spell, triggered by the expiration of the lifebloom, which means the game sees it as a spell cast by the target of the lifebloom, so as the healer, you're not in the equation anywhere.
Post by
602
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Shadax
So I finally got off of my lazy butt and did some research on it, and according to WoWPedia, heals have a 0.5 modifer, and are divided amongst targets in combat, so my earlier 1:1 statements were wrong. To use Calda's example above, that means that you would have 10 threat on each mob, instead of 20 (100 * 0.5 / 5 ). Granted, the source for this information doesn't appear to have been updated for Cata, but I doubt they changed this.
Post by
Calda
Alright, I was a little wrong there ;P But, the point in making by most people is: If you pull aggro after the mobs have been pulled, your tank is utterly crap ;P
Post by
MegaVolt
It causes like 40 total threat. which means if the tank body pulls and you toss that on him you are on a threat table like this:
You - 40 threat
Tank - 0 threat
Just hold off a half second.
This is correct but I don't agree with the conclusion. Sure, if the tank body pulls he will have 0 threat to start. But his very first hit (Swipe, HotR, Blood Boil, Thunderclap) will generate so much threat that anything you can do as healer in the first 1-2 seconds is more than compensated. As long as your tank lands his first AoE (and every tank should, it simply is
the
first thing to do every single pull, there is absolutely no excuse to not use an AoE move at the start) it doesn't really matter if you as healer did actually have threat for half a second after the body pull. A tank who can't deal with that just sucks, it's not the healers fault.
Post by
Icarui
Shadowmeld is your friend :)
I'll remember that on my troll :P
Post by
curlymon
It causes like 40 total threat. which means if the tank body pulls and you toss that on him you are on a threat table like this:
You - 40 threat
Tank - 0 threat
Just hold off a half second.
This is correct but I don't agree with the conclusion. Sure, if the tank body pulls he will have 0 threat to start. But his very first hit (Swipe, HotR, Blood Boil, Thunderclap) will generate so much threat that anything you can do as healer in the first 1-2 seconds is more than compensated. As long as your tank lands his first AoE (and
every tank should
, it simply is
the
first thing to do every single pull, there is absolutely no excuse to not use an AoE move at the start) it doesn't really matter if you as healer did actually have threat for half a second after the body pull. A tank who can't deal with that just sucks, it's not the healers fault.
Yes, first thing they should do.
I strictly am speaking of the situations where the tank fails in his job of just hitting the mobs:P Body pull implies just that, nothing else, lol. It's something all healers should be aware of... If they die from that, then they have a crappy tank or one the had his fingers on the wrong keys. It pays to know what happened so you know how to avoid it as a healer. :P The act of giving threat to a really bad tank via thorns can end up causing you to shoot yourself in the face.
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