Guide to Aggro Management

by Dalmarus
Special thanks to Ten Ton Hammer Forum Member, Talaen
Source: Combat Positioning and Aggro Control Tips

QUESTION

Is there a way to avoid continually pulling aggro off the tank in my group?

ANSWER

Obviously, there are going to be times where everyone is going to get more attention from their group's target than they particularly want, but as a general rule, yes - it can be avoided. If you find yourself continually getting more attention than the tank in various groups you play with, it's time to take a good look at your playing style and give this guide a thorough reading.

Imagine this situation:

You and your group are in a tough dungeon.  You've cleared a few groups of 4-dot mobs and are pulling a 5-dot mob.  Halfway through the fight, 3 more 4-dot mobs add and suddenly you're just trying to survive.  Someone overaggros, and now two of them are on the healer.  If you're lucky, the evac goes off and half your party doesn't have exp debt.

How did this happen?

Being able to get through a fight without adds comes from being able to properly position the mob and your party members during the fight.  It's a skill.  It's something you learn and everyone always can be better at it than they are.  So I wanted to provide some tips for everyone to think about while you're adventuring.  Doing these things can help make sure that you don't get adds as often.  Please feel free to discuss or add things that work for you.

• ALWAYS let your tank build up aggro first.  This goes doubly if someone else is pulling.  A good guideline is not to jump into the fight until your tank has knocked the mob down to about 95% health and had a chance to get a few taunts in.


• Tanks should TURN the mob so that their back is to the group (or at least 90 degrees in tight dungeons).  This allows rogues and others to be behind the mob without them having to move away from the group to do it (and potentially aggro more)


• ALWAYS apply debuffs first.  Debuffs help your tank stay alive longer, help you do more damage later, and don't cause as much hate early in the fight as opening with your high damage abilities would.


• High damage abilities don't start fights, they end them.  Save your biggest nukes and crit chains for when the mob is under <50% health if you can.  By this point the tank should have solidified their position on the hate list, and even if the mob does switch, it will be almost dead.


• USE your detaunts!  If you just landed a massive crit chain, the next thing to do is detaunt if at all possible.  Throttle your damage output so that the tank can maintain aggro.


• If you do ranged damage, keep your DISTANCE!  Hate from high damage attacks decreases the farther away you are from the mob.  So, high-damage ranged attack classes like rangers and sorcerors should be as far back from the mob as they can be without increasing the danger of adds.


• If you are getting hit do not run.  Running only makes it harder for the tank to catch you and fire off a rescue.  Rooting and backing off a few steps is ok but always make sure the group knows you're going to do this before you start the fight AND that you announce it when you do it.


• Announce your abilities.  Mezzing, rooting, debuffing, Charming, and so on are all great abilities but your other group members are not going to know what you're doing unless you TELL them.

Conclusion

If you can do these things, it should help you and your groups in your adventures.  Good luck!

I want to give a special thanks to Talaen for his efforts in gathering this information in the attempt to shed some light on problems players in the community may be having, especially if they've moved over from another game that may not have the same general combat mechanics to keep in mind. For the source of this guide (and the discussions there in), please click here. For our own discussions on the Ten Ton Hammer Vanguard forums, please click here.

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