An Officers Guide to the Paladin Tank

[Igrado]

This guide is drastically out of date, and only applied prior to the release of Wrath of the Lich King. The thread has not been deleted yet, probably for the sake of posterity; however...

For current content, please disregard virtually everything you read herein.

I don't know how much I'll be playing WOTLK. Besides that, this guide was written over a year ago when Paladins were just setting our feet in the mainstream as tanks. It's purpose was to give Guild Leadership an overview of how the Paladin Tank works.

With that in mind, I would like to release this thread to the community, or more reasonably to the Moderators, however they wish to implement it. If someone were to write a similar guide for WOTLK, please at the very least replace my first post with a link the the new guide.

Thanks,
Igrado

Last Updated : 2007-12-21
Status: This Guide is obsolete since release of Wrath of the Lich King (World of Warcraft version 3.0) (2008-11-13).



The following posts are particularly intended to better inform Guild Masters, Raid Leaders, Officers, and other interested parties of the basics of Paladin tanking, its strengths, and its weaknesses. This is not intended to teach a Paladin how to tank; rather, it's intent is to inform those who wish to learn more on this matter. It's purpose is to be a starting point for any guild leader who is just beginning to use a Tankadin, or is considering recruiting a Tankadin, and wishes to learn more.

An Officers Guide to the Paladin Tank is contained in its entirety in the following post, followed by some specific examples of the information covered in the guide. The Guide will be as short and to the point as reasonable, with the examples, and possibly future follow-up posts, used to expound further on the topic of Paladin Tanking.

Please share this guide freely with your guildmates and friends, but be sure to provide a link back to the source here. The version located here on the MainTankadin forums will be the first copy updated any time changes are made.

(If you have a suggestion for the guide, please post it in this guide development thread. If you are an Officer or Guild Leader with a question, feel free to post it right here!)

[Igrado]

Last Updated : 2007-12-21
Status: This Guide is obsolete since release of Wrath of the Lich King (World of Warcraft version 3.0) (2008-11-13).

For current content, please disregard virtually everything you read herein.



An Officers Guide to the Paladin Tank

Basics:

Paladin threat is generated almost exclusively through Holy Damage. Three Points in Righteous Fury increases all threat from Holy damage by 90%. All of the following tanking abilities are increased by the Paladins spell damage, though coefficients do apply.

* Avenger's Shield (a pulling tool) does 494 to 602 and jumps, hitting up to three targets total. It also will daze those targets.
* Exorcism does 619 to 691 damage to a single undead or demon target at up to 30 yards.
* A target that has Judgment of the Crusader on it will have its Holy damage taken increased by up to 219.
* Seal of Righteousness adds Holy damage to each swing of the Paladin's weapon.
* Judgment of Righteousness does 208 to 228 Holy Damage.
* Holy Shield, when activated, does 155 Holy Damage per block.
* Consecration is a 10-yd AOE doing 512 Holy Damage per target over 8 seconds.
* Retribution Aura does 26 when struck and Blessing of Sanctuary does 46 upon a block.
* Avenging Wrath is available every 3 minutes and increases all damage done by the Tankadin by 30% for 20 seconds.
* Blessing of Sacrifice is available every 30 seconds, and transfers 45-104 damage per hit from the target to the tankadin for 20 seconds.


Tankadin Strengths:

* AOE tanking. Paladins have a strong ability to AOE tank, particularly against melee heavy mob groups. Consecration, Retribution Aura, Holy Shield and Blessing of Sanctuary produce large amounts of threat against an unlimited number of mobs.
* Crush "Immune". Properly geared Tankadins can be uncrushable before even entering Karazhan. In fact, overall they are more dependably uncrushable than Warriors as Improved Holy Shield grants 8 charges over 10 seconds.
* Fast/Burst Threat. Due to the way many of the mechanics work and the fact that Paladins start with a full mana bar, Tankadins can frontload threat very quickly. This allows DPS to open up against the target sooner. Additionally, the daze effect of Avenger's Shield will make sheep easier to place away from the Raid. This mechanic also allows the Paladin extremely strong burst threat for phase changes mid-battle. (credit: HonorsHammer, Cordelia)
* Long-range Taunt. While the Righteous Defense taunt is on a 15-second cooldown, it has a 40 yard range and will also taunt 3 targets off the teammate receiving Righteous Defense. As an alternative, Avenger's Shield can be used at 30 yards, easily giving over 1000 threat on up to 3 targets. (credit: HonorsHammer)
* High Threat. When main tanking a mob or boss, particularly one which does a frequent number of melee strikes, Paladin threat will build very high over the course of the fight. This increased threat ceiling allows for DPS to push themselves more and more without fear of pulling aggro, increasing overall raid DPS. (credit: Cordelia)
* Scalable Threat. Due to the high holy damage multiplier given by Improved Righteous Fury, paladin threat is easily scaled upwards to meet the needs of an encounter by stacking spelldamage and holy spell damage via gear swapping and consumables. (credit: Cordelia)
* Reactive Threat Generation. A MT Paladin can generate close to 75% of his base threat without engaging in active melee. This can be especially helpful against bosses who have reflective melee damage, or parry mechanics. (credit: Cordelia)
* CCers Protection. The many ranged threat abilities Paladins enjoy, along with the long-duration static-placement AOE spell Consecration, allow a Paladin to excell in situations where trash or boss adds are being CC'ed. The Paladin can act as protection of the vulnerable CCers by gaining initial aggro on mobs to be CC'ed from long range and providing insurance against accidental CC break or death of the player responsible for crowd control. (credit: Joanadark)
* Group Composition. While a peripheral benefit, it is still notable that in most cases a tank group will include a Paladin for their auras, regardless of the spec of the Paladin. If a Paladin Tank is employed, they will be bestowing the same auras on the other tanks in the tank group, while freeing up an additional spot in the tank group for including another utility raid member, such as a Shaman for Windfury Totem or a Druid for their Tree of Life healing increase aura, while still having the same number of total tanks. Having a paladin tank also donates an additional blessing to all raid members. (credit: Joanadark)
* Active Judgment. Because a MT or OT Paladin will melee, a judgment can easily be maintained on the target. Judgment of Light can help with healing melee dps in fights with small AE components. Judgment of wisdom can help mana-based dps maintain a higher level of mana, thus helping with long term dps. Improved Judgement of the Crusader will increase the crit chance of anyone attacking that target by 3 percent. (credit: Cordelia)
* Avoidance of tank CC. Using Blessing of Sacrifice, a tankadin can avoid certain types of CC such as gouge, sheep, and breakable fear. (credit: Cordelia)


Tankadin weaknesses:

* Silence. Any long lasting silence will shut down a Paladins ability to cast causing threat to slow or even stop. Additionally, if Holy Shield falls off, the Paladin will become susceptible to crushing blows.
* Fear. On multiple occasions Paladins can and have successfully MT'd bosses that fear. Paladins have 2 bubbles that can be used to overcome this and of course the PVP trinket. Fear is an inconvenience, not a game breaker for a prepared Paladin. In addition, tremor totems and Fear Ward are a valid way to help handle fear.
* Mana Burn. Mana Burn can seriously hurt the Paladins threat generation capacity, especially initial front-loading, as well as increase the damage they take uniquely among the tanking classes. (credit: Joanadark)
* Mana Dependency. A Paladin without mana is a Paladin without threat and susceptible to crushing blows; however, a Paladin recieves mana back from heals recieved. Due to a change in mid '07 mana is no longer recieved from over-healing. For this reason Paladins often struggle in OT'ing roles when compared to a druid as these roles are often are accompanied by decreased damage taken. An over-geared Paladin could have similar mana problems but should simply downgrade his gear. Additionally, Holy Shield provides a significant part of the Paladins threat but obviously does not proc when the Paladin is not being struck.


Recent Changes:

* Stamina. Previously Paladin tanks had around 1200 fewer hitpoints compared to similarly geared Druids and Warriors. This is no longer the case as the changes to the Combat Expertise talents in patch 2.3 place a properly specced Tankadin at no notable disadvantage in this area. A Paladin tank with a typical tanking spec will gain a 16% boost from Stamina. Druids gain 45% and Warriors, 5%.

[Igrado]

Specific Examples and Explanations
by Cordelia



AOE tanking
While this is commonly thought of as most useful during trash pulls, it is also extremely useful for dual-boss situations. In cases that traditionally require 2 tanks, the Tankadin can very effectively hold high threat on both mobs, as long as the tankadin has enough effective health to survive spike damage.

Examples:
* Attumen & Nightbane
* Karazhan ballroom trash
* Moroes and his adds
* Romulo & Julienne
* Wizard of Oz
* Murlocs on Tidewalker
* Hydross adds
* Mt Hyjal trash



Crush Immunity
Due to 8 charges over 10 seconds, it is almost impossible for a raid boss to use up the charges on Holy Shield.

Examples:
* Prince Malchezzar
* Morogrim Tidewalker


Fast/Burst Threat
Examples:
* Curator evocation phase
* Illhoof increased damage phase
* Prince Malchezzar Phase 2
* Hydross phase change
* Doomwalker phase change
* Leotheras whirlwind aggro dump



Long-range Taunt
Examples:
* Doomwalker
* Olm the Summoner



High Threat
Examples:
* Curator
* Gruul



CCers Protection
One of the least understood mechanics of Paladin tanking, the fundamental concept is that the Tankadin should stack intial threat prior to cc, so that when cc breaks, it is the tankadin who is the target, not the cc'er. Rather than listing encounters, the examples will describe techniques. Used correctly, this can prevent many inadvertent wipes due to CC breaking, and a mob running amok among clothies (who do most of the cc'ing).

Examples:
* Avenger's Shield followed by sheep.
* Avenger's Shield/Exorcism followed by Shackle Undead.
* Avenger's Shield followed pulling the pack of mobs through and ice block trap. This method cannot target a particular mob to be cc'd, and most often will cc the closest mob.
* Initial aggro can be stacked on up to 4 non-undead targets via Avenger's Shield, Judgment of Righteousness, and a small amount of aggro can be stacked on any number of mobs by pulling them through a Consecration.
* Ideally, CC should occur before the mobs enter melee range, and the tankadin should keep consecration up on the actively tanked mob, so that cc'd mobs have to run through the tankadin's consecration to get to the rest of the raid.
* Avenger's shield greatly simplifies CC, as it will daze targets.
* Avenger's shield should not be used on targets that need to be ice trapped by the hunter in a separate place from the immediate path from mob to tankadin.



Group Composition
Obviously, both Devotion Aura and Retribution Aura will benefit a tank group in terms of Mitigation and Threat. Concentration Aura will benefit casters in encounters where interrupts are an issue. The following is a list of classes that are beneficial to group with a tankadin.

Examples:
* Warrior. Via Commanding shout, Demo shout, and Thunderclap, warriors can provide extra health and mitigation to the Tankadin.
* Warlocks. Via Blood Pact, the warlock's imp can provide extra health.
* Shadow Priest. Vampiric Embrace provides mitigation and mana from Spiritual Attunement. Vampiric Touch provides mana directly. Mana is directly translated into Tankadin threat.
* Shaman. Windfury and Wrath of Air totems both increase Paladin threat. Grace of Air can provide mitigation.
* Retribution Paladin. Provides a vast threat increase via Sanctity Aura, and Judgment of the Crusader. Provides mitigation by keeping Judgment of Light from a holy paladin refreshed. Provides an increase in raid DPS via Santified Crusader.



Active Judgment.
Judgment of Wisdom procs not only on melee attacks, but spells, wands, and ranged auto-attack. Judgment of Light procs only off melee attacks.

Examples:
* Judgment of Wisdom. Provides mana regen to the raid on a scale similar to Shadow Priests' vampiric touch. For casters who go OOM, using a fast wand to auto-attack will provide burst mana regen.
* Judgment of Light. Provides 95 healing to melee dps on 50% of attacks. Greatly beneficial to dual-wielders, resulting in healing in excess of 100 hps. Very helpful in encounters where melee dps takes extra damage that needs to be healed by the healers.
* Judgment of Justice. Prevents melee trash from fleeing encounters and drawing adds. Will also decrease movement speed of kited mobs.
* Judgment of the Crusader. Increases holy damage done benefitting threat and retadin dps. Improved Seal of the Crusader (if talented) provides raid-wise dps boost, increasing all crit chances on the recipient target by 3%.



Reactive Threat Generation.
A Paladin has passive and reactive threat generated from Holy Shield, Retribution Aura, Blessing of Sanctuary, Spiritual Attunement, Seal Refreshes. A Paladin has non-melee threat generated from Exorcism, Consecration, Judgment, Avenger's Shield(if applicable), Healing(if applicable). It has been shown that Tankadins can completely disengage certain bosses and still hold very high threat. Disengaging has the advantage of eliminating reflective damage and parry damage.

Examples:
* Prince Melchazzar
* Kael'thas



Avoidance of tank CC
Examples:
* Moroes. A true OT is tanking Moroes on this encounter. A non-cloth wearer should stay 2nd on the aggro list for Moroes. This player should remain close to, or in melee range of Moroes. The tankadin should place Blessing of Sacrifice on the this player shortly before a gouge is expected. Moroes will gouge the tankadin, attack the 2nd on the aggro list, immediately un-gouging the tankadin, and Moroes will retarget the tankadin.


(The "Specific Examples and Explanations" section of this guide was developed by Cordelia. Many thanks for this great effort.)

[Igrado]

Raid Level Boss Guide - Tankadin Evaluation

For more boss-specific overviews, please see Cordelia's Raid Level Boss Guide - Tankadin Evaluation. The Raid Level Boss Guide briefly states how a Paladin is advanted or disadvantaged in comparison to use of a simlarly geared Warrior or Druid. This guide can be a great help as you coordinate your Guild's tanking team for maximum effectiveness, particularly on new encounters.

[Igrado]

Last Updated : 2007-12-21
Status: This Guide is obsolete since release of Wrath of the Lich King (World of Warcraft version 3.0) (2008-11-13).

For current content, please disregard virtually everything you read herein.

[Igrado]

You can also find this guide on
WOW-US Paladin Forums
Tankspot


A big thank you to all who helped me write and modify this guide and to those whose advice has guided me along the way in my own career as a Tankadin! Now I'm gonnna stop writing and play the game for a while, haha!

[Dorvan]

Try to make those latest changes as soon as you can, but looking good....stickied!

[Ghinzu]

Very nice, might translate this in french.

[Igrado]

Very nice, might translate this in french.

Absolutely, If you'd like to translate it to French, I'm sure we can get it hosted here and I can let you know of any and all changes.

[Gerilith]

An obvious weakness is that we, to a certain level, rely on reflective damage, making it hard to tank pure caster mobs who do not melee much or even at all.
(Saw this at the trash to Gorefiend...Consecration was not possible since sheeps were set around, no possibility to interrupt and pull into a cons-safe zone and therefore threat that sucked pretty much.

[Igrado]

The guide is due an update, but I just got into a guild with a lot more requirements out of me. I'll be focusing on meeting those req's this week. I will update the guide next week.

[Karathos]

note: fearward is presently available to the horde. The 'disadvantages' section should be amended to address this change.

[Derbish]

The list of fights showing where we do well and not so well would be a great addition to this guide. It gives a lot of good, specific examples of where and how protection paladins make a difference.

The link is here: http://www.failsafedesign.com/maintanka ... sadvantage

[Igrado]

Last Updated : 2007-12-21
This version is accurate for WoW Version 2.3.0

[Damnazion]

Thanks for this guide. I will direct many unbelievers to this sight to see what our capablilities and weaknesses really are.