Stance dancing

From WoWWiki

Stance dancing is the art of changing stances briefly to use abilities from different stances. Because not all abilities are available in all stances, there are many situations where even tanking warriors will be required to change stances.

Typically warrior tanks stay in Defensive Stance as much as possible. That stance generates the most threat and affords the most protection. However, in many boss fights, warriors are almost required to change to Berserker Stance at least briefly to activate Berserker Rage in order to avoid fear or to generate enough rage to stay on top of the threat list.

Stance dancing Tanks rely heavily on the Tactical Mastery talent.

Tips and Tactics

Rage generation is a key concern of a Tank spec warrior. Sword and Board tanks do not generate significant amounts of rage. Ideally a Tank wishes to Shield Block, Devastate or Sunder Armor, Thunder Clap, and demoralize as quickly as possible to generate significant threat and debuff enemy melee damage. This requires 46-55 rage depending on talent distribution and is difficult to generate cold using a one hand weapon. Using a stance dance a Tank Spec sword and board Warrior can easily generate the required rage. The typical rage generating stance dance sequence is Battle Stance, Bloodrage, Charge, Thunder Clap, Berserker Stance, Demoralizing Shout, Berserker Rage, Defensive Stance, Shield Block,and then Devastate/Sunder Armor. Macros can be employed to complete this sequence in under 5 seconds. For best results, use a Stance Set addon to automatically equip a slow two handed weapon when in Battle Stance and Berserker Stance then automatically equip a sword and board when you switch to Defensive Stance.