What is the role of tanking in Neverwinter?

Tanking in Neverwinter is about keeping the attention of all enemies on you while surviving all of the enemies' attacks. If done correctly the damage dealers can deal damage and the healers can heal without getting hit often by enemies.

The tanks decide which mob groups are being pulled and where the fight takes place. By deciding where to fight, tanks can provide Combat Advantage to the whole party while keeping themselves out of the enemies Combat Advantage. By keeping all the enemies' attention on the tank, the tanks fulfill a siderole too: group up the mobs, such that damage dealers can easily kill them in batches!

Note: It is not our role to rescue foolhardy damage dealers that run in front of us, scatter enemy groups or make our role on purpose harder.

Bosses - the big baddies with large amounts of Hit Points - have one special ability: They have Combat Advantage on you all the time without the need for any positioning. Thus keep up for huge amounts of incoming damage. Bosses typically have a huge Hit Points bar on the screen, where you can check all buffs from the Boss as well all debuffs on the Buffs inflicted by players.

(Old image. Ignore the old fonts and symbols of the Damage floaters)