First of all, let me introduce you to my current PvP situattion.

I PvP as a Shadow Priest with 20/0/41 Spec, 415 Resilience, 11k HP self-buffed and 839 Spell Damage. My gear is full Merciless, Brutal gloves with all Vindicator except boots. Not all my gear is properly enchanted yet so there still is a lot of rooms for improvement.

I have a Rogue partner in my 2vs2 team. For his stats please visit his Armory link. For the lazy, I’m just gonna tell you he’s better geared than me.

Now, let’s get to the problem. We can’t get past 1500 rating. Yeah, 1500. And I really have no idea why. Well, I could blame it on the lack of skill and I might be right. But we read tactics, make plans and even if we apply them, we still lose. Double melee teams practically 1-shot me. Teams with a Hunter in them are almost a 80% lose (damn those pillars, damn them). And don’t even get me started on Resto Druids. Funny thing is, we win against Mage/Rogue teams, which should supposedly be the hardest team to beat! Guess this only applies higher in the rankings, eh?

Don’t get me wrong, we still win. We had a few good fights which got us over 20 points/win. But at the end of the day, the balance is usually equal between wins and loses.

I’m frustrated. Last season we started the team 2 weeks before it ended, and we got to 1600 with me having 200 Resilience! Is the start of S4 to blame really? Are we meeting way more skilled and geared teams, even at this low braket (1443 at the time I write this)? I have no idea, but it’s really frustrating. Guess what we have to do is keep playing and keep on improving out game style.

Another dilemma I have is that of my head enchant. I’m faced with 2 options:

Glyph of Power

which was, until 2.4 the standard enchant for a Shadow Priest for a head item, or

Glyph of the Gladiator

which is a really interesting choice.

Let’s compare the two for a second, shall we?

Glyph of Power gives 22 Spell damage and 14 Spell hit rating. Now, we all know that the Spell hit rating cap for PvP is 38 (or >3%). Replacing it with Glyph of the Gladiator means the loss of Spell hit, but this can be easily contered by geming Greater Dawnstonex2 and actually gaining 2 Spell hit rating. If we do this, we lose 16 or more Resilience (because yellow slots should be always filled with Mystic Dawnstone or better). But it doens’t make any difference, because we counter this with the 20 Resilience the Gladiator Glyph gives us.

In conclusion, replacing Glyph of Power with Glyph of the Gladiator takes us to:

• losing 22 Spell Damage;
• gaining 2 Spell hit rating;
• gaining 4 Resilience;
• gaining 20 Stamina;

assuming that we replaced Mystic Dawnstonex2 with Greater Dawnstonex2.

Is this a fair trade? For me it is. I’m struggling in lower brakets, where survability is everything. So looking back and making a comparison between the 2, I’ll go for Glyph of the Gladiator no doubt.

Only thing left now is to get Revered!

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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!

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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!

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Struggling between choices? Just rerolled and don’t know what to chose? Dinged 70 recently and confusion has taken over you? Look no further! This guide will (hopefully) answer all your question regarding the weapon of choice for Protection Paladins.

This guide is being continuously being updated. Although you might not notice changes in the actual post, the online spreadsheet displays all the new and old information you need so check that as often as you would like.

Who do I write this guide for?

This guide is for those brave Protection Paladins that are on the brink of their carriers, those who are only now starting Karazhan or storming through 25-man content. It doesn’t address those who tank Illidan with The Sun Eater. If you are one of those Paladins, you can safely skip this read, as you probably know much more than me.

General considerations

What to look for in a weapon for tanking Paladins? Let’s see:

1. Spell damage - the more, the merrier;
2. Stamina - obvious, isn’t it?
3. Spell hit rating - secondary stat, but nice to have;
4. Spell critical strike rating - nice to have some crits from time to time for a threat boost;
5. Intellect - Again, not that important;

All other stats are not important and should be ignored.

More specific details and nifty calculations after the jump.

Continue Reading »

Just a quick update on my status (been kind of lazy):

• We cleared Zul’Aman last Sunday with first two bosses on the timer and third missed by 30ish seconds. No tanking drops.
• Managed to get a Karazhan badge run and finally ninjad Barbed Choker of Discipline.
• Missed Gloves of the Fallen Champion. Again.
• Gathered around 30k honor for my alt Shadow Priest. Gief S4 now.

Also, the idea of a small PvP Tournament was born and will take place on the 2nd of June. But more on that later.

Take care.

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This is really impressive. I watched both videos like 10 times each and I’m really really baffled.

Rogue - Shahraz

untouchable2gruul.wmv

Link to his/hers gear and spec

So, will Blizzard nerf this in a future patch? Should “classic” tanks be afraid of the hybrids?

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