Warrior Tank Macros - What Do You Use?

[PerfectH]

So I hit level 80 almost a week ago and I'm already tanking Heroics on my Human Warrior, who is building up his tanking set because I want him to be a tank... for main spec.

I found some really cool macros on www.wowwiki.com and used that as a reference to make some of my own. I have macros such as a modifier to switch between Charge or Intervene, Mouse-Over Devestate, Mouse-Over Concussion Blow, and that's about all I can remember off the top of my head.

My goal is to stop using keybindings that exceed past number 7 on my action bar, another words; I want my frequently used skills placed on actions 1 - 7. I have a Logitech G15 keyboard which I must say helps a lot, but still, I want to keep all my important skills close together.

Warriors, when you're in Protection spec, what macro's do you use that you find helps you tank better?

[OldHarry]

I don't use macros when I tank. I use a Belkin game pad with my skills bound to the keys on that. For me tanking is dynamic and not having the ability to be able to instantly select and choose my attack skill, especially in the beginning of the pull would be a fail.

[shyce]

http://www.tankspot.com/forums/f120/...or-macros.html

[PerfectH]

Originally Posted by shyce http://www.tankspot.com/forums/f120/...or-macros.html

I don't mean to sound like a jerk or anything, but I was more or less asking for opinions, not hyperlinks.

I said above that I already know of most tanking macros thanks to WoWWiki.com, so linking that was some what redundant.

Again, I don't want to come accross as being an ass or anything, but I think I remember reading in some one else's thread that they don't like it when some one just reply's with a simple link without saying anything, I don't like it either.

Anyways, "E" for Effort!

[Soulofsin_007]

I do not play a warrior but one of the main macros I use for my pally tank is

/run SetCVar('CameraDistanceMaxFactor','4');
CameraZoomOut('255')

so that I can see my raid and everything, comes in handy trying to pick up adds on Ignis and XT-002.

I also use /script dr=function(x)return 1/(1/16+0.9560/x)end;DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage("Need 102.4 combat table coverage. Currently at: "..string.format("%.2f", GetDodgeChance()+GetBlockChance()+GetParryChance()+5+dr(GetCombatRating(CR_DEFENSE_SKILL)/122.962))) to see how I am doing on the combat table coverage

[shyce]

Originally Posted by PerfectH I don't mean to sound like a jerk or anything, but I was more or less asking for opinions, not hyperlinks. I said above that I already know of most tanking macros thanks to WoWWiki.com, so linking that was some what redundant. Again, I don't want to come accross as being an ass or anything, but I think I remember reading in some one else's thread that they don't like it when some one just reply's with a simple link without saying anything, I don't like it either. Anyways, "E" for Effort!

If you notice, it's a forum and not simply a wiki.. which means there are already 18 pages of people with tanking opinions who are on a tanking forum regarding macros. The only thing that I can really add, which I use is:

#showtooltip Shield Slam
/script UIErrorsFrame:Hide()
/cast Shield Block
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
/script UIErrorsFrame:Show()
/cast Shield Slam
/startattack

[Satrina]

Tanking macros are never really a good idea to begin with because of the strangeness of rage flow. With that, unless you didn`t take Sword and Board for some reason they really will make your performance suboptimal as they can never react to the presence or absence of the proc buff. Lots of people like to macro heroic strike to revenge because of the glyph. That can and will lead to you not having enough rage to do an ability that you should be prioritising over heroic strike at various times, again reducing your performance.

Macros for announcing your shield wall, doing cosmetic things like clearing error frames, whatver - sure. Macros to try and work your threat generation will always mark you as a subpar tank.

[BWarner]

Originally Posted by Satrina Tanking macros are never really a good idea to begin with because of the strangeness of rage flow. With that, unless you didn`t take Sword and Board for some reason they really will make your performance suboptimal as they can never react to the presence or absence of the proc buff. Lots of people like to macro heroic strike to revenge because of the glyph. That can and will lead to you not having enough rage to do an ability that you should be prioritising over heroic strike at various times, again reducing your performance. Macros for announcing your shield wall, doing cosmetic things like clearing error frames, whatver - sure. Macros to try and work your threat generation will always mark you as a subpar tank.

I'll agree with this, with the exception of, well, some obvious exceptions. If you get a 100% free HS with each and every Revenge you cast, it only makes sense to macro the HS to Revenge. Doing something weird, though, like macroing TClap, SWave, DemoShout, TClap together (or whatever), though, is beyond weird, and into that "marked" category of tanks.

[moggan]

I use three macros on my warrior:

- one to taunt the mouseover target (bound to a thumb-button on my mouse). That really helps for picking up loose mobs (eg if the OT goes down).

- two non-cancelling (ie /cast !...) macros for Heroic Strike and Cleave, bound to keys so I can spam the ability in high-rage situations without having to risk cancelling a queued one instead.

[Satrina]

Originally Posted by BWarner If you get a 100% free HS with each and every Revenge you cast, it only makes sense to macro the HS to Revenge.

Heroic Strike may not cost any rage because of the glyph, but that doesn`t make it free. You`re still not generating rage on the converted swing and that can and will cause you to be unable to use something you should be using instead of HS at some points. It`s a bad macro.

[Astrocanis]

Originally Posted by Satrina Heroic Strike may not cost any rage because of the glyph, but that doesn`t make it free. You`re still not generating rage on the converted swing and that can and will cause you to be unable to use something you should be using instead of HS at some points. It`s a bad macro.

After years of tanking (almost 4 now), I've come to the conclusion that the only macros I use are mouseover macros. Everything else I bind to keys and modifier-keys like "e" and "shift-e". All my shouts are "alt-# (1-5)" because I never have to cast anything on myself =P.

I lied. I do use a couple of macros (thinking about it) - but they are largely for tanking other players in PvP. I have a "change-stance/put-on-shield/spell-reflect/take-off-shield" castsequence macro. I don't change back to stance because I don't know what stance I'm going to want based on my rage or situation.

I also bind my stances to my mouse scroll - up is battle, middle click is defensive and back is 'zerker. I have ctrl-shift-[scroll] set to change my outfits in outfitter. Works very well and, as it's only a 3-toggle-switch for each function and I can easily just lay my pinkie down across the ctrl-shift combo for gear changes.

[zork]

Oh **** button 1 (last stand)

#showtooltip Last Stand
/use 13
/use 14
/cast Stoneform
/cast Shield Block
/cast Last Stand

Oh **** button 2 (Schildwall)

#showtooltip Shield Wall
/use 13
/use 14
/cast Stoneform
/cast Shield Block
/cast Shield Wall

ShieldSlam button, my target select key also

#showtooltip Shield Slam
/cleartarget [dead],[help]
/targetenemy [noexists]
/startattack
/use 13
/use 14
/cast Shield Block
/cast Shield Slam

Attacke (charge it)

/castsequence reset=14 Charge, Intercept
/startattack
/use 13
/use 14
/cast Shield Block
/cast Heroic Throw

Bandage

/stopattack
/use [target=player] Heavy Frostweave Bandage

Mouseover Sunder macro, casts sunder armor on mouseover targets, devastate otherwise on target (sundering sheeps possible)

/cast [target=mouseover] Sunder Armor; Devastate

Intervene Macro

/cast [target=mouseover, help] Intervene; [target=targettarget, help] Intervene; [help] Intervene

Heroic strike macro. Heroic strike and cleave should be used with a exclamation mark infront thus they cannot be disabled while spamming.

/startattack
/cast !Heroic Strike

Shield bash on mouseover -> focus -> target otherwise

/cast [target=mouseover,exists,harm] Shield Bash; [target=focus,exists,harm] Shield Bash; [harm] Shield Bash

Does anyone has a macro that is able to perform shield bash on a focus target (if there is one) and if not casts it on the target?

[BWarner]

Originally Posted by Satrina Heroic Strike may not cost any rage because of the glyph, but that doesn`t make it free. You`re still not generating rage on the converted swing and that can and will cause you to be unable to use something you should be using instead of HS at some points. It`s a bad macro.

True, and I will absolutely agree with you that because it limits ability usage flexibility, it is indeed a bad macro.

That being said, I am fully comfortable with its continued usage, at least for now, given our current state of tanking. If there is some exception in our tanking (for example, tanking the little guy in IC), I certainly swap it out for the regular old Revenge ability, due to the specifics of the duty requirements (low rage income due to low damage taken/him being stunned frequently, in that case). However, due to the current state of our rage situation while tanking in the current content, I'm OK with sacrificing a little flexibility for the benefit of easing the strain on my ring finger.