Actual Paladin Tank Stuff Complete with Strategy Tweaks!

I know I don’t usually talk much about tanking, talenting or strategies but we’ve tweaked a few things in our raids - and I’ve tweaked a few things in my spec for different fights - so I thought I’d break with tradition! (You’re very excited now, aren’t you?)

If I don’t mention a strategy change we’re probably doing what everyone else is. As for DPS and heals we’ve used every bizarre, theoretically unworkable combination you can think of for a 10 man but we build the raid with the following:

Always -
Rogue
Warlock
Resto Druid
Pally tank (Yeah, I know, I said I heal sometimes but I really haven’t had to for a while.)
DK tank (on 2 tank fights otherwise he is DPS)

Rotating in and out based on the fight (or RL stuff) -
Holy/Disc Priest
Warrior (DPS)
Kitty (And occasional bear)
Hunter (Usually there)
Resto Shaman (Sometimes DPS)
Resto Druid #2 (Sometimes chicken)
Resto Druid #3 (Sometimes a Shaman)
Warlock #2
Mages #1-3


Blackwing Descent

Magmaw - Paladin tank on boss, DK tank on worms. DK just kites the little buggers around and no one kills them. As long as they move out of the way periodically we’ve had no issues.

Tron Dudes - Single tank FTW. The reason behind single tanking is simple - the healers like it. If I am able to hit the Tron Dude beating on me I can squeeze in a few self-heals. If the Tron Dude just wails on me and I can’t hit him…well healers have to work harder…add in a second tank and, well, you get the picture.

Achemedes - Meh, standard strategy as far as I know.

Chimaeron - I respec to ensure I have full points in Eternal Glory and Guarded by the light as well as Divine Guardian for this one. I use Holy Radiance while we are grouped up for Feud. I also pop Divine Guardian on the third Feud. The first time we got him to 20% (the largely unhealable, untauntable phase) I expected him to make a mad dash to nomnom on the healers but instead he stayed on our DK tank, then me, then he was dead. No worries on that one.

Maloriak - I always have points in Grand Crusader for the Avenger’s Shield refresh but in this fight it’s particularly handy. Our rogue interrupts the Storms and I handle the add releases while our DK tank kites the adds. I keep points in the Divine Guardian for the last phase and blow through pretty much every cooldown I have at that time.

Nefarion - I’ll let you know next week!



Bastion of Twilight

Halfus Wyrmbreaker - For this one I generally take Halfus myself first and bubble taunt off the first set of stacks of the healing debuff when applicable. This is one fight I really like having a Holy Paladin in for so he can Hand of Protection the DK tank when it’s his turn. I can do it but we’ve had a few times where my tank partner is too far away. Obviously we change strategies depending on which dragon combo we have but we haven’t ever killed all three. Just burn the first two and burn the boss. We start this one on hard mode this week so I’ll let you know how it goes!

Valiona & Therlion - Pretty standard

Twilight Ascendant Council - DK tank with ranged, me with melee, our warlock switches targets to keep them even if needed. DK tank on Ignacious for interrupts, me on Feludious for round one. Round two is DK tank on Arion and me on Terrastra. If it’s going to put melee too close to the wrong buff if I move him then I just pop a CD and eat the Quake/Thundershock.

Cho’gall - This is another fight I make sure I’m specced into as many healing boosts as possible. We two healed this with two resto druids (They cried a lot and begged for a “tank healer” and MCs suck with only two but they are more amazing than they think they are and we did just fine!) Our DK tank takes Cho’gall first and I cast Hand of Salvation on him immediately. His D&D works very well for the adds and as he can cast it ranged he doesn’t build stacks. HoS is up for the third taunt from him as well. Our DK tank is the recipient of many, many of my Word of Glorys (Word of Glories? Looks weird…) on this fight.



Throne of Four Winds

Conclave of Wind - What is there to say about this, really? Hard mode this week should be interesting!

Al’Akir - Not much to this one once everyone gets the movement and timing down. I make sure I have Hand of Protection ready for a healer in phase 3 and use Holy Radiance as we fly down to the base. Cooldowns are your friend in phase 3 LOL.



So, that’s all I can think of at the moment. Please feel free to post anything you may do that differs from the usual strategies!

And if anyone has found a sound strategy for Heroic Halfus and/or Conclave let me know!

Stupid Awards of the Week ***Epic-holy-crap-I-haven't-done-them-in-Cata Edition***

(Names have been badly smudged to protect the guilty)

The Paranoid Huntard Award of the Week goes to….

/drumroll

The hunter who wouldn’t go near Al’akir’s platform until she was completely buffed and ready to go for fear she would accidentally pull him. Needless to say we spent every night we were on him making her more paranoid by dropping Jeeves, guild banks and cauldrons near the boss!




The But It’s Not A Green Award of the Week goes to….

/drumroll

The same hunter who did many attempts (key word: attempts) on the now-PVP-boss-loot-piñata when we were all fresh 85s while in PVP gear. It took a while. We also found out what she wears to raid in. (Start noticing a theme here...)






The Where’s Jeeves? Award of the Week goes to….

The resto druid with broken gear who was obsessing over healing meters….

The Wait, Wasn’t I on a Taxi? Award of the Week goes to….

/drumroll

The guild master, who shall remain nameless, who decided to multi-task while on route to Throne of Winds. 4 words: Dead. Feralas. Rez sickness. /facepalm

The Naked Raider Award of the Week goes to….

/drumroll

The kitty who died (and led to a wipe on Al’akir by dying early on)…who then informed us that although he hit “yes” on the ready check he had just run naked out of the shower. He plays Dance, Dance Revolution as well as WoW…. Go ahead. Picture it. Just go ahead.

The Huntards Have Competition Award of the Week goes to….

The Locktard after a wipe who was also obsessing over meters…





The OMG His Hit Box is HUGE! Award of the Week goes to….

/drumroll

So very many people who hit Magmaw instead of the trash in front of him so very many times.




The I WANT TO LIVE Award of the Week goes to….

/drumroll

The resto druid who told the tanks that if they wanted to live they would call out tank swaps on Cho’gall…despite the DBM warning and GIANT FREAKING LASER BEAMS from his eyes at Fury. For the rest of the raid each tank called out “I want to live!” every time they taunted.




The WTF Happened to My Threat? Award of the Week goes to….

/drumroll

The DK tank who couldn’t get aggro on Cho’gall. We wiped. Come to find out he had a chat bar open. So much for keybinds.