My three stages to Paladin tanking

[Fyreus]

Thank you for the respond. As for combos I've never denied that it deals more damage and Enmity and it does do just that.
What i want to point out however is that a Savage blade gives more enmity for initial first hit and makes it easier to get the full combo off without the mob running to the healer who just crit healed you or used Medica.
There is also the damage dealers that jump the gun sometimes and going straight to the combo takes over all longer to actually preform in the heat of things as you would otherwise.

So after the initial hit you should stay on the combo's.

Gonna have to agree with this point.

Even having known the mathcraft behind hate, I've noticed starting with a savage or halone does wonders for keeping the mob on you for a few more seconds to start a combo especially if your dps are a bit stronger than you in lowbie dungeons.

[krazyrs]

i stopped reading when raise was a cross-class ability and no mention of mercy stroke/bloodbath

[Nova_Dresden]

I use Bloodbath as a cross-class skill because it has the same cooldown as Fight or Flight and Rampart. Every little cure helps.

[Ceodore]

I noticed some questions about regen on a tank between pulls that I would like to answer. Right click the regen icon in your buff bar. You CAN remove buffs from yourself this way earlier than their duration time. I try to check my buff list before each pull before shield lob. Also, for large groups of 3+ I use the rotation Fast Blade, Flash, Riot Blade, Flash. If I have a dork in my group doing single target DPS when there are three or more mobs (or I am in a lower dungeon where some DPS don't have AOEs yet), I will make my fast blade and riot blade target the target of the person that is single targeting one mob. I know numbering the mobs could make this easier, but I don't want to confuse anyone wanting to do AOE damage in any dungeon. It is completely viable even at low levels to let your DPS do AOE and still keep aggro, even without Shield Oath. I find that when I do my low level roulettes, I'll take two or three groups at a time to get any dps capable of using AOEs to do so.

[Ceodore]

Just going to point out at this point, there IS a reason SE gave PLD Riot Blade, and it's works rather well. Also, double Flashes will only drain your MP as much as one flash over a span of about 10 seconds. Also, Flash doesn't interrupt combos, so it IS a viable combo. As for the "You'll run out of mana" excuse, yes, you will, but by the time you do, your DPS should be so far behind in the aggro table that you can take the Flashes out and just Fast Blade, Riot Blade to get mana back before the next pull. Yes, single target, I still use Rage of Halone combo (or what I can use in the lower dungeons) when there are two or less mobs. To this day, haven't had any aggro trouble with any of this.

[Revya]

Savage blade does not have additional enmity unless it's comboed. RoH and Shield lob and Flash all do. The idea with openers is to generate sufficient spike enmity quickly enough to hold aggro over your DPS and healers, which should hold them off until you can start properly generating consistent aggro (RoH combo or Flash spam). There is also a bit of a trick with Flash in that it can be used to grab immediate aggro on things that are in the process of spawning but that you can't yet target. An example is on Turn 4, you can flash once as the Phase 2 Soldier and Knight are dropping down from the ceiling to get immediate aggro on them.

You should read that skills one more time. It does have Enmity gain outside of the combo. The combo only increases the potency to 200. This would increase the enmity gain however as you deal more damage. But its does give more enmity then a single Fast Blade for the initial spike from healers and DD.

Aside from the combo rotations, I'd suggest that (i) PLDs go through another big boost at level 40 when they get access to Shield Oath and (ii) for cross-class abilities, Stoneskin and Foresight are obviously good, but I'd consider Mercy Stroke, Bloodbath and Protect to all be quite useful at higher levels. Raise cannot be used in combat, and out of combat you can just swap it out and in as needed.

Shield Oath is a lvl 40 skill indeed.. but that doesn't help you earlier. and max lvl is 50.. so you shouldn't count on it for lower levels and even at higher levels. If you learn to tank properly and then put on Shield Oath you don't need to change the way you tank. It just becomes better.

The Mercy Stroke, Bloodbath and protect have little use on the Paladin. Mercy stroke is a Finisher and not any good with a low damaging tank.. don't see the usefulness of this skill while tanking any of the bosses. If you can elaborate on its usefulness id be glad to change my mind however. Bloodbath is in the same boat as mercy stroke. we done deal enough damage to make it useful and healers should have no problem healing you with put this skill. As for Protect.. i think i mentioned this earlier but your healer White Mage have much better protect and your Scholar will have this skill anyway. don't see the need for us to also have it. That said this is one of the better if not best skill to have while leveling up.

Though your free to change out Raise if you so wish to with any of the skills you want.

[Revya]

Gonna have to agree with this point.

Even having known the mathcraft behind hate, I've noticed starting with a savage or halone does wonders for keeping the mob on you for a few more seconds to start a combo especially if your dps are a bit stronger than you in lowbie dungeons.

Good that your getting something out of this and actually testing it

i stopped reading when raise was a cross-class ability and no mention of mercy stroke/bloodbath

Didn't mention them because they have little with tanking to do. If you could give me some examples for its use over another ability we have id be glad to listen.

So far i don't run out of skills to use with any of the fights i'v tanked. And i'd hate to run out of TP and lose Enmity because i wanted to do a little more damage.

[SpookyGhost]

So far i don't run out of skills to use with any of the fights i'v tanked. And i'd hate to run out of TP and lose Enmity because i wanted to do a little more damage.

Mercy Stroke is off the GCD and doesn't cost TP. Bloodbath is a cooldown that heals you for 25% of the damage you deal for 15s (30s for WAR). Raise you can't use in combat and is only really useful when you're not doing dungeons and someone shouts for a raise.

[MrDiezel]

The Mercy Stroke, Bloodbath and protect have little use on the Paladin.

Assuming you have the Cross-Skill slots available, they'd def be top choices over the Must Haves. a lot of the smaller skills work on a bigger scale. This example is a very unique situation, but does happen:

Healers may be occupied with dodging, or dead. were this a clutch moment, Hollow Ground is greatly accompanied by Fight or Flight, Bloodbath and Mercy Stroke. FoF and Mercy Stroke = additional DPS = additional heals from Bloodbath. Gives you some time to pull extra HP. But again, it is very situational and I understand your reasoning.

As far as protect, im on the fence about it. There are situations where SCH wont have Protect. My personal Paladin skill list contains: Stoneskin, Foresight, Fracture, Mercy Stroke, Bloodbath. So no room, for me. Then again, im always hoping my heals have Protect.

[Revya]

I noticed some questions about regen on a tank between pulls that I would like to answer. Right click the regen icon in your buff bar. You CAN remove buffs from yourself this way earlier than their duration time. I try to check my buff list before each pull before shield lob. Also, for large groups of 3+ I use the rotation Fast Blade, Flash, Riot Blade, Flash. If I have a dork in my group doing single target DPS when there are three or more mobs (or I am in a lower dungeon where some DPS don't have AOEs yet), I will make my fast blade and riot blade target the target of the person that is single targeting one mob. I know numbering the mobs could make this easier, but I don't want to confuse anyone wanting to do AOE damage in any dungeon. It is completely viable even at low levels to let your DPS do AOE and still keep aggro, even without Shield Oath. I find that when I do my low level roulettes, I'll take two or three groups at a time to get any dps capable of using AOEs to do so.

This is a interesting approach to tanking multiple mobs. Though i cant say i would agree on it. I think it would work just fine with the right class setup however. For lower level dungeons not every class have AOE abilities and even if they did a single target rotation with marking would be faster. Archers have a single skill at the lowest level. which uses 140 TP comparied the the single target skills using much less and over all dealing more damage. Lancers and Pugilist don't gain them before much later. They would steal the Enmity without much effort at all if u used only Flash to hold the Enmity from the single Mage or archer using only aoe while the other melee used single target.