[Prot Paladin] Part 1 & 2 - The Basics

[Nikentic]

Paladin Tanking Part 1 – The Basics

It’s not that complicated really … but it can be tricky if you’re new to tanking or to the paladin class in general.

Things you should know about the Paladin Tank:

This time it’s all basics, boring but fundamental; and fundamentals are rather important. If you have never played a paladin, or if you just got to 80, just know that tanking as a paladin is like discovering a whole new character, it’s unlike anything you have ever done before.

While leveling your goal was to kill things as fast as possible. Now your sole mission in life is to put yourself in harm’s way and hope your healers are on the ball and the DPS is high enough. (Although any well played tank can make a healer’s job a lot easier).

This series of articles is intended for the Protection Paladin who tanks in PvE content, and wants to clear 5-Man dungeons and/or 10-25 man Raids.
Also note that the writer is of the opinion that Tanking is more of an art form rather than hard science and common sense and personal opinion weigh in as much as mathematical calculations.

Much of the content that will follow here and over the next few articles in the series, is drawn in part from the following sources:

ElitistJerks.com for the most explicit and detailed WoW theory-crafting available on the net.

TankSpot.com for the guides, videos and examples.

Let’s get down to brass tacks: the approach to playing a level 80 Protection Paladin is a complete 180 from the Retribution spec that you used to get there.

Here are some “No D’uh” basics that may seem obvious but still worth mentioning. As a matter of fact, these basic rules apply to every tank, not just the paladin.
Since I came from the ranged DPS world (lock if you must know), I won’t take it for granted that you know any more than I did when I started to tank.

Also, since there are so many people who just know this stuff already (and who like to scream NOOOOB) we figured it would be the best place to start for anyone who hasn’t tanked at all.

If you’ve never tanked, do a few runs in some regular Northrend dungeons with these things in mind. And it sure wouldn’t hurt to take along someone who is an experienced tank to give you even more pointers (Zmack for instance).

• The Paladin is the Master of AoE Tanking since most of your abilities hit multiple targets.

• As a rule, you (The Tank) control the positioning of the mobs/bosses: always face mobs away from the raid – DPS goes UP when attacks come from behind mobs. Don’t make the whole raid run around the mob, YOU turn the mob so that the raid is always behind what you’re tanking.

• DPS will rise dramatically the less time they have to spend getting into position. The joust move is the best way to get to the right spot. Strafe through the mob(s) and then spin to face the raid. You will be in front of the mob and the raid will be behind them – with as little wasted time as possible. This is tanking 101. Good tanks always turn mobs, stupid tanks don’t. Don’t be a doofus.

• Since you control the positioning of the boss (and mobs): Move as little as possible unless the situation demands it. You’ll get more out of the entire raid’s DPS if they can just sit there and face roll their rotation, (especially true for melee … think Patchwerk). Again, don’t move if you do not absolutely have to. It can make the melee DPS guys absolutely hate your guts if they are constantly having to get behind/closer/overthere/overhere/closer/behind – statue tanking is best, make the mobs come to you (There is an ability commonly referred to as “Taunt” for such situations).

• Try to keep your back to a wall and avoid knock-backs if necessary. Strafe through mob groups and then back up to a wall. Mobs are programmed to try to get behind you. Standing against a wall cuts that sort of nonsense out.

• When positioning, NEVER turn your back to mobs, you cannot Dodge, Parry or Block from behind. Instead Strafe, so that the boss or mob is never “behind” you. If you need to move, always move backwards or strafe. This is one of the most subtle differences between a good tank and a crummy one. Once you learn to do this properly you will be able to tell who is a good tank in one or two pulls.

• It may look like I’ve already said this, but Strafe, Strafe, Strafe. Once you engage mobs keep your face (or cheek ; ) to them, and if you must move, do NOT turn and run, learn to strafe in flat arcs (see figures below). Good tanks will actually look a little drunk most of the time. Running sideways and banging into walls all the time. But what a luscious sight for the rest of the raid – especially the healers.

• This may seem silly but Oh so important: Don’t get out of range of your healers … or Line of Sight for that matter. This is easier for a paladin than a warrior. Warriors like to charge and it can be a real pain for a healer to have to run to get in range. Try to pull mobs so that you pull them into range instead of running headlong away from healers.

• Don’t engage the Boss until your healers have full Mana … you’ll live longer A tank’s first priority is to make sure that he is behaving responsibly toward those responsible for him. Annoy healers at your own risk. It’s common courtesy to take a glance at your healer’s mana pool before you make some gigantic pull.

• It’s best if everyone is ALIVE when you start a pull, wait for the healers to rez your dead friends (who probably dies because you missed a mob on that last trash pull). Pulling early is the cause of more wipes on trash than any other single thing. Overly aggressive chain pulls put too much pressure on healers trying to rez AND catch back up to the heals they could have been making if you weren’t being a knucklehead.

• Once you choose your talents in the Protection tree for the first time, remember to train them up … level 1 spells/abilities aren’t all that useful in Heroics, or anywhere else for that matter. This seems stupid, but a brand new spec often can include a touch of forgetfulness when it comes to skills you’ve never trained before.

All kidding aside, Tanking is a High Stress job, if you wipe or people die, it’s usually your fault (usually).

Here’s a little graphical depiction of what we’ve been talking about:

This is a pretty typical pull in most 5 man dungeons. This is a 5 man group with a Paladin (P/T), Rogue (R), Warrior (W), Warlock (L), and Healer (H). We have a pull of 3 mobs coming up where the (P) is a patrol and there is also a Caster (C) and Mele (M).

At the pull the rogue is stealthed out in front near the patrol. Wait until the patrol is moving away from the group. As the patrol crosses the face of the caster, that paladin tank runs right up to the group and begins to generate aggro (more on this in another article).

The warrior follows along with the rogue – but since our tank knows exactly where to put the group of mobs, the healer and lock can just stand still and begin to DPS the caster (or heal, of course).

As soon as the tank pulls (where the straight line becomes a curve), he turns to his left and strafes left up against the wall and drops his Consecration.

This will pin the mobs to his face with their backs to the group in perfect position.

His back is to a wall so that the mobs cannot get behind him, and his melee buddies can stand in one place and hit all three mobs from behind without moving an inch. Plus, the Lock and healer haven’t moved an inch since the pull began.

They can just noggin roll their keyboards or even AOE with no worries.
If something does go wrong and it becomes necessary to move, the tank can just make the flat strafe arc to the far wall. (Let’s say the mobs drop a void zone or some other nasty thing).

Strafe left while turning right a bit will actually keep the rogue and warrior from having to move more than a few steps – keep the tank’s face to the mobs, and the ranged won’t have to move at all.

You run the long way around so that everyone else moves as little as possible and are always attacking from behind. Plus, you get your back against another wall and keep the mobs in a nice tight little cluster. Just remember to strafe in circles around mobs.

Now that you have the bare essentials in mind let’s move on to: Tanking Mechanics, Basic Stats, Combat Ratings, Gearing choices (Mitigation vs. Avoidance), Threat Generation, Professions, Enchantments and Gems, but I have a feeling that most of you want to see the Talent Build first.


So we’ll start with that and build the rest of these articles around this since it’s the core of the character.
My preferred Tanking Build as of patch 3.1.3

I’ll highlight the important ones and give a brief reasoning behind my choice, let you mull it over for a while and answer questions next time when we cover the next topic:

Divinity – Rank 5/5
Increases all healing done by you and all healing effects on you by 5%. (Makes you easier to heal.)
Improved Righteous Fury – Rank 3/3
While Righteous Fury is active, all damage taken is reduced by 6%. (Single largest threat generation tool available, you WILL lose aggro without it.)
Blessing of Sanctuary – Rank 1/1
Places a Blessing on the friendly target, reducing damage taken from all sources by 3% for 10 min. In addition, when the target blocks, parries, or dodges a melee attack the target will gain 2% of maximum displayed mana. Players may only have one Blessing on them per Paladin at any one time. (Big mana boost and damage reduction.)
Spiritual Attunement – Rank 2/2
A passive ability that gives the Paladin mana when healed by other friendly targets’ spells. The amount of mana gained is equal to 10% of the amount healed. (OOM tank usually = wipe … )
Ardent Defender – Rank 3/3
When you have less than 35% health, all damage taken is reduced by 30%. (Gives your healers a chance to catch up, it has saved our raids more times then I can count.)
Redoubt – Rank 3/3
Increases your block value by 30% and damaging melee and ranged attacks against you have a 10% chance to increase your chance to block by 30%. Lasts 10 sec or 5 blocks. (Block Value = DPS= Threat= Good!)
Guarded by the Light – Rank 2/2
Reduces spell damage taken by 6% and gives a 100% chance to refresh the duration of your Divine Plea when you hit an enemy. In addition, your Divine Plea spell is 100% less likely to be dispelled. (Divine Plea should be up on every fight that will last longer then 30 seconds, this makes it almost permanent and is more then 50% of your Mana regen)
Pursuit of Justice – Rank 2/2
Reduces the duration of all Disarm effects by 50% and increases movement and mounted movement speed by 15%. This does not stack with other movement speed increasing effects. (This ability is Crucial for movement intensive fights, Heigan the unclean, Anub’Rekhan, Malygos, Ignis, Razorscale etc.

These are the more important talents and/or the ones that need an explanation.

Next time: Combat Ratings (Hit, Defense, Block value, Dodge, Parry etc). Start with the basic build and the fundamental tanking tactics covered above and before we’re through you might be able to say you DOMINATE!

Credit : Paladin Tank Basics For WotLK » Dominate Your Server

[Nikentic]

Any tank worth his weight in a raid knows that you have to get Defense capped, be un-critable and have 540 Defense, wait … don’t those all mean the same thing?. Indeed they do:

Here’s how this works Every character has a base 400 defense skill at level 80 (5 def skill /level … like every other weapons skill in the game). Every enemy in the game has a 5% chance to land a critical hit on a player of equal level to them.
This increases by 0.2% for every level of difference. Simply put a level 82 Heroics boss (max level for enemies in 5-man heroic dungeons) will have a 5.4% chance to get a critical hit on a player. Raid bosses are level 83, therefore they have a 5.6% chance to crit you.
Why so much importance on this one stat?
Simple because it can make the difference between a one shot and a whole night of wipes that are all your fault! Raid bosses aren’t exactly sissies some can hit quite hard: 27-32,000 (Mitigated by Armor) points of damage on a fully decked out Plate-wearing tank is the standard for Patchwerk’s Hateful Strikes.
You need 2 tanks (3 on 25-man) to take him, if he lands a single critical strike on any of the tanks they will die … period. Then with no one to absorb this, he’ll move down the list of threat until he’s wiped your entire group. So, being uncritable is ESSENTIAL to tanking.
4.92 Defense Rating = 1 Defense Skill
25 Defense Skill = -1% to get Crit
Therefore 25*5.6 = 140 Defense SKILL (above the 400 Base for being 80 = 540) to become completely uncritable. 140*4.92 = 689 Defense RATING.
Heroic bosses Only require 535 Defense Skill => 664 Defense Rating to be def capped .
Since “Tank Gear” items come with Defense Rating on them, when you see Flamewatch Armguards that have a 43 Defense Rating you should know that it translates to 8.74 Defense Skill.
The reason it’s called a “Defense Cap” is because that’s the point of diminishing returns (See below)

25 Defense Rating also give you +1% chance to be missed AND +1% chance to Dodge, Parry and Block (each). Simply put for every 123Defense RATING (=25 Defense SKILL) beyond your “cap” you won’t gain any more crit reduction (can’t go below “0″) but you’ll still benefit <=1% avoidance (Hit, Dodge, Parry. ( Keep reading for Block)

Dodge Rating: 39.53 Dodge Rating = +1% chance to Dodge an enemy attack.
This stat is affected by Diminishing returns. It is a rather complex and complicated formula that will not be covered by this guide. Suffice it to say that the above ratio changes boyond 25% and it take quite a bit more to get to 26%.

Parry Rating: 49.18 Parry Rating = +1% chance to Parry an enemy attack. Just like Dodge this is subject to Diminishing returns but you can see that it’s not as valuable as Defense rating for adding avoidance. Parrying an attack means that your next weapon swing (white strike) will happen faster.

Obviously this has more impact on slower (2-Handed) weapons but since regular melee attacks count for a smaller portion of your DPS (and Threat), it’s not as valuable as other stats.

Block Value: This is simply the amount of damage blocked by your shield when you successfully block an attack 1 Block Value = 1 Point of damage blocked.

Block Rating: 16.29 Block Rating = +1% chance to block. It is important to note that this stat DOES NOT suffer from diminishing returns. Where block Value was the amount blocked, Block Rating is the % chance of actually blocking.

Now bear in mind that depending on the circumstances, it is generally better to avoid damage altogether (Avoidance) then have it reduced (Mitigation), but there will be an entire chapter dedicated to this discussion later on in the series. Suffice it to say for this chapter that Block is by far the cheapest stat to attain (per point).

On a side note to this Block Value is reportedly getting a massive increase in the next patch (3.2).

Hit Rating: 32.79 Hit Rating = +1% chance to Hit with Melee and ranged attacks. All DPS should be familiar with this particular stat. For Paladins (and all Melee) the hit cap is 8% (5% base +1%/level difference).

5+3 = 8%. Therefore (8*32.79) you need 263 Hit Rating to be Hit Capped, and although it is important to some degree it is far less important then Defense Rating.

26.23 Hit Rating = +1% chance to Hit with Spells … but for Paladins this only applies to Righteous Defense, so we won’t be spending any more time on Spell hit Rating.

Just know that Casting and Melee are different and that for all intents and purposes the Protection (and Retribution) Paladin is considered a Melee class

Armor Penetration: 12.31 Armor Pen = +1% of your target’s armor is ignored. Armor Penetration basically ignores that amount of your enemy’s armor when calculating damage. Also it is one of the few stats that do not suffer from diminishing returns … the more you stack it the more you get … Because it’s %-based it has a greater impact on Melee mobs then it does on Casters (usually wearing cloth) but still counts. This is mostly used for Melee damage dealers, since tanks is not ment to do much damage.

Expertise: 8.2 Expertise Rating = +1 Expertise Skill (Just like Defense this can become a little confusing …) 1 point of Expertise Skill reduces the chance that your attacks will be Dodged or Parried by 0.25% each. This means that every point of expertise skill reduces the chance that your attacks will be avoided by .5%.

Expertise will affect normal “White” swings and Hammer of the Righteous . Expertise will NOT affect any of the following spells: Judgments, Avenger’s Shield, Righteous Defense, Shield of Righteousness.

Since these attacks cannot be Dodged or Parried (you can still miss however)
Note here that Expertise, Dodge, Parry and Armor Penetration are some of the key stats that Blizzard is using to regulate difficulty in End-Game content.

This particular stat (Expertise) is more important for Melee DPS and the soft cap would only apply if you’re hitting a boss from behind. Being a tank however would make that virtually impossible.

So for the Paladin tank stacking Expertise along with Hit rating is probably the best alternative since there isn’t all that much choice when it comes to gear.
You can try to get a set of gear that is more focused on this stat but I would not Gem specifically for it unless I’m trying to activate a socket bonus … and even then there are other options out there (Stamina/Strength).

Crit Rating: 45.91 Crit Rating = +1% chance to Critically Hit. A critical hit deals double damage and although they are fun to see and look nice they are probably not as effective as Hit Rating for overall damage output and threat generation.

Haste Rating: 32.79 Haste Rating = 1% Haste. Increases auto attack speed and reduces cast time and global cool down by 1% … 1% of 150 ms …
Large amounts may help a little but they are not worth gearing or gemming into especially since all of your spells/abilities are instant (Excorcism is getting a 1.5 sec cast time in Patch 3.2).

Well we covered the advanced stuff now let’s review the basics,
Strength: 1 Strength = 2 Attack Power = .14 DPS weapon damage (white swings). 2 Strength = 1 Block Value (1.3 with Talents) … and Divine Strength. Basically Strength is GOOD !

Agility: 52.08 Agility = +1% chance to Dodge and +1% chance to crit with Melee. 1Agility = 2 Armor.
Not a bad stat for a tank when you look at it … Avoidance, mitigation and threat all in one, but still not nearly as efficient (Itemized) as strength.

Stamina: 1 Stamina = 10 Health. 10 Stamina = +3 Spell Power thanks to Touched by the Light talent. If you factor in Sacred Duty, Combat Expertise and Blessing of Kings that adds up to ~26% increase: 10 Stamina = 12.6 Health.

You can NEVER have enough Health, it is probably the single most important stat you can get after Defense Rating. Even if you don’t hit hard or miss often, it helps you out by keeping you alive … as long as you’re alive you still stand a good chance of beating any enemy (vs instant wipe if you die…).
It is the stat you should be gemming for and the higher-end gear will always have more of it. It is also cheaper as far as itemization goes: 24 Stam = 19 SP = 32 AP

Intellect: 1 Intellect = +15 Total Mana. Also 166.7 Intellect = +1% chance to Crit with Spells. The only spell that can crit is Exorcism. Every other ability uses Melee crit chance and is unaffected by Intellect… (Think Agility : )

Spirit: Increases Mana regen but is useless for a Prot paladin and negligible at best for a all paladin specs. (Although MP5 is getting a massive upgrade in Patch 3.2 it’s real effects for Prot paladin will not change)

Now that we’ve crammed all this data in your skulls and your brain cells are overheating just trying to remember it all, we’ll give you a few days to cool off before we move on to the next article in the series: The Great Debate – Avoidance vs. Mitigation.

Hopefully this gave you a better understanding of the details and the mechanics of combat so that you can get a more complete overall picture of what each of these mean to you. We’ll cover how to use them and their implications as we move along in the series. Now that we’ve laid the groundwork, get out there and DOMINATE.

Credits : Prot Paladin Tank Combat Ratings » Dominate Your Server

[obox]

you just copy pasted it and thats it ? maybe use some colors or such ...everyone can ctrl c ctrl v

[Nikentic]

I didn't copy paste. I read it, changed it so the information actually is correct. There is not many that reads Dominate Your Server, so i though this would be good information for everyone.

[Suckaah]

RESPECT for taking the time to write all that mate....
A wall of awesomeness +Rep

[tezzarist]

good job dude wish i had this when i first started tanking on my pally. keep em comming looking foward to more of your posts

[Skeetss]

That was quite the wall of text. the only prob is I already play and raid with a prot/holy pally lol.