Pally Tanking 101

Hey all, I thought I would take a break from all the Holy paladin centric posts to write a bit about tanking as a paladin. I have had experience tanking as a prot pally early on in the expansion along with in TBC mostly in heroics. I was actually the OT when me, my bf and our irl friends were all wiping in 10 man Naxx trying to get KT down (usually because we would hit enrage timers). Remember those days?

Anyway, I know there is a TON of great prot pally resources out there that any aspiring paladin tank can look up so my goal is NOT to replicate that. I just want this post to kind of be a very simple, easy guide to prot paladin tanking as I am not a great paladin tank by any means.

So here goes!

I. Spec & Glyphs

I have just listed some preliminary specs I made up but feel free to tweak them however you see fit. I will make a comment though as to why there is only one point in Improved Judgements. This is due to the optimal tanking rotation called the 969 rotation and having 2 points in Improved Judgements will throw it off.

MT / 5 man Heroics: this or this
OT: Example here

Major Glyphs:

• Glyph of Avenger's Shield NOT recommended as Avenger's Shield rocks because it hits multiple targets from the onset and is great for group pulls.
  
• Glyph of Consecration I don't recommend this as I feel there are better glyphs out there.
  
• Glyph of Divine Plea Practically a must have in my book as prot talents gives DP practically 100% uptime
  
• Glyph of Hammer of the Righteous I would recommend this shield if you want to focus more on AOE tanking
  
• Glyph of Righteous Defense If you are under the hit cap for your taunt to never miss (8%?), this glyph would be good for you
  
• Glyph of Seal of Vengeance This is a great glyph! It gives you free expertise, which help your mitigation and threat =) (More on expertise here)
  
• Glyph of Shield of Righteousness This isn't that great of a glyph, I feel, since you shouldn't have that much of a mana issue with shield of righteousness
  
• Glyph of Spiritual Attunement Only use this glyph if you have the talent for it.
  

Minor Glyphs:

• Glyph of Blessing of Kings
• Glyph of Lay on Hands

II. Gems

For all you newbie tanks, the magic number to hit is 535 defense for 5 man Heroics and 540 defense for raid bosses. That is defense skill NOT defense rating. What is the difference? Defense rating is what is on gear and gems but when translated to defense skill, the number you get is lower. Your defense skill will be on your character sheet.

Tanking is highly dependent on gear and gems will help supplement your stats as a tank. There are a whole crapton of gems available for tanks to use in all sizes and shapes (and colors). I will bold/italicize gems I find useful.

Keep in mind:

1. Orange gems fit in both red and yellow sockets
2. Green gems fit in both blue and yellow sockets
3. Purple gems fit in both blue and red sockets
   

Red sockets: These gems always gives you more avoidance stats such as dodge, parry, expertise, def or hit.

• Defender's Twilight Opal (purple) - If you want parry and some stam
  
• Guardian's Twilight Opal (purple) - If you need more expertise and some stam
• Regal Twilight Opal (purple) - If you want dodge instead along with some stam
• Sovereign Twilight Opal (purple) - If you want strength (translates to block) and stam
• Flashing Scarlet Ruby (red) - Pure parry
• Precise Scarlet Ruby (red) - Pure expertise
• Subtle Scarlet Ruby (red) - Pure dodge
  

Blue sockets: ALWAYS Solid Sky Sapphire, it's a waste of a blue socket otherwise unless you are seriously lacking in defense.
Yellow sockets: Any gems matching this socket will always give you some defense or hit rating so unless you want the socket bonus and or need the hit/defense, you can just ignore the socket color.

• Enduring Forest Emerald (green) - Great gem for trying to hit the defense cap and getting more stamina
• Vivid Forest Emerald (green) - If you need hit and some stam
  
• Thick Autumn's Glow (yellow) - If you just need to stack defense get 540 defense, this is the gem to do it
• Rigid Autumn's Glow (yellow) - If you really need that much hit
• Accurate Monarch Topaz (orange) - Exp/hit
• Champion's Monarch Topaz (orange) - Def/str
• Etched Monarch Topaz (orange) - Str/hit
• Glimmering Monarch Topaz (orange) - Def/parry
• Resolute Monarch Topaz (orange) - Exp/def
• Stalwart Monarch Topaz (orange) - Dodge/def
  

III. Auras

Now, this may seem very straightforward but I have heard examples of prot pallies using Conc. Aura to tank -.- so please forgive me if I seem to be stating the obvious.

There are 2 auras a prot pally can possibly use to tank, which are Devo and Ret Aura.

You can regard Devo aura as the mitigation aura and Ret aura as the threat aura. If you are fairly "squishy" as a new tank, Devo aura may work out better for you. However, Ret aura is usually best to use in 5 man Heroics or raids without Ret pallies to help with your threat. Otherwise, in raid settings prot pallies usually have on Devo aura.

IV. Seal

Use Seal of Corruption, no argument allowed. This is because as you auto-attack, you will stack up to 5 times, a DoT on the mob. This is great to use for aoe tanking outside of just Consecration or when aggro wipes happen midfight. Also if you want to use the Glyph then you have to use this seal! Just trust me, this seal is the best for tanking.

Finally, make sure you have Righteous Fury up, now go and tank!