Leading from the rear

It has been my experience that most raid leaders are the strong, plated and potentially stupid types - no intellect there, but that's a good thing or why would they volunteer to take the main beating from everything their guild comes up against? Yes, I'm talking about tanks (okay, I'm talking about warriors).

I am not a tank, never have been and at the rate I am not leveling my paladin, I probably never will be. In fact, my first three characters to make it to 70 were my mage, my lock and then my priest. I have a thing for pretty girls in dresses, I suppose. (Don't tell my husband!)

So, it's my natural affinity for being bossy and believing that I am better at communicating than anyone else that landed me the position of raid leader. That, and I sleep with the GM. Don't ever let anyone tell you that doesn't work, because it totally does.

Of course, a mage being my main leads me to the situation of having to try to lead from the rear. I may watch videos from and read TankSpot.com more religiously than many actual tanks in the guild, trying to get a feel for what to tell my MT and OT to do when we come up against a new fight in an instance and I am giving the strategy.

But that can only get you so far. After all, I have never had a chance to hop onto Vent and sit down with any of those sexy sounding men from TankSpot and pick their brains about particulars. So what can you do to be an effective raid leader with a thorough knowledge of an encounter when your role is as simple as: Stand here. Look out for that. Heal this guy/DPS your heart out?

1. Use the hell out of the internet

There are a lot of good guides out there and they're not hard to find. Some of them will focus on a certain class, but that should be seen as a bonus rather than something to ignore. For example, I've been reading and re-reading some of the How To's over at Ferarro's excellent blog for paladins. Something that is key is to remember that all aspects of a raiding team are important and if I can find anything to pass on to my holy paladins about how to heal some of those encounters, I'm going to try to pick it out and make sure it gets said. I also like to look at as many different videos and written strategies as I can find. After all, we didn't get Ignis down using the TankSpot video strategy.

2. Build a good rapport with your tanks

This one is a no-brainer. Your tanks are the people in your guild that are actually out there on the front lines and taking the beatings and learning how to position bosses and when to call out for another tank to taunt off and which debuffs are just going to kill someone. Talk with them if you're not sure what it is they do and you're trying to break in a new off tank. Or do what I do and sit back and let them talk about what they do best. Along with this, if you have class leaders, give them an opportunity to pass onto other people in their class any tips or tricks they've picked up along the way. I am constantly reminding my fellow mages to decurse here, pop your mirror image there and never hesitate to cast slow on any boss that has a soft enrage.

3. Admit when you have no idea and allow for feedback

Sometimes the best thing a raid leader can do is shut up and let someone else come up with something. In our guild, we have that 'know when to talk' rule and something I've gotten into the habit of saying at the end of whatever strategy I give is: "Any comments, questions or snarky remarks?" This is true for progression most of all of course, but it's good to be mindful that taking a few minutes out at the front end of things to make sure that everyone is on the same page can end up saving you a lot of wasted time in wipes and running back. Along with this, if your strat isn't working, allow other people to share alternate ideas that they might have found in their own poking around online. When we were first starting into Naxx, one of the officers in the guild found a video from some Asian guild that enabled us to get Heigan down for the first time. (RIP safe corner exploit.)

4. ...

5. Profit - I mean, be patient

Seriously, having the right attitude can make all the difference in a raid. Being calm about questions and mistakes and wipes can go a long way towards making everyone comfortable with your leadership. Keeping in mind that any of my advice is geared towards guilds who are casual and happen to raid, you're probably trying to do this anyway. But for someone who is trying to lead from the rear, it can be really important to make sure you're not flying off the handle and screaming profanity and abuse every time something goes the least bit wrong. Having healed more than a few raids on my druid and priest alts, I know how easy it is to get resentful of a face-rolling DPS jockey screaming his displeasure over a poor turn of events when the healers honestly were doing the best they could at the time. I imagine tanks also know what it's like to have some person standing way in the back, where it's safe, snidely asking, "Well, how come the tank can't stay up?"

Whatever else you may or may not do, solicit feedback and advice from the people you're trying to lead. Sometimes you'll have to ignore their more idealistic views or wishes and make tough decisions; but the bottom line is that you have to have people behind your leadership from a mental and perhaps even emotional level in order to be effective, no matter what role you have a raid situation.