Mages as tanks This guide on how mages as tanks could perform was written to help other crazy mage s make the attempt to tank . Mages , although designed towards being DPS casters are also able to fulfill the tanking role ( outside of Krosh Firehand in Gruul ' s Lair as well ) . It takes some doing , with spec and gear , but it is possible . Players will be exceptionally busy herding mobs , but it is doable . Public views . Do not expect that others will welcome the idea of a mage tank . It ' s odd . Experimental . There are few if anyone on your server making the attempt . But don ' t give up . At some point you ' ll find a group of friends that like to do odd things . And maybe start seeing this message in trade chat . . . " LOL ! We just ran an instance with mage tank ! ! ! " Tanking theory overview . Tanking is about control . Most tanks do this via holding aggro through threat and taunts . They use high armor to mitigate the amount of damage they receive . A mage is slightly different in that they will rely much more on their crowd control ( Frost Nova ) abilities to keep mobs at arm ' s length . They will use AoE spells to hold aggro on multiple mobs . Instead of high armor values , they will use magic shielding . Instead of taunts , a mage uses instant damage spells ( fireblast ) to boost threat and frost nova to halt scattering . One strength a mage has over traditional tanks is that they can talent for very high magical resistance . Gear . As for gear , it ' s all going to be Stamina v . Intellect and Spell power . Which is simple , just grab PvP gear , the better the gear the better you ' ll be . Cloth gear will never have defense or dodge on it , which you can get some if you want to , which will be all from your : That will be major for hard hitting mobs and bosses . Note that there are one - handed sword s with defense boost , and off hand items that can significantly boost stamina and intellect . Stat composition . Mainly look for stamina ( cannot stress this enough , health is key ) , then next best thing is to look for gear with Intellect , spell damage , and spell crit . Then at the bottom of the list is MP5 and Spirit . A good set of gear is primarily PvP gear for high stam and int , with spell power and crit , and maybe a few green pieces of " of stamina " gear . A good model is the stats of a paladin tank , because they have health in exchange for a lower mana pool , this is the exact problem you will be facing ! Note that with the right talents , intelligence transfers directly to armor . Even so you can only hope to have a mere fraction of the armor of traditional tanks . Mana also transfers as hit points via Mana Shield , but only up to 1300 . Ice Barrier gives you another 3300 hp . One good spot about the mage is that they should end up with very high resistance s . Talent builds . There are actually some very nice talents to mitigate damage and control the area . One recommended build is this . Frost tree ( 40 points , max all picks ) . Note : You can skip on the improved blink and POM and go for more DPS or quicker cooldowns in the frost tree . Depending on what you like to do . Glyphs . Glyphs help out this build quite a bit . Major Glyphs . NOTE : That ' s 5 glyphs . You can only have 3 . . . ice block and barrier are essential . Minor Glyphs . None are that great , but 3 are at least applicable . NOTE : You might go with the penquin and slow fall minor glyphs . For fun . Mage Tank Build , with glyphs as described above . Professions . What do professions have to do with it ? Well I ' ll tell you . Alot . Herbalism will give you a nice heal over time , taking some of the heat off of the healer . Also mining will get you a healthy stamina boost . And both of those professions will get you the money you need to buy all the glyphs , scroll s , elixir s and potion s you need to attempt this crazy stunt ! Frost Nova guide . You can keep using frost nova several times in a row , and this is essential for success . Here are some ways to get off a frost nova . In this manner , you should be able to keep enemies under control long enough for them to be cut down and burned down by your team . Testing notes . Limited testing in Sunken Temple reveals a couple of insights . It works in that the mage was able to keep mobs off of the other players . Control is what the tank is about , and so it worked . This was achieved by putting up all shields ( frost armor , mana and ice barrier and wards if applicable ) and running into the group with frost nova . After this the mage spammed blizzard on himself causing threat via tons of DPS . Any casters outside the blizzard were sheeped . Any guys running after the healer were hit with Fire Blast to regain aggro or chased down and nova ' d . When things got hairy , the mage could blink out , and the slowed mobs would chase . The mage could then start up the blizzarding once more . Alternatively the mage could ice block for a second while being healed , and prematurely break out of it and let off a frost nova then regain aggro . The key seemed to be to keep the enemies frozen so they weren ' t all on the mage , but still under control . Use fire blast as a single target save / taunt . Have your shields hot keyed so you can put them up as they go down . Also , having Ice Barrier break with a ' nova ' was fantastic , as it enabled the mage to maneuver out of melee range and continue Blizzard . Drinking / evocating between fights was essential . Mana gems are your best friend . Also Life Blood ( from the herbalism ability ) helped keep the mage alive and aggro off of the healer . It should be noted that having other melee characters around , or a solid pet or two , helps immensly . One challenge was keeping all the mobs together , and not having too many on the mage at any one time . Another challenge was single target threat . Area threat is easy , single targets tended to want to wander . Judicious use of nova and other freezes helped a lot in this respect .