Protection Paladin Do's and Don'ts

[l31sh0p]

I was making a Word document compiling all the information I have gathered about Prot Pallies, and decided to share it with the mmowned community.

Attributes

Strength
1 str = 2 AP, .5 block value(.65 block value specced into Redoubt)
Talented Divine Strength = 15% +str
Agility
52.08 agi = 1% dodge, 1% crit, 2 armor
Stamina
1 stam = 10 HP, .3 spell power from Touched by the Light talent.
Sacred Duty talent = +6% stam
Combat Expertise = +6% stam
Intellect
1 int = 15 mana
Spirit
Useless for any Paladin spec, especially Prot.

Combat

Defense / Defense Rating
4.92 defense rating = 1 defense
25 defense = -1% chance to be crit, +1% chance to be missed, and to dodge,
block, or parry (each)
540 defense = uncrittable
*Note* In Lich King, the level that a mob has to be to land a crushing blow on it's target eliminates Crushing Blows from the equation for raiding level 80's.
Dodge
39.35 dodge rating = 1% dodge
Dodge's equation shows diminishing returns.
Parry
49.18 parry rating = 1% parry
Parry's equation shows diminishing returns. Inferior to dodge for avoidance.
Block
16.29 block rating = 1% block
Block's equation shows no diminishing returns.
While adding threat via Holy Shield, blocking only absorbs damage equal to your block value.
Hit
32.79 hit rating = 1% physical hit; which includes Melee, Avenger's Shield, Hammer of the Righteousness, Shield of Righteousness, Hammer of Wrath, and Judgements.
26.23 hit rating = 1% spell hit; which really only applies to Righteousness Defense.
There is a Glyph that increases +hit% of Righteousness Defense by 8%
Expertise
Since only a few of the Paladin's abilities can be dodged or parried, I didn't do any research on Expertise.
Critical Chance
Crits aren't really a dependable tanking statistic, so I have left this blank as well.
Haste
While lowering the GCD by up to .5 seconds, there are far more useful stats to improve threat.
Resilience
A stat that's used for PvP, and Prot Paladins don't do very well in that department. Almost useless when compared to defense; don't use resil to tank.
Block Value
Each point of Block Value allows your successful blocks to absorb another point of damage, and causes your SoR to deal an extra point of damage.

Glyphs and Librams

Major Glyphs
I personally use the SoV expertise, Spiritual Attunement, and Righteousness Defense Major Glyphs.
Minor Glyphs
Most of these glyphs don't make an impact on your tanking; I guess the Turn Evil glyph could come in handy.
Librams
Libram of Obstruction is by far your best choice. No real need for an explanation here.

Rotation of Abilities

I personally use the 969 rotation shown below.
SoV = Seal of Vengeance
HS = Holy Shield
HotR = Hand of the Righteousness
ShoR = Shield of Righteousness
Cons = Consecrate

Prep SoV
00.0 HS
01.5 HotR
03.0 Judgement
04.5 ShoR
06.0 Cons
07.5 HotR
09.0 HS
10.5 ShoR
12.0 Judgement
13.5 HotR
15.0 Cons
16.5 ShoR

Talent Build

Once again, there are many ways you can do this. I'll show you my way.

5/60/6
Talent Calculator - World of Warcraft

If you have any questions on why I specc'd the way I did, feel free to post.

Changes being made to Paladins in the next minor content Patch:

- Divine Shield penalty changed to 50% damage done instead of an attack speed penalty.
- Divine Protection no longer causes an attack speed penalty.
- Sacred Duty: Now re-worded to apply changes to Divine Shield / Protection.
- Avenging Wrath, Divine Shield, Divine Protection, and Hand of Protection have a shared, 30-second cooldown. The Forbearance effect is no longer triggered by Avenging Wrath.
- Judgement of Wisdom now returns a percentage of base mana instead of a percentage of max mana.
- All mana drain effects now return a percentage of max enemy mana (making mana drains less punishing to paladins and other characters without large mana pools.)
- Judgements of the Pure: This Holy talent now increases the damage done by Seals and Judgements.
- All paladins receive a single-target taunt (name TBD) as a base ability.

Source: World of Warcraft - English (NA) Forums -> Consolidated list of upcoming Paladin changes




I'm sure I'll think of some other stuff later, but I guess this is a good start. Thanks for reading!

[blackfang500]

Very well done, useful for my protadin. +Repx2.

[extraspecial]

I'm not a pally player, so i'm not questioning based on the talent tree. I was just wondering - when you came up with that tree, did you actually put some theorycrafting behind your decision, or did you go with what 'felt good'?

I'm just wondering how many other people try (and in some(my) cases fail) theorycrafting on talents.

Nice guide though, well written, easy to follow. +rep for the effort.

[Creepwalker]

Don't really like that spec at all, but the rest looks good

[Yo Dawg]

Spec is perfect for maintanking, I use the same.
Nice guide, +Rep

[phreec]

The Turn Evil glyph is not a minor...

[khornn]

Good guide + rep.

I do have a question tho, I have a mana problem unless im grouped with a ret pally or Spriest, How is your mana base and how do you overcome the mana issue? Especially since there is no tanking gear specific for pallies anymore (ie no INT on gear).

[l31sh0p]

I'm not a pally player, so i'm not questioning based on the talent tree. I was just wondering - when you came up with that tree, did you actually put some theorycrafting behind your decision, or did you go with what 'felt good'?

The spec I use is for maximum TPS(Seals of the Pure), the ability to mitigate damage if I am off-tanking(Judgements of the Just, Divine Guardian), versatile buffing if I am the only Paladin in a 5 or 10-man with Kings, and 1 point into Improved Judgements because if you put 2 points in you will have overlapping cooldowns with the 969 rotation.

Reckoning with low expertise will hurt you (because of Parries) more than it will help you; Paladins don't have much trouble holding threat as is anyway.

Based on what was available, I thought this would be the best 5 and 10-man spec for a Prot Paladin. I haven't delved into many 25-mans in LK, but when I do I couldn't really think where changing any of those points would be beneficial. This spec works well and I was consistently pushing 4.5k TPS on Saph 2 nights ago.

The Turn Evil glyph is not a minor...

I was taking alot of this stuff off the top of my head, so I must have confused the Turn Evil Glyph as a Minor, my mistake.

I do have a question tho, I have a mana problem unless im grouped with a ret pally or Spriest, How is your mana base and how do you overcome the mana issue? Especially since there is no tanking gear specific for pallies anymore (ie no INT on gear).

With the changes of Blessing of Sanc., there shouldn't be any problems with mana. If you're getting hit alot because you have low mitigation Spiritual Attunement will regen a hefty amount, and as your mitigation(dodge, block, parry) increases, Blessing of Sanc. will have you TRYING to waste mana, even with a small(5k) mana pool. Judging Wisdom and using Divine Plea on every CD is a big plus too.