Returning Paladin - Tanking Advice

So I need some help with playing my Paladin. I'm returning to the role after having levelled it to 60 in Heavensward. I've about to start levelling the class up and I'm attempting to rework my Hotbars, but there have been a bunch of changes since I last played, so that is taking me some time.

My worried about how to Tank now though. A lot of skills that I used to use have been removed and new ones added in, and I'm not entirely sure what my new Rotation is supposed to be. Hell, I don't even have Flash anymore, so I'm not sure how to generation quick Enmity towards a group of enemies.

The entire Oath Gauge is also pretty new to me as well. I know it is required to use certain skills now like Shelltron. Is that all it is used for though?

Does anyone have any advice on how to improve my current Tanking skillset, such on when or how to use certain skills properly, or what my main tanking rotation should be during a fight?

Even as I levelled up to 60, I never properly learned how or when to use my cooldowns skills like Rampart, Sentinel and Fight or Flight. They were always skills I just activated whenever I remembered they were there.

Look over your skills, you have a new set of aoe skills. Anyways, there are a lot of guides that go over the subject, either in text or video form. A quick Google/YouTube search will do you.

A lot of the Youtube videos I found focused on either a level 60 build that no longer applies, or focused on guides and builds that I can't really follow yet without being level 70 to 80.

Make sure Iron Will is activated any time you want to actually tank. It increases the enmity generation of all your attacks.
Flash is gone, but nowadays you can do AoE damage and generate enmity all at once. Total Eclipse+Prominence is your new best friend. Circle of Scorn is also pretty nice for AoE stuff.

Against groups of enemies the main rotation is simply Total Eclipse+Prominence. Against single enemies Fast Blade+Riot Blade+Rage of Halone/Royal Authority usually does a good job. Fight or Flight is good to have active as often as possible when you attack.

Defensive Cooldowns like Rampart, or Sentinel is best activated whenever you either pull a large group, or to protect yourself from a tankbuster attack from bosses.


I am sure other people will fill in with various details that can improve your play, but the above are the basic basics of Paladin play, and will get you quite far.

Total Eclipse > Prominence spam on three or more mobs, single target you prioritise Goring Blade combo, 2 x Royal Authority combos, Goring Blade combo and repeat. Make use of Fight or Flight just before your first Riot Blade then make use of Circle of Scorn and Spirits Within, then use them as them come of cooldown. Obviously use Fight or Flight at the same point in the rotation everytime after the first use.

Make use of your defensive cooldowns as much as you can, usually Hallowed on first set of trash and work from stronger to weaker cooldowns. Use Sheltron as frequently as you can on trash while on bosses, usually keep the gauge above 50 for tankbusters.

Also make use of reprisal, which is 10% damage dealt down debuff applied to enemies for 10secs in AoE around you, and Arm's Length, which inflicts a 20% (?) Slow debuff to enemies that strike you.

Your rotation will change obviously as you level more gaining Holy Spirit, Requiscat, Atonement and Confiteor, which there is plenty of guides which show optimal rotations, which like any job is worth investing in the time to practice and learn.

You could view it as all the minor defensive ogcd skills have been rolled into a passive 20% damage reduction that all tanks have now. Enmity generation has been ramped up significantly while your stance is on as well. So long as you're using skills, you're generating an immense amount of it. Having said that, if you're the off tank in a fight, either turn your stance off until the main tank establishes a lead or keep the skill usage low until then.

for single target, you want to be able to fit two goring blades into your fight or flight duration. you do this by using fight or flight right before goring blade, do your standard royal authority combo twice, then goring blade once more, repeat.

later on after 60 you get requiescat, you use requiescat after the last goring blade to holy spirit spam as much as possible. confiteor and atonement are little additions to this you also get later on, being able to use atonement after royal authority instead, and confiteor to end your requiescat window.

here's a little visual, hope it's not too confusing! for the sake of being level 60, just imagine the atonements are a second royal authority combo. the main takeaway here is that you always want your dot ticking as much as possible, especially under fight or flight

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...16/unknown.png

just to put this in a bit of perspective, the potency you gain from your dot alone is about 985 potency total, 390 for the gcd + 595 for for all of the dot ticks, it's the highest potency skill paladin has (but i'm really bad at math sorry if i messed any of this up, this should mostly hold true though)

as far as your oath gauge and sheltron usage goes, just make sure you're not capping on gauge! if you reach 100 or are getting close to that, use sheltron whenever possible

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 3c-33

for single target, you want to be able to fit two goring blades into your fight or flight duration. you do this by using fight or flight right before goring blade, do your standard royal authority combo twice, then goring blade once more, repeat.

later on after 60 you get requiescat, you use requiescat after the last goring blade to holy spirit spam as much as possible. confiteor and atonement are little additions to this you also get later on, being able to use atonement after royal authority instead, and confiteor to end your requiescat window.

here's a little visual, hope it's not too confusing! for the sake of being level 60, just imagine the atonements are a second royal authority combo. the main takeaway here is that you always want your dot ticking as much as possible, especially under fight or flight

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...16/unknown.png

just to put this in a bit of perspective, the potency you gain from your dot alone is about 985 potency total, 390 for the gcd + 595 for for all of the dot ticks, it's the highest potency skill paladin has (but i'm really bad at math sorry if i messed any of this up, this should mostly hold true though)

as far as your oath gauge and sheltron usage goes, just make sure you're not capping on gauge! if you reach 100 or are getting close to that, use sheltron whenever possible

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OP has made note that they cannot follow the posted rotation yet as they haven't reached levels where this rotation is applicable.

Also in most cases the Fight or Flight use in this rotation is incorrect it shouldn't be used after Riot Blade but instead just prior, as you're only get 10 out of 11 GCDs under FoF in this scenario.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by aodhan_ofinnegain

OP has made note that they cannot follow the posted rotation yet as they haven't reached levels where this rotation is applicable.

Also in most cases the Fight or Flight use in this rotation is incorrect it shouldn't be used after Riot Blade but instead just prior, as you're only get 10 out of 11 GCDs under FoF in this scenario.

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yeah that's why i made note of for the sake of being level 60, and included the full thing anyway because it's already pretty simple as is compared to most things, since pld rotation doesnt fundamentally change a whole lot going forward

edit: actually having tested this fof thing it seems more often than not i either can't fit the last goring blade into the window or just barely do and so i rather just use it before goring, id rather just guarantee it gets in than constantly wonder whether or not it even registered in the window on the very last second it's there or not, it depends on skillspeed/ping and i play on higher ping soo

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Allooutrick

[...] Having said that, if you're the off tank in a fight, either turn your stance off until the main tank establishes a lead or keep the skill usage low until then.

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https://i.imgur.com/mCE27Da.jpg


In all seriousness, this is the worst 'tip' I've seen, remove the bold part.
Also, in most duties, you don't need to be 2nd in aggro, and even if you need to get it, press provoke and shirk the MT.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 3c-33

yeah that's why i made note of for the sake of being level 60, and included the full thing anyway because it's already pretty simple as is compared to most things, since pld rotation doesnt fundamentally change a whole lot going forward

edit: actually having tested this fof thing it seems more often than not i either can't fit the last goring blade into the window or just barely do and so i rather just use it before goring, id rather just guarantee it gets in than constantly wonder whether or not it even registered in the window on the very last second it's there or not, it depends on skillspeed/ping and i play on higher ping soo

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Just pointing out the rotation you linked is probably as helpful to OP as the youtube/ google searches.

Also if you're missing the Goring Blade refresh, usually that's down to the player hitting Fight or Flight too early in the oGCD slot. It's not affected by ping, the only thing that makes it tighter is slower GCD builds but again that's avoided by using Fight or Flight relatively close to the GCD coming off CD. And yes when you do it correctly it does look tight but nonetheless you aren't wasting a GCD under fight or flight.

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Originally Posted by JinnRemona

So I need some help with playing my Paladin. I'm returning to the role after having levelled it to 60 in Heavensward.

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Enmity advice:

• Iron Will (uses Shield Oath's old icon) on at all times (even when OTing) - this is the PLD's tank stance which only increases enmity.
• If you need to become the MT due to a tank swap just use Provoke. (It is in the Role actions)
• If you need to become the OT due to a tank swap wait until the other tank Provokes and then use Shirk on the other tank. (Also in the Role actions)
• Ranged enmity is gained with Shield Oath the only PLD attack with an enmity multiplier currently

Single target DpS rotation advice:

• The single target rotation starting at 60 is Goring Blade combo -> Royal Authority combo -> Royal Authority combo -> Repeat from Goring Blade combo.
• You want to make certain that "Fight or Flight" (FoF) covers 2 Goring Blade actions in its 10 to 10.5 gcd duration. You do so by using it either just before Goring Blade or just before Riot Blade when you are going to use Goring Blade as your next gcd. This will let it last until just after the next use of Goring Blade in the rotation.
• Starting at 68 (but practicable starting at 64), the rotation adds a Holy Spirit magic burst phase. When FoF is not active and you have 8000 to 10000 MP use Requiescat ogcd and then repeatably cast Holy Spirit until you are out of mp. you should be able to get 4 or 5 casts in the buff.
• Starting at 76, you start replacing every second Royal Authority combo in the rotation with 3 uses of Atonement. Each completed Royal Authority combo gives a buff that allows up to 3 uses of Atonement.
• At 78, while the Requiescat buff is up the spells Holy Spirit, Holy Circle and Clemency are instant cast.
• At 80, during the Holy Spirit magic burst phase,

AoE DpS rotation advice:

• When facing 3+ opponents use the AoE rotation.
• Total Eclipse has replaced Flash as the primary AoE enmity generator and Prominence is a new AoE combo action off of Total Eclipse.
• While AoEing you want to try and cover as many Prominences with FoF. Use FoF just before Prominence to do so.
• Starting at 72, the AoE rotation gains a Holy Circle magic burst phase that is mostly identical to the single target Holy Spirit burst phase. Use Requiescat at or above 8k mp and then cast Holy Circle until out of mp.
• At 78, Holy Circle is not instant cast while the Requiescat buff is up
• At 80, during the Holy Circle burst phase, use Confiteor the target closest to the middle of the pack when you have between 2k and 3k mp remaining or you want to end the burst phase early.

Ogcd action advice:

• Use Circle of Scorn on cooldown (if you are about to activate FoF delay until you after you activate FoF)
• Spirits Within recovers MP so try to time it so that you use it during the Requiescat burst after you have cast your first Holy Spirit/Holy Circle. It is also preferable to use it while FoF is up.
• Intervene is a gap closer that you get at 74. Every 30 seconds you get a use and you can have up to 2 uses stocked. These are best used to maintain up time on a boss after dodging AoEs, but both uses can be used during FoF if there are no uptime concerns.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ArianeEwah

https://i.imgur.com/mCE27Da.jpg


In all seriousness, this is the worst 'tip' I've seen, remove the bold part.
Also, in most duties, you don't need to be 2nd in aggro, and even if you need to get it, press provoke and shirk the MT.

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I've gone ahead and just did a strike through. I can see why it's technically bad advice but if we're not talking specifically about difficult content (savage, ultimate) then I just don't care to be honest. A dps loss for 10 or so seconds from one of eight party members is insignificant in casual content.

For emity: aoe spam, that should be most of your rotation in big pulls. You can throw in a few dots too (goring blade) but mainly aoe. Stun is as helpful as always for dirty pulls, so if you're taking big damage and out of cds shield bash. Dont be one of the people who use provoke to pull, it's a waste of a cd, instead use shield lob then aoe chain.
In big pulls cds should go rampart -> sentinel-> reprisal and throw in a few sheltrons here and there.
Be SURE to use pld's new magic skills, they're very powerful! Holy spirit is great for bosses, and circle is a good strong aoe. Confiteor is pld's strongest attack so be sure to use it, it's amazing for bosses and pulls alike. Because of these new magic skills keep clemency heals to an absolute minimum, only use it when you really need it (like if the healer died).
When you use fight or flight be sure to use your sword oath stacks, atonements great and restores mp, allowing for you to jump right back to magic after your physical rotation.
Oh, and remember iron will, you dont know how many tanks i've played with that forget it. Unless you're playing off tank always have it on.

Thats just some basic tips, im sure i missed some things but you should be able to learn pretty fast and well.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by aodhan_ofinnegain

Just pointing out the rotation you linked is probably as helpful to OP as the youtube/ google searches.

Also if you're missing the Goring Blade refresh, usually that's down to the player hitting Fight or Flight too early in the oGCD slot. It's not affected by ping, the only thing that makes it tighter is slower GCD builds but again that's avoided by using Fight or Flight relatively close to the GCD coming off CD. And yes when you do it correctly it does look tight but nonetheless you aren't wasting a GCD under fight or flight.

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i've of course intentionally delayed fof as much as i possibly can and still can't pull that off without missing it, and ping can affect how close you're able to delay an ogcd without clipping it anyway. combine that with actual variables in encounters and this seems like a pretty unreliable way of getting it within the timer for me personally and while some people can do it fine others probably can't

and also i'm aware of that which is why i added some clarification in my words, saying "fit two goring blades into fof by using goring blade, two royal authority combos, goring blade again" and "imagine the atonements are just a second authority combo etc," that's not too difficult to understand. the rest of the pic including the requiescat stuff was unecessary at this very moment but you start using that stuff at 70 anyway so it wasnt exactly talking miles into the future here (and it's still not a difficult rotation to grasp anyway, pld does the same thing at 60 as it does at 80 but with the magic part added in)