On Agro Management

everyone's been in a group with that mage who opened up every fight with pyroblast before the tank had even touched the mob or that crit-happy rogue who was obsessed with the damage meter report (and spent a lot of timing kissing floor) or that hunter who pulled agro from the tank every. single. fight.

you don't want to be that guy and we don't want you to either. so, let's talk about managing your agro. managing agro has two sides to it; generating agro and dumping agro. I'm not going to cover generating agro because unless you're a tank generating agro is a side effect of whatever role your playing (dps, healer), not your primary job. what we're going to talk about is dumping agro.

first off, what's the point? why bother managing your agro at all? at it's foundation, the party dynamic is built around the concept of the tank-dps-healer triumvirate. the tank's job is to hold the attention of all the mobs that aren't cc'd. the dps' job is to kill all the mobs that are beating on the tank. the healer's job is to keep the tank alive. as long as the mobs stay on the tank, all is well. but when someone other than the tank draws a mob's attenion (i.e., pulls agro), bad things tend to happen... bad things like mobs eating your face. bad things like you spending quality time with the spirit healer. you don't like the spirit healer any more than we do, we're sure.

know thy threat level (threat meters)

so, we know we want to keep the mobs on the tank. but how do we know if we're about to pull agro? sometimes it's obvious... like that hunter winding up an aimed shot before the tank has hit the mob. other times it's not so obvious, though, so we use an addon called a threat meter. the two most common are KTM and Omen. we prefer Omen, but use whatever works best for you (as a quick aside, BRK has a wonderful write up on how to setup and use Omen over on his blog).

a threat meter is a lot like a damage meter. it tells you how much threat each party member is generating. your goal is to *not* be at the top of the list; that place of honor is reserved for the tank. if you find yourself getting close to the tank's agro or (*gasp!*) you pass the tank's agro, you need to dump agro asap. there are three ways you can actively dump agro: class abilities, items and death (yours or the mob's).

active threat reduction

most dps classes have a spell or skill to dump agro. here's a quick list of the ones we can think of:

hunters: disengage and feign death
rogues: feint and vanish
feral druids: cower
warlocks: soulshatter
mages: ice block and invisibility
priests: fade (this is *temporary* agro drop, so be aware of that)
paladins: divine shield

these abilities all dump agro, but they do it in different ways. feign death, vanish, ice block and invisibility drop all agro completely (assuming they aren't resisted). you get a clean slate and can go to town on the mob. disengage, feint, cower, soulshatter and fade *reduce* agro by a set amount. this gives you a little breathing room on the threat list, but you still have to be careful fade is special; it reduces agro by a set amount *for a short period of time (10 seconds)*. as soon as that time is up, the priest goes back up on the mob's threat list. if no one has overtaken the priest on the threat list by that point, the mob's going to go right back and chew on her face. tanks, take note of this little detail.

there are several items, both gear and consumables, that you can use to actively reduce agro. most of these are found in outlands, so don't expect to enjoy their benefits until you're in your 60s. unfortunately, wowhead doesn't have a good search filter for threat reduction effects so we'll just list some examples of items we know of here.

Shrouding Potion
Hypnotist's Watch
Jewel of Charismatic Mystique
Timelapse Shard

lastly, there's death to consider. obviously you dying is guaranteed to drop you off the mob's threat list, but it's kind of a rough way to go about it. the other option is to kill the mob before it kills you. this is a valid option if the mob's very low on health, say 10% or less, and you can finish it off quickly (preferably in one shot). if you don't think you can one-shot the mob, dump agro and let the tank pick it back up. this is especially true in heroics and raids where most mobs can kill dps and healers in one or two hits.

passive threat reduction

so, we've looked at how to shed agro if you pass the tank on the threat meter, but how can we avoid passing the tank's threat to begin with? this is where passive threat reduction comes into play. passive threat reduction reduces the threat you generate automatically, without you having to actively use any ability or item. the amount of threat reduced is expressed in percentages, so it scales well as you gear up and move into big-number land. like active agro dumps, there are several ways to gain passive threat reduction: class talents, buffs and gear.

many classes have talents that passively reduce either all agro or agro from specific abilities (healing spells, etc.). here's a list of the ones we know of:

druids: subtlety and improved tranquility
mages: arcane subtlety, burning soul and frost channeling
paladins: fanaticism
priests: silent resolve and shadow affinity
shaman: elemental precision, spirit weapons and healing grace
warlocks: improved drain soul

in the buffs category, you've got two options: the paladin's blessing of salvation spell or the shaman's tranquil air totem. salv is superior in nearly every way, but a good group can still take advantage of tranquil air (positioning of party members relative to the totem and the mobs being attacked is critical).

you can get a limited amount of threat reduction from certain gems and enchants, such as bracing earthstorm diamond and enchant cloak - subtlety. there may also be some armor that has passive threat reduction built in, but other than the old rogue tier 3 set we couldn't find anyway on wowhead.

so, you've pulled agro from the tank and all your agro dumps are on cooldown. now what? let the tank know you have agro (calmly and politely, please), *stop attacking*, run to the tank (never run away from the tank when a mob's on you; it just makes it that much harder for the tank to pull it off you) and stand there until she can pick it up. yes, this means you're going to take a beating until someone pulls the mob off you. gods help you if you're in a heroic or raid, because you aren't going to live through it. consider it penance for pulling agro in the first place. it's possible that someone else in the party might be able to cc that mob, but drag it to the tank anyway unless you're told otherwise.

so, now the tank's dead or simply unable to come to your aid. when all else fails, you can try kiting the mob. we really don't recommend this, but sometimes it's all you've got. fear or snare the mob enough to either wear it down or buy yourself time to make a run for the door.

final thoughts

skilled agro management is one of the things that separates good players from average players. if you want to succeed in heroics and raids, it's a skill you have to master. know what agro dumps you have available *and use them*. get a threat meter and learn how to read it. tailor your play style to accommodate different tanks; some are better at holding agro then others. be proactive.