What happens when.....

[Violette]

Love the thread, and prior discussion we've had but I feel you've stepped away from what the paladin is meant to be, according to SE's direction since 1.0.

The paladin has always been both a simple tank, and the most defensive. While it's true that with intricacy must come some degree of superiority (though dark knight played flawlessly gives nothing on a warrior), giving paladin stacks to juggle while interesting, adds a level of complexity and increased potential with gear that would likely infer nerfs in the future. Rather than what you've suggested, I think some quality of life changes in lieu of a massive overhaul would better suite the game.

-ShO, SwO and Grit all become abilities. Simple, effective. The gain of 2 gcd will help with dps.

-ShO enmity brought roughly in line with Drk and War modifiers in tank stance. I say roughly because paladins will get more enmity generation from using damaging skills (savage blade combo)

-Clemency becomes instacast. Like flash.

-Shelltron now restores TP on block. Shield Swipe restores some mana on use. Let's paladin control their mana pool better and tp issues become less apparent in long fights.

-Shelltron now provides also 10% magic defense for 6 seconds on use. Effect ends Paladin blocks an attack. Smart paladins have their own mini-dark mind.

-Cover in SwO no longer changes damage to paladin, but lowers paladin defense/mdefense by 20% and increases target's by 20% for duration. Giving Paladin the ability to provide defense with one of their least used skills feels thematically correct, of a all defense tank.

Small changes are all the paladin needs, giving it complexity that rewards offensive style play does not feel right for a paladin. Even when they are not main tanking, they should possess defensive utilities, not extra offensive power to fit the theme imo.

However, I am open to other people's opinions on this. These do not address the fact that shield swipe and shelltron are still near dead weight when the paladin is not tanking physical attacks. Tying skills to being attacked for 2/3 tanks gives the Warrior an unfair advantage when it comes to off-tanking (1 more skill gg), but making the paladin more utility based means they would shine more in savage fights that are not pure dps checks (horrid design).