Pally Tanking Questions

[Silly Gooooose]

So pally forums suck, no help there, so I figured id try here.

I am looking to gear a friend's holy pally, as prot, so he can help me grind SM and shit for my shaman.

What libram is best for tanking crap in SM? Hes got the libram from Mother shaz, and could get the 1 from badges.

Stack shield block right?

What seals and methods do you use to tank?

Keep in mind I am mainly killing lowbie SM mobs, so they die fast, and thus re judging stuff often.

[Vyndree]

[quote='sensenmann',index.php?page=Thread&postID=40 892#post40892]So pally forums suck, no help there, so I figured id try here.[/quote]

[url]http://maintankadin.failsafedesign.com[/url] should help as well.

[quote='sensenmann',index.php?page=Thread&postID=40 892#post40892]What libram is best for tanking crap in SM? Hes got the libram from Mother shaz, and could get the 1 from badges.[/quote]

[url='http://www.wowhead.com/?item=29388']Libram of Repentence[/url] is great, as it increases your block %

[quote='sensenmann',index.php?page=Thread&postID=40 892#post40892]Stack shield block right?[/quote]
Correct. Stack block, put a shield spike on a good shield ([url='http://www.wowhead.com/?item=25828']Petrified Lichen Guard[/url] is great with a Felsteel Shield Spike)

[quote='sensenmann',index.php?page=Thread&postID=40 892#post40892]What seals and methods do you use to tank?[/quote]
Use rank 1 holy shield (you just need to up your block percentage so that the shield spike activates), [url='http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=27168']blessing of sanctuary[/url], retribution aura, and judge/seal a combination of wisdom or light (depending on whether you want to consecrate more and aren't taking much damage, or need more healing).

Key talents to use are ardent defender, imp righteous fury, shield specialization, BoSanct, one-hand spec, holy shield, and reck. Personally, I don't use reckoning as I have a high mitigation spec, but it does help since it procs light/wisdom more often.

To pull, just run around with BoSanct, ret aura, and righteous fury on. Once you've gathered up a good amount of mobs, run to a nice spot (line of sight the casters), and start rank1 consecrates. If you know you can down them fast, you can max rank it, but for runners/long fights, I use rank1. Spam rank1 holy shield whenever it's up to keep your block value high. Every time an attack is blocked, you will deal holy damage (BoSanct/Holy Shield), shield spike damage, and a poison if you're using the sporeggar rep shield.

Reflective damage armor/trinkets like the Darkmoon trinket also work well

Keep in mind I am mainly killing lowbie SM mobs, so they die fast, and thus re judging stuff often.

In lib, be careful when you pull a hallway as some mobs will reset if you run outside of the hallway. I find a good strat for boss farming in lib is to run into the courtyard, grab all the mobs + the houndmaster, and then track back into the hallway and gather the remaining hallway mobs. Keep the lowbies at the zoning starting area and as long as you kill everything in the hallway they'll get XP. After that, run straight to Doan, aggro him, and run ALL the way back into the same starting hallway to kill him. The resetting mobs will reset, so you won't get XP, but you can farm Doan's caster gear (and perhaps the epic ring) easily. Keep him far enough away that his detonation won't kill your lowbies -- anywhere in the first hallway before the courtyard is fine.

In graveyard, it's not too tricky. Pull what you can handle, and keep consecrate up since some mobs will spawn adds. When you reach the underground tomb area, leave your lowbies well outside of aggro range as the spawned adds can sometimes happen while you're in the midst of starting your pull, and if the lowbies get aggro it's hard to run back upstairs to save them.

I didn't really do armory, so I won't comment.

Cathedral is the best for leveling, since you can do it in 3 pulls with "meh" gear. The first pull is the bottom courtyard. Run down the hallway, skipping mobs if you feel like it, and gather up all the mobs in the bottom courtyard. I usually go down the right far side, right middle, left middle, left far side, then head back into the hallway and gather up all the mobs. If you sit inside a windowsill, you'll line of sight the casters into getting close and melee'ing you. The lowbies can stay at the loading area.
2nd pull is the upper courtyard. Leave the lowbies at the right stairs (be careful -- there's a pat) and do the same thing -- upper right side, middle right and grabbing the guys by the door, left middle, left far side, and hten run THROUGH the fountain and jump onto the middle level of the stairs. If I jump correctly, I can get a Gift of the Naaru (dranei racial) or a heal off before they start hitting me again. Consecrate on the middle section of the stairs, and use the upper and lower stairs to line of sight the casters once they run away so they get back into melee range.
3rd pull is the easiest -- aggro the boss. He'll pull the entire room to you. Leave the lowbies at the very edge of the fountain's watermark and pull the mobs JUST outside the door (to line of sight the casters). Do not dps Mograine until you've killed most of the healers first. If you don't have reckoning, parrying the mobs alone will make it so you have reckoning-like speed since it resets your swing timer, which will help you obliterate the healers. Once healers and most mobs are down, kill mograine, which brings out Whitemane. WHITEMANE CAN MC YOUR LOWBIES so be careful!! Kill all teh wizards first -- they will aoe your lowbies if you're unlucky. Spreading out your lowbies will help prevent this, as they only aoe if more than one enemy is in range. By the time whitemane is at enough health to rez mograine, all the remaining mobs will be dead. Kill the two bosses somewhere where it's easy to loot them and you're done.

[beyond-tec]

Talent-Tree Prot-Pala (klick me)

Libram which increases the holy shield (15 batches afair)

activate Righteous Fury
activate Retribution Aura
activate Blessing of Sanctuary

keep Holy Shield always up when the cooldown is ready (very important)

pull the mobs with Avenger's Shield
run behind edges or corners to get caster mobs to close distance

when all mobs are close to you: Consecration

activate and judge Seal of the Crusader on the focus mob
activate Seal of Righteousness and judge it every time you need an aggro burst

[Silly Gooooose]

the more I see on sites suggesting the best tanking gear, the less I want to trust them.

Most of them suggest other gear with no shield block over stuff with shield block. Is that just due to them having tanking bosses in mind, where as I want to AoE farm, thus I want to block a lot, so we have different priorities?

Should I be skipping the guides and stacking shield block for AoE farming?

Also I don't really need to worry about getting the 490 def do I? Considering the mobs are 30ish levels below me, rather than 3 above me.

[Djarid]

Vyndree,

looks like a candidate for the wiki!

[bryanc]

Most of the gear guides will be focusing on raid boss tanking. Over at maintankadin there is one post re: Pre-raid tanking that does note specific items as "good for raid tanking" and "good for 5-man tanking"... the 5-man stuff is closer to what you'd be looking for. In addition to stacking block, stacking +spelldmg is a great idea for what you've got in mind. Cons, BoSanc, Ret. Aura, Holy Shield, etc... all spell damage.

You aren't going to need 490, like you said it assumes a level 73 mob. Defense decreases the chance of crits (regardless of level) by .04% for each point that your def is higher than the mobs weapon skill.
(theorycraft here).

So, a level 40 mob has 200 weapon skill. At 70, your base def is 350, that's+150 on them, and 150 * .04% = 6%. A mob at your level has a 5% chance of critting you (+.2% for each level above you). Now I have no idea if a mob lower than you has less than a 5% chance, but even assuming they don't, 6 is a bigger number than 5, so you're good with just base def. (Aside: Resillence also figures into this equation, but it's not relevant for our purposes due to the level discrepancy).

[Sanctume]

Mobs in SM are all under level 40, so base defense of 350 is plenty.

However, without Shield block/Holy Shield, those AoE pulls can still kill a level 70. I've had plenty of times where my shield durability went to zero and I died rather fast soon after.

When it comes to level 50+ mobs like BRD, you'll need some defense to get to the un-critable range.

That Maintankadin forum is a great resource. There's even a link there to get the "uncrusahble" gear prior to any raid instance like KZ; and it's obtainable.

I think you want to stack on Shield Block Value and not much about Shield Block Rating--there's a difference. Shield Block Value is a direct reduction of each incoming hits that is blocked--and you can block a lot with Holy Shield up.

I think the good rule is to get the defense 485 (for level 72 heroic bosses)

Then unbuffed health of 10k which should be easier now since the extra Talent % stam increase.

Then mitigation wise, as much Shield Block Value for farming/grinding.

Followed by Dodge, then Parry last.

Remember that Defense over uncrit still gives 0.4% towards block rating, dodge and parry.

I think 25 strength = 1 block value.

[zecaguilherme]

So pally forums suck, no help there, so I figured id try here.

I am looking to gear a friend's holy pally, as prot, so he can help me grind SM and shit for my shaman.

What libram is best for tanking crap in SM? Hes got the libram from Mother shaz, and could get the 1 from badges.

Stack shield block right?

What seals and methods do you use to tank?

Keep in mind I am mainly killing lowbie SM mobs, so they die fast, and thus re judging stuff often.

Foe SM get the Libram of repetance ->for the shield block rating or Libram of Eternal rest ->for extra dmg on consec...
most important (to easy your life); get Figurine of The Colossus -> pull whole cathedral instance(both CY and inside building) and pop this thing.... your life goes back really fast
and Petrified Lichen guard.
I have heard of paladins at 70 doing SM using Demon Forged Breastplate for the heal... never tried thou

[Vyndree]

Vyndree,

looks like a candidate for the wiki!

I was hoping to make a "prot pally powerleveling" video of SM cath first.

[Sanctume]

Vyndree,

looks like a candidate for the wiki!

I was hoping to make a "prot pally powerleveling" video of SM cath first.

I do that quite often, lol.
I think I have Fraps in one of my old computer loaded.

I don't know where to upload huge frap files. Or do I edit the video in Windows Movie Maker first and add basic comments? Still, I have not uploaded any type of video before.

I'd do:
RFC
SFK
SM
BRD
I even started playing in LBRS--but I hate the trolls.
I have not spent much time in Strath though since @ 55, I prefer Outlands Ramparts and Blood Furnace grind.