Originally Posted by junialum
I'd like to ask about the spell 'Taunt'. I first tanked in BC where most bosses weren't taunt-able, my opening move was always with the highest threat ability (SS). I came back in late wotlk and am now playing DPS.
My tanks tell me taunt does more than just raise you to the top of the aggro table. They say there is a form of 'locked threat' that justifies them opening fights with taunt. (guaranteed threat for x secs)
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Taunt does two things. First, it forces you to 100% of the current target's threat. Second, it applies a fixate effect that locks the boss onto you for three seconds, meaning that even if someone else would otherwise pull aggro, the boss won't actually attack them until the fixate wears off.
The fixate effect is on diminishing returns, however. The second use within twenty seconds (or possibly fifteen, I forget the exact duration of the DR check) will have half duration, the third will have a quarter, and then the boss will go completely immune to BOTH parts of the taunt effect, which you generally want to avoid. On tank swap encounters, there's generally more than enough time between taunts that the boss should never go immune. There are rare cases when it might occur, such as ping-ponging Ragnaros for P4 empower if you don't have a trap available, but those are exceptions rather than the rule.
So, yes, it's generally a good idea to use your taunt off the pull, just in case your first attack is avoided or misses. Hunter misdirects/rogue tricks might make it so that you don't NEED to taunt, but since taunt is off the GCD and it still provides a safety net, there's no reason not to.