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Low level pally Tank?Follow
I decided to try my hand at the Paladin Class. Im liking it allot so far, i can take mobs allot better then i ever could on almost any other class. But my question is, im almost DM (deadmines) level and i want to know if its possible for a paladin to effectivly Tank DM? and if they can what spec should i go for to make this happen? or alternativly can they main heal? and is holy the only way to go for a healadin? any insight would be great.
Can a pally tank DM? Well at 14 you get Righteous Defense and at 16 you get Righteous Fury so you're probably OK there.
Really as far as specs go? It's not until later that some of that is going to make a huge difference. I lvled as a Ret pally and easily (with a healing set of gear) main healed almost every instance through ST. I did some tanking too but had a harder time - mostly because that was before we had the snazzy taunt so it was tougher to get aggro BACK if you lost it.
You can spec just about anything you want until really late game and with sets of gear for situations (tanking set, soloing set, healing set, etc) do excellently as OT/OH and even quite well as MT/MH.
Really as far as specs go? It's not until later that some of that is going to make a huge difference. I lvled as a Ret pally and easily (with a healing set of gear) main healed almost every instance through ST. I did some tanking too but had a harder time - mostly because that was before we had the snazzy taunt so it was tougher to get aggro BACK if you lost it.
You can spec just about anything you want until really late game and with sets of gear for situations (tanking set, soloing set, healing set, etc) do excellently as OT/OH and even quite well as MT/MH.
Well thats good to hear, im sure that pallies can take the hits like a warrior can, i just worry about keeping aggro as a pally. Since keeping aggro is the most important thing for a tank to do.
Actually you won't be taking the hits as well as a warrior can as you don't have the variety of mitigation that they do.
The aggro, particularly in a multi-mob scenario, is much easier (assuming you can get it in the first place). Learn and embrace the paladin tanking mechanics (it's ALL holy dmg. Since you won't have snazzy stuff like Blessing of Sanctuary early on keep Retribution aura up. You'll probably take crap from inexperienced PuGs for this, but that holy dmg from ret, as low as it is, will generate threat for you every time a mob hits you.
Just remember, you're white damage does very little to gain and hold aggro, it's everything holy. So think in those terms, do anything you can to boost the holy dmg laid down on the mobs and experiment with it. Remember, it's expected to be learning in DM and Stocks and stuff. So take advantage and find out what works for you.
The aggro, particularly in a multi-mob scenario, is much easier (assuming you can get it in the first place). Learn and embrace the paladin tanking mechanics (it's ALL holy dmg. Since you won't have snazzy stuff like Blessing of Sanctuary early on keep Retribution aura up. You'll probably take crap from inexperienced PuGs for this, but that holy dmg from ret, as low as it is, will generate threat for you every time a mob hits you.
Just remember, you're white damage does very little to gain and hold aggro, it's everything holy. So think in those terms, do anything you can to boost the holy dmg laid down on the mobs and experiment with it. Remember, it's expected to be learning in DM and Stocks and stuff. So take advantage and find out what works for you.
What kind of cast sequence should i go for? will i be tabbing to a new mob every few sec to hold aggro? or just focus on one once i get initial aggro on me?
It will be annoying if you can't body pull because you're going to have to draw aggro off the puller and then establish it for yourself. Before I got AS we'd mark the tank mob then I would actually target the hunter (or mage or whatever).
Right before the pull I would seal righteousness.
As soon as their hit pulled aggro I would wait maybe a beat then hit RD for the taunt and lay down a consecrate for them to run through to make sure I got everyone's attention. (hope some OT/DPS warrior or rogue doesn't stun it before it gets to the consecrate)
Then I'd switch to the tank mob, judge righteousness, reseal it and just focus on that one.
On trash I almost never use SoCrusader - they go down too fast it's hardly worth it. Besides you blow a judgement cooldown you may need to (re)establish aggro on the mob. On bosses I almost always use it.
Once they all start hitting you - provided everyone is targeting your target you should be able to keep them all on you with the retribution aura and maybe an occasional consecrate to combat heal aggro (hard to tell you when, you get a sense for it after a while). Just spamming consecrate is a ridiculous mana suck though.
Another trick someone on here told me goes similar to the range pull - if you lose aggro on some lay down the consecrate first (especially if their target is a ways away from you) then taunt. If you do the reverse by the time the mob gets to you, you may not have gotten the consecrate off because of the GCD and it's tougher to keep its attention especially if your judgement is on cooldown.
(You'll learn to manage your cooldowns, too - and that's important)
Right before the pull I would seal righteousness.
As soon as their hit pulled aggro I would wait maybe a beat then hit RD for the taunt and lay down a consecrate for them to run through to make sure I got everyone's attention. (hope some OT/DPS warrior or rogue doesn't stun it before it gets to the consecrate)
Then I'd switch to the tank mob, judge righteousness, reseal it and just focus on that one.
On trash I almost never use SoCrusader - they go down too fast it's hardly worth it. Besides you blow a judgement cooldown you may need to (re)establish aggro on the mob. On bosses I almost always use it.
Once they all start hitting you - provided everyone is targeting your target you should be able to keep them all on you with the retribution aura and maybe an occasional consecrate to combat heal aggro (hard to tell you when, you get a sense for it after a while). Just spamming consecrate is a ridiculous mana suck though.
Another trick someone on here told me goes similar to the range pull - if you lose aggro on some lay down the consecrate first (especially if their target is a ways away from you) then taunt. If you do the reverse by the time the mob gets to you, you may not have gotten the consecrate off because of the GCD and it's tougher to keep its attention especially if your judgement is on cooldown.
(You'll learn to manage your cooldowns, too - and that's important)
At low levels, paladin tanking basically goes like this:
Have retribution aura up (all the time)
make sure righteous fury is up
Make sure blessing of might is still on
cast seal of righteousness
judge seal of righteousness
cast seal of righteousness
swing away
repeat on next mob
Try to get the rest of your group to keep from casting, swinging, whatever, until after you've at least hit the primary target once or twice. Also, try to get them all to focus on the primary target (the charms help a lot).
You can use Hammer of Justice to stop a mob in its tracks to judge righteousness again and hopefully pull aggro back or give the group time to kill it. You can cast blessing of protection on someone to prevent all melee damage to them (and usually send the mobs back to you), but note that this prevents the target from doing melee damage as well. Also, Righteous Defense will taunt up to three mobs attacking a friendly target. There are some good macros at wowwiki to help with this, but you can usually just use f(target your targets target) until you have the right person.
On longer fights (and later on when you can build aggro more quickly) start by judging crusader, the up front threat is less, but you'll do more over time).
Oh, and try not to use your bubble, this will result in any mobs on you scattering to the wind and likely killing the rest of the party.
Edited, May 7th 2007 5:18pm by nimrokon
Have retribution aura up (all the time)
make sure righteous fury is up
Make sure blessing of might is still on
cast seal of righteousness
judge seal of righteousness
cast seal of righteousness
swing away
repeat on next mob
Try to get the rest of your group to keep from casting, swinging, whatever, until after you've at least hit the primary target once or twice. Also, try to get them all to focus on the primary target (the charms help a lot).
You can use Hammer of Justice to stop a mob in its tracks to judge righteousness again and hopefully pull aggro back or give the group time to kill it. You can cast blessing of protection on someone to prevent all melee damage to them (and usually send the mobs back to you), but note that this prevents the target from doing melee damage as well. Also, Righteous Defense will taunt up to three mobs attacking a friendly target. There are some good macros at wowwiki to help with this, but you can usually just use f(target your targets target) until you have the right person.
On longer fights (and later on when you can build aggro more quickly) start by judging crusader, the up front threat is less, but you'll do more over time).
Oh, and try not to use your bubble, this will result in any mobs on you scattering to the wind and likely killing the rest of the party.
Edited, May 7th 2007 5:18pm by nimrokon
Alright, thanks guys. I'll give it a shot and see how it goes. I'm excited to see how well (or bad) i do.
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