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What is taunt?


worifeem

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Taunt is an ability used by tanks to make a target, or in some cases many targets depending on the ability, attack them.

 

Seriously, it may be an odd concept to somebody new to MMOs..

 

Taunt is generally used by high armor/high defense characters, to make monsters attack them - to defend and protect the 'squishier' members of the team. If you're being told not to taunt, make sure you're reading your abilities and not using any that describe themselves a forcing enemies to attack you, or as having 'high threat' - and if you have your companion out, make sure they're outta such abilities or toggles themselves :).

 

It's just much much easier for the healer to concentrate on healing one character than to try to spread out the healing to several people taking damage at different rates. Best if some mobs are disabled (force lift, slice droid, etc) and the rest are attacking one designated group-member.

Edited by Lheim
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Examples of taunt skills:

 

Jedi Knight Guardian: Taunt(single target), Challenging Call (AoE)

Sith Warrior Juggernaut: Taunt(single target), Threatening Scream (AoE)

 

Jedi Consular Shadow: Mind Control (single target), Mass Mind Control (AoE)

Sith Inquisitor Assassin: Mind Control (single target), Mass Mind Control (AoE)

 

Trooper Vanguard: Neural Jolt (single target), Sonic Round (AoE)

Bounty Hunter Powertech: Neural Dart (single target), Sonic Missile (AoE)

 

Basically all those skills listed forces target(s) to attack them instead of their usual targets (in PvE, in PvP it makes those affect deals 50% less damage to other players except the caster themselves.).

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Newby question: What does the phrase Taunt mean. I have been in some flashpoints where someone says to stop taunting. Feedback is appreciated.

 

Usually this means that someone (maybe you) has a companion that is automatically using their Taunt ability. This interferes with the tank's ability to grab/maintain aggro. If you are using a companion that has a taunt ability, you'll want to shut it off in Flashpoints and raids.

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^ What they said.

 

So, look at your abilities that generate threat/aggro/hate (those are keywords). Or any that "make the enemy attack you for X seconds" (direct taunts as opposed to aggro builders).

 

If you are a tank build but not the main tank, you want to shift your abilities. For instance, a Jedi Guardian (Defense/Tank build) who isn't the main tank MAY want to swap Soresu for Shii-Cho so they don't generate so much threat. Also avoid using Taunt and the AoE Taunt (Challenging Call..?). Then again, if you are good at managing your threat levels, keep a watch for the need to off-tank (a 2nd tank tanking another mob) and pop Soresu back on (which activates your shield for a sec or two for extra mitigation).

 

Tanking is a tricky concept and SWTOR has it setup really well. The biggest problem is that some don't understand aggro/threat and will attack random mobs (instead of the one the tank is on) and not wait for them to build threat. It is SO frustrating for the Tank to have zealous DPS grab mobs and/or burst damage them right away and expect the Tank to have instant aggro. We have TWO taunts (a single target with 15 sec cooldown and an AoE with 30 sec cooldown). Its hard to sometimes cover all enemies and if you as the DPS don't know your role, its your fault not the tank.

 

This thread is VERY in depth but gives some related info: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=425

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Examples of taunt skills:

 

Jedi Knight Guardian: Taunt(single target), Challenging Call (AoE)

Sith Warrior Juggernaut: Taunt(single target), Threatening Scream (AoE)

 

Jedi Consular Shadow: Mind Control (single target), Mass Mind Control (AoE)

Sith Inquisitor Assassin: Mind Control (single target), Mass Mind Control (AoE)

 

Trooper Vanguard: Neural Jolt (single target), Sonic Round (AoE)

Bounty Hunter Powertech: Neural Dart (single target), Sonic Missile (AoE)

 

Basically all those skills listed forces target(s) to attack them instead of their usual targets (in PvE, in PvP it makes those affect deals 50% less damage to other players except the caster themselves.).

 

Now one might add that AoE means Area of Effect, or as a explantions something that affects every Enemy in a certain circle around the user...

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In laymans terms Taunt is to go up to a bunch of guys in the street and saying "oi, come on then if you think you're hard enough!!!". At which point everything around you attacks you :p

 

Its an ability used by a Tank to bring danger towards them rather than you. the reason for this is that you can easily break and hurt and die whereas the Tank is a little more difficult to hurt.

 

A tank is someone who has a lot of health and protection (like someone wearing a suit of armor) and can absorb the damage for you whilst you try and kill the attacker.

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One other thing to keep in mind, there are relatively few actual Taunts in the game however everyone has ways of generating aggro (mmo speak for where you stand in the attention of the mob aka enemy).

 

If your a pure damage class and you go full out doing every bit of damage you can you'll raise in the "hate list" for whatever mob your fighting. It is YOUR responsibility to manage your position on the hate list, the same goes for healers (which is the age old thankless task the more you heal the more the mob hates you, but you have to heal or everyone dies)

 

You may not be actually taunting, you may simply be generating more "hate" than the tank.

 

Some simple rules for mmo fights on boss mobs.

1) Let the tank have 5 seconds to get himself/herself established on the bosses hate list before you join the fight.

 

2) If the mob does turn and start smacking you, stop doing heavy damage hits until the mob turns back to the tank for at least 5 seconds. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU RUN AWAY FROM THE MOB! Sorry for all caps on that but running will guarantee you die as now the tank and the healer have to chase you and the mob around trying to regain control of the situation. If you are going to die, a good player knows it's best to die in a convenient place, and that place generally right next to the tank. When (not if) you die under no circumstances is it ever acceptable to complain to the healer about it. If you do think there's a situation where it's acceptable to complain to a healer about your dieing then you need to play a healer until you understand what it's like to be blamed for every death that ever happens in a game regardless of the cause.

 

3) Healing is line of sight, so know where the healer is and make sure you are not behind a pillar, in a hallway off to the side, or behind a stack of crates all of those places will prevent you from being healed. IT IS NOT the healers job to chase you down. The healers job is to keep the tank and themselves alive, everyone else is a secondary priority. Good healers can handle healing multiple targets and don't mind doing so however there really isn't a reason short of a random instant AOE (area effect) that damages multiple people at once where more than one person should be taking damage in the typical boss fight. Yes it happens, but if it's happening every fight then even if they don't say anything about it keep in mind your healer resents you. Pissing off a healer means you get no heals what so ever.

 

ps.

Yes I have a bias towards healers because I've played them in the past and everyone has opinions on the topic I freely admit that.

Edited by draghixia
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