For The Paladin

Recently, I had gotten an invite from a RL friend to raid in a 10-man Trial of the Crusader as a tank. The problem was that because I was the Main Tank (and because I was given Raid Leader status to find another 6 people to raid alongside us), I was given the privilege of being the Raid Leader.

Now let’s get one thing straight. I can take orders no problem. I can also play my class pretty well and know all of the fights for all raid bosses up to Ice Crown Citadel. But ask me to lead a raid to downing a boss? You’re better off finding someone else to fill that position. Which leads me to this post: What does it take to be a good Raid Leader?

Communication

Obviously, communication is key. The ability to communicate with your raid and to make sure that not only they can understand you, but that you can understand them. All of the successful raids I’ve been in have had a Raid Leader who was constantly talking on Ventrilo, making sure that everyone was ready to go before each boss battle, tossing out bits of information here and there throughout the fight, and always keeping our spirits high when things weren’t looking so good. So make sure that if you plan on leading a raid, having good people skills is a major skill to have.

Strategy

How are you supposed to kill a boss without knowing what the boss does? Read up of course! While it’s important for the Raid Leader to know the strategies, it’s also important for the raid to read up on them too. In the case of “OH NOEZ I FORGOT TO READ THE STRATZ!” at least your Raid Leader can let you in on the information that your class is required to know in order to defeat the boss. I will admit that at times I would be thrown into a raid where I had no idea what was about to happen, but the Raid Leader was always there to show me who I was healing/where I was standing/what I was doing when a certain event happens.

Preparation

What do I mean by preparation exactly? You should be well prepared in game as well as out of game. In game, being stocked on all the necessary pots/buffs/enchantments is key not only in maximizing your DPS/Healing, but it also gives you that added bonus for your characters when their gear is lacking (but if you’ve ever raided before, you should already know that). Out of game, it helps that when a Raid Leader has set up a few hours to raid on a certain day, they are around for those hours uninterrupted. Raiding can be serious business when it has to be (just look at the top 10 raiding guilds in the world, do you think they got there by casually downing bosses?), and it takes a certain kind of focus to accomplish something as epic as a world-first kill. Rest assured, this post isn’t exactly about that, but even for raiding on a casual scale you need to focus and you need to be prepared to sit through wipes, especially if your raid is a PUG.

Anyone else have any good key components to being a good Raid Leader? Leave a comment or shoot me an email!

~Baros