Seems we’re getting a lot of love tonight as another question just popped out. It comes from Asara:

I am also, like Mama Druid, working on leveling up a Prot pally (Saraabi on
Malfurion). She was ret most of the way, but now that she’s hit Outland, I
decided I’d take the plunge and start tanking things.

Anyway, I was hoping you could shed some light on how exactly one goes about
AOE grinding. Is that something I can do now, or do I need to wait for my full
talent tree at 70? I’ve seen videos but they don’t really explain blow-by-blow
what they’re doing.. and when I’m questing, I’m generally lucky to be able to
hold two mobs without dying. I just started the Nesingwary questlines in
Nagrand, and it would cut a lot of time out of my grind if I could drop four or
five of the mobs at a time. Any help you have is welcome!

Sorry about me not being so prompt about your question, but I was fighting in the tournament I was telling you about earlier this week.

Referring back to your problem, I’ve looked at your character on armory. First thing I noticed is that you didn’t took Reckoning. You should. Helps out a great deal while leveling. Secondly, it really shows on your gear that you came from a Retribution build. But it’s ok, things will get better. A really big plus is the shield you have. Strap a Felsteel Shield Spike on (expensive, but invest in that because you’ll be using this shield at AoE farming even at 70) and you’re set.

Unfortunately, I can’t seem to recall how many mobs I could pull while leveling. I think around 3 if they were melee and only 1 caster. So I can’t really tell why you die at only two mobs. Here are a few tips you could use:

• Holy Shield and Consecration should be always up. Always;
• Judge and fight with SoW;
• Use Retribution aura;
• Get Reckoning (lulz);
• Have guts. Don’t be afraid to bubble (and heal) or even LoH. Next time you’ll know to pull less;

I’m guessing the vids you watched are of the Paladins farming the Demon Hunters near Black Temple. For those you kinda need good-ish gear. Figurine of the Colossus and Dabiri’s Enigma are a deadly combo. I remember that first time I attempted to farm them, I had to bubble, heal myself to full and still was very close to dieing. Now I just storm in and they don’t even get me to half HP.

AoE grinding is not so present and effective at lower levels. Good news is, by the time you hit 70 and have the gear to attempt Karazhan (meaning at least 490 Defense, 10k HP, 200ish Spell Damage) you’ll be a lean-mean-farming machine. And things get only for the better while getting better and better gear.

Good luck! Hope I’ve been of some help.

Today I got my first question via this blog. It comes from Mama Druid and sounds like this:

I hope you have some time to help me with a few questions. I’m leveling a protection paladin - she dinged 40 over the weekend.

I think I’ve done ok with my talents, but at these low levels the right kind of gear is difficult to come by. Spell damage seems only attainable via expensive enchants, and I think block rating is more of an Outlands stat. From what I understand about the basic stats, strength increases my block rating so I figured I need a good amount of strength.

Gear wise, and leveling before Outlands wise, are strength and stam stats I should be stacking… combined with any +def/br/spell dmg I can find?

It seems as though I block attacks from all attackers, not just the one I’m hitting… can you verify this to be true?

Is a faster one hand weapon preferred, for faster health regen with SoL (especially when Reckoning procs)?

Thank you for your assistance.

First of all, I want to thank you for being the first to use the Contact Form. It gives me great pleasure to know that people are actually following me and I can communicate and help them.

Regarding your question(s), let’s start from the top.

I’ve looked at your armory link (which I didn’t post, I didn’t know if it was ok or not) and you invested your talents very well until now. Keep going for Improved Holy Shield and then go for One-Handed Weapon Specialization. On the way, don’t forget to pick up Blessings of Kings.

Gear wise, unfortunately, there isn’t much love for us before Outland so we’re forced to share the same tanking loot as warriors. So yes, stack Stamina, Strength and Defense. Also, for spell damage, you can use some Wizard Oil.

About the blocks, yes, we block attacks from all attackers that are in front of us, not only those of the mob we’re hitting.

Fast one-handed weapons are the way to go. I’ve read some time ago that 1.6 attack speed would be the optimum value for that (don’t ask me where, I can’t remember). Fast attack speed = more damage when SoR is up (especially of Reckoning procs) = more threat. This should be your first priority, not to loose aggro because we know how people don’t trust Paladin Tanks (especially at low levels).

Other than that, my advice is to keep faith and don’t let yourself discouraged by the others. Have fun playing your Prot Pala!