This was originally authored by Kenco, so the credit for its creation is his. As everyone who constantly works to keep our knowledge up to date discovers new data or revises old, I've been updating this to reflect it.
Definitions: Threat vs Aggro, Threat Scale
We define "aggro" to be who the mob is attacking. A player has aggro, or pulls aggro, when the mob is attacking them. We define "threat" to be a numeric value that each mob has towards each player. Note that the target who has aggro is not necessarily the player with the highest threat. To set a scale for threat, let 1 point of damage from a normal attack cause 1 point of threat, where the sense of normal will be clarified later. The threat values of some abilities are listed in the MPQs, and this 1:1 scale matches those abilities (e.g. feint, distracting shot, fade).
The Threat List
Imagine every mob as keeping a list of players and their threat values. If the mob is unaware of a player, that player will not be on the threat list. As soon as the mob becomes aware of a player, in the ways described below, they are put on the list with 0 threat. Knowing which players are on a mobs threat list and which mobs have a certain player on their threat lists is crucial in predicting a mobs behaviour.
A player can get on a mob's threat list in the following ways:
- Body Pulling, i.e. getting close enough to a mob that is out of combat.Aggro Transfer, Threat Decay
To prevent mobs rapidly swapping targets when many players have similar threat, a mob will stay on its current target unless another player has significantly higher threat. Suppose a mob has aggro on a certain player X. Then to pull aggro while in melee range, another player needs 110% of Xs threat. If the other player is outside melee range, they need 130% of Xs threat to pull aggro. This means than in general, once you have aggro it is easy to keep it, and once you lose aggro it is hard to regain it. It also stops two players attacking a mob from range and constantly swapping aggro between them, because as their threat increases, the 30% margin will be harder and harder to overcome.
Note that the 10% effect is determined only by your range, not the ability used. If you are generating threat from healing or a range ability such as Frostbolt, you will still pull aggro at 110% if you are within melee range of the mob.
In the normal course of events, threat does not decay. Once you are on a mobs threat list, youre there until its dead or you are, and your threat does not decay over time. There are of course mobs with specific abilities that reduce threat, and player abilities also, which do decrease your threat.
AOE Threat: Healing, Buffing, Power Gain
Each point of healing causes 0.5 threat, forgetting threat modifiers. Overhealing doesnt cause threat. Most buff spells cast on friendly players generate a small amount of threat. Gaining Power (Mana / Energy / Rage) also causes threat in most cases, for example taking a healing potion, or gaining rage from Bloodrage, or Energy from Thistle Tea. Certain spells are exempt, for example mana from Blessing of Wisdom or a Mana Spring totem doesnt cause threat, and there is no threat from the healing gained from Siphon Life. For normal abilities, each point of Mana is 0.5 threat, Rage is 5 threat, and Energy is unknown, probably 5. In the scheme of things, threat from power gain is usually irrelevant, unless you have consistent or burst values, such as taking a mana potion or having Fel Energy running.
These forms of buffs all have infinite range; they will cause threat to all mobs on whose threat list you are on. Furthermore, the threat caused is split equally among all the affected mobs. If you are on one mobs threat list, a 1000 point heal will cause 500 threat to that mob. If 5 mobs are aware of you, the same heal will cause 100 threat on each mob.
Note that threat caused from power gain is not affected by threat modifiers. Gaining 1 point of Rage will give 5 threat whether you are in Battle Stance or Defensive Stance.
Threat Modifiers: Common Modifiers, Interaction
Here are some of the more common threat modifiers and their values, assuming you have the maximum number of talent points in the talents mentioned:
Ability Multipliers Percent Multiplier Defensive Stance / Bear Form ________ 130% (1.30) Righteous Fury ______________________ 190% (1.90) Defiance / Feral Instinct ___________ 115% (1.15) Fury / Battle Stance ________________ 80% (0.80) Rogue / Cat Form Druid ______________ 71% (0.71) Blessing of Salvation _______________ 70% (0.70) Tranquil Air Totem __________________ 80% (0.80) Druid (Subtlety) ____________________ 80% (0.80) Paladin (Fanatacism) ________________ 70% (0.70) Priest (Silent Resolve) _____________ 80% (0.80) (does not stack with shadow affinity) Priest (Shadow Affinity)_____________ 75% (0.75) (shadow spells only) Mage (Frost Channelling) ____________ 90% (0.90) Mage (Burning Soul) _________________ 90% (0.90) Mage (Arcane Subtlety) ______________ 60% (0.60) Shaman (Spirit Weapon)_______________ 70% (0.70) (Melee only) Shaman (Elemental Precision)_________ 90% (0.90) (Fire, Frost, Nature only) Shaman (Healing Grace)_______________ 85% (0.85) (Healing only) Warlock (Destructive Reach) _________ 90% (0.90) Warlock (Imp. Drain Soul) ___________ 90% (0.90) Warlock (Master Demonologist) _______ 80% (0.80) (while Imp is active)Warrior (Improved Berserker Stance)___ 90% (0.90)
As of 1.12, all threat modifiers are multiplicative, which makes them independent. Blessing of Salvation "reduces your threat by 30%", which is implemented as "multiplies your threat by 70%". Two different modifiers just multiply on each other, so Blessing of Salvation + Arcanist 8/8 + Frost Channeling would be 0.7 x 0.85 x 0.7 = 41.65% threat. The primary effect of the 1.12 change is to stop several threat modifiers combining too powerfully; for example it was possible to achieve 0% threat generation using the Fetish of the Sand Reaver.
It is useful to consider the inverse multiplier, which is the increase in damage or healing potential as a result of a threat modifier. Suppose you have Blessing of Salvation on, for a 0.7 threat modifier. Then to get 1 point of threat, you can now do 1 / 0.7 = 1.43 points of damage. In other words, the Blessing of Salvation buff allows you to do 43% more damage for the same threat. Similarly, the Rogue passive modifier allows you to do 25% more damage for 1 threat. To combine them, just multiply 1.43 * 1.25 = 79% more damage for 1 point of threat, compared to a player with no threat modifiers.
Taunt
Taunt does three things:
- Taunt debuff. The mob is forced to attack you for 3 seconds. Later taunts by other players override this.While Challenging Shout and Mocking Blow have a similar forced attack debuff to Taunt, they do not give the caster threat in the same way as Taunt, just fixed amounts. Druid Growl has the same mechanic as Taunt.
The Paladin's Righteous Defense is similar to Taunt, but works inversely to Taunt. It works by casting it as a 3 second buff on a friendly player, which causes the effects listed for Taunt, above, to be appplied to the next three distinct enemy attacks on that player (i.e. up to three separate mobs.) The mechanic works upon the next attacks of the mobs. There will be a visible delay until a mob's next attempt to attack the targeted player, at which point the taunt mechanic will be applied to the mob, and it will function as Taunt.
- As with Taunt, the effect only occurs if used against a target that has main aggro from a mob (i.e. is the mob's current target). If the player target is receiving a random secondary target attack, such as Gruul's Hurtful Strike, no taunt effect will occur even though Righteous Defense will cast and go into cooldown as normal.Class Abilities and Talents in Detail
(A) Warrior
The threat modifier for Warrior tanks is 130% for Defensive stance, or 149.5% if you have 3/3 Defiance as well.
The threat modifier for Warrior DPS is 80% for Battle and Berserk stance, or 72% in Berserker stance with 5/5 Improved Berserker Stance
Most warrior abilities add a fixed amount of threat when they land successfully. The following table gives the basic innate threat values (before the modifiers from stance) and does not include the damage done by the abilities. We call this the innate threat value, since you would get this amount of threat even if the attack hit for zero damage, and indeed some of these abilities do not deal damage at all. Values are given only for the highest ranks.
Battle Shout ________________________ 68 (Split) Cleave ______________________________ 130 (Split) Commanding Shout ____________________ 68 (Split) Concussion Blow _____________________ 0 Demoralising Shout __________________ 56 (Split) Devastate ___________________________ 109/119/134/148/162/176 (see below) Disarm_______________________________ 104 Execute _____________________________ 125% Damage (Unaffected by Stance Multiplier) Hamstring ___________________________ 181 Heroic Strike _______________________ 196 Mocking Blow ________________________ 290 Piercing Howl _______________________ 0 Revenge _____________________________ 200 Shield Slam _________________________ 307 Spell Reflect _______________________ 100% Damage (Unaffected by stance multiplier) Sunder Armor ________________________ 301 Thunder Clap ________________________ 175% Damage (Affected by stance multiplier)Whirlwind ___________________________ 100% Damage (Unaffected by stance multiplier)
If the ability deals damage, the threat generated is: (innate threat + damage dealt) * stance modifier * buff modifiers
If the ability deals no damage, the threat generated is: innate threat * stance modifier * buff modifiers
The exceptions are Execute, Spell Reflect, Thunder Clap, and Whirlwind, which have no innate threat values. Their threat is simply their damage, possibly with an innate multiplier (Thunder Clap) and may or may not be affected by stance multipliers.
Thanks to Cat, Crimsonstorm, Kenco, Lavina, and many more who have worked on determining threat values and keeping them current. See also Lavina's work:
Abilities noted as having (Split) divide the generated threat amongs the targets affected. For example, if you perform Demoralising Shout on two mobs, each mob gets 28 threat; on three mobs, each gets 18.7; etc.
Devastate
Devastate underwent significant change in patch 2.3. The really short summary:
- Devastate now invokes an application of Sunder Armour if there are not yet 5 on the mob.More detailed summary:
2) While Devastate is applying Sunders (i.e. the first 5 Devastates that land), you gain the 301 threat for the Sunder in addition to the Devastate innate threat. Note that the Sunder is a separate effect invoked by the Devastate; its threat is not part of the Devastate innate threat.
3) Once 5 Sunders are stacked, Devastate will refresh the Sunder stack but does not apply a new Sunder, and as such does not gain the threat for a Sunder. Devastate threat at 5 Sunders is 176 + (1/2 damage + 175)
4) You get the Sunder threat as normal in Battle and Berserk stance if you apply one of the first five Sunders. Once 5 Sunders are on, you will only get 176 + (1/2 damage + 175)
5) Expose Armour still blocks the Sunder component of Devastate. If there are no Sunders on the mob, and Sunder will be blocked from landing on the mob, the innate threat of Devastate is 109.
6) We also see that there is no difference in innate threat when we apply 4 Sunders and then Devastate and applying 5 Sunders and then Devastate. That tells us that the Sunder for the Devastate being performed counts towards the innate threat. So, we get:
- 109 innate for Devastate with no Sunders, and no Sunder landing (rare case, such as Devastate on a mob with Expose Armour on it)Full details on 2.3 Devastate are here:
(B) Druid
The threat modifiers for Bear tanks are the same as Warriors: 130% for Bear Form, or 149.5% if you have 3/3 Feral Instinct. As of patch 2.0.3, Druid threat generation was changed from multiplicitive to additive (as a warrior's threat.) Swipe no longer has an innate threat modifier and simply generates threat equal to its damage. Maul changed to a flat 322 (Rank 8) per target (as Heroic Strike). Lacerate gives 285 innate threat plus 20% of the damage it does. Stance and talent modifiers apply. Mangle in bear form hits for 115% normal damage plus a flat 115, and grants a 1.3 multiplier to Shred and bleed effects for 12 seconds. Growl has exactly the same behaviour as Taunt for Warriors.
In Cat Form, there is a -29% passive threat modifier, as Rogues have. Cower 5 is a reduction of 1170 threat (as Feint). The Subtlety Talent is multiplicative, for 0.8 at max rank.
(C) Rogue
Rogues have a passive -29% threat modifier, so all damage done causes 0.71 threat by default, or 0.71 * 0.7 = 0.497 threat with Blessing of Salvation.
Feint reduces your threat by a fixed amount {-150, -240, -390, -600, -800, -1050}. Note that it is affected by your threat modifiers, so that the rank 6 ability reduces only 1050 * 0.71 = 745 threat by default, or 1050 * 0.497 = 522 threat with blessing of salvation. However, in every case it reduces the threat of 800 points of damage. Note that you can't feint below 0 threat.
Vanish removes you from all mob threat lists, but if you are fighting a boss you will get back on due to the in-combat pulse every tick. However, if you are the last person alive, a vanish will cause the boss to go out of combat, so you'll survive if you can achieve that feat.
(D) Paladin
Paladins receive 50% threat from healing compared to other healers. This allows Paladins to be able to be more effective at healing in threat-sensitive situations such as the first few seconds of a pull, when large numbers of mobs that are not being tanked individually are being engaged, or after a threat-wipe or other transition in which there is potential danger of drawing aggro from healing. The lack of Heal-Over-Time spells or other tools like Power Word: Shield and Earthshield is counteracted by the ability of Paladins to do more direct healing compared to other healing classes before having the same amount of risk due to threat.
When the Righteous Fury buff is active, Holy damage causes 1.6 threat, or 1.9 threat if you have 3/3 Improved Righteous Fury. Holy Shield damage gives another 1.35 multiplier, for 1.9 * 1.35 = 2.56 threat per damage with talented Righteous Fury. Righteous Fury has been modified in 2.0.1 to affect all paladin spells, including healing. This means a Paladin with talented Righteous Fury up heals for almost the same threat as a priest/druid without threat reduction talents (0.25*1.9=0.475, compared to 0.5 heal threat for other heal classes)
Fanatacism reduces the paladin's threat by 30% on all actions, except when Righteous Fury is active.
Divine Intervention is a complete threat wipe for the Paladin (as the paladin dies) and the target player receiving the Divine Intervention. Used tactically and not solely as a wipe prevention technique, the target could simply click off the Divine Intervention buff and continue activities normally.
Righteous Defense is detailed above, with Taunt.
(E) Priest
The Silent Resolve talent gives a 0.8 multiplier to threat from spells. Shadow Affinity multiplies threat from shadow spells by 0.75. For example, with Silent Resolve and Blessing of Salvation, your threat from shadow spells is 0.8 * 0.7 = 56% of normal.
Mind Blast no longer generates additional threat.
Mind control generates a flat 5500 threat
Fade reduces your threat temporarily by a fixed amount {-55, -155, -285, -440, -620, -820, -1500}, and is not affected by threat modifiers, such as Silent Resolve. This is a good thing since a priest would only have negative threat modifiers on. When the buff ends, you get the same threat back, so there is no net gain from spamming Fade you should leave it as a panic button instead. Note that you can't fade to below 0 threat.
Prayer of Mending threat is attributed to the player it heals, not the caster
(F) Warlock
The healing from Life Tap, Siphon Life, and Drain Life do not cause threat, but the application of the Siphon Life debuff causes a small amount of threat, and the damage from Drain Life counts. Most curses cause non-zero threat.
Searing pain is 2 threat per damage, all ranks.
Fel Stamina and Fel Energy do generate threat.
Soulshatter reduces the caster's accumulated threat on all targets within 50 yards by 50%. This spell is shadow and resistable.
Warlock threat reduction talents:
Improved Drain Soul 90% threat (Affliction spells)
Destructive Reach 90% threat (Destruction spells)
Master Demonologist 80% threat while the imp pet is active.
(G) Shaman
Earth Shock and Rockbiter no longer generate additional threat.
Frost Shock generates 2 threat per damage.
Shaman threat reduction talents:
Elemental Precision 90% (fire, frost, nature spells)
Spirit Weapons 70% (melee)
Healing Grace 85% (healing spells)
The talent Healing Grace is a multiplier, 0.85 at max level, which would give you 68% threat from heals with a Tranquil Air totem.
(H) Mage
Mage threat reduction talents:
Frost Channeling 90% (Frost)
Burning Soul 90% (Fire)
Arcane Subtlety 60% (Arcane)
Invisibility is a complete threat wipe if the mage gains full invisiblity by completing the 5 second "fading" phase of the spell. If the fading phase of the spell is interrupted without gaining invisibility, a partial threat reduction is still achieved.
(I) Hunter
Feign Death is a complete threat wipe, as long as it is not resisted.
Distracting Shot threat: {110, 160, 250, 350, 465, 600, 900}
Disengage threat: {-140, -280, -405, -545}
And One Other Thing...
Crits do not give you any extra threat just for being crits.
Overwriting a buff doesnt affect the threat caused. E.g. Sunder Armor causes as much threat when there are 5 debuffs as none, and player buffs cause just as much threat if the player already had one up.