Understanding the Tankadin.

[Holyssa]

Heyo folks.

I figure I'd post this to help our friends & family better understand just how the tanking paladin does it's thing: all this info comes from some very knowledgeable folks over at the Maintankadin Forums, and I think it would do some good to share this stuff.

"But Holy, all you gotta do is consecrate crap, chuck shields, get hit a lot, roll your face on the keyboard..."

No, nubsauce. Very bad generalization there and I see it every damn day. Read on: this will help our raiders & 5-man folks get a more comfortable grasp on how the Prot Pally functions, and help calm some suspicions on this class's strengths & weaknesses as well as clarify how to make a tankadin's job easier (ex - Leotheras).

At the end of this topic, I'll post some of my own commentary.

"An Officers Guide to the Paladin Tank

by Igrado

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 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 received 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 Class Changes:

* Stamina. Previously Paladin tanks had around 1200 fewer hit points 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%.

----------------------

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

* Illidan

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."

Edited March 3, 2008 by Holyssa

[Holyssa]

Raid Level Boss Guide - Tankadin Evaluation

by Cordelia

Karazhan

Boss : Attumen the Huntsman

Advantaged

A fairly well geared paladin tank or a marginally geared paladin tank backed by well geared healers can easily double tank the entire encounter. This makes transitions easier. The paladin's ability to generate large amounts of threat on undead mobs very quickly allows DPS to ramp up almost immediately.

Boss : Moroes

Advantaged

A paladin has the ability to aoe tank several mobs if his gear or the healers are up to the task. Alternatively, you can have an offtank tanking one of the melee adds in the corner with Blessing of Sacrifice on him, which will break the gouge debuff.

Boss : Maiden of Virtue

Minor Disadvantage

Silence makes this encounter more difficult for a tankadin to generate threat and remain uncrushable.

Boss : Opera Event : Big Bad Wolf

Minor Advantage

The paladin can use ranged aggro abilities while the wolf is chasing LRRH around the stage. This is a minor advantage, but still something warriors and druids are unable to do.

Boss : Opera Event : Romulo and Julianne

Advantaged

A sufficiently geared paladin tank can easily double tank and generate threat on both mobs. This reduces the healing load and amount of movement during the encounter.

Boss : Opera Event : The Wizard of Oz

Null, Minor Advantage

A paladin tank can tank multiple mobs during this encounter more easily than a warrior, and just as well as a bear tank ... but this usually isn't necessary because of the mechanics of this fight. No huge advantage here.

Boss : The Curator

Null, Minor Advantage

The ability to burst our threat during evocation phases may make it slightly easier to kill him.

Boss : Shade of Aran

Null, Minor Disadvantage/Minor Advantage

This mob is not tankable. Warriors have more utility because of their ability to interrupt a school of magic. Tankadins can easily control 2-4 elementals via consecration, judgment, melee damage, and avenger's shield.

Boss : Terestian Illhoof

Advantaged

A paladin tank can tank every mob in the encounter, easing the healing load and allowing DPS to go all out, all the time. Also pretty much the only way to do the encounter without a warlock AOE tank.

Boss : Netherspite

Null, Minor Advantage/Disadvantage

The only disadvantage for a paladin tank is an inability to take over the green beam because of the mana pool reduction. A paladin has a bit of an advantage generating snap threat because Netherspite is a demon boss. This is useful during transitions to prevent Netherspite from eating the DPS right after a banish phase.

Boss : Nightbane

Disadvantage/Minor Advantage

The fear mechanic makes this fight trickier for a paladin tank. It can be done with the 2 min CD PVP trinket and bubble and decently fast DPS, but it is significantly easier for a warrior tank to stance dance. A paladin must also sacrifice a trinket slot to tank this encounter. This disadvantage is nullified with fear wards/tremor totems. A paladin's ability to attack Nightbane while he is airborne is useful preventing Nightbane from targetting others with his breath attack, and upon landing. AE tanking the spawns in stage 2 is a significant advantage.

Boss : Prince Malchezzaar

Strong Advantage

Paladins can generate threat on the demon lord very easily, which allows DPS to start immediately (instead of using white damage only for an entire phase 1 as some groups do). Paladins are also considerably less crushable vs. fast hitting bosses such as the Prince, which makes healing the encounter considerably easier. Paladins can completely disengage Prince during Phase 2, utilizing only passive threat generation, which almost trivilializes Phase 2.

Gruul's Lair

Boss: High King Maulgar

Null/Minor Advantage

Tankadins do not need a misdirect to pull their own target, freeing up a MD for others. Avenger's Shield needs to be used very carefully, and a Judgment is recommended as a pulling tool. Tankadins can tank Blind-Eye or Maulgar equally as effective as other classes. Tankadins have a slight advantage tanking Olm, as they can hold aggro on the felhunters while waiting for warlocks to enslave.

Boss: Gruul

Disadvantaged

Silencing effect opens up periodic vulnerability to crushing blows due to being prevented from using Holy Shield while silenced. Lack of fast-movement ability such as Intercept or Feral Charge to use after knock-backs prevents a Paladin from ensuring they stay in melee range, which can cause a melee DPS player to die to a Hateful Strike if the Paladin is off-tanking, or at best causes the boss to be constantly moving around the room chasing the Paladin if the Paladin is main tanking. Shield Wall and Last Stand are simply too powerful an advantage to give up in favor of using a Paladin tank, and they go incredibly far towards solidifying a kill in the later growths which would have resulted in a wipe using a Paladin tank.

The only advantage a Tankadin has in Gruul's is faster and more consistent threat gen, which is not insignficant if DPS is constantly threat-capped.

Magtheridon's lair

Boss: Magtheridon

Minor Disadvantage/Minor Advantage/Advantage

At 30% Magtheridon shatters the walls of his lair, causing the roof to crash down on the entire raid. This deals 5250-6750 physical damage to every member of the raid. Warriors can use shield wall or last stand to mitigate this. Tankadins can only resort to bubbling to mitigate this, but must cancel the bubble quickly to ensure no aggro loss. Topping off the tank prior to shatter should eliminate the need for last stand/shield wall/bubbling, though. Tankadins have an advantage tanking the initial adds for the Magtheridon encounter. They can tank the first two adds at once, and allows dps to start aggro early in a very time intensive encounter. Tankadins also have an advantage picking up Magtheridon and positioning him when he spawns.

SSC

Hydross

Null/Minor Disadvantage/Strong Advantage

Tankadins have a threat disadvantage on mobs that cannot be blocked, as well as a slightly tougher time gearing for resistance. Consecration by the MT helps control the adds before the OT's are able to hold aggro on them.

Tankadins are advantaged in their ability to control up to 2-4 of the adds at once, with the correct gearing.

Lurker Below

Disadvantage/Minor Advantage

Not having intercept means the off-tank has to tank longer, lowering our threat and increasing the chances for something odd to happen, like a spout starting on the OT. Slight advantage in snap aggro on the adds.

Morogrim

Minor Advantage/Strong Advantage

Tankadins can output a lot more threat than other tanks on a boss with an slowing attack.

As murloc tanks, tankadins save up to 3 extra raid slots, dramatically benefitting raid dps.

Karathress

Disadvantage/Advantage

For tanking karathress himself, tankadins are at a slight disadvantage, as they cannot intervene out of spitfire range (which is used in some strategies). For tanking the shaman, they are by far the worst tank due to high burst and no crushings. For tanking the priest, they are disadvantaged due to lack of a spell interrupt. Tankadins are advantaged at tanking the hunter due to their ability to easily hold aggro on both targets.

Leotheras

Advantage

Whirlwind occurs often and clears the aggro table. A paladin's ranged attacks (Avenger's Shield, Judgement) can more quickly return aggro to the tank, thus allowing for dps to start sooner. For tanking demon form, we are able to divine shield out of the debuff stack. Unlike a warrior tank, we are very unlikely to get mind controlled. Tankadins are great at killing inner demons too.

Vashj

Advantage

Phase 1/3 - we can freedom ourselves out of roots or even generate aggro from range. Phase 2- ranged multiple target taunt makes picking up and tanking multiple nagas easy.

The Eye

Boss: Void Reaver

Advantage

The high threat generation of a tankadin allows him to hold aggro through multiple knockbacks.

Boss: High Astromancer Solarian

Advantage

Tankadins are strongly advantaged during the portal phase when multiple adds are summoned.

Boss: Al'ar (Phase 2)

Disadvantage/Advantage

During Phase 2, Al'ar will apply a debuff on the current tank that reduces armor by 75%, and so Al'ar must be taunted off by another tank immediately. As Warrior/Druid taunt is on a shorter cooldown, and both classes have backup taunts available in case of a resist, it is much easier to have them on the boss.

Tankadins are capable of solo tanking the adds, opening raid slots for more dps.

Boss: Kael'thas Sunstrider (Phases 4 and 5)

Disadvantage/Minor Advantage

During Phase 4, Kael will occasionally shield himself and begin to chain-cast three Pyroblasts at the MT. They hit for ~40k base damage, which is reduced in half by the buff given by the Cosmic Infuser (healing mace). It is up to the DPS to burn through the shield and interrupt Kael as quickly as possible. The first Pyroblast will almost definitely go through, but is absorbed by the Phaseshift Bulwark's use effect. The second Pyroblast should be interrupted, but in the event that it is not (particularly on learning attempts), a Warrior can use Last Stand and a Nightmare Seed to put themselves well over the 20k mark, thus surviving the Pyroblast with some hit points to spare. They can also use Shield Wall. Without Last Stand, the Paladin must use a combination of PW:S, Major Fire Prot Potion, Nightmare Seed, and the badge trinkets. On the other hand, if it is absolutely certain that the third pyroblast will be interrupted, the Paladin can bubble, taking no damage. The risk of this is that the third pyroblast will target a different raid member, if not interrupted.

Additionally, Tankadins take more spell damage than a warrior(3%, 6% or 10% more depending on talents).

Tankadins have an advantage tanking Telonicus: He can simply bubble out of the Remote Toy if he gets it. A tankadin can AE tank 3-4 weapons, freeing up a tank spot for another DPS or AE. The tankadin can kite or tank phoenixes: Paladin ranged abilities allow allow them to grab the phoenixes without entering melee. If correctly used toghether with Consecration, the tankadin can just kite the phoenix around without taking any damage.

Mt Hyjal

Rage Winterchill

Advantage

Tankadin superior threat generation will simply make this fight shorter

When Ras casts death and decay onto the tanking position, the paladin will be able to continue producing threat with ranged spells while the warrior/feral usually has to wait out of melee range.

Anetheron

Kaz'rogal

Strong disadvantage

Mana burn substantially reduces tankadin threat, exacerbated by the DPS-race nature of this encounter.

Tankadins can possibly blow up melees if they are not careful enough, using the full hitbox-range. As it is possible for the tankadin to explode, it is more stress for the healers and costs more mana to keep the tankadin alive.

Azgalor

Disadvantage

Silence for 6 seconds, not capable of being exactly timed with HS and troublesome regarding threat, and no oh-###### buttons if too many healers are silenced.

Archimonde

Disadvantage

Archimonde's fear mechanic makes this more difficult for tankadins.

Black Temple

Reliquary of Souls: Phase 1: Essence of Pain

Advantage

There is zero healing in this phase and tanks cycle control of the boss relying on blocks and avoidance to stay up. As a class which relies on blocks tankadins can possibly tank 2 whole non-enraged portions. Ardent Defender is a strong advantage for Tankadins here.

Essence of Desire (Reliquary of Souls, Phase 2)

Impossible

Essence of Desire will occasionally cast a debuff on the Main Tank called Deaden that increases damage taken by a large percentage. It must be spell reflected onto Essence of Desire. She also applies an aura onto the raid that reduces everyone's total mana by an increasingly large percentage as the phase progresses. Typically it takes 4 or 5 Deadens to kill her, and as even one missed or accidentally interrupted Deaden can mean a wipe on learning nights it is definitely not possible to use a non-Warrior MT for that phase unless your DPS outgears the encounter by a currently unreachable margin.

Essence of Anger (Reliquary of Souls, Phase 3)

Strong Advantage

Seethe increases threat generation by 300% for 10s. A tankadins burst threat mechanic scales perfectly with this, allowing a massive frontloading of threat. Essence of Anger periodically uses an attack that burns mana, rage, or energy from everyone in front of him. It burns up to 100 rage, or somewhere around 4000-5000 mana. It also does damage based on the amount of rage or mana burned. Tankadins can mana dump more effectively than druids or warriors, minimizing damage taken during this phase. Tankadins steady mana intake from Spiritual Attunement is enough to hold aggro, after the initial threat burst from Seethe. Tankadins can spike mana regen by purposefully taking damage(first mana burn), mana potions, and dark/demonic runes.

(Holy sez: there were other BT bosses listed, but no tips provided for. Omitting the empty spots for space's sakes, but will paste em in should the original topic get updated)

World Bosses

Doom Lord Kazzak

Doomwalker

Minor Advantage

Burst Threat and Snap Aggro with a Long range taunt allows the tankadin to pick up Doomwalker easier during phase changes.

Edited March 3, 2008 by Holyssa

[Volonazra]

Very nice guide

[Holyssa]

Hm...I think that's all the (useful) stuff. And I do apologize for the Great Wall of Text. Now to post some personal Q&As Holy gets from people every so often:

Q: If a paladin generates so much threat, why am I still pulling aggro & getting my butt kicked?

A: You gotta remember that a paladin's spellpower doesn't scale the same way as oh say...a mage or a warlock. It's also the only damage source unaffected by Resistances: it will either hit, or miss, and a mob's armor mitigation does not impact this damage at all.

Now, one can just say: why not do your ranged-taunt thingamajig? Because it's only going to hold their attention for a few precious seconds before a slap to the face will finally get the mobs attention. Like warriors & druids, it takes a bit of patience for the Paladin to get a situation under control rather than going apesh*t & frantically nuking the instance into oblivion.

The way I look at it is this: if you want to better time your DPS bursts and not make the Paladin grumpy at the poor sap with a death wish, here's a few tips-

~ Don't open up ASAP. Much like warriors and their 3-Sunder rule, Paladins kind of have a similar rule of thumb:

-Let a paladin Consecrate if possible. Count down to three ticks (3 seconds). Four is fine also, but not recommended in a timed fight where each moment costs precious DPS.

-See that heuge hammer that comes down on a mob's head? That's not a Super Mario Bros. gimmick - it's a Paladin using Judgement of Righteousness on a mob, which is a typical form of burst DPS. Think of it like it was a Heroic Strike. This usually follows the consecrate ticks, or it's done immediately upon getting in range of a mob.

-Watch your paladin's behavior. If the shield is glowing & constantly being raised, it's most likely a successful block, which contributes to our threat generation.

~ Misdirect is your best friend. Got a caster mob that is being a jerk? Toss it onto them and lay on the DPS. If a paladin is out of Line of Sight, hopefully the threat produced will cause the mob to follow in hot pursuit.

~Time your spells. If a paladin pulls a massive group (and this is very good to keep in mind for LoS pulls), watch out when you toss Heal Over Time spells: the mobs may be running, but the lack of initial burst damage from the paladin may have them go for the healers first!

Q: I'm trying to run a buddy or two through an instance. Just how much punishment can one tankadin take?

A: Paladins are famous for one annoying trait: it takes forever to kill one. In T4 or better/equal gear, it's very possible to pull an entire instance such as SM: Cathedral (from start to finish), Sunken Temple (the dragon chamber), 3 or 4 squares in Stratholme, Scholomance (several miniboss rooms), and many others that aren't too caster-heavy.

In modern-day content, treat the pally as you would any other plate-wearer or feral druid: just because it's tanking 5 mobs in one pull and doing a good job at holding aggro doesn't mean the day is won. And keep in mind: with Spiritual Attunement, 10% of the healing you do contributes to it's mana pool.

Q: I'm about to enter a PuG. My tank is a paladin. How do I know if this guy is good or not?

A: Check their gear or talents. A good tankadin should have anywhere over the 11k HP mark in pre-Kara gear if they did their homework, and a decent selection of BoE blue armor from blacksmiths & world drops. If their spell damage is around the 150-200 mark, they should be able to hold their own in terms of caster threat should the group play it safe.

Be forewarned: A tankadin using a non-caster weapon (Sun Eater, King's Defender, crafted BS BoPs, Arena melee weapons) is either:

A. Someone very new to the concept. Most likely they don't have the time, gold, or rep to get a Continuum Blade or Crystalforged Sword, which are two of the cookie-cutter pre-Kara tanking weapons. Toss this fellow some Wizard Oil every now and then to help threat generation. Don't gripe if you and your buddies end up with Blessing of Salvation (-30% Threat) either: a reduction in DPS is much better than losing your life to a very unlucky/stupid DPS burst.

B. Ret. Yep, I've seen it a lot: they insist they can tank well (and can sometimes do decently, given the circumstances), and yet they are wearing almost all strength & stamina gear & not a single point in the prot tree save for third-tier PvP talents like Improved Hammer of Justice. It's not a bad idea, especially during the early days of Outland, but when the majority of your spellpower-based threat comes from Consecrate spam, it isn't going to look very good with other casters in the group trying to go AoE-crazy, thinking it is safe as long as they see the golden smog. Beware!

Q: Is a tankadin a good healer/offhealer?

A: Based on my own experiences? Yes. And with little to no need to re-spec. I've successfully healed pretty much every Heroic as a main healer and Karazhan, with both a druid & warrior as main tank when the situation seemed grim. I don't know if it's just dumb luck, but the groups I've traveled with also had a good grasp of their class's abilities & CC mechanics. Your results may differ, however. Especially in a PuG.

Gear will play heavily into filling in this role, however. Thankfully, paladin heals are very mana-efficient even during very long battles thanks to a good portion of our plate having mana-regen or spellcrit. A good number for a tankadin to aim for in terms of offspec healing is anywhere above the +1200 range, with some buff food & pots to support themselves.

Q: Why do people say Spell Hit rating sucks for a paladin?

A: Because it only affects abilities that are already constantly active for threat generation, such as the first tick of Consecrate, or Seals, which are a consistant form of burst DPS over very long fights. Most gear such as the Amani Punisher has just enough to prevent such unlucky resists, but any more +spell hit, and you may as well spec Shockadin. Keep this in mind also if you plan on saving for the new 2.4 tankadin armor.

Melee Hit rating affects the more important spells, such as Righteous Defense, which is considered a Physical ability like a warrior's Taunt, and your chance to hit with white melee attacks. You can stack a crapton of +spellhit if you wish, but what good will it do you if the actual weapon doesn't even hit anything?

Q: I can't afford to constantly re-spec. How do I not suck when asked to PvP with buddies?

A: *slap* Dailies, foo'! But seriously, a tankadin isn't all that bad in PvP...in fact, they can be an utter pain in the ass depending on the situation. During BGs, they can provide an excellent diversion and last an incredibly long time as the opposition zergs them down, only to end up bubbling and healing as the competition rips it's hair out in frustration.

But wait,

! Mass Dispel is the only known spell that can remove our cancer-curing bubble. With Inner Focus (next spell cast is free), they can even cast it twice in a row if properly spec'd. So how can this be prevented? Luckily for us tanks, there is Stoicism, which reduces the chance your spells will be dispelled by an additional 30%. Pretty handy if you're a Retadin as well and you have the extra talent points to blow. However, don't rely on it...30% is nice, but it won't make you totally invincible.

Also, want to tick off stealthers? Lay down a consecreate, and between rogue stuns, apply Judgement/Seal of Justice. Not only will it prevent Sprinting, but the rogue/druid will be stuck in the magical golden crap while Seal of Justice keeps it stunned in place until diminishing returns kick in (roughly 4 procs), unable to stealth & resume its dirty work.

Fury Warriors and Shaman hit like trucks. If you want to lay on the hurt and still go toe-to-toe, keep your tanking trinkets on such as Scarab of Displacement, pop Holy Shield, and watch as the moron whittles down its own health via super fast attack speed & passive Holy damage. And of course, keep Retribution Aura up.

Q: I want to power level my best buddy. The character is in the 20s range. What's an efficient way to do this without running Gnomeregan or BFD a million times?

A: Two words: Scarlet Monastery.

"But Holy, that place is for the L30-ish people!"

Not entirely true. You can enter the instance as early as L20, but aggro will be insane unless you stay tucked in a corner, or just in reach of the dungeon entrance. It's recommended that your L60/70 friend goes in first, and deals with the first two pulls, especially for Cathedral since there's a mob staring right at the instance portal.

Some prep work before you do this:

~Make sure you're well geared before AoEing this place down. The mobs may be L30-40ish, but still hurt when faced in droves. T4 or equivalent gear, plus some quest blues will help nicely. Hitting the Defense Cap (490) helps considerably, but isn't mandatory.

~Petrified Lichen Guard + Felsteel Shield Spike = platemail porcupine. The poison DoT will kill runners quickly, and the spike adds passive damage alongside Holy Shield.

~Trinkets! Figurine of the Colossus or anything that can help block value/rating will keep you alive a LOT longer.

~Make sure your friend is visible on the minimap before actually killing anything. Otherwise, no XP for them, and you will look like a total dope.

~Do not let your friend buff, heal, or follow you under any circumstances. If a runner brushes by them, remind them to keep absolutely still. Even at low levels, mob aggro is very fussy unless they have constant DoTs to hold their attention (see the Lichen Guard shield).

~Repairs are gonna be iffy. If needed, dash to Brill & repair, and bring multiple shields, since Cathedral & Armory will pour on the most hurt.

And now the basics on pulling:

-Zone in, and clear the first two pulls for each wing you plan to run.

-For Graveyard (run this until they hit L25 or so, as the XP from non-elites will quickly begin to suck), run directly to Bloodmage Thalnos, hit him with Exorcism, and run back to the hallway downstairs from the instance portal.

-For Library, run directly to Doan, taking care not to aggro anyone as you make a mad dash. Although it cannot be helped sometimes, you WILL aggro at least one or two pulls, and have a nice angry mob trailing you. Don't stop to DPS them! Attack Doan, and make a dash for the hallway just before the portal. AoE the mobs down, and keep an eye out for a pair of Monks that spawn by the entryway as soon as Doan dies. Keep running this till your pal hits L30.

-For Armory, run directly to Herod's room, bubble (if you have mobs on you, since unlocking the door can be interrupted by damage), and attack the Champion. Run back with the mighty moshpit in hot pursuit, and use a corner to grab any caster patrols. Keep running this and Cathedral till you hit about L40 or so.

-For Cathedral, run directly to Mograine and attack. Don't aggro any mobs prior to this, or you will wind up with Forbearance as you bubble & open the door, wasting time as you wait for Avenging Wrath to cool down. Pull the mobs just within the end of the corridor leading to the courtyard with the fountain, using corners to catch casters.

Upon Moggy's death, you will be stuck in combat, and you cannot click the body. You have a choice at this point:

1. Go back inside and grab Whitemaine. Pull her to the start, and kill the bosses after she rezzes Moggy.

2. Run out & reset, looting the other mobs. They have an unusually quick despawn timer. This is up to your friend though, and depending on how soon he/she wants to farm the bosses.

Using this method, you run all 4 wings of SM, and reset as needed. But beware: if you're L70 and plan to run a dungeon afterwards, you must wait 1 hour after 5 resets, or you will be locked out!

And FYI - I did this method to level my hunter up long ago, gaining her about 14 levels over the course of three days (with rest), and plenty of cash to buy a mount & some blues.

Q: I need some macros.

A: Here's a few very common ones:

Figurine of the Tankadin

/use [combat] Figurine of the Colossus

/stopcasting

/cast [combat] Holy Shield

What this does is it applies Holy Shield, and activates the trinket. 120 healing (which CAN crit) per tick + 8 or more Holy Shield charges with talents = 960+ health recovered per body pile. And if you want to see this combo in action, watch

.

EZMode Paladin Taunt

/cast [help] Righteous Defense; [target=targettarget] Righteous Defense

or

#showtooltip Righteous Defense

/cast [help,nodead][target=targettarget,help,nodead]Righteous Defense

This will make it function like a Warrior's taunt: click your friend who is under attack, and then activate the macro.

The Amazing Cancer Curing Bubble, aka: Divine Shield-Dancing

/cancelaura Divine Shield

/cast Divine Shield

With two clicks, it applies the paladin bubble, and cancels it immediately. This has hundreds of different uses: it prevents Fear, removes all harmful effects, and also soaks up immensely damaging spells such as (25-man) Kael's Pyroblasts. You must be quick with this method, however. On a fast mob like Nightbane, this macro can easily cost the most aggro-happy party members their lives if you slack off!!

Crushing Blow Calculator

/script DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage("Need 102.4 combined avoidance. Currently at:",0.8,0.8,1)

/script DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage(GetDodgeChance()+GetBlockChance()+GetParryChance()

+5+(GetCombatRating(CR_DEFENSE_SKILL)*150/355 + 20)*0.04,1,0.5,0)

Long and messy. Double check it for excess spaces when you Paste it into WoW. Then activate Holy Shield & press this macro once, and look at your chat window.

If you're at 102.4%, congratulations! You're pretty much ready to take on any raid encounter, providing other stats don't muck with the number crunching.

If you're below 102.4%, try to break the 490 Defense cap to become un-crittable, and stack on some Block Rating, Dodge, and Parry. Gems will help greatly with this, as will enchants to cloaks & shoulders.

Warriors, this macro applies to you too, but replace Holy Shield with Shield Block.

Q: WTF is a Crushing Blow? How can I mitigate this?

A: Read and learn:

What it means to actually be "uncrushable".

The mechanics behind a Crushing Blow, and how to cope with it.

Q: I'm waaaay above the Avoidance cap. Is Reckoning worth putting the talent points into anymore?

A: This is a matter of personal preference, I feel. Obviously, the more Avoidance you have, the less chances you have of getting slapped around, thus having Reckoning proc a lot less, if not at all on a short fight. However, it's an amazing grinding ability when properly used, and can be a great lifesaver during messy fights like Hyjal or Black Morass, where droves of monsters come from every direction.

If you must say bye-bye to Reckoning, leave at least 1 point in the talent, and put the rest in other Protection fillers like Stoicism to further increase mitigation.

Q: Holy, I need a weapon that isn't made of suck & fail.

A: Fear not. Here's two WoWHead.com filters: both of which list a bunch of weapons with >120 spell power that are Paladin-friendly.

Tankadin-friendly Maces. (this does NOT include +healing weapons!)

Tankadin-friendly Swords.

Q: I want to re-spec from Holy/Ret to Prot for tanking, & plan to do this for a very long time. At L70, is it too late for me to do this?

A: It's never too late. However, some pieces of gear will be tougher to fill in than others depending on the quests you completed, and the rewards you chose.

A good example is the Dimensius quest in Netherstorm. Upon completion: you'll notice two of the rewards just happen to be tankadin-friendly. I've seen many pallies pick the legs because they have an insane amount of healing (pre-Heroics), and just enough spellpower to fill other roles. But how often do you see a blue-quality tanking trinket outside of dungeons that some people STILL use in their SSC/TK days? Short of farming Shadow Labs or Shattered Halls for their trinket drops, the choice for an up and coming tankadin is obvious. Grab the trinket. The legs can always be replaced with something far superior with little trouble.

If you have a jam-packed quest log and still have trouble deciding what to pick amongst rewards, consult Kaliban's Class Loot Lists. It has a comprehensive list of items from dungeons & quests so you'll be less confused over gear choices.

I'll add more Q&A as they come up.

EDIT: Oops. Fixed some links.

EDIT: Added more info as of 3/31/08.

EDIT: Added tankadin weapon lists via wowhead.com.

Edited April 4, 2008 by Holyssa

[Zebgora]

Heya Holy. I have a Tankadin Q for you. You sort of cover it in the Kara section. However the situation is slightly different.

The Saturday Kara run I do now on my prot warrior actually has a paladin as my offtank, where as Jalzin is the Main Tank. Right now he just does not have the gear/HP/Armor to tank both Attumen and The horse. But he's getting there slowly, so Im MT Attumen since Jal is better geared.

The Q is for Moroes actually. Your guide has the tankadin offtanking the adds in the corner. That sounds good but we only have two tank types in our run usually. So my paladin friend is the only one we have to be an offtank, unless another friend comes on his feral druid, which he has occasionally, but then we loose a Shaman totems. And sometimes that Shaman has to come on his priest to heal if a regular can't make it.

So we can't always bring the druid. How would you recommend my paladin offtank to help my prot warrior in building threat on Moroes? As MT I pull Moroes off to the side well away from the CC. Jalzin doesnt seem to have alot of trouble building and holding threat. However my paladin friend sometimes does due to being blinded or stunned. Making it so he is not using spells to build threat. And sometimes inevitably, somone else tops him on threat, and I can usually tell thats happened when Jal gets stunned and Moroes goes rampant into the ranged dps/healers:(

My tankadin friend has actually just registered here as a friend:) However he registered on his hunter's name, Kriojha. Hopefully he will behave himself

[Kriojha]

Heya Holy. I have a Tankadin Q for you. You sort of cover it in the Kara section. However the situation is slightly different.

The Saturday Kara run I do now on my prot warrior actually has a paladin as my offtank, where as Jalzin is the Main Tank. Right now he just does not have the gear/HP/Armor to tank both Attumen and The horse. But he's getting there slowly, so Im MT Attumen since Jal is better geared.

The Q is for Moroes actually. Your guide has the tankadin offtanking the adds in the corner. That sounds good but we only have two tank types in our run usually. So my paladin friend is the only one we have to be an offtank, unless another friend comes on his feral druid, which he has occasionally, but then we loose a Shaman totems. And sometimes that Shaman has to come on his priest to heal if a regular can't make it.

So we can't always bring the druid. How would you recommend my paladin offtank to help my prot warrior in building threat on Moroes? As MT I pull Moroes off to the side well away from the CC. Jalzin doesnt seem to have alot of trouble building and holding threat. However my paladin friend sometimes does due to being blinded or stunned. Making it so he is not using spells to build threat. And sometimes inevitably, somone else tops him on threat, and I can usually tell thats happened when Jal gets stunned and Moroes goes rampant into the ranged dps/healers:(

Yep. On the second try, the shadow priest drained my mana within the first few seconds of the fight and I found myself chugging mana pots.

However, turn undead does work on Moroes' adds. Our group has 2 priests and 2 pallies as well as 2 hunters. We have the option of shackle undead on 2 and chain fearing the 3rd or the pallies keeping an eye on the shacked targets and fearing them if backup freeze traps fail as well.

My tankadin friend has actually just registered here as a friend:) However he registered on his hunter's name, Kriojha. Hopefully he will behave himself

And I'm sure that if I don't, Zeb will be first to tell me

[Huato]

On Moroes we'd let our tankadin grab aggro on all the mobs and burn em down then go after Moroes. Fun times...and it was fast.

[Holyssa]

Heya Holy. I have a Tankadin Q for you. You sort of cover it in the Kara section. However the situation is slightly different.

The Saturday Kara run I do now on my prot warrior actually has a paladin as my offtank, where as Jalzin is the Main Tank. Right now he just does not have the gear/HP/Armor to tank both Attumen and The horse. But he's getting there slowly, so Im MT Attumen since Jal is better geared.

The Q is for Moroes actually. Your guide has the tankadin offtanking the adds in the corner. That sounds good but we only have two tank types in our run usually. So my paladin friend is the only one we have to be an offtank, unless another friend comes on his feral druid, which he has occasionally, but then we loose a Shaman totems. And sometimes that Shaman has to come on his priest to heal if a regular can't make it.

So we can't always bring the druid. How would you recommend my paladin offtank to help my prot warrior in building threat on Moroes? As MT I pull Moroes off to the side well away from the CC. Jalzin doesnt seem to have alot of trouble building and holding threat. However my paladin friend sometimes does due to being blinded or stunned. Making it so he is not using spells to build threat. And sometimes inevitably, somone else tops him on threat, and I can usually tell thats happened when Jal gets stunned and Moroes goes rampant into the ranged dps/healers:(

If Moroes gouges you, he will immediately go after the 2nd highest person on his aggro table. Having a hunter place misdirect on him isn't a bad idea, nor is having him burst DPS the boss as if it were a trash mob. Judgement of the Crusader --> Exorcism, and a dose of Wizard Oil will provide just enough spellpower to lay on burst damage, and laying down Consecrate will help substantially (keep Moroes away from CC if you plan to do this!). Also, tell your DPS to lay off Moroes himself while the tanks & CCers position mobs, making sure the biggest troublemakers (mages, hunters, rogues) have Salvation up at all times.

With any group, it's highly advisable to outright kill the shadow priest mob first. Even with Turn Evil, they can break the Fear with just a single poorly placed DoT. Shackle the melee mobs (MS Warrior, Prot Warrior, the Ret paladin), kill the Holy Paladin & Holy Priest, and keep the others under crowd control.

If needed, have your team hold off on DPS until you're absolutely certain Moroes will lunge for the tankadin after the first gouge. If he does? Keep him healed, and resume your attack until the other tank regains control.

EDIT: Just saw his Armory. Very good gear from what I can see so far, but...Unholy Weapon on the sword? Toss +40 spellpower on that marvelous blade. It's worth every gold to farm it.

Edited March 31, 2008 by Holyssa

[Zebgora]

On Moroes we'd let our tankadin grab aggro on all the mobs and burn em down then go after Moroes. Fun times...and it was fast.

Nice Huato. But your Tankadin was probably WAY better geared then ours is now. So until he is geared as well, we will have to use the old fashioned method of CC ....

With any group, it's highly advisable to outright kill the shadow priest mob first.

We always make her the first burn target. It was just that one time she got off a lucky mana burn on Illei. Which makes me think her targets for that are random. Illei had not even touched her.

Shackle the melee mobs (MS Warrior, Prot Warrior, the Ret paladin), kill the Holy Paladin & Holy Priest, and keep the others under crowd control.

We usually try to CC the mobs that can dispell crowd control. which as I understand is both paladin types and the holy priest. It just makes it more stressful for our shacklers (which we have limited anyway) for them to constantly have to reshackle because the mobs are dispelling OUR crowd control.

Very good gear from what I can see so far, but...Unholy Weapon on the sword? Toss +40 spellpower on that marvelous blade. It's worth every gold to farm it.

Yeah everyone has told him to change the enchant on his sword. He plans to but had hoped to get a better weapon first if there was one before sinking a ton of gold into mats for the Spellpower. He is very very close to revered with Keepers of Time and can maybe get the Milenium Blade from them?

[Holyssa]

Yeah everyone has told him to change the enchant on his sword. He plans to but had hoped to get a better weapon first if there was one before sinking a ton of gold into mats for the Spellpower. He is very very close to revered with Keepers of Time and can maybe get the Milenium Blade from them?

The Continuum Blade is a very good companion to the one he has now, but only if he's willing to give up +block rating (avoidance) for a tiny bit of mana. Personally, I'd keep what he has now for the avoidance, as it's a stat that matters the most for endgame life until he decides to hit the 25-mans.

And if +40 can't be afforded, +30 isn't all that bad of an alternative: http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=22749

[Huato]

Nice Huato. But your Tankadin was probably WAY better geared then ours is now. So until he is geared as well, we will have to use the old fashioned method of CC ....

He probably is now. This was before he got the T4 helm too.

Remember Bludbeard of the Sons of Dreanor? He was the pally tank for our Kara group. Grimgor was a dps warrior for same group. Good times

[Zebgora]

Oh cool! I hadnt known Bluud came back on a different toon if he ever left AD? He still come around sometimes if on a Paladin?

I suppose once Illei does have a little more endurance through Armor, then we can -attempt- your method. But rignt now, I would not trust our healers to be able to keep him up doing that. Not because they would not try but because they too are not that well geared yet.

And thanks Holy for the advice on the weapon. I'll tell him to read your advice and hopefully he will decide one way or another.

[Scryll]

He didn't come back, Zeb, they're still on Sisters of Elune. Huato's talking about his time on that server before coming back here.

[Waldonnis]

We always make her the first burn target. It was just that one time she got off a lucky mana burn on Illei. Which makes me think her targets for that are random. Illei had not even touched her.

The shadowpriest can be counterspelled or silenced, which really helps. When I brought Waldy on Sunday's run, I kept the felhunter out just to spell lock that mana burn, and waited to sacrifice him until after she was dead. If you really want to maximise effectiveness, be sure to counter/silence/spell lock/kick as she's casting mana burn, since I believe there's a cooldown on that for her. Keeping her from mana burning just about anyone is a priority that early in the fight, in my opinion...I've been on the receiving end of that as a healer and it really sucked

[Huato]

He didn't come back, Zeb, they're still on Sisters of Elune. Huato's talking about his time on that server before coming back here.

My Horde toons and theirs are still on SoE. I have a couple Alliance toons I play over here.

I had entertained the idea of moving one or two of my 70's back here, but I joined GFB and decided to stay there.

[Kriojha]

Yeah everyone has told him to change the enchant on his sword. He plans to but had hoped to get a better weapon first if there was one before sinking a ton of gold into mats for the Spellpower. He is very very close to revered with Keepers of Time and can maybe get the Milenium Blade from them?

The Continuum Blade is a very good companion to the one he has now, but only if he's willing to give up +block rating (avoidance) for a tiny bit of mana. Personally, I'd keep what he has now for the avoidance, as it's a stat that matters the most for endgame life until he decides to hit the 25-mans.

And if +40 can't be afforded, +30 isn't all that bad of an alternative: http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=22749

Okay, got the mats so all I need is to find an enchanter.

Unholy was something I placed on the weapon as an experiment and before I began to understood how a tankadin works. From the description, the proc is not affected by level and I was curious. I've come to the conclusion (apparently the same one many have come to) that it doesn't need to be because it's simply not worth it at these levels in all it's unawesomeness.

[Waldonnis]

Waldonnis can do the spellpower enchant, so just let me know when you're ready