Give and Take: A Guide to Instance Groups

The journey a player takes from level 1 to 80 is marked by a few major shifts in gear. Levels 1 to 10 introduce us to the basics, but a character passing level 10 will be faced with new gameplay options in the form of dungeons and player vs. player battlegrounds. We’re also introduced to character class talent points, and it’s these which help set our heroes up for dungeons, battlegrounds or solo play.

Be it PvP or dungeons which interest you, your very survival demands that you learn new rules, a new order of attacks and how to apply this knowledge to your choices of armour, weaponry and talent points. This guide is intended to help acclimatise you to dungeons, and to help you find a satisfying niche in this exciting and different mode of play. We’ll cover PvP another time.

Player Roles

Key to placing any character at the feet of these malevolent bosses is an understanding of their role in a battle, which in turn should be the role that you wish to play. This starts very early on at the character creation screen, and understanding these types will set the tone for a fun game throughout. We at <Future Tense> encourage newcomers to read the various character class descriptions when starting anew, as they give a fairly good idea of how they’re played solo. What they don’t always describe is the player’s role within a party of 5.

Most parties are formed of quite standard role types, and you’ll find these terms used throughout the game community:

• Tanks are the de facto leaders of the group, responsible for leading the charge on most enemies. In a party formed of ranged attackers, it’s quite possible that the tank will be the only player hit by enemy fire, and so their armour and health need to be high. Their chief priority is allowing other players to deal heavy damage. They manage this with threat management – taunting and otherwise distracting enemies from beating the weaker party members up. Creating a tank often means sacrificing your character’s own ability to deal damage, and this can cause problems when engaging in PvP or solo (quest) combat.
• Healers are unlikely to take an aggressive role in any dungeon. Their attention and mana resources are devoted almost entirely to keeping the rest of their party alive, and so they suffer a similar penalty to tanks; their ability to deal damage is greatly reduced. A keen healer can find a good role in PvP campaigns as well as in dungeons, where similar rules about keeping the healer safe will apply.
• Melee damage players specialise in getting up close to their targets, and run the gamut from heavily-armoured and slow to lightly-armoured and nimble. You’ll often find that melee characters suit dungeons as much as quest play, however some classes offer optional abilities to buff their fellows. Not everyone will want to spend precious talent points on a buff for other party members in exchange for a cool solo ability.
• Ranged damage players come only in one class type: hunters. They’re expected to fight the same targets as anyone else, but they command a privileged view of the battlefield. They may be called upon to chase fleeing enemies down from afar.
• Caster damage players will usually attack from range too, dealing damage with afflictions, wide-area spells and bolts of magic. Some can also summon companions to help in a fight, and many offer their party some form of beneficial magic buff.
• Crowd control characters come in all guises, and may or may not be called upon to help the tank in picking targets. Druids, magi, paladins, priests, rogues and warlocks all possess some form of disabling spell and can temporarily remove one target each, either by putting them to sleep or banishing them to a different form. Players adopting these classes may be called upon to use these abilities in a dungeon, and are often expected to monitor their targets should they break free of that control.

Which Role Does My Class Fulfil?

There are a great many roles available to the eight different classes and 25 different character types. Though some hints are given at the character creation screen, a more comprehensive list follows:

Warrior

A multi-talented melee combatant, with abilities ranging from devastating weapon blows to ‘taunts’ and shield blocking. Warriors come in three types, separated by their talent trees at level 10. All are melee combatants with very limited range and almost no spell casts.

• Arms warriors tend to specialise in solo work. This tree offers discounts on many of a warrior’s abilities, allowing them to kill more enemies faster. It benefits any player who’s expecting to face enemies head-on, and so initially seems a good tanking choice, but Arms warriors lack the armour benefits found under Protection, making them harder to heal. Points spent in Arms talents can form a good starting point for any tank, but their survivability will wane in harder dungeons.
• Fury warriors specialise in dealing heavy damage, often with superior weapons. In doing this they sacrifice their health and armour attributes, meaning they are likely to rely on a healer to survive most conflicts. They can present a challenge when played solo, but offer a high damage output in dungeons.
• Protection warriors will find themselves tanking instead. They are perhaps the opposite to Fury, in that their ability to deal damage is greatly reduced but they gain a toughness instead. This makes them reliable candidates for charging at tough enemies and withstanding their subsequent onslaught.

Priest

Priests are casters, of a kind which specialises in healing others. They possess powerful magical shields and buffs to a player’s health and recovery. Two of their talent types specialise in healing, while the other focuses on damage, but all are quite physically weak combatants. It is generally assumed that any priest is capable of healing and/or resurrecting a dungeon party.

• Holy priests seek to heal whole parties with a powerful suite of so-called ‘AoE’ healing spells. This wide cast means they’re most often deployed in raids and PvP campaigns, but they bring a useful, reactionary healing style to any dungeon party led by a warrior or druid.
• Discipline priests seek to prevent damage occurring in the first place, by casting potent shields and offering quick recovery casts to a single target. They can cause problems for warriors and druids though, since their abilities require them to take a moderate amount of damage.
• Shadow priests offer little healing by comparison, but can provide background heals to the whole party through the spell damage that they deal. Free from the responsibility of keeping the tank alive, shadow priests are more at liberty to use their crowd control abilities, and may be called upon to bind an undead foe or possess an enemy combatant.

Mage

The magi are pure casters, and the quickest of the damage-dealing magic classes. While their various talent specialisations send them down quite different casting routes, all are assumed capable of high damage output.

• Frost magi tend to be the most stable for solo work – they don’t deal as much damage, but possess far better shields and carry a few useful crowd control tools. Such magi can be useful when a dungeon features quite mobile enemies, as they’re capable of freezing foes in place for a short while.
• Arcane magi focus on mana recovery and the use of arcane spells; usually fast but not necessarily the hardest-hitting. These mage types offer other casters some damage boosts, and a reliable magic resistance buff. They tend towards an individual play style, and are easily capable of removing themselves from play should they attract unwanted attention.
• Fire magi possess the weakest shields, but have the highest damage output of the three schools. They can be relied upon for heavy, explosive damage at the cost of slower mana recovery.

Paladin

All paladins are sturdy, plate-wearing combatants, but they rely on spell casts as much as weapon output. A paladin can specialise in three very different roles: as a tank, melee fighter or healer. All are assumed capable of handling themselves, since their thick armour makes even the healer types unusually sturdy. They all possess a wide variety of buffs to other players.

• Holy paladins possess the weakest armour and damage output of the three types, focusing instead on their powerful healing abilities. Many will heal from the front lines in early dungeons, capable of lending an extra mace to the fray. Paladins may possess the most powerful single-target heals of any class, but they lack any which heal over time, meaning they must be wary and pre-empt any massive drains on the tank’s health with timely spell-casting.
• Retribution paladins are infamous for their ability to deal damage and take to a severe beating. They make sturdy companions when fighting alongside a tank, and may also be called upon to ‘off-tank’ – fill in as a meat-shield for the weaker party members in case the tank is indisposed somehow.
• Protection paladins, like their warrior namesakes, specialise in tanking. They gain armour boosts both from their plate gear and magical shields, and will also stand to benefit from those shields cast by a priest since they gather threat with magic, not rage.

Druid

Druids too can fulfil a wide variety of roles, occupying four different types. They bring powerful heals-over-time and a mana recovery spell, they possess abilities to root a fleeing enemy in place, and they have a decent damage output through animal forms which mimic other classes in the game. Druids are also the only class capable of reviving a dead player during combat – most have to wait until all foes are vanquished before reviving a fallen comrade.

• Restoration druids cast uniquely potent heal-over-time spells, though their party-wide healing abilities are limited. They rely on these automatic heals to make up for a lack of magical shielding, meaning they are a boon to rage-reliant tank classes – other druids, and warriors.
• Balance druids aspire to the moonkin form, capable of decent afflictions and some potent ‘blast’ spells in the nature and arcane spell schools. Their leather armour and potent group buffs make them sturdy players in a party.
• Feral druids come in two different forms, both specialising in melee combat without weaponry. Cat-form druids play as rogues, capable of sneaking up and dealing burst damage upon an enemy. They lack a rogue’s crowd control abilities, though. Bear-form druids are expected to play as tanks; many of their abilities mimic a warrior’s, and they’re capable of amplifying whatever armour benefits their leather gear is lending them.

Shaman

Shaman are a so-called ‘hybrid class’ of three types: melee, caster or healer. All are capable of wearing mail armour when they reach level 40, and so the healer types in particular can prove quite sturdy. Their unique gameplay style means they offer powerful buffs, magic abilities and recovery spells through totems planted in the ground. It is therefore useful to co-ordinate with the tank on just where your battles are likely to take place.

• Restoration shaman, like their druid namesakes, specialise in potent party-wide healing and background recovery. Their abilities also allow them to offer strong buffs to casters and melee attackers, while a passive ability allows them to resurrect themselves if killed. Though they sacrifice their melee and spell damage output, they remain near-immortal characters when played solo.
• Elemental shaman and Enhancement shaman deal damage through spells and melee attacks respectively. Both may tap into the same abilities, but talent points for each specialisation either reduce mana costs or raise melee critical strike rating.

Rogue

Rogues are pure melee fighters, capable of high damage output. They possess a uniquely great number of crowd control abilities, mos of which are put in place to protect themselves if placed in danger. Like shaman, they can provide an interesting, if not easily-managed, asset to a dungeon group. Most will be expected to incapacitate any humanoid enemies, and rogues may provide lockpicking skills to a group stymied by secure treasure chests.

• Subtlety rogues specialise in stealth movements and burst damage, making them somewhat vulnerable once battle begins. Players creating a ‘subtle’ rogue should seek to position themselves carefully, and also be aware that their high damage output up-front should be met with swift taunts from the tank. They can, however, offer swift take-downs in a well-planned attack.
• Combat rogues are, by contrast, a far hardier sort. Though capable of the same stealth moves, their damage relies on more up-front damage with basic weaponry, and some of their talent-based abilities allow them to deal heavy damage to multiple targets at once. They’re a strong rogue type for solo play.
• Assassination rogues specialise in poisons and the accumulation of damage through special abilities. It’s likely that an assassin will seek to poison many enemies at a time, similar to the way an affliction caster might offer background damage to an entire mob.

Death Knight

Death knights are a controversial blend of shaman-like melee caster, powerful damage fighter and tank, often wielding hybrid abilities. Though many aspire to be tanks, it takes a dedicated amount of practice and gear enhancement to survive the role, and many find a more useful calling in ‘off-tanking’, plucking enemies from around the battlefield to draw back into range of the tank. Though all death knight types are capable of generating threat, frost specialisation eases some of the healer’s burden by providing more health and better armour.

• Unholy death knights deal damage through their curses and other spell casts at the sacrifice of melee damage and armour. The possess useful abilities for dealing widespread damage, but can breed chaos when enemies are distracted by uncontrolled corpse explosions, acting as they do like cluster bombs. This class of death knight is allowed a permanent minion, acting as a ghoulish rogue to compliment melee damage within the group.
• Blood death knights specialise in melee combat, healing themselves while bludgeoning foes with unshielded weaponry. They tend to be self-reliant in the manner of a rogue or affliction warlock.
• Frost death knights are the best candidates for tanking, since their focus is on damage absorption and the slowing of enemies rather than melee or magic damage.

Warlock

Warlocks are generally affliction casters, though their third talent specialisation allows them to deal heavy fire damage to single targets. All warlocks make use of demonic minions, which either mimic the abilities of other player classes or, in the case of Eye of Kilrogg, allow them to scout ahead of the party for upcoming danger. All warlocks are easily soloed, since even the weaker casters may hide behind an aggressive personal tank. Chief among their roles in a group are likely to be their Soulstone ability, allowing a player to instantly resurrect upon death, and a summoning portal to gather whole groups together in any one spot. They are also useful guardians for a group’s healer, capable of powerful ‘fear’ spells intended to send an enemy fleeing in panic.

• Affliction warlocks will tend to make use of felhunters, a shadow priest-like melee caster capable of silencing enemy spells. They possess the highest curse damage of the three specialisations, and they are capable of healing themselves or draining the mana of the group’s targets. It’s likely that they will want to curse multiple targets in one group in order to deal the maximum amount of damage, meaning the tank will have to taunt many targets at once.
• Demonology warlocks may deploy a variety of minions, all of whom are granted enhanced abilities over their fellow warlocks. The warlocks themselves straddle the line between using afflictions and straightforward bolts of magic, and are capable of lending an empowered rogue, warrior, paladin or mage to the fray at a moment’s notice. See ‘Pets and Minions’ for more information.
• Destruction warlocks abandon most of a warlock’s core affliction abilities in favour of heavy burst damage, similar to a fire mage. They tend to deploy an imp as their minion in order to lend another caster character to the battle. Most of their damage is dealt to a single target, but the class is also capable of high damage output with wide-area spells. These can prove useful on the many occasions a tank may be swarmed by lesser mobs.

Hunter

As mentioned previously, hunters are the only class which relies on ranged, physical damage. They’re expected to keep a good stock of bullets or arrows with which to accomplish this, often providing the fastest and highest damage output of the group. They may also upgrade to mail armour at level 40, making them a little sturdier should they grab unwanted attention. They, like warlocks, are a good choice for solo play since they may tame pets to tank or deal damage for them. All hunters are capable of tracking a variety of enemy types on the game’s radar, and they possess useful targeting tools to help spot stealth or otherwise hidden foes.

• Marksmanship hunters specialise in dealing damage and using abilities based on their own shots, be it with gun or bow. They are a good choice for attacking single targets in a mob, but lack many self-recovery tools such as a beast master or survivalist may have.
• Beast Mastery hunters, similar to demonology warlocks, focus some of their abilities on their pets, allowing them to deal more damage and recover energy more quickly. They too may make good guardians for healers, since their pets can act as a temporary ‘off-tank’ to intercept any errant foes.
• Survival hunters are more easily capable of widespread damage, deploying scatter shots and fiendish traps to disrupt a group of attackers – useful skills when soloing. It’s likely that they will deploy most of these as a fail-safe when playing with others, since the tank will want to ensure that enemies stay in one manageable spot. These hunters should be mindful of any patrolling enemies who might stumble into their traps, turning the hunter into their prime target.

What of My Pet or Minion?

One not entirely obvious requirement of party play is the taming of your pet or minion: an issue which really only affects hunters and warlocks.

All permanent pets, regardless of class, are controlled primarily as ‘aggressive’, ‘defensive’ or ‘passive’. Players with pets should expect some backlash if their pets are set to anything but ‘passive’, since aggressive pets will attack anything within range and defensive ones may react to an attack before even the tank can. Setting a pet to ‘passive‘ will allow you to deploy your loyal minion safely by suggesting exactly when it should attack.

Other responsibilities lay in your choice of pet. Though hunters and warlocks alike may call upon tanking pets, they’re clearly ill-suited to an environment where someone else is trying to lead the group. Fortunately they may summon a variety of damage pets, which deal tougher blows and are devoid of any threat-generating abilities.

Demonic Minions

• Voidwalkers are usually deployed as a warlock’s solo companion, since their abilities allow them to aggravate single targets and whole groups. Since their melee damage is comparatively weak, they will make a poor choice for nearly all dungeons so long as you have a tank covering your back.
• Imps are a warlock’s first and most commonly-used minion. They are excellent companions for a destruction warlock in particular, since their firepower is boosted by the warlock’s own talents. They are also capable of phasing out of play between fights, meaning they cannot be attacked until the fight begins – a boon for keeping the tank as centre of attention. Finally, the imp offers a useful, group-wide stamina buff and a fire resistance aura.
• Felhunters are a trickier minion, often used in PvP and arena environments. Though they deal melee damage (boosted under the affliction tree), their key abilities are a magic consumption and a silencing effect. They may be a useful tool if deployed carefully against a caster enemy, and may help remove harmful afflictions from your party. Generally speaking though, a warlock will not be expected to engage in this.
• Succubi are rogue-like melee fighters, capable of decent physical damage. They may also charm an enemy, effectively incapacitating them for 15 seconds, while their ability to stealth makes them much harder for dungeon mobs to spot. They can provide a useful role in groups, but will usually not be expected to charm their enemies since the short-lived effect is broken quite easily and may, in fact, upset a tank’s rhythm.
• Felguards are available only to demonology warlocks, providing them with a warrior-type minion. The felguard is capable of charging an enemy at high speed to stun them, and its powerful cleaving moves can lend useful damage to a fray. If the warlock is placed as guardian to the healer, the felguard can play a key role by charging at errant enemies, giving the tank precious time to taunt it back. It is capable of generating threat for solo play, so the felguard’s Anguish ability should always be disabled when in a party.

Hunter Pets

Pets come in many guises, but fall into one of three categories: tenacity, ferocity and cunning. You can discover which type your pet is by viewing their talent tree, or using the Beast Lore ability on wild creatures before they’re tamed.

• Tenacity pets function as tanks when soloing, and offer moderate damage or some useful trapping or slowing abilities when played in a party. Most hunters will find cunning or ferocity pets useful in a group when you’re expected only to deal damage, but tenacity can be played similarly to voidwalker felguards, with their abilities put towards guarding other party members.
• Cunning pets lend crowd control and stun abilities to a fight, making them more useful for PvP and solo work. They may, in fact, prove a hindrance if the tank wishes a group to remain mobile, as it’s quite likely an enemy trapped in a spider web will attack another party member if left behind. Such pets should be used with caution, but can lend parties some unique and exciting tactics.
• Ferocity pets are the best-suited to dungeons, as they feature high melee damage and some useful de-buffs, such as reducing an entire mob’s attack power. They are also capable of resurrecting themselves, which can be very useful in fights where melee party members are expected to take heavy damage.