Protection Paladin Tank Guide
How to tank as a Protection Paladin in WotLK 3.3.5a: the 969 rotation, pull openers, cooldowns, caps to reach, our 0/56/15 build and boss notes.
Straight after the Death Knight, the Protection Paladin is the perfect off-tank. It also works as a main tank, but the Death Knight keeps a slight edge: the life-saving cooldowns from the four-piece Tier 10 bonus, better threat and great AoE pulls. What the Paladin brings is the AoE king toolkit, steady damage reduction, and the support spells that save groups: Hand of Protection, Hand of Sacrifice and Divine Sacrifice.
Our recommended build is 0/56/15 from our talent calculator (open it here). Hover or tap a coloured spell, talent or glyph for its tooltip.
Keep Righteous Fury on. Keep Holy Shield up all the time. Play the loop, do not spam. Use Divine Protection early and often. Save Hand of Protection and Hand of Sacrifice for the raid.
1.The rotation: the 969
The classic loop is below. The name (969) comes from weaving your spells with the longer cooldowns together with the ones that come back sooner. Done right there is no downtime, you always have aggro, and Holy Shield never drops.
- Holy ShieldAlways active. Never let it drop, because it is your block and your threat.
- Shield of RighteousnessYour six-second hit.
- JudgementOn the boss. It gives the raid mana and keeps your threat up.
- Hammer of the RighteousYour other six-second hit, and your AoE.
- ConsecrationFor AoE and filler.
- Shield of RighteousnessAnd the loop starts again.
Avenger's Shield, then Judgement, then Shield of Righteousness and into the loop.
Avenger's Shield, Consecration, Hammer of the Righteous, and then the loop. The Avenger's Shield jumps to three targets and silences all of them with Shield of the Templar.
Seal of Vengeance on a boss (Horde: Seal of Corruption). On a trash pull some tanks use Seal of Command for AoE.
Keep Righteous Fury up all the time. Without it you do not have the threat. Improved Righteous Fury makes it even better.
Hand of Reckoning for one target. Righteous Defense pulls up to three enemies that are attacking a friendly player. The Glyph of Righteous Defense makes both 8% more likely to land.
Hammer of Justice stuns a target. Combine it with the silence from your Avenger's Shield to stop a dangerous cast.
2.Cooldowns: use them, do not save them
50% less damage for 12 seconds. Use it often and do not keep it "for later". Good for a magic hit or a big physical burst.
For raid damage. Very useful on bosses with a lot of area damage. Works together with Hand of Sacrifice on another tank.
With the Glyph of Divine Plea you take 3% less damage while it is active, and you get mana back.
Your last button, and a strong one: it heals the target for your maximum health.
Not for you: for the raid. It breaks half of the mechanics in Icecrown. See the Icecrown guide.
Takes 30% of the damage of a tank or a raid member onto you.
A magic hit or a big physical burst means Divine Protection. Raid damage means Divine Sacrifice. When the next hit could kill you, Ardent Defender is already working in the background.
The centre of the whole build: more block, and damage on every block.
Your AoE. It hits three targets, which is what makes you the best AoE tank.
Your pull spell: it hits three targets, dazes them, and with the Templar talent it silences them.
Reduces all damage you take by 3% and adds the silence to Avenger's Shield.
Passive, but it saves lives: under 35% health you take less damage, and it can bring you back from a killing blow.
Redirects a part of the raid damage onto you. It is your answer to area damage.
More threat and less damage on top of your Righteous Fury.
The Paladin's tank blessing: it reduces the damage that the tank takes and gives some strength and stamina.
Also gives 10 expertise while the seal is active, which helps you reach the expertise cap.
You take 3% less damage while Divine Plea is active.
Your two taunts are 8% more likely to land.
3.The numbers to reach
Uncrittable. Do not raid tank without it.
A raid tank wants as much armor as possible, and the guides we read aim for 36 thousand or more.
Enough spell hit that your taunt lands (about 446 rating in the guide we checked), expertise 26 against dodges and 56 against parries.
You rely on blocking, so do not stack dodge and parry too much. Block rating and block value are your armor.
A tank flask that adds health, and a stamina food. Do not raid without them.
Put Blessing of Sanctuary on yourself and choose your aura with the raid: Devotion Aura gives armor to everyone.
An armor potion for the physical hits, and a healing potion for emergencies.
Your shield is your block, and your one-hander decides the size of your Hammer of the Righteous and your Shield of Righteousness.
4.Bosses where the Paladin shines
The off-tank job on the Shambling Horrors, with your stuns and cooldowns. Taunt the ghouls when they get low. See the Lich King guide.
Line up your cooldowns with the Frost Breath, and remember that you take less magic damage with Divine Protection.
The add tank, or the second tank when the realms split. See the Ruby Sanctum guide.
Interrupt the Shadow Strike with your stuns. See the Anub'arak plan.
Your Hands decide half of Icecrown: see the Paladin cheat sheet in the Icecrown guide.
5.If you remember only five things
- Holy Shield never drops.
- Play the loop, do not spam.
- Use Divine Protection often.
- Seal of Vengeance on a boss.
- DBM and Omen mean fewer wipes.
Letting Holy Shield fall, not using Divine Protection, spamming Consecration with no loop, skipping Judgement, and tanking a boss without the right seal.