The Light and How to Swing It: The Tankadin for Dummies
by Zach Yonzon 
Feb 21st 2009 at 6:00PM
First off, today we'll focus on the basics. Veteran tanks won't need all this information, but you're all free to read and nitpick because, well, I'm your whipping boy. Ok, so, you want to tank? The good news is that ever since 3.0, Paladin tanks share pretty much all gear with the other plate-wearing tanks. No more of that silly Spell Power nonsense. You're looking at gear with Stamina, Strength, and all those tanking stats like Defense, Block Rating, etc. This means it's easier to gear up. Actually, you should probably think about gearing up now before dual specs roll around and that Holy Pally rolls on your Red Sword of Courage for his "other spec". For today, let's take a look at some attributes that contribute to our survivability.
Armor
Armor is the most basic form of damage mitigation in the game. It mitigates Physical damage and the more of it you have, the better. Fortunately for Paladins, they wear plate, which naturally provides the most mitigation. Armor damage reduction has a lot of math and since we've got a long discussion ahead of us, we'll skip that. You can always just look at your character sheet in-game to see how much damage you're staving off.
Furthermore, there are a lot of armor-increasing buffs in the game, so this will be one of the things you don't have to actively think about. It should be worth noting that shields have an extremely high amount of armor compared to other pieces in the game so your armor will jump up considerably with a good shield. Armor does nothing to mitigate Magical damage.
Stamina
Stamina is arguably the most important ability score for any tank, but it's extra special for Paladins because it translates directly to Spell Power with Touched by the Light. I know I said you don't have to look for Spell Power plate anymore, but it still figures into a lot of tank abilities. In fact, Tankadins deal Holy damage from more sources than any other kind of Paladin -- even Retadins.
This is why Stamina is king. The more Stamina you have, the more Spell Power you have, and consequently the more damage and threat you generate (besides, it's awesome to top the meters on massive trash pulls). Needless to say, the more Stamina you have, the more health you have, and the longer you'll last against big bad bosses. Fortunately, you can and should increase your Stamina with five talent points in Sacred Duty and Combat Expertise for a total of 14% increase. Once a problem area for Paladin tanks, high health now one of your best assets.
Strength
The next best ability score for a Tankadin is Strength. Each point of Strength translates directly to two points of Attack Power, which contributes to white damage. It's cool but not such a big deal. However, Strength now also contributes to Block Value, and that's a big deal. The more Strength you have, the more damage your blocks will absorb and more damage you'll deal with Shield of Righteousness. You can raise your Strength by 15% with the first tier Protection talent Divine Strength.
None of the other stats matter too much after that. Agility, for example, contributes to Dodge and Crit, but you're better off getting those raw attributes instead of Agi because it takes about 52 Agility for every 1% of either. Intellect doesn't matter as your mana pool won't be a problem -- even with 0 Intellect in all your gear -- because of Blessing of Sanctuary, Divine Plea, and the mana received from Spiritual Attunement. Spirit doesn't matter at all.
Filed under: Paladin, Analysis / Opinion, Guides, (Paladin) The Light and How to Swing It
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
IvanZephyr Feb 21st 2009 6:09PM
"Fortunately, you can and should increase your Stamina with five talent points in Sacred Duty and Combat Expertise for a total of 12% increase. Once a problem area for Paladin tanks, high health now one of your best assets."
8 + 6 = 14 :P
Also: First
Zoradin Feb 23rd 2009 12:51AM
I'm pretty sure that these talents stack and aren't just added to each other. So the actual increase would be 14.48%.
1.06 x 1.08 = 1.1448
lodcan Feb 23rd 2009 4:42PM
pwned
Zousen Feb 21st 2009 6:18PM
Awesome guide, pally tanks have changed a lot since the old days and this guide explains the new mechanics very well. I'll make the pally tanks in my guild read this ^^
Manatank Feb 21st 2009 11:18PM
Most of this guide is reasonable information, but the strength section is weak. It seems to miss that strength is a paladin's premiere threat stat. There is mention of 1 strength -> 2 AP, which is true, but it does a whole lot more than just up white damage. Almost all paladin damage abilities scale with both AP and SP. The block value contribution from strength is also a huge boost to both threat and mitigation making strength a defensive stat as well.
The other point to take all prot paladins should invest in 5/5 Divine Strength. It is not an optional talent. Assume a paladin has 1000 strength. Between Divine Strength and Kings bring that to 1265 strength which provides 2530 AP and 632 Block Value. This stat scales incredibly well for a paladin, and it is found on all of our gear.
Zach Feb 21st 2009 11:21PM
@Manatank - We haven't even gotten to Threat yet. This is all just survivability information. That's up next -- threat generation, maintaining it, etc.
See? I told you you're allowed to nitpick.
George Feb 21st 2009 6:36PM
"Each point of Strength translates directly to two points of Attack Power, which contributes to white damage."
AP not only adds to white damage but to many of our specials as well. Consecration, Seals, Judgments, Exorcism, Holy Wrath and Avenger's Shield all scale with AP.
Taladan Feb 21st 2009 7:07PM
Erm... Really? Consecration, seals, judgements, exorcism and holy wrath all generate holy damage, which scales with your SP, not AP (unless you go deep into the retribution tree, where you have the equivalent of Touched by the Light (which scales with AP instead of Stamina.)
Jeroen Feb 21st 2009 7:26PM
@Taldan: A lot of paladin offensive spells scale with AP and SP *simultaneously*, including ones for both Prot *and* Ret. This is why something like Fish Feast is good - the AP and SP bonuses *both* increase damage done.
Manatank Feb 21st 2009 10:59PM
Taldan is completely wrong. Completely.
Robert M Feb 21st 2009 6:37PM
Str also contributes to holy damage as many of the formulas that determine holy offensive abilities work off both spellpower and attack power.
Naithin Feb 21st 2009 6:36PM
Oh, Hey.
I'm sure this is probably old-ish news to those of you that comment on a regular basis, but it seems that every page of the article has it's own completely seperate comments. /facepalm
Is there any given general best practice been developed by the users here for gettin around this irksome issue yet? Any comments from WI staff itself that this will be resolved? Or that they promise to stop making multi page articles if not? :P
Anywho, for anyone like myself who wasn't aware of this, more discussion on page 3 comments. :P
twothing Feb 21st 2009 6:42PM
` Are you going to go overe the 969696969 or what ever spell cycle? I have headr abought it, i am just not shur what it is.
Tomah Feb 21st 2009 6:51PM
96969. Basically, Holy Shield, Judgement, and Consec are nines, sixes are Shield of the Righteous and Hammer of the Righteous. The ability cooldowns aren't all EXACTLY 9s or 6s, but it's close, and you're simulating an ideal 969 situation for maximum threat-output.
You want one point in Imp. Judgement and no Glyph of Consec to make this work.
All you have to do is alternate cooldowns. Long, short, long, short, long, etc. Once you've hit all the buttons (HS -> HotR -> Judge -> ShoR -> Cons), you can pretty much just hit them as they light up from there.
If you want to use things like Exorcism, stick them in in place of Hammer of the Righteous in your rotation.
Easy enough, yeah?
Tom Feb 23rd 2009 1:11PM
There is a very good description of the tankadin spell cycle on www.wow-pro.com. Must read stuff.
LeBron J. Feb 21st 2009 6:42PM
How fitting is it that this is called "Tankadin for Dummies," since tanking with a Pally is MINDLESS!!! It's the easiest tanking experience in the World of Warcraft - hands down. Warrior tanking is probably the most involved, but for a quarter of the effort, tanking with my pally makes me look like a superstar!
When I'm coherent, I tank with my warrior, but for the sake of not causing my raid to wipe, if I'm drunk/high/or currently doing yoga, I break out my Pally! No guide necessary, just tell 'em which buttons to push and everyone can do it!
Deadly. Off. Topic. Feb 23rd 2009 9:39AM
Lets fix this:
What LeBron J. really said was:
When I'm coherent, I tank with my paladin, but for the sake of not causing my raid to wipe, if I'm drunk/high/or currently doing yoga, I break out my Warrior! No guide necessary, just tell 'em which buttons to push and everyone can do it!
^_^v
Tomah Feb 21st 2009 6:46PM
"This can actually happen with Paladin tanks when Holy Shield is active and Redoubt procs, which is an additional 60% in addition to the Paladin's base chance to block. With enough percentage to be missed, to parry, and to dodge, a Paladin can sometimes block all incoming attacks (that don't miss, or are parried and dodged, of course)."
You can do it with just Holy Shield, if I recall. I believe you're still aiming for 102.4% combined avoidance+block for that, with Holy Shield up, which isn't actually too hard to hit pre-raiding. Especially if you go back for the old Badge of Justice libram, which tacks on a free few percent at 80.
I'd recommend checking out http://maintankadin.failsafedesign.com/ for aspiring tankadins - it's pretty useful.
Heilig Feb 21st 2009 7:28PM
I really, REALLY, wish you guys would stop doing this multi-page article nonsense. It creates multiple comments pages, one for each page of the article. Horrible system.
Rhoz Feb 21st 2009 8:56PM
#1 - Stamina isn't king solely for its potential threat generation. Stamina translates into Hit Points, which is the most basic form of Damage mitigation you can get. After all, what more are hit points then a meter to tell you how many more blows you can take until you die? If mitigation is avoiding death, then having more HP translates into being able to take more hits until you die.
#2 - All Offensive Paladin abilities scale with Attack Power as well as Spell Power. If I recall correctly, the only two offensive spells that don't scale with attack power are Holy Shield and Hammer of the Righteous, the later which was or will be changed.
#3 - You're right that Intellect doesn't matter, but you can't assume that you'll always have Blessing of Sanctuary either. It's safe to say you'll have a Holy Paladin or a Retribution Paladin in your raid groups, but in five man groups it's possible that you'll be Solodining it. In that case, it's safer to take Blessing of Kings over Blessing of Sanctuary, and when that happens you loose the Mana from Blessing of Sanctuary. In my humble opinion, Mana Regeneration is one of our weakest Areas at the moment. After all, does any other tank need to select between threat generation and resource generation the way Paladins sometimes need to choose between Seal of Wisdom and Seal of Vengeance / Corruption? But that's a story for another day.
#4 - Druids don't use defense. It's a definitive Stat for Plate-wearing tanks :P. I'm just nitpicking now, lol.
#5 - You can drop the about. The exact Defense Rating number you need is 689 :P.
#6 - I'm skeptical of how well Reckoning does as a Block Talent. Sure, since you still take damage when you block, you can get a Reckoning Proc, but it's a bad talent because the best Threat Generation Seal, Vengeance / Corruption, gets almost nothing from the extra swing. Weee! I got a Seal Proc for 7 pa!!!
#7 - I usually explain the two Block Stats like this.
Block Rating - How often you block.
Block Value - How much damage you block.