Tactics and Strategies to Make You a Better DPSer in Your World of Warcraft Dungeon Groups

Playing the DPS role in a World of Warcraft dungeon group is often the least stressful and most enjoyable option for a large percentage of players. This doesn't mean, however, that you can just kick back and mindlessly push buttons until the dungeon run has been completed. There are many ways that you can maximize your DPS and make the jobs of the tank and healer easier. In this article I will go over some simple tactics and strategies that will make your dungeon runs go quicker and smoother.

Managing Your Aggro

Learning how to manage your aggro is probably one of the most important things you must do if you want your dungeon runs to go smoothly, especially if you want to move onto heroic dungeons and raids. Aggro, also referred to as threat or hate, is simply a measure of who the enemy "hates" the most and will thus attack. Becoming the person with the most aggro as a DPSer is a bad thing, as the tank will have to work harder to try and make it attack him again. It can also raise the healer's aggro if the mob keeps hitting you, because they will have to cast more heal spells to keep you alive. Generally you will want to wait a few seconds at the beginning of each fight so that the tank can build up aggro on all of the enemies you are fighting. This way the tank will have a solid lead in aggro and it will be hard for you to pull any of the enemies off him.

Crowd Control Abilities

In the harder dungeons and on large pulls of four or more enemies, you will be expected to use any crowd control abilities that you have, such as Polymorph for Mages, Freezing Trap for Hunters, and Sap for Rogues. Even if you do not play a class that has crowd control abilities, you still must take care to not attack enemies that have been crowd controlled, either directly or with an area of effect attack. Doing so will put extra stress on the tank as he will have to pick up another enemy he wasn't worrying about, and it could even end up causing deaths or a complete wipe. To be safe, always let your tank break the crowd control on the enemies.

Damage Over Time Spells and Long Cast Time Spells

DOTs, short for damage over time spells, are great for doing consistent damage. Their efficiency drops drastically, however, if the target dies before the DOT has run its full duration. To maximize your DPS, you should only cast DOTs if they are going to last for all or most of their duration. Another source of wasted DPS can be if you start casting a long cast time spell or ability when an enemy is almost dead. If the enemy dies before you finish casting, then the time spent casting was completely wasted.

By implementing these tactics and strategies, your dungeon runs will go noticeably quicker and smoother. Your tank and healer will also appreciate you being an intelligent DPSer, as some people that play the DPS role can be downright terrible.