Paladin Shield/Sword Oath Usage

[Forben]

Thanks for the answers and clearing it up for me.

It'll take me time to adjust from the tanking I'm used to, but eventually I'll get it done. I just find myself thinking "Take as little damage as possible, you're not a dps" too often. As my friends say, "Just let the healer cover your health for you."

Maybe I just need to tell myself to treat shield oath like a cooldown, using it only when needed.

[MistakeNot]

Thanks for the answers and clearing it up for me.

It'll take me time to adjust from the tanking I'm used to, but eventually I'll get it done. I just find myself thinking "Take as little damage as possible, you're not a dps" too often. As my friends say, "Just let the healer cover your health for you."

Maybe I just need to tell myself to treat shield oath like a cooldown, using it only when needed.

Other way around. When in doubt use Shield Oath when tanking.

Shield Oath reduces the damage you take, while increasing the enmity you generate which makes it easier to hold aggro. It is your tank stance.
Sword Oath increases your DPS - great for solo play, but also for dungeon encounters where you can hold aggro and stay alive even without Shield Oath.

[Satarn]

"tanks are enmity-holding dps"

and

"Just let the healer cover your health for you."

is a very bad and sadly common misunderstanding of the aggressive tanking meta. Yes, the end goal is to deal as much personal dps as possible, but you should not neglect your defense either, as that results in lower healer dps.

It is indeed usually best to leave your tank stance as soon as you've built enough enmity at the start of the fight, but while in damage stance you should be rotating your defensive cds to cover not only tank busters and cleaves, but also as many autos as possible. Part of learning an encounter as tank is figuring out when to use which cd and how much can you save by utilizing ultimate cds and tank swaps. It might be less involved than in other games, but it's still there.

It's also sometimes good to swap stance when shit hits the fan. Basically push for dps, but don't be stupid about it.