Arcane Advice: A Mage’s Perspective on Dungeon Running, Part One

DPS classes don’t always get asked their opinions on running dungeons. As a priest, I was commonly asked about such things as pull numbers, mind control, boss resistances, and the need for a secondary healer, but as a mage I’ve generally just rolled up to the instance, blasted my way through some enemies and gone home. In fact, I usually wind up asking the groups I’m in for feedback, such as when to AoE, how much time the tank needs to build aggro, whether I am sheeping before or after the pull, and which adds need to be DPSed down first.

Nevertheless, running any dungeon, unless you’re decked out in level 70 gear running Ragefire Chasm, is a team effort. With the recent talent tree changes, new options have opened up for all classes. And with ten new levels to explore in Northrend, many dungeon groups are featuring “off-spec” healers and tanks, or DPSers spec’d more for leveling than they are for raiding. It’s a new game for all of us, and many of us are using this new time to “re-learn” our classes. Now, more than ever, we all need to be informed, flexible and strategic about working with others in a dungeon environment. To that end, this guide attempts to provide “food for thought” for all dungeon-goers out there. Good luck!

Part One – The Pull

The basis of any successful pull is communication. Who is killing what? In what order? What happens if the boss suddenly polymorphs the healer? What if the boss can duplicate herself? These and many other questions can and should be asked before the pull happens, because the pull, its engineering and strategy, may be the single most important part of any dungeon run.

Marking. Marking is usually taken to be par for the course in guild groups and among people who know each other, but it isn’t always used in PUGs and it should be. While marking can be hard in a new dungeon where no one knows their way, and is often assumed to be “elementary” in groups where most members have run it before, it never hurts the party, can often prevent a wipe, and ensures that every party member, no matter who they are, knows what they should be doing at all times. Tips for marking:

• Mark Kill Order. This prevents “mis-targeting” for those party members who are inferring what they should be killing by targeting what the tank is currently fighting, and helps to prevent “down time” for DPSers who are wondering what their next target should be.
• Mark Crowd Control. Each class capable of CC should have their own, pre-agreed symbol during combat. All classes capable of continuing CC through subsequent casts should set their CC target as their focus and work pro-actively to ensure that their target stays out of commission until the tank has deemed it ready to be killed.
• Stick to Your Marking. We’ve all seen it before. The warlock DoTs the mage’s sheep, the mage casts frost nova and breaks the hunter’s freeze trap, the priest MCs the secondary DPS target and the warrior uses their AoE ability on the priest’s shackled undead. The bottom line: target the mob to which you’ve been assigned!

Order and Direction. Every pull is different. Some pulls require a break in line of sight. Some pulls should be started via a Polymorph or Mind Control spell. Sometimes the hunter pulls the mob back to the party. Sometimes the tank charges ahead and takes the fight to the mob.

With all of these different factors, party members need to be flexible when tackling the pull. But all pulls should have the following things in common: a pre-determined person executing the pull, and a designated spot where the mob is being tanked. Some questions your party will need to answer in determining the order and direction of your pull:

• Is CC happening before or after the pull? And on a related note, if your mage or priest is opening the pull with their CC, how are you going to get aggro off of them and back to where it should be?
• If the puller is leading the mob back to the group, where does the group need to stand so they won’t get hit by any secondary damage abilities? This is extremely important in boss fights, where a single AoE from a boss can down cloth-wearing healers and crowd-controllers.
• Is the fight going to involve movement on the part of any of the players involved? If the tank is moving, how can healers maintain line of sight? And if everyone needs to move, how can the party maintain DPS and healing efficiency while running around the room?

Know Your Crowd Control. Not only is marking targets an important part of crowd control, so is knowing which targets can be CC’d by which classes:

• Druids can Hibernate beasts and dragonkin.
• Hunters can Freeze Trap just about anything.
• Mages can Polymorph humanoids and beasts.
• Paladins can use Repentance on humanoids, demons, dragonkin, giants and undead.
• Priests can Mind Control humanoids, and can Shackle undead.
• Rogues can Sap humanoids.
• Warlocks can Banish elementals and demons.

For a more complete listing of who can CC what, visit wowwiki.com.

Contingency Plan. While this may seem like over-thinking the pull, figuring out what everyone is going to do when things go southward can save time after a wipe, or even avoid a wipe altogether. Contingency plans vary depending on class, on dungeon, even depending on profession. Some general tips on creating a contingency plan:

• Assign players responsible for CCing or for DPSing adds. In boss fights, incoming monsters can wipe the heartiest of parties unless someone is ready to get rid of them quickly.
• Who helps the healer? If the healer pulls aggro, who can step in and get mobs off the healer efficiently? If the healer goes down, who can act as back-up?
  
• Determine the off-tank. In the event of the tank going down, who’s going to jump in and attempt to keep the boss occupied?
• Use resurrect abilities proactively. This includes all class abilities (soulstones, self-resurrection, etc.) and also the Goblin Jumper Cables made by engineers.

Stay tuned for next edition of Arcane Advice, when we take a look at: Part Two – Combat.