Game Guide: DPS -The Numbers, The Fire, and You: Part 3

Written by Lightbeard of Winterhoof with written permission to be posted here

Part 3

2D: Watch your Threat.
Some tanks have in recent times been capable of producing ridiculous amounts of threat. Some tanks have also had their basic AoE threat nerfed ever so slightly. You might notice if you run with a paladin tank, for example, that peeling adds in an AoE pull is now more readily accomplished. While the truth remains that threat is rarely a problem in the current game, it is still the responsibility of the DPS to make sure they do not exceed the tank's threat. It's not a measure of how awesome you are that you can pull from the tank. Indeed, in some cases, it's a measure of how careless you are that you did pull from the tank.

Some instances, like that OMGWTF Lava Burst crit for 20k, are unavoidable, and that's why tanks have taunts, but if you can avoid pulling threat, you should.

The Marked Target
A common practice for dealing with threat issues is for the tank to mark an initial target. If and when your tank marks a target with a kill-first icon (I'll always use a skull for top priority and the X for secondary targets) then attack that target first using only single-target attacks. Once that one is down, open up with the AoE. Your tank will love you for it, and so will your healer.

Threat Dumps
Certain classes have abilities which allow them to attempt to reduce their total threat. Typically, in the case of the ones that reduce your total threat to 0, these abilities also cause you to stop attacking while they are active. In solo play they are your "Oh " buttons. Their role changes slightly in group settings. These abilities should used before you actually manage to pull aggro. The key reason for this is in the way threat actually works. Once you pull aggro it's not always safe to assume that the tank will still be #2 on threat. The result of a delayed aggro dump could easily be a wipe if the #2 or #3 target on the threat list happens to be (and likely will be) a healer. The best time to use your threat dump is when you are beween 95 and 125% threat. You do not actually pull threat until you reach 130% of the current target's threat.

Threat Transfers
Hunters and Rogues have abilities that allow them to transfer threat to the tanks. Contrary to popular belief, these are not just for pulling. All tanks now have sufficient tools to pull with, so the old misdirect-pull routine is rarely needed. Instead, these abilities would best be used right before performing a strong attack, or if you're approaching the 130% threat pull mark and your threat dump is still on cooldown. It's also a good idea to use these abilities even if you aren't approaching the pull limit. Giving the tank extra threat adds padding so that those not-so-rare massive crits won't be as likely to pull.

Threat Reduction Talents
In current content most of these are deemed unnecessary. If, however, you find yourself continuualy pulling off of the tank, you should very much consider speccing into a threat reduction talent if it's avaialble. Some threat reduction talents have secondary effects that make them desirable anyway.

Stop Attacking
It seems like common sense. If you find yourself riding too high on the threat list, hold back for a few seconds.

2D: Utility abilities
Most classes bring some form of utility with them. While these are not technically DPS-specific, typically the healers and the tanks cannot take the time to perform these abilities. Battle rez and innervate come to mind most readily (considering we'll typically have at least 4 druids in a raid) but there are other utility abilities. Divine Sacrifice from a ret or Holy Paladin (used in conjunction with Divine Shield) can significantly reduce damage to the raid or group. The random instant heals available to enhancement shamans and especially to ret paladins should be used first and foremost to keep yourself healed and secondly to assist the healers, especially if we're running with a new healer that is still gearing up or practicing their role.

3: The DPS Meter
Coming out on top of the DPS meter is a great ego trip. Coming in at the bottom, below the tank, is a terrible blow. However, it needs to be emphasized that the DPS meter is not an accurate measure of how effective you are. In fact, if you actually follow everything previously posted here chances are your personal DPS could suffer. I'm perfectly fine with that because I'd rather have 2k DPS doing it right, than 6k DPS doing it wrong. (I'd love to have 6k DPS doing right though). The truth is, even if you managed to pull 9k DPS on the main boss, but never bothered to switch and kill the adds and the raid wiped because those adds took out the healers, you did not help the raid with your "mad deeps." If you only managed to pull 1500 overall but safely battle-rezzed the healer that got whacked because the other guy pulling 9k didn't switch targets, you've done for more for the raid than what will show on the meter.

Conclusion:


In short, the DP meter is a great tool for personal use, but as with most metrics in the game, its usefulness is limited by context.

Thanks for reading!
-Lightbeard, Winterhoof US, Alliance