Instance grouping guide for a main assist Back to the Instance grouping guide Main Assist . Classes : Rogue , Paladin , Hunter , Warrior It is a very natural idea to concentrate all DPS on a single target . That way , mobs are killed faster , and the damage the party ( or raid ) takes is minimized . The technical means to do this is " assisting " . One player chooses a target , and all others don ' t choose their own targets , but instead assist that player . The player whom you assist is called " Main Assist " or MA . This concept has many advantages : There are also several problems associated with assisting : First of all , the MT should never be the MA . The MT ' s job is to keep aggro from all mobs . Thus he has to switch targets on a regular basis - two sunders on the MAs target , then one sunder on every other not CC ' d mob , then two on the MAs target . If the damage dealers assist the MT , they will in effect target some random mob . The MA on the contrary will NOT be changing targets in the middle of a fight , but will hold his target on the same adversary until dead or nearly dead and then select the next target for destruction . The Main Assist must choose the correct target at all times . Looting in combat is a bad idea in general , for a MA it ' s a capital offense . Sometimes it may become neccessary to switch the target . The MA should have a macro to notify everyone else if they should switch too . In raids , it is not uncommon to have the Off - Tank as the MA . Since the OTs target should be the most dangerous mob , this is feasible , but not optimal . A dedicated MA can concentrate on that one job exclusively ( which mob to kill next ) , an OT does have other things to worry about . How to Assist . As with several other MMOs , WoW comes complete with an Assist Function , but it ' s confusing and error - prone because it requires you to first select your MA and then use the assist function to target " his " target . There are two ways that you can get around this . The first is to use a mod that has been designed to simplify the assisting process . LiteAssist is such a mod . Of course this means that you have to trust someone else with the maintenance of it should it be out - dated by a patch . The other option , which leaves control of keeping it up to date in you hands , is to create a macro to handle assisting . Creating your Assist Macro . Here is a basic step - by - step procedure for creation of an " Assist " macro for anyone who ' s never worked with the Macro Editor before and the people who love them . It ' s very simple , even for first timers . This is great ; the above , is what I do . I have seen so many players that can not cope with macros . So a light weight macro , might get some players started . Simply edit the PLAYER name in this macro . When editing the name gets to be a pain , you will want to take the time to use a more complex macro . Using your Assist Macro . At the beginning of the instance run , when you ' re told who your MA is , just target the MA and click on the Assist macro button " while holding down the Alt key " . This will set up the targeted player as your new MA . Now , say your MA has a Monstrous Plaguebat targeted . When you press Assist , you will now be targeting the same Monstrous Plaguebat as your MA . This is how you now target . All your targeting should now be filtered through the MA . Using the Assist macro eliminates any question as to whether or not you are on the correct mob . Now put your MA - macro in your main attack bar . I use # 1 . And I put attack spells / dots on buttons # 2 , # 3 , . . . So when in battle I hit 1 , look to see if its aggro ' ed on the Tank , then hit 2 . . 3 . . . and so on . Practice this . Grab a guildie and work on it if you have to . Groups that successfully Assist perform better than a group 5 levels higher that does not .