How to tank in raid.
I’m not writing it in a separate guide because it’s not really it’s own thing, there are just a couple of additional things to be aware of as a tank, and I have detailed an example rotation of abilities for hammer in it’s own guide, so I’ll just give a general overview of what tanking the raid entails.
Raid has two tanks as a consequence of needing to swap aggro to avoid instant death when the stack counter on active tank reaches 0. The first tank will then have to pull aggro back from the second tank to prevent them from dying. Before the raid one of the tanks will be assigned to tanking birds and the other one will tank hulks during second phase.
Aggro swapped is done via any kind of taunt. Ideal count to swap stacks is as low as you can get to minimize damage overlap (the later you taunt the less time you both spend taking damage at once), but if you taunt too late the tank will get immediately one shot and the raid will wipe. I recommend starting to learn swapping at 10 stacks and gradually reducing it to 5 as proficiency is built.
Keep an eye on the other tank’s stack counter at all times. This is done via selecting them as defensive target (with default UI)
First phase is the simplest part of the raid, you just hold aggro on the lurker, trading stacks with your partner as they are getting low and rotating your cooldowns while you have stacks. The only thing to pay special attention to here is that there’s a long period of Lurker being untargetable and untauntable before the cast of Shadow Out of Time and if the other tank’s stacks run out during this time they will get one shot. It is therefore recommended to taunt at around 20-15 stacks if the phase change and Shadow cast are imminent.
Second phase will begin with you hiding behind the pile from the shadow and then proceeding to your tanking target spawn location. Hulk tank must be more prompt here as Hulk spawns first and has to be aggroed as soon as possible whereas bird tank usually has time to make a cocktail and lounge relaxedly or do a dance emote before the bird lands. Repeat twice. Birds have a cone aoe, and therefore must be faced away from the group. Hulks have circle aoe around them and random target circle aoes that they place on whoever they feel like. Both of those aoes deal massive damage and standing in them is not recommended, using a cooldown is necessary if you are about to be caught by any of those.
Third phase is the most complicated phase. Bird tank will go to the lurker and must taunt it as soon as possible to prevent aggro bounce to hulk tank that is currently engaged with the hulk in the back (refer to main guide description of this phase). Lurker is initially untargetable and while there is a safe area to get to it through filth beforehand, doing so is not required. You have ample time after the filth clears and the passage to the grate is completely safe to walk up to the Lurker and taunt it as it does it’s coming down animation. Do not risk walking over filth and taking massive damage if you don’t know how to do it.
Things to be aware of in third phase:
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If you have stacks during Shadow out of time cast, you don’t have to hide from it. If current active tank has around 12-15 stacks during the start of the Shadow cast, they may remain on the grate, and the offtank may pull early so that they will gain stacks (and shadow immunity) as well.
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Be aware of the HP% threshold for Personal space casts. If you rely on limited range taunt to pull aggro, such as Sonic Blast or Raging Volcano you will have to pull early in case active tank has 20-15 or less stacks before personal as you will not be able to reach the lurker with a taunt to grab aggro without the risk of instant annihilation, and missing the taunt leads to instant raid wipe. Having ranged taunt such as Evulsion of Manticore agitator gadget allows you to pull from a safe location of standing on top of the rubble pile in front of the left safe zone (yellow hexagon)
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Be aware of the hulk spawns after each shadow out of time cast. Hulk is grabbed by the tank that currently has stacks. The tank that doesn’t have stacks must remain on the grate to pull the lurker aggro to prevent instant death of current tank. If you are running out to grab the hulk as tank, do not go too far off the grate as you have limited time before you have to taunt and the healer must be aware enough to bring the hulk closer to you. If they are running away from you with the hulk trailing them, let them get kicked in the face. To pull the hulk ideally you would use your signature ability, however using a taunt (that is not raging volcano) is also possible given that the other tank currently has 35+ stacks.
When running be aware of the filth waves that come out of the fist behind you. Being knocked down by them will not immediately kill you but will make going back and taunting the lurker in time very hard as knockdown lasts for 5 seconds