Paladin Tanking 3.2.2+

Table of Contents

1) F.A.Q.s
2) Maximizing Specs
3) Glyphs
4) '969' and you
5) Useful Macros
6) Food buffs and Flasks
7) Addons
8) Q&A

1) F.A.Q.s

How much defense do I need?
In order to become crit immune by a level 83 mob (All raid bosses), you need 540 defense, or 689 rating. Since the highest mob in heroics is only 82, however, you only need 535 defense to be crit immune to them. If you opt to get the Gladiators Enchant, these numbers are lowered to 537/532 respectively.

What is '969'?
I will discuss this further but it refers to your rotation and how to maximize it. All paladins should give it a try, it becomes very smooth when done correctly.

What seal do I use for tanking?
I almost all situations, Seal of Vengeance will be your bread and butter.

Do I still need 102.4% avoidance to get rid of crushing blows?
Nope! Crushing Blows were removed from raid bosses and only mobs that are 4+ levels higher than you can deal a crushing blow. It's still a nice number to get to, though.

Which Blessing should I use?
In almost all circumstances, use Blessing of Sanctuary. It provides damage mitigation, strength (AP/SP/BV) and Stamina!

What is DUH?
DUH stands for 'Demonoid, Undead, Humanoid' and refers to the talent 'Crusade' and its secondary affect. Yes, Elementals is part of the secondary affect but DUH sounds more snazzy.

Does Vindication work on bosses now?
Yes, it reduces their AP by 574. It doesn't stack with Demoralizing Shout/Roar or Curse of Weakness.

2) Maximizing Specs

There are 2 good "cookie-cutter" specs for tanking. One is with Seals of the Pure and the other is with Crusade.

Seals of the Pure spec - http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#sVZV0tAbuMusIufdxsr - This one is good for general use and non-DUH (Re: Crusade) mobs. Points in Divine Sacrifice/Guardian and Vindication are purely based on what you need and playstyle.

Crusade spec - http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#sZV0tAbuMusIufdxsr0bc - This is one of the higher TPS specs if you're fighting against a DUH mob. Points in Divine Sacrifice/Guardian and Vindication are purely based on what you need and playstyle.

There are other various specs which include Conviction and/or Reckoning. The choice is yours.


3) Glyphs

Glyph of Divine Plea - While Divine Plea is active, you take 3% reduced damage from all sources.
A must have glyph. No questions asked.

Glyph of Seal of Vengeance - Your SoV or SoCorr also grants 10 expertise while active.
This is another must have in most situations. Helps with threat and mitigation against parry-hasted bosses.

Glyph of Salvation - When you cast Hand of Salvation on yourself, it also reduces damage taken by 20%.
This is a personal preference glyph. While the extra cooldown can come in handy, it may not be worth sacrificing 10% threat. Use cautiously.

Glyph of Hammer of the Righteous - Your HotR hits 1 additional target.
A nice AoE threat increase. Use depending on your role in the raid or what you're fighting.

Glyph of Judgement - Your Judgements deal 10% more damage.
A small single-target threat boost.

Glyph of Avenger's Shield - Your AS hits 2 fewer targets, but for 100% more damage.
This comes down to what you want to do. It's a very, very solid TPS increase for single-targets but you lose the AoE utility. Up to you.

Glyph of Righteous Defense - Increases the chance for your taunt abilities to work by 8%.
A missed taunt can sometimes make the difference between a wipe or not. Recommended if you're fighting bosses that absolutely require a taunt to go through (i.e. Thorim hard mode).

Glyph of Consecration - Increases the duration and cooldown of Consecration by 2 seconds.
Avoid. Screws up the 969 rotation.

4) 969 and you

For a nice guide that covers everything, go here http://maintankadin.failsafedesign.com/guides/advanced-training/969-rotation.

If you're still reading, I'll explain it. 969 refers to the cooldown on our tanking spells. What you want to do is weave the short cooldown spells in between the long cooldown spells, effectively never wasting a GCD and maximizing threat and mitigation.

It doesn't matter which spell you use first, so long as the next spell is a different length cooldown. For example - If I pull with AS and then Holy Shield, I want to use a '6' sec CD ability next (HotR for multiple, SotR for single). Next it will be a '9' sec spell (Consecration for multiple, Judegement for single) followed by a '6'. If done right, this will always have one ability off of CD that you can use.

5) Useful Macros

#showtooltip
/cancelaura Divine Shield
/cast Divine Shield

This will attempt to cancel Divine Shield before casting it. Since you don't have it up yet, it will cast Divine Shield. To remove DS, simply hit the macro again. Very useful when clearing a nasty debuff or fear while not losing aggro.

#showtooltip
/startattack
/cast Hammer of the Righteous

#Showtooltip Righteous Defense
/cast [target=mouseover] Righteous Defense

What this does is allow you to mouse over a player (in environment or raid frames) and hit the button to use your taunt and it will never drop your target. Very useful for quick taunts without hindering too much on your threat.

/run dr=function(x)return 1/(1/16+0.9560/x)end;DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage("Need 102.4 - Currently at: "..string.format("%.2f", GetDodgeChance()+GetBlockChance()+GetParryChance()+5+dr(floor(GetCombatRatingBonus(CR_DEFENSE_SKILL))*0.04)))

This will allow you to check your total avoidance on-the-fly. Just put it into a macro, put it on your hotbar, then activate Holy Shield and hit the macro.

If anyone has any more, I will gladly put them here.

6) Food buffs and Flasks and Enchants

For food buffs, you have 3 choices really. Fish Feast (80 AP, 46 SP & 40 stam), Blackened Dragonfin (40 agi & stam) and Dragonfin Fillet (40 str & stam). Dragonfin Fillet is great for threat and also provides some Block Value. Blackened Dragonfin provides straight mitigation with a minor threat boost through crit. Fish Feast provides no mitigation but solid threat.

In almost all situations, you'll want to keep Flask of Stoneblood up as it's a 1,300 HP boost (note, this is not affected by talents or raid buffs =( )

7) Addons

I recommend the following addons. Keep in mind, they are by no means a necessity, but could make your and your raid's life easier.

PallyPower - http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/pally-power.aspx
DeadlyBossMods - http://deadlybossmods.com/
Omen Threat Meter - http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/omen-threat-meter.aspx