Advice from veteran tanks

[Freyyy]

Best you can do is Flash with FoF at the start of pulls.

Nope nope nope. FoF doesn't increase Flash's enmity. FoF increases physical damage. Flash's potency is treated as magical.

[Sandamar]

I am really not sure about that. It would mean that a flash naked would pull the same threat as a flash in full i210 i highly doubt it Is the case tbh.
As far as i am concern flash Is linked to your attack power

[Freyyy]

I am really not sure about that. It would mean that a flash naked would pull the same threat as a flash in full i210 i highly doubt it Is the case tbh.
As far as i am concern flash Is linked to your attack power

Yes it is. And FoF doesn't increase attack power, it increases physical damage. Physical damage =/= attack power, even if attack power = STR. DRK for example does a lot of magical damage that scales from STR. If DRK got FoF, it wouldn't affect his magical kit (Abyssal Drain, Unmend, Unleash, Dark Passenger) even if it is affected by STR.

[Februs]

1. I feel like I really have to try to hold hate from an equally or slightly higher geared team (pally is ilvl 184 currently) do those enmity issues subside with the eso weapon? (I currently have upgraded law)

Pld's have the lowest enmity gen of all 3 tanks because Flash deals 0 dmg (despite scaling with Str), CoS is only a minuscule increase in enmity, Shield Swipe was taken off of the GCD (which is actually a bad thing for enmity gen and Tp consumption, and mob dps output, despite being a slight increase in Dps on bosses), and their primary enmity combo has a lower enmity multiplier than the other two tanks. At the time, it made sense, but it's become a constant challenge for Pld's to work around now. More so than any of the other two tanks, keeping your gear up to snuff is very important if you want to stay ahead, as well as staying vigilant in mob pulls to ensure you are rotating each enmity hit onto new targets while keeping an eye on the individual hate values of your party (which have a second or two delay before showing up after switching targets... kind of annoying).

[Februs]

2. What kind of dps do you guys pull in dungeons? I know that war and drk are more focused on dps just due to how theyre built, but i feel like my paladins shouldnt be 500 in dungeons.

Definitely not lol. Without getting into specific numbers that could get people into trouble, a Pld's dps output is actually not much lower than a Drk's if used correctly, and can be tweaked depending on the skill level of the group you are running with. For mob pulls, it is important for a Pld to remember to actually attack targets and rotate their enmity combo. A lot of Pld's just Flash dance their way through mobs, and that's fine for holding enmity (unless you have an elite Dps in your team, in which case it won't be enough), but you're not going to do any dmg that way.

3. For the long time pallys: What are some not so well known pally tricks or rotations?

Instead, for mob tanking I usually open up with:

Shield Lob > Flash> CoS (DoT application. By this point you're going to want FoF up as well to maximize the potential of all of your dmg'ing moves. Remember to couple FoF with bloodbath and rampart for additional defense/self-healing) > RoH combo in which both Savage Blade and RoH land on distinct targets (the idea is not only for dmg, but to spread the Str down Debuff as widely as possible).

During your RoH combo, you should also be using Shield swipe when it becomes available. Like RoH, be sure to use it on an individual target to spread your enmity around as much as possible, and ensure that someone gets pacified. If you're still worried about aggro, or have an AoE happy Dps in your team, you can pop an additional Flash after or during this combo, but stick to it. You can get creative with it as well. Once you have primary aggro, if you are confident you're not going to lose it feel free to start applying Goring blade throughout the targets to help the Dps, but this is more of an advanced Pld thing, because you have to be very aware of how much hate you have and if you're gonna lose it. It was a lot easier to do when Shield Swipe was on the GCD, because you could thread it into your combo (ie: FB>SW>RB>SW>GB), but the glory days are dead. Still, if you start using your Goring Blade combo to speed things up, I recommend keeping an extra vigilant eye out for any additional Shield Swipes you can use to help maintain aggro when you're off your Primary RoH.

For Boss tanking, your rotation can get played around with quite a bit. My standard rotation (which I modify accordingly) is:

Shield Lob > CoS > RoH (Debuff up) > Goring Blade (DoT up) > RoH (Re-apply Debuff) > Royal Authority ( Both DoT and Debuff will remain up while you use RA) > Goring Blade (re-apply DoT) > RoH (Reapply Debuff)... etc.

The Idea is to keep both Goring Blade and the RoH Debuff up at all times. With most Pld skill speeds, this rotation ensures that neither will drop (RoH's debuff might drop before the third application, but only for a very short time), and, of course, make sure to use Shield Swipe/Spirits within whenever they are available (keep in mind that Spirits Within scales with your health %, so if you are low on health it may be worth while to wait for a heal to get tossed your way).

Now, depending on your item level and comfort level, you may want to vary this rotation a little. Some Pld's like to open up with 2 RoH combos to absolutely ensure they have enmity before moving on to applying DoT's and dmg. That's fine. There's nothing wrong with it. It's all about what you are comfortable with. Also, keep in mind that there are some fights in which it is not necessary to keep the RoH debuff up (A4, for example). The RoH debuff only reduces physical dmg. Most bosses in the game do a healthy amount of physical dmg, but if the boss you're fighting does not, after you have secured aggro you can forego reapplying RoH for an extra Royal Authority. You still want to use RoH, because it maintains threat, but keeping up the Debuff no longer becomes a priority, so it's fine to let it drop and squeeze in a little extra dmg.

Lastly, and this is the "controversial" topic, is Stance Dancing. Pld's can, in fact, stance dance and hold hate, but you have to be aware that it is much more difficult and you should probably never start a fight in Sword Oath (unless you severely outgear the dungeon). The Hate multiplier for Shield Oath is... "Substantial," to avoid any specific numbers. So any enmity move you are using outside of Shield Oath takes a big dip in enmity potency. That said, it also takes a pretty big jump in Dmg potency (20%). I'm not overly concerned with Def, usually, because a Pld can compensate with the right buffs, or just telling the healer that they are swapping Oaths, but you do take 20% more dmg, so be prepared.

Using Sword Oath is not just about increasing your damage willy-nilly though. An advanced Pld tactic is to plan their use of Sword Oath accordingly. A good time for this is when FoF is available. After initial pull (in Shield Oath) when FoF circles back around, IF the fight is going well and you think the healer can handle it, a Pld can swap to Sword Oath, pop FoF/Bloodbath/Rampart and go to town. Dmg potency increases by 50% over Shield Oath, 30% over baseline (as opposed to 10% when in Shield Oath). If you are going to do this, a good idea is to time it for your Goring Blade combo. That way, you are maximizing your DoT/RA rotation to take full advantage of that FoF. The DoT will actually act as a second timer. You should be back in Shield Oath by the time it needs to be reapplied. Again, this is an advanced thing to do and you really have to be comfortable with your rotations and buffs (including knowing which buffs work best together and share CD timers) to do it well, and it can be changed accordingly to fit your play style. Once you get comfortable with Pld, start playing around with different rotations and see what works for you.

[Aurius]

More great, well explained advice, thanks!