The Holy Trinity of MMORPGs

(The relationship between the Tank, DPS and the Healer.)

INTRODUCTION

A MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game) is a computer game that allows for many players to interact with each other in a fantasy/sci-fi environment. One of the most significant elements of a MMORPG is the raid. A raid is a scenario where many players (Usually between 5-40) work together to defeat enemies in a large dungeon, spaceship, fortress, etc. Most raids will have 3 or more major encounters, often called bosses. Each boss encounter (whether it is one enemy or many) will often contain several mechanics that the raid party needs to deal with, in addition to engaging in a sustained fight with the boss monster(s). In order to defeat them, the raid party will often need to use a combination of certain characters, which are known as the DPS, the Healer and the Tank.

Characters

DPS (Damage per Second) – This type of character is dedicated to doing as much damage as possible to enemies in the game. Their goal is to make the fight end swiftly so that the players do not get fatigued during the fight, to minimize the amount of mechanics the raid has to deal with, and to prevent bosses from reaching enrage timers. There are usually two types of DPS; Melee, who fight enemies in hand-to-hand combat, and Ranged who attack enemies at a distance with missiles or spells.

Healer – This type of character is supposed to mitigate and heal the damage sustained by the raid party during fights and possibly revive any characters who are killed during the battle. Often they need to keep characters near their maximum health, so that they can survive big damage dealing attacks when they hit.

Tank – This character is generally supposed to keep the focus of enemies on them, as Tank characters can mitigate damage done to them more effectively than other characters. (For example, an attack which might take away 90% of another player’s health might only take away 30% of a Tank’s health, giving him a longer time to react to the attack and be healed.)

How They Function

Although boss encounters can vary to some degree, requiring a varied number of each role, this section will explain the typical raid party composition of a 10-character raid.

A typical 10-character raid requires 2 Tanks, 2 Melee DPS, 3 Ranged DPS and 3 Healers.

The job of the two Tanks are to keep the boss focused on them, so that the high-damage attacks of the boss do not target the other characters, who are much easier to kill than the tanks. The reason two Tanks are needed varies, but here are some typical reasons:

  • The boss is very deadly and the second Tank is insurance in case the original Tank is killed.
  • The boss has a powerful debuff attack, and the Tanks need to switch who is fighting.
  • There is more than one boss, so more Tanks are needed.
  • Some fights contain a horde of smaller monsters that enter the fight, and one of the Tanks is responsible for gathering them.

A tank has several tools at their disposal, and these include things such as:

  • The ability to ‘taunt’ monsters, which causes them to attack the tank and no one else.
  • Damaging attacks that have a large area of effect (AoE) that cause large groups of enemies to focus on them.
  • Defensive abilities which can either mitigate (reduce) or even eliminate damage taken to them.

Although tanks may seem overpowered due to these abilities, their weakness is usually that they do not do a lot of damage, which is why the DPS are necessary.

Damage dealing characters have a very simple job, to do as much damage to enemies in an encounter as fast as possible. This is the reason they are often called DPS (Damage per Second), because they are usually judged by the amount of damage they can output in a specific period of time. Typically, the main job of the DPS is to attack the boss. However, they are sometimes used for other functions.

  • Melee DPS are sometimes used as substitute tanks in fights with many opponents. This is because they are usually more heavily armored or dodge-y than Ranged DPS.
  • Ranged DPS are sometimes used to kite (taunt and sustain the attention) powerful (slow) enemies who then chase the Ranged character around until they are killed.
  • Sometimes there are additional boss mechanics that need to be performed by the DPS since the tanks are busy attracting the bosses and the healers are busy keeping the party alive.

Healers are used to heal (obviously) party members who have sustained damage. Healers usually have additional abilities to assist the party in other ways.

  • Some have abilities which support the characters by increasing their abilities, making them more effective (such as increasing a character’s movement speed).
  • Some have abilities that mitigate damage before it even occurs by shielding characters from damage or increasing their resistances to certain enemy attacks.

Each fight presents its own additional challenges to a raid party. These are called raid mechanics. There are far too many to mention, but here are a few common or interesting ones:

  • The boss does damage to enemies in front of him, requiring the tanks to face the boss away from the rest of the group.
  • The boss either has an AoE attack, or randomly hits party members with light attacks, forcing the healers to pay attention to everyone’s health, and not merely the tanks’ survival.
  • The room where the boss is fought presents challenges as sections disappear, floor areas are covered in lava, ice, or fire, or sections collapse threatening to crush party members. These mechanics often force characters to move.
  • Weaker enemies come to help the boss, forcing the party to deal with multiple threats at once.
  • ‘Council’ fights where there are multiple bosses to fight, and they all have different mechanics for the party to deal with.
  • ‘Vehicle’ fights where party members control various constructs such as cannons, actual vehicles, golems (living creatures), etc.
  • Lastly, bosses often have either a ‘hard’ enrage mechanic (where everyone in the party dies instantly after a specific amount of time), or a ‘soft’ enrage mechanic (where the boss gradually becomes more powerful until he is almost impossible to kill).

Summary

A good raid party which follows its roles well will be able to overcome the mechanics of a boss fight, defeat it, and are then rewarded with treasure and items that improve their ability to overcome the harder bosses as the fights gradually increase in difficulty.

Glossary

AoE (Area of Effect) – An attack or a healing ability that covers an area, affecting multiple friends/enemies.

Boss – An encounter in a raid. Typically it is a large monster or monsters, but can sometimes be other things such as a horde of monsters, a hazardous room, or a fight against/inside a vehicle.

Debuff – Any attack which makes its target weaker (such as lowering its armor value, causing it to take damage over a period of time, or by lessening the damage of its attacks).

Enrage – The point in a boss encounter where the fight becomes unsustainable due to the elapse of time.

Health – Characters, bosses, and other creatures in a game typically have a numerical value representing how much damage they can sustain before being killed.

Mechanic – During a boss encounter, the various hazards that have to be dealt with are called ‘mechanics’.

Melee – Hand-to-hand combat/A character who fights in hand-to-hand combat.

Raid – A fantasy/sci-fi scenario containing multiple boss encounters. Raids are usually harder than other encounters in the game.

Raid Party – A group of characters composed of a mix of Tanks, DPS and Healers who fight the raid bosses in a group.

Ranged – An attack at long distance/ A character who makes attacks over a long distance.