Paladins as tanks An effective tank of any class must accomplish two things : Generating Threat and Holding Aggro . In order to hold aggro on a target , a tank must be able to generate more threat than their comrades . A paladin tank accomplishes this mainly by dealing a large amount of Holy damage while under the influence of Righteous Fury . A protection paladin ' s bread and butter threat generation tools are Consecrate and Holy Shield , with Hammer of the Righteous and Shield of Righteousness becoming available at later levels . Extra threat can be generated with Retribution Aura if the mitigation from Devotion Aura is not needed . Paladins have one actual taunt available : Hand of Reckoning . As of Patch 5 . 0 . 4 , Righteous Defense is no longer available . While paladins generate threat through use of holy spells , gearing for spell power is not to their advantage since 3 . 0 due to their spells now scaling with Attack Power as well as spell power . Strength is a Prot Paladin ' s best threat stat . Advantages in Threat generation . Paladins generate threat by putting out a high amount of constant damage , rather than high threat / low damage abilities like Sunder . The reactive Holy damage caused by Retribution Aura and Holy Shield is more than enough to overcome the threat caused by basic healing spells . A Protection Paladin ' s Taunt ( Righteous Defense ) is extremely powerful as it can force up to three mobs off of one target , in case of a mis - pull . Once the targets are taunted , the attacks on the Paladin and reactive damage alone is usually enough to maintain Aggro . Disadvantages in Threat generation . Protection Paladins will find it impossible to tank any mob that is immune to spell damage , and difficult to tank mobs that spam Mana Burn . Mobs or bosses that silence the paladin tank will greatly hinder threat generation , because every tanking ability the paladin has is a spell , except Hammer of the Righteous . Damage Mitigation . Paladins achieve damage mitigation against incoming attacks in much the same way that Warriors do . Both classes wear plate armor and can equip a shield . Both classes are capable of dodging , parry ing , and block ing . Generally , the order of important for tankadins gearing up for raid is : The old 102 . 4 % total avoidance / blocking needed to be uncrushable is no longer necessary since patch 3 . 0 . 2 , because you can only be crushed by mobs 4 levels above you . Having full or close to full avoidance / blocking is recommended for high end raiding . If you avoid / block 102 . 4 % currently , you are said to be block cap ped . " Gear is arguably the most important factor for the success of a tankadin . For those who want to learn more about tankadin gear mechanics , please check the related links at the end of this page . Basic Paladin Tanking Abilities . Paladins use many tanking abilities , and can put out a large amount of damage at the same time . Holy Shield . Patch 4 . 0 . 1 Using Shield of the Righteous or Inquisition increases the amount of damage your shield blocks by an additional 10 % for 20 seconds . Consecration . The Paladin signature move , capable of generating massive amounts of aggro on unlimited amounts of mobs . The mana cost of this spell is extremely high , but the tank will regenerate most of the mana back with Blessing of Sanctuary alone if tanking many mobs . This move breaks most forms of Crowd Control , so be careful when using it . Hammer of the Righteous . Hammer the current target for 45 % weapon damage , causing a wave of light that hits all targetrs within 8 yards for [ x ] Holy damage . Grants a charge of Holy Power . Holy Wrath . Shoots bolts of holy power in all directions . Always stuns Undead and Demons . Often used in conjunction with Consecration to maintain aggro . Shield of Righteousness . Another new ability acquired at level 75 , Shield of Righteousness is an extremely high damage and high threat maneuver that hits for thousands of damage . Its damage is based off of the Paladin ' s block value plus a fixed amount of damage . It is not affected by spell power or attack power . Avenger ' s Shield . Paladin tanks can throw their shields , dealing damage to up to three targets who are within 10 yards of each other . It is normally used to pull the mobs at the beginning of a fight can also be used mid - fight as it is an instant cast . Avenger ' s Shield also dazes for 10 seconds . An important fact to note is that Avenger ' s Shield is a Smart Spell , which means it will not bounce to targets that have been Crowd Control ed . You can use this spell without worrying that you will break CC . Judgement s . There are three different judgments that can be used ( Light , Wisdom , or Justice ) , they all do the same amount of damage . Each of them cause a different debuff on the mobs . Judgement of Light heals the tank and raid members , as well as possibly lowering a healer ' s threat generation by reducing their need to spam heals . This can be very useful in fights where the whole raid is taking damage . Occasionally , you may also want to use Judgement of Wisdom , which replenishes mana of raid members , much like Vampiric Embrace and Replenishment . This helps damage dealers maintaining their mana throughout some longer boss fights . Currently , Seal of Vengeance / Seal of Corruption is the standard seal that provides the best threat . When combined with Glyph of Seal of Vengeance gives an extra 10 expertise points ( not rating ! ) . Other seals can be used for specific situation , such as when Damage over Time effect on the mob is not desired , or when replenishing of mana / health is needed . Exorcism . Exorcism is usable on all targets , and always critically hits Demons and Undead . It does Holy Damage and so is a good threat builder , but has a 15 second cooldown . It also has a 30 yard range , allowing paladins of all specs to pull from long range without using one of their taunts immediately . As of Patch 3 . 2 . 0 , now Exorcism has a casting time of 1 . 5 seconds , so Tankadins will find difficult to use this skill while being beaten on by several mobs ; you cannot dodge , parry , or block while casting a spell . Exorcism should only be used for pulling . Auras . For beginner tanks in Heroics and raids , Devotion Aura will be the aura of choice . After the Paladin and all other tanks in the raid group surpass 25 , 000 armor , the reward for armor bonus diminishes , and Retribution Aura will make a better choice . Retribution Aura deals additional damage to attackers , helping with threat for all tanks in the group , and increasing overall dps . As of patch 3 . 1 , the Improved Devotion Aura talent provides a healing bonus to ALL auras , so the most appropriate aura for the situation may be chosen without worry of losing talented benefits . Blessing s . With the new 3 . 2 . 0 Patch , Blessing of Sanctuary gives a 10 % boost to Stamina , along with the damage reduction and mana replenishment effect , making it the best choice for a Tankadin , even though the Stamina bonus doesn ' t stack with Blessing of Kings . Still , having both blessings is useful since Strength and Agility influence damage mitigation of the Tankadin and Intellect gives her / him a larger mana pool . The other two blessings , Blessing of Might and Blessing of Wisdom gives advantages respectively in threat generation and mana replenishement , but they should be chosen only if the other two blessings have been already given to the Tankadin . In Patch 3 . 2 . 2 , Blessing of Sanctuary will also increase Strength by 10 % which will increase threat even more . Taunts . Hand of Reckoning . This new ability added with patch 3 . 0 . 8 uses 3 % of the paladins base mana and taunts the target while dealing low amount of holy damage . It has an 8 second cooldown . This new ability is akin to the warrior taunt ability . This is also the first ability available to the paladin to directly taunt a monster . Righteous Defense taunts mobs off other friendly players . As of patch 3 . 2 . 0 , Hand of Reckoning deals consistent damage to the taunted mob if it isn ' t attacking you , but it has no effect if it is currently attacking you . Righteous Defense . One of the Paladin ' s taunts . Unlike other tanks ' taunt , Righteous Defense affects up to three mobs who are targeting the friendly target . Threat Rotation . The " 9696 " rotation is the most common spell rotation used by experienced tanks to generate high amounts of threat . It requires one point in Improved Judgement and avoiding the use of Glyph of Consecration . 6 seconds cooldown abilities : 9 seconds cooldown abilities : The rotation requires the use of 6 sec abilities and 9 sec abilities alternately to provide a smooth sequence that keeps the above abilities on cooldown most of the time . Base idea is to first use any 6 second cooldown spell , then 9 second , and then 6 again . ( Note that Holy Shield and Consecration actually are 8 seconds cooldown but there is no way to utilize this one second without messing up the whole rotation . Note also that it is possible to use " 8686 " rotation with 2 / 2 in Improved Judgements , but it has lower overall threat generation that 9696 . ) Example : Pulling with Avenger ' s Shield repeat from 1 to 12 The order of the 6 sec abilities can be changed among themselves according to personal preference , so are the 9 sec abilities . Consecration can be left out in situations where AoE damage is not desired , or occasionally be replaced with Exorcism , Holy Wrath or Avenger ' s Shield . Emergencies , Panic Buttons and Special Situations . No matter how good your gear and skill is , you will still face situations that threaten your life from time to time as a tank . Paladins have a passive skill called Ardent Defender which significantly decreases damage taken when the Paladin ' s health is under 35 % , giving them an effective hp boost of 15 % ( making it as large if not bigger than a druid ' s ) , and giving them a " passive automatic ressurrection " depending on their Defense every 2 minutes . Paladins have several panic buttons . At low health , they can restore all of their own health with Lay on Hands . When anticipating high damage , they can cast Divine Protection to reduce all damage taken by 50 % , and even Sacred Shield to absorb a little more . Note that Paladins have also access to Divine Shield wich makes you invincible for 12 seconds . Using it is not recommended , since it makes all mobs attacking at you to de - aggro for the duration . Paladins can Cleanse some debuffs . Fears , stuns , other crowd control , and most debuffs can be quickly removed by using Divine Shield and immediately canceling it ( made easier through the use of a macro ) . Misconceptions and changes in Wrath of the Lich King . Because of major changes between The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King , there are some misconceptions around Paladin tanking that can be addressed . Mana Supply . Because of Blessing of Sanctuary , combined with Spiritual Attunement and Divine Plea , mana supply should not be a problem for a Paladin tank . If you are running out of mana , check that you are using Blessing of Sanctuary ; you may accidentally overwrite it with a greater blessing when grouped with other Paladins . Spell power . At level 80 , Paladins should not be stacking spell power for tanking . Spell power does benefit Paladins by boosting holy damage from many major threat - generating abilities . However , Paladins are intended to get their spell power through Strength ( with the talent Touched by the Light ) and not by stacking it directly as it provides inferior threat compared to the other options . Level 80 gear with spell power has stats oriented toward healing . Paladins benefit far more from gear with Strength , high Stamina and defense .