do i just sotr all the time? seems like wog does better unless there’s a few people whackin me.
Without getting as specific as all this, I’d love to hear about the best way to get used to tanking when you’ve already got a fully geared (if not top-geared) character.
I don’t need to tank Heroic Nathria (yet), but I would like to start getting in on that whole insta-queue thing.
Are there specific addons I should be looking at, besides, apparently a routing one for mythics?
Yes you will mostly be using SotR. It’s a very important part of a) not getting smooshed into divine goo, and b) not terrifying the robes off of your healer (in addition to the damage it does).
As for WoG, you’ll generally want to use it:
-after every fifth SotR when it is free
-if you would otherwise die (it does more healing when you are low health, but keep in mind that if you keep using it and SotR falls off, then your damage intake will be much higher)
-if you have lots of time left on SotR (say 8+ seconds) and you need to spend the Holy Power/Divine Purpose proc
-if you are only expecting to take magical damage and will still be able to get SotR back up for when you are taking physical damage again (keep in mind that some caster bosses like Nalthor in NW actually do physical damage instead of magical).
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SoTR provides you with increased armor for 3 seconds and each additional cast extends the duration for another 3 seconds, max 13. You basically want as close to 100% uptime on the SoTR buff and can WoG if your healer is falling behind.
As a paladin we have Ardent Defender, Guardian of Ancient Kings, Bubble if talented, and Blood-splattered trinket. You basically want to use defensive cooldowns very liberally, even at full health. If you try to use a defensive when you are near death, you waited too long.
Blessed hammer spec helps a lot with holy power generation. Paladins don’t mitigate spell damage well, however, we have 4 ways to interrupt casts. There should not be many or at all priority casts getting through. On average I walk out of a dungeon having done 45-60 interrupts, which is a lot of mitigated incoming damage.
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I just ran MIST with my baby prot pally and I think I did like 15lish more or less interupts? I don’t see too many cast going out though.
There’s a ton of priority casts in Mist, 15 is low for interrupts and means a lot of casts got through, unless your whole group had 15 or more interrupts, each. Tenders, Shapers, and Staghorns are the biggest ones to watch. 5-10 interrupts will come solely from the 2nd boss.
It was only a heroic for the callings or maybe that’s why? IDK honestly since I don’t see my hp dipping below 80% any any point and the healer mana seems to be full most of the time. Average DPS was like 5k for each the dps I was sitting aorund 1.5 to 4k depending if I use CD or not.
I started playing a pally since they seem to be a more relax tank to play. Non of the jumping around here and there with VDH and more interupt VIA avengers shield.
Oh that’s a possibility.
Yeah for normal/heroic/low keys, prot paladins are easy to play and keep alive. Higher keys though, active mitigation uptime and defensive cd usage becomes life or death.
Ok… Let’s start off with a positive… I REALLY LIKE YOUR TABARD! Ok… for Paladin tanks, lets start with some basics. Stats and gear… You should be running 20% haste (or a little more… but at least 20%) and then start on Mastery. Crit, while not unimportant… isn’t really that important. Some ppl swear that Mastery=Versatility, but we will have to agree to disagree. I have tried both in different combinations and find that with Consecration, Mastery wins out for me. Think that boils down to a playstyle thing. You are well geared (I checked you out, girl… whistle), but some pieces are better suited for different specs. The Legendary we have should really be either the Shoulder slot or the Leg slot. Raid-wise… go legs… Mythic+… shoulders (I use the legs for both… but I have both if needed). I prefer the haste boost… more SoTR uptime… faster cooldowns… more output.
Dungeon encounters… To be honest, I found the best way to learn them was start with normals… run each one about 2 or 3 times… depending on comfort level. Go ahead and pick up the Dungeon Tools app and start learning your routes in the normals. Move up to Heroics… 2 or 3 times… run your routes… Then start with Mythics… 2 or 3 times… run routes. Mythic+ time… you now have your routes memorized and are familiar with everything but the affixes. Certain ones of those are worse than others, but other than doing them… no way to get “used” to those. Raids… do the same thing.
Addons… I prefer ElvUI for UI replacement. WeakAuras for cooldowns. Astral Keys addon will not only allow you to see what keys all your alts have, but see what the guild has (as long as they have the addon) and announce to friends, guild… whoever what you have available. GTFO for increased Poo avoidance. MazeHelper (Maze in Tirna Scith). Omen for my Aggro meter and Details! Damage meter to monitor dmg and heals in group/raid. RSA (spell announcer) and WIM (so as not to miss tells). Lastly… DBM (Deadly Boss Mods). I have a few others but they are just to make my life easier (Postal, Altoholic, Leatrix Plus); not tank relevant.
Enchants: Until you get used to the class really well and get your stats where you want them, play it safe. Weapon = Celestial Guidance, but once you get your stats right and it becomes “old hat” step it up to Lightless Force. Keep your chest enchant as is for a bit and then move to Bulwark then transition to Skirmish. Change your cloak to Fortified Speed. The rest of your enchants are great. When you get 20% haste and the ring enchant will not take you below that put Mastery on rings.
Great sources for Paladin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xEs-XWWcg8 (explains Dungeon tools and how to use it)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgszJucFHAe7kUbU6ZXh-oQ (PaladinDan… he prefers the shoulders, but info is REALLY good)
This should get ya started. 
Let me know if you have any questions.
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Thanks this is good info.
I’m sure i’ll see more proper play being required as I get along in CN. I’m still stuck doing the odd normal or spamming LFR.
Paladin is one of the best classes at passive magic mitigation right now. You have holy shield to block spells, consecration DR, the new tank passive 10% DR, and WoG spam if there is no/low incoming physical damage.
DH used to be the best, but after their wards nerf and other tanks getting more DR, pally is the best at magic DR. DK could also be the best due to their healing mitigation model which is independent of incoming damage type.
Most paladin tanks run with blessed hammer for better holy power generation, so we forego the magic damage reduction.
The consecrate damage reduction is considered base line and we don’t really think of it as active mitigation. It’s just something that’s up all the time.
Warriors have spell reflect which is really great especially for the final boss of ToP with reaping scythe.