Ok so you have a group now and are actually in the instance. How do you handle combat? What is the correct order to do things, who does what, why and how?

To make this whole section easier to work through, I will setup an example combat using our perfect group from earlier and walk them through a combat. For this example lets assume a fairly standard high level instance pull of 5 MOBs. The group will consist of 2 elite tanks, 2 casters and 1 DPSer.

Setup

Before you move into any fight you should make sure that everyone is ready and knows what is going to happen. This can include setting a kill order, know who is pulling, tanking, etc. Much of this will be set for an instance, not an individual fight, but if it changes for any reason it is critical to let everyone know.

It is also important to make sure the group knows where they are going to fight the MOBs. Sometimes it is left unclear and they group will charge forward and fight between other groups and then aggro them or let a runner get to them, bringing them into the fight. If any of the MOBs are runners, can cause fear, or if you will be using fear, then preset the fight location and stick to it.

The last element of the setup is part of your crowd control. If you are using sap then the Rogue should proceed to sap the chosen enemy. Also if you have a hunter that is using traps, place them now too.

To use our example MOB and player groups from above, the rogue would sap one of the elites, and then get set to pull.

Pulling

Now you are all ready to start the fight, it's time to pull. The puller should try to pull a MOB from the edge of the group to attempt to get as few as possible. As soon as the MOBs are on their way the tank attempts to pick up all aggro and hold the MOBs at the designated spot. Also at this point you perform any other crowd control being used, shackle, sheep, or banish.

The tank then takes a few seconds to build aggro on the MOBs so that they will not get pulled away by the first bit of damage to them, or healing done to the tank himself. Once this is set, the either the group can assist the main tank to kill his target or an off tank can pull one of the targets off to be dealt with.

For our default group this means that the Rogue then pulls the other 4 MOBs back to the tank. As soon as they are pulled the Mage would polymorph (sheep) the caster, and ensure it remains sheeped throughout the fight. The tank would collect aggro on all the incoming MOBs but primarily the other elite.

Combat

Once combat starts, everyone should fall into their role as described previously. The Tank or off tank picks the targets and DPSers work on killing them without drawing aggro. If the casters or cloth wearers draw aggro, it must be pulled back to the tank or off-tank as quickly as possible.

The group then moves through the up targets and then moves onto the sapped target and ends with the sheeped, banished or shackled MOB.

Our default group would kill the Elite, then both non-elites, then break the sap on the other elite and kill it, and then deal with the caster.

Remember that fighting through an instance is not a race. It is best to have a plan and move slowly and steadily without taking chances and working together. Not wiping ends up being much faster (and cheaper on the repair bill) than rushing too much and dieing a few times.

Cleanup

After a battle is over there are still several things that need to be worried about. The most important thing to worry about is to ensure that everyone is alive (rezzed if required), healed and full of mana before moving on. Next in priority is loot distribution, and lastly is activating any quest items that need to be done.

While all very simple things to do, I am sure everyone has seen someone run ahead and start a pull while the Priest has just sat down to drink and has almost zero mana, or where the DPSer is still dead, or has left half the group behind arguing about loot. Make sure the simple things in your control, are handled. It's really silly to wipe because your whole group isn't there or ready.

Have comments or suggestions? Thought of something that has been missed? Found an error? We would love to hear from you! Please email me at [email protected].