Hello! I am new to both Protection Paladin and TBC/Classic, and I was wondering how one goes about preserving their mana in longer fights, because I can run out of it pretty quickly in the world/dungeons if I’m not just auto attacking. I’ve googled it online but didn’t get much help, so sorry if this is a dumb question or something.
In aoe I use my consecration and holy shield on cooldown, and make sure to make use of my blood elf racials if I can. Are Prot paladins just mana starved by default? Or am I doing something wrong?
All replies are appreciated and thank you for the help in advance!
Prot pallys mains source of mana is being healed. As such beyond the mana gained via having a spriest and it’s a fair bit so worth always looking for one and the mana from seal of wisdom via seal twisting you want to be getting healed.
A vary common prob with pallys is when they overgear/level the content is not taking enough healing and a such not having mana. This is esp the case in tbc. Classic instances are nerfed quite a bit in tbc so you are overpowering them even when in the level range rather easy. In heroics even once you get in t4 gear you will once again face this issue.
This also happens with low gear before you have enough spirit int and mp5 gear and yes pallys do gear for those stats on top of all tanking stats making pallys one of the hardest specs to gear in the game.
As such the answer is take your pants of. This results in you taking more damage and as such having more mana. Yes in turn you lose hit and expertise as well as other stats but those are the only two you care about in this case so avoid items with those stats. In fact to be exact you will aim for any non tier non hit non expertise gear with the lowerst spirit value first and keep taking more of as needed. Back in tbc it was not uncommon come sunwel for me to tank non heroics with only a wep and shield plus trinkets/ jewelry on and heroics with just those plus chest/legs.
Huh, I would have never thought of making myself weaker. I have been trying to make myself as tanky as possible… I’ll have to try this in the next dungeons I do if I’m having mana issues.
Tanking almost naked sounds kinda weird to me. It doesn’t make much sense but at the same time it kinda does when you think about it. Thank you for the help!
I see, consecration is pretty mana heavy so I’ll put some lower ranks of it on my bars too. Thanks!
I’ll also be sure to look out for spell power stuff!
Honestly download a threat addon and only cast conc and holy shield when needed. Don’t need to spam if you have great aggro. That’s why your mana disappears and improved righteous fury also helps when you down rank cast consecration. Try these things out and I think you will find it much better
stick to holy shield level one
only cast consecration once, with imp RF and non spaz dps thats heaps of threat
then SoR and tab/judgement through the pack
Pull bigger packs and take more damage
you spend more time drinking for 3 pulls of 2 then 1 pull of 6 for example
I use judgement of wisdom almost all the time. For single target, aoe, dungeons, w/e. On AOE packs where single target threat/damage doesn’t really matter, I keep up seal of wisdom too. Now that paladins have a taunt it’s much more viable too. Reckoning is also great with seal/judgement of wisdom. Also use blessing of wisdom instead of sanctuary or kings when you don’t need the extra health or damage reduction.
You probably have several problems, first your mana pool is probably tiny so its going to go fast. Second prot paladins are not mana efficient. So downrank, don’t seal twist, judge wisdom, always have blessing of wisdom on yourself. Also assuming your solo, slow and steady will usually be better then trying to burst things down.
As you get to higher levels, things should get better, specifically because you will get an ability which gives you a return of 8% mana on a heal, so say you take 2000 damage, you would get 160 mana if someone else is heals you back to full. So you will be in good shape when your getting beat up and taking lots of damage. You don’t get mana back from your own heals though.
That leads to the other problem people have been mentioning, your defense gets to good, and you quit taking damage. No damage taken means no mana. The solution to this is as mentioned, take off your pants, maybe your helm, sometimes your chest. Hopefully by then, stuff is hitting you hard enough that your needing some heals, if not drink some water, and realize you will have to pause more for mana.
Additionally, you mention being new to TBC/Classic, so I am guessing you have come from Retail, the world of endless mana and where you don’t really have to manage resources. Classic is not like that for any class, mana management is important. You will find you go through way more water then you do food on a whole.
another suggestions, assume questing primarily though helpful also for dungeons, see if you can get mage water and food before you head out to quest, if not, make sure you have at least 2-4 stacks of each. Also get first aid and make bandages, after a fight, if your mana’s good, don’t heal yourself, use a bandage, save the mana. Plan to drink after every 2-4 pulls.
While alone, rank 1 shield, seal and Judge wisdom, and blessing of wisdom. Expect to drink after a pull, so make it count by pulling more and getting more kills/XP at the same time.
In a group if you find yourself running out of mana, pull more mobs or wear less gear.
Stack Spell Power
Down Rank Consecration
Avoid using Avengers Shield when possible
Use Seal of Wisdom if you don’t need the extra damage or threat from SoR
Maintain Salvation on your Party Members so you don’t have to push more damage to hold threat
If you want to be able to make as many pulls as possible without needing to drink, you need to be using your mana as little as possible. So down rank your spells, use them only when you need to in order to keep threat, and utilize the 5 second rule for recovering mana. Also, don’t be silly and use a big mana costing spell when a pack is about to die, even if you lose threat before it dies, it’s likely just going to waste your mana for no reason.
I pull as big as I can, drop big fat consec, holy shield, another consec, drain all that mana on a pack (which is usually 2-3 packs). Then you drink, and go next.
You usually do lot of dps with consec so it’s worth blowing your mana.
