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Disclaimer: This guide is up to date for patch 3.2.0. This guide has a lot of personal opinion in it based on my playstyle and experience.
Update Log:
08/09/09
Reference Guide - Created
Spells and What They Do - Created
Gearing Priority - Created
Glyphs - Created
Spell Rotation and Priority - Created
Avoidance Cap and Attack Table - Created
08/09/09
Talents - Created
Stat Values - Created
Reference Guide - Updated
Gearing Priority - Updated
08/14/09
I Just Hit 80, What's My Gear List? - Created
Gems - Created
08/15/09
Enchants - Created
Mods - Created
Gems - Updated
Glyphs - Updated
FAQs - Updated
08/21/09
Macros - Created
FAQs - Updated
08/29/09
Macros - Updated
Reference Guide
A list of abbreviations I'll be using in this guide and their meanings:
Shield of Righteousness = ShoR
Consecration = Crate
Hammer of the Righteous = HotR
Hammer of Wrath = HoW
Exorcism = Ex
Avenger's Shield = AS
Holy Wrath = HW
Sacred Shield = SS
Holy Shield = HS
Divine Plea = DP
Avenging Wrath = AW
Divine Shield = Bubble
Divine Protection = DS or Shield Wall
Divine Intervention = DI
Hammer of Justice = HoJ
Divine Sacrifice = DS
Cleanse = Dispel
Hand of Protection = HoP
Hand of Sacrifice = HoSac
Hand of Salvation = HoSalv
Hand of Freedom = HoF
Devotion Aura = DevAura
Retribution Aura = RetAura
Seal of Righteousness = SoR
Seal of Corruption = SoCorr
Seal of Light = SoL
Seal of Wisdom = SoW
Seal of Justice = SoJ
Blessing of Sanctuary = BoS
Blessing of Kings = BoK
Blessing of Might = BoM
Blessing of Wisdom = BoW
Judgement of Light = JoL
Judgement of Wisdom = JoW
Judgement of Justice = JoJ
Righteous Defense = RD or AoE Taunt(technically only taunts 3 targets)
Hand of Reckoning = HoR
Shield Block Value = SBV
Block Rating = BR
Block % = B
Dodge Rating = DR
Dodge % = D
Parry Rating = PR
Parry % = P
Stat Values
1 Stamina = 12.6 HP; .3 SP
1 Strength = 2 AP; .5 SBV
1 Agility = 2 Armor; .04% Dodge; .019201228878648233486943164362519% Crit
1 Intellect = (Of no use to us)
1 Spirit = (Of no use to us)
1 Defense Rating = .2032520325203252032520325203252 Defense
1 Defense = .04% Parry; .04% Dodge; .04% Block; .04% Miss
1 Dodge Rating = .022095238095238095238095238095238% Dodge
1 Parry Rating = .022095238095238095238095238095238% Parry
1 Block Rating = .061034482758620689655172413793103% Block
1 Expertise Rating = .12195121951219512195121951219512 Expertise
1 Hit Rating = .030497102775236352546508081732235% Hit
1 Crit Rating = (Of no use to us)
1 Spell Power = (See Stamina)
1 Spell Penetration = (Of no use to anyone in PvE)
1 Attack Power = (Of no use to us as a sperate stat)
1 Armor Penetration = (Of no use to us)
Spells and What They Do
Shield of Righteousness - a single target threat gain, oddly boosted by SBV.
Consecration - an AoE threat gain that is placed below the where the Paladin stood when using it.
Hammer of the Righteous - a 3 target threat gain (4 targets ifGlyphed) used on 1 target and 3 nearby enemies in front of the Paladin.Also applies SoCorr ticks if SoCorr is active on all targets that arehit.
Hammer of Wrath - a single target threat gain, can only be used when target is below 20% HP. Eventually inferior to ShoR with gear.
Exorcism - a single target threat gain that will always crit on Undead enemies. Has a cast time of 1.5secs.
Avenger's Shield - a 3 target (1 target if Glyphed) ranged pulling mechanic/threat gain that also silences and slows enemies.
Holy Wrath - an AoE threat gain and stun that can only be used on Undead.
Sacred Shield - a buff that has a chance to absorb damage after being hit. Can be cast on self or others.
Holy Shield - a buff with multiple charges that are removed when blocking damage. Increases Block % and deals Holy dmg on blocks.
Divine Plea - a mana gain buff that also reduces damage if Glyphed.
Avenging Wrath - Increases damage (and thus, threat) and healing by 20%.
Divine Shield - Immune to all damage for 10secs and drops all threat for the duration. More or less only useful to a Tankadin with a macro.
Divine Protection - Reduces damage by 50% for 10secs.
Divine Intervention - Kill yourself, save someone else. Items don't suffer a durability loss when this is used.
Hammer of Justice - Stuns the target for 6secs. Interrupts spellcasting for 3secs if the target is immune to stun.
Divine Sacrifice - 30% of all damage taken by party/raid members within 30yds is redirected to the Paladin (up to a maximum of 150% of the Paladin's HP).
Cleanse - Removes 1 poison effect, 1 disease effect, and 1 magic effect.
Hand of Protection - Immune to all physical damage for 10secs. Can be cast on self or others.
Hand of Sacrifice - Transfers 30% of damage taken by agroup/raid member. To the Paladin. Lasts 12sec or until 100% of thePaladin's HP has been used.
Hand of Salvation - Reduces total threat by 20% over 10secs. Can be cast on self or others.
Hand of Freedom - Removes any movement impairing abilities. Can be cast on self or others.
Devotion Aura - Increases armor of everyone in your group/raid if within 40yds.
Retribution Aura - Deals Holy damage back at the attacker when hit with a spell/range/melee attack for all group/raid members within 40yds.
Seal of Righteousness - Deals Holy damage to the target on melee hits.
Seal of Corruption - Creates a Holy DoT on the target when theyare hit by weapon damage. When stacked to 5, deals Holy damage witheach melee hit.
Seal of Light - Chance on hit to heal the Paladin.
Seal of Wisdom - Chance on hit to restore mana.
Seal of Justice - Chance on hit to stun the target enemy.
Blessing of Sanctuary - Increases Stam by 10% (this doesn't stack with Kings Stam increase.) All damage is reduced by 3%. Each Block, Parry and Dodge gives you 2% of your max mana back.
Blessing of Kings - Increases all stats by 10%, Stam increase doesn't stack with BoSanc.
Blessing of Might - Increases AP.
Blessing of Wisdom - Increases mp5.
Judgement of Light - Puts a debuff on the target. When struck by any attacker, the attacker is healed.
Judgement of Wisdom - Puts a debuff on the target. When struck by any attacker, the attacker gains mana back.
Judgement of Justice - Puts a debuff on the target. The debuff prevents the target from moving faster than normal speed and cannot flee.
Righteous Defense - Taunts 3 targets off of 1 target. Nearly useless/impossible to use with a macro.
Hand of Reckoning - Taunts a single target and deals Holy damage. Has zero effect if the target is already targeting you.
Except for Seals, Blessings and Auras, I have all of these abilities hotkeyed. And yes, it's a bitch. But you get used to it.
Gearing Priority
Most every experienced tank will tell you, when gearing up, gear first for survivability and second for threat. This holds true to the Tankadin. Here's how I believe all Tankadins should gear for raiding:
1) Cap defense(Don't go over 540 as avoidance comes easy and extra defense is HP you could have instead)
2) Cap avoidance (currently 102.4%)
3) Stack Stam as much as possible to increase HP pool and threat thanks to Show Me Where The Light Touched You.
Compared to the other tanking classes, that's really all we have to worry about. There is discussion of hit/expertise rating increasing threat on single targets, which is 100% true. But the problem is, thanks to patch 3.2 we only have 2 single-target spells for threat; Judgements and ShoR. Though it should be noted that SoCorr's change in 3.2 makes melee hits more important for single target fights so Hit rating may prove to be more important. It's Holy damage ticks still cannot be resisted.
As for the other spells:
Crate's initial tick is the only tick that can be resisted(missed), the rest cannot be resisted.
HotR's main target can be missed, but the 2-3 other targets it hits cannot be missed.
HS's reactive damage can never be resisted.
Also, it should be noted that during a single target fight, Tankadin melee physical damage hits from your weapon make up roughly 0.5-1% of your total threat, and this number decreases as stats on the Tankadin increase and/or the level of the mob decreases.
I Just Hit 80, What's My Gear List?
The gear list I used can be found HERE. Though it looks like it's been updated many times since the launch of WotLK, most suggestions on this forum are great advice. My personal suggestion (as Tankspot hasn't filled these holes) if you're a JCer is to make the Figurine - Monarch Crab and Figurine - Ruby Hare trinkets ASAP and fill the crab with epic gems (for gem recommendations, see the Gems section,) as you probably won't be replacing it anytime soon. You can get your hands on the Trial Trinket fairly quickly, which easily replaces the Rabbit.
With heroics providing end game gear, groups and upgrades shouldn't be hard to find. But if you're just starting out it's still best to go with Heroics that fit your level of gear. As an example, you dinged 80 about 20mins ago, don't jump into Heroic Halls of Lightning... It may also be a good idea to get upgrades from normal instances first, as this will get you the upgrades from Heroics while making it an easier task and less stressful.
Just remember. When you first start out; you won't be able to hold aggro. You won't have much survivability. And you will be frustrated. Just like DPS, skill and practice is a must for tanking. Unlike DPS, your role is VERY gear dependent.
Gems
With 3.2 came the implementation of epic gems. This is good for tanks already geared to the teeth, but the problem with this is for newer tanks:
"I just got a really nice rare gear piece from a heroic. Epic gems? Yes?"
Here's the typical game:
If you have a green, socket it with common gems.
If you have a blue, socket it with rare gems.
If you have an purple, socket it with rare gems as well.
Only when you get an upgrade that won't be replaced anytime soon should you be using epic gems. They're expensive and shouldn't be seen as expendable. This is completely up to the beholder, but if you're just hitting 80 I assume you have 0 Badges of Heroism, little honor and after that epic mount, little gold.
So what gems should you be going after? Follow steps 1-3 of the Gearing Priority section. First, get your defense to cap. Second, cap your avoidance. Lastly, stack Stamina. It's as simple as that. Eventually, you'll be at the point where you'll mostly or completely have Stamina gems in place.
"But, what about all those amazing socket bonuses?"
My rough estimation is that 98% of all socket bonuses for tanking gear are not worth socketing for. If you're using yellow, red and blue gems to cap your avoidance and defense - yes, get all the socket bonuses you can. But eventually, you'll mainly only be using blue gems and you'll find that most every socket bonus you see is not worth the loss of Stamina. The only socket bonus you should be concerned with is your Meta gem's requirements. The meta you'll more than likely be using to start is Eternal Earthsiege Diamond, but eventually you'll move on to something like Austere Earthsiege Diamond once you're Defense capped without a meta. Making sure you're activating your Meta is very important and should never be overlooked.
"So, what colors should I be using?"
For the Tankadin, it's simple:
Stamina(Blue), Defense(Yellow), Agility(Red) - These 3 types or any combination of the 3 is what you will use. Pretty simple.
Enchants
Head:
Arcanum of the Stalwart Protector - Best head enchant, hands down. Keep your Tabard of the Argent Crusade on until you have this, no exceptions.
Shoulders:
Lesser Inscription of the Pinnacle - Will have to do until you finish out rep with Hodir to get the Greater below:
Greater Inscription of the Pinnacle - Best non-scribe shoulder enchant.
Master`s Inscription of the Pinnacle - This is by far the best shoulder enchant, but can only be used by scribes.
Back:
Enchant Cloak - Titanweave - If you're not defense capped.
Enchant Cloak - Major Agility - If you're not avoidance capped.
Enchant Cloak - Mighty Armor - Not that great of an enchant, but it's not bad.
Chest:
Enchant Chest - Greater Defense - If you're not defense capped.
Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats - If you're not avoidance capped.
Enchant Chest - Superior Health - Best chest enchant of you're defense and avoidance capped without the enchant above.
Wrist:
Enchant Bracer - Major Defense - If you're not defense capped.
Enchant Bracers - Greater Stats - If you're not avoidance capped.
Enchant Bracers - Major Stamina - Best wrist enchant if you're defense and avoidance capped and you're not a LW.
Fur Lining - Stamina - Leatherworker specific. Better than all of the above if defense and avoidance capped.
Hands:
Vindicator`s Armor Kit - If you're not defense capped.
Enchant Gloves - Major Agility - If you're not avoidance capped.
Enchant Gloves - Armsman - A great hand enchant that provides avoidance and threat.
Heavy Borean Armor Kit - A great enchant, but I personally feel pales in comparison to Armsman.
Legs:
Frosthide Leg Armor - The best there is.
Feet:
Vindicator`s Armor Kit- If you're not defense capped.
Enchant Boots - Superior Agility - If you're not avoidance capped.
Enchant Boots - Tuskarr`s Vitality - If you're into that sort of thing.
Enchant Boots - Greater Fortitude - In my opinion, better than Tuskarr's Vitality. Run speed can help in a few situations. More HP helps in all.
Fingers:
Enchant Ring - Stamina - The tanking ring enchant. Enchanter only enchant.
Shield:
Enchant Shield - Defense - If you're not defense capped.
Enchant Shield - Shield Block - If you're not avoidance capped.
Titanium Plating - If you're lacking on threat.
Enchant Shield - Major Stamina - A good HP boost, and personally I think surpasses Titanium Plating.
Weapon:
Enchant Weapon - Exceptional Agility - If you're not avoidance capped.
Enchant Weapon - Blade Ward - The damage is melee, not holy. If you're avoidance capped, the extra parry isn't bad, but also not fantastic. Expensive mats as well. I personally feel this is inferior to Blood Draining for Paladins.
Enchant Weapon - Blood Draining - Will give you a small safety blanket if your HP dips too low. It's by no means a great safety blanket, but I feel it's better than the alternatives. The mats for this enchant are all kinds of ridiculous, I would suggest saving them for a weapon you don't see yourself replacing for a long time.
Glyphs
The 3 Major Glyphs I don't think any Tankadin can do without are:
Glyph of Righteous Defense
Plain and simple, if you don't have this Glyph you have no business tanking anything. Since patch 3.2, this Glyph now applies to HoR as well as RD.
Glyph of Divine Plea
Provides 3% less damage from all sources at all times, as your DP will always be active when you talent for it (and you will.)
Glyph of Hammer of the Righteous
HotR will hit an additional target which not only hits for Holy damage,but spreads your SoCorr which can remove the need to tab-target-rotate with 4 or less targets. If a Major Glyph needed to be removed, thiswould be your first choice as it is partially a convenience Glyph andprovides no survivability.
"What about all the other Major Glyphs?"
Glyphs were created to enhance a player's playstyle, and while there are some other good Glyphs out there, most are steps below the usefulness of these 3. Like extending the duration of Crate is neato, but not needed. Or increasing damage of your Judgements by 10% is super cool, but lackluster with it's cooldown and already smaller damage compared to other spells. Basically, half of the Major Glyphs for Paladins exist to save you mana, and as a Tankadin this is of little to no concern to you. The only Glyph I could see replacing one of the 3 above with is Glyph of Avenger`s Shield, which had its use in TBC with separate trash pulls so close together, but I have yet to see much use in WotLK raiding.
The 3 Minor Glyphs I use are:
Glyph of Lay on Hands
5mins less on the cooldown of LoH. For progressive raiding I think this is the best Minor Glyph to slot for obvious reasons.
Glyph of Sense Undead
Increased threat on Undead enemies. With the other choices available, this should be every Tankadin's second choice in WotLK raiding.
Glyph of Blessing of Kings
Honestly, the last choice is just personal preference. Any remaining Glyphs provide zero threat or survival. The reason I chose this one is because I find myself casting BoK more than any other Blessing.
There are a grand total of 6 Minor Glyphs for all Paladins, so your choices are limited. The other 3 I have not listed have little to no use for the Tankadin. And Glyph of the Wise, a mana reduction to a 30min buff, was a waste of time to whatever Blizzard developer that created it.
Talents
Talents typically give a player a freedom to express themselves through their own personal playstyle. Think of the Protection tree for Paladins as an anaconda squeezing that freedom to death:
THIS is the template for what talents any Tankadin worth his/her salt needs to take. Yes, that means you have a total of 5 points to "express yourself through your playstyle". Remember: anaconda. With these 5 points left, you have a few choices:
Judgement Cooldown Reduction
As discussed in the "Spell Rotation and Priority" section, if you're going to be using the Libram of Obstruction, it is important that at least 1 point be put into Improved Judgements to ensure server lag doesn't cause the SBV buff to fall off. A second point is just personal preference.
Crit Chance for your Raid
Another choice is to provide an extra 3% crit chance to your judged targets for the raid with the talent Heart of the Crusader. This should never be a choice if you are consistently running with a Ret Paladin as they should be covering this talent.
Stun, Fear and Disorient Duration Reduction
With 5 points, a popular choice in TBC was to fill out Unyielding Faith and Stoicism. This reduces the duration of Fear, Stun and Disorient effects by 30%. This will help survivability for the occasions where these abilities are used and is a valid choice.
Raid and Self Survivability
What I feel is the best 3 points spent out of the 5 is on Divine Sacrifice and Divine Guardian. Divine Sacrifice converts damage from those around you to yourself and can also be used at the same time as Divine Protection. The uses for this ability I find to be never ending. If healers are prepared, you can ease up a large chunk of damage on the entire group/raid. And with our new talent change that prevents death once every 2 minutes, you can afford to use it without Divine Protection in the right situations. Divine Guardian improves this Divine Sacrifices damage transfer by 10%, which is good. But the big deal with Divine Guardian is the duration increase and damage absorption increase of Sacred Shield. Making an already fantastic survival spell even better.
The choice for talents is yours, but the 4 options I've listed (some in combination) are all viable choices. Anything past these 4 either aren't worth taking or should only be used for specific fights.
My recommendation for raid tanking: 5/59/7
Spell Rotation and Priority
"Sin, what is the best/quickest way to get threat?"
If you've done your research, you might have found that there's a common Tankadin threat rotation called the "6969 Rotation". This name is given by the 6-9sec cooldowns provided by our spells. The pools are setup as follow:
6-Second Pool:
ShoR
HotR
HoW
9-Second Pool:
HS
Crate
Judgement
A common rotation for 6969 is as follows:
Holy Shield
Hammer of the Righteous
Judgement
Shield of Righteousness
Consecration
Hammer of the Righteous
Holy Shield
Shield of Righteousness
Judgment
Hammer of the Righteous
Consecration
Shield of Righteousness
And so on...
However, if you asked me before 3.2, "Sin, what do you think of this erotically named threat rotation?" I would have laughed, labeled it as 'as practical as a rain dance or voodoo' and then spat in someone's face. The problem with the 6969 rotation first, is that it short-changes the Libram of Obstruction's use by removing the choice to talent Judgements to have a shorter CD and in doing so reduces survivability and the threat provided by ShoR. Second, it leaves out key spells that are needed at all times, more specifically on undead mobs. Patch 3.0 included retarded amounts of undead mobs while raiding, and thus, brought Ex and HW back into tanking. Ex hits equally as hard on a single target as HotR on a non-undead mob, but is a guaranteed crit on undead. As for HW, it's a heavy damage output for 3+ undead targets that also stuns which means it's a threat gain that provides survivability which gives it some use on single target stunnable mobs. These 2 abilities combined with the Glyph of Sense Undead(a glyph any Tankadin that plans to ever raid Naxx should have) make for epic threat gains. Another ability which should be included on 2-3 targets at a time is AS which also has a slowing and silencing mechanic on it giving it threat and survivability as well.
With these 3 spells tied into my normal threat gain, along with HoW when permitted, I never find myself not using an ability where as the 6969 rotation will not give you the same ability and also takes quite a while to get used to.
But, despite all of this, in patch 3.2 Blizzard decided to return the 1.5 cast time on Ex - making it 100% useless to a Tankadin's normal rotation. It's only use now is for a pulling mechanic (which is still inferior to AS) or for a ranged attack if being struck is not an issue. Patch 3.2 also increased the duration of all SBV procs making 1 point in Improved Judgements arguably necessary, but 2 points dependent on preference.
"But, Sin! AS, HW and Ex all have crazy mana costs!"
For single target threat, which is mainly what the 6969 Rotation is used for, Crate has the most "mana waste" in it. The astronomic cost of this spell would typically have any Tankadin questioning pressing the button for it on a boss fight. But, here's the thing. On boss fight in most raids, your mana bar will always be full with the large amounts of dmg coming at you from bosses with or without DP being active. So mana cost will typically mean very little to a Tankadin, which makes almost every threat ability in a Tankadin's arsenal all about the cooldown duration and the threat it provides.
"So, you never answered my first question. What's the best/quickest way to gain threat."
For me, it's a priority system based on 2 different scenarios: Single target and AoE.
Single Target Threat Spell Priority:
Single target threat is first built around how you decide to use your Judgement spell. You can easily reduce the cooldown on your Judgements by 2secs with talents, but I would question doing so without having the Libram of Obstruction equipped. With it equipped pre-3.2 it was paramount that ShoR always be used within 5secs (or preferably immediately after) of using a Judgement to get the maximum threat from ShoR hits. However, all SBV durations from procs had their durations doubled so this Libram now provides the SBV increase for 10secs instead of 5. So now, so long as you're Judging every ~9secs or less your SBV buff will always be active and ShoR can be used at any time. So, here's is my single target spell priority list:
- HS (Keep this up at all times.)
- SS (Keep this up at all times.)
- DP (Keep this up at all times.)
- Judgement (Keep the SBV buff up at all times.)
- ShoR (Highest single target threat ability)
- HotR (Though mainly used for AoE, it still provides a good chunk of threat and gets another stack of SoCorr on your target to start)
- Crate (If extra threat is needed)
- AS (If extra threat is needed)
AoE spell priority can be a little more complicated as Crate is not as fantastic of a threat machine as everyone thinks. The main reason it's top choice is because it will hit more than 4 targets at a time unlike any other ability of the Paladin. If there is 4 or less target, Crate isn't always worth casting. For this list, we'll act as if we have 6 or more enemies we need to hold threat on:
- HS (Though the buff has limited charges, try and keep this up at all times.)
- SS (Keep this up at all times.)
- DP (Keep this up at all times.)
- Judgement (Keep the SBV buff up at all times. This still has 4th priority because of increased survivability when blocking.)
- Crate (Hits an unlimited amount of targets.)
- HotR (Hits 3-4 targets and spreads your SoCorr. I try to never use this on the same target more than once with 5+ enemies to make sure SoCorr is getting spread to everyone.)
- AS (Hits 3 targets. I try not to use this on a target I've used HotR on previously so damage is getting spread out somewhat evenly.)
- ShoR (With all the tab-target-rotation you'll be doing, keep an eye on Omen. If one of your DPS is sneaking up on one of your targets, toss out a ShoR on them to hop back up.)
You might have wondered why I sullied Crate's name previously, but still hold it as the top priority for AoE threat. The fact of the matter is Crate is a dumby-spell. It takes no concentration, no focus. You just use it where you stand. On top of this, as I mentioned before, Crate has no limit on how many targets it can hit, making it superior to AS and HotR in some cases. Of course, these are setups for a perfect situation. No movement, no tricks, just a tank and spank. Being able to adapt to situations is when true skill and experience is needed.
Avoidance Cap and Attack Table
What is the "Avoidance Cap"? The Avoidance Cap was a theory based off WoW's mechanics that was a must for all serious raiding tanks to understand. The idea is that every mob has a certain chance to get a full hit on a player. A player's chance to be missed (which will increase with every point of Defense), dodge, parry or get a partial hit with blocking will reduce/remove this chance. For TBC and WotLK, the total % needed to never be hit by a full hit was/is 102.4% total avoidance (to figure up how much you have, please see the macro section.) The extra 2.4% comes from the fact that all raid bosses in the game are set as 3 levels above the player level of that instance (Level 80 dungeon bosses have stats set for a level 83 mob.) For each level a mob is over a player's level they get an extra .8% chance to hit them. So, at level 80, a level 83 boss will have an extra 2.4% chance to get a full hit on you.
So why was not getting a full hit so important? Crushing blows. As long as a raid boss could get a full hit, they could cause a crushing blow that dealt roughly twice the amount of a normal hit. However, in the last patch of TBC, crushing blows were completely removed from the game. This is one of the reasons the Avoidance Cap has become somewhat of a joke to the tanking community and at best a preference. The other reason being that no class is realistically capable of reaching the avoidance cap except for Paladins thanks to our spammable spell Holy Shield, increasing block chance by 30%. Warriors previously had a similar ability called Shield Block, but with WotLK the ability's cooldown was increased and was no longer spammable.
"Sin, your walls of text mean nothing to me. I need a fucking visual you number whore."
The best visual for understanding the avoidance cap is the "Attack Table".
In Example 1 you'll see a rough sketch of what my current Attack Table looks like with Holy Shield active. With 15.6% Miss, 14.14% Block, 18.72% Parry, 21.89% Dodge and 30% extra Block from HS I can push myself over 100% avoidance letting raid buffs take care of the ~2% left to get past the 102.4% cap. (Realistically, you'll get an extra 4-5% extra avoidance from raid buffs.)
In Example 2 you'll see the use of Blackened Dragonfin, improving dodge slightly. This food still keeps me at the 102.4% cap but pushes some Block Chance off the table and replaces it with Dodge Chance.
In Example 3, we see what a Death Knight's Attack Table might look like. You'll notice to compensate for no ability to block they receive more Parry than other classes which comes from every point of Strength. Other classes will typically gem or enchant for avoidance as well. To compensate for not having a Holy Shield type ability, the other classes also typically have a lot more "WTF Buttons" than we do - abilities on long cooldowns that are saved for high pressure situations. The grey area you see in Example 3 is the mob's chance to get a full hit.
As you can see, Holy Shield gives the Paladin a pretty big advantage. Not only that we can reach an avoidance cap, but that because we can reach this cap we're less concerned about gemming or chanting for avoidance and can put in Stamina increases instead.
Mods
PallyPower - If you're a Paladin of any sort, you want and need this mod. It enables the user to see what other Paladins in the group are casting for their blessings, seals and auras and let's you display yours as well. Any Paladin that doesn't have this mod is hated by the other Paladins that do because it simply complicates blessing assignments needlessly. There are no exceptions, get this.
Grid or Healbot - "But Sin, I'm not a healer, why the hell would I want a raid frame mod?" That's very true. But all Tankadins need a raid frame for 2 reasons. First, you have a dispell button. Don't think because you're a tank you won't be tossing out short-buffs or dispels. You will, and you will often. Second, we have the single coolest taunt in the game when used with a raid frame. Our RD, even when using a macro, can be used to click on a raid member who has pulled aggro and taunt 3 or less targets that are on them to you. What raid frame mobs provide is an indicator as to when someone in the group or raid has pulled aggro. Both Grid and Healbot do this. Grid is what I use. A lot less complicated and buggy than Healbot, but also very basic in appearance.
Past this, most any other mod is just personal preference. But these 2 I see as a must.
Macros
This macro will calculate your Dodge, Parry, Block and Miss chance. Use Holy Shield right before using this macro to figure out close you are to the avoidance cap:
/run ChatFrame1:AddMessage(format("Unhittable at 102.4%% - you have %.2f%%", GetDodgeChance() + GetBlockChance() + GetParryChance() + 5 + 1/(0.0625 + 0.956/(GetCombatRating(CR_DEFENSE_SKILL)/4.91850*0.04))))This macro will enable you to use your RD spell on an enemy target rather than having to target a friend:
#showtooltip Righteous Defense
/cast [noharm] [target=targettarget,noharm] Righteous Defense
This simple macro, if hit twice, will pop your bubble and quickly remove it for bosses where you need to get rid of a debuff without losing threat:
#showtooltip
/cast Divine Shield
/cancelaura Divine Shield
FAQs
Q: Why would I ever use anything but Judgement of Light?
A: Judgements only overwrite each other if they're of the same name. As an example, a JoL from 1 Paladin will never overwrite a JoW from another, but a JoL will be overwritten by another JoL as they're of the same name. The Protection talent Judgements of the Just reduces the attack speed of any mob that has a Judgement debuff on them. If this debuff is overwritten by another Judgement from another Paladin (Holy or Ret,) then the effect will be removed creating more damage for the tank. As for having 2 Tankadins in a group/raid, overwriting Judgements is just wasteful when some melee would like both JoL and JoW. Also note that, while Tankadins provided the most HP back to the group/raid from JoL, 3.2 changed the mechanics of this spell from a fluctuating amount to a flat 2%. So any type of Paladin that uses this spell will provide the same healing as any other Paladin spec.
Q: What about Judgment of Justice?
A: Though it is very seldom used, it will have it's uses in some Heroics with fleeing/fast-moving mobs as well as Prot PvP if you're into that sort of thing.
Q: Should I use a shield spike?
A: At 80, never. A shield spike does physical damage. Righteous Fury will provide 0 benefit to this damage.
Q: Spell damage weapons used to be a must have, what about now?
A: It's debatable, but most experts will tell you the same thing; times have changed. Hammer of the Righteous is based off your weapon's weapon damage. Spell damage weapons all have very low weapon damage, where tanking weapons usually have around twice as much weapon damage (and twice as much Stamina.)
Q: I thought weapon chains were a must-have for tanking.
A: You must be looking for the Warrior tanking guide... The only spell that's disabled when you lose your weapon is HotR. If you can't hold threat for 8 seconds without HotR, you're either still working on gear or you need more practice with threat. Also, the 15 PR given by Adamantite Weapon Chain is far inferior to the dodge provided by the 26 Agility from Enchant Weapon - Exceptional Agility.
Q: Is going over the avoidance cap a horrible idea?
A: Hell no! First, pushing block off the Attack Table in place of Parry or Dodge is not a bad idea. You'll just have some semi-wasted Block. Second, in your experiences you'll find that no matter the situation, everyone blindly believes you're the end-all-be-all God of AoE tank. Because of this, you'll find yourself taking on large amounts of AoE trash. So many mobs that your 8 HS charges every 8secs won't be enough to keep you avoidance capped at all times. Any avoidance over 102.4% is going to be wasted unless you're in this situation, but it still is by no means useless. Just don't go too crazy with your avoidance.
