A Guide to Aggro

RavenSworn

Awesome post op. Want to add a few observations of my own:

I believe there is an aggro table of sorts that dictates the group to attack specific players of different range. Like many have said, sometimes in a group of 10, why would 2 of them peel off to attack a player that is not in the same room? It works like a dungeon master choosing his pieces to attack the ones furthest, provided they are not stealthed or invisible.

Each mob including bosses have a cyclic aggro timer where it re-check its aggro table. Bosses it seems have a longer timer while mobs have a shorter one, given how it's relatively easier to dispatch them. You addressed this before op and I completely agree with you. However I think that there is also a 'soft' overtaunt mechanic for mobs as well, just like the bosses. Just like you pointed out, even after all the damage has been done by player B, player C is getting hate simply because he hit / heal / buff / shield right after that timer. I have a feeling that since bosses have a 12s taunt timer, mobs have a 7-8s

That's why I think it's best for a tank to lay down as big an aoe as possible in that initial pull and then have a rotation of aoe after each taunt. You taunt the big mobs, crowd control the rest and aoe right as the cc breaks. That way you 'sort' of have a constant focus of the mobs at each cyclic aggro check.

This changes a lot of things for me, as a tank and healer.

Marginis

Did some minor testing on my own with my friends, just on mobs, no bosses. The testing seems to verify that there's a timer about 7 seconds long that starts once the first hit is done, and after that 7 seconds aggro is rechecked. It does not matter if I hit the first aoe and keep attacking all mobs every 3 or 5 seconds, it only seems to matter either who attacked first after that 7 second timer or there's some other check, like who's done the most healing/damage since the initial aggro check (I didn't test this - like I said, it was only minor testing to check a few things).

The relevant info for tanks here is that going in and taking aggro by first hitting enemies with an aoe, or simply getting their attention before anyone else, gives about a 7 second taunt for free, which will give you time to get your actual taunt off on a few enemies, but you're still going to need an actual taunt. It seems like this is what Zenimax intended, as there are no aoe taunts in the game, but we can achieve a similar effect by grabbing aggro for 7 seconds and then set off taunts on mobs in a rotation before that 7 seconds wears off.

It would be great if one of the ZOS folks could verify any part of this, but either way it doesn't seem like anything we could use to gain too much of an advantage.

tl;dr Tanks with aoe attacks can get a free 7 second aoe taunt at the start of a fight, but it seems that if you don't use an actual taunt, holding aggro is inconsistent at best.

aeowulf

Very useful post, thanks OP

Maura_Neysa

Question... Why do the Axes from AA come to the tank without a taunt even though the tank is no where near them and they are in the middle of a lot of AoE DoTs from the DPS.

Kuwhar

antimawkish wrote: »

• Let the person who is supposed to have aggro make initial contact.

[/spoiler]

Lol. If i gave out a cookie for every time a DPS actually did that..... i'd still have a full box of cookies.

Gargath

Here OP, gave you 8 agress to your previous posts, that's my best I can offer right now .