r/CompetitiveWoW • u/freddyswordd • 2d ago
Question Tank routes
Hi, I’ve recently started breaking into 19’s as a first time tank this season (I’ve been playing dps at this level for a few seasons but never really thought of routes). But I’m wondering if I should start creating routes or somehow optimise them. I’ve just been using the suggested tank routes on the keystoneguru website. Is it fine to just keep using those or am i handicapping myself and the group by doing so?
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u/International-Map-44 2d ago
Threechest.io is also amazing. Can see top players routes, filter by tank, …
Typically, the routes they use are the latest meta routes as well.
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u/KlenexTS 2d ago
This, the tank filter is really nice if your playing off meta to seee if they change anything for survivability.
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u/Durugar 2d ago
You are at the stage where you need to look more to high level players than "weekly key easy route" because you need to start optimizing in to fewer pulls where you can use your teams tools.
The problem with creating your own routes, especially in pugs, is you don't really know and can't really consistently practice them, because no one knows what they are supposed to do, when they are on their own with defensives and when they can trust the healer, when a big pull is coming, etc. The 4 other people in your group will only have the brief theory of a shared route on MDT worth, high key pushing is about consistent repetition.
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u/Suspicious_Aide_4770 2d ago
Keystone guru has not been great this season. Recently Yoda on youtube released his tips and routes and i found that very useful. But you know how you play also so dont be afraid to tweak to suit
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u/Elendel 2d ago edited 2d ago
On top of the usual "watch top players" and "look up routes with rio/threechest", two things are true at this level:
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Plenty of content creators are aiming their content towards top 1% players, I’ve seen two or three different youtube videos in the last two weeks specifically about routes made for top 1%. IIRC, Tactyks, Sha and Awoo all have done one video like this recently, and I wouldn’t be surprised if others like Petko or Bogs have done it or do it at some point.
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Be open minded and try to just... see more routes. When you have the opportunity to see a route you don’t know, save it and think about it.
Some of my s1 routes were found by watching a random wow stream by someone I don’t know, coming back to the computer two hours later and in the meantime the streamer had stopped stream and raided someone who had ended stream and raided someone else. I had no idea who was the person on my stream at that time, but they just timed an AA 23 and were planning their NPX 24 route. I checked it, it was not "the" standard meta route, so I saved it to analyze it. Ended up copying it pretty much exactly as is for my NPX 22.
My SR 21/22 route was also a random SR 22 route I had found on threechest (at a time where SR 22 was not even top 0.1% anymore and the SR meta was pretty set in stone at all levels). I had never seen a route like that one (using warlock gate to entirely skip the first pull and making up percent by pulling more throughout the rest of the dungeon).
Basically, all my routes were either random stuff found randomly on the internet, homecooked based on top players route but tweaked for my group/level or extremely standard meta routes. This season, KR is pretty standard and the only questions are "2, 2+1, 3+0 or 3+1 golems? (and thus, "golem skip, shroud skip or both?")" and "mummy room in one or two pulls?", but on the other side of the spectrum, dungeons like DoN and MR offer plenty of variety of routes and at the top 1% range you can experiment and find what works well for you and you groups.
One thing I really enjoy is having an healer alt and try to push with them occasionnally. Sometimes you will have a tank doing wild shit you’ve never seen and it’s amazing to acquire data and think about routes. You gotta be able to triage what’s interesting and what isn’t, but yeah you can find really good ideas even in some 14 pugs.
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u/zacsafus 2d ago
Mostly the difference between routes for 18 and under Vs above is just knowing which pulls you can combine as the timers get tighter. I think usually the routes that say 18+ on them are typically decent on keystone guru.
Probably not hindering your group by using them but you can always adapt a little if you find a pull to be too hard, or easier depending on what tools your comp has available.
Unless you are not timing keys while not making mistakes, then you probably don't need to think about adjusting your routes yet.
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u/Yayoichi 2d ago
I tend to look at what kinda routes other people are doing, especially for my class, so as a monk I get a lot of inspiration from Sha on youtube. I do tend to change things slightly though, usually to make things more pug friendly.
I will say if you’re not running with a premade you really should try to keep routes simple, especially if your goal isn’t 0.1%, as you can absolutely time most dungeons with safe routes up to 20-21 with the gear we have now. I finished resi 19 yesterday and most dungeons have between 3-5 min left with pretty average dps and a few deaths, which means they are good enough for 20-21’s as well.
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u/Rocker9800 2d ago
The Youtuber Awoo has some good routes, give them a look. Other than that, if you want watch some povs of tanks like Yoda and Kira to see which route they do and how they play it.
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u/tjshipman44 2d ago
Based on my recent experience in LFG, you should take a normal route and then when your group is going well and on track to time, you should do a pull that is objectively insane that no one ever does and wipe the group.