about me
Hi I'm Ryken!
I started playing on Warmane's Lordaeron realm in January of 2024. You could say that I'm a paladin enthusiast...
Guild History
< Storm Peaks Ski Patrol >
25/03/21 — 25/05/16
< The Drunk Shark >
25/05/23 — 25/08/10
< Heroes of the Heavens >
25/04/19 — NOW
< Storm Peaks Ski Patrol >
25/08/10 — WE ARE SO BACK
25/03/21 — 25/05/16
< The Drunk Shark >
25/05/23 — 25/08/10
< Heroes of the Heavens >
25/04/19 — NOW
< Storm Peaks Ski Patrol >
25/08/10 — WE ARE SO BACK
introduction
This is a guide that works off of the assumption that you are off-tanking alongside a BDK main tank (most common comp you'll run into). You will also require at least a surface-level knowledge of most fights, as this will be about tank specifics and not basic mechanics.
As a preface, I would say number one most important thing for tanking is getting comfortable making calls, and having those calls be as succinct as possible. In general, the calls you make as a tank will be ones relating to either A) defensives or B) threat. Mention who should use what ability on whom and when. "Player 1 (use) Salv (on) Player 2 (now)." If you generalize, people will either double up or not use any cooldown.
In addition, if you call for something on the spot without giving people time to process the information (1-2 seconds at least) most people will be late to react. Big difference between "Oh shit, boss is about to hit me with Big Ability (in 0.5 seconds), quick, quick, Hand Sac me now, I'm out of—ah, I died. Why didn't you do what I told you to do?" and "For the next Big Ability (about 10 seconds left until the cast) I will need a Pain Sup. Big Ability in 3 seconds... Pain Sup now."
Even if you mess stuff up, if you work on your communication skills, they will take you very, very far. People absolutely loooove a tank who makes good calls (because most tanks do not, in fact, make good calls). But this is something you will continuously improve on the more you play in various groups so don't stress over it too much.
As a preface, I would say number one most important thing for tanking is getting comfortable making calls, and having those calls be as succinct as possible. In general, the calls you make as a tank will be ones relating to either A) defensives or B) threat. Mention who should use what ability on whom and when. "Player 1 (use) Salv (on) Player 2 (now)." If you generalize, people will either double up or not use any cooldown.
In addition, if you call for something on the spot without giving people time to process the information (1-2 seconds at least) most people will be late to react. Big difference between "Oh shit, boss is about to hit me with Big Ability (in 0.5 seconds), quick, quick, Hand Sac me now, I'm out of—ah, I died. Why didn't you do what I told you to do?" and "For the next Big Ability (about 10 seconds left until the cast) I will need a Pain Sup. Big Ability in 3 seconds... Pain Sup now."
Even if you mess stuff up, if you work on your communication skills, they will take you very, very far. People absolutely loooove a tank who makes good calls (because most tanks do not, in fact, make good calls). But this is something you will continuously improve on the more you play in various groups so don't stress over it too much.
lord marrowgar
Blah blah
lady deathwhisper
Blah blah
gunship
As prot paladin, you stay on the ship and deal with the adds that spawn from the portal. Drop Consecration when portal appears, use Hammer of the Righteous once a few of them spawn. So on and so forth. If your group is nice enough to leave some adds between portals and Saurfang gets to generate stacks throughout the fight, you can just let him tank instead, making your job even easier somehow.
Neat trick: you can Righteous Defense off of RDPS who have aggro on the gunners on the enemy ship to redirect their damage to you. This only spares them for the initial duration of Righteous Defense as you're unable to actually attack said gunners and build additional aggro on them—but it's better than nothing.
You don't need personal defensives on this fight but you might be called to use your Hand Sac or D Sac for the other tank prior to a jump.
Neat trick: you can Righteous Defense off of RDPS who have aggro on the gunners on the enemy ship to redirect their damage to you. This only spares them for the initial duration of Righteous Defense as you're unable to actually attack said gunners and build additional aggro on them—but it's better than nothing.
You don't need personal defensives on this fight but you might be called to use your Hand Sac or D Sac for the other tank prior to a jump.
deathbringer saurfang
Blah blah
festergut
Tank the boss in the middle of the room with its back to the door. As a tank, your primary concerns are Gastric Bloat, Inhale Blight and Pungent Blight.
Gastric Bloat is a simple tank swap/stack reset mechanic. Throughout the fight, you gain a stacking "debuff" that increases the damage you deal by 10% per stack. Upon reaching 10 stacks you explode and wipe the raid. So, in theory, if you are running two tanks, you swap when one of you reaches 9 stacks. This will occur at the same time as Pungent Blight (= boss farts after a 3 sec cast and deals massive shadow damage to everyone). Whoever is swapping in can taunt during the spell cast to give time for the healers to adjust.
I would say tank swapping on Pungent is ideal regardless of stack number, as that can vary depending on how your group plays the fight. If BDK is taking the boss at start, they have the option to AMS a couple of Gastric Bloat stacks. This technically means they can tank beyond Pungent if necessary, however this entirely depends on their cooldown usage. Around the time the first tank is supposed to reach 5-6 stacks, the boss will cast Inhale Blight, increasing its damage and attack speed by 30%. This is when you start using cooldowns and asking for externals. So, even if the BDK manages to negate stacks and delay the explosion, they might run out of cooldowns/burn through externals, in which case a tank swap is necessary.
Melees can also taunt the boss for a split second (which is something that requires awareness of the boss' swing timer) to receive stacks, cheesing the overpowered damage increase for the benefit of the group. This would also result in the active tank having less than 9 stacks on Pungent.
If you take the boss at start: Open with wings → D Prot right after Inhale Blight → ask for Pain Sup when D Prot runs out → ask for Hand Sac when Pain Sup runs out → D Sac on Pungent and wait for the other tank to taunt → remove Righteous Fury to avoid ripping aggro with your 90% damage increase and begin stacking with the melee. Be ready to give your Hand Sac to the BDK if called for.
If you are swapping in as the second tank: Wait for the call to tank swap (most likely during Pungent) → taunt the boss and pop wings → cycle through the same cooldowns as mentioned above. You'll most likely not need all of them, as the boss will die before a second Pungent in the majority of cases (unless you're edging Berserk).
If you are solo-tanking: You cannot use D Prot as you will need to save your Forebearance to reset your stacks with Divine Shield. Be aware of what externals you can ask for (Pain Sup, Hand Sac, D Sac, Improved Lay on Hands) and how you want to stagger them. Upon reaching 9 stacks, wait for Pungent cast to begin, then use a cancel aura macro to reset your Gastric Bloat stacks.
/cancelaura Divine Shield
/cast Divine Shield
The main mechanic for the rest of the group is managing Gas Spores, which both deal shadow damage when they explode and provide a resistance to blight. This only affects you as the active tank if one of the spores happens to be on you, in which case you will have to move closer to the melee to help with the distribution of spores (tank spore becomes the melee spore → if there is melee spore, it moves to ranged).
You can use Sindy Fang to absorb some of the fart cloud/spore explosion damage.
Gastric Bloat is a simple tank swap/stack reset mechanic. Throughout the fight, you gain a stacking "debuff" that increases the damage you deal by 10% per stack. Upon reaching 10 stacks you explode and wipe the raid. So, in theory, if you are running two tanks, you swap when one of you reaches 9 stacks. This will occur at the same time as Pungent Blight (= boss farts after a 3 sec cast and deals massive shadow damage to everyone). Whoever is swapping in can taunt during the spell cast to give time for the healers to adjust.
I would say tank swapping on Pungent is ideal regardless of stack number, as that can vary depending on how your group plays the fight. If BDK is taking the boss at start, they have the option to AMS a couple of Gastric Bloat stacks. This technically means they can tank beyond Pungent if necessary, however this entirely depends on their cooldown usage. Around the time the first tank is supposed to reach 5-6 stacks, the boss will cast Inhale Blight, increasing its damage and attack speed by 30%. This is when you start using cooldowns and asking for externals. So, even if the BDK manages to negate stacks and delay the explosion, they might run out of cooldowns/burn through externals, in which case a tank swap is necessary.
Melees can also taunt the boss for a split second (which is something that requires awareness of the boss' swing timer) to receive stacks, cheesing the overpowered damage increase for the benefit of the group. This would also result in the active tank having less than 9 stacks on Pungent.
If you take the boss at start: Open with wings → D Prot right after Inhale Blight → ask for Pain Sup when D Prot runs out → ask for Hand Sac when Pain Sup runs out → D Sac on Pungent and wait for the other tank to taunt → remove Righteous Fury to avoid ripping aggro with your 90% damage increase and begin stacking with the melee. Be ready to give your Hand Sac to the BDK if called for.
If you are swapping in as the second tank: Wait for the call to tank swap (most likely during Pungent) → taunt the boss and pop wings → cycle through the same cooldowns as mentioned above. You'll most likely not need all of them, as the boss will die before a second Pungent in the majority of cases (unless you're edging Berserk).
If you are solo-tanking: You cannot use D Prot as you will need to save your Forebearance to reset your stacks with Divine Shield. Be aware of what externals you can ask for (Pain Sup, Hand Sac, D Sac, Improved Lay on Hands) and how you want to stagger them. Upon reaching 9 stacks, wait for Pungent cast to begin, then use a cancel aura macro to reset your Gastric Bloat stacks.
/cancelaura Divine Shield
/cast Divine Shield
The main mechanic for the rest of the group is managing Gas Spores, which both deal shadow damage when they explode and provide a resistance to blight. This only affects you as the active tank if one of the spores happens to be on you, in which case you will have to move closer to the melee to help with the distribution of spores (tank spore becomes the melee spore → if there is melee spore, it moves to ranged).
You can use Sindy Fang to absorb some of the fart cloud/spore explosion damage.
rotface
Blah blah
professor putricide
Shitting on my pp movement
blood prince council
You stand here, at the top middle of the stairs. Your job is to tank both Valanar and Taldaram (unless you are a special prot paladin who is on Keleseth duty, in which case I sadly cannot help you). Your primary target should always be the currently active boss. If you are experienced enough with the positioning part of the fight, you can learn to alternate Judgements between them. Your goal with this is to keep Vindication (= reduced attack power) up on both of them. Use Seal of Vengeance on this fight as you are only dealing with two targets and can comfortably keep your stacks up on both of them.
You'll want to open with either D Prot or wings. I would say it depends on the group you're playing with. If you're freshly progressing HC or your healers are lacking in gear/not that confident, go with D Prot. If you as the prot paladin are lacking in gear for the aim you're doing, also open with D Prot. If you're playing in a stable core, are essentially overgeared for the fight, and have heavy melee burst at start, go with wings. You'll want to weigh whether you value survivability or threat generation.
On HC, excessive movement is punished by a stacking debuff (= Shadow Prison), so aim to move as little as possible.
VALANAR ACTIVE
Movement: Prior to the first target switch, you won't need to move at all. Even while the other bosses are active, you will want to try and stay at this spot as best as possible. This is because if Valanar becomes active for a second time, you will need to return to your original position. If this is impossible due to unlucky vortexes, stabilize elswhere and communicate this to the raid so they know to spread from you.
Because Taldaram gets MD'd to you at a side angle, when he casts Glittering Sparks (= dispellable magic debuff that deals damage over time and slows targets), it will get applied to everyone in front of him in a cone, meaning a portion of the melee will get hit. This should get dealt with via Mass Dispel, but sometimes that misses a few people. You can help and individually Cleanse both yourself and other strays with the debuff. At the end of the day, this is not your job. But you can be nice every once in a while.
Usually for the first spread (= Empowered Shock Vortex) you'll want to use your D Sac. If instructed otherwise, use it elsewhere during the fight.
TALDARAM ACTIVE
Movement: Turn both bosses 180° to face them away from the raid. Melee will reposition stairside behind the bosses. While passive, Valanar will cast small, non-empowered vortexes near random players. This can happen near melee. You should reposition accordingly, in a way that doesn't outrange your healers. If you can move towards the other tank, do so.
While active, Taldaram casts a flame orb (= Conjure Empowered Flame) at a random person in the raid. Ranged and healers will be grouped up roughly in the middle, with the melee acting as a buffer between them and the flame orb. The orb travels towards the target and deals damage to everyone else in its path, spreading the damage around. You can use your Sindy Fang to take less damage from the initial hit you soak right after a cast.
KELESETH ACTIVE
Movement: Keep bosses turned away so Glittering Sparks only hits you. If there is a vortex, you move. Otherwise stay stationary.
If it is off cooldown, you might want to use your D Prot here. Generally healers will be more focused on the other tank and the raid as a whole, since people need to move to get to Keleseth. Healers preoccupied = taking more damage = good point in the fight to use a defensive. If you blew your D Prot already, you can also ask for Pain Sup.
This is also where your uptime of Vindication becomes more important, since retris will be hitting a different target.
FAQ
Help! Someone is about to bump me!
Call them out. It is their job to move from you, not the other way around.
I got bumped by someone/something and had to move through no fault of my own. What do I do now?
Focus on resetting your stacks. Once in a good position to move again, get back to your spot as quickly as possible. Continuously move and then hard stop, don't inch forward little by little.
You'll want to open with either D Prot or wings. I would say it depends on the group you're playing with. If you're freshly progressing HC or your healers are lacking in gear/not that confident, go with D Prot. If you as the prot paladin are lacking in gear for the aim you're doing, also open with D Prot. If you're playing in a stable core, are essentially overgeared for the fight, and have heavy melee burst at start, go with wings. You'll want to weigh whether you value survivability or threat generation.
On HC, excessive movement is punished by a stacking debuff (= Shadow Prison), so aim to move as little as possible.
VALANAR ACTIVE
Movement: Prior to the first target switch, you won't need to move at all. Even while the other bosses are active, you will want to try and stay at this spot as best as possible. This is because if Valanar becomes active for a second time, you will need to return to your original position. If this is impossible due to unlucky vortexes, stabilize elswhere and communicate this to the raid so they know to spread from you.
Because Taldaram gets MD'd to you at a side angle, when he casts Glittering Sparks (= dispellable magic debuff that deals damage over time and slows targets), it will get applied to everyone in front of him in a cone, meaning a portion of the melee will get hit. This should get dealt with via Mass Dispel, but sometimes that misses a few people. You can help and individually Cleanse both yourself and other strays with the debuff. At the end of the day, this is not your job. But you can be nice every once in a while.
Usually for the first spread (= Empowered Shock Vortex) you'll want to use your D Sac. If instructed otherwise, use it elsewhere during the fight.
TALDARAM ACTIVE
Movement: Turn both bosses 180° to face them away from the raid. Melee will reposition stairside behind the bosses. While passive, Valanar will cast small, non-empowered vortexes near random players. This can happen near melee. You should reposition accordingly, in a way that doesn't outrange your healers. If you can move towards the other tank, do so.
While active, Taldaram casts a flame orb (= Conjure Empowered Flame) at a random person in the raid. Ranged and healers will be grouped up roughly in the middle, with the melee acting as a buffer between them and the flame orb. The orb travels towards the target and deals damage to everyone else in its path, spreading the damage around. You can use your Sindy Fang to take less damage from the initial hit you soak right after a cast.
KELESETH ACTIVE
Movement: Keep bosses turned away so Glittering Sparks only hits you. If there is a vortex, you move. Otherwise stay stationary.
If it is off cooldown, you might want to use your D Prot here. Generally healers will be more focused on the other tank and the raid as a whole, since people need to move to get to Keleseth. Healers preoccupied = taking more damage = good point in the fight to use a defensive. If you blew your D Prot already, you can also ask for Pain Sup.
This is also where your uptime of Vindication becomes more important, since retris will be hitting a different target.
FAQ
Help! Someone is about to bump me!
Call them out. It is their job to move from you, not the other way around.
I got bumped by someone/something and had to move through no fault of my own. What do I do now?
Focus on resetting your stacks. Once in a good position to move again, get back to your spot as quickly as possible. Continuously move and then hard stop, don't inch forward little by little.
blood-queen lana'thel
Use double armor trinkets for this fight. I like to go for PTS + Organ.
Have your butt to the wall.
Have your butt to the wall.
valithria dreamwalker
You tank Abominations. You dispel yourself if they spit on you. You pop Consecration when worms are coming out. You use Lay on Hands on the boss during Bloodlust. That is it.
sindragosa
If you are able to utilize frost resist gear on this fight, do so. On HC you need either expertise hard cap (56) or strong mitigation gear.
PHASE 1
Hand Sac the main tank 1 sec before pull. First Frost Breath happens 10 sec into the fight, your Hand Sac lasts 12 sec (11 sec useful uptime in this case, if you do it a bit early to cover the initial swing as the boss becomes active). This allows the other tank save cooldowns for later. You are able to do this for every second landing.
In general though, you play with the melee group. Don't get hit by tail swipe. Don't overstack Chilled to the Bone. Keep Vindication up on the boss.
Use your D Sac depending on a previously discussed cooldown order or as called for. This can be for Blistering Cold or tombs in the flight phase.
Every time the boss takes off for flight phase, you Hand of Freedom the BDK as soon as possible. Taking a Frost Breath decreases their movement speed by 15% for an entire minute. Not an issue while actively tanking the boss, but at the start of the flight phase, they have to move to the rest of the raid.
PHASE 2
Mystic Buffet (= stacking debuff that increases the magic damage you take by 20% per application) gets introduced to the fight. This gets applied every 6 sec if in line of sight of the boss. It multiplies the damage you take from every ability you've experienced in P1. Hide behind tombs to destack.
Important sidenote specifically for tanking: the breaths happening in P1 and P2 have different spell ID's. In P1. breaths deal more baseline damage, but this damage is a static amount, hence why no tank swaps are required. In P2, breaths deal less damage but become more dangerous the longer you tank the boss (due to your exposure to Mystic Buffet). What this also means is that if you take a breath in P2 with only 1-2 stacks, you can get away with not using a cooldown.
Because it is a dynamic fight with plenty of variables (what cooldowns the other tank has, what externals are available, which healer has Unchained, who is getting tombed), tank swaps happen when tanks decide they should happen. Sometimes overstacking is simply unavoidable due to bad luck.
As prot paladin, you can take up to two breaths comfortably, anything beyond that is pushing it. Your main job on the fight is to take the boss until the BDK can reset their stacks and resume tanking, not to tank the boss for extended periods of time. When it's time for you to take the boss, use Divine Plea (with 4-set bonus) and taunt before the upcoming tomb happens (you cannot be selected if you have the boss on you).
Use Sindy Fang for the first breath you take and D Prot for the second (stagger your cooldowns from small → big). If you need to take a Blistering on top of this, ask for an external or do the risky thing and run out then nitro back in. I personally dislike doing the latter because it can mess with the positioning.
PHASE 1
Hand Sac the main tank 1 sec before pull. First Frost Breath happens 10 sec into the fight, your Hand Sac lasts 12 sec (11 sec useful uptime in this case, if you do it a bit early to cover the initial swing as the boss becomes active). This allows the other tank save cooldowns for later. You are able to do this for every second landing.
In general though, you play with the melee group. Don't get hit by tail swipe. Don't overstack Chilled to the Bone. Keep Vindication up on the boss.
Use your D Sac depending on a previously discussed cooldown order or as called for. This can be for Blistering Cold or tombs in the flight phase.
Every time the boss takes off for flight phase, you Hand of Freedom the BDK as soon as possible. Taking a Frost Breath decreases their movement speed by 15% for an entire minute. Not an issue while actively tanking the boss, but at the start of the flight phase, they have to move to the rest of the raid.
PHASE 2
Mystic Buffet (= stacking debuff that increases the magic damage you take by 20% per application) gets introduced to the fight. This gets applied every 6 sec if in line of sight of the boss. It multiplies the damage you take from every ability you've experienced in P1. Hide behind tombs to destack.
Important sidenote specifically for tanking: the breaths happening in P1 and P2 have different spell ID's. In P1. breaths deal more baseline damage, but this damage is a static amount, hence why no tank swaps are required. In P2, breaths deal less damage but become more dangerous the longer you tank the boss (due to your exposure to Mystic Buffet). What this also means is that if you take a breath in P2 with only 1-2 stacks, you can get away with not using a cooldown.
Because it is a dynamic fight with plenty of variables (what cooldowns the other tank has, what externals are available, which healer has Unchained, who is getting tombed), tank swaps happen when tanks decide they should happen. Sometimes overstacking is simply unavoidable due to bad luck.
As prot paladin, you can take up to two breaths comfortably, anything beyond that is pushing it. Your main job on the fight is to take the boss until the BDK can reset their stacks and resume tanking, not to tank the boss for extended periods of time. When it's time for you to take the boss, use Divine Plea (with 4-set bonus) and taunt before the upcoming tomb happens (you cannot be selected if you have the boss on you).
Use Sindy Fang for the first breath you take and D Prot for the second (stagger your cooldowns from small → big). If you need to take a Blistering on top of this, ask for an external or do the risky thing and run out then nitro back in. I personally dislike doing the latter because it can mess with the positioning.
the lich king
If you are able to utilize shadow resist gear on this fight, do so.
PHASE 1
Start the fight standing where melee are standing. Hand Sac the main tank 1 sec before pull and don't forget your pre-pot (P1 is hands down the most damage-intensive part of the fight for prot paladin). Start off with Seal of Vengeance and stack Corruption up on the boss before the first wave of ghouls spawn. When the boss is summoning the ghouls, swap to Seal of Command and pop wings. You can drop Consecration too. Try to gather aggro on the ghouls as best as you can before the first Shambling spawns. Righteous Defense off of whoever has aggro on the remaining ghouls. If aggro is split, prioritize grabbing the ones that are on a caster (can happen), then later grab the ones from melee. If you can't manage to grab them, just focus on the Shambling.
When the Shambling spawns, walk up to it and start attacking it. Hand of Reckoning once it's out of the ground, can throw your Avenger's Shield too but be mindful that this slows its movement. Always position Shamblings facing away from the raid so people don't eat Shockwave (= massive damage in a frontal cone that oneshots a non-tank).
NORMAL POSITIONING (LEFT): Slightly off to the side, between the melee and ranged groups.
HEROIC POSITIONING (RIGHT): In the middle, starting roughly from Tirion's ice tomb. Try to move only when necessary. This means either A) when you get a Shadow Trap (= pool of doom on the ground that throws you and everyone around you off the platform if you step in it) or B) when either the melee or ranged group are about to pass you due to getting too many Shadow Traps. You should always be the one in front to avoid hitting either groups with a Shockwave.
Once positioned, you will want to stun the first Shambling using Hammer of Justice before it could trigger its Enrage. This not just delays but straight up skips the first Enrage. Every subsequent Enrage will be dealt with by the hunter(s). After this, if you don't have enough ghouls on you, you want to mass taunt off of whichever melee has aggro on them. This will usually be a warrior or a retri, but it might even be a rogue. Again, if ghouls are moving to the ranged group, prioritize grabbing those first.
If a boomie pushes the ghouls all over the place (happens more often than you'd think) because they have one single ghoul attacking them and can't wait for a taunt, you are legally allowed to yell at them. Special pet peeve of mine.
We interrupt our regularly schedlued program to bring you an important message about Necrotic Plague.
[Necrotic Plague] infests the target with a deadly plague, causing 150000 Shadow damage every 5 sec for 15 sec. If the target dies while afflicted or the effect ends, this effect will gain an additional stack and jump to a nearby unit. If this effect is dispeled, it will lose a stack and jump to a nearby unit. Whenever this effect jumps, The Lich King's power will increase.
Necrotic appears on a random raid member. Their job is to transport the plague to the group of adds the off tank is dealing with. People should be able to reach you without having to use nitro, so always be within walking distance. Once they arrive at your position, it is your job as prot paladin to dispel them. You shouldn't want healers using their GCD for a dispel when they have more important things to do (such as... keeping you alive).
If you can clearly see that the person with Necrotic is not moving, don't risk losing someone and having to waste a combat ress—dispel them in the group. The plague will jump to a nearby raid member, who will then have to essentially do the other person's job and move out with the plague. Don't get too trigger happy with dispels though, you don't want it to jump around the raid for no reason. Every time Necrotic jumps, the boss gains a stacking buff. This means that constant early dispelling can kill your main tank.
Once dispelled from the targeted player near the adds, the plague will jump to either a ghoul or directly to the Shambling. If you don't have enough ghouls and are only dealing with the Shambling, the plague will jump onto you next. Necrotic jumping between ghouls due to them dying → increased Necrotic stacks → faster Shambling death. Necrotic jumping between the Shambling and the prot paladin → prot paladin needs to self-dispel → dispelling reduces Necrotic stacks → slower Shambling death. You should aim to have at least 3 ghouls on you at all times until the second Shambling spawns to have a buffer for Necrotic. If you play this first part correctly, it is unnecessary for you to take any more ghouls after grabbing the second Shambling.
For the second Shambling, you don't move from your position. You taunt and throw your shield and wait for it to come to you. If it spawns in melee, instruct the melee to stop cleaving, as they can rip aggro on it quite easily. To avoid overlapping Enrages, you want to Hammer the second Shambling as well as soon as it gets to you. This way hunters will have an easier job handling their Tranq Shots and you won't get overwhelmed with damage.
This is also the point where you'll want to start playing around with defensives depending on difficulty and the how the fight is playing out on the specific pull you're doing.
Points when you can D Prot:
If there is ever a third Shambling spawning right on transtion, it's a wipe.
Lastly, another ability that you will want to keep track of as a paladin is Infest (= raid-wide shadow damage at set intervals throughout P1 and P2). You will be asked to use D Sac for one of them. DBM numbers them for you. To avoid missing your cooldown due to an unfortunate GCD, if you know your assigned Infest is coming up, stop casting for a few seconds and wait it out. If there is no cooldown rotation for Infests, use on 3rd (first one after Bloodlust expires) or 6th (right before transition).
TRANSITION 1
Position yourself behind the ranged group if you are still dealing with adds. If a Shambling is still alive, pay close attention to your stuns, as hunters will be preoccupied with threat redirection on the Raging Spirits and might miss their Tranq Shots. If Hammer is on cooldown, use Holy Wrath. If you are completely out of stuns, you can swap to Seal of Justice and pray.
On HC it is possible that you will be left with a Shambling in Frenzy that won't die from just one tick of Necrotic. In this case you slow it with your shield and nitro away, hoping it dies before catching up to you. You will most definitely outrange healers by doing this so it is a bit of a gamble. DO NOT run if you still have Infest on you.
It is also entirely possible that the plague won't even kill the Shambling, in which case you need to stay in melee range for the plague to bounce onto you so you can get it back on the Shambling with a dispel. But this generally means that you didn't play P1 correctly and took too few ghouls. If the plague has no other entity to bounce onto after the duration expires on the Shambling, you lose the plague and it is a wipe.
For the actual transition: Once you are done dealing with the adds from P1, Necrotic will jump to you one last time. You dispel yourself away from people and then move to where the melee are standing. When the second Raging Spirit is spawning, you move out of the melee group and into tanking position.
Ragings have an ability called Soul Shriek.
[Soul Shriek] deals 42413 to 47587 Shadow damage to all enemies in a 15 yard cone in front of the caster, silencing them for 5 sec.
There are multiple ways to tank them. I'll explain one method now and a second, alternate one later. Something that applies to both is that as prot paladin, you want to be the tank standing closer to the inner platform to make your movement easier when phasing. You don't want to taxi Ragings through the entire group while trying to move in.
Ragings spawn on top of a random raid member. For the first tanking method, you let the BDK take every Raging initially, allowing them to build aggro. When they are about to tank two Ragings at once, you taunt the lower HP one off and angle it to the side (see second diagram). You want to avoid either tank eating two Shrieks in a row.
Shrieks are magic effects that (excluding suboptimal 10M comps) should always be dispelled by retri paladins. They need to prioritize BDK during transition and prot paladin after transition. If either tank is silenced for too long, Ragings might move to someone else in the raid and clap them, even through MD/ToT.
You can absorb some of the Shriek damage by using Sindy Fang, but don't use any big cooldowns during transition.
Once the edge of the platform begins breaking, you Righteous Defense every remaining Raging off the BDK so they can return to tanking the boss. Note that Righteous Defense only copies the BDK's threat and that you will need to build your own on top of that to have a solid grasp on the adds. I usually pop wings to help with that.
PHASE 2
If you take too many ghouls at the end of P1 and keep Necrotic bouncing throughout the transition phase, the boss can retain his stacking damage increase buff going into P2, as it will keep refreshing and ramping up. "Whenever this effect jumps, The Lich King's power will increase." If the main tank is unaware of this mechanic and resumes tanking without a cooldown active, they might get oneshot upon entering. Keep your eye on the boss and be prepared to take over if necessary (pretty rough situation if you still have multiple Ragings on you).
But let's say we have an ideal transition phase and don't have to improvise. Backpedal onto the platform as transition happens. Keep Ragings facing away from the group. Wait for all Shrieks to happen, then start moving to the middle during the Shriek cooldown window. You can turn them to the group while moving, but be extremely mindful of the timer for the upcoming Shriek.
If Ragings don't die before the first wave of valkyrs spawn, keep them perpendicular to the line of motion of the boss and the valks while strafing along with them. This is an insane sentence with many stupid words, so I will elaborate. If group stacking is done correctly, valks appear in the middle directly behind the boss and travel the shortest path to the perimeter of the platform. The boss then gets kited along with the valks in a straight line (granted there are no valks going in weird directions or unfortunate Defile placements). People will primarily target the valks while passive-cleaving the boss. If Ragings are still on you, you want to follow the general raid movement so they get cleaved down, while facing them away the moment they cast Shriek. Move → stop and turn 90° from raid → wait for Shriek to happen (can be delayed) → continue moving.
If you are unsure and only have low HP Ragings on you the moment phase 2 starts, you can keep them on the edge and wait for people to kill them before moving to the middle. This is safer, but requires full focus on the Ragings and puts you behind on boss damage.
SOUL REAPER
[The Lich King] strikes the target for 50% weapon damage and afflicts the target with Soul Reaper. This effect deals 70000 Shadow damage after 5 sec and increases the caster's haste by 100% for 5 sec.
The more practical explanation: Reaper in 1-2 sec → use cooldown (as a prot paladin, D Prot + Sindy Fang—you can macro them together for ease of use) → boss melee swing → Reaper hits directly after melee swing (this is important—if the swing doesn't happen because the boss is moving/casting, Reaper gets delayed, in which case you also delay your cooldown usage) → 5 sec pass → another massive hit → boss gains increased melee haste and starts clapping you hard. This all happens in the span of 10 sec, so if you time your cooldowns well, they will last through the entire duration (D Prot 12 sec / Sindy Fang 10 sec).
Most common Reaper tanking rotation (excludes non-ppal externals):
1st: BDK takes Reaper with BT + Vamp Blood + Sindy Fang /w Hand Sac from Prot Paladin. This overlaps with the first Defile so make sure you get your cooldown out before spreading too far.
2nd: Prot Paladin taunts while the boss is casting Infest (boss isn't attacking for a few seconds = gives healers a chance to process the tank swap) and takes Reaper with D Prot + Sindy Fang.
3rd: BDK taunts after 2nd valk wave dies and takes Reaper with BT + Vamp Blood + Sindy Fang /w D Sac from Prot Paladin. This overlaps with Infest so your D Sac should cover both.
4th: BDK takes Reaper with IBF.
5th: BDK takes Reaper with BT + Vamp Blood + Sindy Fang /w Hand Sac from Prot Paladin (same as 1st Reaper).
6th: Prot Paladin taunts and takes Reaper with D Prot + Sindy Fang (same as 2nd Reaper).
If you end up playing more Reapers, continue repeating cooldowns according to the rotation. Get into the habit of using your externals even on normal.
If you phase in a weird way, people might get grabbed by valks and then dropped onto the outer platform. You can HOP them as the valk starts flying up, and your HOP will last until they safely land after being dropped. You can also spam HOP as they are falling to apply it as soon as they get in your range but that is a tad more risky. Just be aware that this is something you'll potentially have to do.
TRANSITION 2
Generally same as first transition but you're not forced to lag behind and deal with Shamblings. Yay!
Time to explain the second method for tanking Ragings. The only significant change is which tank takes which Raging. Prot paladin takes 1st → BDK takes 2nd + 3rd → prot paladin takes 4th (by this time 1st one should be dead) → Righteous Defense off of BDK when moving in and carry on the same way as first method. Slightly altered, might be more to your taste. Just make sure you communicate your intentions prior to the fight so MD and ToT go to the correct target.
PHASE 3
You stay on the edge after moving in with the Ragings. The boss will also get moved to the edge, ideally within cleaving distance of the Ragings. You will stay there until the boss begins casting Vile Spirits. While he is casting, the main tank will start moving to the direct opposite side (creating the biggest possible distance from the spirits). If Ragings persist, kite them along with the boss while keeping them turned away from the group according to Shriek timers.
In P3, Reapers happen following the first melee swing to the target after either A) Vile Spirits cast or B) exiting a room (HC-only). If the boss is casting and has to run up to the tank afterwards, Reaper will only land after the first hit. This will affect how you give externals to the BDK.
When the spirits descend, the raid should be stacked behind the boss so they move in a predictable direction and are easy to soak. If they reach someone, they explode and deal shadow damage. Your job as Prot Paladin is to soak them (= walk into them and purposefully explode them so they damage you instead of other people). You can visualize it as you putting yourself between the group and the damage, acting as a shield (very cool, very paladin). Boomies will help you by pushing the spirits to the ground using Typhoon. You can also taunt spirits but be careful not to taunt the boss by accident. Definitely not speaking from experience...
Most common soaking cooldowns:
If you are out of cooldowns and don't want to risk soaking without one, you can ask other people to soak as well. This can mean SP with Dispersion, retri with Divine Shield, warrior with Shield Wall, DK with AMS/army... many options at your disposal. But generally speaking you are able to do 80% of soaking all on your own.
You might be asked to take a Reaper in P3, in which case you swap roles and the BDK will soak in your place. Generally, everywhere aside from 25HC, this shouldn't happen.
IN CASE OF ENRAGE, BREAK GLASS
You can in fact recover from someone dying in a room. You can also kill the boss after he has hit Berserk. Number one most important thing is that you don't panic and simply assess the situation. You essentially want to kite out the duration of the Enrage. In case of Berserk, you want to kite for as long as humanly possible.
Sort of a weird interaction on HC is that if two people die in the room, the Enrage doesn't happen. In theory it should halve the Enrage time, but for whatever reason it negates it entirely and the boss will not be Enraged for a single second upon exiting. You can use this to your advantage by sacrificing a second person if someone happens to die in the room. Your best candidate for this is a shaman with Ankh.
PHASE 1
Start the fight standing where melee are standing. Hand Sac the main tank 1 sec before pull and don't forget your pre-pot (P1 is hands down the most damage-intensive part of the fight for prot paladin). Start off with Seal of Vengeance and stack Corruption up on the boss before the first wave of ghouls spawn. When the boss is summoning the ghouls, swap to Seal of Command and pop wings. You can drop Consecration too. Try to gather aggro on the ghouls as best as you can before the first Shambling spawns. Righteous Defense off of whoever has aggro on the remaining ghouls. If aggro is split, prioritize grabbing the ones that are on a caster (can happen), then later grab the ones from melee. If you can't manage to grab them, just focus on the Shambling.
When the Shambling spawns, walk up to it and start attacking it. Hand of Reckoning once it's out of the ground, can throw your Avenger's Shield too but be mindful that this slows its movement. Always position Shamblings facing away from the raid so people don't eat Shockwave (= massive damage in a frontal cone that oneshots a non-tank).
NORMAL POSITIONING (LEFT): Slightly off to the side, between the melee and ranged groups.
HEROIC POSITIONING (RIGHT): In the middle, starting roughly from Tirion's ice tomb. Try to move only when necessary. This means either A) when you get a Shadow Trap (= pool of doom on the ground that throws you and everyone around you off the platform if you step in it) or B) when either the melee or ranged group are about to pass you due to getting too many Shadow Traps. You should always be the one in front to avoid hitting either groups with a Shockwave.
Once positioned, you will want to stun the first Shambling using Hammer of Justice before it could trigger its Enrage. This not just delays but straight up skips the first Enrage. Every subsequent Enrage will be dealt with by the hunter(s). After this, if you don't have enough ghouls on you, you want to mass taunt off of whichever melee has aggro on them. This will usually be a warrior or a retri, but it might even be a rogue. Again, if ghouls are moving to the ranged group, prioritize grabbing those first.
If a boomie pushes the ghouls all over the place (happens more often than you'd think) because they have one single ghoul attacking them and can't wait for a taunt, you are legally allowed to yell at them. Special pet peeve of mine.
We interrupt our regularly schedlued program to bring you an important message about Necrotic Plague.
[Necrotic Plague] infests the target with a deadly plague, causing 150000 Shadow damage every 5 sec for 15 sec. If the target dies while afflicted or the effect ends, this effect will gain an additional stack and jump to a nearby unit. If this effect is dispeled, it will lose a stack and jump to a nearby unit. Whenever this effect jumps, The Lich King's power will increase.
Necrotic appears on a random raid member. Their job is to transport the plague to the group of adds the off tank is dealing with. People should be able to reach you without having to use nitro, so always be within walking distance. Once they arrive at your position, it is your job as prot paladin to dispel them. You shouldn't want healers using their GCD for a dispel when they have more important things to do (such as... keeping you alive).
If you can clearly see that the person with Necrotic is not moving, don't risk losing someone and having to waste a combat ress—dispel them in the group. The plague will jump to a nearby raid member, who will then have to essentially do the other person's job and move out with the plague. Don't get too trigger happy with dispels though, you don't want it to jump around the raid for no reason. Every time Necrotic jumps, the boss gains a stacking buff. This means that constant early dispelling can kill your main tank.
Once dispelled from the targeted player near the adds, the plague will jump to either a ghoul or directly to the Shambling. If you don't have enough ghouls and are only dealing with the Shambling, the plague will jump onto you next. Necrotic jumping between ghouls due to them dying → increased Necrotic stacks → faster Shambling death. Necrotic jumping between the Shambling and the prot paladin → prot paladin needs to self-dispel → dispelling reduces Necrotic stacks → slower Shambling death. You should aim to have at least 3 ghouls on you at all times until the second Shambling spawns to have a buffer for Necrotic. If you play this first part correctly, it is unnecessary for you to take any more ghouls after grabbing the second Shambling.
For the second Shambling, you don't move from your position. You taunt and throw your shield and wait for it to come to you. If it spawns in melee, instruct the melee to stop cleaving, as they can rip aggro on it quite easily. To avoid overlapping Enrages, you want to Hammer the second Shambling as well as soon as it gets to you. This way hunters will have an easier job handling their Tranq Shots and you won't get overwhelmed with damage.
This is also the point where you'll want to start playing around with defensives depending on difficulty and the how the fight is playing out on the specific pull you're doing.
Points when you can D Prot:
- There are two active Shamblings attacking you (so when the Hammer wears off from the second one).
- The first Shambling hits Frenzy (HC-only permanent Enrage).
- Healer is moving with Necrotic (mostly relevant in a 10M setting).
- During first transition if you are still dealing with a Shambling (healers will sometimes forget about you and you might not have a stun available).
If there is ever a third Shambling spawning right on transtion, it's a wipe.
Lastly, another ability that you will want to keep track of as a paladin is Infest (= raid-wide shadow damage at set intervals throughout P1 and P2). You will be asked to use D Sac for one of them. DBM numbers them for you. To avoid missing your cooldown due to an unfortunate GCD, if you know your assigned Infest is coming up, stop casting for a few seconds and wait it out. If there is no cooldown rotation for Infests, use on 3rd (first one after Bloodlust expires) or 6th (right before transition).
TRANSITION 1
Position yourself behind the ranged group if you are still dealing with adds. If a Shambling is still alive, pay close attention to your stuns, as hunters will be preoccupied with threat redirection on the Raging Spirits and might miss their Tranq Shots. If Hammer is on cooldown, use Holy Wrath. If you are completely out of stuns, you can swap to Seal of Justice and pray.
On HC it is possible that you will be left with a Shambling in Frenzy that won't die from just one tick of Necrotic. In this case you slow it with your shield and nitro away, hoping it dies before catching up to you. You will most definitely outrange healers by doing this so it is a bit of a gamble. DO NOT run if you still have Infest on you.
It is also entirely possible that the plague won't even kill the Shambling, in which case you need to stay in melee range for the plague to bounce onto you so you can get it back on the Shambling with a dispel. But this generally means that you didn't play P1 correctly and took too few ghouls. If the plague has no other entity to bounce onto after the duration expires on the Shambling, you lose the plague and it is a wipe.
For the actual transition: Once you are done dealing with the adds from P1, Necrotic will jump to you one last time. You dispel yourself away from people and then move to where the melee are standing. When the second Raging Spirit is spawning, you move out of the melee group and into tanking position.
Ragings have an ability called Soul Shriek.
[Soul Shriek] deals 42413 to 47587 Shadow damage to all enemies in a 15 yard cone in front of the caster, silencing them for 5 sec.
There are multiple ways to tank them. I'll explain one method now and a second, alternate one later. Something that applies to both is that as prot paladin, you want to be the tank standing closer to the inner platform to make your movement easier when phasing. You don't want to taxi Ragings through the entire group while trying to move in.
Ragings spawn on top of a random raid member. For the first tanking method, you let the BDK take every Raging initially, allowing them to build aggro. When they are about to tank two Ragings at once, you taunt the lower HP one off and angle it to the side (see second diagram). You want to avoid either tank eating two Shrieks in a row.
Shrieks are magic effects that (excluding suboptimal 10M comps) should always be dispelled by retri paladins. They need to prioritize BDK during transition and prot paladin after transition. If either tank is silenced for too long, Ragings might move to someone else in the raid and clap them, even through MD/ToT.
You can absorb some of the Shriek damage by using Sindy Fang, but don't use any big cooldowns during transition.
Once the edge of the platform begins breaking, you Righteous Defense every remaining Raging off the BDK so they can return to tanking the boss. Note that Righteous Defense only copies the BDK's threat and that you will need to build your own on top of that to have a solid grasp on the adds. I usually pop wings to help with that.
PHASE 2
If you take too many ghouls at the end of P1 and keep Necrotic bouncing throughout the transition phase, the boss can retain his stacking damage increase buff going into P2, as it will keep refreshing and ramping up. "Whenever this effect jumps, The Lich King's power will increase." If the main tank is unaware of this mechanic and resumes tanking without a cooldown active, they might get oneshot upon entering. Keep your eye on the boss and be prepared to take over if necessary (pretty rough situation if you still have multiple Ragings on you).
But let's say we have an ideal transition phase and don't have to improvise. Backpedal onto the platform as transition happens. Keep Ragings facing away from the group. Wait for all Shrieks to happen, then start moving to the middle during the Shriek cooldown window. You can turn them to the group while moving, but be extremely mindful of the timer for the upcoming Shriek.
If Ragings don't die before the first wave of valkyrs spawn, keep them perpendicular to the line of motion of the boss and the valks while strafing along with them. This is an insane sentence with many stupid words, so I will elaborate. If group stacking is done correctly, valks appear in the middle directly behind the boss and travel the shortest path to the perimeter of the platform. The boss then gets kited along with the valks in a straight line (granted there are no valks going in weird directions or unfortunate Defile placements). People will primarily target the valks while passive-cleaving the boss. If Ragings are still on you, you want to follow the general raid movement so they get cleaved down, while facing them away the moment they cast Shriek. Move → stop and turn 90° from raid → wait for Shriek to happen (can be delayed) → continue moving.
If you are unsure and only have low HP Ragings on you the moment phase 2 starts, you can keep them on the edge and wait for people to kill them before moving to the middle. This is safer, but requires full focus on the Ragings and puts you behind on boss damage.
SOUL REAPER
[The Lich King] strikes the target for 50% weapon damage and afflicts the target with Soul Reaper. This effect deals 70000 Shadow damage after 5 sec and increases the caster's haste by 100% for 5 sec.
The more practical explanation: Reaper in 1-2 sec → use cooldown (as a prot paladin, D Prot + Sindy Fang—you can macro them together for ease of use) → boss melee swing → Reaper hits directly after melee swing (this is important—if the swing doesn't happen because the boss is moving/casting, Reaper gets delayed, in which case you also delay your cooldown usage) → 5 sec pass → another massive hit → boss gains increased melee haste and starts clapping you hard. This all happens in the span of 10 sec, so if you time your cooldowns well, they will last through the entire duration (D Prot 12 sec / Sindy Fang 10 sec).
Most common Reaper tanking rotation (excludes non-ppal externals):
1st: BDK takes Reaper with BT + Vamp Blood + Sindy Fang /w Hand Sac from Prot Paladin. This overlaps with the first Defile so make sure you get your cooldown out before spreading too far.
2nd: Prot Paladin taunts while the boss is casting Infest (boss isn't attacking for a few seconds = gives healers a chance to process the tank swap) and takes Reaper with D Prot + Sindy Fang.
3rd: BDK taunts after 2nd valk wave dies and takes Reaper with BT + Vamp Blood + Sindy Fang /w D Sac from Prot Paladin. This overlaps with Infest so your D Sac should cover both.
4th: BDK takes Reaper with IBF.
5th: BDK takes Reaper with BT + Vamp Blood + Sindy Fang /w Hand Sac from Prot Paladin (same as 1st Reaper).
6th: Prot Paladin taunts and takes Reaper with D Prot + Sindy Fang (same as 2nd Reaper).
If you end up playing more Reapers, continue repeating cooldowns according to the rotation. Get into the habit of using your externals even on normal.
If you phase in a weird way, people might get grabbed by valks and then dropped onto the outer platform. You can HOP them as the valk starts flying up, and your HOP will last until they safely land after being dropped. You can also spam HOP as they are falling to apply it as soon as they get in your range but that is a tad more risky. Just be aware that this is something you'll potentially have to do.
TRANSITION 2
Generally same as first transition but you're not forced to lag behind and deal with Shamblings. Yay!
Time to explain the second method for tanking Ragings. The only significant change is which tank takes which Raging. Prot paladin takes 1st → BDK takes 2nd + 3rd → prot paladin takes 4th (by this time 1st one should be dead) → Righteous Defense off of BDK when moving in and carry on the same way as first method. Slightly altered, might be more to your taste. Just make sure you communicate your intentions prior to the fight so MD and ToT go to the correct target.
PHASE 3
You stay on the edge after moving in with the Ragings. The boss will also get moved to the edge, ideally within cleaving distance of the Ragings. You will stay there until the boss begins casting Vile Spirits. While he is casting, the main tank will start moving to the direct opposite side (creating the biggest possible distance from the spirits). If Ragings persist, kite them along with the boss while keeping them turned away from the group according to Shriek timers.
In P3, Reapers happen following the first melee swing to the target after either A) Vile Spirits cast or B) exiting a room (HC-only). If the boss is casting and has to run up to the tank afterwards, Reaper will only land after the first hit. This will affect how you give externals to the BDK.
When the spirits descend, the raid should be stacked behind the boss so they move in a predictable direction and are easy to soak. If they reach someone, they explode and deal shadow damage. Your job as Prot Paladin is to soak them (= walk into them and purposefully explode them so they damage you instead of other people). You can visualize it as you putting yourself between the group and the damage, acting as a shield (very cool, very paladin). Boomies will help you by pushing the spirits to the ground using Typhoon. You can also taunt spirits but be careful not to taunt the boss by accident. Definitely not speaking from experience...
Most common soaking cooldowns:
- D Sac + Sindy Fang. Your go-to combination. You can use it every 2nd wave on NM and after every room on HC.
- Divine Shield. Overpowered and easy way to soak but it does blow your Forebearance.
- Externals (Shadow AM, Pain Sup, D Sac, Hand Sac).
- Nothing ( ˶°ㅁ°) !! yes you can just soak without any cooldown if you're careful and wait to get healed up between hits. You can also play around your Ardent and utilize it as a cooldown. This is scary though and I don't like doing it... unless it's late in the fight and it doesn't really matter if I die (miscalculations happen).
If you are out of cooldowns and don't want to risk soaking without one, you can ask other people to soak as well. This can mean SP with Dispersion, retri with Divine Shield, warrior with Shield Wall, DK with AMS/army... many options at your disposal. But generally speaking you are able to do 80% of soaking all on your own.
You might be asked to take a Reaper in P3, in which case you swap roles and the BDK will soak in your place. Generally, everywhere aside from 25HC, this shouldn't happen.
IN CASE OF ENRAGE, BREAK GLASS
You can in fact recover from someone dying in a room. You can also kill the boss after he has hit Berserk. Number one most important thing is that you don't panic and simply assess the situation. You essentially want to kite out the duration of the Enrage. In case of Berserk, you want to kite for as long as humanly possible.
Sort of a weird interaction on HC is that if two people die in the room, the Enrage doesn't happen. In theory it should halve the Enrage time, but for whatever reason it negates it entirely and the boss will not be Enraged for a single second upon exiting. You can use this to your advantage by sacrificing a second person if someone happens to die in the room. Your best candidate for this is a shaman with Ankh.
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RS25HC + ICC25 12/12 8HC
2025/08/08
RS25HC + ICC25 9/12 8HC
2025/08/06-2025/08/07
ICC10 11 HC + ONLY BANE