Boot Camp Basics: Aggro and You, the Healer

Boot Camp Basics

A few weeks ago, one of our tanks spent a good five minutes lecturing me on the intricacies of threat and aggro after a wipe in Zul’Aman.  We had just completed the first phase of Zul’Jin and were preparing for the transition to the second when I popped a rank 7 Greater Heal to keep a fellow raider — suffering from the effects of Grievous Throw — alive.  The tank was, unfortunately, unable to grab the boss in time and Zul’Jin¹ enjoyed the time we spent together as he munched on my innards.  With one of two dedicated healers and the only one capable of Mass Dispel down, our attempt had effectively ended.

While I understood the mechanics of threat well enough after some four years of gameplay, the incident did remind me that I had been planning on writing an article on the topic for quite some time now.

Some months ago, a prominent blogger and paragon of a class near and dear to my heart² wrote up a short guide on threat.  While he covered most of the basics accurately, he did get the information regarding healers and the threat generated by healers incorrect.  He stated:

If a mob is trapped and a healer is standing right next to it, spamming heals on his party, the trapped mob will indeed have an aggro-gain on the healer. Healing-aggro is proximity-based. If that healer stands far away from the trapped mob, the mob will not “sense” the heals and the healer will not rise on the trapped mob’s aggro list.

In retrospect, many months later I’m not sure if he just worded his response in a way that generated confusion or if he was just not right.  You see, threat is indeed proximity-based: the closer that a healer stands to a mob, the more likely he is to generate enough threat to perhaps pull the mob from whatever is tanking it at the moment.  However, the mechanics of threat are the same regardless of class or role and are broken up into two distinct situations:

• The accumulated threat of an individual standing within melee distance of the mob, and
• The accumulated threat of that individual standing further away who is in ranged distance.

So, while distance can minimize the amount of threat that is required in order to take aggro, if a healer is actively healing there is no way to entirely avoid being “sensed” by that mob.  However, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.  Perhaps a little recourse on the basics would be appropriate.

Threat: The Basics

Threat is a mechanic within World of Warcraft that helps determine how a specific mob will react towards a group of players.  Once engaged, each mob maintains it own threat table or list, which calculates the threat generated against it.  The player at the top of the list is typically the one that has aggro and is being attacked by the mob.  Actions performed while in combat — attacking, healing, or actively using talents, abilities, or items to regain lost health or mana — generate threat.  If enough threat is created, the mob may turn its attention to another target.

In general, there are two basic rules regarding the amount of threat generated:

1. Each point of damage creates a single point of threat, and
2. Each point of healing creates half a point of threat.

In other words, unless other modifiers are applied, the threat generated by an attack that does 600 damage and the threat generated by a spell that returns 1,200 health are the same: each would normally produce 600 points of threat.  Keep in mind, however, that there are spells and abilities that possess higher or lower than normal threat modifiers; these exceptions are usually indicated on the tool tip, such as with the warlock’s Searing Pain spell.

There exist within the game, however, modifiers that manipulate the amount of threat that an individual can generate.  Forms and stances can both increase and decrease the amount of threat generated, such as the druid’s Bear Form which is capable of increasing threat of an ability to 130% of base value and the warrior’s Battle Stance which will reduce the innate threat of an ability to 80%.  Talents are also an important and effective way of managing threat; many classes posses talents that allow them to mitigate or increase the amount of threat they generate:

• Druids: Feral Instinct, Improved Tranquility, Subtlety
• Mages: Arcane Subtlety, Burning Soul, Frost Channeling
• Paladins: Improved Righteous Fury, Fanaticism
• Priests: Shadow Affinity, Silent Resolve
• Shamans: Elemental Precision, Healing Grace, Spirit Weapons
• Warlocks: Destructive Reach, Improved Drain Soul, Master Demonologist
• Warriors: Defiance, Tactical Mastery

Many of these talents would be considered core talents for those wishing to either raid or group up on a regular basis.  Threat is a significant issue for these individual, whereas many of the talents may be disregarded by PvPers unless they provide some other benefit since threat is rarely an issue in PvP.³

Finally, there are abilities, spells, enchants, and gems that can help manage threat.  The two best known abilities are the paladin’s Blessing of Salvation and the shaman’s Tranquil Air Totem.  Notable items and enchants that reduce threat include the Bracing Earthstorm Diamond and Enchant Cloak - Subtlety, both of which are capable of reducing threat by 2%.  And, of course, paladins possess an innate threat reduction of 50%!

Threat: Applying Multiple Modifiers

It wouldn’t be a surprise to find that multiple modifiers are being applied at any single time.  It’s possible that a healer possess the appropriate threat reducing talents, buffs, and enchants that would help ensure that he doesn’t get mauled by an unexpected mob while healing.  Like many aspects of the game, additional threat modifiers are handled multiplicatively.  This cumulative total is then used to determine the amount of threat generated by an individual.

Take for example a raiding Holy priest.  He has full five points in Silent Resolve for a 20% threat reduction while casting Holy and Discipline spells.  He has both the Bracing Earthstorm Diamond ⁴ and the Subtlety enchant on his cloak.  And, some kind paladin has decided to grace our priest with Blessing of Salvation, for a further threat reduction of 30%.

Given all of these lovely threat reductions, what is the total threat reduction of our priest?

0.80 × 0.98 × 0.98 × 0.70 = 0.54

The priest is doing 54% of his normal threat generated, resulting in a threat reduction of 46%!

Threat: How Range Influences Aggro

As mentioned earlier, the player that has aggro against a mob is typically the individual at the top of that mob’s threat table.  I further mentioned that there were two distinct scenarios that influenced the amount of threat required to be at the top of that list:

• The accumulated threat of an individual standing within melee distance of the mob, and
• The accumulated threat of that individual standing further away who is in ranged distance.

You see, while distance doesn’t affect how much threat a character acquires, it does influence how much is needed to become the focus of that mob.  The basic rule is that a character within five yards of the mob will need 110% of the threat currently possessed by the character with aggro, while an individual standing more than five yards away needs 130%.

Let’s consider the following scenario:

A group is traveling through Azeroth when they come across a mega-mutant-mighty murloc, such as the ones that players encounter in Serpentshrine Cavern.  They stand ready for the beast’s attack, with the tank stepping forward to do what he does best: take hits, stay alive, and keep his compatriots from feeling the pain.  Within a few moments, he has managed to accumulate a theoretical number of threat.  We’ll assume that it’s 1,000.  How much threat would someone standing in melee distance and someone standing in ranged distance need to acquire before the murloc decides to switch to a new target?

So, someone standing within five yards of the mob — the red zone in the above image — would be wary of exceeding 1,100 threat or else he would gain aggro. Someone beyond five yards — the orange zone in the above image — would avoid exceeding 1,300 threat.  In other words, it doesn’t matter what role an individual is currently playing or what abilities are being used: surpass those numbers in any of the aforementioned areas and he’ll find himself being mauled by a murloc.⁵

Threat: Doing Your Healing Thing!

And while this may be a lovely introduction of threat for every player, this post is intended specifically for healers.  There is one more rule that I have failed to mentioned and it deals specifically with healers.  While the threat of of an attack is applied only to the mobs that take damage, the threat generated by healing affects the threat list of every mob currently engaged.

Remember the example discussed earlier, where a an attack against a mob generates 600 damage for 6500 threat and healing for 1,200 does 600 threat as well?  Imagine instead that the fight involves two mobs, each with their own separate aggro tables.  How much threat would be generated on each of the mobs by those two actions?

Mob 1:

Mob 2:

What does that mean for our healer? Well, unless someone doesn’t generate enough threat to exceed the 300 threat that he managed to build up against Mob 2, our healer will be having a fun time fending off the unwanted advances of an enemy mob.

There is, however, one concession made to healers.  While effective healing will generate threat against every mob engaged at the moment of cast, overhealing won’t increase threat.  So, if a healer casts a 8,000 heal while combatting these two opponents but only manages to heal his target for 3,000 health, he will not suddenly generate 4,000 threat against both mobs; instead, that 3,000 effective heal generates 1,500 threat, which is then divided evenly between both mobs for 750 threat.  And while overhealing is inefficient — though sometimes necessary — it’s good to know that it won’t cause any aggro-related ill effects.

Bottom Line

So, what does all of this mean for you, the healer?  Well, aggro is a thing to be avoided if you’re going to enage in raiding or grouping on a regular basis; threat mitigation is a must.  Acquire those talents, skills, buffs, enchants, and possibly gems needed to keep from inadverdantly taking aggro from your tanks.  While a damned fine tank won’t necessarily need all of those efforts all of the time, it will prevent you from causing harm on those cases when he is unable to handle the threat generated by your heals.

While healing, stand at a distance greater than five yards if at all possible.  While this is normally going to be the case due to mob mechanics — particularly mobs that cause melee splash damage as is the case wth many bosses — it is something important to keep in mind.  By standing greater than five yards away from all of the mobs currently in combat, this will ensconce you firmly in ranged distance, resulting in having to acquire 130% of the top individual on each mob’s threat list before snagging aggro.

However, if you do someone happen to snag aggro, immediately head into the direction of your tank.  This does two things:

1. Decreases the amount of threat that your tank needs to acquire in order to reclaim the top position on the mob’s aggro table, and
2. Aids your tank in getting to you sooner, which should hopefully increase the likelihood of you surviving the encounter.

A healer possessing a basic understanding of aggro and how those rules are applied to healing can go far!

Related Posts

1. The Art of Trapping
2. Boot Camp Basics: The Five Second Rule
3. Pimpin’ the UI: “Echoes of Doom” Edition