To be a good tank, you first need to know how to handle your character in a fight. From the beginning of your toon to the end, you should know your best fighting tactics and you should be able to pick out the main mob to go for in a fight. During your training, you should be able to pick up weapons that will cause a lot of damage to a mob you are fighting and you should practice with it a lot to ensure that you know how to handle yourself when it comes to being in an instance. Gather all the training that you can, all the spells and abilities, and any enchantments or special armor that will help you during your fighting.

When you are invited to be in a group, and you have the time to run the instance, you should go. It doesn't matter if you have run that particular instance before or not, the more experience that you have with any instance, the better you can do overall in the game. If you aren't familiar with that particular instance, ask your friends or guild members who have been there for any tips or advice that they can give you. You can also check with some of the World of Warcraft websites that show quest information and give advice on different areas of the game.

Meet with your party and greet them all warmly, after all, they will be covering your behind while you are in the middle of the mobs. Ask politely for any buffs that will help you, or anything else that your group members can do or provide (such as potions or enchantments) that will allow you to be a better tank. Make sure that you make friends with the group healer, as they can be the difference in your run from a graveyard or a resurrection if you die.

Mark the targets with different symbols for each different minion or pet, so your group members will know which ones to attack. If you aren't the group leader, ask them to do it for you so all of the tanks know where to go.

Once you are in the instance, you should be in the lead. If you don't know where you are going, and someone else does, let them lead, but stay right with them. When you see a mob, pause and make sure that everyone is ready, especially if it is a large group of mobs. Choose the highest level mob and mark it, as that is the one that you need to go for. Let the group know that you are ready, and then head in for your kill.

Use all your skills and abilities as a tank to kill the most powerful mob there. The others in your group will start picking off the others, or helping you with the one you have chosen. Once you slay that mob, move on to any others that are left standing. Make sure that you help to slay any mobs that are left so they don't hurt your other group members too much.

If an item comes up that is green, blue, or purple, and is one that you either need for a quest or that you can use or wear, it is always polite to ask if you can “need” the item instead of just doing it. More than likely, it won't be a problem, but there are always those few that will gripe about people needing. If you don't win it on a roll, it gives you the chance to go back to the instance with another group and regain the xp that you get from each instance until you gain the item you need to finish your quest.

Being a good tank is more than just knowing how to handle yourself in a fight, it takes a constant sense of where you are, what your strengths are, and how you can use them to become a great tank and to ensure that your group will make it through.