This post is part of the Complete idiot’s guide to Karazhan for Protection Paladins and covers interesting concepts of gameplay, minimum gear requirements and a few introduction words to get your Protection Paladin started with tanking Karazhan. Be sure to read my other guides for your Tankadin on the Guides page. Interesting reads indeed!

I remember back when I started Karazhan with a few of my friends and the guild I was officer in, I didn’t find any resources to read upon what was my role in each encounter. I only found a few guides (mainly all adaptations from wowwiki) that confused me more. Why? Because none of them gave credit to the awesome power that is Paladin Tanking.

A Protection Paladin is simply the best tank to have around when raiding Karazhan.

Reasons:

• incredible AoE tanking ability which is heavily needed, both on bosses and on trash;
• most mobs are Demons or Undead, which makes a Pala Tank build aggro like no other;
• the best support tank you can have: extra blessings, capable healer if it’s really necessary, useful abilities (like Improved Judgement of the Crusader for extra crit or Blessing of Protection for that nasty Garrote);

Gearing yourself up

I’m not going to make a guide about the gear you should have simply because many others have done so before me. Just follow those great people’s advices and you’ll be fine. It’s important to keep in mind a few aspects, which I’m going to point out again:

• don’t step foot in Karazhan without 490 Defense Rating!
• it’s not important to be Uncrushable for the first bosses so focus more on Defense (but try and reach it when you’re further away in progression - Prince for example);
• get a decent amount of Spell Damage (around 200 should be enough);

How to act

A very important part of every raid are the players. This might sound silly to you, but it’s true. Most raids don’t fail because of gear, they fail because of people’s attitude. No matter what happens, keep your focus and your mind clear. Remember, it’s only a game after all.

Dos:

• Listen to suggestion and/or criticism. Everyone can improve;
• Accept wipes with a smile on your face. Progression can’t happen without wipes;
• Listen to your raid leader even if he’s wrong. If he is, he will fail and look stupid;
• Come in time and prepared for the raid. Here is a list of regents and consumables that can help a Protection Paladin to get ready for a raid;
• Read beforehand tactics for each encounter you’ll be facing;
• Keep WWS logs (and ask your friends to do so too) to keep track of performance;

Don’ts:

• Don’t openly criticize other people even if you are right. If you aren’t the raid leader, it’s not your job to keep an eye on other players. If you see someone slacking, best you can do is whisper the RL with your observations;
• Don’t slack;
• Don’t go AFK without letting the RL know. You’ll just make people in the raid angry at you;
• Don’t leave the raid before it’s time without finding a replacement, unless it’s really urgent;

It’s important to know that if you act mature and helpful it won’t go unnoticed and you will benefit in the long run.

I guess this is it for now. I plan to develop the guide with personal insight for all the bosses and step-by-step instructions on how to approach them so stick around!