Threat

For the enchant, see  [Threat]. For the World of Warcraft #16 comic, see Threat!.

Threat is a measure of an NPC's aggression towards a player. Each NPC has a threat table, and a unit toward the top of the list is usually the target of its aggression. In-game, this is known as having aggro from that particular NPC. The NPC will attack that character if possible, unless something overrides the NPC's target.

Mechanics

Every unit is added to the threat table upon begining combat, and removed at the end of combat. Threat is a positive number beginning at zero upon entry to the table. (Leaving and re-entering combat starts at zero again.) Each NPC tracks opponents using their own threat table.

The following actions accumulate threat while combat continues:

• Damaging the NPC adds one threat per one damage done
• Healing any of the NPC's enemies adds one threat per two effective healing done, divided by the number of NPCs who observed the heal
• Friendly buffs or on-use abilities may add a fixed amount of threat, divided by the number of NPCs who observed the ability

The NPC aggros to a new unit if that unit:

• Overrides the NPC's target using a Taunt or special ability
• Exceeds the previous target's threat by 10% while within melee range
• Exceeds the previous target's threat by 30% while outside melee range

Modifying threat

Some abilities accelerate the rate of threat generation:

• Tanks have a 5.0x threat modifier from [Blood Presence], [Bear Form], [Stance of the Sturdy Ox], [Defensive Stance] and [Righteous Fury]
• In World of Warcraft: Classic, most classes have talents to influence threat generation
• When two or more factors apply simultaneously, they stack multiplicatively without any diminishing returns

Many roles also have abilities to reposition themselves within the threat table:

• Tanks elevate themselves atop the threat table using Taunt abilities
• Some DPS and Healers use abilities like [Misdirection], [Tricks of the Trade] or [Fade] to temporarily transfer or reduce threat
• Some DPS use abilities like [Invisibility] or [Vanish] to permanently reduce threat to zero (and possibly exit combat)

Finally, many encounters and other NPCs have abilities which modify their threat table in unique ways.

Detailed values

When expanded, the following tables list currently-known modifiers for threat abilities:

Abilities

Threat Auras
Effect	Threat Multiplier
Baseline modifiers (all characters)
Damage caused	1.0 * damage done
Healing caused	0.5 * healing done (overheal not counted)
Mana gain	0.5 * mana gained (only certain effects)
Rage gain	5.0 * rage gained (only certain effects)
Death Knight
[Blood Presence]	5.0
Druid
[Bear Form]	5.0
Hunter
[Misdirection]	All attacks for 4 seconds temporarily increase the target's threat instead.
Monk
[Stance of the Sturdy Ox]	5.0
Paladin
[Righteous Fury]	5.0
Rogue
[Tricks of the Trade]	All attacks for 6 seconds temporarily increase the target's threat instead.
Warlock
[Dark Apotheosis]	7.0
Warrior
[Defensive Stance]	5.0

Threat Modifying Abilities
Ability	Threat Bonus/Reduction
Death Knight
[Death and Decay]	1.9 x damage done
[Dark Command] [Death Grip]	Sets threat equal to player highest on target's threat list.
Druid
[Growl]	Sets threat equal to player highest on target's threat list.
Hunter
[Distracting Shot]	+110, and functions as a temporary taunt.
[Feign Death]	Removes from threat lists of all enemies. (resistible)
[Cower]	-?? to pet
[Growl]	+?? to pet
[Intimidation]	+?? to pet
[Thunderstomp]	+?? to pet
Mage
[Invisibility]	Reduces threat vs. all enemies by 10% per second for 3 seconds. Removed from all threat lists upon becoming invisible.
Paladin
[Hand of Reckoning]	Sets threat equal to player highest on target's threat list.
[Hand of Salvation]	Sets target's threat to 0 for the duration.
Priest
[Binding Heal]	0.5 * healing done (above & beyond base healing reduction)
[Fade]	Sets threat to 0 for the duration.
[Holy Nova]	This ability causes no threat.
Rogue
[Vanish]	Removes from threat lists of all enemies.
Shaman
[Frost Shock]	2.0 * damage done
[Wind Shear]	Reduces threat vs. target by 5% of total.
Warlock
[Soulshatter]	Reduces threat by 90% for all enemies within 50 yards.
[Suffering]	Sets threat equal to player highest on target's threat list.
Warrior
[Taunt]	Sets threat equal to player highest on target's threat list.

 

Items

Threat Gear
Item	Effect
Bloodfang Armor 5 part set bonus	25% improved Feint Threat reduction
Nemesis Raiment 8 part set bonus	Reduces the threat generated by your Destruction spells by 20%.
Bonescythe Armor 6 part set bonus	Reduces the threat from your Backstab, Sinister Strike, Hemorrhage, and Eviscerate abilities by 8%
Vestments of Faith 6 Part set bonus	-10%
[Black Amnesty]	-540 Threat
[Fetish of the Sand Reaver]	Reduces the threat you generate by 50% for 20 sec
[Grace of Earth]	-640 Threat ~ 30 Yards, 5min cooldown
[Hypnotist's Watch]	-720 ~ 30 Yards, 5min cooldown
[Jewel of Charismatic Mystique]	-1075 ~ 30 Yards, 5min cooldown
[Muck-Covered Drape]	-473 Threat
[Prism of Inner Calm]	Reduces threat from your harmful critical strikes
[Timelapse Shard]	-901 ~ 30 Yards, 2min cooldown

Threat Enchantments
Slot	Enchantment	Effects	Source
Back	[Wisdom]	Reduce threat slightly and increase Spirit by 10.	Enchanting (440)
	Enchant Cloak - Subtlety	Decrease threat from all attacks and spells by 2%.	Enchanting (300)
rowspan = "2" Hands	[Armsman]	Increase threat caused by 2% and increase parry rating by 10.	Enchanting (435)
[Threat]	Increase threat from all attacks and spells by 2%.	Enchanting (300)

Threat Potions
Item	Effect
[Shrouding Potion]	-1500 ~ 30 Yards

Threat Gems
Color	Name	Effect(s)
Meta	[Bracing Shadowspirit Diamond]	2% reduced threat	+54 Intellect
Color	Name	Effect(s)
Meta	[Bracing Earthsiege Diamond]	2% reduced threat	+21 Intellect
Meta	[Bracing Earthstorm Diamond]	2% reduced threat	+12 Intellect

 

History

Threat management dominated gameplay during Classic and The Burning Crusade, as well-geared DPS could potentially accumulate threat faster than a dedicated tank who had limited options to gain it faster. This compelled other players to slow their combat and use abilities to lower their threat beneath the tank. In subsequent expansions, tanks received increasing passive boosts to threat generation -- becoming a five-fold multiplier by Cataclysm -- rendering threat relatively unimportant to modern gameplay: now a tank either has aggro or doesn't, but they can easily maintain it once they do.

Until Wrath of the Lich King, threat was a hidden variable reverse engineered by the community and tracked using AddOns which predicted threat accumulation through trial and error. These addons worked by tracking a player's status and actions, and then communicating through AddOn communication channels so other players with a matching AddOn could predict their relative position on the threat table. Patch 3.0.2 added new API making threat transparent, allowing AddOns to perform this function without any special communication or synchronization.

The most successful addon of this kind was Omen by Xinhuan, Nevcairiel, et al. with 17 million downloads at Curse and 4 million at WoWInterface. At the latter, it remains the most-downloaded "Combat Mod". Prior to patch 3.0.2, Omen also used the Threat-2.0 library to predict and communicate threat levels with players using other AddOns.

Patch changes

• Hotfix (2011-08-16): Threat generation for all tanks has been increased to 500%, up from 300%. This applies to warriors in Defensive Stance, death knights in Blood Presence, druids in Bear Form, and paladins with Righteous Fury.
  
• Patch 3.0.2 (2008-10-14): Threat is now accessible in the API, changing how addons can display information
  

References

• 60-70 Threat values list | 2006-12-06 by Lavina <Essence of the Blade> on The Venture Co | Original link
• Oohla (Frostmane/EU). Actual threat per rage and threat per sec.
• Tanking Blog