Unlike soloing, group roles in World of Warcraft demand fewer things from a character yet more from what they excel at doing. Out in the world, even a tanking toon needs to be able to deal damage, lower damage, and restore their health (with first aid, food, and the rest). That isn’t the way of things in a WoW group. There, a tank NEEDS to be able to mitigate damage while generating as much threat as possible. Bandaging, dealing maximum damage, and other concerns fall to the back of the list when compared with the power of intercepting the deadlist of enemies and keeping them off the healers and other soft targets.

WoW Group Roles

The first issue of Warcraft group roles is to determine who will be doing what. The below list explains the roles of a group.

• Main Tank (MT):  A primary damge mitigater with high health, armor, and talents to reduce enemy damage or extend the ablity to survive. Equipment and abilities that add to a Main Tank’s defense and resilience are also vital, as these points reduce the chance of the character being critically hit (a major problem in higher level instances and Heroic Mode where criticals deal so much damage that healers rush to catch up). Warriros, Bear Druids, and Paladins are very good at this role.
• Secondary Tank or Off Tank: This is a character that grabs adds and monsters that peel onto casters and other softer targets. while the MT is busy keeping multiple  enemies engaged, a Secondary Tank focuses on any that slip through the cracks. Again, damage mitigation is a major role here, though higher DPS than a Main Tank is useful (for grabbing more aggro and possibly even killing the offending monster). Arms/Fury Warriors, Druids, and Paladins are the best for this task, though there are times when Hunter Pets, Rogues (using timers), and other classes can accomplish this. In high level areas, often only another protection specced Warrior can OT.
•  Main Assit (MA): Someone in the group needs to decide what creature to attack. In low-level groups, many people choose the Main Tank for this, but that changes over time. The MT needs to do many things to maintain aggro against many foes, and that sometimes involves switching targets frequently. The Main Assist should be a melee character that has the freedom to grab a single enemy and stick with it. Almost anyone can do this, but a melee character with high damage output is excellent. Be sure to have all gorup members from an /assist macro on the MA before the fighting begins. Arms/Fury Warriors and Rogues are amazing character to serve as the MA, though any person in the party can do this. In fact, high intelligence and quick thinking (from the player) are even more important than having the “best” character for the job.

• Marker: Any class can fill this role as it’s far more important that a fast and decisive player manage this. Having someone as Marker takes some of the responsibility from the Assit and Crowd Control characters. Use the Raid Icons to mark each mob to be controlled and have a planned killing order.
• Rezzer: World of Warcraft Priest, Shamans, and Paladins are very good rezzers. These are people who get Soulstoned if there is a Warlock around, and they are chosen because they can pull the rest of the group back from a wipe. Paladins also have the ability to use Divine Intervention on another player: this puts the person out of combat, but it clears all the aggro from them. If the person is doomed to lose, the Paladin can use this option to have one person survive the encounter while the monsters strike home. Make sure the person saved is a Rezzer for the most effect! If there aren’t Warlocks around, it is very good to have characters in a group that can self-rez (be sure to have Ankhs for your Shamans). These characters are prepared so that a group can return from a wipe without having to travel through the entire instance again and possibly facing respawns. This can be the same person as the primary healer.
• Primary Healer or Main Healer: Primary Healers should be characters that are dedicated to keeping the group going and almost ignoring damage output. WoW Priest are perceived as the shining light of this role, but equipment specialization and Talent choices make even more of a different. Shamans and Druids that focus on Restoration builds can serve very well as Primary Healers. Warcraft Priest with Shadow builds instead are far better at healing in a secondary role (by keeping everyone topped off.)
• Secondary Healer: World of Warcraft Secondary Healers switch between offense and healing as the group needs. Shaman, Paladins, Shadow Priest, and Druids are all able to move between these roles fluidly making them ideal for healing the Primary Healer or jumping in to heal when the Primary Healer is out of mana or has too much  to do at once.
• Support: Support characters add various levels of protection functionality to a group. WoW Warlocks are able to deal damage, use Soulstones for wipe insurance, summon wayward characters, and so forth. Hunters can be dealing heavy damage, use their pets to act as a Secondary Tank, detect and defeat stealth, find monsters or enemy players with their Tracking, and hit troublesome targets at great range WITH staying power.
• Crowd Control: WoW Crowd Control abilities are used to keep enemies out of battle for a substantial duration. This involves using abilities that Stun, Fear, Snare, Root, or otherwise disable the target. In-combat Crowd Control offers the most tactical advantage, as it can be used repeatedly throughout an engagement (sometime on the same target and sometimes on new targets as the situation permits). Out-of-combat Crowd Control such as Sap, must be prepared ahead of time and cannot be renewed during a skirmish. Raid are built so that Crowd Control is often impossible (there are very few enemies and all are supposed to be dealt with simultaneously through complex strategies). Groups, however, are challenged by facing proportionately more targets! Crowd control is life in higher dungeons. Many classes have some form of Crowd Control. Your duty is to understand what your class is capable of doing to stop enemies from hurting the group. Then, you must master the timing and effectiveness of these abilities.
• DPS: Damage Per Second characters are purely intended to get involved int he battle and use their skills, mana, etc. to destroy ememies. Once the necessary roles for a group are filled out. DPS characters are chosen to fill the remaining slots. Rogues, Hunters, Mages, Warlocks, and Arms/Fury Warriors are very good for this.

Selecting and Handling a World of Warcraft Roles

Not every gorup has to have people taking care of every role. At the same time, some haracters are likely to fill multiple roles at the same time or be able to switch comfortably between roles. Rogues are going to act as Crowd Control characters before some fights begin, then switch into a DPS or Assist role after the good Sapping is done. A Holy/Dis Priest would likely be the Rezzer for the group and the Primary Healer; that same Priest could also serve as additional Crowd Control during pulls with Undead or when an AoE Fear is needed.

Some of these roles won’t even be defined by a party leader or a conversation. People are somewhat expected to understand their place in a group and act accordingly. If you are the only tanking class in a party, it is expected that you will be a damage mitigater. Unless someone says otherwise, step up and declare that you are going to be the Main Tank. Put on your high defense, Resilience,a nd general survivability gear and get ready for fun.

If it seems like someone is off from their role (e.g. Priest without healing backup is nuking all the time and spending 50% of their mana of damage), consider whether this is a problem. If a group is blowing through targets and there aren’t deaths or near-deaths, let things slide. Better to kill quickly and have a good time. However, if deaths are occuring and it seems like there is a weakness in the groups dynamic, ask people to take on more of a needed role.

To Warrior: The healers are getting a lot of aggro from keeping you alive; could you put away your two-hander and switch to your tanking gear?

To Priest: Could you save more mana for healing? We’ve got the DPS handled and our healers are going OOm (out of mana) a bit often.

Sample World of Warcraft Groups

Do not let your group decisions be guided purely by standards: there are many successful parties that form with an odd combination of abilities (skill and fun are still far more important than format)! That said, the standard party layout can be quite effective, and it’s good to know where to start if you have no idea what to put together.

The goup above is almsot out of a textbook for a DPS group. There is a very solid tank who will only contribute some damage, and the Priest is going to be too busy to add much, but there are three good DPS classes in the mix. There is potential for Sap, Polymorph, Freezing Traps, and Mind Control all in the same pulls, so there is plenty of crowd control to enjoy. DPS groups are good for blowing through instances of equal or lower levels at high speed (great for farming, great for having fun). The biggest weakness of DPS groups comes when they hit new content, as having a single healer means that one mistake can easily lead to a wipe when it involved losing your only healer.

This group stacks on survivability from every angle; it’s probably more than they need for most challenges. There is a major healer in the mix, and there are two backup healers as well (the main tank won’t usually be able to do much healing, but if something goes wrong they can try to get aggro back by healing while saving the character that is taking damage).

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