Guide for Playing a DPS Class Well

With the divide between casual players and raiders gradually fading away, as bigger and better gear becomes available just from farming heroics and websites like www.wow-heroes.com telling people that they are ready for instances like Onyxia’s Lair and Trial of the Crusader purely based on a gear scoring system that weighs item level above all else, a new phenomenon has appeared on the PvE scene and one that is proving more than just a slight annoyance: the well geared noob.

Especially on the pug circuit these people find their way into all kinds of raids and get carried through them, outputting meager damage, getting in people’s way and on occasion wiping the raid through sheer lack of knowing what to do. If this is you, one of the best things you can do is to educate yourself. How do you gain the knowledge and experience you need to be a great DPS instead of one of these players? Is there still a raid progression that you should be following? What are the fundamentals of raid DPS strategy? These questions all have answers that you should know before you attempt endgame raiding. The following four tips should help you on your way.

1. Know Your Class

The first thing you should do if you want to be a decent raider is to research your class. Find out which talent builds provide the highest DPS, and what your skill rotation should be. There are great sources on the internet for this information such as elitistjerks.com and www.wowwiki.com that give example talents and explain which skills are the best for you to use. These sites will also help you figure out which stats are most important for you and in what order, explaining the mechanics of hit rating and expertise, armor penetration and critical strike rating. You should know how much of each stat you are supposed to be working towards. For example, a paladin DPS will need around 25% critical strike chance in order to maintain three stacks of Vengeance, and after that they will focus more on attack power from strength whereas a rogue will need mostly agility for attack power and critical strike chance. All DPS classes should focus on reaching their hit cap first and for melee classes the expertise cap as well in order to maximize the number of hits they get on bosses.

2. Arrive Prepared

When you have figured out your class and sorted your stats out the best you can in your current gear through gems and enchants the next step is to prepare for raiding. The original progression started with Naxxramas and this is still a good raid for beginners to gain experience in so you should start there if you have never raided before. Some of the tactics for the boss fights can be and should be found out in advance of actually going there, through either reading up or actually watching videos of people in the raid. A great site for videos including explanations of all the fights as they are happening is www.tankspot.com and you can find their video channel on YouTube with premade playlists for different raids. You should also make sure you bring plenty of buff food and enough pots/flasks for the entire duration of the raid. These things will all help to improve your DPS and you should not be without in a raid environment.

3. Follow the Leader

The raid leader is under a lot of stress to make the raid a success, and will usually have a good idea of how each challenge can be overcome, who has what ability and where people need to be stood. Pay close attention to the raid leader’s instructions and make sure you do what they ask or you may end up wiping the raid which will not win you any popularity points for sure.

4. ‘Give me a place to stand…’

First of all, finding an optimum place to stand in a raid can sometimes be tricky. For melee DPS this is less of an issue since the tank will position the boss and you simply must stand behind it (standing behind the boss ensures that your attacks cannot be parried) unless it’s a dragon of course since they usually have tail attacks so for these you should position yourself at their hind legs. For ranged DPS usually standing by the healers will be your best bet. Some simple mechanics are used often in raids too such as targeted AoE spells and void zones on the floor. Ensure that you have projected textures turned on and enough particle density to see these effects so that you can always stand well clear of them and you should be ok. Keeping yourself alive is the main concern when it comes to improving DPS!

Abiding by all of these rules will help you to become a valued member of any raid you join, whether it be as part of a guild or a pug. Put in the effort and you will get invited back.

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