Paladin Tanking Part 1 – The Basics

This has been a long time coming and I wish it was there when I started – but due to popular demand, Here it is.

It’s not that complicated really … but it can be tricky if you’re new to tanking or to the paladin class in general.

Things you should know about the Paladin Tank:

This time it’s all basics, boring but fundamental; and fundamentals are rather important. If you have never played a paladin, or if you just got to 80, just know that tanking as a paladin is like discovering a whole new character, it’s unlike anything you have ever done before. While leveling your goal was to kill things as fast as possible. Now your sole mission in life is to put yourself in harm’s way and hope your healers are on the ball and the DPS is high enough. (Although any well played tank can make a healer’s job a lot easier).

This series of articles is intended for the Protection Paladin who tanks in PvE content, and wants to clear 5-Man dungeons and/or 10-25 man Raids. Also note that the writer is of the opinion that Tanking is more of an art form rather than hard science and common sense and personal opinion weigh in as much as mathematical calculations.

Much of the content that will follow here and over the next few articles in the series,  is drawn in part from the following sources:
ElitistJerks.com for the most explicit and detailed WoW theory-crafting available on the net
TankSpot.com for the guides, videos and examples.
Aemaeth/Zmack for screaming at me until I got it right.
All the healers in the guild for bearing with me until I got the fights down.
The rest of the guild for suffering through my learning curve and still accepting to raid with me in the process…

Let’s get down to brass tacks: the approach to playing a level 80 Protection Paladin is a complete 180 from the Retribution spec that you used to get there. Here are some “No D’uh” basics that may seem obvious but still worth mentioning.  As a matter of fact, these basic rules apply to every tank, not just the paladin. Since I came from the ranged DPS world (lock if you must know), I won’t take it for granted that you know any more than I did when I started to tank.

Also, since there are so many people who just know this stuff already (and who like to scream NOOOOB) we figured it would be the best place to start for anyone who hasn’t tanked at all.  If you’ve never tanked, do a few runs in some regular Northrend dungeons with these things in mind.  And it sure wouldn’t hurt to take along someone who is an experienced tank to give you even more pointers (Zmack for instance).

• The Paladin is the Master of AoE Tanking since most of your abilities hit multiple targets.

• As a rule, you (The Tank) control the positioning of the mobs/bosses: always face mobs away from the raid – DPS goes UP when attacks come from behind mobs.  Don’t make the whole raid run around the mob, YOU turn the mob so that the raid is always behind what you’re tanking.  DPS will rise dramatically the less time they have to spend getting into position.  The joust move is the best way to get to the right spot.  Strafe through the mob(s) and then spin to face the raid.  You will be in front of the mob and the raid will be behind them – with as little wasted time as possible.  This is tanking 101.  Good tanks always turn mobs, stupid tanks don’t.  Don’t be a doofus.

• Since you control the positioning of the boss (and mobs): Move as little as possible unless the situation demands it.  You’ll get more out of the entire raid’s DPS if they can just sit there and face roll their rotation, (especially true for melee … think Patchwerk).  Again, don’t move if you do not absolutely have to.  It can make the melee DPS guys absolutely hate your guts if they are constantly having to get behind/closer/overthere/overhere/closer/behind – statue tanking is best, make the mobs come to you (There is an ability commonly referred to as “Taunt” for such situations).

• Try to keep your back to a wall and avoid knock-backs if necessary. Strafe through mob groups and then back up to a wall.  Mobs are programmed to try to get behind you.  Standing against a wall cuts that sort of nonsense out.

• When positioning, NEVER turn your back to mobs, you cannot Dodge, Parry or Block from behind. Instead Strafe, so that the boss or mob is never “behind” you.  If you need to move, always move backwards or strafe.  This is one of the most subtle differences between a good tank and a crummy one.  Once you learn to do this properly you will be able to tell who is a good tank in one or two pulls.

• It may look like I’ve already said this, but Strafe, Strafe, Strafe.  Once you engage mobs keep your face (or cheek ; ) to them, and if you must move, do NOT turn and run, learn to strafe in flat arcs (see figures below).  Good tanks will actually look a little drunk most of the time.  Running sideways and banging into walls all the time.  But what  a luscious sight for the rest of the raid – especially the healers.

• This may seem silly but Oh so important: Don’t get out of range of your healers … or Line of Sight for that matter.  This is easier for a paladin than a warrior.  Warriors like to charge and it can be a real pain for a healer to have to run to get in range.  Try to pull mobs so that you pull them into range instead of running headlong away from healers.

• Don’t engage the Boss until your healers have full Mana … you’ll live longer   A tank’s first priority is to make sure that he is behaving responsibly toward those responsible for him.  Annoy healers at your own risk.  It’s common courtesy to take a glance at your healer’s mana pool before you make some gigantic pull.

• It’s best if everyone is ALIVE when you start a pull, wait for the healers to rez your dead friends (who probably dies because you missed a mob on that last trash pull). Pulling early is the cause of more wipes on trash than any other single thing.  Overly aggressive chain pulls put too much pressure on healers trying to rez AND catch back up to the heals they could have been making if you weren’t being a knucklehead.

• Once you choose your talents in the Protection tree for the first time, remember to train them up … level 1 spells/abilities aren’t all that useful in Heroics, or anywhere else for that matter.  This seems stupid, but a brand new spec often can include a touch of forgetfulness when it comes to skills you’ve never trained before.

All kidding aside, Tanking is a High Stress job, if you wipe or people die, it’s usually your fault (usually).

Here’s a little graphical depiction of what we’ve been talking about:

This is a pretty typical pull in most 5 man dungeons.  This is a 5 man group with a Paladin (P/T), Rogue (R), Warrior (W), Warlock (L), and Healer (H).  We have a pull of 3 mobs coming up where the (P) is a patrol and there is also a Caster (C) and Mele (M).

At the pull the rogue is stealthed out in front near the patrol.  Wait until the patrol is moving away from the group.  As the patrol crosses the face of the caster, that paladin tank runs right up to the group and begins to generate aggro (more on this in another article).  The warrior follows along with the rogue – but since our tank knows exactly where to put the group of mobs, the healer and lock can just stand still and begin to DPS the caster (or heal, of course).

As soon as the tank pulls (where the straight line becomes a curve), he turns to his left and strafes left up against the wall and drops his Consecration.  This will pin the mobs to his face with their backs to the group in perfect position.  His back is to a wall so that the mobs cannot get behind him, and his melee buddies can stand in one place and hit all three mobs from behind without moving an inch.  Plus, the Lock and healer haven’t moved an inch since the pull began.  They can just noggin roll their keyboards or even AOE with no worries.

If something does go wrong and it becomes necessary to move, the tank can just make the flat strafe arc to the far wall.  (Let’s say the mobs drop a void zone or some other nasty thing).  Strafe left while turning right a bit will actually keep the rogue and warrior from having to move more than a few steps – keep the tank’s face to the mobs, and the ranged won’t have to move at all.  You run the long way around so that everyone else moves as little as possible and are always attacking from behind.  Plus, you get your back against another wall and keep the mobs in a nice tight little cluster.  Just remember to strafe in circles around mobs.

Now that you have the bare essentials in mind let’s move on to: Tanking Mechanics, Basic Stats, Combat Ratings, Gearing choices (Mitigation vs. Avoidance), Threat Generation, Professions, Enchantments and Gems, but I have a feeling that most of you want to see the Talent Build first.

So we’ll start with that and build the rest of these articles around this since it’s the core of the character.

My preferred Tanking Build as of patch 3.1.3

I’ll highlight the important ones and give a brief reasoning behind my choice, let you mull it over for a while and answer questions next time when we cover the next topic:

Divinity – Rank 5/5
Increases all healing done by you and all healing effects on you by 5%. (Makes you easier to heal.)

Improved Righteous Fury – Rank 3/3
While Righteous Fury is active, all damage taken is reduced by 6%. (Single largest threat generation tool available, you WILL lose aggro without it.)

Blessing of Sanctuary – Rank 1/1
Places a Blessing on the friendly target, reducing damage taken from all sources by 3% for 10 min. In addition, when the target blocks, parries, or dodges a melee attack the target will gain 2% of maximum displayed mana. Players may only have one Blessing on them per Paladin at any one time. (Big mana boost and damage reduction.)

Spiritual Attunement – Rank 2/2
A passive ability that gives the Paladin mana when healed by other friendly targets’ spells. The amount of mana gained is equal to 10% of the amount healed. (OOM tank usually = wipe … )

Ardent Defender – Rank 3/3
When you have less than 35% health, all damage taken is reduced by 30%. (Gives your healers a chance to catch up, it has saved our raids more times then I can count.)

Redoubt – Rank 3/3
Increases your block value by 30% and damaging melee and ranged attacks against you have a 10% chance to increase your chance to block by 30%. Lasts 10 sec or 5 blocks. (Block Value = DPS=  Threat=  Good!)

Guarded by the Light – Rank 2/2
Reduces spell damage taken by 6% and gives a 100% chance to refresh the duration of your Divine Plea when you hit an enemy. In addition, your Divine Plea spell is 100% less likely to be dispelled. (Divine Plea should be up on every fight that will last longer then 30 seconds, this makes it almost permanent and is more then 50% of your Mana regen)

Pursuit of Justice – Rank 2/2
Reduces the duration of all Disarm effects by 50% and increases movement and mounted movement speed by 15%. This does not stack with other movement speed increasing effects. (This ability is Crucial for movement intensive fights, Heigan the unclean, Anub’Rekhan, Malygos, Ignis, Razorscale etc.

These are the more important talents and/or the ones that need an explanation.

Next time: Combat Ratings (Hit, Defense, Block value, Dodge, Parry etc). Start with the basic build and the fundamental tanking tactics covered above and before we’re through you might be able to say you DOMINATE!

Articles in this thread:

Part 1 – The Basics (You are here)

Part 2 – Combat Ratings

Part 3 – Armor: Mitigation vs. Avoidance

Part 4 – Hit Table and Threat Generation

Part 5  – Abilities and Rotation

Part 6 – Professions and Upgrades

Part 7 – Buffs and Starter Gear