101

This is just a brief 101 look at Paladin Tanking in order to cover the basics–speccing, glyphing, rotations, etc. This guide was last updated for Patch 3.3.0.

How should I spec?

We have two main specs. For raid tanking, use this 0/53/18. For heroics tanking (and only heroics tanking, don’t step foot in a raid with this) use this 0/52/19.

How should I glyph?

Major

Glyph of Divine Plea – Absolutely mandatory. Thanks to Guarded by the Light, this glyph is worth a constant 3% damage reduction.

Glyph of Seal of Vengeance – Our best threat glyph, even past the soft cap. Considering we tank with Seal of Vengeance, this is must have.

Glyph of Judgement – Our next best threat glyph, a good choice for the third slot.

Runners-up: Glyph of Righteous Defense is good if you have very little hit rating and you find yourself missing taunts on taunt-heavy fights (Saurfang for instance). Glyph of Hammer of the Righteous is nice for heroics, but for raids you’ll get more benefit from Judgement since there only tends to be one boss at a time, rather than four.

Minor
Our minor glyphs basically suck. Get the only two good ones and then the third can be whatever blessing you tend to buff the raid with more often.

Glyph of Sense Undead – Don’t forget to keep Sense Undead on in raids.

Glyph of Lay on Hands – Was more useful when we could self-cast. Still better than other minor glyphs.

Glyph of Blessing of Kings – I cast this on people in heroics. Honestly, I could have only two minor glyph spots and I wouldn’t notice.

What seal(s) should I use? And how should I judge?

Use Seal of Vengeance for bosses and anything that will live for more than 30 seconds, use Seal of Command for massive AOE pulls of short-lived trash.

As for Judgements, Light gives back health, Wisdom returns mana. Generally I tank with Light because I’m judging often enough to always keep the effect up and I won’t have to depend on others to have it there. In a raid environment I’d prefer the free heals, but in a heroic the extra mana is usually better.

What aura should I use?

Devotion Aura for most raid situations. For heroics and raids you significantly outgear (and lack a Ret Pally), you can put up Retribution Aura for more AOE threat.

What blessing should I use?

Always self-bless with Blessing of Sanctuary – 3% less damage, more health, more threat from the strength boost, and mana returned on avoidance. You’ll find yourself going, or getting close to, OOM often without this.

In a raid your priority after Sanc is Kings, Might, then Wisdom.

What’s my threat rotation?

969 is the best way to optimize threat while maximizing uptime of Judgements of the Just and other debuffs we provide. To summarize briefly, we have three main “9? attacks, Holy Shield, Judgement, and Consecration; and two main “6? attacks, Hammer of the Righteous, and Shield of Righteousness. Weave your 6s with your 9s, such as:

0.0 Holy Shield (as you’re running in)
1.5 ShoR
3.0 Consecration
4.5 HotR
6.0 Judgement
7.5 ShoR
9.0 Holy Shield
10.5 HotR
12.0 Consecration
13.5 ShoR
15.0 Judgement

Etc, etc.

As for Hammer of Wrath, the only “9″ you would benefit replacing with it is Holy Shield, and even then you’re losing the 30% block increase, so that’s probably ill-advised. If you’re in melee you can skip Hammer of Wrath. (source)

I’m going oom, how do I fix that?

Consecrate less. You really shouldn’t drop Conc on a pull with less than three mobs unless you have a ton of mana. You’ll find yourself going oom constantly if you Consecrate whenever it’s up.

Don’t be afraid to pull more too–more mobs means more mana returned by Blessing of Sanctuary, means more damage taken, means more heals giving mana back via Spiritual Attunement.

How should I enchant my gear?

Head – Arcanum of the Stalwart Protector
Cloak – Titanweave if you need the defense, Mighty Armor if not.
Shoulders – Greater Inscription of the Gladiator if you don’t need the defense, Greater Inscription of the Pinnacle if you do.
Chest – Greater Defense if you need it, Super Health if not.
Wrists – Major Stamina
Hands – Reticulated Armor Webbing if Engi, Heavy Borean Armor Kit otherwise.
Waist – Eternal Belt Buckle with a stamina gem
Legs – Frosthide Leg Armor
Boots – Greater Fortitude
Shield – Defense if you need it, Major Stamina if not

How should I enchant my weapon?

For threat, the best choice is Accuracy. For survivability it comes down to a matter of taste. You can either get Blood Draining, which is like a free health potion, or Mongoose which procs agility, and thus a nice chunk of armor (it’s a decent threat enchant as well). You have to decide for yourself what is more worthwhile: a middling heal when you need it most, or random bursts of an armor buff.

How should I gem my gear?

Refer to this flowchart. Initially when starting out you’ll need your gem slots to get you to 540 defense, but as you start to gear up the defense rating you get from your gear will more than cover the crit cap for you. Once you’re sporting 245 gear you can gem solely along the guidelines of my flowchart.

For a metagem, you want to go with Austere Earthsiege Diamond.

How much defense do I need to tank?

You need 535 to to push crits off the table for heroics (where mobs never are higher than level 82) and 540 for raid bosses. Don’t enchant or gem for defense once you’re past 540 defense.

What consumables should I use?

Flasks/Elixirs

In a raid you’ll get more survivability from Flask of Stoneblood.

If it’s a farm night with few wipes you might want to pair an Elixir of Protection with a Guru’s Elixir or an Elixir of Mighty Fortitude for a less expensive but decent survivability boost.

Potions

Don’t use health pots while in combat, the effect is minimal and it locks you out of far better pots. Always use Indestructible Potion if you need a quick survivability boost. You should also be popping these before a raid boss fight/combat starts for some free off-cooldown armor.

Food

This is what’s on the menu:

Dragonfin Filet: Provides 40 strength, which works out to 20 Block Value (26 with Redoubt) and 80 attack power/28 white damage dps, along with 24 spell power.

Blackened Dragonfin: The 40 agility from this food imparts .67% dodge (before diminishing returns), .67% crit chance, and 80 armor. Great triple dip stat food.

Worg Tartare (or Snapper Extreme): Gives 1.22% chance to hit. Excellent choice for closing the gap on the melee hit cap.

Rhinolicious Wyrmsteak: The 40 expertise rating from this food translates to 4.9 expertise skill, or .82% reduced chance to have your attacks dodged or parried.

Overall, Dragonfin Filet is the best for threat, while Blackened Dragonfin is the best for survivability.

What professions are best for tanking?

I like my combo of Jewelcrafting (+63 stamina) with Engineering (+885 armor). You can’t go wrong with JC/Blacksmithing (+60 stamina) for an all-purpose combination, though.

Any helpful macros that can make my job easier?

If you make a quick cancelaura macro from DivSac like so:

#showtooltip Divine Sacrifice
/cancelaura Divine Sacrifice
/cast Divine Sacrifice

… and then hit it twice in rapid succession you’ll turn on DivSac, then off (cancelling any damage), but Divine Guardian will stick and the whole raid will benefit from the 20% damage reduction effect. Very powerful macro for a very powerful ability.