Dungeons tactics - What's your advice?

I thought it might be helpful if we started a thread that gives tips on dungeon tactics.  There are many who have not had the benefit of having a mentor or an experienced friend guide them.  And even if you have some experience from other games; ESO presents some new challenges.  I think some folks will try dungeons and may decide not to do them again after they have a tough time of it.  A little of bit of knowledge can go a long way.

1) Basic information that can be employed in most dungeons  (Who initiates the fight?; Using AoE's; Who should I target?; etc.)

2) Tips for specific ESO dungeons or "situations"

3) Tips for specific roles (tank, healer, dps)

4) Tips to counter attacks, buffs, crowd control

This is actually a pretty big subject! 

From what I gathered it is almost impossible to tank every mob in a pack. So usually when I tank I allow 1-2 creatures to slip past taunts and let DPS finish them while I try to focus on 2-3 mobs on my own. 

In general, I think the dungeons are very forgiving in ESO and allow for a wide variety of playstyles.  Are some ways more efficient then others?  Of course.  I think where groups get into trouble in this game is when the expectations of each group member are different as to how a group should act.

For instance, if your tank wants to control all the mobs and your DPS want to AOE zerg everything, then you're going to have issues.  And of course, in PUG's especially, it's not exactly easy to impose your will on the group.  Sometimes you just have to adapt and plug the holes in the group so you won't be there forever.  But my general advice is this:

If you're the tank - As Pyrrhic mentioned, you don't have that many taunts or aggro tools at your disposal so it's doubtful you're going to be able to walk every single mob on a string.  If you want to play it the conventional way then you're probably going to have to ask the DPS and healers to walk the mobs back to you and/or focus fire on your target.  Or you can just let them tank whatever adds themselves, which is not the horrible disaster it can be in other games.  You should probably tell the others that if they insist on AOE pulling or kiting adds/bosses then they shouldn't expect you to save their butts if they can't do it themselves.

If you're the healer(s) - Like the tank, it's not always feasible or fun to expect the healer to do all the healing in a group.  If you're in a more traditional dungeon group, then you'll have to make sure they wait for your magicka to regen before engaging.  You'll also inevitably draw aggro and want to make sure to run to the tank so he'll peel them off you.  If you're in a less structured group, then you might want to point out that sometimes they'll have to heal/mitigate damage themselves.  I've been with groups where the tank is either incapable or unable to tank the bosses so they naturally come running after the healer.  In this game, it's not impossible to kite tank a boss or two.  Also, while we can rez faster with the skill points, it's not always the best idea for the sole healer to stop healing for 5 seconds while he channels a rez spell lol. 

If you're the DPS -  You will probably have mobs beating on you.  If they are beating the crap out of you, it might be a good idea to run them over to the tank.  It's probably a good idea to have some health pots with you, especially if you're prone to stepping in large red circles on the ground and not moving thereafter.  Like with the healer, you are fully capable of kiting a boss or two.  In this game, if the tank or healer goes down, the DPS can actually finish the fight or at least rez them back up.  I know, it's shocking to experienced MMO players to think that the DPS has more responsibilities than just pewpewpew.  lol. 

In general, please stay out of the AOE.  There is nothing so important that you are doing where you should just keep standing in the poo.  I know it can sneak up on you sometimes but AOE damage is the only thing that has ever wiped me in a fight.  I've had tanks go down, healers go down, etc but as long as you don't take too much AOE damage, things are still ok.  On the other hand, you could be the most professional dungeon group in the world, but if you stand in the AOE, then it's not going to matter.

Sorry for the long post lol.

Another element that often times goes un-used is the crazy amount of crowd control abilities that are available, .  The biggest challenge for that is being able to to mark targets, which you can't really do at present.  Being able to root a mob in place for 13s, is a very nice ability, provided someone else doesn't come along and break the spell by being careless in targeting/aoe.  That's where communication becomes key and not being able to really discern targets as a group, also becomes a factor.  Saying, "Okay.. I'll root the guy on the left."  means nothing once the proverbial stuff hits the fan. :P

It's nice that you can use tab targeting to focus your attention on a specific mob, but that's still not a guarantee that your attack will hit them, especially if something else gets in the way (which is kind of cool as well).

There should be more elements in place to make up for the fact that quite a bit of things are really limited when it comes to game-play, like being able to see when something is under a spell or you are taking damage, etc.  In real life, we have many senses to convey that information - the game doesn't have those so other methods should be available to convey as much information about the situation as possible.  An easy example would be being able to tell who a tank is targeting, and not just by looking at plummeting health bars.

Dungeon tactics 101:

1.  Starting a fight:
  a.  When starting a fight, the general rule is that the tank should initiate the fight.  In most cases this gives the best opportunity for the tank to get threat.  The exception to this is under certain circumstances it can be beneficial to alter the nature of the pull.  For example, a group might use the mages guild skill to create runes around a path.  The tank may not have ranged skills.  Thus, somebody with ranged skills pulls around the corner, and as the mobs get knocked back the tank picks them up.
  b.  Do not pull without full charge!  That is to say, have all your resources available to you.  Of course, as you get better gear for the challenge this can become less of an issue.
  c.  AOE.  AOE is wonderful, unless it does something you don't want.  Basically, if there is no coordination to use CC then AOE is a fair game deal.  If CC is used, then do not break it with careless AOE.
  d.  CC.  CC durations and use vary.  In general using CC is a wise idea, but under most dungeon conditions it is not required.  When using CC, communicate!  Also, CC will get broken easily by pets.  Those with combat pets or abilities that summon an ally of some sort should not use those abilities when CC is to be used.  Remember that each ability has differences, and some abilities may make something much easier.  For example, the Sorc single target CC has a long (~20 second) duration with a 4 second stun at the end.  Timing attacks in this window and having the CC re-applied can make some very hard hitting CC-able targets very easy to defeat *Most bosses are CC immune, but some tougher mobs or mini-bosses are not.*
  e.  For fights with a kill priority or CC, a good rule of thumb is to lock onto your first target.  This way you don't do the wrong thing *Well, at least it helps you find what you should be hitting.*  This is probably one of the least used features of the ESO game, and one which can help minimize mistakes.

2.  Target priorities!
  a.  The first priority should generally be healers.  Healers prolong fights, and killing them fast makes things much easier.
  b.  If only a few ranged are present, dps can focus on aoe on the melee while the tank moves them toward a ranged.
  c.  DPS should focus fire ranged if there are more than ~3 ranged.  DPS should also focus fire loose mobs attacking the healer UNLESS something else really has to die then and there.
  d.  Break CC last.  If CC is broken use of knockdown/knockback abilities once is a great method of helping retain control until CC can be applied again.

3.  Tips for roles:
  a.  Tanks - There will be loose mobs.  Many dungeons pulls are too large to contain all the mobs.  Do not worry about this except during bosses.  Try to control a majority of the mobs.  Consider getting the Undaunted taunt... it uses mana, allowing you to save stamina for blocking.  Finally, don't take on too much.  Some bosses can devastate a tank to the point of making the healer have mana issues, so if you can avoid damage try to do so.  Also, some abilities of mobs and bosses ignore the taunt mechanics.  You may or may not need to taunt again, but in general everything except these special cases will come at you for the duration of the taunt... provided nobody taunts after you.
  b.  Healers - Use a variety of tools.  Always get heal over time effects up before a big pull.  Keep an eye on yourself, as you will draw threat with heals.  Use mana restoration abilities effectively, including the resto staff mana restore.  Try to stay where you can watch over the group, especially for use of your frontal cone effects.
  c.  DPS - Help the tank with loose mobs.  Use CC on loose mobs to maintain AOE damage on packs.  Have something to save yourself if your healer can't.  Consider different abilities where appropriate, you have a lot of tools!  If you can restore the resources of yourself and/or others it is usually of benefit, although a very few fights require very high damage output without time to do this.
  d.  Everyone - Minimize damage input.  Carry consumables to help with problem areas.  Be friendly.

» Edited on: 2014-05-15 18:54:55

Thank you to my seniors who are offering such great advice! I have learned a lot by reading this thread.