How do you Tanks and rDPS select your Targets in PUG Groups?

[nachtfrost]

Hi, as someone who played mostly healers in other MMOs, target selection was not that critical thing. I thought about to try a tank here. Before I started with a character, I read about tank job here. Guard, OK important thing and stay close to the guard target, got that. Taunt, challenge, punt, other interrupts also important.
But: To interrupt the right one, a healer for example, I need to find the guy. In T1 I feel OK with this, as there are not that many people. But what I saw in T2+ with all these warbands, how do you select the appropriate target and the right moment? I mean there are no casting bars of your opponent (or?), it appears that it requires a lot of game knowledge of character animations to do the tank job right. Or do I overcomplicate this?
The same is for range DPS, shooting on a tank is not very helpful, but finding the right targets in big crowds is complicated for me.
I am talking about pug groups not organized warbands. I know there is the assist function and the SwiftAssist addon, but this is rarely used in pug groups, so my experience.

[Jajcek12]

Good ui can solve some problem.
Ui packs are suited and ready for gaming. You can find find some of info about them on forum.
Parts of them You wish to focus on is
Enemy addon.
If setup right it can show important abbilities that are ussed on your group member or what they use. It can help prioritise Your action around those info.
Buffhead addon
Doing very similar thing to Enemy. If setup right it will place icon over carracter. ( if for example opponent use abbiliti X it will be show over his head.) Same with all players around you.
Addon that show icon of archetypes around you
( dont know name)
Simple - you know faster what types of archetype are around you and in what number. It work in one axis so there is no problem with counting all players in Your vision area.
Channel/ret alert. ( i belive its called like that and there are some others to- like Aura addon)
It warns You when opponent using channel abbilities.

On playstyle
When in pug as tank you target everything that thretens Your dps with cc, and asist Your dps with dmg abbilities. Moste of time You make dps work easier.
Usefull mechanics: keybind pick closest Enemy, cycle enemies.
When playing rdps.
Point and click. Or swift asist Your tank/dps, moste of time you pick someone to asist and he guides Your aim in crowded battle.
Usefull mechanics: fast swaping swift asist button keybind. Sometimes helps pick closest enemy or cycle enemy.

Ask if You wish to get hints on target prioriti in gameplay.

Ps: playing on high quality graphic can help to see what is going on but for moste of us who dont sell internal organs to buy good pc it will lag. Some of those addon i mention above will create lags also.

[Aethilmar]

One of the things I have always really liked about this game is the distinct art for each faction. It generally makes it easy to select targets (although BO and Choppa can be difficult to distinguish).

Similarly, all the heal classes have fairly distinct animations on their big casts. Once you know what to look for it is pretty easy to tell when a healer is casting a rez or a big ST/group heal. And those are exactly the kinds of things you want to interrupt.

[leftside]

baz.jpeg (124.19 KiB) Viewed 507 times

When you see the BW go for this pose, taunt him.

[F4llen4ngel]

baz.jpeg

When you see the BW go for this pose, taunt him.

best post of the day!

[F4llen4ngel]

Also if you, as so many, hate WE/WHs, you can absolutely taunt and throw blades on them to interrupt going into stealth (when they start to fade).

[Grunvagr]

For tanks: it all depends on the situation. Here are situations and who to target.

1) guard your melee dps before a fight. Be vigilant. Your guarded target should change as the battle unfolds. You see 5 enemies running straight at someone? Immediately guard swap. Do not wait for them to take damage. Be there to negate damage when they are starting with 100% health. Your eyes scan the battlefield for danger. If you only swap because health bars go down you may be too late. Denial is fun.

2) find packs of enemies about to deal damage and CHALLENGE to reduce their damage. Specifically, look for large groups of enemy melee about to engage your team or bunched up enemy archers/casters/ranged dps. Click to target someone in the middle of that pile. This ensures your challenge hits more targets. Never tab target. You might select a tank instead of enemy dps. Intentionally pick a target. You might negate 1k damage… or 70k. Be impactful!

3) knockdowns are big. Knock down a target as you run alongside your melee train. Choose a squishy target with low armor. Then select and punt away the enemy tank likely guarding them. On the ground and without help they quickly melt.

4) knockbacks are powerful. If you can spot an enemy that you can reach, consider the impact. Is this their only healer? A major damage dealer? Can I get there fast? If juggernaut is up (free from cc) you can risk charging them, snaring, walking behind and punting them into your warband. They will disintegrate when they are far from a tank and their healers. Players LOVE to pounce on a free kill.

5) setup your melee teammates with kills. Stay with them and guard. Attack who they attack. Strip armor, debuff toughness, use your skills to boost their damage and secure kills.

6). Snare snare snare! Snare tanks. Snare melee. Slow down anyone trying to move against your team or running for their lives.

7) you have a single target taunt which interrupts. A lot of classes have a channeled skill that you can stop. A bright wizard channeling is hard to miss. A white lion spinning is also a problem. Spot these and try to taunt to interrupt them immediately. You will prevent a lot of damage. This is huge if you shut it down in the first 25% of the skill duration.

8) spot opportunities. You should avoid tanks. They are too tanky. But what about an enemy tank that is 10% life? If you can punt him way back by your ranged dps he can likely die fast, far from his healers. You wouldn’t do this at half health but spot the opportunity. Careful too! Do they have an AOE knockback? Are your casters near a cliff? Maybe DONT do this. Situations matter.

Good luck! (Don’t know ranged dps enough to comment)

[Lescargo]

The reason why i never assist anybody in SC is because 90% i did it the guy has no idea what to focus, is slow to pick a target and also dpsing too much guarded targets..

So i prefer to get my own (squishy and unguarded) targets and try a sneaky burst on them under heal debuff. Like this i secure more kills than assisting a random fart.
But ofc if the main assist is good it's always better to assist.

And as rdps, positionning and having a good overall game vision helps a lot, so you know when to push/kite etc. you need also buffhead with all differents guard's buff displayed in always show mode, that's mandatory.
Having a nameplate on your target is good too, so you keep your eyes on the fight, and it helps to track target behind walls at same points.
I use pure addon for it.