Beginner Dungeoneering in World of Warcraft

You've already begun playing World of Warcraft. So now you're at least level 10 and ready to run a dungeon? If you play horde, that's great! If you're Alliance, you're going to have to wait about five more levels. Sorry about that, guys. Here are some tips on how to begin running dungeons in World of Warcraft.

There are three different and distinct roles to play in dungeons, even when you're a low-level character. Tanks, Healers, and DPSes. Tanks are usually wearing mail armor, although a druid can shapeshift into a bear and be a decent tank, as well. Also, at very low levels it's possible that if you're playing a class with a pet (hunter or warlock) that you'll be able to use your pet to tank. A tank is the person who really takes a beating through a dungeon. You can tank as a warrior, paladin, druid in bear form, or (later in the game) a Death Knight. It's your job to make sure that the bad guys are hitting you instead of the healer or the people who are dealing damage. To be a tank, you'll need gear with bonuses that focus on Stamina and Armor. That should be your main concern when looking for weapons and armor.

Healers are pretty straightforward. You stand behind the group, but not too far away, and you use your healing spells to make sure everyone stays alive. Sometimes if the dungeon is hard you will have to prioritize who gets healed the most; this should almost always be the tank. They're the one keeping the rest of the party alive, hopefully. You can heal as a druid, priest, paladin, or shaman. The most important thing to look for in armor and weapons at this level is Spirit and Intellect. As you start getting to higher levels, Spellpower and a bonus to Mana every 5 seconds (also called MP5) become important.

DPSers are the most common roles in the game. It will be far easier for you to find groups if you can become good at either tanking or healing. The bonus now is that after level 40 you can have two specializations, so if you're playing the right class you can both DPS and heal or DPS and tank, or tank and heal! DPS means damage per second, and that's exactly the job of a DPS: damage. A lot of it. Every second. Your job is to beat up on everything that comes near your party.

Now that you have a group comprised of one tank, one healer, and three DPS, you're ready for a dungeon. If you don't have a group, then look for the Dungeon Finder in-game, and you'll see that you can sign up to run random dungeons with strangers. I strongly suggest you do this as much as you can, since at the end you will receive a rare item for your trouble. It also chooses level and gear-appropriate dungeons for you.

That's the very basic way to begin running dungeons in World of Warcraft; if you don't do well at first don't be discouraged and try not to let any players who are less than kind get you down. Find a good guild in the game and they'll help you level, too. Good luck in Azeroth!