[Prot] Fresh Tankadin seeking help

[Salmisra 1]

Hi All,

 

so, I have run into a pretty embarrassing situation a few days ago, and I believe I am in need of some help and advice. Here is the story:

 

I have started to equip my Tankadin by joining LFRs as Ret, gathering some weapons, shields, T-items and other Ret Loot with STR/STA/Haste. Using AMR as a guideline I made sure to meet the most basic stats while not trivializing others. While certainly not being suitable for nHC/HC raiding I felt it was OKish.

 

Then, a couple of days ago, I got invited to join a Flex 1 run by some of my guildies. Trash was pretty much a no-brainer, but it all went VERY downhill afterwards. Immerseus spanked me around the room like the little n00b I was, and Hee had quite a bit of fun with me as well. 

 

While I'll certainly admit that my raid tanking experience isn't all THAT great, and there may definitely be some gameplay issues involved, I am for looking for some advice on my current setup (items, talents, glyphs) which you can find here:

 

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/character/blackhand/Salmisra/advanced

 

I just got access to "The Cloak" today, quested for the Tank version and will buy the DPS one soonish.

 

Got a little lucky on some items this ID that I might swap in/out when I get the points to upgrade them or another T-item.

 

http://www.wowhead.com/item=105058 - Bulwark of the Fallen General (LFR/528)

http://www.wowhead.com/item=99127 - Handguards of Winged Triumph (Celestials/553)

http://www.wowhead.com/item=105777 - Remnar's Ruinous Girdle (Ordos/559)

 

 

TL;DR: got spanked mercilessly, seeking advice! 

 

Thanks.

-S

 

 

[Oreoxd 165]

Do you have any logs we can use to help you with? It could simply be a lack of rotation and cd usage that might be hurting you. I'd also suggest you keep gemming for exp+haste because you're 4% under exp cap. As well as changing pure stam gems to stam+haste

[Geoda 253]

By chance do you have any logs of the encounters? This will help with understanding what's going wrong by reading your rotation and CD usage to see where the slip is occurring. 

 

Also, what is your current tanking experience in MoP? 

[Fouton 266]

First, I would suggesting putting in haste/stam in place of those 480 stam gems, and getting 480 haste gems in place of your two 320 haste, trading 720 stam for 720 haste. You'll almost never find a scenario where straight stam is going to keep you alive better than straight haste.

 

As for what's been killing you, I would bet everything on rotation. The entirety of Prot Paladin gameplay is following the rotation as best you can, and the reason is because it generates the best Holy Power, which is gonna be keeping you alive. It's also possible that you're spending your holy power incorrectly. It's best to try to use Eternal Flame at 5 stacks of Bastion of Glory, and without your 4set that might mean some downtime on the buff.

 

Holy Avenger is a very important talent that you should be using on CD if you are tanking. It gives you a minimum of 30 straight seconds of Holy Avenger when used correctly, and as your haste increases you'll see it grow to times of up to 45s straight (which is almost half its CD!) This should just always be used when you have aggro, and that way you can try to fill in CDs around it. (You will rarely need another physical reduction while this is active, but you may need Divine Protection for other things)

 

Next up would be other cooldown usage, which I can't see without logs, but I can give a broad idea of when you should use them. Divine Protection is a very simple and practically negligable in terms of its cooldown, so try to use that on every magical hit that you see coming, giving priority to big hits that will be coming within 30s, etc. This means Immerseus' Corrosive Blast, Fallen Protector's Calamity, and other abilities like that. Then you'll want to be using Guardian of the Ancient Kings on high damage intake. This is really not existent on Immerseus so using it on CD when you are tanking (and expect to be tanking for atleast 8 seconds to use a fair portion of the CD). For Protectors, He doesn't have intensive damage by melee so you can also use it whenever you happen to be tanking.

 

The remainder of tanking is properly doing mechanics. On Immerseus you cannot be standing in Sha pools, Fallen protectors you cant be in noxious poisons, etc. As a tank the best thing you can do for your raid is learn every mechanic. This doesn't just mean tank based things, but learning what the DPS has to go through (ranged and melee, since its different), what the healers have to go through and what they need to do to be effective (ex. healing ranges, line of sight, positioning of the boss so they can stand somewhere happy). Once you know it all, positioning the boss will be easy and comfortable, which will help you get comfortable with staying out of crap, which will let you focus on your rotation/CDs, which will make you untouchable. It all stems from knowledge, so build it up if you can.

[Fouton 266]

Actually an easy way to look at gemming on AMR is to go into "Edit Weights" and click "Low" for stamina. It's just not that valuable unless you're afraid of specific mechanics taking your skull off. That doesn't really come into play on anything until very late into siege

[Salmisra 1]

Thanks for your speedy response guys.

 

That issue about the lacking EXP had me baffled for a minute as well. Guess the reason is that my gear is currently tailored around using the tank cloak (which I got first), instead of the DPS one which I only bought a couple of minutes ago. Logging out in the tank cloak gives me 14.50ish% EXP, Not perfect, but still better. ;) I'll look into that STA/Haste option. 

 

Tanking experience in MOP mostly includes all heroic instances (which I don't count as "tanking" this late into the expansion) and some helping out in ToT / SOO LFRs when we were lacking "real" tanks for whatever reasons (not signed up, afk, etc.) Guess my biggest achievement, if you want to call it that, thus far was pretty much solo tanking through ToT3 (Durumu / Primordius / Dark Animus) LFR while the other tank kept standing around in some corners all the time.

 

I am not sure if there is anything still in the logs from that Flex 1 encounter, since I usually keep resetting them every couple of days. I'll make sure to keep a copy of my next try when I am positive that I am not facing any gearing / talents / glyphs issue. One small step at a time. ;)

 

Coming from a 560ish 14/14 nHC warlock I do know most of the (SOO) encounters by heart now. Of course I am missing the tank specific in-depth stuff and practice.

 

Cheers.

-S

 

 

[Salmisra 1]

@Fouton - thanks for that in-depth reply. Guess we both were responding at the same time.

 

That is a lot of information to dig through, and I am thankful that you took the time to write it all up. Hope it will help. ;)

 

Cheers.

-S

[Fouton 266]

Good luck working to stay alive, it's definitely a rewarding feel, and I'm sure you aren't as far away from it as it seems :)

[Geoda 253]

Also remember.. behind a great tank.. is a great healer. ;)

 

Good luck Salm, let us know how the next raid goes with the changes!

[Oreoxd 165]

and in between great tanks and healers are better dps.