New tank looking for some tips to be a better tank!!

[winsock]

Beginner / early level tips:
* Make sure your gear is up to date.
* Lead a pull with shield lob, followed by at least 1-2 flashes.
* FoF increase emnity gains from your attacks as well as flash.

Dealing w/ High DPS party members in low level content on a low level char:
* leading with shield lob is very important. Its an inital threat boost but also some players see this as a signal to attack target X. At the very least, it creates a situation where particularly aggressive party members can only attack 1 target safely and helps create scenarios where they both attack the same target.
* FoF is important! On bosses, make sure you use it as often as possible. On trash, lining it up with say, your Bard's raging strikes will help ensure you keep threat.
* Don't forget about the other mobs in the pull. You only need enough threat to hold a target til it dies. If you've met that requirement start building a threat lead on the other mobs. Also remember that periodic use of flash will help build a threat lead

[Rongway]

Against THMs, your best bet will be flash away all your MP and then spam FastBlade-RiotBlade to get your MP back. With other DDs, you might be able to manage with just flashing away half your MP.


Something to remember about that big hunk of metal on your left arm is that it only blocks frontal attacks. You can't block stuff that's behind you, so when possible you'll want to pull a group tight and then position yourself so they're all in front of you. It won't always work, because they'll rearrange themselves a bit so as not to be right on top of each other, but do what you can. Auto attacks factor into your hate generation also, and they follow the same rule. Learn which mobs you can /lockon to to maintain facing; this will mostly be any mob that doesn't do a self-centered circle AoE.

You want to maintain a consistent facing for the mobs as well, so that the DDs can do their directional attacks without having to deal with sudden swings. I like to stand on the target's facing indicator (the little arrow on the front of the target's ground circle), and return to that spot after any dodges. You'll also want to make sure the rear indicator (the gap in the back of the circle) isn't inside a wall or obstacle, so that melee DDs can get in and out of the rear sector as their attacks require.


The absolute biggest advice I have for you, from 1 to 60, is to keep your gear current. DDs and healers can get away with wearing accessories ten or twenty levels behind. Tanks can't. At best, you'll slightly piss off a healer (who has to spam a tier II heal to keep you alive) or a DD (who has to blizzard a whole dungeon to keep from ripping things off you). At worst, you'll get two-shotted and the healer will leave you dead while a DD tanks.

[Violette]

Let me put a bit of perspective onto your current tanking woes.

All tanks recently got a kick in the teeth damage wise, which DIRECTLY influences amount of enmity generated.

In tank stance, this is evened out by a multiplier on all enmity generating actions, but outside of it you will have a hard time generating enmity. This actually allows for offtanks such as berserking warrior's to not risk drawing aggro from the MT unless the MT has not established a significant lead.

However, until you get to level 40? and unlock Shield Oath as a paladin, your enmity generation from damaging moves will be somewhat discouraging (but don't be!). Flash is still strong and you will still get there, it's just made the gladiators enmity issues more annoying (until you get to 40 as a paladin).

So 2-3 flashes will always be helpful.

And make sure your weapon is up to date, usually within 2-3 levels of your current. This is the most important part of enmity gen.

[Grux]

Protip:

Flash will be your #1 snap aggro, especially when dealing with more than 2 mobs.

Before level 40, you will only have access to Sword Oath. Make sure it's on full time as it increases your damage done (thus directly increases your aggro generated on mobs).
At level 40 and above, you will have access to Shield Oath. Use that from now on when tanking.

Your most used combo will be:
Fast Blade (low aggro) > Savage Blade (medium aggro) > Rage of Halone (stronk aggro).

Advanced protip:
Spamming flash may be the obvious solution of getting aggro - and it is what most tanks are going to recommend.
This is true. It also depends on several factors:
1) are the mobs grouped together for your Flash?
2) are your DPSes going ham immediately without mustard before you wait for the mobs to be grouped together?
3) are you speed running or grouping up more mobs?

You can choose to spread the combo on different mobs.
Remember what I said about your combo?
Fast Blade aka FB (low aggro) > Savage Blade aka SB (medium aggro) > Rage of Halone aka RoH (stronk aggro).

Scenario 1: Mob A and B.
Here is how you spread combo (simplified)
FB on Mob A. SB on Mob B. RoH on Mob A.
The result will be, mob A will receive the low and stronk aggro - Mob A is also generally the primary Mob your DPSes will go ham on. It's no problem as you already have RoH on Mob A, it's pretty difficult for DPS to peel them off you. What about Mob B? As your DPSes will be targeting Mob A, there will be little aggro placed on Mob B - and you already have the SB placed (medium aggro). So both Mob A and B will stick to you.
And then, you can switch them around, FB on Mob B, SB on Mob A, RoH on Mob B.
What the above means is that you've successfully done full combo on both Mob A and B in 2 rotations.
This is generally better than doing full combo on Mob A then full combo on Mob B, because by the time you have full combo on Mob A, Mob B is already targeting your healer. Also some DPS target different mobs.

Use your OGCD abilities like Spirits Within everytime it is up. More damage = more emnity.

Advanced protip #2
In the event you're speed running, or gathering up more mobs before your party clears them, it is advisable to alternate Shield Lob on mobs.
Run > Shield Lob on A > Run > Shield Lob on B > Run Shield Lob on C > Wait > Circle of Scorn > Flash > Flash > Flash > Pop CD > Pop Soda.

In the event you're speed running across packs of mobs.
Run > Flash > Flash > Run > Flash > Run Flash etc


TLDR:
Shield Lob > Flash > Flash > Flash > FB on A, SB on B, RoH on A/C/D etc.
FoF often. Spirits Within often. Pop CDs often.

[Rongway]

Use your OGCD abilities like Spirits Within everytime it is up. More damage = more emnity.

You can and should use Spirits Within; however, do your best to think consciously about doing each time. Don't assimilate it into your autopilot. If you reflexively use it every time it's up, you will reflexively get the party hit by silenceable attacks later when it matters, and the piddly bit of enmity you managed to eke out won't mean a thing when the party's dead or paralyzed.

[Shuvool]

since shield swipe is only limited by the GCD, other than if the cast is really short and you happen to activate the GCD right as the cast starts, what's wrong with using SW on cd and using SS to interrupt?

[Jpec07]

You can and should use Spirits Within; however, do your best to think consciously about doing each time. Don't assimilate it into your autopilot. If you reflexively use it every time it's up, you will reflexively get the party hit by silenceable attacks later when it matters, and the piddly bit of enmity you managed to eke out won't mean a thing when the party's dead or paralyzed.

Only downside of this is that there seem to be frustratingly few instances where Spirits Within's silence ability actually matters. In most of the content, at least in my experience and testing, it's far more useful as a DPS boost than an interrupt. I'd love it if it worked better that way, but it seems to have the same problem as Tempered Will, wherein the developers ignored its unique 1s silence effect in coding the majority of abilities in endgame.

[GeekMatt]

I use macros only for their novelty, but I never recommend macro'd skills for any job (though many SCHs swear they're necessary, the best SCH I know doesn't like them), but in the end it's up to player preference. At endgame a pull macro is good to have.

A tanks priority order is Enmity Management > Survival >DPS and support. The first two make you a good tank, the last puts you above other good tanks. Doing 3 before 1 and 2 makes you a 2.0 DRG, only considerably less useful and not as badass looking.

Enmity: -Flash offsets healer aggro and AoE DPS.
-Your Rage of Halone (Savage Blade) combo is for fending off against single target DPS, and aggro maintenance. Shield Lob primary target > Flash 2 times > Rage of Halone combo your primary target. Watch your Enemy list, the target losing health the fastest is the one that needs your aggro the most. When you have comfortable aggro there, cycle attacks through the enemies. You can flash occasionally if you're having trouble paying attention to which enemy needs more aggro, but should learn to keep track by watching the aggro meters in the party list frequently
-Tanks are the most gear dependant job because you're in direct competition with the DPS. Keep it up to date as best you can (You don't have to go crazy), especially your sword. Weapon

Survival: -Your defensive CDs are for tank busters first. When heavy predictable hits aren't a concern, cycle your CDs to mitigate your overall incoming damage, making sure you can still mitigate the hard-hits appropriately. Rampart is my favourite buff, it's got a solid potency and is on a very short CD time.
-Don't let enemies hit you from behind
-Gear.

DPS and Support: The only support Id really encourage you to pay attention to is your stun. Shield Bash is awesome, but beware the TP cost and lack of aggro generation. When you're all growed up and approaching 50 then I'd start looking at this.

[DarthVella]

Macros? A lot of players will tell you that macros are terrible, but I find them useful to stack similar buffs onto (like Rampart, Foresight, etc) and whenever you need some mitigation you hit the button once and it will pop the first buff that's ready.

Another thing - if you lose hate on a mob and it starts running off to your caster buddies, don't chase it and drag the mobs away from your melee friends. Hit it with Shield Lob once or twice and it should run back, then you can smack it with your enmity combo to keep it on you.

[TristanBlane]

Thank you all so much for your advice !! I took my time to read every single thing posted and It really helped me get comfortable with tanking and better understand the paladin job! I finally got my paladin job stone last night! Yay me! And successfully ran Haukke Manor the second go. The first time went terrible because I was heavily under geared , as I have learned through you all it is a big no no for tanks! I kept having the hate ripped off of me D: ! They spoil you when your a healer or dps and can get away with havin gear 10 lvl under you! And I'm really seeing the importance of spreading out my Rage of Halone combo to help keep the aggro with multiple mobs!! I'm very excited to go further with paladin!


I have a question on cross class abilities, which would be best to take? At first I took CNJ skills such as protect and cure then I decided to take some MRD skills like Fracture , Forseight and Bloodbath to help with Cooldowns and DPS. Which are the most optimal choices for Cross Class skills??


Also, is Shield Bash the only stun that a paladin has? I've had multiple situations where I was mid combo on a monster and they start casting and my Shield Bash timer isn't up yet and I'm panicking hoping I can shield bash before they finish casting .