Up & Coming Paladin (Prot/Ret) Seeking Help

[Calinthor]

I'm "Power Leveling" my Paladin to add another potential Tank to our ranks. Right now he's at 75 (compared to 56 Last week), so I'm not really getting much experience tanking or using any new abilities. One of the bad side effects of fast leveling.

I'll post my current builds when I get, home (our just look up "Benu" on Wow Armory. I'm gonna need help from any experienced Paladins that tank...

Please do not link posts to other sites, since the majority of my research time is at work/school and most/all of those sites are blocked.

Gear
Talent Tree
Combo's
Macros
Tricks & Tips

Any & All Advice is Appreciated.

Thanks,
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"I am the Seeker. I am the Stalker. I am the Storm."

[Zonaka]

Well, gear doesn't really matter at this time, since you'll be getting much better gear once you hit 80 and go to heroics.

As for talents, you might want to make these changes, imo.

You need 5 points in Divine Strength, because you get your SP based on your strength.

You don't need Improved Hammer of Justice, since you can't really stun bosses, and trash doesn't last long enough to be stunned. Granted, the stun can come in handy for interrupting a spell caster, but you shouldn't need it often enough to justify using the points there.

You can also move 3 points out of Divinity, since you need it more elsewhere.

You also might want to change your glyphs. I use Glyph of Righteous Defense, Glyph of Spiritual Attunement, and Glyph of Divine Plea.

As for tanking tricks, just make sure Holy Shield is up at all times, and depending on what class your healer is, it will depend on which seal you use. If the healer is mainly HoT's, like a druid, you would want to use Seal of Wisdom and probably Judging Wisdom, since you won't get much mana returned from their heals. On the other hand, if its a shammy or pally healer, then you can use Seal of vengance, but probably still want to judge wisdom.

Also, use Divine Plea as often as you can while fighting.

The rest you are going to have to pick up as you tank, and come up with your own style, as in pulling and holding aggro.
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Z

[Camlost]

Figure out your strength and then tank as many mobs as you can. You'll be able to hold aggro really well - just make sure you have a healer that can keep up.
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[Camlost]

Also, here is a really helpful, succinct FAQ from Maintankadin's Knaughty:

Mechanics & play changes:

Q: What seal do I use?
A: SoV Maybe SoR for trash that will die in 5 secs, but why bother?

Q: What do I judge?
A: Boss needs Light and Wisdom judged on it. Light is usually more important. As of 3.2, doesn't matter who judges what.

Q: WTF? Thunderjudge fell off?
A: Fixed in 3.2

Q: What Glyphs?
A: Divine Plea (OP mitigation for a glyph) and SoV (best TPS) to start. I usually just run Taunt, but if I end up with massive TPS issues on some fight, I'd swap to Judgement. If you're desperate for an extra CD, Glyph of Hand of Salvation. I didn't need it in 3.1, but it was a very close thing for some of the hard modes. 3.2 we have a 2nd CD, so less required again.

Avenger's shield is more threat than Judgment if you don't mind single target AS. AS glyph lost it's utility since we now have Taunt to break Sheep single target. Righteous Defence if you're paranoid about taunt resists (or doing hard modes). HotR if you want your cleave to hit 4 mobs. IE: All four are decent, none are amazing. For hard-mode-progression tanking, Righteous Defence, because a taunt resist can wipe the raid.

Q: Why not Glyph of Consecration?
A: Breaks your rotation. See my Advanced FAQ for details, or read Psiven't TPS tsticky.

Q: I just got crushed. I thought crushing blows were removed?
A: Crushing blows kick in at level+4 Raid bosses don't crush. The level 80 elite is going to crush your level 70 ass.

Q: If nothing can crush, do I need 102.4%?
A: No (but...). You don't need it, but it is a nice goal to hit, and it will make you healers happy. Once you hit 102.4% block counts 200-300% towards EH, as most bosses take 2-3 hits to kill you. You want at least one gear set with Block Capped

Q: How much defence do I need?
A: Heroics: 535
A: Raids: 540 About 689 rating. This is a lot, you will have to focus on it.

Q: I'm short on Defense. What do I do?
A: Gem & Enchant for it Expect to have mostly +defence gems and enchants to start Naxx, and even throughout it. Reaching and staying at 540 Defence is a major tanking focus at 80.
Q: That sucks! Why?
A: Blizzard got bored of tanks gemming nothing but stamina Damage is a lot less spiky and dramatic on level 80 tanks. So desperately stacking EH is much less of an issue. Balanced gemming / enchanting is the outcome.

Q: Whats this 96969 rotation stuff??? Can you explain it pls?
A: Yes., but not here. See my Advanced FAQ or Psiven's original version
A: Watch this YouTube vid

Q: What's going on with Divine Shield and Divine Protection?
A: Divine Shield = immune, clear debuffs, drop aggro.
A: Divine Protection = Bubblewall We can tank an enrage real good now.

Q: ZOMG! Did I block an elemental?
A: Yes. You can block magical melee damage now.


Gear:

Q: What's my overall gearing priority?
First: • Get Uncrittable (540 defence). Then build special use sets:
Block set: • Get Block Capped AKA 102.4%, AKA Uncrushable. Then stack as much Block Value as possible.
EH set: • Stack stamina. Stamina is EH, with a little TPS. Strength is TPS, with a little EH.
Last: Build a Threat set: • Stack strength/BV, then Hit rating, then Expertise. Block Value has diminishing returns, worry about it when you hit 3k.

Q: What weapon do I use?
A: Tanking weapon. Spell-power weapons are for healing, not tanking.

Q: What weapon enchant?
A: At 80: Good question. Accuracy is most TPS, Weapon chain is second best TPS and is dirt cheap. As of 3.2, Blood Draining has no downsides. The heal is ~2.4k and takes 40 seconds to stack to max, or does ~450-ish every 10 seconds. I use Accuracy.

Q: What tanking gear?
A: Plate with defence Tanking plate is tanking plate. DK/War/Pal all use same stuff. Sensible DKs will pass on stuff with block rating/value. You'll maybe pass on stuff with a ton of parry to return the favour. Protection tanks (war/pal) want exact same stuff.

Q: ZOMG! My gear has no spellpower!
A: Well spotted. Everything scales with AP & Spell-power. You get spell-power from Stam and AP from Strength. Stack strength/block/hit/expertise if you want TPS/DPS.

Q: Strength, AP, or Spell-power for DPS/TPS?
A: Strength=Block > Hit > Expertise > AP You should never have spell-power gear on unless you're healing.

Q: I want to DPS as prot spec!
A: Ret gear, ret spec We have two talent trees for a reason.
A: BV trinkets AP if you don't have BV. DMC: Greatness (Strength) > all.
A: Ret gear, 1h weapon, shield But Do not downgrade to switch to ret gear. High end tanking gear is high DPS. Don't switch from epic tanking gear to crappy blue quest-reward ret gear. Only switch in Ret items that are same tier or half a tier down, and only if that have more Strength. Note that a strength/BV heavy tanking piece will probably beat a Ret piece for DPS, when specced prot.

Q: What gems?
A: Defence (to 540) > Stamina/Agility/Avoidance > Strength for your MT set. Strength/Hit/Expertise for your threat set. Don't ever use spelldamage gems. You will need more defence gems at 80 than you did at 70. Agility is same EH as Strength, and gives avoidance, but strength is more TPS. Defence beats Dodge. Dodge beats Parry. Don't gem parry if you have any other option.

Q: What enchant do I use on <this> slot?
A: Defence > Stam > everything else
A: For what? Are you short DPS/TPS? EH? Are you critable? How's your avoidance? There is no one right answer. Enchants are how you tune your gear. Stamina, Defence, Strength, Armor, Avoidance are all good enchants. Which one is best depends on the rest of your gear and the fight in question. L2P - you have to be able to evaluate your own gear! Read stickies for more advice.

Q: Should I try to cap expertise or hit?
A: Only for taunt Glyph + 6%.
A: Not really. Hit is a nice TPS stat, +hit is also nice for taunt. Expertise is OK, but just live with what's on your best tanking gear, it isn't a great TPS stat for paladins like it is for warriors.

Spec questions:

Q: Should I spec Reckoning?
A: It is OK in 3.2. Reckoning works with SoV now, so Reckoning is merely poor, rather than utterly terrible. Worst TPS talent, only bonus is that it is extremely easy to get.

Q: Why does everyone spec AD? It sux!
A: In 3.2, AD is Godly 5% EH per talent point and death avoidance.

Q: Why do tanking specs sometimes skip 2/2 imp Judgement?
A: Can't cast Judgement more often than every 9 seconds anyway. Read Advanced FAQ for more info.

Q: What's my MT spec?
A: Basic tanking talents Note that said spec is impossible - you need to put 3 points somewhere in tier 1-5.
Q: So where do I put the three points?
A: Good options: Divine Sacrifice + Divine Guardian are quite good utility. Reckoning provides moderately OK TPS.
A: Meh options: Imp HoJ is very occasionally useful in PvE. Divinity works, but isn't real useful for a tank (or anyone, really).
A: Bad options: Stoicism and Guardian's Favour are PvP talents.

Q: OK, I filled out prot, to 53/54 points - now what? I have talent points left over! Where do I put them?
A: 18 points in Ret If you're still in Naxx or tanking Coliseum, fill out ret. Read Theck's thread or my advanced guide for details
A: SotP SotP is equal best or best TPS talent in Ulduar. (Crusade is better in Naxx or Coliseum).
A: OK Holy talents: Aura Mastery and Imp LoH are decent mitigation CDs, but require 5 points in useless Holy filler.
A: OK Prot talents: Reckoning if you're going for a max TPS build (why are you doing that?)
A: Good Ret telents: Heart of the Crusader and Vindication are both very good utility talents. HotC = 3% raid crit. Probably covered by someone else, but you have to take something to get to Vindication. Awesome talent - you're no longer reliant on someone else to debuff Boss AP for you. You want this talent - same argument as JotJ. Crusade is good if you were going deep ret anyway, otherwise save your points and get SotP.
A: OK Ret telents: 2nd point in Imp Judge for trash. Imp Might. PoJ is OK - some people love it. Conviction is OK.
A: Bad Ret talents: Benediction is still crap.

Q: How will you spec for 3.2?
A:4/53/14 Utility is more important than TPS.

Source: http://maintankadin.failsafedesign.com/forum/index.php?f=4&t=21932&rb_v=viewtopic
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