Table of Contents
[T_1] Protection Spec and General Overview
[T_2] Notable Talents
[T_3] Glyphs
[T_4] Gearing and Stats
[T_5] Gemming and Enchants
[T_6] Mitigation and Avoidance
[T_7] Hit Points versus Damage Reduction
[T_8] Threat
[T_9] Positioning, Movement, and Crowd Control
[T10] Openers, Rotations, and Cooldowns
[T11] Macros
[T12] Available Gear List
Disclaimer - This is and will continue to be a work in progress. This guide focuses on 85s currently getting through the middle grounds between normals and raiding, often opting for survivability with PUG and under-geared DPS in mind.
Limited familiarity with the Paladin class is required. This is not a guide on how to be a great paladin, only to fill the role of tank. Being great means knowing your strengths and weaknesses and adapting to the situation. Remember the tactics discussed here may not be the best option for your gear level. This should apply to Paladins between iLevel 315-350.
While it remains relevant, here is my Paladin, Artheo. I suggest finding an associate/friend to use as a template for yourself and a mentor. In the case that is not possible, feel free to use my paladin. I am nowhere near the best in the game, nor a dedicated Min/Maxer: I am simply doing my best to share my experiences and strategies that I know work.
[T_1] Protection Spec and General Overview
Patch 4.1 has changed the paradigm of Paladin tanking leaving 1 viable talent build:
Protection Paladin :: This build opts entirely for situational readiness. The Paladin will be switching Seals and between Hammer of the Righteous and Crusader Strike regularly. This new build opts for reduced Holy Power generation and increased swing counts to increase hit based self healing and defensive effects.
There truly is very little room for swing talent points in Paladin's current state. Despite a new appreciation for attack speed, delving into the Holy Tree requires giving up the much more potent Rule of Law. During this gearing period for the paladin, self preservation becomes somewhat difficult and proper (every CD) use of WoG becomes almost necessary. Holy Shield also is now effected by Inquisition which will now become a regular HoPo dump in AoE situations as opposed to the straight WoG spam. This increase in threat allows the Paladin to relinquish some older standbys in the search for self preservation.
Proper Seal Usage
Seal of Truth (Seal of Truth) - This seal is a substantial DPS - and therefor threat - boost to Tanking Paladins. Expertise allows our Melee abilities such as Crusader Strike to land more regularly. This seal excels in long fights because after 5 stacks of Censure, each swing deals a potent direct damage attack as well as refreshes the DoT. In fights with multiple targets, this seal can effectively be used as a bleed to keep a bit of threat building on different targets while the Paladin switches through them. This seal is highly recommended for boss fights or situations where CC or some other factor is reducing most encounters to one or two enemies.
Seal of Insight - Seal of Insight is one of the few remaining heals a Protection Paladin uses that will still generate consequential threat. While minuscule to the old values Protection Paladins used to be able to generate, using this seal effectively grants threat to all monsters engaged equal to (.75 x healing) + (1.5 x mana gains.) It is also now one of our main sources of self healing. While it completely lacks control, it is a noticeable amount especially against a constant barrage of trash packs, allowing the healer to retain mana reserves. Insight also gives enough mana for Paladins to forgo looking at their mana bars entirely, allowing constant use of spells that may otherwise drain them quickly. With all of this in mind, Seal of Insight can still be a good choice of a seal when dealing with trash packs.
Essentially, if you are going to be using Crusader Strike, Seal of Truth is a better choice. If it is beneficial to instead use Hammer of the Righteous, it is likely that Seal of Insight will carry it's weight.
Holy Power Dumps
Abilities that are a viable use of Holy Power are referred to as Holy Power Dumps. It is referred to as this because once a Paladin gets 3 stacks of Holy Power, it is generally a high priority that he/she uses them in order to not waste further Holy Power gains.
Word of Glory - Otherwise known as WoG, this heal is generally the best use of Holy Power. Although it generates no threat, like the rest of the HoPo dumps, WoG activates Holy Shield with the proper talent. Despite hesitation for the need to save WoG for emergencies, it's recommended that WoG is used every 20 seconds, as long as there are missing hit points to heal. What you do with the rest of your HoPo, while WoG is on cooldown, is up to your current situation.
Shield of the Righteous (Shield of the Righteous) - SotR is a single target shield slam which is made exceptionally powerful by the talent Sacred Duty. On single target fights, when the Sacred Duty buff is active, SotR can be the best HoPo Dump available.
Inquisition - Inquisition is a 4/8/12 second buff that drastically increases Holy Damage done by the Paladin - especially potent when using Hammer of the Righteous, Holy Wrath, and Consecration. This is not a scaling factor, such as Attack Power or Spell Power, but a straight 30% increase on top of your current damage. Because this talent now also activates Holy Shield, this has become a viable use for Paladins in situations where they cannot maintain agro through single-target abilities.
Generally speaking, SotR is best used when a Paladin is using Crusader Strike, where Inquisition is better used when using Hammer of the Righteous.
[T_2] Notable Talents
All Protection Paladins must have Toughness, Judgements of the Just, Sanctuary, Shield of Righteousness, Holy Shield, Vindication, Ardent Defender, and Crusade maxed out.
It is highly recommended that you consider Divinity, Wrath of the Lightbringer, Hammer of the Righteous, Reckoning, Grand Crusader, Shield of the Templar, Divine Guardian, and Rule of Law.
Hallowed Ground is a required talent if you wish to use Consecration. This is now one of the best talents to steal points from to use as swing points.
Sacred Duty is recommended for single target threat.
Reckoning is now a more valuable talent as most other options for self healing have been greatly diminished. It is highly recommended you use this talent to double the potency of Seal of Insight and Enchant Weapon - Mending.
Eye for an Eye is a non-nil DPS increase. Lucky procs can help secure threat on casters at a range, and over the course of long fights, it is possible for E4E to net 10-to-15% of damage done by the Paladin - it just depends on if/what the enemy is casting. For control's sake, it is recommended that you choose Improved Judgement instead.
Pursuit of Justice has been repeatedly degraded through nerfs of its Internal Cooldown. It is now recommended that you opt instead for Earthen Vitality and use your talent points elsewhere.
Judgements of the Pure is still a relatively weak talent considering a huge portion of our hits come from CD'd melee abilities, spells, and DoT ticks.
[T_3] Glyphs
For the most part, glyphs are not deal breakers for Paladins. Glyph of Seal of Truth and Glyph of Holy Wrath are the only 2 must-haves.
You should simply glyph for whichever Holy Power ability-set you are planning on using the most. Glyphing by no means restricts your options, but it is wise to figure ahead of time which moves you would prefer to be using so that you can strengthen them.
I recommend Glyph of Hammer of the Righteous and Glyph of Shield of the Righteous because they outweigh their counterparts and offer a good mix of AoE and single target threat control.
[T_4] Gearing and Stats
While gearing up, nothing beats out Stamina and Armor one-for-one for Paladin tanks. It is for this reason that it may sometimes be acceptable to use DPS Plate and even Holy Plate for brief stints. Especially in cases where secondary stats are acceptable. While keeping Stamina on the top of the list, it becomes important to choose your secondary stats correctly.
There are two different secondary objectives you must gear for: Mitigation and Threat. During the front end of this stage, the need for raw mitigation trumps the need for threat. Despite Paladins being the worst threat generators out of all the tanks, it is not often that a similarly geared player will cause threat trouble for you if you are using the correct abilities.
This does mean that it is acceptable to forgo or even Reforge Hit in favor of mitigation stats at first. Just remember that if you do not have threat, your Mitigation is worthless as well. For every bit of hit and expertise you forgo, know that somewhere down the road you may have to scramble for threat to make up for your choices.
With this balance being a constant issue, it is impossible to define a omnipotent Stat-weight chart. It is possible, however, to note the effectiveness of different stats for offensive and defensive capabilities. As the overall damage intake to these monsters grows with your group's abilities, so to will the need for your Threat output.
Defensive Stats in Order of Importance
Stamina - Hit Points, greatly boosted through Passive Abilities.
Armor - First Layer of Mitigation. 1 Mastery Rating ~ 7 Armor.
Mastery - Shield Block Mitigation.
Parry - Avoidance with slightly better diminishing returns.
Dodge - Avoidance.
Strength - Useful for Spell Power for Healing and Grants 25% Parry Rating.
Agility - Provides a minimal amount of Dodge.
Critical Strike - Useful for Healing, Deminished greatly by Rule of Law.
Offensive Stats in Order of Importance
Weapon DPS - More-so for Crusader Strike users.
Expertise - Only to 16.
Hit - Only to 8%.
Strength - Provides AP and SP.
Stamina - Provides AP through Vengeance.
Critical Strike - Provides critical hits, more useful with AoE Builds.
For current intents and purposes Strength, Critical Strike, Haste, Agility, Intellect and obviously Spirit can be ignored.
[T_5] Gemming and Enchants
Keeping stat weights in mind, all Gemming and Enchants and consumables should provide Stamina or Mitigation. Essentially, where you're trading Stamina on a 1-to-1 with Mitigation, it is wise to take the Mitigation. When you are at a 3-to-2 tradeoff, including Gems, it is wise to take the Stamina. As such, the Mastery bonuses on Hands and Feet outweigh their Stamina counterparts.
Weapon Enchant on the whole is being changed to Mending. While Mending's potency has not risen, its relative strength to the rest of the Paladin's self healing abilities has. At GS350, WoG can provide about 1200HPS, Seal of Insight can provide nearly 900, and Mending can provide 400. Furthermore, when Insight is not in use - say for a Boss fight - Seal of Truth's extra hits and DoT effect can boost this number a decent amount.
Enchants
Weapon :: Enchant Weapon - Mending
Hands :: Enchant Gloves - Mastery
Feet :: Enchant Boots - Earthen Vitality or Enchant Boots - Mastery (if you've taken Pursuit of Justice)
Helm :: Arcanum of the Earthen Ring
Chest :: Enchant Chest - Stamina
Shoulders :: Greater Inscription of Unbreakable Quartz (Lesser Version at Honored)
Legs :: Twilight Leg Armor
Shield :: Enchant Shield - Mastery
Gemming Tips
It is best to stick with Solid Ocean Sapphire for almost all slots. The only time to use a different gem is if the Socket bonus is remarkably potent and counteracts the loss of 30 Stamina. Generally speaking, if a socket bonus grants Stamina, then it is wise to socket accordingly.
For example, Helm of the Proud grants more than the 30 Stamina lost by using a green gem. Because of this, it is optimal to use a Puissant Dream Emerald instead, as it will net 20 Mastery and 15 Stamina more than a Blue Gem.
Remember that Stamina is the only stat in the game that has this 1.5 ratio and therefor makes it a wise choice in gems until you've become comfortable with your HP.
With this in mind, your Meta Gem choices are between:
Austere Shadowspirit Diamond - In most cases the best option.
Eternal Shadowspirit Diamond - A great meta that does not require 2 yellow gems, which may be the easier option at first.
As your gear progresses, the potency of these switches back and fourth, but with current BiS gear the Eternal is actually slightly on top again. Bottom line: it's not worth losing sleep over.
Never follow Gem colors for bonuses to Strength, Crit, Haste, Intellect, Agility, or Spirit, as there is no way these stats can match up to the potency of the Stamina lost.
[T_6] Mitigation and Avoidance
So how do we know when we have enough Mitigation and Avoidance? The need for +Defense has been removed from the game, but there is a very similar system in place now: the difference between taking full hits - or "white hits" - and taking only hits that have been someway mitigated before hand. This is called Block Capping.
Here's the general idea:
Mastery increases the number of blocks you perform - Mitigation - reducing many hits by some.
Dodge and Parry increase the amount of times your enemy will miss you entirely - Avoidance - reducing few hits by all.
Due to these principals, Mitigation creates control, where Avoidance creates damage spikes.
The principals at play here revolve around the fact that
Some Damage Reduction all of the Time is better than All Damage Reduction some of the Time.
This is the golden rule of tanking. Mitigation helps smooth out damage intake to help your healers adjust properly. Avoidance is unreliable and can confuse healers or even mess up their rotations. This is not to say that Avoidance is a bad stat, simply that it should not be chosen in favor of Mastery.
Avoidance has diminishing returns - as you get higher and higher rating the actual effectiveness goes down. It is also naturally harder to gain a % in avoidance due to the stat-weight. This means that Avoidance is less potent of a source of damage reduction in every way compared to Mastery.
The solution here is a happy medium. Again, there is a balance that will shift as gear progresses, but these rules ring true throughout Heroics.
Your goal is to have Avoidance (dodge% + parry%) + Mitigation (block%) = 102.4%. This will mean that no hit taken will go Unblocked or Unavoided. It does not matter how these numbers are stacked, but it is easier to accumulate Block faster than Avoidance. It will not be an easy feat to reach this number - and is likely not possible in Heroic gear. Assuming 25% Avoidance, Block Capping requires 34 Mastery, or a Rating of 4680.
Once you have reached your 102.4% goal, it is very relevant to note that Avoidance is the better option as long as you can keep the numbers high. At this point in gearing, dropping Mastery for Avoidance is viable, but it may be more intelligent to shift extra gear towards Threat instead.
[T_7] Hit Points versus Damage Reduction
The age old debate of which is more important is more alive today than ever. Many gearing strategies suggest that you stack Mastery and let Stamina come with gear, while others suggest just the opposite.
If we consider your effective Survivability at any given point in time we can agree it is a combination of your total Mitigation and your Health Pool. For instance, blocking 41% of your entire health pool is in effect granting a 41% bonus to your total health. This means that HP changes should be considered in terms of percentage change as well, as in the end any change to either stat is a change to your general survivability.
Pro Stamina
First, the way Stamina is weighted right now, it is quicker to scale up your total Survivability by continuing to stack Stamina. Secondly, we must remember that our avoidance and mitigation are compound numbers being multiplied and effected by our Buffs, Cooldowns, and most importantly Armor.
Armor effectively boosts the potency of our Health by another drastic margin - 60% physical reduction at 350iLevel. This becomes a static gain in our Survivability regardless of Block/Parry/Dodge. What this effectively does is multiply any health you get by that 60%. Again, this is not including buffs/debuffs such as Vindication and Inspiration, nor is it including Cooldowns such as Guardian of Ancient Kings. All of these effectively boost the potency of Stamina before Dodge/Parry/Block come into the equation.
Thirdly, a higher health pool effectively increases your threat generation via Vengeance, especially over long fights.
Lastly, remember that your Physical Mitigations have no effect on Spells and certain attacks. Again, for these situations Stamina wins over Mastery.
Pro Mastery
As your Health Pool increases, it takes more and more Stamina to effect the same percent change. When you have 100kHP, 50kHP is a 50% increase. When you have 150kHP, 50kHP is only a 33.33% increase. This is a valid arguement, as Mastery effectively increases survivability based on percentages as well.
Also, healing over-sized health pools can throw healers off, and when combined with poor mitigation, can quickly drain a healer's mana. Generally speaking, more health allows healers more time to assess damage intake, and more time to correct mistakes which is a good thing - but without Mitigation to match, there is nothing separating a Tank from anyone else, meaning you're not doing your job.
Also, In some cases - namely percentage based attacks - more health simply means more for the healer to have to heal through. Examples of this can be found all throughout Heroics (Gravity Strike), and through select boss encounters as well.
This is a personal call, but again a happy medium is your best bet.
It is my personal advice that you stack Stamina until you are very comfortable with your Health Pool. At least 150kHP group buffed is required to ease healer's jobs. I would aim for 150k unbuffed before swapping over to Mastery Stack - this takes a lot of Stamina.
Edited, Feb 17th 2011 3:20am by tzsjynx
Edited, May 18th 2011 12:48am by tzsjynx
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- A Supplemental Guide to Paladin Tanking -- 4.1
A Supplemental Guide to Paladin Tanking -- 4.1Follow
[T_8] Threat
The other half of tanking revolves around threat, and making sure you are the one being attacked so that you can put your mitigation to use. It is important that you understand and have control over both types of threat:
Direct Threat - Direct threat is caused by direct damage to a target. This threat is persistent and continuously building as your group continues to damage your target. It is important that a tank continues to produce direct threat on targets that are being directly attacked by group and raid members. With Righteous Fury active, all threat gains are multiplied by 3 (boosted by 200%).
Every tick of a Damage over Time spell does a 1-for-1 threat based on damage (with any other threat modifiers). This means that Warlock and Shadow Priest DoTs can be extremely annoying to keep up with, but also means that Seal of Truth can be a huge source of threat.
Consequential Threat - This indirect form of threat is caused by a number of other global events happening throughout pulls. Most defensive casts generate bits of threat and certain buffs can cause massive amounts of threat. As an encounter goes on, healing and mana gains can quickly rack up their own consequential threat at a rather alarming rate. It is also noteworthy that a handful of player-applied debuffs generate additional threat. It is important to counter this threat with either Direct Threat on all engaged targets, or your own Consequential Threat.
As a general rule, healing spells generate 50% of total heals done as threat to all active monsters within 40 yards. Certain heals have now been altered to no longer give threat: Word of Glory, Holy Radiance. This means that WoG spam is no longer useful in maintaining threat. Seal of Insight and Enchant Weapon - Mending do 1.5x (.5 healing x 3 Righteous Fury) the amount healed to all active monsters within. Mana Gains generate threat similarly to Heals. Mana gains over time work similarly with Damage over Time. This means that, inversely, Seal of Insight is a great way to counteract Consequential Threat. It also means that Judging provides more Threat than simply the Damage it does.
Taunting - Taunting (Hand of Reckoning and Righteous Defense) has a very simple mechanic. These abilities simply match your threat with the person with the highest threat, and then add 10% to your threat level against those monsters (effectively granting you agro) - this will not work if you're already top of threat. This means that the longer the fight and the more threat being dumped on that target, the more threat this ability will net the Taunter. Inversely, it means that Taunting can be a poor choice for counteracting Consequential Threat.
Taunting is to recuperate from lost threat, but does a poor job establishing initial threat. When taunt is used to pull, it gives the Paladin Proxy agro and nothing more (essentially the same as if you walked up close to it and didn't hit anything.) For this reason, it is highly suggested that you pull with other abilities. If you lose threat, Taunting and then immediately attacking with a powerful attack is much more effective than attacking and then Taunting. This is a standard maneuver that all tanks should understand and utilize.
Agro - Having agro (AKA aggro - aggravation - enemy fixated on you) is actually a bit different than threat. Once agro is established on a player, it takes a full 10% above that player's total threat to re-establish a new agro target. This means that once you secure agro for yourself, you also have a 10% buffer in which the monster will remain fixated on you before breaking. It is important to recognize this difference when attempting to regain lost agro.
Proxy-agro is when a player causes enemies to engage by entering their agro radius. This act alone generates no threat, but effectively secures agro on that player. The problem is that since no threat is established, 10% above no threat is any threat-generating action. This means that proxy agroed adds can generate an obnoxious amount of chaos, AND that once a player gains agro of one of these enemies, that agro will again have to be overcome by 10%. The longer you allow this agro to evolve, the more threat will be required to gain agro. It is almost always better to nip this in the bud early and secure agro on yourself as opposed to letting these adds run a muck.
Avenger's Shield - Avenger's Shield will damage and silence up to 3-non-CC'd enemies in close proximity of one another.
Avenger's Shield should be focused explicitly at casters when pulling, in order to insure that they engage you. It is also for this reason that for PVE situations it is generally advised that you stay away from Glyph of Dazing Shield. Avenger's Shield is also an effective threat gain once combat has started. It can be useful in repositioning and interrupting multiple casters at once, and can significantly raise your DPS. Grand Crusader has the potential to grant many renewed cooldowns of Avenger's Shield during a fight, making this ability almost spammable at times. As your current battle comes to a close, make sure you're saving a Cooldown for the next pull.
Keep in mind that Mind Control has a double-taunt effect. The act of MCing creates massive threat on the Priest, for a few seconds after MC breaks, threat builds at rapid rates again against the Priest. Compounded on this, while the Monster is MC'd, your consequential threat does not effect it because it is considered an ally. With this in mind, it is often good to save Hammer of Justice, Hand of Reckoning and Avenger's Shield when breaking MC.
Using this knowledge, breaking most CC's properly requires utilization of these tactics. Taunting first, followed by Avenger's Shield to silenced the target to assure it will approach you. Proper acquisition of agro, proper maintenance of threat to maintain control. You're job is done!
[T_9] Positioning, Movement and Crowd Control
As a Paladin, there are many reasons for you to hunker down somewhere, but that does not mean that movement will not become very necessary. Throughout dungeons and raids, it will oft be necessary for you to change where you're standing. Just keep in mind, every time you move you lower Melee DPS and run the risk of Line of Sighting your healer.
Positioning Rules:
Always keep all targets within 30m of yourself. Always keep all targets in front of you. Try to keep active monsters in a tight area no bigger than 10m in diameter (smaller than your Consecration.) Keep CC'd monsters at a distance of at least 15m, again no further than 30m. When picking off CC'd targets, use Avenger's Shield and Taunt to pull them to your location, you should not have to move much at all for this. Avenger's shield will not hit CC'd targets unless they are targeted directly. If a CC'd target breaks and runs all the way to your group, consider it now part of the active targets and acquire adequate threat. Re-adjust kill orders appropriately. If a CC'd target breaks and begins casting instead of moving, use Taunt and wait for him to be re-CCd. Remember to boost your Consequential Threat any way possible. Always leave room for melee to be on the back half of the targets, this includes when moving from ground damage/debuffs. It is generally best to face the monster away from the rest of the group, this includes the healer. A sort of Y shape can accomplish this.
Crowd Control Break Order (not including very short duration CCs):
Pet Tank > Root > Fear > Sap > Repentance > Mind Control > Hex = Freezing Trap > Hibernate = Elemental Bind = Sheep > Banish
[T10] Openers, Rotations, and Cooldowns
Opening the fight requires that the Paladin counteracts a flurry of fresh short term CD's being used on the target within the same time frame. For this reason, depending on the group, it may become necessary for the Paladin to utilize high-threat openers. When not necessary, skip to rotations.
Generally Accepted Openers:
AoE Opener:
Avenger's Shield -> Judgement -> HotR -> Holy Wrath -> HotR -> Consecration -> HotR -> WoG
This will effectively lock threat on your primary target, and also grab massive amounts of threat from everything else in the general area.
Single Target Standard:
Avenger's Shield -> Judgement -> CS -> Holy Wrath -> CS --> CS -> SotR
This will yield a respectable amount of damage off relatively quickly and finish off the opener with a potent shield slam.
Single Target Skillshot:
Divine Plea -> Inquisition + Avenging Wrath + Exorcism -> Avenger's Shield -> Judgement -> CS -> Holy Wrath -> CS --> CS -> SotR
This will net the Paladin with such a ridiculous amount of threat off the bat that, assuming no hits were missed, the Paladin will be able to stop DPS entirely without DPS catching up. As such, this move is great for encounters such as Foe Reaper 5000 or Slabhide in which the boss mechanics take him out of your effective range and allow DoTs and Ranged DPS to build up an obnoxious amount of free DPS without you. I also suggest using this against Throngus as there is a good chance you will need to kite right off the bat.
Note that Judgement is in every opener. This is because Judgement activates Judgements of the Just which drastically reduces damage from the target. Judgement also activates Judgements of the Wise to help keep mana flowing.
Also, it is very important to realize the tactical advantage of using Holy Wrath when fighting Dragonkin and Elementals. As an opening move, the stun provides increased time for you to acquire threat on your targets. Use once your targets are within range if applicable.
Practical Priorities List:
Single Target Priorities:
3 Holy Power + Sacred Duty SotR > Judgement > 3 Holy Power SotR > Avenger's Shield > Crusader Strike > Hammer of Wrath (when available) > Holy Wrath
Here, you are essentially fishing for Sacred Duty procs. If you have 3 Holy Power, but not Sacred Duty, and Judgement is ready to use, then use Judgement in order to fish for the buff. You should never SotR without 3 Holy Power unless you desperately need Holy Shield - even here I would suggest 1HoPo Inquisition instead. When on a single target, or having issues maintaining control of a single target, Shield of the Righteous is the more secure way to maintain agro on any given mob. For most intents and purposes, Inquisition does not make up the Holy Power lost to be worth using over Shield, especially with Sacred Duty.
AoE Target Priorities:
WoG Self > WoG Other > Inquisition > SotR > HotR > Judgement > Avenger's Shield > Consecration > Holy Wrath > Hammer of Wrath (when available)
Word of Glory has been cut out of our threat options. WoG no longer generates any threat, regardless of the situation, leaving any strategy revolving around heals-for-threat moot. Inquisition helps fill in the gaps of lost threat. Inquisition is primarily an AoE HoPo dump to drastically increase the spell damage factor of Hammer of the Righteous. The spell also now grants Holy Shield, making SotR a bottom priority HoPo dump when on multiple targets.
AoE Tanking as a Paladin has changed to be too complicated to be simply written down as a priority list. Essentially, a huge portion of self-healing threat is gone, and must now be made up for using Inquisition. Unfortunately, because we do not get the same buff as Retribution Paladins, a 3HoPo Inquisition still will only last 12 seconds, meaning it needs to become a regular part of your rotation. Another trick to help gain Consequential threat is to burn excess mana when using Seal of Insight and Judgements of the Just. Like overhealing, mana gains past 100% are not tallied and therefor do not generate any threat, so making sure that these mana gains are still happening is a good way to stay above Healers in this department.
As a Paladin gaining ridiculous amounts of Mana, it becomes a huge waste for you to not use Cleanse. Many healers are unable to cure both Poison and Disease, and curing can easily cost as much as a heal. Cleanse is instant, so it will not effect your melee timer, and it can drastically change the outcome of battles. Just remember to only cure off Diseases and Poisons that are worth it. Generally speaking, ones that last less than 5 seconds aren't worth the effort, nor are ones that are constantly being reapplied.
Notable Offensive Cooldowns include Avenging Wrath and Divine Plea with the Shield of the Templar talent. These should be used frequently, or even added to main abilities via Macros in order to assure they're being put to use.
Pertinent Defensive Cooldowns include Ardent Defender, Divine Protection, Divine Guardian, Guardian of Ancient Kings, Lay on Hands, Hand of Salvation, Hand of Protection, Hammer of Justice, Holy Radiance, and any defensive Trinkets.
Basic Defensive Cooldown Rules:
Defensive cool downs should be generally saved in cases of emergency (be they large or small). This becomes less and less important as you become familiar with instances, encounters, and group members' abilities. Grouping of select Defensive cool downs can prove effective, but it is very important to note that in many cases, Defensive cool downs lose potency when used in conjunction. It is generally advised to use as few as necessary to comfortably survive a crisis. As a general principal, start with your weaker and quicker defensive cool downs when available, and gradually use better and better ones if emergencies continue to arise or remain unsolved.
[T11] Macros
Macros are an incredibly useful tool for all WoW players primarily because they allow more spells to take up fewer hotbar slots. Lack of comprehension in Macros leads many players to label them as clumsy, ugly, impractical, or lazy and as such it will be beneficial to clear up a few things and show share some tricks that make Macros worthwhile.
General Macro Tips
If there is one command everyone should know and understand in Macros it is the #showtooltip command. At the beginning of a Macro, this command by itself will figure out which spell is next in line for cast and show the proper tooltip, timer, and cast availability. It can be honed in on a certain spell or item CD via specification:
Furthermore, using the blank icon and a (space) as the name for your macro, the #showtooltip command will look so much like a real spell that you may need to double check that it actually is your macro.
If there is one command nobody should play with without some familiarity, it is /castsequence. This one command is the sole reason so many new Macro engineers give up the craft long before their time. The problem is so many players want to make cast sequences, but this macro is extraordinairly deceptive in the fact that doing so can create a real mess. Truthfully, this is best used for swapping between 2 or 3 abilities on long CDs, in order to allow those CDs to take up less space.
Copy/Paste Macros
Remember that for best results, leave the icon the default [?] and the name blank (space.)
I am inclined not to give a description on what these Macros do. I believe players that are interested should learn the language based off what was shown here after examining it. Simply put, throw these on your hotbars - whatever they look like, they probably do, but give them a test. See what they're doing and why so that you will be able to change and manipulate them to your own needs on the fly!
[T12] Available Gear Lists
A list is being compiled soon. Many thanks to Bigdaddyjug for his pre-heroics gear list.
Edited, Feb 19th 2011 3:51am by tzsjynx
Edited, May 15th 2011 2:32am by tzsjynx
The other half of tanking revolves around threat, and making sure you are the one being attacked so that you can put your mitigation to use. It is important that you understand and have control over both types of threat:
Direct Threat - Direct threat is caused by direct damage to a target. This threat is persistent and continuously building as your group continues to damage your target. It is important that a tank continues to produce direct threat on targets that are being directly attacked by group and raid members. With Righteous Fury active, all threat gains are multiplied by 3 (boosted by 200%).
Consequential Threat - This indirect form of threat is caused by a number of other global events happening throughout pulls. Most defensive casts generate bits of threat and certain buffs can cause massive amounts of threat. As an encounter goes on, healing and mana gains can quickly rack up their own consequential threat at a rather alarming rate. It is also noteworthy that a handful of player-applied debuffs generate additional threat. It is important to counter this threat with either Direct Threat on all engaged targets, or your own Consequential Threat.
Taunting - Taunting (Hand of Reckoning and Righteous Defense) has a very simple mechanic. These abilities simply match your threat with the person with the highest threat, and then add 10% to your threat level against those monsters (effectively granting you agro) - this will not work if you're already top of threat. This means that the longer the fight and the more threat being dumped on that target, the more threat this ability will net the Taunter. Inversely, it means that Taunting can be a poor choice for counteracting Consequential Threat.
Agro - Having agro (AKA aggro - aggravation - enemy fixated on you) is actually a bit different than threat. Once agro is established on a player, it takes a full 10% above that player's total threat to re-establish a new agro target. This means that once you secure agro for yourself, you also have a 10% buffer in which the monster will remain fixated on you before breaking. It is important to recognize this difference when attempting to regain lost agro.
Proxy-agro is when a player causes enemies to engage by entering their agro radius. This act alone generates no threat, but effectively secures agro on that player. The problem is that since no threat is established, 10% above no threat is any threat-generating action. This means that proxy agroed adds can generate an obnoxious amount of chaos, AND that once a player gains agro of one of these enemies, that agro will again have to be overcome by 10%. The longer you allow this agro to evolve, the more threat will be required to gain agro. It is almost always better to nip this in the bud early and secure agro on yourself as opposed to letting these adds run a muck.
Avenger's Shield - Avenger's Shield will damage and silence up to 3-non-CC'd enemies in close proximity of one another.
Keep in mind that Mind Control has a double-taunt effect. The act of MCing creates massive threat on the Priest, for a few seconds after MC breaks, threat builds at rapid rates again against the Priest. Compounded on this, while the Monster is MC'd, your consequential threat does not effect it because it is considered an ally. With this in mind, it is often good to save Hammer of Justice, Hand of Reckoning and Avenger's Shield when breaking MC.
Using this knowledge, breaking most CC's properly requires utilization of these tactics. Taunting first, followed by Avenger's Shield to silenced the target to assure it will approach you. Proper acquisition of agro, proper maintenance of threat to maintain control. You're job is done!
[T_9] Positioning, Movement and Crowd Control
As a Paladin, there are many reasons for you to hunker down somewhere, but that does not mean that movement will not become very necessary. Throughout dungeons and raids, it will oft be necessary for you to change where you're standing. Just keep in mind, every time you move you lower Melee DPS and run the risk of Line of Sighting your healer.
Positioning Rules:
Crowd Control Break Order (not including very short duration CCs):
Pet Tank > Root > Fear > Sap > Repentance > Mind Control > Hex = Freezing Trap > Hibernate = Elemental Bind = Sheep > Banish
[T10] Openers, Rotations, and Cooldowns
Opening the fight requires that the Paladin counteracts a flurry of fresh short term CD's being used on the target within the same time frame. For this reason, depending on the group, it may become necessary for the Paladin to utilize high-threat openers. When not necessary, skip to rotations.
Generally Accepted Openers:
AoE Opener:
Avenger's Shield -> Judgement -> HotR -> Holy Wrath -> HotR -> Consecration -> HotR -> WoG
This will effectively lock threat on your primary target, and also grab massive amounts of threat from everything else in the general area.
Single Target Standard:
Avenger's Shield -> Judgement -> CS -> Holy Wrath -> CS --> CS -> SotR
This will yield a respectable amount of damage off relatively quickly and finish off the opener with a potent shield slam.
Single Target Skillshot:
Divine Plea -> Inquisition + Avenging Wrath + Exorcism -> Avenger's Shield -> Judgement -> CS -> Holy Wrath -> CS --> CS -> SotR
This will net the Paladin with such a ridiculous amount of threat off the bat that, assuming no hits were missed, the Paladin will be able to stop DPS entirely without DPS catching up. As such, this move is great for encounters such as Foe Reaper 5000 or Slabhide in which the boss mechanics take him out of your effective range and allow DoTs and Ranged DPS to build up an obnoxious amount of free DPS without you. I also suggest using this against Throngus as there is a good chance you will need to kite right off the bat.
Note that Judgement is in every opener. This is because Judgement activates Judgements of the Just which drastically reduces damage from the target. Judgement also activates Judgements of the Wise to help keep mana flowing.
Also, it is very important to realize the tactical advantage of using Holy Wrath when fighting Dragonkin and Elementals. As an opening move, the stun provides increased time for you to acquire threat on your targets. Use once your targets are within range if applicable.
Practical Priorities List:
Single Target Priorities:
3 Holy Power + Sacred Duty SotR > Judgement > 3 Holy Power SotR > Avenger's Shield > Crusader Strike > Hammer of Wrath (when available) > Holy Wrath
Here, you are essentially fishing for Sacred Duty procs. If you have 3 Holy Power, but not Sacred Duty, and Judgement is ready to use, then use Judgement in order to fish for the buff. You should never SotR without 3 Holy Power unless you desperately need Holy Shield - even here I would suggest 1HoPo Inquisition instead. When on a single target, or having issues maintaining control of a single target, Shield of the Righteous is the more secure way to maintain agro on any given mob. For most intents and purposes, Inquisition does not make up the Holy Power lost to be worth using over Shield, especially with Sacred Duty.
AoE Target Priorities:
WoG Self > WoG Other > Inquisition > SotR > HotR > Judgement > Avenger's Shield > Consecration > Holy Wrath > Hammer of Wrath (when available)
Word of Glory has been cut out of our threat options. WoG no longer generates any threat, regardless of the situation, leaving any strategy revolving around heals-for-threat moot. Inquisition helps fill in the gaps of lost threat. Inquisition is primarily an AoE HoPo dump to drastically increase the spell damage factor of Hammer of the Righteous. The spell also now grants Holy Shield, making SotR a bottom priority HoPo dump when on multiple targets.
AoE Tanking as a Paladin has changed to be too complicated to be simply written down as a priority list. Essentially, a huge portion of self-healing threat is gone, and must now be made up for using Inquisition. Unfortunately, because we do not get the same buff as Retribution Paladins, a 3HoPo Inquisition still will only last 12 seconds, meaning it needs to become a regular part of your rotation. Another trick to help gain Consequential threat is to burn excess mana when using Seal of Insight and Judgements of the Just. Like overhealing, mana gains past 100% are not tallied and therefor do not generate any threat, so making sure that these mana gains are still happening is a good way to stay above Healers in this department.
As a Paladin gaining ridiculous amounts of Mana, it becomes a huge waste for you to not use Cleanse. Many healers are unable to cure both Poison and Disease, and curing can easily cost as much as a heal. Cleanse is instant, so it will not effect your melee timer, and it can drastically change the outcome of battles. Just remember to only cure off Diseases and Poisons that are worth it. Generally speaking, ones that last less than 5 seconds aren't worth the effort, nor are ones that are constantly being reapplied.
Notable Offensive Cooldowns include Avenging Wrath and Divine Plea with the Shield of the Templar talent. These should be used frequently, or even added to main abilities via Macros in order to assure they're being put to use.
Pertinent Defensive Cooldowns include Ardent Defender, Divine Protection, Divine Guardian, Guardian of Ancient Kings, Lay on Hands, Hand of Salvation, Hand of Protection, Hammer of Justice, Holy Radiance, and any defensive Trinkets.
Basic Defensive Cooldown Rules:
[T11] Macros
Macros are an incredibly useful tool for all WoW players primarily because they allow more spells to take up fewer hotbar slots. Lack of comprehension in Macros leads many players to label them as clumsy, ugly, impractical, or lazy and as such it will be beneficial to clear up a few things and show share some tricks that make Macros worthwhile.
General Macro Tips
#showtooltip
If there is one command everyone should know and understand in Macros it is the #showtooltip command. At the beginning of a Macro, this command by itself will figure out which spell is next in line for cast and show the proper tooltip, timer, and cast availability. It can be honed in on a certain spell or item CD via specification:
#showtooltip Avenging Wrath
Furthermore, using the blank icon and a (space) as the name for your macro, the #showtooltip command will look so much like a real spell that you may need to double check that it actually is your macro.
/castsequence
If there is one command nobody should play with without some familiarity, it is /castsequence. This one command is the sole reason so many new Macro engineers give up the craft long before their time. The problem is so many players want to make cast sequences, but this macro is extraordinairly deceptive in the fact that doing so can create a real mess. Truthfully, this is best used for swapping between 2 or 3 abilities on long CDs, in order to allow those CDs to take up less space.
Copy/Paste Macros
#showtooltip /castsequence reset=20 Word of Glory, Inquisition #showtooltip Avenger's Shield /cast Avenging Wrath /cast Avenger's Shield #showtooltip /castsequence [@target], [@targettarget] reset=8 Hand of Reckoning, Righteous Defense #showtooltip /cast [help] Cleanse; Judgement #showtooltip /cast [nocombat, harm] Exorcism; Crusader Strike #showtooltip /castsequence Ardent Defender, Guardian of Ancient Kings
Remember that for best results, leave the icon the default [?] and the name blank (space.)
I am inclined not to give a description on what these Macros do. I believe players that are interested should learn the language based off what was shown here after examining it. Simply put, throw these on your hotbars - whatever they look like, they probably do, but give them a test. See what they're doing and why so that you will be able to change and manipulate them to your own needs on the fly!
[T12] Available Gear Lists
A list is being compiled soon. Many thanks to Bigdaddyjug for his pre-heroics gear list.
Edited, Feb 19th 2011 3:51am by tzsjynx
Edited, May 15th 2011 2:32am by tzsjynx
Reserved for future use. Bumped for 4.1.
Necro Warning: This post occurred more than thirty days after the prior, and may be a necropost.
Reserved for future use.
Reserved for future use.
I like it, very informative, particularly the gearing section. I was struggling with some of that myself, and I really learned a lot about how I should be gearing from that. There are a couple things I would like to suggest though. First I would like to suggest a section on proper seal usage between Seal of Insight and Seal of Truth. You implicitly mention it throughout the article, but I would like to see an explicit explanation of when to use which seal, and the benefits/drawbacks of each. Also I would like to see a stat goal for beginning raids. Not a BIS pre-raid list, but like X amount of stamina, Y amount of Mastery, etc... That being said, this is very well put together and I can tell you've speant a decent amont of time on this.
I'll add your suggestion about seals at the top and later in some of the rotations so it will appear wherever the mentioning of seals is.
As for appropriate stats, as always it's going to depend on the DPS and especially the healers. I will say, though, that offtanking and especially Main Tanking raids is far easier than heroic dungeons, and generally the gear requirement is no higher. There are a few targets that stick out in my mind in which some serious gear is required, so perhaps I can list those explicitly. I'll see if I can figure out a bare minimum and I already have my own levels for what I would suggest. I'll get them up there as well.
As for appropriate stats, as always it's going to depend on the DPS and especially the healers. I will say, though, that offtanking and especially Main Tanking raids is far easier than heroic dungeons, and generally the gear requirement is no higher. There are a few targets that stick out in my mind in which some serious gear is required, so perhaps I can list those explicitly. I'll see if I can figure out a bare minimum and I already have my own levels for what I would suggest. I'll get them up there as well.
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