Newbie Tanking Realm of the Fae (Normal)

27 June, 2013. 678 words.

I now present my newbie tanking guide for Realm of the Fae (Normal). I am roughly two years late in writing this guide, but it’s actually hard to find a guide like this that isn’t written by a theorycrafter who is used to max level tanking.

You can queue for RotF at level 15, but it’s probably better to wait until level 16 so you can bring an AoE attack ability with you.

Don’t worry, you can’t mess it up, even with terrible gear and the wrong build, standing in all of the fire. If you should happen to die, it will probably be the healer’s fault for going completely AFK or not paying attention.

(UPDATE: Okay, you can mess it up, if you over-pull mobs. Don’t be a hero. Also, try not to use the Champion ability Mark of Inevitability, because it can unexpectedly get the attention of mobs from far away. This applies to melee DPS warriors, too.)

Your one and only real responsibility through the whole dungeon is to keep mobs from killing the healer. Pull them away with whatever “lure” abilities you have. If the healer dies, it’s your fault. (If DPS dies, it’s usually their fault for pulling too much aggro.) Use your AoE attack ability when you run to trash mobs and you should get their attention. But keep in mind that it is fairly normal at this level for one or more of the DPS - or even the healer - to pull threat away from you. If you get an impatient group, they may even run ahead and pull mobs before you. You can try to instruct them that it’s not cool to do that, but personally I wouldn’t bother in the first dungeon. Just don’t let anybody kill the healer.

If multiple mobs are attacking, try to lure them together into one place so the DPS can use AoE ground target spells. Pull ranged casters to you if possible (using the Warlod ability Sergeant’s Order), or drag melee attackers to the ranged guy.

Spring trash: Winged faes, satyrs, and wandering ents. A lot of casters. It’s probably good to start out slower, in case there are any first-time party members.

Maellow: Make sure the rest of the party kills the two side dudes first. Almost everyone knows this, but on the off chance you get a whole group that doesn’t, tell them you can’t kill Maellow until his sidekicks are dead.

Summer trash: Bogglings and little swarming turtles; more ranged casters.

Luggodhan: Back out of the slime puddle he drops. Avoid the purple circles he throws around. (As long as your healer is awake, it’s not a big deal if you don’t.)

Fall trash: Vespids and satyrs, mostly melee. People sometimes like to gather up tons of mobs together to get through it faster. If you don’t do it, someone else might. Regardless, get them into one place to burn them down with AoE.

Atrophinius: Turn him away from the party and position your back to something solid or you will get knocked back a lot. (It’s not a big deal if you don’t, though.) There’s a fair amount of dialog before he starts attacking, so somebody might trigger him before you’re done with the trash. Don’t worry about it.

Winter trash: Air elementals. They are kind of far apart which is annoying if you want to gather them.

Fae Lord Twyl: Kill all the stuff that comes out of the portals and all of the adds first. In the final fight when Twyl himself appears, move away from the spinning disk on the ground. (It’s not a big deal if you don’t, though.) (UPDATE: Also, don’t forget to turn Twyl away from the party - it is a big deal if you forget to do so, because Twyl throws a cone attack in front of him called Arc of Frost, which can easily wipe a party. Most people don’t even know he does this - I didn’t until I was playing DPS and observed the party dying inexplicably.)

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