Protection paladin FAQ

[Deleted]

This is my attempt at a protection paladin FAQ. I have never written such and I am in no way an expert so you should take things with a grain of salt This is separate from the main paladin FAQ because I want to specifically dedicate this to the spec I personally happen to like a lot. And note, this is just an FAQ, if you are already tanking end-game content then go read EJ forums or something.

So, here goes:

Q: What does a tank do and how can I be a good tank?

A: Tanks are ones who usually pull the mobs to them, and then try to keep them attacking only themselves, never letting them attack anyone else in their group. A good tank memorizes how to fight against bosses, they will cast Hand of Protection or Hand of Salvation on their group members if they seem to be in trouble, and they are generally alert to their surroundings.

If you see a group member getting attacked try to cast Righteous Defense on them to taunt the mobs to attack you instead, or if it is a single mob then use Hand of Reckoning. Then you have to make some damage on them to actually keep them attacking you. You can also bubble (Hand of Protection) your group members if there's more than just 3 mobs coming at them or your Righteous Defense doesn't work. This doesn't work against caster mobs though as spells go right through Hand of Protection, though so keep that in mind!

Hammer of Justice (you know, the stun of yours) can be used to stun trash mobs that do lots of damage, like f.ex. those in heroic HoL that do whirlwind, or it can be used to interrupt spell casting, like f.ex. in Kel'Thuzad you can interrupt his Frost Bolt. Better learn to use it for interrupting spells on bossfights.

Then there's one more thing you should learn; when you are looking for the next pack to pull, check if they have any mana. If they have then they are most likely casters. Casters are nasty in the sense that they'll just stand there and cast spells at you, they won't run to you unless they run out of mana. To solve this either run behind a corner so you're out of their sight, or behind a pillar or something. They'll run towards you until they see you, usually right in front of your face But let your group know you're pulling them behind the corner or something, I've seen way too many moronic DPSers who just charge right into those casters and get themselves killed because they can't wait 3 seconds.. Once you have the talent that also silences mobs when you throw your frisbee (Avenger's Shield) at them pulling casters becomes a lot easier.

Q: I hear the terms uncrittable and uncrushable. What does it mean and do I need it?

A: Yes, and no. Uncrittable usually means that any mobs 3 levels higher than you won't be able to get a single crit on you. Uncrushability works similarly but you needed 102.4% combined avoidance to avoid them. Uncrushability however shouldn't be of concern anymore since only mobs 4 levels higher than you can do that and raid/dungeon bosses are only 3 levels higher than the targeted level of the instance. Thus, if you are 70 and doing TBC heroics/raids you can't be hit by a crushing blow. In TBC uncrushability was a big issue.

As for uncrittability..You either need 490 defense at lvl70 or 540 defense (or 535 in heroic instances) at lvl80 to be uncrittable, or 220.64 resilience. A combination is also possible. This is one attribute you REALLY should strive for. You will be a sucky tank in heroics and raids if you aren't uncrittable.

See next section for block cap.

Q: What stats should I strive for? Int? Spellpower? Strength? Stamina?

A: Stamina and avoidance (dodge, parry, block) gems. You won't want to go for int gems since you won't be having much if any issues with mana now, spellpower only increases your healing effectiveness and your spelldamage. Hit rating generally isn't needed either since all tanking gear boast lots of expertise and hit.

Hit rating and expertise are both very useful, but you gain already some expertise through talents and the SoC/SoV glyph and all tank gear provides tons of +hit so there is no need to start gemming for either.

Worth of note is also that stamina now gives you spellpower, so the more stamina gems you stack the more spellpower you will have.

But how much do you need stamina? Well, there was a debate about that here on the forums and I still maintain that you should have 27k HP unbuffed before you stack gemming for avoidance. There are several fights where you just need enough HP to survive, like for example Maexxna. Avoidance doesn't help you while you are web wrapped, you just have to be able to last long enough for the wrapping to wear off.

After you have 27k HP unbuffed though you can start gemming for avoidance. Once you reach 102.4% combined avoidance you will have reached the block cap ie. you will always dodge, parry or block incoming melee attacks.

There is a macro for checking if you have reached the block cap, just copy it, cast Holy Shield, and paste the macro to you chat window.

/run ChatFrame1:AddMessage(format("Unhittable at 102.4%% - you have %.2f%%", GetDodgeChance() + GetBlockChance() + GetParryChance() + 5 + 1/(0.0625 + 0.956/(GetCombatRating(CR_DEFENSE_SKILL)/4.91850*0.04))))

Q: What kind of gear should I try to acquire?

A: There is now no differentiation between paladin and warrior tank gear. If you see gear with any avoidance stats and/or defense, it's plate and gives strength then it's good. Use your head to determine if it's better than your current items, or download Ratingbuster addon. That one takes into account all your talents and such and makes it easy to compare items.

Q: What are the enchants I need?

A: Do get +defense enchants until you reach uncrittability. After that go for dodge, parry, stamina and/or strength enchants.

Q: What is the best seal/judgement combo for tanking with a paladin? I'm just starting one and was thinking of the seal of Righteousness/ judgement of light combo.

A: No, you should use Seal of Corruption. It scales better and the ticks help you maintain a steady throughput of threat even if the mob throws you around every now and then. It also generates more threat and DPS than Righteousness. Righteousness is ok for trash, though, since it has higher initial threat.

About the judgement..well, it shouldn't matter that much. You won't be running out of mana in raids/dungeons and you shouldn't be running out of health either. That latter part is up to healers though. Note that if you have a holy paladin with you, you could ask him/her to cast Judgement of Light and you could do Judgement of Wisdom.

Q: How do I get mana as prot paladin when tanking?

A: When you reach the Spiritual Attunement talents in prot tree you will gain some mana every time you are healed so that should help, and eventually you'll get Guarded by the Light that allows you to have almost unlimited Divine Plea. That means, you cast Divine Plea and then every time you hit on something your Divine Plea gets refreshed. As such it ends only when you haven't hit anything for 15 seconds. Try to time Divine Plea so that you cast it right before you pull, then it'll last through the whole fight.

Q: I don't know how to put my talents! Help me!

A: Well, it depends a little, there's always some variation as to what people like and not like. I myself raid with the following: http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?pala...0&version=9901

I use Divine Guardian talent to boost the effectiveness of my Sacred Shield, and with 1min duration on it it frees up one global cooldown every minute. Divine Sacrifice is also useful in some cases, though it's a bit risky to use if you're MTing. Combine that with Divine Protection and it's a lot safer. And why so many points in ret tree? Well, that's 8% more crit chance which means you'll do a lot more threat than without.

Q: What glyphs should I use?

A: It all depends, really. Glyph of Avenger's Shield (makes it only hit 1 target, not 3. But it hits 100% harder) is useful in PvP, and it is useful in some raids/dungeons. I personally however wouldn't choose it. It's so often beneficial for me to be able to cast a single spell and get lots of threat on multiple mobs at once.

Note: some people use it in order to be able to do single-target pulls, like when f.ex. they are off-tanking and they need to take agros on one of the adds when MT pulls the boss. This shouldn't be necessary though as you can just use Hand of Reckoning to taunt single mobs or Righteous Defense to taunt multible ones.

Glyph of Consecration increases both the duration and the cooldown of consecration by 2 seconds so it allows for a little bit more room to manage your rotation. But it doesn't seem likely that you will have to keep to a very strict rotation in order to keep your threat up it doesn't seem all that important.

Glyph of Righteous Defense increases the probability for your Righteous Defense to work successfully by 8%. This one I deem more or less one of the most important ones.

Glyph of Seal of Vengeance gives you 10 expertise when you have Seal of Vengeance/Corruption up. Since expertise lowers the chance for bosses and mobs to dodge/parry/block your attacks and you are using Seal of Vengeance/Corruption all the time anyway this is another one I deem very useful and important. Recommended.

Glyph of Judgement increases the damage done by your judgement spells by 10% which means a bit extra threat.

Glyph of Divine Plea should be one you get yourself as soon as you can, however. It reduces all damage taken by 3% when you have Divine Plea ticking, and as a prot paladin you can have Divine Plea ticking the whole boss fight. That's a huge benefit. Very, very highly recommended.

Glyph of Hammer of the Righteous is useful for trash tanking, heroic farming and generally any boss fights where the boss summons adds. As such I'd quite recommend it, though you can survive without it too. I like to use it myself, but this one boils down to your personal tastes.

Q: What professions are good for protection paladin?

A: All the professions have some good and some bad sides to them. Enchanting, blacksmithing and Jewelcrafting however looks like the most promising ones.

Enchanting allows you to enchant your rings and that is something no one else can do, only the enchanter himself/herself. How much enchanting your rings benefits you however can be debatable, but then again, if you often do heroics it is quite possible you get lots of stuff to disenchant there.

Blacksmithing allows you to craft your own tanking gear and now with Wotlk it also allows you to create extra gem sockets on your gear, that is, on gloves, on belt, and on bracers. The belt socket can be bought from AH though. That means that you could f.ex. take 2 x 24 stamina gems more than normally. If you are having trouble with hitting the defense cap then those two sockets could very well help you reach your goal.

Engineering allows you to create tanking goggles and the Sonic Booster trinket ( http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40767 ) is quite awesome until you start getting some actual tanking trinkets. Note that you can equip 2 x Sonic Boosters which means a whopping 162 stamina. (The proc itself has an internal cooldown of 1 minute and the trinkets share that cooldown) The trinkets however lose their appeal as soon as you have access to any lvl 80 tanking trinkets and as of now the goggles also lose their value as soon as you get T7 head or better.

Mining increases your max. HP by a small amount. At skill 375 it gives you 30 stamina and at 450 you get 50 stamina. Combined with either blacksmithing or engineering it could be quite useful.

Jewelcrafting allows you to craft some epic BoP gems and a few really good trinkets. The Monarch Crab ( http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?spell=59759 ) for example is an awesome tanking trinket. The gems you can craft are also rather good, +41 stamina if you are low on unbuffed HP, or +27 dodge rating for avoidance, or anything similar.

My personal take: if you can farm the mats with some other chars then enchanting + blacksmithing or blacksmithing + jewelcrafting would benefit you the most. 2 extra gem sockets combined with 2 JC-only gems is a really good combination.

Q: Do you know any good tanking macros?

A: Well, since apparently Righteous Defense macro is not needed anymore I don't really have anything useful to offer. All our important spells are instant cast, we don't need to stance dance or anything like that, so..we just basically don't need many macros if any at all.

But some macros can be found at http://www.wowwiki.com/Useful_macros_for_paladins

Those may be outdated, though.

Q: Are there any acronyms I should be familiar with?

A: Yes, indeed there are. I am just shamelessly copying and pasting what Wyrdone has already gathered and I might be adding more later on

Pally specific Acronyms:
HoR = Hammer of Righteousness
SoR = Seal of Rightousness
SoV = Seal of Vengence (alliance spell)
SoC = Seal of Corruption (horde version of the same, no functional difference)
ShoR = Shield of Righteousness
HS = Holy Shield
BoSanc = Blessing of Sanctuary
BoM = Blessing of Might
BoW = Blessing of Wisdom
Devo = Devotion Aura
Imp = Improved
JoL = Judgement of Light
JoW = Judgement of Wisdow
AD = Argent Defender
Frisbee = Avenger's Shield

*Updated the first question with more tactics.
** Several updates

[Gribble]

Engineering allows you to create tanking goggles, and in Wotlk will probably feature more useful items for you to craft.

I honestly doubt it. We got nothing but the goggles in BC (and MAYBE the stam trinkets which are still more pvpish) and all our cool new stuff is likely going to be either fun but pointless or useful but anyone can use it. I'm considering going blacksmithing.

[Dreamkeeper]

WOW well done !!! love it ty so much for doing this !

[Deleted]

I honestly doubt it. We got nothing but the goggles in BC (and MAYBE the stam trinkets which are still more pvpish) and all our cool new stuff is likely going to be either fun but pointless or useful but anyone can use it. I'm considering going blacksmithing.

Even so, the goggles themselves are damn good and the Wotlk version of them ( http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?item=42549 ) sure don't look bad either.

Oh, and the Sonic Booster ( http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?item=40767 ) would be a good trinket if you have enough defense in order to swap one of your previous trinkets out.

[Augustas]

Hey great post!!!

Thanks for all the tips and tricks also... :

[psicorp]

stupid question, how does strength effect spell power? i mean, stam does through touched by the light, but i can find any strength talent to do the same

[Deleted]

stupid question, how does strength effect spell power? i mean, stam does through touched by the light, but i can find any strength talent to do the same

Strength doesn't increase your spellpower, but your spells, like f.ex. consecration get 32% of your spellpower and 32% of your attack power. So, the more strength you have the more AP you have -> the more your consecration does damage. These are all visible if you click Classes->Paladin on the left..

[psicorp]

Strength doesn't increase your spellpower, but your spells, like f.ex. consecration get 32% of your spellpower and 32% of your attack power. So, the more strength you have the more AP you have -> the more your consecration does damage. These are all visible if you click Classes->Paladin on the left..

huh. well there you go then

[b37x]

Defense -> Uncritability + Reduced chance to be hit + Dodge + Block + Parry
Stamina -> Health + Spell Power (Prot Talent - Touched By The Light)
Strength -> AP + Block Value

Retribution paladins have a talent (Sheath of Light) that grants Spellpower equal to 30% of their AP. It is so far down the Ret tree, by the time a prot paladin specs Sheath he or she is no longer a prot paladin.

GayGirlie, this is a good thread and you should feel good for having made it.

[Deleted]

[quote=b37x ]
Retribution paladins have a talent (Sheath of Light) that grants Spellpower equal to 30% of their AP. It is so far down the Ret tree, by the time a prot paladin specs Sheath he or she is no longer a prot paladin.
[quote]

Indeed. Something similar would be nice for prot paladins, but then our DPS would probably skyrocket quite a lot. Stamina gives quite a lot of spellpower anyway and spells scale with strength so..I don't think there is any issue

GayGirlie, this is a good thread and you should feel good for having made it.

Thanks But do point out if there's anything wrong there or if you can think of something that should be added. I'm getting so tired atm that I am having trouble even thinking straight, won't come up with anything new until tomorrow

[Augustas]

You are saying 32% spell power AND 32% attack power, so wouldnt spell power be beneficial since it stacks or is this a typo??

Also would love to hear from a BETA Prot Pally on how much health/mana he has at 80 and when tanking Naxx?

[Deleted]

You are saying 32% spell power AND 32% attack power, so wouldnt spell power be beneficial since it stacks or is this a typo??

Yes, it is an AND. But you see, there are no gems that do both spelldmg and strength. There are however sta+str gems which will raise both your AP and spellpower (through the talent that converts stamina to spellpower). And if you have to choose between spellpower and attack power, it's the latter that benefits you more. As such, stacking for strength > stacking for spellpower.

[Augustas]

Sweeet... I love the look of Warrior tankign gear so im gonna be a Belf in warrior gear lol

In reference to my other question i hear some tanks are getting over 40k health?? is this true?

[Deleted]

In reference to my other question i hear some tanks are getting over 40k health?? is this true?

I wasn't given access to the beta so I am not able to confirm this. I doubt it's 40k, more likely 30k, atleast for warriors. At the moment the best geared prot paladins I've seen running around have around 18k HP unbuffed. It is around 2k lower than prot warriors, but then again, we have several things they lack.

[Flautze]

In some threads of DK / Warrior I have seen them post that they got around
22k and 29k buffed, so 40k is way too much for Naxx-gear.
You could expect to be around 20-22 in all blues and with getting more Naxx/Epics around 22-25 unbuffed.

[Elicium]

Great Guide.

Couple of suggestions though:
(Plz forgive me if there is a mistake as my main is a holy/shadow priest)

1) You may wish to mention that the number paladins need to aim for is 5.6% (you get this number by putting your cursor over defense and resilience and adding the two number up)( you can have less then 490 defense and be uncrittable)

2) “ A: Stamina, strength, and avoidance (dodge, parry, block) gems.”
If you’re a tank then personally I think it should be Stam, avoidance (particularly dodge) and then strength (assuming as you mentioned that you are ok for defense rating).

3) Spell power weapon vs a weapon like Kings Defender with potency
Paladins are still the AOE tanking kings (yes druids and warriors can do it but not quite as effectively). I like having some spell power on my weapon and having the spell damage enchant on it over the potency enchant. TPS on a single target is greater with potency but really TPS on a single target should really, really not be an issue at the moment. Spell power helps with AOE tanking (I’m finding that mages can usually open up now after a second or two of the consecrate going up and not worry about aggro issues) and spell power also comes in useful if I have to off heal. Try dropping the spell power weapon in favour of King’s defender (for example) and you will notice a significant decrease in TPS for tanking groups of mobs (more than 4).

So what I’m trying to say is that yes I could take King’s Defender with potency to max out my TPS on single targets, but I’d rather have the flexibility of being able to tanking large groups of mobs and heal if needed. TPS on a single target is not a problem (or at least it shouldn’t be) where as to hold threat on a large group of mobs TPS can be an issue or at least can be a lot easier with spell power (find me a weapon that gives me the equivalent of 240 spell power).

Edit: From what I’ve been able to read it depends on your gear. I’m sitting at about 670 spell power unbuffed. If your spell power is at about 300 then the potency/king’s defender combo may be better.

4) What Warcraft said. Its been a while since you havent needed the taunt macro.

[gatgat]

3) Spell power weapon vs a weapon like Kings Defender with potency
Paladins are still the AOE tanking kings (yes druids and warriors can do it but not quite as effectively). I like having some spell power on my weapon and having the spell damage enchant on it over the potency enchant. TPS on a single target is greater with potency but really TPS on a single target should really, really not be an issue at the moment. Spell power helps with AOE tanking (I’m finding that mages can usually open up now after a second or two of the consecrate going up and not worry about aggro issues) and spell power also comes in useful if I have to off heal. Try dropping the spell power weapon in favour of King’s defender (for example) and you will notice a significant decrease in TPS for tanking groups of mobs (more than 4).

So what I’m trying to say is that yes I could take King’s Defender with potency to max out my TPS on single targets, but I’d rather have the flexibility of being able to tanking large groups of mobs and heal if needed. TPS on a single target is not a problem (or at least it shouldn’t be) where as to hold threat on a large group of mobs TPS can be an issue or at least can be a lot easier with spell power (find me a weapon that gives me the equivalent of 240 spell power).

Edit: From what I’ve been able to read it depends on your gear. I’m sitting at about 670 spell power unbuffed. If your spell power is at about 300 then the potency/king’s defender combo may be better.

Two weapons? I always have kings defender and the za spell damage mace on me at all times. If I am tanking AOE i go spell damage, boss I go kings defender. Single target threat might not be an issue but I still always want it to be as high as possible.

[Dreamkeeper]

as said in first post though , spell damage isnt needed as the AP and strength makes up for the spell damage

[wyrdone]

Good post.

At lvl 80 on beta I'm at approx 22k unbuffed.

Pally specific Acronyms:
HoR = Hammer of Righteousness
SoR = Seal of Rightousness
SoV = Seal of Vengence
ShotR = Shield of the Righteous
HS = Holy Shield
BoSanct = Blessing of Sanctuary
BoM = Blessing of Might
BoW = Blessing of Wisdom
Devo = Devotion Aura
Imp = Improved
JoL = Judgement of Light
JoW = Judgement of Wisdow
AD = Argent Defender

oh and

Frisbee = Avenger's Shield

[Deleted]

3) Spell power weapon vs a weapon like Kings Defender with potency
Paladins are still the AOE tanking kings (yes druids and warriors can do it but not quite as effectively). I like having some spell power on my weapon and having the spell damage enchant on it over the potency enchant. TPS on a single target is greater with potency but really TPS on a single target should really, really not be an issue at the moment. Spell power helps with AOE tanking (I’m finding that mages can usually open up now after a second or two of the consecrate going up and not worry about aggro issues) and spell power also comes in useful if I have to off heal. Try dropping the spell power weapon in favour of King’s defender (for example) and you will notice a significant decrease in TPS for tanking groups of mobs (more than 4).

Whereas you are correct in a way Potency is still more useful enchant than +43 spellpower. Potency gives 20 strength which is 40AP. And since f.ex. consecration takes 23% of your spellpower, and 23% of AP the difference is negligible. But Potency also increases your melee DPS and shield block value. So it just gives more bang for the buck, so to say.