Post by Domm on Sept 18, 2011 10:35:24 GMT -5
Rift's Warrior forum contains a number of great threads about tanking. But most of the threads are for experienced tanks at the level cap and deal with fairly advanced issues like soul selection, boss strategies, macros, etc. The following information is targeted at players that are new to tanking and just beginning to tank rifts, invasions and instances.
Lets start with a bit of terminology. I will use the term mob (monster or beast) to refer to the NPCs that you want to kill. So mob is singular, it doesn't mean a group of beasties. Most mobs are more or less stationary (until disturbed) but a few wander a predefined course over and over, and I'll call those roamers.
Survivability
Tanks have to be able to absorb lots of damage. Yes, your healer will try to keep you alive, but your health needs to go down more slowly from damage than the rate at which your healer can replenish it, or else you are going to die in long fights. And when you die, your group wipes. So survivability is job one.
Survivability begins with lots of Health (the green bar next to your character icon in the top left corner of your screen). You increase your maximum Health by adding Endurance, and you increase Endurance by equipping gear (such as armor) with lots of the Endurance stat.
Now that you've got ample Health, lets protect it from melee damage (but not magic damage) by increasing your Armor. You do this by selecting armor with a high Armor stat. You also increase your Armor stat by equipping a shield and a one-hand weapon, rather than a two-hand weapon. As your Armor stat increases, melee strikes do less damage (i.e. Armor doesn't cause melee strikes to miss you, it simply reduces the damage of those strikes. This is particularly important when you are surrounded, as will become apparent in a moment).
Next, maximize your Block stat. Block is a chance to reduce the amount of damage done by a melee strike. But keep in mind that you can't block attacks from behind. Nor can you block magic attacks.
Further to maximizing your Block stat, in my opinion you should choose Strength over Dexterity when given the choice. It may not be obvious, but the Strength stat increases your Block stat 1:1. The Dexterity stat on the other hand increases your Dodge stat. I'm not saying that Block is better than Dodge, they are both important. But there are two reasons why I favor Block over Dodge:
(1) In the Paladin soul tree, there are some useful skills that can only be triggered after a successful block.
(2) There are some greater planar essences that provide a self heal after a successful block.
There are a few other survivability stats. As already mention, there is a Dodge stat, and it is useful (since a melee attack misses you completely) but difficult to accumulate in large amounts. There is a Parry stat, also difficult to accumulate, and it doesn't apply to melee attacks from behind (nor does Dodge...animals can dodge blows from behind, but not players or humanoid mobs). And you'll see a Toughness stat, which only becomes available as you approach the level cap. This stat is very important once you get to expert versions of dungeons and raids, because it protects you from "critical hits", which again is a bit beyond our focus today. Please note that if you mouse over a stat in your Character window, the game will hint at its purpose.
To this point, we haven't dealt with surviving magical attacks. You have a few options. The various tanking soul trees include skills that reduce the damage of all magical attacks. And you can equip lesser planar essences that provide some resistance to specific types of magical attacks. The problem is, you can't simply swap in "death resist" planar essences before visiting a dungeon where the mobs primarily do death damage, because that's not how planar essences work. A new planar essence destroys the existing one when you equip it. So eventually you'll want to carry multiple Sigils, some heavy in one resist, some heavy in another, and swap them for particular encounters. Unfortunately, good lesser essences aren't easy to come by, so it takes time to populate Sigils with essences.
And finally, if you explore the Paladin soul tree, you will find some self healing skills that can help when survivability is paramount.
Managing Aggro
A tank must "manage" the aggro of the mobs your group/raid are killing. That usually means ensuring that all of the mobs attack you (but there can be exceptions, such as letting someone's pet take one mob's aggro, or letting someone stun one mob ). But what exactly is "aggro"? Well, when you strike a mob, the mob views you as a threat. Ditto for your adventuring companions as they strike the mob. The mob will attack whichever adventurer threatens it the most (i.e. the mob "aggros" that adventurer). Once it begins to attack, the mob won't switch its attack to a different adventurer unless that different adventurer generates significantly more threat (140%) than the adventurer that the mob is currently attacking.
At this point you may be panicing a bit, because Warrior tanks don't do very much damage relative to other classes/builds. And if other adventurers are doing more damage, the mob is going to find them more threatening than you. But the good news is that tanks get some special skills that include words like "generates additional threat". What this means is that although the skill may only do 100 hit points of damage, it generates as much threat as a strike that does 500 or 600 hit points of damage. In other words, aggro skills generate much more threat than damage. So read skill descriptions carefully to find the ones that generate bonus threat.
You will also have some skills that include words like "forcing them to attack the Warrior for 3 seconds". There are times when this characteristic is essential. For example, assume that a mage just nuked your target, doing huge damage, generating huge threat and stealing aggro from you. If they have any sense, they will stop casting for a bit, to allow you to "catch up" with your threat and take the mob's aggro back. But in the meantime, you want to force the mob to focus their attack on you rather than the mage, since the mage can't survive much damage.
Managing the Aggro of Multiple Mobs
Managing the aggro of a single mob is pretty simple. Grab aggro at the outset and hold it. If you're doing your job correctly (by using your aggro skills) and someone else steals the mob's aggro from you, then they aren't doing their job correctly and a few deaths will help them to realize that.
But how do you get multiple mobs to attack you? Basically, there are two techniques, and you will use both, depending on the situation. One technique involves AoE (Area of Effect) skills. And the other involves cycling through all of the mobs, hitting each with an aggro management skill and then moving on to the next.
Some AoEs are centered around you, so to use them, you leap in among the mobs and trigger the AoE. Other AoEs (the really useful ones) are centered around your target. If you explore the Reaver soul tree, you will find some skills that are absolutely great for managing the aggro of multiple mobs (i.e. Necrotic Wounds, Soul Sickness, Blood Fever, and most importantly, Plague Bringer).
But if you are visiting a dungeon where the toughest fights are all single bosses, you may want to select a build (i.e. soul tree choices) that deemphasizes AoEs in favor of other skills more appropriate for single targets. If that's the case, how do you deal with the five mobs guarding the door to the boss chamber? By cycling through each of the five mobs using single target skills. Use one skill on the 1st mob. Then switch targets and use one skill on the 2nd mob. Ditto for 3, 4 and 5, then begin the cycle all over again.
Assisting and Marking
You may hear the term assisting in your travels. In theory, your fellow adventurers are supposed to "assist" you, which means targeting the same mob that you target. There is actually a setting in game that automatically causes them to target your target, if they choose to turn it on (Main Menu | Interface | Combat | Cast on Target's Target). Having said that, assisting is a bit inflexible and may not fit all situations.
For example, a roamer may wander into your fight. You would typically target the roamer, hit it with an aggro management skill, and then return to whichever mob you'd been targeting. That's a case where, if everyone was assisting, you might need to use multiple skills on the roamer before you can be certain you've captured its aggro.
A more flexible approach would be to mark the mobs by suspending numbers over their heads and then explain the fight strategy to your fellow adventurers (this is where Vent can be a huge convenience). However, note that you should be group leader to mark mobs.
As an example, in the Realm of the Fae instance, you will eventually need to deal with a boss that has two helpers. One of the helpers is a healer. So, you could mark the healer mob with the number 1, the other helper mob with the number 2, and mark the boss with the number 3. Then explain that everyone should focus on killing 1 first, followed by 2 and then 3. You on the other hand may switch targets many times during the fight to manage the aggro of all three mobs.
The Joy of Targeting
Such a simple concept. And such a horrible mechanic. Clearly, tanks must be experts at targeting. And yet MMOs provide such bad tools for targeting. In Rift, you are going to want to turn on "Smart Targeting" (Main Menu | Interface | Combat | Smart Target). That should stop you from targeting a nearby flower instead of the boss. But you'll still need to deal with multiple challenges.
These games give you two targeting mechanisms. You can mouse click on a mob, or you can press the Tab key. Mouse clicking would seem safe enough, but what happens when the mob that you want to target is behind one of your fellow adventurers or behind another mob or not within your line of sight or impossible to see because of dazzling spell effects? You end up with the wrong target. And when you press the Tab key, which mob will be targeted? The game will switch to the "next target in sequence". Not very timely if you're already fighting half a dozen mobs and you need to immediately target a roamer that just added.
Having said all that, I map the Tab key to the 0 key on my numeric keypad, for easy access (Main Menu | Key Bindings...find the Target Next Enemy command in the list, select Key 2 and press the 0 key on your numeric keypad). And I use Tab when I have to, which is basically whenever mouse click targeting isn't going to work.
So, what else can go wrong with targeting? If you kill the last mob in a difficult encounter and in all of the excitement don't realize that the encounter is over, you might press the Tab key. That in turn may target a mob in the distance. You think to yourself, wow, I'm glad none of my skills range that far, or I might have inadvertantly pulled that distant mob. That's typically when someone's pet starts running towards the target...
Pulling Mobs
How does one initially engage the enemy? Do you charge them? Do you taunt them, causing them to charge you? Or are there better approaches?
Pulling is very situational. You will assess the situation and make a decision. In the simplest cases, you will use a targeted AoE and watch as the mobs charge towards you. But if one or more of the mobs are casters/archers, they aren't going to charge you. Then what? Do you care? Perhaps not. You may focus on those mobs that did charge, and once they are dead, deal with the ranged mobs. But if there is a roamer involved, you may want to kill the ranged mobs first and then reposition the melee mobs to a safe location (by holding their aggro while backing into the desired position...try to not expose your back to them unless necessary). There is also a very useful technique called a line of sight pull for dealing with mobs that don't want to charge you, but I'll defer that to my next thread.
What about a case where you want one of your fellow adventurers to stun one mob while you pull the remainder? Using an AoE will wake the stunned mob, so that isn't an option. Instead, you could pull using a single target skill. Your longest range single target skill will probably be your ranged weapon.
And what about extremely crowded areas? As a tank, you think a fair bit about positioning, roamers, etc. Your fellow adventurers may have different concerns in mind, such as getting behind a mob to maximize the damage of their strikes. In doing so, they may inadvertantly pull in neighbouring groups of mobs. In crowded scenarios, position your team in a safe location, tell them to remain there, and then use a technique called a body pull. This is nothing more than walking up to the mob of choice, getting close enough that they aggro you, and then retreating until you rejoin your fellow adventurers. Tell your team not to attack until you are back in position and have begun using your aggro management skills. However, be aware that one of your fellow adventurers may buff you in such a way that when a mob attacks you, it takes damage from the buff caster. If that happens, simply run after the mob as it charges the buff caster, and take aggro back before the mob engages.
And finally, there is one other useful pull technique. The Warlord soul tree includes a skill called Sergeant's Order. And the Void Knight soul tree includes a skill called Rift Summon. Both perform what I think of as a "rubber band" pull. I picture it as watching a rubber band stretch from the tank to the target, attach to the target's chest, and then retract, dragging the target to the tank. This can be particularly useful because it allows you to reposition a ranged damage dealer mob that otherwise wouldn't move. Please note that an obstruction (a rock, low wall, etc.) between the mob and tank will stop the mob mid-pull. And I urge you not to misuse this pull. In invasions, I can't tell you how many times I've worked hard to force a boss to aggro me, only to have another tank use this pull to drag the boss far away where I lose aggro. Very frustrating.
Positioning Mobs and Fellow Adventurers
Sometimes you will want to turn a mob, exposing its back to your fellow adventurers so that they can maximize the damage of their attacks and at the same time ensuring that the mob's frontal attacks will only damage you. Turning a mob is also a way to confirm that you have its aggro. If a mob is aggroing you, it will face you. But if another member of your group is standing right next to you, it may not be clear which of you the mob is aggroing. If you either (a) walk right through the mob or (b) circle around behind the mob, if it turns to continue facing you, then you've confirmed that it is aggroing you.
You may want to position a mob that has big AoE damage spells away from your fellow adventurers so that its AoEs only damage you.
If a mob has a big line of sight damage spell, position your fellow adventurers near cover, so they can scramble out of sight just before the spell triggers.
Sometimes you may want to move a mob with knock back or fear attacks away from a cliff or pit, to save your fellow adventurers from a nasty fall. And if a mob is knocking you all over the map, your best bet is to back up against a wall or cliff face.
If a mob spawns lots of adds, you may want to position your fellow adventurers right next to you (a technique called "stacking on the tank"), making it easy for you to gather up the aggro of the adds using AoEs.
Heads Up Tanking and Macros
This is a topic for a much more advanced discussion. But if you visit the Rift Warrior forum, you can't help but see references that won't make much sense without a tiny bit of explanation first.
As a tank, you must process multiple streams of information simultaneously and quickly. You are watching the targeted mob and its buddies. You are watching for spawned adds and roamers. You are watching the health bars of your fellow adventurers (if one drops suddenly, you may have an aggro management issue to deal with). You are watching the chat window, looking for cries for help and indications that the boss is about to do something nasty.
This is all rather challenging if you're triggering your skills via mouse clicks, because your eyes are spending way too long looking at your action bars. The solution is to trigger your skills via numeric keys. But since you have more than 10 skills and only 10 numeric keys to work with (plus a few mouse buttons if you have a gaming mouse), you must first group combinations of skills into macros. Then you use your numeric (and mouse) keys to trigger the macros, freeing your eyes to process everything that's taking place in the encounter. You become a tanking "pianist".
If that all sounds rather overwhelming, please relax. You can slowly introduce macros to your game play one at a time until they feel natural.
Good hunting!
Lets start with a bit of terminology. I will use the term mob (monster or beast) to refer to the NPCs that you want to kill. So mob is singular, it doesn't mean a group of beasties. Most mobs are more or less stationary (until disturbed) but a few wander a predefined course over and over, and I'll call those roamers.
Survivability
Tanks have to be able to absorb lots of damage. Yes, your healer will try to keep you alive, but your health needs to go down more slowly from damage than the rate at which your healer can replenish it, or else you are going to die in long fights. And when you die, your group wipes. So survivability is job one.
Survivability begins with lots of Health (the green bar next to your character icon in the top left corner of your screen). You increase your maximum Health by adding Endurance, and you increase Endurance by equipping gear (such as armor) with lots of the Endurance stat.
Now that you've got ample Health, lets protect it from melee damage (but not magic damage) by increasing your Armor. You do this by selecting armor with a high Armor stat. You also increase your Armor stat by equipping a shield and a one-hand weapon, rather than a two-hand weapon. As your Armor stat increases, melee strikes do less damage (i.e. Armor doesn't cause melee strikes to miss you, it simply reduces the damage of those strikes. This is particularly important when you are surrounded, as will become apparent in a moment).
Next, maximize your Block stat. Block is a chance to reduce the amount of damage done by a melee strike. But keep in mind that you can't block attacks from behind. Nor can you block magic attacks.
Further to maximizing your Block stat, in my opinion you should choose Strength over Dexterity when given the choice. It may not be obvious, but the Strength stat increases your Block stat 1:1. The Dexterity stat on the other hand increases your Dodge stat. I'm not saying that Block is better than Dodge, they are both important. But there are two reasons why I favor Block over Dodge:
(1) In the Paladin soul tree, there are some useful skills that can only be triggered after a successful block.
(2) There are some greater planar essences that provide a self heal after a successful block.
There are a few other survivability stats. As already mention, there is a Dodge stat, and it is useful (since a melee attack misses you completely) but difficult to accumulate in large amounts. There is a Parry stat, also difficult to accumulate, and it doesn't apply to melee attacks from behind (nor does Dodge...animals can dodge blows from behind, but not players or humanoid mobs). And you'll see a Toughness stat, which only becomes available as you approach the level cap. This stat is very important once you get to expert versions of dungeons and raids, because it protects you from "critical hits", which again is a bit beyond our focus today. Please note that if you mouse over a stat in your Character window, the game will hint at its purpose.
To this point, we haven't dealt with surviving magical attacks. You have a few options. The various tanking soul trees include skills that reduce the damage of all magical attacks. And you can equip lesser planar essences that provide some resistance to specific types of magical attacks. The problem is, you can't simply swap in "death resist" planar essences before visiting a dungeon where the mobs primarily do death damage, because that's not how planar essences work. A new planar essence destroys the existing one when you equip it. So eventually you'll want to carry multiple Sigils, some heavy in one resist, some heavy in another, and swap them for particular encounters. Unfortunately, good lesser essences aren't easy to come by, so it takes time to populate Sigils with essences.
And finally, if you explore the Paladin soul tree, you will find some self healing skills that can help when survivability is paramount.
Managing Aggro
A tank must "manage" the aggro of the mobs your group/raid are killing. That usually means ensuring that all of the mobs attack you (but there can be exceptions, such as letting someone's pet take one mob's aggro, or letting someone stun one mob ). But what exactly is "aggro"? Well, when you strike a mob, the mob views you as a threat. Ditto for your adventuring companions as they strike the mob. The mob will attack whichever adventurer threatens it the most (i.e. the mob "aggros" that adventurer). Once it begins to attack, the mob won't switch its attack to a different adventurer unless that different adventurer generates significantly more threat (140%) than the adventurer that the mob is currently attacking.
At this point you may be panicing a bit, because Warrior tanks don't do very much damage relative to other classes/builds. And if other adventurers are doing more damage, the mob is going to find them more threatening than you. But the good news is that tanks get some special skills that include words like "generates additional threat". What this means is that although the skill may only do 100 hit points of damage, it generates as much threat as a strike that does 500 or 600 hit points of damage. In other words, aggro skills generate much more threat than damage. So read skill descriptions carefully to find the ones that generate bonus threat.
You will also have some skills that include words like "forcing them to attack the Warrior for 3 seconds". There are times when this characteristic is essential. For example, assume that a mage just nuked your target, doing huge damage, generating huge threat and stealing aggro from you. If they have any sense, they will stop casting for a bit, to allow you to "catch up" with your threat and take the mob's aggro back. But in the meantime, you want to force the mob to focus their attack on you rather than the mage, since the mage can't survive much damage.
Managing the Aggro of Multiple Mobs
Managing the aggro of a single mob is pretty simple. Grab aggro at the outset and hold it. If you're doing your job correctly (by using your aggro skills) and someone else steals the mob's aggro from you, then they aren't doing their job correctly and a few deaths will help them to realize that.
But how do you get multiple mobs to attack you? Basically, there are two techniques, and you will use both, depending on the situation. One technique involves AoE (Area of Effect) skills. And the other involves cycling through all of the mobs, hitting each with an aggro management skill and then moving on to the next.
Some AoEs are centered around you, so to use them, you leap in among the mobs and trigger the AoE. Other AoEs (the really useful ones) are centered around your target. If you explore the Reaver soul tree, you will find some skills that are absolutely great for managing the aggro of multiple mobs (i.e. Necrotic Wounds, Soul Sickness, Blood Fever, and most importantly, Plague Bringer).
But if you are visiting a dungeon where the toughest fights are all single bosses, you may want to select a build (i.e. soul tree choices) that deemphasizes AoEs in favor of other skills more appropriate for single targets. If that's the case, how do you deal with the five mobs guarding the door to the boss chamber? By cycling through each of the five mobs using single target skills. Use one skill on the 1st mob. Then switch targets and use one skill on the 2nd mob. Ditto for 3, 4 and 5, then begin the cycle all over again.
Assisting and Marking
You may hear the term assisting in your travels. In theory, your fellow adventurers are supposed to "assist" you, which means targeting the same mob that you target. There is actually a setting in game that automatically causes them to target your target, if they choose to turn it on (Main Menu | Interface | Combat | Cast on Target's Target). Having said that, assisting is a bit inflexible and may not fit all situations.
For example, a roamer may wander into your fight. You would typically target the roamer, hit it with an aggro management skill, and then return to whichever mob you'd been targeting. That's a case where, if everyone was assisting, you might need to use multiple skills on the roamer before you can be certain you've captured its aggro.
A more flexible approach would be to mark the mobs by suspending numbers over their heads and then explain the fight strategy to your fellow adventurers (this is where Vent can be a huge convenience). However, note that you should be group leader to mark mobs.
As an example, in the Realm of the Fae instance, you will eventually need to deal with a boss that has two helpers. One of the helpers is a healer. So, you could mark the healer mob with the number 1, the other helper mob with the number 2, and mark the boss with the number 3. Then explain that everyone should focus on killing 1 first, followed by 2 and then 3. You on the other hand may switch targets many times during the fight to manage the aggro of all three mobs.
The Joy of Targeting
Such a simple concept. And such a horrible mechanic. Clearly, tanks must be experts at targeting. And yet MMOs provide such bad tools for targeting. In Rift, you are going to want to turn on "Smart Targeting" (Main Menu | Interface | Combat | Smart Target). That should stop you from targeting a nearby flower instead of the boss. But you'll still need to deal with multiple challenges.
These games give you two targeting mechanisms. You can mouse click on a mob, or you can press the Tab key. Mouse clicking would seem safe enough, but what happens when the mob that you want to target is behind one of your fellow adventurers or behind another mob or not within your line of sight or impossible to see because of dazzling spell effects? You end up with the wrong target. And when you press the Tab key, which mob will be targeted? The game will switch to the "next target in sequence". Not very timely if you're already fighting half a dozen mobs and you need to immediately target a roamer that just added.
Having said all that, I map the Tab key to the 0 key on my numeric keypad, for easy access (Main Menu | Key Bindings...find the Target Next Enemy command in the list, select Key 2 and press the 0 key on your numeric keypad). And I use Tab when I have to, which is basically whenever mouse click targeting isn't going to work.
So, what else can go wrong with targeting? If you kill the last mob in a difficult encounter and in all of the excitement don't realize that the encounter is over, you might press the Tab key. That in turn may target a mob in the distance. You think to yourself, wow, I'm glad none of my skills range that far, or I might have inadvertantly pulled that distant mob. That's typically when someone's pet starts running towards the target...
Pulling Mobs
How does one initially engage the enemy? Do you charge them? Do you taunt them, causing them to charge you? Or are there better approaches?
Pulling is very situational. You will assess the situation and make a decision. In the simplest cases, you will use a targeted AoE and watch as the mobs charge towards you. But if one or more of the mobs are casters/archers, they aren't going to charge you. Then what? Do you care? Perhaps not. You may focus on those mobs that did charge, and once they are dead, deal with the ranged mobs. But if there is a roamer involved, you may want to kill the ranged mobs first and then reposition the melee mobs to a safe location (by holding their aggro while backing into the desired position...try to not expose your back to them unless necessary). There is also a very useful technique called a line of sight pull for dealing with mobs that don't want to charge you, but I'll defer that to my next thread.
What about a case where you want one of your fellow adventurers to stun one mob while you pull the remainder? Using an AoE will wake the stunned mob, so that isn't an option. Instead, you could pull using a single target skill. Your longest range single target skill will probably be your ranged weapon.
And what about extremely crowded areas? As a tank, you think a fair bit about positioning, roamers, etc. Your fellow adventurers may have different concerns in mind, such as getting behind a mob to maximize the damage of their strikes. In doing so, they may inadvertantly pull in neighbouring groups of mobs. In crowded scenarios, position your team in a safe location, tell them to remain there, and then use a technique called a body pull. This is nothing more than walking up to the mob of choice, getting close enough that they aggro you, and then retreating until you rejoin your fellow adventurers. Tell your team not to attack until you are back in position and have begun using your aggro management skills. However, be aware that one of your fellow adventurers may buff you in such a way that when a mob attacks you, it takes damage from the buff caster. If that happens, simply run after the mob as it charges the buff caster, and take aggro back before the mob engages.
And finally, there is one other useful pull technique. The Warlord soul tree includes a skill called Sergeant's Order. And the Void Knight soul tree includes a skill called Rift Summon. Both perform what I think of as a "rubber band" pull. I picture it as watching a rubber band stretch from the tank to the target, attach to the target's chest, and then retract, dragging the target to the tank. This can be particularly useful because it allows you to reposition a ranged damage dealer mob that otherwise wouldn't move. Please note that an obstruction (a rock, low wall, etc.) between the mob and tank will stop the mob mid-pull. And I urge you not to misuse this pull. In invasions, I can't tell you how many times I've worked hard to force a boss to aggro me, only to have another tank use this pull to drag the boss far away where I lose aggro. Very frustrating.
Positioning Mobs and Fellow Adventurers
Sometimes you will want to turn a mob, exposing its back to your fellow adventurers so that they can maximize the damage of their attacks and at the same time ensuring that the mob's frontal attacks will only damage you. Turning a mob is also a way to confirm that you have its aggro. If a mob is aggroing you, it will face you. But if another member of your group is standing right next to you, it may not be clear which of you the mob is aggroing. If you either (a) walk right through the mob or (b) circle around behind the mob, if it turns to continue facing you, then you've confirmed that it is aggroing you.
You may want to position a mob that has big AoE damage spells away from your fellow adventurers so that its AoEs only damage you.
If a mob has a big line of sight damage spell, position your fellow adventurers near cover, so they can scramble out of sight just before the spell triggers.
Sometimes you may want to move a mob with knock back or fear attacks away from a cliff or pit, to save your fellow adventurers from a nasty fall. And if a mob is knocking you all over the map, your best bet is to back up against a wall or cliff face.
If a mob spawns lots of adds, you may want to position your fellow adventurers right next to you (a technique called "stacking on the tank"), making it easy for you to gather up the aggro of the adds using AoEs.
Heads Up Tanking and Macros
This is a topic for a much more advanced discussion. But if you visit the Rift Warrior forum, you can't help but see references that won't make much sense without a tiny bit of explanation first.
As a tank, you must process multiple streams of information simultaneously and quickly. You are watching the targeted mob and its buddies. You are watching for spawned adds and roamers. You are watching the health bars of your fellow adventurers (if one drops suddenly, you may have an aggro management issue to deal with). You are watching the chat window, looking for cries for help and indications that the boss is about to do something nasty.
This is all rather challenging if you're triggering your skills via mouse clicks, because your eyes are spending way too long looking at your action bars. The solution is to trigger your skills via numeric keys. But since you have more than 10 skills and only 10 numeric keys to work with (plus a few mouse buttons if you have a gaming mouse), you must first group combinations of skills into macros. Then you use your numeric (and mouse) keys to trigger the macros, freeing your eyes to process everything that's taking place in the encounter. You become a tanking "pianist".
If that all sounds rather overwhelming, please relax. You can slowly introduce macros to your game play one at a time until they feel natural.
Good hunting!