This post will be a work in progress, detailing how one can deal with a paladin tank in a group. I will be adding to it as I learn more and more.
Paladin tanks are inherently different from warriors and druids in a number of ways, but can be very rewarding to play and usually make instance runs faster due to requiring little to no CC. However, there are some do’s and don’t’s regarding paladin tanks. Here are some of those.
General tips
Do not pull before the tank. Do not pull before the tank. Do not pull before the tank.
Don’t start DPS until the first Consecrate. Think of it as a sunder. If you start nuking right after Avenger’s Shield, chances are you will grab aggro with a single crit and your tank will cease to be amused.
Do crowd control when you are told to, the target you are told to. Other than that, randomly placed CC interferes with a paladin’s threat generation cycle and positioning, and will more than likely get broken. Don’t decide that you want to crowd control a mob on your own.
Watch a threat meter. A paladin suffers from lack of snap aggro tools and needs to be hit to build threat. If you get aggro and yet keep DPSing, short of a taunt, it will be hard for a paladin to peel the mob off you.
Remember that a paladin’s taunt is on a longer cooldown than both a warrior’s and a druid’s, don’t push your luck.
Always follow the designated kill order.
Let the paladin break the crowd control. One second’s wait is hardly likely to hurt your DPS.
Your tank will need to drink more frequently than other group members. Respect that break. An out of mana paladin generates no threat.
Is the paladin silenced or out of mana? Those affect a prot paladin’s threat generation very negatively. Go easy on threat if you see this is the case.
Taurens, refrain from AoE-stunning mobs every pull. Aside from being annoying, it serves a paladin no practical purpose and interferes with their passive threat generation.
Warriors
Do not charge in until the initial positioning has been determined by the tank. I’m aware the rage generation helps a lot, but the charge stun is really annoying when the paladin is trying to position away from crowd controlled mobs to start a full threat generation cycle. Furthermore, seeing a warrior charge in makes the other DPS believe that it’s okay to start DPS, as well.
Wait a couple of seconds – a sign that it is okay to charge in is the first Consecrate. If you do get in combat before that, you can always still Intercept.
Be ready to taunt in case the healer is having problems. Paladins don’t have many oh-%$!* buttons. A well-timed taunt until that next heal can land will earn you a lot of love. Other than that, never ever ever taunt.
Rogues
Don’t stun until you see the first consecrate. Preferably, unless it is needed as an interrupt, don’t stun at all. You have other abilities that generate combo points. A paladin gains most of his threat from being hit and reflecting holy damage. A stunned mob is hitting no one.
Sap the mob you are asked to sap, otherwise, be aware that your sap will probably be broken.
Mages
If you are asked to polymorph, the best time to do this is right after Avenger’s Shield hits. Do not do it before AS, and do not wait for too long a time after Avenger’s Shield. Specifically, don’t let your mob get into the Consecrate area before you sheep. If you can see that your assigned mob got into the Consecrate area, let it be and wait for instructions.
The fact that 4 mobs are being tanked does not mean you should start AoEing.
Please refrain from casting Frost Nova until you see the first Consecrate. Nothing drives a prot paladin more crazy than seeing their optimal positioning ruined by an early Frost Nova. To block, we have to keep every mob in front of us all the time.
Counterspell ranged casters so that the paladin can position them properly. This is crucial – a paladin has no tools to stop a caster, short of stunning them (and blood elf paladins have a 2 second AoE silence, however, its radius is very small and it is on a relatively long cooldown). Make seeing that caster silenced your first priority.
Decurse any debuff that affects spell damage off of your prot paladin. It hurts their threat generation massively.
Warlocks
For the love of $deity_of_choice, don’t Death Coil a mob being tanked. If you need a heal, there are other sources for that.
It’s okay to DoT the mobs other than the primary DPS target, since a paladin is building threat on them passively, but don’t overdo it.
Hunters
Don’t trap unless asked to. DPS as usual.
Paladins
If retribution, keep Sanctity Aura up, for we love it. If Holy, heal as usual and keep in mind that aside from Kings and Sanctuary, we also love Wisdom. Don’t stun needlessly.
If the tank is silenced, please make dispelling that silence your utmost priority. A silenced paladin generates little to no threat.
Shamans
If enhancement, please, please, please DPS with an eye on your threat meter, and don’t protest when you get Salvation. If elemental, we will love you because we benefit from so many of the caster totems.
Mana Spring and Wrath of Air are most appreciated by a protection paladin. Treat us as if we are a caster. Strength of Earth is not particularly loved, Stoneskin is more useful.
If you are resto, heal as usual. If healing is hard to keep up with, let us know and more CC will be utilized.
Priests
We love love love shadow priests, please keep Vampiric Touch up! As with warlocks, you are permitted to DoT up non-focused targets as long as you don’t overdo it.
If you are holy, heal as usual. If healing is hard to keep up with, let us know and more CC will be utilized.
If the tank is silenced, please make dispelling that silence your utmost priority. A silenced paladin generates little to no threat.
If you are specced into it, Silence ranged casters so that the paladin can position them properly. This is crucial – a paladin has no tools to stop a ranged caster, short of stunning them (and blood elf paladins have a 2 second AoE silence, however, its radius is very small and it is on a relatively long cooldown). Make seeing that caster silenced your first priority.
Druids
If feral, be ready to taunt in case the healer is having problems. Paladins don’t have many oh-%$!* buttons. A well-timed taunt until that next heal can land will earn you a lot of love. Other than that, never taunt.
If you are resto, heal as usual. If healing is hard to keep up with, let us know and more CC will be utilized.
Innervating prot paladins is not optimal since the mana return will be very little, but in a tight spot, it will save us regardless.