Shaman Slow/Dot/Melee.... till what level-ish?

[loramin]

Originally Posted by Xap [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Dependent on the mob of course, like giants/specs etc are not viable, but solb kobolds and the like are absolutely no problem.

In my experience this is important, because it's not just the level but the situation. You have to weigh the melee/JBB/pet damage you get from tanking (either by yourself or by rooting and having your pet tank) against the downtime you'll have after the fight from having to heal you/your pet and then med the mana back. The situational part comes from the fact that that downtime varies depending on how hard the mob hits (and how many HP it has, ie. how long it keeps hitting you).

Mobs that hit really hard for their level (or cast) should be root/rot-ed (and for the casters you want to do it from around the corner). Alternatively, when fighting weak mobs (eg. when farming greens/light blues) you don't want to tank those either, because casting one root and then letting your pet (with his fast NPC regen) tank makes more sense. At 45 that can change though and you might want to face-tank weak stuff if you have a JBB, because it breaks root and makes pet tanking impossible.

But if a slowed mob hits/casts hard enough to kill or nearly kill your pet, but doesn't hit/cast so hard it kills you too quickly, or if you're in a small space and can't make your pet tank, that's a sweet spot for face tanking. You don't want to root/rot those mobs because you'd lose your pet's DPS and your melee/JBB DPS , but you don't want to pet tank them because your pet would require too many heals.

But all that being said, I can't even remember the last time I face tanked on purpose without Torpor, because above a certain level (55?) very few if any mobs fall in to that middle category. If you try to face tank in Howling Stones for instance you can do it, but between the casters, harm touches, and hard-hitting mobs you'd need so many heals you'll take twice as long to get to the next mob, so it's better to just lose your (minor, compared to your DoTs at that level) melee/JBB damage and in return not need tons of healing/downtime.