Melee DPS Champions
Melee DPS Faction Champions calculate their threat based on an additive combination of 3 factors. Each of the three appear to share equal priority for determining target, and the threat list constantly updates.
These factors are ARMOR, PROXIMITY, and HEALTH DEFICIT.
ARMOR
Armor is the first factor of targeting priority and refers to the exact armor value displayed on your character tab. The lower the absolute value of armor on a potential target, the higher the threat.
LOWER ARMOR = HIGHER THREAT
Tanks attempting to pick up a target or hold it may wish to put on DPS gear or remove their shield. Players with access to some form of Armor increasing effect such as Inner Fire should pay particular attention to keeping it active at full strength unless they wish to deliberately cause Faction Champions to attack them. Another example is a druid shape-shifting into a higher armor form if focused, such as a feral druid shifting from cat to bear. Warlocks are the class most frequently focus-fired by melee DPS Faction Champions, and their primary threat-signature tool, Demon Armor, was mentioned in the example above.
PROXIMITY
The second piece to the melee DPS Faction Champion threat calculation is proximity; the distance from the Faction Champion to the player. The shorter the distance, the higher the threat.
CLOSER PROXIMITY = HIGHER THREAT
HEALTH DEFICIT
The third and final component of a player's threat signature for a melee DPS Faction Champion is their threat deficit. This is defined in terms of the absolute value of hp that player is below their maximum hp. This is the factor which causes the seemingly random "insta-gibs" where multiple Faction Champions all target the same player at once and deliver a devastating combination of attacks. This generally occurs when someone takes a DoT tick or a low armor value player is clipped by an aoe effect like Bladestorm. It gives the illusion of intelligence by causing them to attempt to target whoever is weakest in your raid.
HIGHER HEALTH DEFICIT (more damage taken) = HIGHER THREAT
The biggest application of this aspect of the threat signature is focusing a large amount of attention to defensively dispelling DoT and Debuff effects from your raid. The better your raid's dispelling, the more controllable the fight will be because there will be no random health deficits all over the place causing unpredictable target switching to occur. DoTs tick for hard enough to be a significant danger to raid members by setting them up for an insta-gib situation where their health deficit threat signature causes multiple Faction Champions to all switch targets to them at once.
The other aspect of this knowledge that can be exploited is that if you are a tank attempting to control a mob, and you can get a melee DPS Faction Champion far enough away from the rest of the raid that you have a proximity threat signature advantage to compensate for your lower armor value threat signature, if the Faction Champion starts attacking you it will tend to remain attacking you because it will be constantly causing a health deficit on you unless outside factors interfere.
Another application of this applies to warlocks, who should be encouraged to not Life Tap unless positioned a significant distance away from dangerous Faction Champions or receiving immediate healing.
SUMMARY
ARMOR VALUE + PROXIMITY + HEALTH DEFICIT = THREAT SIGNATURE
Note: The rules for melee DPS Faction Champions all also apply to the Hunter and both the Hunter pet and the Warlock pet. Both pets are subject to taunt even in Heroic Difficulty.
Ranged DPS Faction Champions
Ranged DPS Faction Champions function on very similar lines to melee DPS Faction Champions, with one difference. Instead of Armor Value being part of their threat calculation, they instead compare Resistance to their school of magic.
RESISTANCE + PROXIMITY + HEALTH DEFICIT = THREAT
RESISTANCE
If you have players which you find are vulnerable to being focused down by casters, have them use a Flask of Lesser Resistance (+50 all resists), which should help significantly to prevent caster Faction Champions from targeting them unless they have a significant proximity and health deficit threat signature.
Healers Faction Champions
Healers heal based on a very easily recognizable principle. They place priority on their healing targets based on the lowest absolute hp among friendly targets. What this means is that out of all Faction Champions with a health deficit, no matter how big, the one with the lowest numerical amount of health will be selected as the target of their healing. This is why it is relatively easy to burn down high health targets at first, but when they reach lower health all enemy healers will pour massive amounts of healing into the target and it will be much more difficult to finish off.
Save your CC diminishing returns on enemy healers for when your kill target is reaching lower levels of health, and then chain them in sequence to solidify a kill. Assign one player, or alternatively all your raid's pets, to constantly DPS the enemy pets. Be sure not to kill them. All heals directed at these pets your interrupters can simply let go through, and save their shocks and kicks for any heals directed at non-pets. This allows you to do a much more effective job at eliminating healing onto your kill target.
LOWER ABSOLUTE HEALTH = HIGHER HEALING PRIORITY
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