Returning Paladin - Tanking Advice

[JinnRemona]

So I need some help with playing my Paladin. I'm returning to the role after having levelled it to 60 in Heavensward. I've about to start levelling the class up and I'm attempting to rework my Hotbars, but there have been a bunch of changes since I last played, so that is taking me some time.

My worried about how to Tank now though. A lot of skills that I used to use have been removed and new ones added in, and I'm not entirely sure what my new Rotation is supposed to be. Hell, I don't even have Flash anymore, so I'm not sure how to generation quick Enmity towards a group of enemies.

The entire Oath Gauge is also pretty new to me as well. I know it is required to use certain skills now like Shelltron. Is that all it is used for though?

Does anyone have any advice on how to improve my current Tanking skillset, such on when or how to use certain skills properly, or what my main tanking rotation should be during a fight?

Even as I levelled up to 60, I never properly learned how or when to use my cooldowns skills like Rampart, Sentinel and Fight or Flight. They were always skills I just activated whenever I remembered they were there.

[Hierro]

Look over your skills, you have a new set of aoe skills. Anyways, there are a lot of guides that go over the subject, either in text or video form. A quick Google/YouTube search will do you.

[JinnRemona]

A lot of the Youtube videos I found focused on either a level 60 build that no longer applies, or focused on guides and builds that I can't really follow yet without being level 70 to 80.

[MistakeNot]

Make sure Iron Will is activated any time you want to actually tank. It increases the enmity generation of all your attacks.
Flash is gone, but nowadays you can do AoE damage and generate enmity all at once. Total Eclipse+Prominence is your new best friend. Circle of Scorn is also pretty nice for AoE stuff.

Against groups of enemies the main rotation is simply Total Eclipse+Prominence. Against single enemies Fast Blade+Riot Blade+Rage of Halone/Royal Authority usually does a good job. Fight or Flight is good to have active as often as possible when you attack.

Defensive Cooldowns like Rampart, or Sentinel is best activated whenever you either pull a large group, or to protect yourself from a tankbuster attack from bosses.


I am sure other people will fill in with various details that can improve your play, but the above are the basic basics of Paladin play, and will get you quite far.

[aodhan_ofinnegain]

Total Eclipse > Prominence spam on three or more mobs, single target you prioritise Goring Blade combo, 2 x Royal Authority combos, Goring Blade combo and repeat. Make use of Fight or Flight just before your first Riot Blade then make use of Circle of Scorn and Spirits Within, then use them as them come of cooldown. Obviously use Fight or Flight at the same point in the rotation everytime after the first use.

Make use of your defensive cooldowns as much as you can, usually Hallowed on first set of trash and work from stronger to weaker cooldowns. Use Sheltron as frequently as you can on trash while on bosses, usually keep the gauge above 50 for tankbusters.

Also make use of reprisal, which is 10% damage dealt down debuff applied to enemies for 10secs in AoE around you, and Arm's Length, which inflicts a 20% (?) Slow debuff to enemies that strike you.

Your rotation will change obviously as you level more gaining Holy Spirit, Requiscat, Atonement and Confiteor, which there is plenty of guides which show optimal rotations, which like any job is worth investing in the time to practice and learn.

[Allooutrick]

You could view it as all the minor defensive ogcd skills have been rolled into a passive 20% damage reduction that all tanks have now. Enmity generation has been ramped up significantly while your stance is on as well. So long as you're using skills, you're generating an immense amount of it. Having said that, if you're the off tank in a fight, either turn your stance off until the main tank establishes a lead or keep the skill usage low until then.

[3c-33]

for single target, you want to be able to fit two goring blades into your fight or flight duration. you do this by using fight or flight right before goring blade, do your standard royal authority combo twice, then goring blade once more, repeat.

later on after 60 you get requiescat, you use requiescat after the last goring blade to holy spirit spam as much as possible. confiteor and atonement are little additions to this you also get later on, being able to use atonement after royal authority instead, and confiteor to end your requiescat window.

here's a little visual, hope it's not too confusing! for the sake of being level 60, just imagine the atonements are a second royal authority combo. the main takeaway here is that you always want your dot ticking as much as possible, especially under fight or flight



just to put this in a bit of perspective, the potency you gain from your dot alone is about 985 potency total, 390 for the gcd + 595 for for all of the dot ticks, it's the highest potency skill paladin has (but i'm really bad at math sorry if i messed any of this up, this should mostly hold true though)

as far as your oath gauge and sheltron usage goes, just make sure you're not capping on gauge! if you reach 100 or are getting close to that, use sheltron whenever possible

[aodhan_ofinnegain]

for single target, you want to be able to fit two goring blades into your fight or flight duration. you do this by using fight or flight right before goring blade, do your standard royal authority combo twice, then goring blade once more, repeat.

later on after 60 you get requiescat, you use requiescat after the last goring blade to holy spirit spam as much as possible. confiteor and atonement are little additions to this you also get later on, being able to use atonement after royal authority instead, and confiteor to end your requiescat window.

here's a little visual, hope it's not too confusing! for the sake of being level 60, just imagine the atonements are a second royal authority combo. the main takeaway here is that you always want your dot ticking as much as possible, especially under fight or flight



just to put this in a bit of perspective, the potency you gain from your dot alone is about 985 potency total, 390 for the gcd + 595 for for all of the dot ticks, it's the highest potency skill paladin has (but i'm really bad at math sorry if i messed any of this up, this should mostly hold true though)

as far as your oath gauge and sheltron usage goes, just make sure you're not capping on gauge! if you reach 100 or are getting close to that, use sheltron whenever possible

OP has made note that they cannot follow the posted rotation yet as they haven't reached levels where this rotation is applicable.

Also in most cases the Fight or Flight use in this rotation is incorrect it shouldn't be used after Riot Blade but instead just prior, as you're only get 10 out of 11 GCDs under FoF in this scenario.

[3c-33]

OP has made note that they cannot follow the posted rotation yet as they haven't reached levels where this rotation is applicable.

Also in most cases the Fight or Flight use in this rotation is incorrect it shouldn't be used after Riot Blade but instead just prior, as you're only get 10 out of 11 GCDs under FoF in this scenario.

yeah that's why i made note of for the sake of being level 60, and included the full thing anyway because it's already pretty simple as is compared to most things, since pld rotation doesnt fundamentally change a whole lot going forward

edit: actually having tested this fof thing it seems more often than not i either can't fit the last goring blade into the window or just barely do and so i rather just use it before goring, id rather just guarantee it gets in than constantly wonder whether or not it even registered in the window on the very last second it's there or not, it depends on skillspeed/ping and i play on higher ping soo

[ArianeEwah]

[...] Having said that, if you're the off tank in a fight, either turn your stance off until the main tank establishes a lead or keep the skill usage low until then.

In all seriousness, this is the worst 'tip' I've seen, remove the bold part.
Also, in most duties, you don't need to be 2nd in aggro, and even if you need to get it, press provoke and shirk the MT.