Have you ever been in a group or raid with a class different from your own and wondered why that person wasn't doing what you expected him to do? Maybe a mage wasn't sheeping, or a priest seemed to be just standing around, or a druid was doing some wacky crap that didn't seem to make sense?

There are a lot of things we can't all know about every class -- a lot of details about how certain powers work, or certain strategies. It's impossible to know everything. But it's good to know some of the idiosyncratic little details that can seem strange in a group situation.

Druid: Feral druids may stand around in human form until the very last minute before a pull, or even shift to bear form after a mob has been pulled. This seems strange, because a lot of us are used to wanting to be prepared beforehand. Feral and balance druids may have a power that allows them to have rage or energy as soon as they shift forms...and if they shift prior to the pull, that rage is wasted. Also: casters love Innervate! But it has a 6-minute cooldown, so don't expect it more than once in a big boss fight.

Hunter: With some exceptions, a hunter lives and dies by her pet. To get the most out of your hunter friends in groups, be sure to give their pets a role: tell them which mobs the pet should be on. A hunter can generate aggro quickly, especially if the pet dies. There are probably better suggestions that our hunters can give...this is the one class I know the least, but I'm going alphabetically.

Mage: We're all used to mages sheeping for crowd control. This is not a mage's only means of crowd control, though. A skilled frost mage can kite a mob with frost bolt and frost nova, and as long as there's little risk of adds, he can keep the mob slowed and locked down well enough to occupy it until the group's ready to kill it. If you have a frost mage in your group and he prefers not to sheep, you might give this method a chance: it allows everyone else to use AoEs without the fear of breaking the crowd control.

Paladin: Stay close to your paladin. There really is no other secret to grouping with a paladin: stay close to your paladin. Heals are fairly close range. The aura is a ranged effect, and you don't want to be out of aura range. If a paladin goes running up towards an already-aggro'd mob, it's because she's got to get in range to put a judgement on it. Nearly everything a paladin does has to be close range.

Priest: A priest will not heal you if he has no mana. Big heals (like Greater Heal) and big buffs (like Prayer of Fortitude) cost massive amounts of mana. If your priest has just buffed you, he will not be able to heal you immediately. It may be hard for warriors and rogues to remember this. Don't run into battle without checking your priest's mana bar. Additionally, if a shadow priest is in shadowform, he's not going to heal you. That's what vampiric embrace is for. In theory, a shadow priest probably won't be in shadowform unless there's another healer...but whatever. In a raid situation, there may be times when a priest is standing by doing nothing during the beginning stages of a fight. Chances are, he's conserving his mana in case the fight goes bad. If he dives in with damage spells, he could end up in trouble. At most he may be using a wand. As long as you're getting healed, don't panic.

Rogue: Not all rogues have Improved Sap. Rogues can sap, but if they don't have Imp Sap, then chances are they'll come out of stealth and aggro the group they're trying to help control if they don't have it. In a group situation, ask your rogue to sap, sure, but be prepared to jump in with more crowd control if he doesn't have Imp Sap. A rogue cannot sap anything that's already in combat.

Shaman: A shaman may look like he can have totems totems totems!!!! all around, but shamans can only cast one totem for every element type. So he can have one earth-type totem, one fire-type totem, one water-type totem, and one air-type totem. The upshot of this: he can't have a healing totem and a mana restore totem at the same time. Sorry, don't ask.

Warrior: By the time you're grouping with warriors in high level instances and fighting difficult mobs, you should know: let your warrior get in two Sunder Armors before you join in. Whether you're a mage, a rogue, a warlock, or a druid, let her sunder twice before you help. Her job is to keep aggro on herself. Don't make her job harder. Individual warriors may have different tactics, but this is the best rule of thumb for difficult fights.

Warlock: Yes, your warlock is planning on killing you when your back is turned and sacrificing you to infernal forces. Sorry. Warlocks are less dependent on their pets than hunters; however, warlock pets can be more versatile than hunter pets. Some warlock pets can help with crowd control, whether it's by charming or off-tanking. Let your warlock groupmates suggest which pet would be best in a given situation, if you don't know. A warlock can only cast one soulstone every half hour, and he will probably cast it on someone who can rez the party in the event of a wipe.


Please feel free to chime in with some I've missed. What do you think people don't know about your class that they should, or forget about your class? What would be helpful if more people knew, or more people kept in mind?

Great guide Stranger, thanks for taking the time to type it out.


I'm constantly learning new stuff about the other classes... mostly because I'm too stubborn to play something else.


I had a pretty good conversation about warriors the other night and while I did know this somewhere in the back of my mind it didn't seem important enough.

Let your warrior get hit!!!

Even if you have enough armor and hp to take the hits don't steal the agro.

Warriors and bears to a lesser extent cannot use their skills unless they are getting smacked around.

I have a little tidbit about Restoration druids: Treeform has a slower run speed then regular players. Please don't forget this and leave your healer behind!!

Also, the next person who asks me "have you got wood?" while I'm in tree form is gonna get a splinter up his/her ass!

Great guide, I got a few modifications though.

Generally now any rogue that wants to sap would put the point into it, meaning it is 100% sucessful.

And, give a bear a second of melee combat before laying into it.

I had a pretty good conversation about warriors the other night and while I did know this somewhere in the back of my mind it didn't seem important enough.

Let your warrior get hit!!!


Oh, god, that's an important one, I wish I'd thought to include it in the main post. For ages I kept PW: Shield on the warrior as a matter of course, because hey, that's my job as a priest, right?

A warrior had to explain to me that no, I shouldn't do this, because getting hit generates rage. Now I wait til a warrior's had some time to get the fight established and actually needs healing before I start throwing shields on him.

::scratches head:: Unless a hunter is beast mastery, he or she hardly relies on the pet AT ALL in the long run. The pet is mostly just there for a bit of extra dps.

All the new 5-man instances make a pet's presence more viable, yes, but generally speaking hunters are NOT a pet-reliant class when grouping unless they put everything into BM (a la Oriole). The majority of hunters are MM spec, though.

Oh, yeah, and something else: most hunters, including me, will not pull unless specifically told to do so. So if we're standing around and nothing's going on, it's because we're waiting for the go-ahead. I don't pull unless I'm told to because in times past I've been jumped on for it (not in this guild, mind, which pleasantly makes far more use of hunter pulling than any I've seen).

Just a quick note about traps. Lately I've been on a few runs where we have no mage to sheep and my group has had to rely on my freezing trap as cc (which is awesome fun for me!) For the most part, a freezing trap can work great as cc... it doesn't last as long as a sheeping does but the hunter can always re-freeze the mob now that we can use traps in combat. And, for the odd time that a trap gets resisted, the pet can always take over and off-tank. So, if you have a hunter in your group, don't forget to ask them to help in the cc department!

And another thing that some people might not know about hunters... multi-shot can be very powerful, especially for hunters who put the talent points into it. Multi-shot hits up to 3 mobs at once though, so it can usually only be used if the cc'd mobs are far enough away from the other mobs. So when a tank pulls the group far away from the cc'd mobs, it makes me very happy!

And lastly, silencing shot: if you are trying to pull a group closer to you and there is a caster, get your hunter to use silencing shot to pull in the caster. (It's just a 3 sec silence and there is a cool down but it's great for getting the mob to come closer).

Sapphyre is right on all things <3
I know I have a tendency to break sheeps sometimes on account of misjudging where my multi will hit XD; It is a very powerful shot though, particularly for MM hunters--and I'm fairly certain that of the 60+ hunters in this guild, almost all of them are MM.

Warrior: He may be stoned so don't expect much. ;)

Warrior: He may be stoned so don't expect much. ;)


OR just too busy getting the kittens ready while the Druid/Pally tanks the instance.

And a note on groups in general that I have seen go overlooked outside of ZG/AQ when there's a designated main assist (and probably also because we are in new instances we're not used to yet) ...

Everybody focus on one mob. When that mob is down, move on to the next one. I know that sounds like uber basic, but I've been in the middle of a lot of non-boss wipes in multiple instance runs since TBC came out, and most seem to have come from one of three sources:
1. Accidentally pulling more than one group (yaye we are learning the instance!)
2. Breaking crowd control (eeps I moonfired that right when you sheeped it)
3. Everybody trying to take down a different mob, thus causing the healer to generate HUGE THREAT from trying to heal four people who are all taking damage from different sources, thus causing the healer to draw aggro and die, thus causing the rest of the group to die in the absence of healing (and then we all have 5g repair bills)

It's tough to keep a bag full of kittens in order.

Paladin: Stay close to your paladin. There really is no other secret to grouping with a paladin: stay close to your paladin. Heals are fairly close range. The aura is a ranged effect, and you don't want to be out of aura range. If a paladin goes running up towards an already-aggro'd mob, it's because she's got to get in range to put a judgement on it. Nearly everything a paladin does has to be close range.

Great listing!!! :)

Just a note that this is very important to Holy spec Paladins, ie "Healadins", but in the case of a Protection spec paladin, consider them to be like a tank and stay back, esp if you're a caster! ;)

And yep, poor Rin and his kittens!

I might as well add something...

Hunters: Not all hunters are BM specced or MM (Hi!), there is also the survival tree that has a spell called Wyvern Sting. Most think its completely useless, but I find a great help in some instances when a mage or rogue isn't present for knocking mobs out for the 7 or so seconds it lasts. Don't expect many hunters to have it, but ask them if they do if you don't have a mage w/ your group.

I hate when the sheeped mob runs into the range of my Blade Flurry and I knock it out of sheep :(

Ya I find that I can't use Blade Flurry as often as I'd like when there's a lot of CC going on. I save it for when shit gets out of control and it's too hard to tell who's breaking what! ;)

Sheeps don't run, Gran! Sheeps don't run!

They do when Brown's around!

Quick note on warlocks. A warlock can be used for instant cast pulls. Warlocks have an almost zero aggro spell called a curse. A quick warlock can instant cast pull a mob, and if the warrior isn't paying attention, even begin the tanking until the warrior is ready. (Note: to tank the warlock must be using either the Felguard or the Voidwalker). If you notice your warlock always seems to have a Felguard up, there is a good chance they either solo with the Felguard tanking, or are used to fighting with small groups, again with the Felguard tanking.

The ability to instant cast pull can often be very useful where you have a pat wandering around.


(EDIT: I mentioned a warrior as tank. I should have just said tank, not warrior as there are several classes that tank now. )

(EDIT: I mentioned a warrior as tank. I should have just said tank, not warrior as there are several classes that tank now. )

...and another kitten dies...

(Note: to tank the warlock must be using either the Felguard or the Voidwalker).

THAT'S NOT EVEN TRUE Viraj tanks all the time on his lonesome!

You mean SUCCESSFULLY tank by using the Felguard or Voidwalker.

QFT on insta-cast pulls. Warlocks own like crazy.

(Note: to tank the warlock must be using either the Felguard or the Voidwalker).

THAT'S NOT EVEN TRUE Viraj tanks all the time on his lonesome!

You mean SUCCESSFULLY tank by using the Felguard or Voidwalker.

QFT on insta-cast pulls. Warlocks own like crazy.


Haha... I guess I tank unsuccessfully on Gyb too, but yes I did mean successfully tank.

On a side note, I have no idea what the hell QFT means......

Quoted For Truth. It means they agree with you. It can also mean someone was trying to save your post for posterity, should anyone try to monkey with the original.

I always think QFT is Quite Fucking True...

Kinda the same thing.

Fox's post reminded me of this thread...

Can we get this in the wiki somewhere, please Killian? It may need to be edited/updated a bit for the comments that were added.