Shockwave: how it's used and how it works

Shockwave is one of the best attacks in a Protection Warrior's arsenal. It's a cone attack with a fairly wide spread and can stun any number of enemies, on top of providing a big burst of damage and threat!

Here's how it works:

When you shockwave, the cone goes out about 90 degrees and stuns+damages mobs within the cone:

The problem here is that you've generally got one or two mobs outside that cone that will not be hit. Due to mob pathing, you need to wiggle a bit to get the mobs in a proper line. Some people like to back up a bit and then hit Shockwave so that the mobs up close are hit at the wider point in the cone.



I've found that sidestepping works better and helps you keep your momentum in the fight. You want to side-strafe around the mobs a bit, and then jump-turn (you are mouse turning, right? I'll talk about that in another post) to face the mobs and then shockwave like so:


By doing this you force the mobs into a straight line. Since you're still moving in the same direction when you do the jump turn, the mobs will not scatter, and will all be caught in the Shockwave blast.



Another viable method for pesky mobs that don't want to line up is to jump straight through them, rotate 180 degrees in the air (to face where you were just standing) and hit shockwave before you land like so:


What happens when you do this (most of the time) is that running (or in this case, jumping) through mobs alters their pathing and they end up bunching as they attempt to run to your path (as shown by the red X's as opposed to the light blue former placement).



Doing this also let's you position yourself to your liking while the mobs are stunned, and when they wake up from the stun they won't move behind you and force the "tank dance," as they so commonly do.

Give it a try some time, you may be surprised, not only by Shockwave's usefulness, but also by how much these little tricks can improve it's efficiency.