A tank is a character designed to take a lot of damage from enemies and thereby protect the rest of the party. Tanks include Protection Warriors, Protection Paladins, and Feral Druids.
Purpose: To keep the enemies' attention on them and away from the rest of the party, while taking a beating.
Threat Generation
Keeping the monster's undivided attention on them is a key part of tanking. Party members, such as cloth-wearing Priests and Mages, are not suited to taking much damage - particularly from a hard-hitting boss enemy. Tanks have a variety of abilities to accomplish this which vary by class. In addition, tanks typically have an ability that will taunt the monster off another player and onto them. That way the tank continues to take all the hits and the rest of the group can do their jobs of healing or DPS.
Pulling
Another usual role for the tank is to pull enemies for the group, because it causes the monsters to initially go after the tank. Tanks have some ability or weapon that allows them to pull with a ranged attack, depending on class.
Leading
The tank is usually responsible for leading the group around to their destinations, and is frequently the member who marks the enemy targets for DPS and CC priority.
First In, Last Out
The tank should be the first person into battle under most circumstances. If the party is forced to run, the tank should be prepared to buy time for the other party members to escape - taking one for the team. The other party members can then (hopefully) resurrect the dead tank.
Main Tanks vs. Offtanks
If there are multiple tanks in a group, a main tank should be chosen. The offtanks are responsible for helping out the main tank, by backing them up or by tanking additional enemies.
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