Rogue Expert Tanking question

[Jiggs]

I am a relatively new tank. I took it up in SL because of the lack of group finding I was having as dps/support. I've been practicing in normal dungeons and doing fairly well.

Right now I have 368 hit and 350 toughness and about 42k hp fully buffed.

I fought off my nervousness and queued for a random expert dungeon. I got archive of flesh and on the first mob pull we wiped because I died very quickly and the mobs took out everyone after that...and on the second pull it happened again and the group disbanded.

I had threat on all of them. I generally think of myself as a skilled player. Is this the healers fault? Is it mine for not having enough HP/armor? What do you think?

I'm kind of nervous to tank try another expert after that experience.

Thanks,

[Zazen]

If you tank the first boss in Archive in the wrong position you will get a stacking debuff on you that increases damage by 25% per stack.

Well done for having the balls to go in as tank when you had no experience tanking the mobs. If I was in the group with you I would have stuck it out to complete the zone.

Kudos to you, sir.

[Muspel]

Sounds like he died on trash.

Those mobs hit HARD. What you want to do is drop your flashpiont near the entrace, and drag everything back there. About three or four seconds after the mobs reach you, use a defensive cooldown, and the little adds should be dead by the time it wears off. That'll lower the incoming damage by enough that the healer can sustain you without CDs.

Also, just to check... you're using 61RS/8RNG/7bard, right?

[Jiggs]

If you tank the first boss in Archive in the wrong position you will get a stacking debuff on you that increases damage by 25% per stack.

Well done for having the balls to go in as tank when you had no experience tanking the mobs. If I was in the group with you I would have stuck it out to complete the zone.

Kudos to you, sir.

Thanks, a lot of people don't like that though...

Sounds like he died on trash.

Those mobs hit HARD. What you want to do is drop your flashpiont near the entrace, and drag everything back there. About three or four seconds after the mobs reach you, use a defensive cooldown, and the little adds should be dead by the time it wears off. That'll lower the incoming damage by enough that the healer can sustain you without CDs.

Also, just to check... you're using 61RS/8RNG/7bard, right?

Im using 58RS/8RNG/10bard, which is just the prebuilt spec trion gives you. I will try respeccing to 61RS/8RNG/7bard. And thank you for the tip on flashpoint.

[Zazen]

Sounds like he died on trash.

Those mobs hit HARD. What you want to do is drop your flashpiont near the entrace, and drag everything back there. About three or four seconds after the mobs reach you, use a defensive cooldown, and the little adds should be dead by the time it wears off. That'll lower the incoming damage by enough that the healer can sustain you without CDs.

Also, just to check... you're using 61RS/8RNG/7bard, right?

For experts and especially on trash packs, Side Steps is a great CD to stop the alpha strikes insta-gibbing you.

E.g, first trash in Empyrean Core hits extremely hard but with Side Steps was an order of magnitude more manageable for newly geared healers to keep me alive.

I didn't switch to Bard/Ranger until I was tanking the new 10 and 20-man instances.

[Muspel]

For experts and especially on trash packs, Side Steps is a great CD to stop the alpha strikes insta-gibbing you.

E.g, first trash in Empyrean Core hits extremely hard but with Side Steps was an order of magnitude more manageable for newly geared healers to keep me alive.

I didn't switch to Bard/Ranger until I was tanking the new 10 and 20-man instances.

Sure, but if you're not very experienced with tanking, then I'd favor passive mitigation over extra cooldowns to manage. Side Steps is great, but it also requires that you rotate cooldowns efficiently, which can be difficult for inexperienced tanks.

[Engage]

Your best bet is to run 61 Riftstalker, 8 Ranger, 7 Bard.

[Raen Ryong]

Don't forget Rift Prison if you are having trouble staying up. Taking one enemy out of the fight for 6 seconds can be the difference between life and death.

[dbe]

As others have said, the beginning trash can hit extremely hard. I usually heal on my cleric, and this trash was very hard for me to heal even on the normal version.

42k is fine, I had 35k my first time tanking an expert (and it went very smoothly). The healer should be able to deal with it WITH support, sometimes without, but if they need it, the support person should do what they can.

It's also entirely possible for a healer to be new to experts and not using a very good spec or not being ready to pop cooldowns on trash.

[Madicen]

Dont be too hard on yourself, this could have been partly on the healer too. As other's have said those trash pulls can hurt, and if your healer isnt up up snuff, or if they need support and dont ask for it, well then no mater how well you do you're not going to make up for the lack of healing.

Good on you for having the cojones to dive into expert tanking. I'm thinking about doing the same with my alt rogue, when i have time to get the gear. The game needs more people like you my friend!

[Duskdawn]

This is normal for Archive of Flesh - those first mobbs, as well as the ones on Empyrian Core hit very hard and fast. I ALWAYS use a cooldown on them because it makes my hp spike less, and I can tank 20man raids.

So it's not your fault =) - play around with your cooldowns and use them as you see fit. The new Riftstalker relies on cooldowns more than before.