PredOborG’s complete PvE guide to godlike tank Oathbound Paladin

***The following content is property of PredOborg. Ghost Rebellion takes no credit for the following guide. You may find the original here.***

First of all I think I should  mention that I have never written a guide for any game I played so far. I play Neverwinter Online for 2 years now and used to play mainly with Control Wizard and Devoted Cleric but at the beginning I mostly gathered knowledge from other guides. Some guides really helped learning the game better. My main role in online games since I first played Lineage II is support. But now I really like the new Module 6 class, Oathbound Paladin, and especially the Protector paragon. Being a very strong tank who can also protect and buff his party members is amazing. Also the damage possibilities are not to be underestimated making this class really OP. I still haven't tried to play as healing OP but maybe that will come at some future point.

Seeing very few guides for it and being confident enough in my own PvE build I decided to share what I learned about this awesome class. My build is not finally finished as I need to upgrade my T2 Elven gear to Elemental Elven, use Rank 12 enchants, refine artifact and equipment to Mythic and Legendary and level Jewelcrafting to Rank 25 but overall it's close enough.

##### Race

First thing to choose for the OP is the race. I will comment on some of the available races so far.

* Metallic Ancestry Dragonborn *[+2 to any two Ability Scores; +3% Power and Critical Strike; +3% healing from spells and abilities; +3% Health Points]:* This is the best race for a tank OP. You need all the HP you can get. Power and crit are also important for this build. The increased healing is barely noticeable though. But the only way to get this race is from finding it in a Dragonforged Lockbox. The chance for that is probably ~1%.
* Dragonborn*[+2 to any two Ability Scores; +3 Power and Critical Strike; You receive 5% more healing from all spells and abilities]:* Second best race for paladin. Constitution is the most important Ability Score for tanks and you can choose either Wisdom or Charisma for secondary. Power and Crit help a lot in this build. The increased healing is not so good but can still help you in the rare times you lose HP.
* Human *[+2 to any two Ability Scores; 3% increased Defence; +3 extra feat points]:* Shares best place with the Dragonborn. The Ability Scores are best and the extra feats can be used to increase the crit chance much more thank Dragonborns. The defence is not so important as you will be at the 80% Damage Resistance cap pretty often.
* Half-Elf *[+2 Constitution and either +2 Charisma or Wisdom; +1% Deflect, +1% Critical Severity and +1% Gold Find; +10% Crowd Control resistance]:* The only useful thing besides the Constitution is the CC resistance as you will get knocked or stunned sometimes and even a sec sooner to recover from it can save your life [for example in Lostmauth boss fight] but overall a bad race choice.
* Tiefling *[+2 Charisma and either +2 Constitution or +2 Intelligence; +5% more damage to targets with lesser than 50% HP; When hit 10% chance to lower the Power of the attacker by 5% for 5 seconds]:* Not very good but not so bad. Constitution is a must as mentioned already but as secondary score you can't max it and Charisma is good but I prefer Wisdom for the Critical. The damage increase is okay but the above races can do much more. I am not sure if the Power reduction on NPC's works as damage reduction.
* Halfling *[+2 Dexterity and either +2 Charisma or +2 Constitution; +3% Deflect chance; +10% CC resistance]:* If it wasn't for the 2 Dexterity as Primary score it would be decent. Deflection can be good only if you stack it for 20% or higher.
* Dwarf *[+2 Constitution and either +2 Strength or +2 Wisdom; Knock and Repel resistance; Increased Damage Over Time resistance]:* None of the bonus resistances from this race work in PvE. You will still be knocked from mobs like any other race and the DoT is still same.
* The races without Constitution as Primary or Secondary are not worth mentioning.

This is what every ability point gives for the paladin. When you have 10 points in a score every point after that will give you the bonus %. For example 8 points in Strength will give you nothing. 10 points will give you 1% DoT resist and 13 points will give you +3 DoT resist.

And the image below shows how the Ability Scores are rolled. Every time you roll you get one of these 18 possibilities:

Main stat is Constitution and we aim to max it. As secondary I prefer Wisdom for more Critical Chance but Charisma is also good for the Action Points gain. My favorite roll looks like this:

##### General Powers

Oath of Protection [Your Damage Resistance is increased by 10%, you generate 500% more threat. When you take damage you gain Power proportional to the amount of damage you took. This bonus caps at 10% of your Max HP in Power.]: The 10% DR is okay. 500% threat generation should keep most mobs on you as long as you hit them. The best thing about Oath of Protection is the Power gain increasing you damage. At 100k HP you will gain max 10k bonus Power when you take damage which happens fast enough to reach the cap. Temp HP don't count into this bonus.

Sanctuary (SHIFT button) [(Personal Burst) You erect a zone of safety where you gain 30% increased damage resistance and are rapidly healed. You are immune to control effects while maintaining this zone. Oath of Protection: You gain 60% damage resistance and allies gain 20% damage resistance.]: Your best friend along with Templar's Wrath encounter. Use it to avoid getting CC-ed, to lower the damage from a red circle, lower the burst explosion from Binding Oath or just to lower the damage taken. Keep in mind that the maximum Damage Resistance cap is 80% and Sanctuary only helps to reach it. Also it makes your movement speed slower and sometimes it's best to move away from a boss attack than using SHIFT (for example the Temple of the Spider last boss has an attack with her mace that will hit you for 300k+ damage even if you use Sanctuary. It's best to move away when you see enemies charging such powerful hits)

Divine Call (TAB button) [(Personal) Activating Divine Call consumes a charge of energy and generates an effect based upon your Oath. Protection: You taunt all foes in a 30' area and gain 10% increased Damage Resistance for 10 seconds. You reflect 5% of incoming damage back to the attackers while this effect is active. (Max 5% of your Max HP). Divine Energy is build by using powers in combat and is rapidly refilled when out of combat]: Your best way to take the aggro of multiple mobs around you (at least until Binding Oath gets fixed). The 10% DR is good to get the 80% cap. The 5% reflect damage is mostly very tiny but sometimes when you were hit for a lot of damage and you have a lot of HP + temp HP it can hit your attacker for 10k+. Divine Call adds max 1% to your overall damage but its main purpose is to taunt. Also with the Justice's feat tree capstone, Vengeful Judge, you can refresh all your powers cooldown by 35% on use of 1 stack (and currently it also refreshes your Active Artifact's use which is probably a bug and will get fixed soon).

##### Powers (Encounters)

I start from the best to the worst and will only state the bonus effect for Oath of Protection.

Templar's Wrath [(Personal, 30' Burst, 15s cooldown) You unleash a storm of holy energy, dealing heavy damage to all nearby foes and stunning them. Oath of Protection: Gain Temp HP equal to 300% of the damage dealt.]: Our best power right now. It stuns every enemy around you for 2 seconds and as a tank Paladin you gain enormous temporary HP for each enemy hit. This Temp HP also also has more Damage Resistance than our basic max HP. 100k Temp HP can take more damage than Max HP. That's why it's so important to increase Templar's Wrath's damage.

Binding Oath [(Personal, 60' Burst, 22s cooldown) All targets near the Paladin are forced to attack him for 2 seconds. During this time he absorbs all damage against him. When this effect expires he takes 50% of that damage and deals 20% of it to all foes in a 30' area. Players affected by this power deal 75% less damage to targets who are not the Paladin.]:You will love this one and you will hate it a lot until you are geared and experienced enough to not die from it. At rank 4 it makes you immune to damage for 8 seconds. But after this time it will explode for 50% of the damage you took during its duration and also splitting this damage between all enemies around you. The explosion damage cannot crit and damage buffs/debuffs don't work for it but it is affected by your Armor Penetration. Currently its Taunt effect doesn't work properly.

Burning Light [(Personal, 20s cooldown) You emit a blinding light for up to 4 seconds based on how long the power is charged, damaging and disorienting foes who are caught in its light. Oath of Protection: You receive 100% more healing while emitting light.]: This power does very little damage by itself (about 10% from your overall DPS). What makes it strong is that it applies the Aura of Courage damage (which will make 30+% from your overall DPS when using Burning Light) on every tick and also works as 4 secs stun on enemies if fully charged. But while you charge it you can be stunned or knocked cancelling the spell and you should start charging it again. So if the enemies have a stun or a knock attack start casting after they used that attack. You can release the spell button early to use it for shorter duration. If you move you will cancel the cast and should start anew. It's little complicated but once you learn to use it you will melt enemies like butter thrown in lava. Doesn't proc weapon enchants or debuffs.

Bane [(60' Range, 12s charge refill) You place a holy mark on the target. This target deals 10% less damage and takes 10% more damage for 10 seconds. This effect can be stacked up to 3 times. 3 Charges.]: Very useful single target debuff power. Does no damage. Use it on the most powerful enemies and bosses. You have 3 charges and every rank of this spell increases its duration by 2 secs. Even at rank 2 you can always keep 3 debuff stacks on a enemy. With 3 stacks makes the target attack you.

Circle of Power [You generate a zone of control 30' wide. This zone improves all damage YOU deal by 30% and lasts 20 seconds. Oath of Protection: You also gain 25% Damage Resistance.]: 30% more damage for Templar's Wrath makes it amazing. 25% Damage Resistance works well with Binding Oath too. These buffs only work inside the cirle. Going out of it removes them but coming back inside its range gives them back

Smite [(13' Range, 10s cooldown) Smash a target, igniting them with holy fire for 15 seconds. They burn so hot that enemies within 15' of them are also damaged by this effect. Oath of Protection: Foes who are affected by the burn deal 15% less damage for 3 seconds.]: The highest single target damage power for OP. The damage debuff on enemies is also good.

Vow of Enmity [(80' Range) You select a target for your Vow for 60 seconds. You cannot recast this power while you have a Vow established. You deal 20% more damage to the target of your vow. Oath of Protection: Allies who strike your Vow target build threat for the Paladin.]: In PvE it's only useful on bosses.The best way for a tank OP to keep aggro from a boss and do some more damage on it too. Bane is also good for keeping aggro much more unreliable. Increased ranks give you more damage on the Vowed target. Once casted on a target the Vow stays on it for 60 secs and cant be recasted until the duration. Sometimes the Vow can end much early and should be recasted again. I think this bug happens when you are CC-ed (Crowd Controlled) but not always.

Relentless Avenger [(50' Range) You rush to the target, dealing damage driving back all other foes within 15' of the target. Oath of Protection: All targets are taunted.]: I don't like this power. And if you use it in dungeons most of your party members won't like you too. It knocks back every enemy around the target, scattering them and making it harder for AoE spells to hit them. You will hit lesser targets with Templar's Wrath giving you lesser temp HP and making you less tanky. The only good use of this power is its good range giving you high mobility and for every target hit it adds lots of Action Points for your daily. Having Divine Protector as much as possible is good for the party but won't help much if you interfere your allies' damage. Killing faster is more important than slow tanking. Also the damage of Relentless Avenger is far lesser than the Burning Light + Aura of Courage combo. Using this encounter for solo questing is no good either as you waste a lot of time due to chasing around the scattered mobs or waiting for them to gather together to AoE them.

Sacred Weapon [(60' Range, 10s cooldown) Your next 5 single target attacks deal bonus Radiant damage to your target. Oath of Protection: Forces the target to attack you for 3 seconds.]:Bad encounter. Smite is better single target and Vow of Enmity is better to keep aggro from a boss. Also Sacred Weapon has 1.5 seconds cast animation which is too long and annoying for its small damage.

Divine Touch [(Melee, 15' Blast, 10s cooldown) Deal heavy Radiant damage to all foes in an area around the target. Oath of Protection: Gain a shield that absorbs damage for 8 seconds.]: This description makes it sound like a good power but in practice it's atrocious. The damage is bad and the shield is laughable - max is only 10k. Even a 10' fall from a cliff does more damage.

Absolution [(60' Range, 16s cooldown) You place a shield on yourself or target ally. You may have a shield active on yourself and one other ally at any given time. The shield persists until it breaks. Oath of Protection: The shield absorbs substantially more.]: At rank 4 this power only shields for 20k damage when even the weakest enemy in T1 dungeons does 30k+. Absolutely not worth it.

Cleansing Touch [(60' Range, 10s Cooldown) You heal target ally and remove any CC effects from them. You may activate this power while controlled. If you have an enemy targeted while casting this power you instead heal and cleanse all allies in melee range. Oath of Protection: Gain Temp HP equal to 300% of the healing done.]:Your job is to make the enemies touch you. It's just not right for you to touch your allies. Keep away from this.

Banishment [(60' Range, 15' Blast, 40s cooldown) You banish all targets in an AoE for 20 seconds. These foes are stunned and become invulnerable until the stun ends. This stun lasts 4 seconds on players. Oath of Protection: Foes are taunted for 6 seconds after the banishment ends.]: At first I tought this might be an okay power to take out adds from boss battles while the party is focusing on the boss but this is more like a trolling spell than any useful. Even killing the adds for 40 secs is better than making them invinsible for 20. When the duration ends all banished adds will hit you hard and there will be probably new wave of adds to appear. On bosses and bigger foes this encounter works for 4 secs.

##### At-Wills

Radiant Strike [(Melee, 20' Blast) You lunge at a foe, unleashing a burst of light. You are also granted "Radiance". Radiance: Your Armor Penetration and Damage are increased by 5% for 15 seconds. Does not stack.]: Always have this slotted. It gives the much needed mobility for OP and the Armor Penetration and Damage Increase is a good extra. Also hits multiple targets and applies on-hit effects and debuffs such as Plague Fire or Terror enchantments and Purifying Fire feat.

Valorous Strike [(Melee, 5' Cylinder) You strike your foe with your weapon, channeling the forces of Justice to destroy the target. The final hit of this combo grants you "Valor". Valor: Damage Resistance is increased by 5% for 15 seconds. Does not stack.]:Not the best At-Will ever but it's not like we have much choice. The damage is lower than Oath Strike but the Damage Resistance is better than the tiny shield from Shielding Strike.

Oath Strike [(Melee, 5' Cylinder) You strike your foe with a quick flurry of blows. The final strike of this power changes based on your Oath. Oath of Protection: Forces the target to attack you for 3 seconds. Players deal 75% less damage to other targets for 3 seconds.]: Highest DPS At-Will from the four but making players deal lesser damage on other targets who are not affected by the Oath Strike is bad (Not confirmed if this effect really works).

Shielding Strike [(Melee, 5' Cylinder) You strike your foe with brutal swings, on the final strike of this combo, you gain a shield that absorbs damage. The shield stacks up to 3 times and lasts 8 seconds.]:Worst damage from the four At-Wills and the shield bonus is very tiny.

##### Dailies

Divine Protector [(Personal, 150' Burst) For 5/10/15/20 seconds you shield all your allies from harm. You redirect 100% of the damage they would take to yourself. All damage you would take while this effect is active is reduced by 80%.]: The best daily to shield your party members from damage in dungeons. Use it whenever you can or save it for highest damage threats. NOTE: If you are playing with a Guardian Fighter(GF) in your party who is using his Knight's Valor(KV) daily[Defend your party, temporarily intercepting half of all damage they would have taken, and then builds threat based on a portion of how much you intercepted.], DO NOT use Divine Protector at the same time with KV. Both dailies multiply the damage taken for either you or the GF which will most likely cause death. Sometimes this damage goes up to 10 million. You tell me if there is someone who can survive it.

Divine Judgement [(40' Range, 10' Burst) You summon deific vengeance on your foes, causing incredible damage to be divided equally among all targets hit.]: Our tons of damage daily. Sometimes it can crit for 500k+ damage... In solo it's amazing but in dungeons you better use Divine Protector.

Heroism [(Personal) You gain 100% of your Maximum Hit Points as Temporary Hit Points, gain 15% increased Damage Resistance, and gain immunity to CC for 5/10/15 seconds.]: This is similar to the Great Weapon Fighter's Determination (TAB button) without the attack speed boost and with better Temp HP. Not very practical for us tho. In dungeons Divine Protector is a must daily in most cases and in solo Divine Judgement is better to kill mobs faster.

Shield of Faith [(Personal, 300' Burst) You summon divine shields to protect you and your allies for 15 seconds. Any damage taken by allies is reduced by 50% and they receive 20% more healing. (Additional Ranks: +3s Duration)]: Much worse than Divine Protector. Only good if there is another tank in your party like a GF who is using KV. NOTE: Currently doesn't work. You and your allies take same damage with or without Shield of Faith.

Lay on Hands [(60' Range, 25s cooldown) You immediately heal the target for 100% of their Max HP and removes all damage over time effects from the target. This power consumes AP proportional to the amount of HP the target is missing. (Additional Ranks: -10% AP Cost)]: You can't use this on yourself and as I said it isn't your job to lay hands on the other party members. Keep away again.

##### Class Features (Passives)

Aura of Courage [(Personal, 30' Burst) You and allies within 30' of you deal 1/1.25/1.5%/2% of your Maximum Hit Points as bonus damage.]: Easily the best DPS boost to you and every party member in its range. At Rank 4 and even at 50k HP it will deal 1k damage on EVERY At-Will, Encounter or Damage-per-Second Power. The more HP you get the more damage this Aura does, Temp HP doesn't increase this. The damage is also increased with your armor penetration, and all combined party buffs and debuffs on the target but it can't crit. There is some weird behavior of this Aura as it does 20% increased damage after every 60-70 secs without any additional buffs. The longer the fight goes the higher damage this aura does.

Aura of Wisdom [(Personal, 30' Burst) You and allies within 30' of you gain 10/15/20%/25% recharge speed.]: Very good aura to lower your and your nearby allies' Encouters' cooldown. The lesser the cooldown, the more encounters you will use, the more DPS or healing you will all do. Easily the 2nd best passive choice.

Aura of Protection [(Personal, 30' Burst) You and allies within 30' gain 5/7.5/10%/12.5% increased damage resistance.]:  Best defensive aura.

Aura of Truth [(Personal, 30' Burst) Foes within 30' of you deal 5/7.5/10%/12.5% less damage.]: The second best defensive aura choice for parties who struggle to stay alive. Useful when you are low geared and need more survival but later in high DPS parties you need Courage and Wisdom a lot more. NOTE: Doesn't work at the time of writing this guide. with or without Aura of Truth the damage taken is same. Don't use this Aura until fixed.

Aura of Radiance *[(Personal, 30' Burst) Foes within 30' of you take damage ever 3 seconds. This damage builds bonus threat.]:* Very little damage compared to Courage when you have 60k+ HP. Only useful before level 70 and when you have lesser than 50k HP. After this point swap it for Courage.

Aura of Vengeance [(Personal, 30' Burst) When you or allies within 30' of you take damage, they deal 15/25/35%/45% of your weapon damage to their attacker as Radiant damage.]: Being weapon damage based makes this Aura the worst.Even at Legendary ranked Elemental Fire weapon this Aura will do only 800 damage when you and your allies get hit. Nearly useless compared to Aura of Courage.

Aura of Solitude [When no allies are within 30' you deal 12%/15%/18%/21% more damage and healing]: Very good dps increase when solo. The catch is that ANY nearby player, companion (except augments) or NPC removes the Aura. If you see the Aura icon at the right side of your portrait, the Aura is activated.

Aura of Valor [Allies within 30' who are below 40%/45%/50%/55% HP cause you to generate more threat. This effect stacks.]: Now good. You will generate enough threat with your Divine Call (TAB button) and Truth or Protection are much better as defensive auras. Efficient party is the one that doesn't lose HP.

Aura of Wrath [(Personal, 30' Burst) You and allies within 30' gain 20% increased damage as your hit points diminish.]: Useless. With Binding Oath and Templar's Wrath you will rarely drop HP to make this a beneficial party DPS boost.

Divine Action [Activating your Divine Call now regenerates 1%/2%/3%/4%/5% of your max AP] - 0/5 : Could put 3 points here instead of Weapon Master.

Weapon Master [Increases your Critical Chance by 1%/2%/3%] - 3/3 : High crit is our second goal.

Toughness [Increases your Maximum Hit Points by 3%/6%/9%] - 3/3 : Maxing HP is our main goal.

Light's Shield [Your Damage Resistance is increased by 0.5%/1%/1.5%/2%/2.5%] - 1/5 : Not so useful as we will be at the 80% DR cap pretty often.

Exemplar's Haste [Your Encounter powers recharge 2%/4%/6% faster] - 3/3 : We need to use our encounters as much as possible.

Wrathful Strikes [Your At-Will Powers deal 2%/4%/6% more damage] - 0/3 : At-Wills make ~10% from our overall damage. Not really worth it but can put 1 here instead of Light's Shield if you want.

Dominating Presence [Your Auras have 2'/4'/6'/8'/10' increased Radius] - 2/5 : Not really worth it as most times your allies will be close enough to you (and if they are not they don't deserve your presence anyway)

Impassioned Pleas [You generate Divine Call Energy 2%/4%/6% faster] - 3/3 : With Vengeful Judge Justice capstone feat we need as much Divine Call (TAB) as possible .

Divine Attunement [You receive 2%/4%/6% more healing from spells] - 0/3 : Barely noticeable.

Steadfast [Each point of Constitution now grants and additional 0.5%/1%/1.5%/2%/2.5% Maximum Hit Point] - 5/5 : Maximizing HP is good.

Divine Wisdom [Each point of Wisdom now creases healing by an additional 0.33%/0.66%/1%] - 0/3 : Probably only useful on healing Paladins.

Force of Will [Each point of Charisma now increases your Critical Chance by an additional 0.33%/0.66%/1%] - 0/3 : Now if you chose to be a Human you should gladly put 3 points here. Critical is good even we can use it mostly for Templar's Wrath.

I chose Justice tree because it's far superior than the other two feat trees right now. In my opinion the Bulwark is probably okay for PvP (even then you may still need the more damage and utility fromJustice) but has vey little use for PvE. The shields you gain from these feats are lackbuster. The last feat, or the capstone, Holy Barrier, will give you much lesser temp HP than if you go with the more dps Justice build (because of Templar's Wrath). Also Justice has good utility to recharge your allies' powers which happens pretty often. From the Bulwark tree the only useful feats to me are Holy Resurgence [While your stamina is below 20% it regenerates 6%/12%/18%/20%/25% faster] and Sanctity [When you are healed you gain a burst of Defence, Deflect or Regenration]. Sanctity procs even with Sanctuary and happens every 15 secs as it's 30 secs cooldown starts when it activates. But I prefer Aura Gifts from the Light tree for its party power boost. I will only comment on the feats I use as the others are not so useful.

##### Justice Feats

Swift Flash [When you are struck by a foe you have chance to trigger a Flash, granting you increased movement speed of 6%/12%/18/%/24%/30%. This can only happen once every 10 seconds] - 5/5: As we are a class without a dodge or sprint some extra movement speed can help a lot. It's cooldown appears to be 20 secs though.

Flash of Light [Your Encounter Powers have a 5%/10%/15%/20%/25% chance to reduce your nearby allies' encounter powers' cooldown by 10%] - 5/5 : This feat seems to have no cooldown. It triggers roughly every 10 seconds. Most times even after 2 seconds. The more spells your allies can cast the faster your enemies will be dead. Cool thing.

Radiant Champion [When you have at least 2 other allies within 30' of you, all of you gain 5%/10%/15%/20%/25% more movement speed and 1%/2%/3%/4%/5% Cooldown Reduction] - 5/5 : Your party stays together most of the time anyway. Why not have more movement speed and cooldow reduction too? It's good.

Echoes of Light [Your At-Will Powers have a 1%/2%/3%/4%/5% chance to trigger Echo on you. Echo makes your next encounter power instantly recharge all your other encounter powers] - 5/5 : This feat seems to have no cooldown and it happens a lot more than 5%. For me it's ~15% chance to trigger and refresh ALL your three encounter powers (not just the other two as the description says). A must have feat.

Purifying Fire [Your At-Wills Powers apply "Purifying Fire" on foes. Purifying Fire stacks up to 5 times, dealing 2%/4%/6%/8%/10% weapon damage each time a stack is applied. This damage is doubled for each stack applied to the target. Purifying Fire lasts 60 seconds, but is removed when you strike the target with an encounter power] - 5/5 : This can add 5-8% to your overall damage. Radiant Strike applies stacks on all targets hit. Not all encounter powers remove the stacks. Only Templar's Wrath, Smite, Relentless Avenger, Banishment and Divine Touch remove the Purifying Fire. Our other encounters don't remove stacks.

Vengeful Judge [Your Divine Call now also applies "Judge" on yourself for 10 seconds. Judge increases your damage dealt by 35% as well as reducing the cooldown of your recharging powers by 35%. Your encounter powers have a chance to immediately grant you a charge of Divine Call] - 1/1 : Now we are talking. This is our best feat. Everything about it is nice. With Echoes of Light and Judge you will have your encouters ready most of the time. Currently it even refreshes your active artifact's cooldown. Only bad thing about Judge is it very rarely grants you a Divine Call charge. This chance seems to be ~1% but it's already awesome enough feat.

##### Light Feats

Gifts of Light [You heal for 2%/4%/6%/8%/10% more] - 5/5 : Doesn't matter if you pick Gifts of Light or Seraphim here. Both are fairly useless for us. But we need to pick 10 feat points in order to get to the Aura Gifts feat.

Warrior's Bastion [You gain 2%/4%/6%/8%/10% more Defence from equipment] - 5/5 : Not a good feat but more useful for us than Light Touched.

Aura Gifts [Allies within 30' of you gain 5%/10%/15%/20%/25% of your power.] - 5/5 : The exact bonus at Rank 4 is actually 22.5% but nevertheless it is still a very good Power bonus aura to nearby allies. This bonus works with the bonus Power from the Oath of Protection [up to +10% from your max HP into Power when taking damage]. Currently with my 24k Power in combat the nearby party members get 5300 more power. When you are geared enough and learn better how to survive it's best to kill enemies as fast as possible. That's why I prefer Aura Gifts over the Bulwark feats.

#### Boons

##### Sharandar

1. Dark Fey Hunter [+400 Power] : Power works better than Defence for this build. More damage for Templar's Wrath is better and this boon will add 90 Power to allies to the Aura Gifts feat.

2. Fey Precision [+400 Critical] : 1% more crit chance is good. 1% deflect chance is also okay as it can save you from some Binding Oath death but I personally don't like Deflection.

3. Feywilds Fortitude [+1600 HP] : I stick with HP for this build. More HP is better survival and more damage for Aura of Courage. The +3% AP gain from Elven Haste is also okay to keep your daily up as much as possible.

4. Elven Tranquility [When being struck by a foe you have a chance to heal yourself for 20k HP] : You will rarely lose HP but when you do 20k heal can save you. Elven Ferocity will only give you some +1% to your overall damage.

5. Elven Resolve [Your Stamina regenerates 10% faster in Combat] : We need stamina. A lot of stamina. More stamina = lesser deaths.

Dread Ring

1. Reliquary Keeper's Strength [+250 Power and +250 Movement Speed] : I choose Power over Critical for the same reason I chose it over Defence in the Sharandar's boons.

2. Illusory Regeneration [+400 Regeneration] : Regeneration is just better than Life Steal for tanks.

3. Forbodden Piercing [+3% Resistance Ignored] : Deflection will barely make a difference because we have naturally very little of it but you can pick it if you think it will save you enough times fromBinding Oath's explosion. Resistance Ignored is important damage modifier and also hard to gain with OP. More damage for Templar's Wrath is better than deflection to me. Though you can pickIllusion Shimmer if you feel like stacking Deflection.

4. Enraged Regrowth [When taking damage you have a chance to heal 20k HP over a few *(4)* seconds. After this effect ends you have 4k more Defence for 10 seconds. Has 60 seconds cooldown.] : The better boon from both for PvE. Shadowtouch triggers very rarely anyway.

5. Augmented Thayan Bastion [When taking damage you have a chance to generate a shield that absorbs up to 10k incoming damage and redirects that damage to a nearby foe. This shield lasts 6 seconds.] : The other boons are bad for tanks. Burning Guidance can proc on Sanctuary's (SHIFT) heal but It's best for devotion paladins.

##### Icewind Dale

1. Weathering the Storm [+400 Area of Effect Resist] : Too many attacks in this game are AoE so it's good bonus.

2. Refreshing Chill [+400 Stamina gain] : It's much better to have enough stamina to shield the incoming damage with Sanctuary (SHIFT) than getting some minor heal.

3. Rapid Thaw [+400 Recovery] : I prefer this +1% Cooldown Reduction and +1% AP gain boon from the 400 Recovery. The +2% Crit Severity from Sleet Skills is okay as this build has high enough critical chance but it's a minor damage boost.

4. Cold Shoulder [When damaged by a foe you have a chance to proc Cold Shoulder on them, which will reduce the damage of their next attack by up to 2k.Has 60 secs cooldown.] : Both boons are bad. Doesn't really matter what you choose. Cool Resolve can be okay when you are running out of stamina and the extra Power can boost Templar's Wrath.

5. Avalance [When damaged by a foe, chance to gain a stack of Avalanche. At 20 Stacks, taking damage will clear the stacks and deal up to 15k damage to nearby targets] : The best boon for us here.

##### Tyranny of Dragons

1. Dragonheart [+1600 HP] : With few rare exceptions always choose HP over Power for protector's OP. 1600 HP will also give you +400 Power anyway because of the Oath of Protector [When you take damage you gain Power proportional to the amount of damage you took. This bonus caps at 10% of your Max HP in Power].

2. Dragon's Gaze [+400 Critical Strike] : As I said I just don't like Deflection and prefer critical chance. Choose Dragon's Shadow if you stack Deflection.

3. Draconic Armorbreaker [+400 Armor Penetration] : Better damage boost is better than Defence. We have enough Defence from equipment anyway.

4. Dragon's Blood [+400 Regeneration] : You need too much Life Steal to make it useful. As we have no Life Steal from our equipment Dragon's Greed is useless for us.

5. Dragon's Revival [+10%/+12.5/+15% increased Incoming Healing.] - 1/3 : One point in this is better than third point in Dragon's Fury or one on any of the other two boons.

5.1 Dragon's Fury [+5%/+6.5%/+8% increased Critical Severity.] - 2/3 : With this build's crit chance it's good. Honestly I will probably never get all 3 last boons in ToD as farming Tiamat for these endless Linu's Favors is too exhausting for me. I wish you good luck if you plan on getting them all.

This is all about the feats and boons for now. Next section is for the "Gear, Artifacts & Enchantments".

You can see everything in the above screenshot. Currently, with the very limited gear options for OP, the Restoration set has the best stats for a PvE tank-dps paladin. I still need the Elven Restoration Cuirass to fulfil the second best set choice (the best is the updated with Black Ice Elemental Elven Restoration set but it will take a lot of time to make and the stat increase is tiny).

NEVER do the mistake of getting a necklace, ring or belt with Seals of the Protector. It's a waste of hard earned seals. With items from the Seals of the Elements is okay as T1 epic blue items are Bound to Account and you can give them to another of your characters. You can craft the best rings with Rank 25 Jewelcrafting and/or use an Artifact Necklace or Belt. Also remeber that 1200 Seals is the max limit to have at once. Be sure to spend them at the seals merchant located in the Seven Suns Coster Market in Protector's Enclave.

#### Gear

Levels 1-60: While leveing to 60 pick whatever items you find. Doesn't matter much though higher HP, Power and Armor Penetration will help killing the mobs faster.

Levels 60-70: From 60 to 70 you can get good blue items from finishing the yellow main one-time Vigilance quests (the ones for which you need to complete 16 blue hourly Vigilance quests). Overall just aim for more HP in this part of leveling as the mobs in the Elemental Evil zones do significantly more damage than those in the old leveling zones from 1 to 60. Recommended to play with someone else either a friend, a guildie or from /lfg channel. You can still solo most quests even the Campaigns like Sharandar and Dread Ring but it will take too much time alone.

Level 70: When you are finally 70 the hardest part of gearing up begins. If you want to enter the much more challenging Epic Tier 1 dungeons like Malabog's Castle (MC), Valindra's Tower (VT), Lair of Lostmauth (LoL or eLoL) and the skirmishes Kessel's Retreat (KR) and Shores of Tuern (SoT) you will need minium 1600 Item Level (though with this number it's very hard or even impossible if all party members are at 1.6k, recommended is 1.8k). Every equipped item, artifact and slotted enchantment (in a equipped item, even Utility slots add Item Level now) raises your IL. At 70 you should be between 1300 and 1400. Slot as many enchantments (higher ranks = higher IL, Rank 5 are okay for now, you can buy R6 or 7 from the AH if you have the AD) as you can to increase this number (doesn't matter which or where for now, just keep in mind that unslotting them without destroying them costs Gold and large amount of it goes on buying potions of health and injury kits, you can also buy pots and kits from the Auction House for Astral Diamonds). Check for some level 69-70 blue items in the AH to improve your gear for now to enter the T1 dungeons. Search for higher HP items. As the Ooathbound Paladin is a new class and a lot of people play the prices for OP gear can be higher than the other classes but for 50k-60k you should be able to get decent gear for T1 dungeon runs. The biggest problem is to find an Armor with an Armor Enchantment slot for a Soulforged or Negation. Zones for 60+ leves should drop such armors but it's rare chance. Try searching in the AH. With the newest patch you can trade campaign curencies in Dread Ring and Sharandar for armor. But by the time you will get the currencies you will probably find an armor in some T1 dungeon.

Tier 1: You have only 2 choices for these blue epic items- Alliance Restoration and Alliance Ward. Restoration is the more damage set while Ward is more defensive set. I prefer Restoration for the more Power and Critical. As a class who has very bad single target powers (except for the Divine Judgement daily) we don't need more than 40% Resistance Ignored which is the cap on PvE mobs (for bosses it's 60% but even if we reach it the damage increase on them won't be much). Recovery is good because it decreases the cooldown of powers and increases the Action Points gain for dailies. Deflection doesn't work as well on OP as it does on a Guardian Fighter because it's naturally much lower for us and much harder to get enough of it to be useful. Regeneration is only good for the increased healing on us but even very high this stats barely makes a difference. I will list the bonuses for each item for better info:

Alliance Restoration Armet [Head] : +8 485 HP, +636 Critical, +763 Recovery, +797 Defence

Alliance Restoration Cuirass [Armor] : +16 970 HP, +14 AC, +1 187 Power, +791 Critical, +1 196 Defence

Alliance Restoration Couters [Arms] : +8 485 HP, +763 Critical, +509 Recovery, +797 Defence

Alliance Restoration Poleyns {Boots[ : +8 485 HP, +763 Power, +509 Recovery, +797 Defence

Total Stats gain from Alliance Restoration set: +42 425 HP, +14 AC, +1 187 Power, +2 190 Critical, +1 781 Recovery, +3 587 Defence

Alliance Ward Armet : +8 485 HP, +509 Armor Penetration, +797 Defence, +763 Regeneration

Alliance Ward Cuirass : + 16 970 HP, +14 AC, +791 Armor Penetration, +1 196 Defence, +1 187 Deflection

Alliance Ward Couters : + 8 485 HP, +797 Defence, +509 Deflection, +763 Regeneration

Alliance Ward Poleyns : +8 485 HP, +763 Power, +797 Defence, +509 Deflection

Total Alliance Ward set: +42 425 HP, +14 AC, +763 Power, +1 300 Armor Penetration, +1 526 Regeneration, +2 205 Deflection, +3 587 Defence

Best in Slot (BiS) gear: I will only compare the best gear to T1 as it has the best stats increase and some stats are little different. You can make this gear with Rank 5 Black Ice Shaping profession. To get from Rank 3 to 5 in this profession you need total of 75k Black Ice and 15 Unified Elements [A resource used in high rank crafting tasks. Can be made with Rank 25 Alchemy.]. Also for these profession tasks you need total of 9 Unified Elements for all pieces of equipment and some ingredients that you get only from the Icewind Dale Heroic Encounter. NOTE: The description for the crafting task is different than the end result and can be confusing. For Example the "Elemental Elven Ward Armor" task creates "Elemental Elven Restoration Cuirass" and "Elemental Elven Assault Armor" task is to create "Elemental Elven Ward Cuirass".

Elemental Elven Restoration Armet : +9 934 HP, +591 Critical, +886 Recovery, +858 Defence

Elemental Elven Restoration Cuirass : +19 867 HP, +14 AC, +1 378 Power, +919 Recovery, +1 287 Defence

Elemental Elven Restoration Couters : +9 934 HP, +886 Critical, +591 Recovery, +858 Defence

Elemental Elven Restoration Poleyns : +9 934 HP, +591 Power, +886 Critical, +858 Defence

Total Elemental Elven Restoration Set Bonus : +49 669 HP, +14 AC, +1 969 Power, +2 363 Critical, +2 396 Recovery, +3 861 Defence

Elemental Elven Ward Armet : +9 934 HP, +886 Power, +858 Defence, +591 Deflection

Elemental Elven Ward Cuirass : +19 867 HP, +14 AC, +1 378 Armor Penetration, +1 287 Defence, +919 Regeneration

Elemental Elven Ward Couters : +9 934 HP, +591 Power, +886 Armor Penetration, +858 Defence

Elemental Elven Ward Poleyns : +9 934 HP, +886 Recovery, +858 Defence, +591 Deflection

Total Elemental Elven Ward Set Bonus : +49 669 HP, +14 AC, +1 477 Power, +2 264 Armor Penetration, +919 Regeneration, + +3 861 Defence

Now you can see why Elemental Elven Restoration set is best. The only better thing in the Elemental Elven Ward set is the Armor Penetration but as I mentioned above we don't need it so much.

##### Main- and Off-hand

For Module 6 the best weapon is the artifact Mace of Elemental Fire. It's a reward after finishing all 3 yellow Vigilance quests in the last Elemental Evil zone called Rimeward Rise. You can enter it after level 66. It's part of the Elemental Fire set. Combine the two parts from the set to get a bonus. This set bonus gives +394 Critical Strike and +394 Defence.

The best off-hand for now is the Shield of Elemental Fire. The second and last part of the Elemental Fire set. It's a free reward for reaching level 70. Talk with Sergeant Knox in Protector's Enclave to get it. Another way to get it is with trading 15 Linu's Favor to the Campaign Merchant in Well of Dragons (DO NOT DO THIS).

##### Rings

Currently the best ring for us is the Personalized Adamant Ring of Regeneration [+1 576 HP, +394 Regeneration] because of the HP and its two enchantment slots. It's only craftable at Rank 25 Jewelcrafting. I prefer Critical or Power instead of Regeneration but there is no such ring at the moment.

##### Necklace

The best for this build is the Personalized Adamant Necklace of Regeneration [+1 576 HP, +394 Regeneration] because of the two enchantment slots, one offence and one defence. From the artifact necks the Amulet of Valindra's Favor [at legendary rank: +846 Power, +530 Critical, +530 Recovery] and Lostmauth's Hoard Necklace [at legendary rank: +846 Power, +530 Critical, +530 Armor Penetration]  are also okay but they need too much refinement to be made any useful and with only one offence enchantment slot they get inferior to the craftable necklace.

##### Belt

Greater Plated Band of Constitution [at legendary: +1 830 HP, +4 Constitution, +298 Armor Penetration, +298 Defence.] - This belt at legendary will give roughly +21% more HP with the additional from Toughness heroic feat [Increase your maximum HP by +9%] and Steadfast heroic feat [Each point of Constitution now grants an additional +2.5 HP] which will also result in +1% more Power in combat from our Oath of Protection [When you take damage you gain Power proportional to the amount of damage you took. This bonus caps at 10% of your Max HP in Power.].

##### Shirt and Pants

Warrior's Gemmed Exquisite Elemental Chausses [+228 Power, +114 Recovery, +228 Armor Penetration, +232 Defense] : As much as I like HP the other stats from the Defender's variant are bad.

Warrior's Gemmed Exquisite Elemental Chainmail [+228 Power, +228 Critical, +114 Armor Penetration, +232 Defense] : Same reason as above.

#### Artifacts

Sigil of the Devoted [at legendary- Use: Your Devoted Cleric spirit fills you with divine power, granting 100% of you total Action Points over 15 seconds. In addition, while this buff is active you Healyourself for 869 whenever you use an Encounter power. Equip: +1k Power, 1k Defense, +600 Incoming Healing Bonus] : Easily the must have artifact for most classes because of it's use. Using 2 dailies in 15 secs is just too awesome. The stat's are not so great though. If you don't have a Devoted Cleric (DC) character to get this arti then you can use Wheel of Elements on its place [at legendary- Use:Summons forth four symbols of elemental power, when an ally passes through a symbol it is consumed and its power is granted to the ally. Fire — Deal 30% bonus Damage as fire for 28 seconds. Wind— Grants control immunity and increased Run Speed for 6 seconds. Earth — Grant 200% of Maximum Hit Points as Temporary Hit Points. Water — Heal for 100% of Maximum Hit Points over time. Equip: +4k Maximum Hit Points,+1k Power, +600 Stamina/Guard Gain]. It has great active use and the stats are best for a tank or support.

Sigil of the Oathbound Paladin [at legendary- Use: Your Oathbound Paladin spirit will erect a temporary zone of safety where you, and your allies, gain 20% increased damage resistance and are rapidly healed. Equip: +4k HP, 1k Power, +600 AoE Resist] : We pick this for 2 reasons- it's free (after finishing the Vault of the Nine quest at level 60) and it has good stats for us.

Sigil of the Great Weapon [at legendary- Use: Your Great Weapon Fighter spirit lashes out at nearby enemies dealing 5,574 damage. It also increases your damage and reduces incoming damage by 6% to 14% for 16 seconds, based on the number of targets hit. Equip: +2.4k HP, +1k Power, +1k Armor Penetration] : Not very good to be honest but it's free if you have a level 60 Great Weapon Fighter (GWF) and it's best for us from all other class sigils (except the DC one). If you can, swap it for Symbol of Earth [Use: Drops an earthmote on the target, dealing 10,591 damage and knocking them back, followed by 7,061 damage and an upward knock to enemies in a larger ring. Equip: +4k Maximum Hit Points, +1k Armor Penetration, +600 Control Resist]. At least the stats are much better.

Tiamat's Orb of Majesty [at legendary- Use: Tiamat's frightening roar stuns nearby enemies for 4.5 seconds (enemy players for 2.5 seconds) and reduces their damage by 13% for 12 seconds. Equip:+500 Power, +500 Critical Strike, +500 Recovery, +500 Armor Penetration, +600 Action Point Gain] : When I first created my OP I thought this arti will be okay, but its "Jack of all trades" stats are not really what a tank OP needs and the use is probably good only in PvP. Will swap it for Wheel of Elements because I already have a DC sigil as fourth arti.

Other good choices are either Vanguard's Banner [at legendary- Use: Summon a Vanguard's Banner that buffs allies and debuffs enemies who stand nearby it. Allies gain 1,996 Power and 1,996Lifesteal. Foes will have -7% Damage Resistance. Duration: 30 seconds Equip: +4k HP, +1k Power, +600 Life Steal] from doing PvP or Heart of the White Dragon [at legendary- Use: Deals 4,236 Cold damage *(+20% if you are Dragonborn)* to up to 7 enemies in a cone in front of the user and slows those targets for 8.2 seconds. It also grants you 620 Defense for 8 seconds. This artifact has its cooldown reduced by 75% if no targets are hit. Equip: +4k HP, +1k Defense, +600 AoE Resist].

#### Enchantments

##### Weapon Enchantment:

1. Transcendent Feytouched [You deal an additional 18% weapon damage as Psychic damage. Your encounter powers syphon away 18% of your target's damage. This damage is converted into 18% more damage for you. This effect is a 3 target AoE, lasts for 20 seconds, may only happen once every 20 seconds.] : Currently the best dps enchantment. Has some weird effects sometimes. I haven't personally tested it but everything above Feytouched rank should increase the dps good enough.

2. Perfect Plague Fire [You deal an additional 10% of weapon damage as Fire damage with your powers. Additionally you burn your foe for 4% of weapon damage as Fire damage every 1 seconds for 3 seconds and induce terror in your foe, reducing their Defense by 15%. This effect stacks up to 3 times.] : Very good debuff on foes. NOTE: Currently the Pure and Transcendent upgrades may not work as intended and can be worse than the Perfect one.

3. Perfect Vorpal [You strike with an additional 50% Critical Severity. Critical Severity increases the damage your Critical strikes deal.] : Helps gaining almost 200k Temp HP with Templar's Wrath. Not so great dps boost as Feytouched or even Plague but still good enough. NOTE: Currently some reports say the Pure and Transcendent upgrades can cause you to deal lesser damage than the Perfect version.

##### Armor Enchantment:

1. Transcendent Negation [When receiving damage each hit stacks a 3% Damage Resistance, 1% increase to Incoming Healing and a 1% increase to Recovery for 9 seconds. This effect can stack a maximum of 10 times.] : The best armor enchantment for tanky classes but also the most expensive. Negation rank is also okay.

2. Transcendent Soulforged [When you fall in combat, your Soulforged armor will resurrect and heal you for 8 775 and 1 575 every second for 3 seconds. When you are resurrected you deal 4 050 damage to any foes nearby and gain a 3 seconds CC immunity. This effect can only trigger once every 75 seconds.] : A Lesser rank is good enough. I would have liked Soulforged a lot more if it triggered every time I die from Binding Oath but most times I just die without being ressurrected from it even if the enchantment is activated. That's why Negation is more useful for decreasing the incoming damage.

##### Defence slots:

Radiant Enchantment in ALL defence slots.

##### Offence:

Dark Enchantments in offence slots for Armor Penetration until you have 40% Resistance Ignored. Then use either Radiants for Power or Azure for critical chance.

##### Utility:

Dragon's Hoard for Refining Points items such as Peridot or Lesser Resonance Stone to refine your artifacts. Or Azure to gain some extra power point to increase powers to Rank 4 or to help you with leveling faster between 60 and 70. Or Dark Enchantments for movement speed.

1. Rust Monster [Active Bonus- On Damage Taken: 25% chance to inflict a 5% damage debuff on attacker. Stacks up to 3 times. Applies to you as long as this companion is active.] : Very useful bonus for every tank.

2. Angel of Protection [Active Bonus- On Resurrection: You are shielded for 10% of your total Hit Points. Applies to you as long as this companion is active.] : In the beginning I used to play with Soulforged armor enchantment and this bonus helped me (at least when the SF was working properly). But now, with a Negation, it's not so useful. I will swap this companion with a Blacksmith [Active Bonus- On Damage Taken: 15% chance to reflect 10% of damage taken. If the same target is hit 4 times it will reflect 3 times the damage taken]. This bonus should probably increase the overall dps by 2-3% but it's not my highest priority for now.

3. Honey Badger [Active Bonus- Damage taken reduced by 10% when your HP is less than 35% of max.] : We will rarely drop below 35% HP and usually when we do we die in 2-3 seconds. This companion bonus helps us survive such critical moments sometimes.

4. Ioun Stone of Allure [Active Bonus: On Encounter Use: 7% chance to slow target.] : This is the most common companion for almost any class. The bonus is not important. It can't fight, heal or taunt. What makes this companion so special is that when it's summoned it gives you a lot of extra stats. Also every point from items you put in it transfer to you. This companion is also the only one worth upgrading to Legendary rank as it will give you much higher stats (Legendary status: Owner gains 15% of summoned pet's ratings). Defence Runestones are Bonding for more Power and Offence are Empowered for more HP.

As you can see I amusing full Loyal Avenger items. Each of them give bonus +652 Power, +652 Critical and +435 Armor Penetration with Radiant Enchantments in defence slots and Dark Enchantments in offence slots. These items are equipable only by companions. You can find them only from chests or Bosses in Tier 6 dungeons in the companion mini-game called "Sword Coast Adventures" accessible by your browser at Neverwinter Gateway. These T6 are very hard and you will need at least 2 purple 2 blue companions to complete them. The Loyal items can also be bought from the AH but can be expensive. Currently the Loyal Avenger Ring is most expensive at 500k AD price. NOTE: The gateway may not work properly on your default browse. Try with different browser if you have problems openning the adress.

5. Earth Archon [Active Bonus- Increases your damage against targets by +6% when you are at full health. Each additional active Archon increases this by .5%]. : This bonus is nearly useless for any other class. But it is protector OP's secret weapon. With Binding Oath encounter our HP won't drop down for 8 seconds (at Rank 4). With this we will do 6% more damage with Templar's Wrath increasing our Temporary HP which makes losing health harder. To be honest I am not absolutely sure if losing temp HP doesn't also count as losing normal HP but even if it does we still get the +6% for 8 secs while in Binding Oath.

or Rimefire Golem [Active Bonus- +1200 HP] : for obvious reasons.

Solo

##### At-Wills:

* Valorous Strike [(Melee, 5' Cylinder) You strike your foe with your weapon, channeling the forces of Justice to destroy the target. The final hit of this combo grants you "Valor". Valor: Damage Resistance is increased by 5% for 15 seconds. Does not stack.]

or Oath Strike [(Melee, 5' Cylinder) You strike your foe with a quick flurry of blows. Oath of Protection: Forces the target to attack you for 3 seconds. Players deal 75% less damage to other targets for 3 seconds.]

* Radiant Strike [(Melee, 20' Blast) You lunge at a foe, unleashing a burst of light. You are also granted "Radiance". Radiance: Your Armor Penetration and Damage are increased by 5% for 15 seconds. Does not stack.]

##### Encounters:

* Burning Light [(Personal, 20s cooldown) You emit a blinding light for up to 4 seconds based on how long the power is charged, damaging and disorienting foes who are caught in its light. Oath of Protection: You receive 100% more healing while emitting light.]
* Templar's Wrath [(Personal, 30' Burst, 15s cooldown) You unleash a storm of holy energy, dealing heavy damage to all nearby foes and stunning them. Oath of Protection: Gain Temp HP equal to 300% of the damage dealt.]
* Smite [(13' Range, 10s cooldown) Smash a target, igniting them with holy fire for 15 seconds. They burn so hot that enemies within 15' of them are also damaged by this effect. Oath of Protection: Foes who are affected by the burn deal 15% less damage for 3 seconds.]

or Bane [(60' Range, 12s charge refill) You place a holy mark on the target. This target deals 10% less damage and takes 10% more damage for 10 seconds. This effect can be stacked up to 3 times. 3 Charges.]

or Circle of Power [You generate a zone of control 30' wide. This zone improves all damage YOU deal by 30% and lasts 20 seconds. Oath of Protection: You also gain 25% Damage Resistance.]

##### Dailies:

* Divine Judgement [(40' Range, 10' Burst) You summon deific vengeance on your foes, causing incredible damage to be divided equally among all targets hit.]
* Heroism [(Personal) You gain 100% of your Maximum Hit Points as Temporary Hit Points, gain 15% increased Damage Resistance, and gain immunity to CC for 5/10/15 seconds.]

##### Class Features:

* Aura of Courage [(Personal, 30' Burst) You and allies within 30' of you deal 1/1.25/1.5%/2% of your Maximum Hit Points as bonus damage.]
* Aura of Wisdom [(Personal, 30' Burst) You and allies within 30' of you gain 10/15/20%/25% recharge speed.]

or Aura of Solitude [When no allies are within 30' you deal 12%/15%/18%/21% more damage and healing]

The best powers while leveling up or doing campaigns. I suggest NOT to use Relentless Avenger [(50' Range) You rush to the target, dealing damage driving back all other foes within 15' of the target.Oath of Protection: All targets are taunted.] because its scattering of mobs harms our overall damage which is best close to us and when foes are as close to each other too. Even our only ranged AoE encounter is Divine Touch [(Melee, 15' Blast, 10s cooldown) Deal heavy Radiant damage to all foes in an area around the target. Oath of Protection: Gain a shield that absorbs damage for 8 seconds.] does its damage on gathered foes. Also the lesser targets we hit with Templar's Wrath the lesser our Temp HP will be which makes us lesser tanky. ALWAYS use Burning Light with Aura of Courage because without it the overall damage drops with 40%. It takes some times to learn using Burning Light properly and can be a bit frustrating to use at times but it is our best way for higher DPS. For the third encounter I like Smite for its good direct single target damage. Even though Bane is our best single target debuff which is important versus high HP targets, it does no damage on itself and we need to rely on our other powers to kill the baned victim. Circle of Power is better than Bane when fighting multiple targets as it will increase all damage we deal to them.

The Divine Judgement daily does tons of damage on a single or close to each other targets. Heroism is also good if you need more survival.  Don't use Divine Protector when solo because it does nothing.

#### Epic Tier 1 & Tier 2 Dungeons

##### At-Wills:

* Valorous Strike [(Melee, 5' Cylinder) You strike your foe with your weapon, channeling the forces of Justice to destroy the target. The final hit of this combo grants you "Valor". Valor: Damage Resistance is increased by 5% for 15 seconds. Does not stack.]
* Radiant Strike [(Melee, 20' Blast) You lunge at a foe, unleashing a burst of light. You are also granted "Radiance". Radiance: Your Armor Penetration and Damage are increased by 5% for 15 seconds. Does not stack.]

##### Encounters:

* Binding Oath [(Personal, 60' Burst, 22s cooldown) All targets near the Paladin are forced to attack him for 2 seconds. During this time he absorbs all damage against him. When this effect expires he takes 50% of that damage and deals 20% of it to all foes in a 30' area. Players affected by this power deal 75% less damage to targets who are not the Paladin.]
* Templar's Wrath [(Personal, 30' Burst, 15s cooldown) You unleash a storm of holy energy, dealing heavy damage to all nearby foes and stunning them. Oath of Protection: Gain Temp HP equal to 300% of the damage dealt.]
* Circle of Power [You generate a zone of control 30' wide. This zone improves all damage YOU deal by 30% and lasts 20 seconds. Oath of Protection: You also gain 25% Damage Resistance.].

or Burning Light [(Personal, 20s cooldown) You emit a blinding light for up to 4 seconds based on how long the power is charged, damaging and disorienting foes who are caught in its light. Oath of Protection: You receive 100% more healing while emitting light.].

##### Dailies:

* Divine Protector [(Personal, 150' Burst) For 5 seconds you shield all your allies from harm. You redirect 100% of the damage they would take to yourself. All damage you would take while this effect is active is reduced by 80%.]
* Divine Judgement [(40' Range, 10' Burst) You summon deific vengeance on your foes, causing incredible damage to be divided equally among all targets hit.]

##### Class Features:

* Aura of Courage [(Personal, 30' Burst) You and allies within 30' of you deal 1/1.25/1.5%/2% of your Maximum Hit Points as bonus damage.]

or Aura of Protection [(Personal, 30' Burst) You and allies within 30' gain 5/7.5/10%/12.5% increased damage resistance.]

* Aura of Wisdom [(Personal, 30' Burst) You and allies within 30' of you gain 10/15/20%/25% recharge speed.]

or Aura of Truth [(Personal, 30' Burst) Foes within 30' of you deal 5/7.5/10%/12.5% less damage.]

Now it gets interesting. Binding Oath and Templar's Wrath are must have encounters for epic dungeons before the boss battles (except Templar's, that's a must have always). The proper way to tank in these dungeons is to pop Divine Protector (if available) and Binding Oath shortly before engaging on the mobs with Radiant Strike. With Rank 4 Binding Oath you are immune to damage in the next 8 seconds. If you have a Sigil of the Devoted or Wheel of Elements, use it little bit before or after engaging. After the engage press TAB for the Divine Call [Activating Divine Call consumes a charge of energy and generates an effect based upon your Oath. Protection: You taunt all foes in a 30' area and gain 10% increased Damage Resistance for 10 seconds. You reflect 5% of incoming damage back to the attackers while this effect is active. (Max 5% of your Max HP)] to taunt all nearby mobs to you and get some damage resistance. Now activate either the Circle of Power if you need better survival (it gives you damage resistance decreasing the damage you take while Binding Oath is activated and also buffs the damage for Templar's Wrath giving you more Temp HP) or Burning Light for more damage and Crowd Control (the nearbly foes will be blinded and won't attack). If you have a Devoted Cleric (DC) who is using the yellow circle encounter called Astral Shield [Create a shimmering shield at target location that reduces incoming damage to allies in its protective circle.] try to stay inside of it as much as possible. After you used your other 2 Encounters, use your Templar's Wrath if possible on as many as possible enemies around you. Every target hit with it will give you more Temp HP. Don't forget to use Sanctuary inbetween encounters casting to reduce some damage taken. After all this you have to pay attention when your Binding Oath is going to explode. Be sure to ALWAYS press your SHIFT for Sanctuary to decrease the damage of the explosion on yourself with 60% which should get you to the 80% Damage Resist cap. If you don't do this you are very likely to insta die after the Binding Oath's duration. You can extend this duration when you use Divine Call because of Vengeful Judge [decreasing all cooldowns by 35%] or if your At-Wills trigger the feat Echoes of Light [Your At-Will Powers have a 5% chance make your next encounter power instantly recharge all your other encounter powers]. Be careful when you use the Divine Call. Don't spam it as that will just waste important charges. Try to use it when all your encouters are on cooldown more best efficiency. That's it- if you stay focused and always press SHIFT at the end of Binding Oath and reduce your encounters' cooldown with TAB properly everything should be okay (also if your allies are not total suiciders or just like to watch you die and don't take too much damage when you used Divine Protector on them).

This small video shows how important it is to be concetrated and watch your surroundings when playing as a tank OP. I did 3 mistakes here:

1. At 0:11 - I was using Sanctuary in the red circle without having Binding Oath activated which made me lose a lot of HP. There was enough time to leave the red cirle with running. Using Sanctuary slowed my movement speed too much. Another option I could've used was to press TAB for Divine Call to recharge the Binding Oath's cooldown and activate it in the red circle which would've reduced its damage by 50%.

2. At 0:55 - Failed to use Sanctuary at the the exact time of Binding Oath's explosion making me lose my Temp HP. ( Actually I DID press Shift but I will leave this as reminder).

3. At 0:56 - Rushed with casting Burning Light before the boss used his special AoE red circle while still in the damage area of it which finished me off.

Bosses

##### At-Wills:

* Valorous Strike [(Melee, 5' Cylinder) You strike your foe with your weapon, channeling the forces of Justice to destroy the target. The final hit of this combo grants you "Valor". Valor: Damage Resistance is increased by 5% for 15 seconds. Does not stack.]
* Radiant Strike [(Melee, 20' Blast) You lunge at a foe, unleashing a burst of light. You are also granted "Radiance". Radiance: Your Armor Penetration and Damage are increased by 5% for 15 seconds. Does not stack.]

Encounters:

* Vow of Enmity [(80' Range) You select a target for your Vow for 60 seconds. You cannot recast this power while you have a Vow established. You deal 20% more damage to the target of your vow. Oath of Protection: Allies who strike your Vow target build threat for the Paladin.]

or Relentless Avenger [(50' Range) You rush to the target, dealing damage driving back all other foes within 15' of the target. Oath of Protection: All targets are taunted.

or Smite [(13' Range, 10s cooldown) Smash a target, igniting them with holy fire for 15 seconds. They burn so hot that enemies within 15' of them are also damaged by this effect. Oath of Protection: Foes who are affected by the burn deal 15% less damage for 3 seconds.]

or Burning Light [(Personal, 20s cooldown) You emit a blinding light for up to 4 seconds based on how long the power is charged, damaging and disorienting foes who are caught in its light. Oath of Protection: You receive 100% more healing while emitting light.]

* Templar's Wrath [(Personal, 30' Burst, 15s cooldown) You unleash a storm of holy energy, dealing heavy damage to all nearby foes and stunning them. Oath of Protection: Gain Temp HP equal to 300% of the damage dealt.]
* Bane [(60' Range, 12s charge refill) You place a holy mark on the target. This target deals 10% less damage and takes 10% more damage for 10 seconds. This effect can be stacked up to 3 times. 3 Charges.]

##### Dailies:

* Divine Protector [(Personal, 150' Burst) For 5 seconds you shield all your allies from harm. You redirect 100% of the damage they would take to yourself. All damage you would take while this effect is active is reduced by 80%.]
* Divine Judgement [(40' Range, 10' Burst) You summon deific vengeance on your foes, causing incredible damage to be divided equally among all targets hit.]

##### Class Features:

* Aura of Courage [(Personal, 30' Burst) You and allies within 30' of you deal 1/1.25/1.5%/2% of your Maximum Hit Points as bonus damage.]

or Aura of Protection [(Personal, 30' Burst) You and allies within 30' gain 5/7.5/10%/12.5% increased damage resistance.]

* Aura of Wisdom [(Personal, 30' Burst) You and allies within 30' of you gain 10/15/20%/25% recharge speed.]

or Aura of Truth [(Personal, 30' Burst) Foes within 30' of you deal 5/7.5/10%/12.5% less damage.]

With few exceptions (for example the first and second boss fights in Epic Cragmire Crypt where it's better to use the normal dungeons rotaion) our job as tanks is to make sure the boss is focusing us all time during the fight. Use 3 charges of Bane on him/her always for the increased debuff. It's better if you leave your other party members deal with adds if any. The only place where I like usingRelentless Avenger at all (for the good mobilty and AP gain) is for Valindra in Valindra's Tower where taunting her doesn't matter as she still attacks a random target. You can try with using it other battles but be careful not taunt and scatter the adds with it, they are priority for your dps party memebrs. In other fights like the last bosses in Epic Malabog's Castle(MC), Epic Lair of Lostmauth(eLoL),Grey Wolf Den (eGWD), Cragmire Crypts(eCC) and Temple of the Spider(eToS) Vow of Enmity should keep the boss interested in you. With 3 stacks of Bane on the boss and using your At-Will she/he will also focus you but it's unreliable way to taunt. Smite and Burning Light are other alternatives for Vow of Enmity as long as you have no problem taunting with Bane and attacking the boss at the same time to keep her/his aggro on you. ALWAYS try to keep the boss' face away from your party member as most bosses have strong AoE front attacks. Also don't move too much around the place for this will make the boss facing your allies. Just avoid red circles or lines and move back to the boss' face as fast as possoble. And NEVER make the boss spin around like a "whipping top".

It's important to keep looking at the boss' actions as sometimes she/he will use a very poweful special attack. For example Syndryth in Temple of the Spider has a nasty attack with her weapon with 10' front and 5' wide range that will very likely kill you even if you use Sanctuary (SHIFT key) and have 130k+170k Temp HP. When she begins preparing this attack you have 1.5 secs to move away from her or go sideways. The eCC and eGWD last bosses have similar attack. Such attacks are too powerful to be shielded and it's best to avoid taking damage from them. Such applies to the black arms coming from the ground in the Ethraniev Marrowslake fight in eGWD and the fire circles in the Travev Blackdagger fight in eCC. But for the red laser from the red spider spirit in Syndryth fight in eToS and the red laser from the Lostmauth's eyes in Lostmauth's fight in eLoL and because we don't have dodge try to protect your allies' getting hit from it and use Sanctuary slightly before if hits you (you will see two small red lasers who get closer to each other. When they connect the big red laser will be launched) . And don't stay close you a party member because this laser has and AoE damage.

Stats

This is with the Campfire buff (which adds +1 to all Ability Scores) and only Rank 7 enchantments (YES, I know I messed up the Ability Score roll when I created this character. Should have been 30 Constitution and 23 Wisdom, but this can't be corrected with respecing. Not the biggest problem but still makes me lose some HP). Some explanation about the stats starting from the most to the least important:

Health Points- Most important for three reasons:

1. Combined with Binding Oath and the 80% Damage Resistance cap when using Sanctuary (SHIFT key) + Divine Call (TAB key) + Negation armor enchantment and/or Circle of Power we become much tankier than when stacking Defence. For example each 1k HP more means we will survive 3.6k more damage after the reduction.
2. Every 1k HP gives us up to 100 more Power when taking damage beacause of Oath of Protection.
3. With the Aura Gifts from the Light feats tree each 1k gives at least 100 more Power to nearby allies.
4. Each 1k HP adds 20 more basic damage to Aura of Courage. May look bad at first but imagine this damage with very high HP.

Power - Maybe a little more realiable than Critical Strike and Aura Gifts give more Power to nearby allies.

Critical Strike - Mostly because more chance for critical with Templar's Wrath = more chance to get even more Temp HP. Binding Oath and Aura of Courage's damages can't crit but every other spell can.

Armor Penetration - Again for the Templar's Wrath buff. This time the Resistance Ignored also works on Binding Oath and Aura of Courage. I put ArmPen lower than Critical Strike because 40% RI is the cap for PvE mobs. Cap for bosses is 60% but we are not the guys who should kill them. We only tank them. Get to 40% RI with Dark Enchantments as soon as possible and before going for Power.

Stamina Gain - For more time using Sanctuary.

Recovery - For better cooldown on encounters and more AP gain to use dailies as much as possible.

Defence - It only gives Damage Resistance. Not worth stacking too much of it as we have other sources to reach the resistance cap Having basic 50% helps too but remember to use Radiant enchantments on all defence slots.

AoE Resist - Some of the highest damage threats are AoE and we don't have dodge to avoid them.

Deflection - Unrealiable and only worth with 20%+ chance. Hard to achieve for us and we lose better stats for it.

Regeneration - Even a decent DC or devotion OP will heal us enough when needed even if we have little Increased Healing. Waste of stats.

#### Final Words

So that's all. I know I make some spelling and gramatical errors and that's because English is my second language. I hope you forgive me for these mistakes and everything is enough understandable.

Turned a lot bigger guide than I first thought of making. I did a lot of testing on the Protection paragon (not 100% but close to it) and I hope everything is accurate enough. With this build I have finished all T1 and T2 dungeons as well as the skirmishes mostly without much trouble. Good party with good teamwork is also very important. Sometimes a little mistake can wipe your whole party resulting in failure.

Always stay focused, watch your cooldowns, use Divine Call only when needed to refresh your powers (be careful not to taunt adds in some boss battles with it too), activate Divine Protector as much as possible to save your allies. Watch the PvE NPC's behaviour to know when they attack and learn when it's best to move away from their attack or to use Sanctuary. Takes time to master all this and I still fail a lot but practice makes perfection.

I hope this humble guide helps those of you who want to master this awesome class. I personally can't say I mastered it as I am still learning new things about it almost every day. Probably some of you will improve these techniques and become real Gods in PvE with protector OP.

Have fun playing and good luck!

Special thanks to my French friend TITANIA who helped me a lot with the testing!