Is Chain-Pulling Harder?

12 November, 2013

I was in a dungeon recently with a chain-pulling tank, and it got me thinking. I’ve always associated the chain-pulling tank behavior with a more advanced tanking technique, but is it really harder to chain-pull?

Chain-pulling, if you don’t know, is where the tank runs at full speed pulling mob after mob after mob without stopping, until he gathers a big group of them together, and then he takes off again before the group is even dead. So he gets a big train of mobs following him around, and the rest of the party has to run full speed to keep up with him.

It’s definitely faster to go through a dungeon with a chain-pulling tank, there’s no question about that. I guess that’s why I’ve always considered it an advanced tanking maneuver. But when you think about, the tank isn’t really doing anything except running a lot. I feel like there’s a lot more of a burden on the healer to keep him alive while on-the-run. And the DPS has to use a lot of on-the-run spell-casting.

I’m undecided. I would never tank like that myself, and I get a vague sense of exasperation when I get one of those tanks in a PUG. It’s like, “Jeez, can’t we stop for just one second so I can take a sip of my drink?”

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