Tips for Being a Better Raid Leader

Some might argue that a raid is only as strong as its weakest link. I must admit, that has not always been my experience. In fact, many times, I have seen raids plow through ICC's end-wing bosses with more than a couple weak links in tow. On the flip side, I have seen a raid of decked out hardcore raiders crumble after Saurfang or wipe on Rotface. The difference, some raids have a solid raid leader at their helm, while others do not. In my opinion, a raid is only as good as its leader.

A raid leader is the glue that holds a raid together. If a raid group is a finely tuned automobile, the raid leader is equal parts engine, brakes, and occasionally air bags. Without competent leadership, a raid can quickly devolve into a herd of cats throwing themselves harmlessly at content. With solid leadership an under-geared and green group of raiders can easily find themselves staring down the Lich King at breakneck speed. Below are my top five tips for being a better raid leader in World of Warcraft.

1. Set Your Raid Up For Success

As a raid leader, you have the ultimate say in who comes to the show and who is left on the sidelines. While you might be tempted to use anything that breaths and has a keyboard to fill out your roster, a little extra time spent finding the right raiders can make all the difference. A successful raid setup should have three things: reasonable class balance, good players, and clear expectations.

As for class balance, it is okay to have a couple classes missing from your raid setup, especially in ten man. As anyone who has ever run a raid with all Paladin healers can tell you however, a complete disregard for class balance can tank your raid before it gets started. Not only could you end up missing valuable buffs and abilities like Mark of the Wild or Bloodlust/Heroism, but you are also creating loot nightmares should you somehow manage to down a boss. If you have more than two of a particular class in your ten man or four in your twenty-five (except maybe Paladins and Druids) you might want to make some replacements.

Finding "good players" can and should mean many different things. Generally, you will want to find raiders with their combination of skill, gear, and experience to clear the content you have set your eyes on. Keep in mind that a deficiency in one area can often be made up for in strength in another. For example, you will often be better served by an under-geared Shaman who has defeated Putricide five times than by a Frost Badge gear laden Shaman who has never seen past Marrowgar. If a raider seems shaky, unless you are able and interested in carrying them, don't risk it. There truly are other fish in the raiding sea. Spend the extra time to find one that doesn't smell funny.

The last and potentially most critical part of setting your raid up for success is establishing expectations for your raiders. You want to make it clear not only what you expect from the people in your raid, but also what they can expect from you. First, you want raiders that will be in it for the long haul, so let everyone know exactly how long the raid will last and make sure everyone is available for that amount of time. Nothing wears out a raid like the dreaded search for replacements. Second, set benchmarks for your team. A simple dps or heals per second target can often be all it takes to turn a raiding zero into an Icecrown hero. For that extra bit of motivation, tie it to a tangible reward like loot. Lastly, set break times and stick to them. People need to leave their keyboards from time to time. Setting aside specific periods for these diversions can fend off the dreaded pre-boss ready check fail.

2. Know and Explain the Encounters

In an ideal world, all your raiders will know all of the encounters you will be tackling like the backs of their virtual hands. Unfortunately, the world is not ideal and, at best, you will likely have a couple raiders accustomed to ineffective or outdated strategies. At worst, you may have a couple rookies in your mix.

Taking a pre-boss break to have people watch strategy videos is always a safe bet, but it can be draining on your raiders who do know the fights and severely draws out your raid. Instead, you be the video. If you plan on leading a raid, you should know every aspect of a given encounter and how it will affect your tanks, dps and healers. You should also be able to condense that information into easily digestible nuggets of strategy which you can spoon feed to those raiders who need it.

What separates an effective explanation from an ineffective one is often brevity. Let's say you are about to fight Blood Queen and you have two green dps. They don't need to know about the tanks being linked. They don't need to know the details of your full bite order or even the reasons for it, they only need to know who they should bite, when, and how. They just need to know to run to the middle if they start to flash pink, to run out if they get the purple shadow debuff, and to spread out during the air phase. Don't overwhelm your raid with information. They won't retain any of it. Tell each individual what they truly need to know and then rock and roll. Better to have a "you have to see it to learn it" wipe after a two minute explanation than after a ten minute one.

Also, continue to lead while you are engaging the encounter. Call out dangerous mechanics and remind people of how to avoid them when they are activated. If you have a new player or two, watch their debuffs and call them out by name when they need to do something. Do not micromanage to the point of tanking your own performance, but a little coaching is often all it takes to avoid a soul crushing uber wipe.

3. Keep Things Moving

As many a frustrated raider will quickly admit, a slow moving raid can be a painful experience. Dead time encourages people to go afk and can preclude you even making attempts at later bosses before you are flooded with "I gtg" tells. Chain together trash pulls as quickly as your healers can manage. Once you reach a boss, lay down a feast and get the buffs going immediately. The second the buffs are up and you have confirmed that everyone knows the fight, it is time to ready check and pull. If a wipe happens, have everyone immediately run back and start buffing.

One source of delay you should try to mitigate is loot distribution. Try having a dps in charge of the loot so that your tanks and healers can move on to trash while shiny epics are being handed out. To make things even faster, just pick up the loot and hand it out on the run. Blizzard lets you trade raid loot for a reason. Grab it all and hand it out as you go. There is no reason to just kneel next to the boss's corpse for three minutes while your Retribution Paladin tries to figure out whether that plate helm really is a main spec upgrade. You have trash to kill, no reason you can't do it with loot in tow.

4. Make the Tough Choices

As a raid leader, you have the play experience of several raiders resting in your hands. That is a lot of responsibility and should not be taken lightly. Assuming your goal is clearing content quickly and efficiently, it is sometimes necessary to put the needs of the raid as a whole before the interests of individual members. For example, let's say you find yourself hitting Festergut's enrage timer. Perhaps it is time to stop carrying that 3k dps Warlock. Will he be pissed that you drop him? Hopefully not if you politely explain why he needs to go, but regardless if you keep him around you have doomed your raid. Someone needs to pull the trigger and that little crown next to your character portrait means it must be you.

Similarly, you might have a fantastic performer who continually goes afk or is otherwise disruptive to the flow of the raid. All the healing throughput in the world won't help you reach the Lich King if your entire raid must sit through fifteen minutes of failed ready checks before each boss pull. You can be a nice guy and a good raid leader, but eventually you will be faced with a situation where you can elect to either do what needs to be done or let your raid continue to struggle. A good raid leader does the former. A great raid leader does it kindly without alienating anyone.

5. Be Consistent

If your raiders know what to expect from you and like the way you operate, they will come back again and again. If they don't like the way you run things, you likely don't want them in your raid anyway. If you give the appearance of being wishy-washy, deceptive, or unfair, your raiders will resent you, won't perform their best, and may not even show up at all. On the flip side, if you prove yourself to be a conduit to consistently downing endgame bosses quickly and efficiently, you will have solid players banging down your door to come along.

Have clear expectations for those around you and stick to them. Do not make excuses for your raiders or yourself. A little predictability makes for a smooth run and happy raiders.

Feel free to share your storys about successful and not so successful raid leaders you have had in the comments. What about a raid leader makes or breaks your raids?