As a Paladin: Speedrunning and Enmity

[Stanelis]

OP question

Just spam flash and you should be all right if you have a decent gear and weapons (flash enmity is dependent on your gear so you ll have issue tanking if the DPS overgear you too much). It's actually much easier to AOE tank as a PLD than a war because you don't have to face the mobs on a certain way in order to use your AOE tanking ability (plus all those damage reduction cooldown sure are sweet).

[Muzy]

But for a Paladin, Flash isn't a melee attack, it's an offensive spell. That means it uses your Intelligence, not STR. That's why we all see such a huge difference between the threat we get off of Overpower compared to Flash. Shield Oath gives a huge improvement to flash when you get to 40, but the more you gear up at 50, the gap between overpower and flash just grows larger and larger. It's a bit of a design flaw that will become more and more apparent the further we progress.

So much misinformation. So much.

Flash is based off of Attack Power, not magic attack, not weapon damage. So FoF does NOT affect it, on the other hand, Berserk(Which is +50% Attack Power) does affect it. So STR(which increases attack power, btw) does increase it. THE MORE YOU KNOW!

[Versiroth]

As others have said, Flash Spam + Circle of Scorn + Riot Blade combo is all there is to it. I don't lose hate doing this, but I still prefer my Warrior much more. It's much easier and more fun to me. I normally infuriate while running in, Over power, Steel Cyclone, Overpower x 2 and then tab around my combos to build another Steel Cyclone.

[SavageWolf]

Hey guys, thanks for the helpful feedback.

I ran several hard modes last night and did speed runs on my Paladin.

I tried spamming Flash until out of MP, and regaining some MP with Riot Blade before spamming Flash again.

It worked just fine! I only really used Halone on strays or boss monsters. Other than that, for the big packs, I only stuck to Flash, Scorn and Riot Blade combo.

It was still a difference from Warrior and being able to get off 3 overpower and 2 Steel Cyclone at the beginning of each pack, but it definitely seemed bearable.

[Kerowyn]

The other reason PLD are better for Single Target threat is that their swing times are faster than a Warrior. So you get that little bit of extra threat from the Auto-attack hits.

[Giantbane]

As others have said, Flash Spam + Circle of Scorn + Riot Blade combo is all there is to it. I don't lose hate doing this, but I still prefer my Warrior much more. It's much easier and more fun to me. I normally infuriate while running in, Over power, Steel Cyclone, Overpower x 2 and then tab around my combos to build another Steel Cyclone.

You can actually do a pretty significant amount of damage with Unchained, Berserk, Internal Release, Vengeance and Overpower spam on those big groups. Do bloodbath beforehand for some pretty solid self healing too.

[LunarEmerald]

Black Mage should be using quelling strikes. If they're pulling hate then they most likely aren't.

[Cherie]

I find Paladin is actually *easier* than warrior to hold threat on large groups of mobs.

Unlike overpower, flash is a AOE not a cone, so it hits everything around you without having to get everything in front of you.

You can gain MP back with riot blade, so you can flash basically forever as a paladin. One riot blade = one flash (maybe a flash and 1/3). Warriors can't overpower forever (if you have a bard that will play tp song you can overpower a few more times, and even then, it's not even enough TP to spam it as fast as a paladin can spam flash with riot blade).

Paladins have more ability resources than warriors as well. If you have Paladin and Warrior both, you know that Paladins have much more MP than Warriors. Yes a Warrior can flash too, but just barely a few times and you are OOM. Paladins can spam Flash for a long time before OOMing. Then on top of that, they still have their TP Pool. Granted however, Warriors actually have more skills to use that TP pool for. I don't see more Paladins use their TP up like they should though on large pulls. Shield bash is rather nice... 6 second stun! Shield Lob those stubborn mobs out of reach, etc. Use that TP Paladins! You probably won't ever run out normally.

I don't think Warriors have Paladins beat in AoE threat though... Sure, frontload threat yes, threat over a long pull, no.

Warriors are fun, they can basically do most everything a Paladin can *AND* do 40% more dps as well as infinitely more AoE dps. Paladins have more longevity on longer fights though.

[Lafiele]

I find Paladin is actually *easier* than warrior to hold threat on large groups of mobs.

Unlike overpower, flash is a AOE not a cone, so it hits everything around you without having to get everything in front of you.

You can gain MP back with riot blade, so you can flash basically forever as a paladin. One riot blade = one flash (maybe a flash and 1/3). Warriors can't overpower forever (if you have a bard that will play tp song you can overpower a few more times, and even then, it's not even enough TP to spam it as fast as a paladin can spam flash with riot blade).

Paladins have more ability resources than warriors as well. If you have Paladin and Warrior both, you know that Paladins have much more MP than Warriors. Yes a Warrior can flash too, but just barely a few times and you are OOM. Paladins can spam Flash for a long time before OOMing. Then on top of that, they still have their TP Pool. Granted however, Warriors actually have more skills to use that TP pool for. I don't see more Paladins use their TP up like they should though on large pulls. Shield bash is rather nice... 6 second stun! Shield Lob those stubborn mobs out of reach, etc. Use that TP Paladins! You probably won't ever run out normally.

I don't think Warriors have Paladins beat in AoE threat though... Sure, frontload threat yes, threat over a long pull, no.

Warriors are fun, they can basically do most everything a Paladin can *AND* do 40% more dps as well as infinitely more AoE dps. Paladins have more longevity on longer fights though.

Just want to make a correction here. From my personal experience in both classes and what I've seen from many many many 8 man groups, single target, war and pld are equal in dps (sword oath vs wrath or no wrath). Aoe dps wise, yes, warrior does a lot more hands down since pld only has circle of scorn lol.

[Ryans]

Tanks should be interchangeable with the only differences being abilities and playstyle - but one should absolutely never be better than another at single target versus multiple target tanking. I don't see how they would even make that possible, since the tank that is good at multiple target threat won't be any worse at single target threat... but the single target tank will have a LOT of trouble when leveling, gearing, etc. when they are the only tank in the party.

People who play tanks should learn to play them well and with skill, but SE could facilitate the process a little better by making both tank classes a little more equal. It *does* seem like warriors have a much easier time of it than paladins with multiple targets.

I think you seem to be missing the points that actually matters.
1) This is a PvE-centric game
2) Tanks' threat only matters compared to Healer and DD threat
3) Threat generation isn't the only factor in determining the worth of a tank

Warrior has better AOE threat generation, period. Even a warrior using flash gets more threat than a paladin using flash since it's based on attack power and warrior has berserk.

Paladin has a shit-ton of defensive cooldowns making them a lot more predictable in the damage taken category. They can go for over an entire minute with at least one defense buff up at all times. Warrior has more sporadic defense buffs which can be very effective if the player knows the perfect times to use them, but lets face it, not many actually count auto-attacks to know when things like double attacks are coming.

To wrap it up, they are balanced to point where you want both of them. Luckily there are two tank spots in content where skill matters.