Why Paladin: Extremely survivable Tank for little effort.
When OC Paladin: Immortal against anything but overkill oneshots.
When Trash Panda: Leveling or limited to the 2h Eternal
When not Paladin: When you need a purge
Feel free to switch the legendary between Retaliation and Shield defense. Core unlocks are marked in red.
We overclock Paladin's great value for 'being in the thick of it' by supercharging it's passive selfheal potential.
You may want the 1h Eternal unlocked for this. If still on the 2h stage, scroll down to 'Trash Panda'.
It's all the Eternal weapon!
When activating your Eternal Weapon, effects applied during it's 10 second uptime- no matter how long they last- will be infused with the 42k Eternal bonus.
When a warrior applies buffs with a description like 'increases the target's healing taken by x%' while the weapon is activated will cause those buffs RE-INFUSE the 42k bonus for heals. So incoming healing 'passes the buff' and gets a +42k alongside the % bonus. This can turn simple 1k heals into 50k, 100k or even million values, giving amazing value to rapid healing tick rates, no matter how strong the base healing is.
(This effect also re- loops selected healing% of your character but that's unimportant for Paladin)
In the case of Shield of the Hero and Protector's Fury, buffing them with your 10 second Eternal running will cause the buffs to infuse all healing you receive with the 42k Eternal bonus. (Shield of the Hero only affecting single target healing)
Buff in this order:
Always start with Deep Breaths so Shield of the Hero, Protector's (and Fury Stand Tall!) are applied with your 42k Eternal bonus active.
This infuses the healing you receive by 84k base value!. Stand Tall! further infuses your I'm with you! in the same way on top of the 50% bonus.
(Advanced: Buff everything with double Eternal)
For self healing and damage you also want to have your Eternal weapon active at all times. The easiest way is to use Warchanter's Deep Breaths in combat once within 10 seconds.
Simply develop a habit to use Deep Breaths before doing anything- both as Paladin and Liberator.
Rather wait for full power and buff Deep Breaths early than having the weapon run out.
Paladin may not care about attack points!
Your only concern is having enough power to refresh the Eternal with Deep Breaths in time before your 10 second Eternal runs out.
(which gets fully automated with the #Main and #Balm macro!)
Gear:
You do NOT NEED tank gear to tank in 4.x. Only BoS Commander Isiel and maybe Itrop Arakhurn can take more hp to smooth things out.
For any other situation, your DPS set with the Berserker Trinket is fully sufficient.
Extreme oneshot overkills (which are honestly all avoidable) are the only thing dangerous to you!
Legendary Light's Balm does NOT count as an attack to keep Berserker stacks up. Stick to #Main if you need hp.
If you decide to stack Tanking gear, focus on the Preserver name, Endurance > Max HP > Dexterity > Guard > Dodge > Strength > Physical Crit (until 38%) > Crit Power (until 38%) > Block
(Dexterity gives you dodge- which gives a chance to fully avoid avoidable damage and also increases your maximum absorption cap)
Rogue dodge/ guard Essences are bis for you. Do not get caught up with chasing Guard gear, rather practice cooldown timings.
Note: Anything in Bos that can be dangerous to you cannot be blocked or dodged.
Arakhurn's attacks which stack onto you and hit hard however can be dodged & blocked! Dodging it fully avoids a stack. Dodge 2 in a row to drop all stacks.
54/58 Vk is a better pick for Arakhurn since all you do there is race against oneshots.
Selfheal effects that make you unstoppable:
Spoiler:
Those effects will all work passively through buffs and macros!
But it is important that you do not let your Eternal run out and be stuck on half power in combat!
(If you get stuck, use the #Sweep macro since it has no Jolt in it)
Jolt. Simple heal over time for 12 seconds ticking every second and gets extreme boni from your eternal (up to fully healing you once a second) and can be your #1 self heal.
Apply it properly and have it do the heavy lifting.
Light's Balm. Selfheal with no cooldown. Legendary Balm also splashes high unbounded aoe damage. Manually used Light's Balm can stack with proccs from L. Protector's Fury.
Note: Light's Blam will NOT grant you stacks for your Berserker tanking trinket. 'Spamming' it will deal great aoe damage & self heal but may cost you max
The least situations do require high hp though so it stays a valid option.
Enduring Survival. 61 Mastery that ticks frequent self heals every 3 seconds and gets infused by your Eternal weapon.
Stand Tall! Ticks every 3 seconds and when reapplied @4 second cd. 'Spamming' will increase its effective tickrate but demands more power management from you.
When confident with your Eternal refresh timings and not tanking Commander Isiel (where you would overwrite the Stand Tall! from a Warchanter), you can activate the cast @self Stand Tall! in your macros for more effective tick rates by it.
Starfall Weapon Rune. It's a damage loss for your dps builds and you should have Attackpower on your 1h Eternal. But its 2% healing-taken procc also adds a layer of Eternal-bonus-loops.
(Someone once won a raid-clear-competition due to a clutch Shadow of the Mountain- procc!)
Vampiric Touch. The planar Attunement weapon enchant. Overkill heals and unreliable due to random proccs. No downsides to using it anyways though.
Macros:
Spoiler:
#Main singletarget (Light's Decree isn't really that valuable but you can afford some flavor)
^ What does this one do? ANY Warrior can give you a 15 second 25% damage transfer, intercepting 25% of your dmage taken onto them. However, if they take too much damage from the link, only YOU can deactivate it!
If you ever happen to play with someone going the extra mile, it's only fair to have an option to help them out.
Abilities worth mentioning:
Spoiler:
Shield Defense: Your best defensive cooldown. Sanctuary: Aoe defensive cooldown creating a zone effect. Awkward to use with the gcd but can function as personal cooldown. Aegis of the Light: Easy defensive Cooldown Light's Protection: Can add an additional Eternal- loop effect for 12 seconds. (Have incoming heals take ANOTHER +42k bonus) Amnesty: Your 'Intercept'. Every Tank has this.
I'm With you! Very powerful heal in only 1 second gcd. Can be used on anyone for powerful spot healing. Apply Stand Tall! to a target to increase its effect. This alone may be as strong as a 61 Sentinel xD
Call of the Divine: Place an aoe that taunts and teleports mobs in the zone to you. (has no target limit iirc) Can interrupt spellcasters. Purify Land: Place an aoe zone that explodes with a delay. Damages and taunts all enemies in it. Combine it with Call of The divine to engage two separated groups of mobs at once.
Pulling a room with Pala can feel like throwing grenades left & right.
Righteous Charge: Default charge with nice visual effect. Generally redundant with ranged attacks. Elude: Versatile 'leap backwards'. Jump + turn 180° mid air before pressing Elude to 'jump forward'.
Earthen Shards: Planar Attunement unlock to enchant your shield.
Only Earthen Shards, the one with '+28 dmg' in the tooltip can be supercharged when you apply it to your shield WHILE your Eternal is running.
(Bonus: double eternal) Watch it's damage being 42k eternal + 28 base damage. With ca. a 50% procc rate and 60% block chance, this can accumulate a lot of damage for you. Apply it like a weapon Stone or Vampiric Essence but make sure your eternal is active while doing so.
With L.Light's Balm proccs > L.Protector's Fury > L. Retaliation > Infused Earthen Shards, a lvl 70 Paladin has 4 strong effects that strike-back on attackers- and have no maximum target limit in doing so!
Gameplay:
> Use Deep Breaths BEFORE buffing Shield of the Hero and Protector's Fury. (bonus: With double Eternal active- see Riftblade pve for that)
> Use Deep Breaths to force procc your Eternal weapon before pulling and in combat. Your #Main and #Balm macro may already take care of this.
> Rather use Deep Breaths early than having your Eternal run out on half Power.
Make sure to only have JOLT applied with the Eternal Weapon active (in your macros).
Use I'm With you for powerful spotheals onto allies. Using 3 non-attacks in a row may cost 75k hp though.
Mainly use #Main, use #Sweep to quickly aggro mobs, use #Balm to nuke down packs of mobs
As soon as you have your full Eternal Weapon and a little bit of base hp, the more mobs the better!
Your ranged-aoe threat may be on the lower end. Use Purify Land and Call of the Divine to get ahead of your dps.
To test around and grow some confidence. I recommend entering a fresh Tdnm/ Bos id alone and "bathe" in all the trash mobs. Try to tank some Raid Rifts next. The chaotic nature but low stakes of Raid Rift groups provides a great proving ground for unfamiliar builds.
Enjoy
Trash Panda! - Bad 70 gear and leveling-Tank
Spoiler:
Why Trash Panda: Best independent tank performance on bad gear
When Trash Panda: You need a strong Tank while leveling or while being on terrible gear at 70.
When not Trash Panda: With better 70 gear.
Meant to tank available content on terrible gear without needing a healer. 25 SPE go faster with 4 dps and you can take over the tank+ healing job.
Design decisions: We want to utilize your early 2h Eternal weapon by combining high block with 'block without shield' while focusing on absorptions and threat.
This is a balance between tank gameplay, survivability, healing and threat.
You have amazing direct healing potential for a badly geared tank. If for example in the SPE Tuath De, the BEar bloom does not get interrupted, you can heal everyone and yourself through the damage.
#Main - target an enemy for damage and self heals or an ally (self) for extra st healing.
#show We Stand United!
suppressmacrofailures
cast We Stand United!
cast Seasoned Strike
cast I'm with you!
cast @self I'm with you!
cast @self We Stand United!
cast Retaliation
cast Light's Reprisal
cast Light's Vengeance
cast @focus Retaliation
cast @focus Light's Reprisal
cast @focus Light's Vengeance
cast @lasttarget Retaliation
cast @lasttarget Light's Reprisal
cast @lasttarget Light's Vengeance
#show Face Slam
suppressmacrofailures
cast @focus Face Slam
-> Light's Balm does great damage and nice healing- but generates no combo points, which are very important for you!
Use #Sweeper to aggro packs of mobs. Otherwise stick to #Main and focus of your hp balance, positioning, targets and allies status.
Gameplay on 70:
Use Deep Breaths, then use Shield of the Hero. Apply Stand Tall! onto yourself (or on allies) while your eternal is running.
Your absorptions do not get any bonus from the eternal. Make sure to not interrupt the use of We Stand United!
When you want to popp a Deep Breaths mid fight, use one I'm With you! and then Deep Breaths. this gives We won't Falter 3 attack points to eat from while rebuffing.
Be liberate with your defensive cooldowns!! Most tanks die with a lot of cooldowns unused.
Phalanx! unlocks quite early and can be used on yourself or allies.
Shield Defense is the next best cooldown.
Light's Domination is a frontal aoe stun. This can also act as a tool to reduce incoming damage.
Touch of Life: Easily fully heals yourself in emergency situations.
Purify Land can interrupt Spellcaster when they get teleported.
-> When you stand in a lot of melee mobs and suddenly leave their melee range with side steps, you can also avoid a lot of incoming hits for a second. Doing a little bit of kiting without moving the pack of mobs from their location.
-> When pulling multiple caster mobs, use Sergeant's Order, Call of the Divine or- tag them and break line of sight- as long as you keep aggro they will be unable to damage you and will have to run to you. Playing around something that can break line of sight (like a little wall) can have you switch sides and the caster interrupting a lot to follow you.
Just make sure you don't sabotage your dps with those moves.
For anything before level 70, simply do not use Deep Breaths at all.
But running 18 Warchanter with Paladin makes for an insanely powerful healing-tank for any leveling challenge. Dungeons or IA.
(This was able to tank+heal all leveling dungeons undergeared+underleveled with only 2 dps, like Golem Foundry on 56 in old 51 gear)
While leveling, I recommend 7 Riftblade for the power cost reduction. When We stand United! crits, I'm with you! becomes free which makes it another way to conserve power.
Example what i runned on mid levels (We did a lot of dungeons heavily undergeared later on):
Paladin Background (optional):
Spoiler:
Paladin used to have nearly no aoe. Light's Decree proccing some aoe damage used to be the only real option. Later came Sweeping Strikes at some 10 second cd. Also, a lot of it's damage was dependent on successful blocks.
To make up for this clumsiness, Paladin got a lot of aoe taunts.
Void Knight was mainly used to be the main raid Tank - while Paladin was able to contribute to more 'ballsy' approaches and strategies with it's unique set of cooldowns.
Now, Paladin's aoe is great, it's not dependent on blocks anymore and still has all the taunts.
Void Knight may still be the 'more serious' Tank. However Starfall Prophecy (besides the Squirrel) has yet to deliver a bossfight calling for a serious tank.
'Wipe by tank death' is pretty much impossible with an Oc Pala.
