Dark Glare

Written by Hardlife - hardlife@darkglare.com .

In this part of guide I focus on threat also known as aggro. In standard user interface you have threat info at NPC (non player character) icon and NPC info. It's not main topic for healer but it's thing that can kill healer if he have no idea about it. Damage dealers use omen or similar add-on to show threat bars to see how much threat left to overaggro tank. You won't use it in this way but you should get one of those add-ons.

Info from wowwiki.com:
Threat is a measure of an NPC's aggression towards a player. Each NPC has a threat table, and the character at the top of the list is usually the target of its aggression. In-game, this is known as having Aggro from that particular NPC. The NPC will attack that character if possible, unless another character manages to change the NPC's target.

Healer get threat by healing. Problem with it is that other team members: damage dealer and tanks get threat on targets that they attack. Healers get threat on all targets so if some NPC is not attacked by tank or DPSer(damage dealer) it will attack healer. Even when mob is attacked healing stack threat on all mobs so healer can overaggro tank on some NPC if tank focus only on 1 target. It's large problem in 2 situations. First when some new NPC join in middle of combat. They have clean threat table so healer will be first target of their attack. Second situation is when pulled group is spread and have casters in it. Tanks most of times will aggro first NPC and melee and far caster NPC will attack healer.

It's easy to notice healers threat by finishing big heal when tank walk in to mob group (body pull) - never do that. You should be extra careful at start of combat with trash (NPC groups in instance). You shouldn't cast heal over time spells (pre-HoT) on tank before combat at this fights because when tank will attack one NPC other can go for you. You should cast heal over time spells on tank before combat only at boss fights where is only one opponent. One of your healing tactics can be to start castomg big heal when tank pull trash so even when he get big amount of damage your big heal will cover it and tank will have time to aggro all mobs. To this method you can add "stop cast" mechanic so you start casting and when you see that damage on tank is low you cancel casting by pressing escape or just move and start it again.

Attack on healer can be fatal but healer can do something about it. When you ever get aggro on melee mobs you should run to tank or run next to tank so NPC will meet tank on their way. Most of tank have Area of effect (AoE) attacks and he can use it when NPC will pass pulling mobs from healer. When NPC caster attack you and you have space you should move opposite way where caster is (most of cases it is back). Every spell have range so if you move back caster will need move forward and it can meet tank.

Being under fire is not reason to panic it's part of game if you want to play you need to control it. To show an example of how unusual it is I will tell a story. In time of "Love is in the Air" world event there is event boss in Shadowfang Keep - Trio of Crown Chemical Company. With my Shaman I found random group of players and move to Keep. While we ware moving I asked about knowledge of tactic. Got no response so I said Tank take first boss, I'll tank second boss and after first is down he taunt off me. They laughed and say I can't tank it because I'm healer. So I said I give them 100g each if I can't do it. Sadly one of them saw my guild tag and back off from bet. Bosses at this encounter don't do much damage physical but high magical damage. I stood next to second boss at start of combat I cast Riptide, then Healing Wave on self and chain heal on tank making boss attack me. With resistance pot you get before boss I got small damage that I could easy heal. Tank don't get high damage too so it made fight easy in heal overall.

Hard part to learn at beginning is counter your natural reaction of running away. When you do it you will pull NPC out of tank range (abilities or screen view) and he can't do or will do nothing about it. Your first reaction should be run to tank. Some class can use their abilities to. Best here is holy priest which can use Fade and lose threat at all targets for some time. Healers can use crowd control abilities too. Priest can use shackle on undead caster NPC. This single target crowd control abilities give nice amount of threat. If it will be used on target outside of combat area it will disable mob for some time if not it will make NPC more angry at you. Priest have Psychic Scream ability which fear all mobs around but it shouldn't be used. This ability can shift situation from bad to tragic. Feared NPC can run into next mob pack and trigger them to join in combat. Restoration Shaman have Wind Shear witch lower threat on target but It can be used only on one target. You can use Hex to change mob into harmless frog but you need to do it out of melee cleave or AoE attacks of ranged DPSers. Grounding Totem and Earthbind Totem can help survive catching aggro. Grounding Totem can take one of caster spells. Earthbind Totem can be dropped to slow down mobs so healer can go to tank unhurt. Restoration druid can use Nature's Grasp while running to tank so melee mobs that will manage to attack you will be rooted in place. For caster NPC druid can use Cyclone - It's short but it can be use in range of AoE spells and melee cleave. Read about all your spells so you can put them in your play but just remember to not overdo with crowd control.

It is said that crowd control will be more in need in Cataclysm than now so it's worth to practice it.

This smells too much of failure and I can't use this crap for a shit. You are behind.. too much shit info which isnt relevant in any case... have fun, over and out.. fail incoming.

lol, pathetic trolling

Wow such a mature, helpful reply. Real awesomeness of posting behind a name that no one would know you as. Grow up and don't post here if you can't be civil and constructive.

UR FAEC