OMG STICKY!!!!

Updates pending. Stand by.




"It's not the will to win, but the will to prepare to win that makes the difference."



A reference compilation.

Dedicated to the Paladin Community.



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PURPOSE

This thread is constructed as a database of useful information for experienced Paladins. It will contain math comparisons for various abilities, statistics, explanations of often misunderstood game mechanics relevant to Paladins in their different roles, as well as collections of resources for bettering your effectiveness as a player.

The information contained here is primarily geared toward experienced players at level 70 and deals with more advanced concepts.
It is not directed as a basic guide for the new player, and while some material may be useful to someone just starting their Paladin, basic concepts or mere descriptions of abilities will not be included.

The goal is to collect and condense as many of the common questions asked on these forums as possible, and provide accurate resources on all these topics in a single place.

The Paladin forums have been disappointing in the usefulness of their stickies for a long time, with even the two threads there are being horribly outdated.

Let us reduce the amount of confusion and flame-wars on our boards by fixing that, and hopefully, by sharing the knowledge other have accrued, help to make ourselves into better players.


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A Note About Sources:

The information contained here I do not claim as my own. This is a compilation containing resources produced both by the Paladin Community and by others. Where possible, sources for direct quotes have been cited to give credit to the original contribution or writer. If an error is spotted please bring it to my attention.

This guide is never complete.

Any and all useful and relevant contributions posted by players will be added to this database and the author credited. I encourage all to contribute to this resource.

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Reserved:


Full Index

****NEWS and UPDATES****

08/07/01
OMGSTICKY

07/31/07 --
Guide linked on official Blizzard Class Links guide compilation located here:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/classlinks.html

07/18/07 --
Added section authored by Lore answering the common question "how do I get a tanking raid spot on my paladin"
Moved Combat Ratings table up a post to conserve space.

06/27/07 –
Launch of reposting of guide
Full rewrite




****ANNOUCEMENTS****

Please update your links and tags. The original posting will be brought down in the near future and will link to this one.

ALL STICKY REQUESTS FOR THIS GUIDE please make through reporting the very first post of the thread.

To request a sticky click the red biohazard symbol on the top right of this post while logged into your forum account. Under the report function select the “Sticky Request” option from the drop-don menu and submit your report.





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COMBAT RATINGS AT 70

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Defensive

Defense Rating _______ 2.4 rating to 1 Defense Skill

Dodge ________________ 18.9 rating OR 20 Agility to 1% Dodge

Parry ________________ 23.6 rating to 1% Parry

Block ________________ 7.9 rating to 1% Block

Resilience ___________ 39.4 rating to 1% less chance to be critically struck, 2% less damage taken on critical hits

Armor _______________ 0.5 Agility to 1 AC

Block Value ___________ 20 Strength to 1 Block Value




Offensive

Weapon Skill _________ 3.9 rating to 1 Skill

Hit __________________ 15.8 rating to 1% less chance for your melee attacks to miss

Spell Hit______________ 12.6 rating to 1% less chance for your spells to miss

Melee Critical Strike _____ 22.1 rating OR 25 Agility to 1% Melee Crit

Spell Critical Strike______22.1 rating to 1% Spell Crit

Haste ________________ 15.8 rating to 1% speed increase

Attack Power ___________ 0.5 Strength to 1 Attack Power

DPS __________________ 14 Attack Power OR 7 Strength to 1 DPS

SECTION ONE
Introduction to tanking and understanding Protection



MAIN TANKING


“How do I get a position as a tank in my guild as a paladin?"

---

Q u o t e:
I see a lot of posts on these boards to the effect of "How can I get my guild to let me tank?" and "I'm backup tank #700, what should I do?" The responses given almost universally favor the "MT or bust" mentality that pervades a lot of Tankadin thinking, and very rarely seems to take in mind a few key tenets of raiding that I think are very important to the success of a raiding Tankadin.

Joining a New Guild
Whether you're just starting out or moving on from an old guild, the most important thing is to research the guilds you're applying to. If you're looking to join a guild on your server you may know most of the important information already, but there is nearly always more that can be learned. Look up kill shots for the guild if available, see who they had present, and then look them up on the armory. Guilds that allow offspec/hybrid classes such as Enhancement Shaman, Feral Druids, Fury Warriors, and Shadow Priests likely to be a lot more receptive to the idea of a Paladin tank than the typical min/maxing "primary raid role" guilds. Likewise, finding names from kill shots will let you be sure these hybrids are being brought for new content and not just dragged through farmed content as backups.

The recruitment forums can be a good source of potential guilds, but be wary of recruitment posts looking for "Paladins", as more often than not what they really mean is "Paladin Healers." Ideally you'll want to look at postings for "Tanks," although occasionally "Warrior" listings can be worthwhile with a little talking, which brings me to another point: Talk to potential guild masters/raid leaders/tanking officers/whoever else is doing the recruitment ahead of time. Speak directly to the person who will be inviting you if possible. Make it very clear from the start that you want to be invited as a tank, and with the intention of using you as such, and not just as a poorly specced healer picking up what the Warriors leave behind. Being upfront and honest with your new guild will remove a lot of the potential for drama and confusion down the line.

Do NOT join a guild as a healer with the hopes of eventually being allowed to respec prot, unless you are fully willing to remain a healer for the remainder of your raiding career should the opportunity to raid as Prot never arise. Raiding guilds recruit people to fill a role, generally because they have a need for someone in that role. There's nothing more annoying than recruiting a Holy Priest only to have them immediately start begging to respec Shadow, or recruiting a new Prot Warrior who only wants to raid on his Warlock alt. If you're recruited as a healer, you should expect to heal, and although making your desire to respec prot known isn't necessarily a bad thing, bringing it up too often just annoys people.

Make sure to do the research on your tanking role as well. Guild masters/raid leaders are GOING to ask you questions to the point of "What benefit would recruiting you bring to the raid?" and you should be able to respond quite solidly what you're able to do, in what encounters, on what trash, in what instances. These forums are a goldmine of information of that sort. In addition, when they say things like "No endgame guilds use Paladin tanks," you should be able to point out the successes of people like PsiVen, Jensaarai, Mortehl, and the many other Tankadins who peruse these forums. At the same time, however, it would be a horrible mistake to expect the phrase "Paladin tank" to earn you a raid spot - make them know that you're going to be a good raider, even aside from your class choice.

What if I like the guild I'm in?
Starting from scratch in a new guild isn't always the only option, or even the best, especially if you happen to like the people in the guild you're in. If you're already in a raiding guild, perhaps as a Holy spec, there's many things you can do to try and convince your raid leaders to allow you to start raiding as Prot instead.

First off, be good at what you're doing already. This may seem counterproductive ("Why should I let you respec prot, you're the best healer we have"), but you'll find raid leaders a lot more receptive to your desires if you've proven you're capable of playing well. Make a real effort to performing well in your existing role. Even if you're Ret DPS currently, know how Ret DPS works and do the best Ret DPS you can. Be able to carry on conversations about not only tanking, but every aspect of your class.

Second, talk things out with your raid leaders/role officers/whatever else. Don't come with an attitude of "If I can't tank, I'm not raiding anymore." Just ask politely if such an opportunity is available. Your reputation as a raider comes into play heavily here, you're going to have to be a very solid player to convince the higher-ups to let you switch roles.

If you're already in a tanking role, and get delegated to nothing but a backup position, ask your raid leader why this is. Quite often, frustratingly so, tanks that I have in backup positions think that the other tanks get invited first because I think they're bad tanks. That hasn't been the case - if I think you're a bad tank, I'm not even going to give you a backup position, and the same goes for most raid leaders. More often I just have more tanks than I have raid spots for, which means the people who were there before and/or are more consistent get the spots first. Don't let that get you down though, spots have a way of opening up even when no one thinks there's any chance of it happening. Talk to the other tanks and whoever does invites for the tanks, see about coming in for farmed content that the other tanks don't need, give them a bit of a break.

Don't Shoot Yourself in the Foot
I've heard too many stories of happy Tankadins, giddy with glee at their first chance at endgame tanking, only to get absolutely destroyed by whatever mob they happen to be after. It doesn't matter how prepared you are, it doesn't matter how much you know about the class: If you don't have the gear, you can't tank, plain and simple. Tanking is absolutely the most gear-dependent role in the game, and going up against Lady Vashj in your 5-piece Righteous Armor with questing blues and greens isn't going to do anyone any good. Fortunately, one of our class's greatest weaknesses can play to your benefit here: there really isn't much itemization available to us in SSC and TK, so Karazhan gear is about as good as it gets - as well as being a lot more accessible. If your guild doesn't run Karazhan regularly, see about getting some people together on off times to run it, or hook up with another group that runs Karazhan exclusively. So long as they'll let you loot tanking gear, you'll be able to get your gear up to where it needs to be. If your guild is already in BT and Hyjal, there's lots of Paladin-specific tanking gear available, talk to your guild leaders about letting you loot it at no or discounted DKP prices, perhaps by compensating the guild bank in some way for the loss of a void crystal.

DON'T just loot T4/5/6 pieces and go "Whoops, I got the tanking piece instead!" The people in charge tend to frown on that, and the last thing you need is another reason for them to say no. If you want to pick up tanking gear from those sets, talk it out with your raid leaders. We share T4 and T5 sets with Shaman and Rogues, so there's a fair chance that at some point everyone will have their primary piece of a particular drop. Talk to your raid leaders about picking up a second.

Secure Your Position
Once you've demonstrated that you're capable of tanking, you need to demonstrate that you can do so reliably. You should always come fully prepared to every raid. Have weapon buffs, food buffs, flasks, everything you need to last the entire night and then some. Know the encounters, know your role in the encounters, and all in all just be a good raider. I've said many times to the other officers in Months Behind, raiding is 50% playing your class and 50% preparing for and executing the encounter. It doesn't matter how well you perform one half if your performance in the other half is lacking, and I don't care how good you are at standing still and pressing buttons in the right order if you can't kite Thaladred, or can't pass a Tainted Core, or don't spread out properly for Shatters. Each and every encounter is played differently, knowing and understanding that -- and adapting appropriately -- is going to go a long way.

Strap On the Healing Gear
"Wtf?" I hear you say. "I just did all this work to become a tank, and now you want me to stand back and heal?" Put bluntly, yes. You're a hybrid. Not every encounter calls for multiple tanks, and a lot of the time your crappy healing as prot spec is going to do a lot more good than the Warriors' crappy DPS as prot spec. At the very least, try to get ahold of a decent healing weapon, shield, and libram, and swap between those and your tanking weapon, shield, and libram when necessary in combat. A good player pushes his class to its full extent, not just to the extent they most enjoy. You'll find yourself a lot more raid worthy if you're willing to step back and toss some heals out when another tank is dying instead of whacking away at something's ankles doing "sick" Prot DPS.

Ultimately, being a good raider is every bit as important as being a good Tankadin when it comes to holding a secure position in an endgame raiding guild. Holding a position as an endgame Tankadin is just as much in your hands as it is in your guild's.

---

(Credit: Lore of Eredar)
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Item Level Stat Budgets:

Gear in World of Warcraft is balanced and defined in terms of it’s power by a number called it’s [/b]Item Value[/b], also commonly referred to with the terms iValue, iPoints, and Item Budget.
Item Value allows items to be quantitatively weighted in terms of their stats, as every stat has a “cost” in iValue which is totaled up for that item. Item Value is very important in the maintenance of game balance, as it allows diametrically different types of gear for all the diverse classes and specs to be meaningfully kept equally powerful to the gear available to other classes of an equal quality.



For detailed information on the itemization "costs" of stats on your gear, see the following link:

http://www.wowwiki.com/Formulas:Item_Values




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SECTION TWO

Part 1:
Damage Mitigation and Defensive Stats



~~~~~~~~~~~~

"My comrades are my weapons, and I am their shield.
While I draw breath, they shall not perish.
So long as they live, our enemies will fall.
I am defender, protector, guardian.
I am a Paladin. "

The Litany of a Paladin
By Cathela of <The Eleventh Hour>, Earthen Ring

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Basic Concepts

-Clarifications on used terms definitions

-damage absorption priorities
1. survive individual average hits (mitigation x stam) (Effective Health)
2. smooth damage in-flow to manageable lack of spikiness to allow realistic healing (Threat of Death level over a Period of Time)
3. increase time/hits capable of remaining alive for unhealed (stacked stamina + avoidance) (Time-To-Live)
4. Decrease total damage taken over the course of the entire encounter (avoidance + mitigation) (Damage In prejudice in your Effective Health, insert balanced comparison)


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-Mitigation Theories and their significance:

1. Effective Health
Stamina provides the best scaling increase of the maximum size hit you can endure without getting one-shotted, while armor provides the best proportional benefit towards minimizing the threat to your effective health that single hit represents.

2. Death-Threat/Time
No matter whether the tank is stacking avoidance or the reverse, whether they are fully buffed and flasked or nothing fancy, the second priority is sitting down and saying "what’s the worst possible way/clustering/circumstances in which I could take damage realistically?" and then assuming that that worst-case scenario WILL happen and acting accordingly.

3. Time-To-Live
This is accomplished by far most effectively with avoidance stats, due to their way of "spreading out" the Effective Damage Frequency, though they do so by clumping damage, not smoothing or spreading it out.

Effective Damage Frequency (effect of avoidance spreading)

4. Damage In/Survivable DPS.
This is important because what makes you a tank is your ability to last longer under aggro than everyone else, otherwise there'd be no reason why the mage shouldn’t be tanking. Anyone and anything can hold aggro and live. What varies is the extent of massive heal-spamming required on that tank to keep them alive.
So yes, we DO want to reduce average DPS as much as possible.

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Nature of Incoming Damage


I am often asked if there is a certain ratio or formula that I can give out which would give an instant way of determining the relative value of the addition of two different potential stats on your gear options in how they contribute to your overall mitigation and survivability.

Unfortunately, there can never really be any definitive ratio.
The problem is the number of variables involved which shift the entire calculations completely around

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Even knowing the White Damage and Special Abilities DPS of the boss you plan on tanking is insufficient information to make a stats comparison alone, taken outside of the entire context and forgetting the other potentially decisive contributing variables.

Receiving the damage…
-in melee verses at ranged
-any potential combination of environmental incapacitory of unhelpful effects
-the nature and sequence of enemy special ability use
-the way the damage is clustered in terms of the damage of one individual attack divided by the speed of their swing timer
-the potential for the expected incoming DPS average to suffer from spiking and unpredictability
-any variance over the entire length of time of the fight from the predicted range the average damage flow stream
-the damage its self being either physical or environmental in nature, or else elemental, magical or mixed.
….all these represent significant factors which alter the distribution of quantitative usefulness provided by the options of different defensive stats.

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Whether damage is taken by way slowly paced and individually large attacks or abilities, verses the exact same level of DPS taken through attacks falling within a very narrow damage range by way of far more rapid delivery of each swing, or that taken from a DoT or Area of Effect, all are vitally important variables in the calculation of a Paladin Tank’s potential capacity for mitigation in the circumstances of each fight.

The state of ALL the potential variables in the given encounter must be known for any meaningful comparison to be determined by mathematical means.

The relative usefulness of equivalent amounts of each defensive stat will have a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT RESULT FOR EVERY SINGLE DIFFERENT ENCOUNTER you face.
Even then, the results of such calculations will also be completely DIFFERENT FOR EVERY SINGLE PALADIN due to the differing preexisting distributions of stats that each one will possess, and which the proposed additional stats would build upon.

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While there are some common trends, they represent primarily just the ideal strategies that lend themselves best to the particular circumstances in single-target tanking encounters which are generally most common in general on the content that the majority of middle-of-the-progression-pack raiding guilds are clustered on, as well as the trends in fight specifics on the content we have seen thus far in a broader sense.

The best meaningful advise that can be given that holds up in any way in general practice is to have two gear setups which can be interchanged based on the conditions. One heavily prejudiced towards a balance of strong Mitigation stats, the second strongly prejudiced in favor of high Avoidance stats.

When determining when could use improving, look first at the primary cause of tank death you are experiencing.
Is your death mostly due to irrecoverable spike damage or instant one-shotting?
Are you dying more often due to healers running out of mana working to keep you alive?
Can your healers not downrank their heals as much as they would like due to the high average damage intake rate?
Are healers having to make frequent use of mana-costly emergency recovery abilities?

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TRENDS:

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In GENERAL...

Reason for Tank Death:

          Cause of Death                                          Stats to Improve

Instantly One-Shot at Respectable % Health ------>Need higher Stamina

Unrecoverable Spike Damage ------------------------> Need higher Mitigation and Stamina

Healer OOM to Quickly -----------------------------------> Need higher Avoidance 

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In GENERAL…

Assuming Boss DPS and Attack Damage/Swing Speed, along with other factors, fall within the range of Single-Target hard-hitting Boss attributes that is most commonly imagined and is expected as the general standard of comparison on the basis of its prevalence…

Boss Damage Characteristics:

           Description                                                                        Defensive Stat Favored

High Damage Hits/Slow Swing Speed -------------------------> Maximize Effective Health

Low Damage Hits/Fast Swing Speed (Duel-wielder?) -------> Maximize non-percentile Mitigation, such as Block Value and Stamina, or alternatively maximize Avoidance

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How Defensive Stats of the Same Type Interact in Comparison of Relative Quantitative Benefits


While the benefits of Avoidance compared to Mitigation have a complex relationship, the comparisons made between stats of the same type also experience an extremely circumstantially variable balance between them.

Block Value and Armor, for example, are both pure Mitigation stats (as opposed to Avoidance stats) and both may be usefully stacked in the role of boosting Physical Mitigation levels.

When evaluating the comparative usefulness of adding additional Armor to your Defensive stats or instead adding additional Block Value, our CURRENT armor and block values have a MAJOR importance.

Specifically, the relative amount of each stat compared to each other determines the contribution adding more of either would make.

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If you CURRENTLY have:
-ALOT of Armor
-LITTLE Block Value

Then when adding NEW gear upgrades:
-additional Armor is of LOW value in terms of its relative contribution to additional Block Value
-additional Block Value is of HIGH value in terms of its relative contribution to additional Armor

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If you CURRENTLY have:
-MODERATE/LOW Armor
-HIGH Block Value

Then when adding NEW gear upgrades:
-additional Armor is of HIGH value in terms of its relative contribution to additional Block Value
-additional Block Value is of LOW value in terms of its relative contribution to additional Armor

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Additional Stamina compares to both Armor or additional Block Value in the same way. Effective Health Theory treats Stamina as simply another kind of Mitigation stat, that just works from the opposite direction.




Beyond that general guide-line, so many variables exist that the cross-over point is completely different in every situation.

Avoidance doesn’t have quite the same relationship to the Mitigation stats as the Mitigation stats have to each other.
In their case, the cross-over point of equal relative contribution between additional Mitigation and additional Avoidance is flexible, meaning you can push it up and down by increasing the amount of one or the other you already possess, thus decreasing the amount of the opposite that is required for equal benefit as a static amount of the other.

The determiner for Mitigation verses Avoidance is, rather than the stats, the item values themselves, and what particular point on the sliding scale of cross-over benefit between them produces the least expensive use of Itemization Points. The general range around this point on the scale is where you should shoot for with your gear.

Again, Mitigation verses Avoidance suffers from many variables just like comparisons between types of Mitigation.


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ARMOR DAMAGE REDUCTION

---

Q u o t e:
Armor
Armor

Mitigation (70) = -----------------

Armor + 10557.5



Armor

Mitigation (73) = -----------------

Armor + 11960

Mitigation represents the actual Damage Reduction you receive from Armor. The 70 and 73 represent the levels of your opponent.

Examples of Damage Reduction against level 70 creatures:
AC Mitigation

5,000 _______________ 32.14%

10,000 ______________ 48.64%

12,000 ______________ 53.20%

13,000 ______________ 55.18%

14,000 ______________ 57.01%

15,000 ______________ 58.69%

16,000 ______________ 60.25%

17,000 ______________ 61.69%

20,000 ______________ 65.45%

25,000 ______________ 70.31%

Note that there are significant Diminishing Returns on Mitigation; as you gain each new point of Armor, each point provides a smaller net benefit in terms of mitigation.

The Damage Reduction for Armor is capped to 75%. Any Armor in excess of that becomes useless. For lvl73 mobs, this is 35872.5.

However, in the words of Satrina, "Mitigation is subject to diminishing returns, but Armor is not." What this means is, Armor provides a linear increase to lifespan, if not mitigation.

To better understand this, use the following examples Satrina used:

---

Q u o t e:
1) I have 3000 amour and 5000 hit points. Against a level 60 opponent that deals 200 damage per second I will live for 38.64 seconds Now I will add 1000 amour, giving me 4000 amour. Against a level 60 opponent that deals 200 damage per second I will live for 43.18 seconds Adding 1000 amour increased my time to live by 4.54 seconds.

2) I have 6000 amour and 5000 hit points. Against a level 60 opponent that deals 200 damage per second I will live for 52.27 seconds Now I will add 1000 amour, giving me 7000 amour. Against a level 60 opponent that deals 200 damage per second I will live for 56.82 seconds Adding 1000 amour increased my time to live by 4.55 seconds.

3) I have 10000 amour and 5000 hit points. Against a level 60 opponent that deals 200 damage per second I will live for 70.45 seconds Now I will add 1000 amour, giving me 11000 amour. Against a level 60 opponent that deals 200 damage per second I will live for 75.00 seconds Adding 1000 amour increased my time to live by 4.55 seconds.

---

More detailed information can be found here:
http://evilempireguild.org/guides/diminishmath.php

---

(Credit: Ciderhelm, Cenarius)


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BLOCK VALUE

When an attack is Blocked, it does not necessarily mean that the target takes no damage. A Block attack-result inflicts the same damage as a normal hit, but reduced by an amount "X" that's based on the Block value and Strength of the target, as follows:

X = [(Shield block value) + ((Strength / 20) - 1)].

The quantity of damage blocked is calculated after damage mitigation from all other sources (Armor, Improved Righteous Fury, Blessing of Sanctuary, etc.). That means if the opponent hits you for 200, mitigated to 100 by Armor, and block according to the formula above is 40, then you will see in your combat window: "... hits you for 60. (40 blocked)".

A Paladin's "Shield Specialization" talent increases the damage absorbed by (up to) 30%.
The formula above becomes:

X = [(Shield block value * 1.3) + ((Strength / 20) - 1)].

WIth Divine Strength, you gain 10% more Strength making the formula this:

X = [(Shield block value * 1.3) + ((1.1 * Strength )/ 20) - 1)].



An easier mahematical formula would be determining the contribution of strength to your Block Value.
In rougher terms, though still fairly accurate, this contribution is the following:

22 strength = 1 Block Value

with Shield Specialization

17 strength = 1 Block Value

with Divine Strength

15 strength = 1 Block Value









BLESSING OF SANCTUARY MITIGATION

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Blessing of Sanctuary, the 21-point Talent of the Protection tree, grants the benefit of reducing damage done for each hit by 81.
The damage reduced by Blessing of Sanctuary is factored in before mitigation is applied.
This includes armour, block value for blocked attacks, siphoned damage due to Blessing of Sacrifice, everything.

For example;

Monster hits you for 10,000
Blessing of Sanctuary reduces this by 80 (leaving 9920)
Armour reduces this by 65% (9920 x 35%, leaving 3472)
The attack was blocked, and your block value is 200 (3472 - 200, leaving 3272)

Monster hits you for 3272 (200 blocked)


compare the above to the exact same situation minus Blessing of Sanctuary;


Monster hits you for 10,000
Armour reduces this by 65% (1000 x 35%, leaving 3500)
The attack was blocked, and your block value is 200 (3500 - 200, leaving 3300)

Monster hits you for 3300 (200 blocked)


In this case, Blessing of Sanctuary granted an effective damage reduction of 28 damage.
This would be equivalent to an additional 2.8% damage reduction from armour.



Blessing of Sanctuary scales in greatest effectiveness with very frequent, but less individually damaging hits being taken.

The threat dealt by Blessing of Sanctuary amounts to 87.4 threat per blocked attack with improved Righteous Fury active.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

SECTION TWO
Part 2

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

COMBAT TABLE AND SPIKE ELIMINATION


A lvl 70 player has a natural 5% chance to be missed by an equal level mob.
For each level above the player, a mob gains 0.2% chance to hit from his 5 weapon skill increase. For lvl 73 bosses, your base miss rate is reduced to 4.4%. There is no way to increase this number other than what is derived from defense skill.


The following table is laid out in descending order of the precedence of one attack result over another. That is to say, the entries at the top of the table take precedence over the entries below them.

1. Miss --------------------(complete avoidance of damage)
2. Dodge -----------------(complete avoidance of damage)
3. Parry -------------------(complete avoidance of damage, swing speed of current swing increased)
4. Block ------------------(damage after mitigation reduced by your block value)
5. Glancing Blow ------(Players only, variable reduction of damage; ~75% of normal)
6. Critical ----------------(200% of normal damage for physical attacks, 150% for magic/elemental)
7. Crushing Blow -----(Mobs only, 150% of normal damage for physical attacks)
8. ordinary hit ----------(baseline unmodified damage)

There are formulas that determine the a character or mob's chance to Miss, Dodge, Parry, Block, Critical Hit and Crushing Blow in %. Those are placed below each other on a line from 0 to 100%. If the total of those values is less than 100%, the remainder is filled up with Regular Hit. If the total of those values is more than 100%, everything beyond 100% falls off the bottom (first Crushing Blow, then Critical Hit, then Block, etc...).


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DEFENSE


Defense Rating: 2.4 rating grants 1 Defense Skill.

Defense Skill is the base unit for level-based Defense, while Defense Rating is additional Defense added through gear.

5 Defense Skill adds one effective level to the calculation, reducing the chance to be hit by a Critical Strike by 0.2% and increasing the chance attackers will Miss you by 0.2%
(This means 1% Miss and -1% crits is achieved by 25 Defense Skill)

Equal level Mobs have a 5% chance to score a Critical hit.

Therefore, 300 additional Defense Rating will reduce the chance of being Critically hit to zero.
This is the equivalent of 475 Defense Skill (70 x 5 is your base, giving 350, plus 300 rating from gear which is equal to 125 Skill. 350+125=475)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bosses are level 73 Elite, meaning they have 15 higher base Weapon Skill than you have base Defense Skill.
Bosses have a 5.6% chance to crit because of this.

By raising the Defense Skill high enough to reduce this chance by 5.6%, the Critical Hit chance from bosses is reduced to 0%. This requires 140 additional Defense Skill (which, at level 70, combines with your 350 base Defense Skill to 490 Defense Skill).

Both Paladins and Warriors have a talent called Anticipation that raises their Defense Skill by 20. Characters with this talent only need an additional 120 Defense Skill. 288 Defense Rating raises your Defense Skill by 120.


Therefore, 336 additional Defense Rating will reduce the chance of being Critically hit to zero.
This is the equivalent of 475 Defense Skill (70 x 5 is your base, giving 350, plus 300 rating from gear which is equal to 125 Skill. 350+125=475)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1 Defense Skill adds other mitigation too.
1 Skill, in addition to 0.04% chance to be missed, also adds 0.04% chance to dodge, parry, and block per point (remember, 25 Skill for 1% across the board).


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PUSHING NEGATIVE EFFECTS “OFF THE TABLE”


Again, WoW uses one roll (1-100) to determine if the attack is crushing, blocked, parried, critted, missed, whatever.
If all the percentages are added up, the things at the end of the table are pushed off the table.




Let me fit this all into an example.

A Level 70 Human Paladin is tanking a Level 73 Boss.
The Paladin has 490 Defense Skill, but no other mitigation whatsoever.


Miss - 4.4% Base + (0.04(Defense skill - Weapon Skill)) = 10% chance to miss
Dodge - 7.01% Base (from Agility) + 0.6% from Defense = 7.61% chance to dodge
Parry - 5% Base (excluding talents) + 0.6% from Defense = 5.6% chance to Parry
Block 5% Base + 0.6% from Defense = 5.6% chance to Block
Critical Reduced to 0% chance due to Defense
Crushing Blow 15% chance to be Crushed, unmitigatable
ordinary hit 56.19% chance remaining to reach 100%


Totals:

23.21% chance to completely avoid damage (through the attack missing, being dodged, or being parried)
5.6% chance for the attack to be blocked. Blocked attacks cannot crit or be Crushing Blows.
15% chance to receive a Crushing Blow.
56.19% chance the attack will be a normal white hit. (other factors added up=39.41%. Subtract from 100%)


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The Paladin can put up the ability Holy Shield, increasing Block Chance by 30%. We will also assume they have the Libram or Repentance increasing this by an additional 5%. (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=29388)


Look at the table now.....


A Level 70 Human Paladin is tanking a Level 73 Boss.
The Paladin has 490 Defense Skill, but no other mitigation whatsoever.
The ability Holy Shield is active.


Miss - 4.4% Base + (0.04(Defense skill - Weapon Skill) = 10% chance to miss
Dodge - 7.01% Base (from Agility) + 0.6% from Defense = 7.61% chance to dodge
Parry - 5% Base (excluding talents) + 0.6% from Defense = 5.6% chance to Parry
Block 5% Base + 0.6% from Defense + 35% from HS = 40.6% chance to Block
Critical Reduced to 0% chance due to Defense
Crushing Blow 15% chance to be Crushed, unmitigatable
ordinary hit 21.19% chance remaining to reach 100%


Totals:

23.21% chance to completely avoid damage (through the attack missing, being dodged, or being parried)
40.4% chance for the attack to be blocked. Blocked attacks cannot crit or be Crushing Blows.
15% chance to receive a Crushing Blow.
21.19% chance the attack will be a normal white hit. (other factors added up=52.6%. Subtract from 100%)



As you can see, the amount of the table that would be a normal white hit has been significantly reduced.

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Let's go one step further, and have the Paladin have his Redoubt reactive ability currently up, granting an additional 30% chance to block. Let us also give the Paladin 5% more Parry chance granted from the Retribution Tree talent. Let us also give the Paladin an additional 5% chance to Dodge (94.5 rating/18.9) and an additional 5% chance to Block (39.5 rating/7.9) from their gear.


Now the table looks like this:

A Level 70 Paladin is tanking a Level 73 Boss.
The Paladin has 490 Defense Skill.
The Paladin is speced 10 points into Retribution, granting 5% Parry chance from talents.
His gear provides an additional 94.5 Dodge Rating and 39.5 Block Rating.
The ability Holy Shield is active.
The ability Redoubt is active.


Miss - 4.4% Base + (0.04(Defense skill - Weapon Skill) = 10% chance to miss
Dodge - 7.01% Base (from stats) + 5.6% from Gear = 12.61% chance to dodge
Parry - 10% Base (with talents) + 0.6% from Defense = 10.6% chance to Parry
Block 5% Base + 5.6% from Gear + 65% from HS and Redoubt = 75.6% chance to Block
(8.81% chance to Block lost due to going over 100% total values on the table previous to it)
Critical Reduced to 0% chance due to Defense
Crushing Blow Pushed off the Table completely.
ordinary hit Pushed off the Table completely.


Totals:

33.21% chance to completely avoid damage (through the attack missing, being dodged, or being parried)
All other possibilities are for the attack to be blocked. Blocked attacks cannot crit or be Crushing Blows. All damaging attacks will be Blocked ones as no other option exists within the parameters of the Combat Table.



Notice how the Paladin actually LOST 8.81% of his Block Chance since it was excess and fell off the table as well.

At the above examples, you can see the basic principle of pushing Crushing Blow and Regular Hit off the table. By raising your total Miss, Dodge, Parry and Block chance to 100% or higher, there is not space left for Critical Hit, Crushing Blow and Regular Hit.

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Q u o t e:
A Protection Paladin's Holy Shield adds 30% Block chance to 4 blocks per 10 seconds. The Libram of Repentance raises this by 5.06%. Protection Paladins need 65% additional mitigation chance to reach 100%. They receive around 25% from base values and talents, so about 40% more needs to come from gear (excluding the Libram of Repentance). Protection Paladins also have Redoubt, which adds 30% Block chance to 5 blocks for 10 seconds. However, Redoubt is a chance result of getting hit and cannot be kept up permanently, making it ineffective to reliably prevent Critical Hit, Crushing Blow and Regular Hit.

[intervening text removed for relevance]

The mentioned method is quite situational. There are certain situations where this will not work, leaving you vulnerable to Critical Hit, Crushing Blow and Regular Hit:

- Mobs attack you in the rear.
- Mobs use ranged attacks.
- Mobs attack you more often than Shield Block (2 blocks per 5 seconds) or Holy Shield (4 blocks per 10 seconds) can sustain.
- You get stunned and cannot keep Shield Block or Holy Shield up.
- You get silenced and cannot keep Holy Shield up.
- You do not have enough rage or mana to recast Shield Block or Holy Shield.
- Holy Shield gets dispelled.
- You are disarmed and cannot Parry.
- You are casting and cannot Block.

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(Credit: Zoe, of Trollbane)

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Q u o t e:
Unlike Shield Block, Holy Shield does not push Crushing Blows off the table by itself. Additional prevention is required. Their main priority is to get their Defense Skill up to 490. If they have the Anticipation, then this requires 288 Defense Rating. Human Paladins with Holy Shield up, Libram of Repentance equipped, the Anticipation talent maxed out, the Deflection talent maxed out and an additional 288 Defense Rating from gear have the following avoidance:
78,79% + (Defense Rating beyond 288 / 15)% + (Dodge Rating / 18.9)% + (Parry Rating / 31.5)% + (Block Rating / 7.9)% + (Agility Bonus / 25)%

Human Paladins need an additional 21,21% chance to prevent Crushing Blow and Regular Hit. To upgrade prevention by 1%, you need:
- 7.9 Block Rating
- 15 Defense Rating (Warrior and Paladin)
- 18.9 Dodge Rating
- 25 Agility (Paladin)
- 31.5 Parry Rating

To reach 100% prevention of Crushing Blow and Regular hit [by power housing one single stat] while remaining immune to Critical Hits, you need:
- 288 Defense Rating + 168 Block Rating
- 288 Defense Rating + 318 additional Defense Rating = 606 Defense Rating
- 288 Defense Rating + 401 Dodge Rating
- 288 Defense Rating + 530 Agility Bonus
- 288 Defense Rating + 668 Parry Rating

Of course, you can use a combination of Block Rating, additional Defense Rating, Dodge Rating, Agility Bonus and Parry Rating, as long as the following formula gives a result of 21.19% or higher:
(Block Rating / 7.9)% + (Defense Rating beyond 288 / 15)% + (Dodge Rating / 18.9)% + (Agility Bonus / 25)% + (Parry Rating / 31.5)%

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(Credit again to Zoe of Trollbane)


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WHERE THE 2.4% COMES FROM

“Why 102.4%? Why not 100%?”

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Q u o t e:
You need 102.4% avoidance (including block) against an equal level mob in order to be uncrushable against a mob 3 levels above you. The character sheet gives you the values against an equal level opponent and that's why you see that number thrown around so much. Because it’s easier to calculate.

Why is the number 102.4%? Because for each level over yours, you must subtract 0.2% from each of your avoidance stats. 4x3x0.2=2.4.

One easy way to think about it is to consider your defense, which raises each of your avoidance stats by 0.2% for each 5 points of defense skill (equivalent to a difference of one level).

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(Credit: Ganelon, Argent Dawn)

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IMPORTANT EXCEPTIONS


It’s also worth noting that the commonly quoted goal numbers are based on what the average stats a level 73 boss/mob will have are.
Not every creature in the game shares the baseline starting values. Far from it.

There are, for example, some NPCs with an abnormally high chance to Crit. Teremus the Devourer is a commonly cited example. When facing him, the same level of Defense skill that would eliminate Critical Hits on another mob would not fully eliminate Crits from him.
When hovering under the threshold of pushing negative effects off the table, if Critical Hits are not reduced to zero, Crushing Blows will be pushed off first, leaving remaining chance to Critically Hit as the last factor pushed off.
So if Teremus has 5% remaining chance to Crit after your Defense is factored in, and you can reach 92% up the table, there will remain 5% chance of receiving a Critical Hit and 3% of receiving a Crushing Blow.
Remember that Critical Hits (in melee) deal 200% damage, rather than 150% for Crushing Blows.

This is why reaching enough Defense to completely eliminate Critical Hits by your target is the FIRST priority for a tank, before even worrying about Crushing Blows or avoidance or any other mitigation whatsoever.


Conversely, many Dragons are observed to have abnormally high Parry ratings, resulting in many of the tank's attacks being avoided.
I don't recall if I've mentioned it already above, but it's worth restating....

Only attacks from the frontal arch can be Parried or Blocked.
By exposing your back to a target, you lose both these mitigation factors (including Holy Shield) against their attacks for that time.


This is why Melee DPS classes always stand behind their target, not just because of Cleaves, but because the target cannot use these mitigation stats against their attacks, they can only miss and get dodged.

Also note:
Ranged attacks cannot be Parried, but most melee-based elemental attacks can.
You cannot Parry if you have no weapon equipped or it breaks.
You cannot Parry while casting a spell with a casting time, such as a heal.

You can Block most ranged attacks and all melee attacks, but Block is ineffective against most Elemental attacks.
You cannot Block while mounted. You cannot Block while drinking a potion.
You cannot Block while casting a spell with a casting time, such as a heal.

Currently, you cannot Block while casting an instant spell, such as Judgment, where your shield is briefly stowed on your back. This is being corrected in the Test Realm Patch Notes.

Also, if you’ve ever wondered why you saw a blocked critical hit once in Warsong Gulch…

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Q u o t e:
Players can Block a Critical Strike from special abilities. This means that special attacks from Players can be Blocked. Creatures are incapable of landing a Critical Strike with a special ability, however, and Defense effectively removes Critical Strikes from environmental content.

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(Credit: Ciderhelm, Cenarius)

RESILIENCE

Resilience still works in PvE encounters, reducing opponents' chance to critically hit. It does not provide any of the avoidance or the crushing blow-pushing stats that Defense also provides at the same time, however.
It is not considered a cost-effective use of item value to stack it for this and other reasons


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Download:

To plug in your own current stats, or compare to your dream gear’s stats, try downloading this spreadsheet for Paladin Crushing Blow mitigation to see how close you are:
(Created by Pnuts of Lethon)

http://files.filefront.com/PallyMitigationxls/;7395763;/fileinfo.html


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Download:

To experiment with a programmed simulation of tanking comparing a Paladin, a Warrior, and a Druid, download this file:

http://files.filefront.com/tanksimv3jar/;7395959;/fileinfo.html


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TAUNTING

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Q u o t e:
[Righteous Defense is a Taunt] ability that defies all regular threat abilities and is regularly used by tanks. It does three things:

You gain as much threat as the person currently holding aggo

It gives you aggro

It forces the NPC to attack you for three seconds

Note that the latter two are not the same thing. A third person could get 110% of your threat during the first three seconds and not recieve aggro due to the taunt debuff on the target. However, when that time expires, it grabs aggro as usual.

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(Credit: Lavina, The Venture Co.)

Righteous Defense’s “forces the target to attack you” effect works on Player Pets used by Hunters and Warlocks, and to some extent by Shamans and Priests, as well as on pets summoned through use of trinkets or other items.


SPELL HIT AND TAUNTING

A brief note about Spell Hit with regards to Righteous Defense (Taunt):

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Q u o t e:
Taunt falls under the rules of Spell Resistance. For the purposes of this game, if there are any critical Taunt fights such as the Four Horsemen of Naxxramas, getting 5% Spell Hit will minimize the chance of resists.

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(credit: Ciderhelm, Cenarius)

In this way, it is subject to the same Miss Chance Formula as an actual attack. A "missed" spell comes up as a "Resist".
It is not necessary to stack Spell Hit under normal circumstances, unless it is a very, very precise, Taunt-dependant encounter. Simply be aware of the mechanic.




RIGHTEOUS DEFENSE MACRO:

The macro to allow you to target your enemy and cast Righteous Defense effectively on it so it comes to you is:

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Q u o t e:

/cast [help][target = targettarget, help] Righteous Defense

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THREAT AND AGGRO MODIFIERS AND BEHAVIOR

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Q u o t e:
Threat is defined as the numerical value of hatred an NPC has towards a player; it saves these numbers on a threat list.
Aggro is defined as the possession of NPC attention.

While threat and aggro are often related, they are not the same thing.


Aggro is generated by entering or triggering an NPC's aggro radius or by applying threat to a target by means of offensive abilities, healing or buffing. Some instanced bosses apply everyone in the zone to their threat lists automatically to avoid exploits. As long as you are on a threat list, you are considered to be in combat. The list will have reset itself when you leave combat, or an instance.

"Area of Effect" threat done by buffs, healing and mana/rage/energy-bar is divided by all creatures that have the player in their threat lists. [text break]

As a commonly used rule to standardize threat levels, 1 damage is set to 1 threat. 2 healing is 1 threat.
Overhealing causes no threat, only effective healing.

Many abilities have innate threat or adapted threat factors as part of bringing balance and variety to the game.

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(Credit: Kenco, Aman' thul)

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Q u o t e:
Pulling and Holding Aggro (100/110/130 Rule)
Tank (Baseline) _____________________ 100%

Melee Range Aggro Gain ______________ 110%

Ranged Aggro Gain ___________________ 130%

The above chart represents the balance of when a player will pull aggro from the tank.

To get aggro, a player in melee range must exceed the total threat of the current player with aggro by 10%. If the player is at a range, they would have to produce 30% more threat to fully gain aggro.

This has some important implications.
First, it gives you breathing room to miss a few attacks and not instantly lose aggro -- that seems to be the purpose of the 10% rule.
Second, it means that ranged classes take a heavy risk by moving into melee range with a large amount of threat built up -- the mob will instantly change targets to a ranged target that moves into melee.
Third, this means that tank switching can be difficult in some cases.

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(Credit: Ciderhelm, Cenarius)

THREAT INCREASES

For Warriors and Druids, all modifiers that affect threat increases are additive -- meaning, Defiance and Defensive Stance produce a full 45% increase in threat.
~~~~~~~
However, Paladins uniquely enjoy the benefit of multiplicative stacking of our threat increases, making for mathematically better scaling of our threat generation.
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What this means is that in Holy Shield for example, the 190% threat modifier on holy damage we gain through Righteous Fury combines with the 35% innate threat bonus of Holy Shield to gain a 256.5% multiplier of the threat done by Holy Shield, instead of the 225% increase it would receive if the bonuses stacked additively.

Paladins are the only class with threat increases that are multiplicative, not additive.


THREAT REDUCTIONS & INVULNERABILITY SHIELDS

All modifiers that decrease threat are multiplicative.

Divine Shield does not wipe aggro. It temporarily removes you from the threat list for its duration, restoring you to your previous threat level when the spell’s duration finishes.
Actions taken while under the effect of an invulnerability shield do not add to your threat while the invulnerability shield lasts, but ARE counted and the threat generated will be apparent when the effects of the shield end.
(For example: If a tank were to cast Divine Shield on himself, run into a group of demons and cast Holy Wrath, they would remain at zero threat on all the demons, allowing a heal cast by another party member to draw aggro on them, but if the tank removes the Divine Shield buff they will instantly gain the threat their Holy Wrath generated and the demons would switch targets to him.)

You CAN hold aggro while affected by Divine Shield by using Righteous Defense, but only for the duration of the taunt debuff.

Blessing of Protection also temporarily removes the recipient from the threat list, even if the enemy mob is a spell caster.

Dying wipes all threat.

Being the recipient of Divine Intervention wipes all threat.

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BODY PULLING

Pulling (being the first who a mob attacks) does not generate any threat in itself, but other players need to beat your threat (even if 0) by 10% to get aggro from the mob. In the case of only having proximity aggro, 1 threat would be required to pull off you. One cannot merely proximity aggro off of someone who proximity aggroed.

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HEALING THREAT

1 point of healing causes 50% of the threat of 1 point of damage.

Paladins have an innate passive reduction causing heals they cast to cause 50% of the threat the same amount of healing normally would.
This means that it requires 4 points of healing from a paladin to generate an equal amount of threat as 1 point of damage.

When a tank hold multiple mobs, the threat of a heal on the tank will be split between all the mobs. The exact formula is not yet known, but it is more than the Threat/number of mobs. So if a tank holds 5 mobs and receives a heal, the threat on each mob will be less than Threat = (0.5 heal)/5. Current speculation is Threat = (0.5 heal)/(num of mobs x 2)

Paladin heals gain the benefit of Righteous Fury.

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AVENGERS SHIELD MACRO:

For pulling with Avenger's Shield, I use this macro (prevents spam if I target nothing or a friendly):

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Q u o t e:
/cast [harm] Avenger's Shield
/stopmacro [noharm]
/s Pulling %t

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Reserved-
Avengers Shield Chaining Behavior mechanics and combat usage