It's late so I'm not searching the forums.. Tonight I was in a group in RoV, I've read that zerkers are the awesome at holding AE encounter aggro.. and for the most part I was able to do so (except when the chanter would sick in their pet on the one I wasn't focusing on). However there were a couple times where my taunt wasn't resisted and the mob was pulled off me, usually onto the scouts. Master II for my single target taunt, and Master II for my AE taunt (I'm 35 so about to upgrade the AE taunt ability). My question is, was I messing up or was the scout just going into overkill mode too often? And everytime my taunt was up it was used, I pretty much spam the taunts while I tank.. figured that's what I'm spose to do
Well if somebody was sicking their pet on a mob that you werent directly engaging that is the problem right there. A Berserker holds awsome AoE aggro but very rarly to the point where people can go and attack their own mob, we mostly hold good enough aggro to where everybody else can unload AoE without worrying about aggro. Of course once you get rampage, open wounds and insolent gibe you can at times get away with letting people pick off their own target, but still always try and keep your group in check and have them attacking the mob your on.
Appreciate the input. I'll continue to play around with what CAs to do, I tend to fire off my AE attacks just for the added threat from damage.
Hang in there, you can only do so much with what you have. As mentioned above, you become signifigantly more powerfull once you get rampage, open wounds, IG in T6. It will make your life alot easier.
ask your group to /target you. Not assist...because if you switch targets, and they don't re-assist, they will remain on the previous mob. If they /target you, they will always be on your target, and they won't have to continue /assisting you again. It makes it easier for them to not constantly /assist when you switch targets, and it makes it easier for you, because you can hold aggro on your target better than than the rest of the group you're fighting, because of more damage, and the single taregt taunt refreshes faster than the group taunt. If they don't want to listen, let your healer know they want to die, and to not waste alot of mana trying to keep them up.
As per dev post, 1 point of damage = 1 point of hate. Dont count that much on the taunts only, focus on the AE damage as well. We do good at AE agro mostly couse of our AE damage later in the levels, 50+.
I don't really agree with you on that one. I would prefer that they use /assist. That way I can switch around as needed after I have solid aggro on the first mob and not have to fight for agro on the other mobs. If you switch mobs and are trying to regain aggro from another player, you'll have to fight the entire group for aggro. Get aggro on the group of mobs, with one mob getting lots of taunts, then switch around and build aggro on the other mobs while the group is smacking the first mob, that way when the entire group gets on the next mob, you'll be way ahead aggro wise.
oh yeah, almost forgot. Make a macro telling the group when to use /assist. Explain to them that when they see you call for assist they need to /assist you. That way you can switch around as needed, and put the group on whatever target you want. when one mob dies, pick the one you want next, tell the group to assist, then switch around mobs taunting as needed.
Berzerker aggro is mainly based on damage - that is one of the major differences between us and Guardians. You need to do damage to hold aggro. Our taunts are not as good as guardians because we do more DPS - hence the balance. I agree with the posts about people attacking their own target - to their own death. In T7 I am ALWAYS in offensive mod with my 2 hander to maximize DPS. I only switch for white con nameds and then have trouble wth aggro in high DPS groups but then I can use resue and insolent gibe for help. Whether you like it or not, you are the "war leader" for encounters, you need to ask people to follow you lead on what to kill first. This is a double edged sword (pardon the pun) as you need to know what you are fighting, if not tell the group its your first time in the zone/ killing this named/ etc. as ask for advise. You do not need to knowthe zone layout, but you need to be infront always and rdy for what could be around the corner. When in doubt - swing away.
I am fairly picky when it comes to party member placment.. if someone starts running in front of me and grabs aggro I chuckle to myself and go stragith dps.. Of course I've already discussed this with the healer(s). I understand we are the battle leaders, and I have no qualms in doing that Thanks for the input on damage = threat... I always knew damage ticked em off, just wasn't sure how much.. now I know, and knowing is half the battle... GI JOOOOOEEEE!
At level 35, a Zerker doesn't have much in the way of AE damage - you have a proc that taunts every mob that hits you, your AE taunt and two AE damage spells. If the mobs are all focused on you, then you can do your group mitigation buff which they really hate but it takes time to cast - I try to cast that during the pull - so the mobs see you and a split second later the buff lands. It can act as an AE taunt - even across encounters - and has real long range - as long as the mobs have you as their target. Then you taunt your target with single target taunt, then the taunt that has damage to it, and wait till all the mobs are in range before you use your ae taunt. I save the AE for last because you will often have some mobs in the encounter that are out of range at the very start - also you can cast that one even if you get stunned or stifled. Then set off your AE damage attacks. I expect everyone to target me - though some priests and scouts may choose different targets briefly to land debuffs on them. If you have heavy AE casters like warlocks then you can switch mobs to damage and taunt each of them in turn. With Heavy AE's you can switch targets before the target dies - and count on AE's to finish them off. If you have conjurors or necro's then announce when you make a major target switch - to remind them to re-target their pet. But basically, all these things work for any fighter. The only thing that helps a 35 zerker with ae agro more than others is the taunt that procs when you get hit - and that goes off pretty rare and weak. People have a misconception that Zerkers are inherently good at it - maybe from like 50+ where you have a great AE taunt and some great AE damage attacks. My theory is that guardians planned to be just-tanks while people who chose zerker were counting on being able to switch between tank and DPS roles - more versatility and more challenging when they do tank. So the brighter players choose Zerker and they are just more likely to figure out and do stuff like above that would really work for any tank.
