Looking for all-around tanking tips

[DrBob3002]

Alright I'm pretty new to paladin tanking. I've been healing for a while and I love it. Here is my spec first of all:

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-t...3%A1os&group=1

So anyway I'm going to start tanking heroics and then eventually raids and I just wanted a few pointers. First of all, is my spec any good? Second, what glyphs should I get? Most of the Glyphs I have for that spec are leftover from before I respecced (Ret -> Prot), the only new one being Glyph of Seal of Vengeance.

Also, how do I itemize? For my DK it was Dodge -> Parry -> Stamina in that order, but would it be any different for Paladin? I assume something like Dodge -> Parry -> Stamina -> Shield block? I can't be sure atm but I believe my stats are like: 34% avoidance, 18% block, 23k hp unbuffed, and def cap.

Forgive me if these come across as dumb questions, I just don't want to go into this with my eye's closed and give my healers a hard time (I know how that can be!). So any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[warptwist]

i would proberly Recommend you going for: Stamina > Dodge > BlockV/R > Parry.

right now what you need to work on is beeing able to Survive and avoid getting Owned by Heroic bosses cause they hit too hard - Yes a healer can keep you alive - but he also needs to be able to heal the group aswell

i dont know how good your gear or enchants or gems is - but a big tip is to focus 100% on Stamina until you get an reasonable amount of health unbuffed (23k is not anywhere enough) my lvl 71 Warrior tank in blues ive gotted from TBC instance is at 17.8k health unbuffed with shout

[DrBob3002]

i would proberly Recommend you going for: Stamina > Dodge > BlockV/R > Parry.

right now what you need to work on is beeing able to Survive and avoid getting Owned by Heroic bosses cause they hit too hard - Yes a healer can keep you alive - but he also needs to be able to heal the group aswell

i dont know how good your gear or enchants or gems is - but a big tip is to focus 100% on Stamina until you get an reasonable amount of health unbuffed (23k is not anywhere enough) my lvl 71 Warrior tank in blues ive gotted from TBC instance is at 17.8k health unbuffed with shout

Alright, thanks. On DK tanks its almost a sin to stack stamina instead of avoidance, which is why I ask if it's any different with paladins. So yeah, I'll work on that.

Anyway, I think 23k is enough. The bare minimum really, if I have a good healer and not someone in leveling blues/greens. I've healed TONS of heroics. The hardest I've ever healed was a DK tank with 20k HP unbuffed through the VH first boss (didn't get anywhere past the first boss though, he just didn't cut it), so I think 23k could work out.

[Copain]

Sta isn't as important as mitigation, but still important.

Parry is the least important to have
Block Value is good to ahve because of our shield slam-like ability that gets stronger with BV. Block rating is FAIRLY nice to have, but dodge is better.
Dodge is the msot important Mitigation since it has a higher cap than Parry.

As said before Stamina is good because of more HP, but don't just stack this, ever.

[Oliana]

Glyphs: I personally use Divine Plea, Seal of Vengeance, and Exorcism
The first two are pretty clear cut, Exorcism could be switched around for something.

Spec: Looks pretty good, I'd pick up Divinity and drop the 5 out of Seals of the Pure - it provides a very minimal threat increase. I also pick up imp hammer of justice in mine, it's really nice for a lot of fights in Ulduar, with the mass amount of adds on fights.

Itemization: Personally (for boss tanking) I go for pieces with Defense/Dodge/Parry - I don't use too many pieces with expertise or hit, I never have problems with threat. If threat became a problem, i'd use some pieces with SBV/SBR and a couple hit/exp pieces.

As far as first gearing out, I'd make sure you're at defense cap for raids (540) and then work on getting your HP up, and as you get more gear you can shift your focus to more avoidance.


http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...Blade&n=Oliana

My armory. I think i'm in ret gear - i'll try and log out in Prot gear (4/5 8.5)

[Draco cracona]

Spec's decent, it's got all that's needed, althugh SotP would be better replaced by divinity or crusade/conv. Glyphwise, SoV, DP and either HotR or salv depending on how your threat is (for heroics I'd say go for HotR). Get rid of consecration glyph asap; You should be aiming for 102.4% dodge+block+parry+miss (remembering to factor in the DR on the miss by (1/(1/16+.956/miss)) instead of using your straight miss chance); you should aim for that while keeping decent avoidance values (~20% unbuffed for dodge/parry in T75 level gear) and enough health that you can take a decent sized spike (~23k should be fine for starting out iirc).

Olivia - your spec needs 1/2 imp. judgement; how you're tanking late ulduar without being able to use an optimal tps rotation astounds me. Imp HoJ is always an iffy one; I don't think it's worth it compared to PoJ/conviction though. DS/DG are nice, but I view DS as more of a filler if you havve a tree on your raids. Exo should be only minimal TPS; you should be swapping out a HotR for it pre-LL level weapons; after that you shouldn't use it until you get the Vezax libram, at which point you want to be switching it in for every other judgement assuming you don't miss one.

[Copain]

I can't see the armory right now as I'm killing time at school (Doine with my work for the year, but still gota use a proxy =\), but I highly recommend staying away from IMP hammer of justice. Judgments of the Just (or whatever it's called, I always get it confused, the one that reduces the Hamemr of Justice's CD and buffs Seal of Justice) is much better and serves the part better since not a lot of monsters are stunable, and htat gives you basically Imp. Hamemr of Justice's talent and another boost.

Divinty Helps out a LOT in raids, even more so if you aren't one of those guilds who already have Ulduar on farm (Which I seriously doubt).


Expertise is VERY important cause if a boss parries you a bunch, you die faster. And the glyph of Vengance gives you flat expertiese, not just rating. Hit is also nice, but not super important, I'd gem for this with something else (like +Sta or something) if you can.

[DrBob3002]

Thanks a lot everyone! Really good feedback here. I just re-gemmed some stuff and I'm now at: 24.5k unbuffed, 36.42% avoidance, 17.02% shield block (I over exaggerated it before he he), and def cap.

[Saladur]

First of all: your spec seem fairly good though SoTP is better TPS then conviction(conviction scale better and might be better then SotP when your ulduar geared) Crusade is by far superior to both and if your looking for a TPS opgrade crusade should be taken =).

Anthor hint is that 1/2 improved judge is only needed for maxing threatj with the 969 rotation. but as i see it your mostly tanking heroics etc etc and i would rather put it in 2/2 because it is realy a minimum times you wiil be able to maintain rotations on heroics, anyways its better then 1/2 improved might (keep in mind 2/2 does not ruin the rotattion but makes those time where your not using it a bit easier + our limbram procs everytime with it.

About stacking HP dodge etc. i say.

535/540 defence is always mandatory. but defence arent bad. until you hit block cap 1 point of defene rating is > 1 point og dodge rating.

i would first focus(gem enchant) on : 535/540 defence then block cap.get around 24k hp.