This guide is aimed at the average Protection Paladin, and not the specialist raid tank. In addition to this information you should read up yourself on talents and make your own decisions.

It was previously the Sticky on this subject, the old Sticky can still be found here:

http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=6715741646&sid=1

I have chosen to edit and re-post the guide to give me more room for explanations all at the start and also to remove old out-dated responses that might cause some confusion.

The aim here is to be able to give a nice clear explanation for Each area of Importance and try to keep them arranged on a post by post basis.

Any Input from other Protection paladins is always welcome, try to keep all comments constructive.

There are abilities and spells that have very debated advantages and disadvantages, feel free to post abou these as responses here. It will then allow other players new to the spec a wealth of information and constructive debate about these abilities, with which they can then make their own mind up.

Flaming and disagreements without valid sources or theorycrafting does not serve to help anyone.

Thanks again for supporting the original post, let's see this continue the trend here and make this re-posting a complete sucess.

Apollya

Talents

Follow the link to see the actual tree I've chosen for level 80:

http://eu.wowarmory.com/talent-calc.xml?cid=2&tal=000000000000000000000000000500513520310231133331232150230201200300000000000000

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w116/Lucifark/ProtectionPaladin33.jpg

Note: Below I have based information on my understanding of the Talents which reflects the talents I have chosen, there are of course other possibilities dependant on specific tanking needs.

Talent Points, How to Spend them and Why:

Holy Tree:

Nothing in Holy tree now needed!

Protection Tree:

Divinity 0/5 - Increases all healing done by and all healing effects on you by 1% per talent. With the huge amounts of overheal that occur on us what is the real point of boosting this overheal further. Skip it

Divine strength 5/5 - Protections Paladins now need Attack Power. we gain 2 Attack Power per Strength point and also some block value. So this increases your threat and mitigation. Take it

Stoicism 0/3 - Sure reduction to stuns and reduction of spells being dispelled is nice but its far less effective for tanks than other talents, it's widely thought of as a PvP talent, so this one gets missed.

Guardian's favor 0/2 - Cool down on bubbles for other players is shortened, yeah I guess it'd be nice, but again not the most valuable talent so is skipped.

Anticipation 5/5 - 5% Added Dodge. Pure and Simple Avoidance. Take it

Divine Sacrifice 1/1 - Redirects 30% of all raid Damage to the Paladin upto a max of 150% of their HP. Its a raid DPS saver for when a lot of raid healing needed. It can be used with Divine Shield to mean you actually take 0% but save the raid from the full 30%. It's very handy, but note use of the shield will cause temporary loss of aggro.

Improved Righteous fury 3/3 - All Dmg is reduced by 6%. Again Straight Forward Damage Avoidance. (Righteous fury is always needed as Prot). Take it.

Toughness 5/5 - Increased armor, therefore damage reduction also reduces the duration of movement impairments by 6% per point. It's nice mitigation, Take it.

Divine Guardian 2/2 - Improves the effectiveness of your Divine Sacrifice spell by an additional 5% and increases the duration of your Sacred Shield by 50% and the amount absorbed by 10%. This is a viable choice, more Raid dmg reduction and Mitigation form SS.!

Improved hammer of Justice 0/2 - It reduces the cooldown on your stuns and interrupts. A useful tool for trash, we used to skip this as we had a 1min CD which made it useless. The CD is now 20secs fully talented. Optional, can be useful but Divine Guardian is better.

Improved devotion Aura 3/3 - Since all Auras now apply to everyone in the raid a Holy paladin or retri can provide you with Retribution Aura. You'll be giving devotion for Extra Armor to the entire raid as well as Increased Healing. Take it.

Blessing of sanctuary 1/1 - You'll be using Sanctuary always, every time you block you regain 1% of your mana. Its a great for tanking fullstop and also for AoE tanking and soloing. It's nice mitigation for other tanks too, even though they no longer get the rage/runic power. Take it

Reckoning 0/5 - 10% Chance on hit or block you gain an extra weapon swing for the next 4 swings. With the weapon changes this talent has become better for threat than before (it was terrible pre 3.0). I will skip this talent as it has some disadvantages as well as advantages. Weapon Speeds over 2.0 seem to provide the best threat increase from this talent. Still only 0.56% threat increase fully talented, which is very poor compared to any other threat talent.

Sacred duty 2/2 - Increases your total Stamina by 8%, reduces the cooldown of your Divine Shield and Divine Protection spells by 60 sec.. Stamina gives HP and spell dmg!. Take it

One-handed weapon specialization 3/3 - Simple, all dmg you do is increased by 10% whilst you have a 1h weapon equipped. Take it

Spiritual Attunement 1/2 - The Paladin regenerates mana equal to 5% per talent when healed by other friendly targets' spells. Well I know almost all protection paladins would love to take 2/2 in this talent since the mana regen is often needed especially in heroics / lower gear content. But due to necessities further down the tree we can only afford to spend 1/2 in order to get the best mitigation and threat spec. take 1/2.

Holy-shield 1/1 - 30% Extra Shield Block can be almost permanently kept active. You're dead/Useless without it! Take it

Ardent defender 3/3 - Below 35% HP you take 30% less dmg, again it buys time for healer when you get hit hard n fast. Argent Defenders Reduces the damage of many attacks that otherwise would have killed you.Take it

Redoubt 3/3 - 30% Block Value for Free and 30% Block Rating on a proc.... Oh.... Redoubt Procs a lot! Infact 30% of all melee /ranged attacks proc it. Take it.

Combat expertise 3/3 - So 6 expertise, 6% crit and 6% Stamina - No Brainer! Take it

Touched by the light 3/3 - Increases your spell power by an amount equal to 20% of your Strength and increases the amount healed by your critical heals by 10% Per Point. We rely on Spell dmg for many abilities. Take it!

Avenger's Shield 1/1 - It's your Pulling tool, that simple! take it

Guarded by the light 2/2 - Reduces spell damage taken by 6% and gives a 100% chance to refresh the duration of your Divine Plea when you hit an enemy. In addition, your Divine Plea spell is 100% less likely to be dispelled. Permanent Divine Plea and less dmg from glyphing. Take it.

Shield of the templar 3/3 - Reduces all damage taken by 3% and grants your Avenger's Shield a 100% chance to silence your targets for 3 sec. Pure and simple mitigation, It's a no-brainer. take it.

Judgements of the just 2/2 - Reduces the cooldown of your Hammer of Justice by 20 sec, increases the duration of your Seal of Justice effect by 1 sec and your Judgement spells also reduce the melee attack speed of the target by 20%.. Judgements are used every cooldown so this adds mitigation as he'll attack you 20% less. All boss fights are balanced around the boss having a 20% reduced attack speed, It keeps the fight balanced for us too. Take it!

Hammer of the righteous 1/1 - It's the paladins Cleave. Basically while using Seal of Corruption (Vengeance for Alliance) not only do you cleave 3 targets but you refresh / apply more charges of corruption to those 3 targets too, great for AoE tanking threat. And is your primary threat spell along with. SotR at level 75.

Retribution Tree:

Deflection 5/5 - Increases your parry chance by 5%. Its Mitigation pure and simple.

Benediction 0/5 - reduces the mana cost of all instant cast spells by 2% per point. Reduces your mana cost on a lot of spells so means less likely to have any mana issues. Not the best choice of a talent and is only for those that really need it. look at it as a last choice filler if for some reason you need one (I doubt you will)

Improved Judgements 2/2 - Reduces the cooldown of judgements by 1seconds per point. Judgements have decent beneficial effects and do ok damage, therefore are a staple to produce threat. All calculations show that tankadin rotations work better on a 9sec (1/2 points) cooldown as part of the 96969 rotation rather than 10sec (standard) or 8sec (2/2 Points). Judgements have been nerfed but taking 1/2 is a must for any level 80 Protection spec for our 96969 Rotation.

Improved Blessing of Might 0/2 - Improves the Attack Power bonus of your Blessing of Might by 12.5% per point. Can be used as a filler talent, if you don't want 2/2 Imp Judgements to get to Crusade and Conviction.

Heart of the crusader 3/3 - your Judgements also increase the critical srtike chance of all attack against the target by 1% per point. It's an extra 3% crit for the entire raid. Very nice talent, We need to take points in retribution to get our max threat potential and it's great in 5man when no retribution paladin is present.

Vindication 2/2 - Gives the Paladin's damaging attacks a chance to reduce the target's attack power for 10 sec. The talent scales with level using the formula [(YourLevel * 3.3 )+ 23] * TalentPointsSpent. At level 80 the AP reduction is 574.

Pursuit of justice 2/2 - Reduces duration of disarm effect by 25% and increases movement speed (incl mount) by 7.5% per point. The movement is awesome (double enchant value) and less disarm is a bonus. Highly recommended.

Conviction 0/5 - Increases your chance to get a critical strike with all spells and attacks per point. Nice for extra threat.

Seal of Command 1/1 - All melee attacks deal [0.36 * mw] to [0.36 * MW] additional Holy damage. When used with attacks or abilities that strike a single target, this additional Holy damage will strike up to 2 additional target. This is now used as an AoE tanking Seal

Crusade 3/3 - Increases all damage caused by 3% and all damage caused against Humanoids, Demons, Undead and Elementals by an additional 3%. It's awesome for threat. take it.

Credits to Apollya of <Illumination> @ Argent Dawn.

Buffs:-

Devotion Aura (Perhaps Retribution Aura on large trash groups if another Paladin is not providing it)

Flask of Stoneblood

Blessing of Sanctuary

Righteous Fury

Now here's where it changes...

Regular Spells / Attacks:

Seal of Corruption (Seal of Vengeance for Alliance) (Every 30mins) Cast before Pull Initially

Avenger's Shield (Every CD - 30secs) Cast to Pull

Consecration (Every CD) Cast before mobs reach you to start initial threat, casting it early can give an extra tick you'd usually lose out on.

Holy Shield (Every CD - 8 Secs) Cast Just as mobs reach you.

Hammer of the righteous (Every CD - 6 secs, 51 Point Talent)

Judgement of wisdom (Every CD - 9 secs, with imp Judgments form Retri) Cast as soon as possible and kept up at all times.

Shield of Righteousness (Every CD - 6secs, Trained at lvl 75)

Exorcism causes 1000 to 1150 Holy damage to an enemy target. If the target is Undead or Demon, it will always critically hit. (Now has a 1.5sec cast time so better to use as a pulling tool than a s free slot substitution in 969 rotation)

Note: Judgement of light can be useful if you have 2 protection paladins and no retribution paladin, if you have a retribution paladin always alive they will be judging light.

Specials / Emergency Measures.

Divine Sacrifice. Raidwide 30% dmg bubble that redirects this damage to you, make sure you use Divine Shield before this ability else you likely will die.
Divine Protection (As and when needed the Paladins New Shield Wall, reduces all your dmg by 50%)
Divine Shield (Causes you to temporarily lose aggro while it's active since you are immune to all damage)
Avenging Wrath can be used just before Avengers shield for added Initial threat on a pull and should be used every cooldown to boost threat.
Righteous Defense taunts upto 3 mobs off the tagert or the selected mobs target.
Hand of Reckoning is a single target taunt that also does holy damage to help retain aggro.
Lay on Hands is an instant cast spell that heals the target for 100% of the Paladins HP, can also critically hit. It can be used to save a player about to die from raid damage it can also provide nice threat boost if someone needs healing and an add phase has just started. Glyph (minor) for the 5min reduction in cooldown. Lay on Hands now gives Forbearence debuff when cast on yourself which makes it "share 30sec cooldowns" with Dvine Shield, Avenging Wrath and Divine Protection.
Using the Regulars above in that order should help build nice fast threat and maintain it.
(Both Righteous Defence and Hand of Reckoning are best to have macro'd.)

On Undead, Holy Wrath is now an instant cast spell so is well worth popping every CD for lots of threat as is exorcism.

Fills the Paladin with holy power, causing attacks to apply Holy Vengeance, which deals 0.228 additional Holy damage over 15 sec. Holy Vengeance can stack up to 5 times. Only one Seal can be active on the Paladin at any one time. Lasts 30 min. Unleashing this Seal's energy will deal 1.36 Holy damage to an enemy, increased by 10% for each application of Holy Vengeance on the target.. The great thing about this debuff is that it seems to be applied by Consecrate, holyshield, retribution aura, Hammer of the Righteous, Judgements etc etc. basically it is very simple and fast to have every mob you're tanking with a full stack of 5 debuffs on them.


Let's Talk Buffs now, here's the Blessings Each Paladin might/should have at Level 80:

The Prot Pala - Sanctuary / Kings

The Ret Pala - Kings and Imp Might

The Holy Pala - Imp Wisdom / Imp Might / Kings

This way each class can be buffed as follows: - (and all improved!)

DK - Kings / Might / Sanctuary

Warr - Kings / Might / Sanctuary

Pally - Kings / Might / Wisdom (Sanctuary for Prot over Wisdom and Sanctuary for Holy over Might)

Mage - Kings / Wisdom / Sanctuary

Lock - Kings / Wisdom / Sanctuary

Hunter - Kings / Might / Wisdom

Druid - Kings / Might / Wisdom (Sanctuary for Bear not Wisdom, Sanct for the Resto / Doomkin Not might)

Shaman - Kings / Wisdom / (Might for Enh, sanct for Ele / Resto)

Rogue - Kings / Might / Sanctuary

Priest - Kings / Wisdom / Sanctuary

Any given 25man raid should have three paladins to all compliment each others buffs nicely and EVERY possible raid member can have all the IMPROVED blessings on them so long as all three specs are present.

Original Credits to Abiz of < Bad Karma > @ Wildhammer for the Above info on Class Buffing.

Credits to: Apollya of <Illumination> on Argent Dawn for Compiling. Thanks to Maintankadin.com forums for Advice and input. Note: This info can be Copied, providing credit is given to the Author. Though this will be updated from time to time.

969 Rotation:

Cons still 8s, can Glyph to 10s (Don't)
- HS now 8s, lasts 10s
- HotR, new spell at 6s
- Judgement now on the GCD at 8-10s
- AS, now instant at 30s
- Seals now cast much less often

Barring some revelation I will assume that the principles behind the 9/6/9/6/9 hold true for L70 even though we are missing Shield of Righteousness. This means that you need to be able to treat Cons/Judge/HS as 9sec cooldowns, so the Glyph of Consecration will screw up your rotation, and you need 1/2 Imp Judgement at least. In the 70 version, we skip a GCD for ShoR. We can also substitute in Avenger's Shield:

Prep Righteous Fury
Prep SoV
Prep Divine plea
Prep Consecrate
Pull Exorcism / Hand of Reckoning / Avenger's Shield
Avenger's Shield if pulled using Exorcism

Now the Reg Rotation:
00.0 HS
01.5 HotR
03.0 Judgement
04.5 (free) <--- Avenger's Shield / other (if using AS at pull it will be on CD here at start)
06.0 Cons
07.5 HotR
09.0 HS
10.5 Free
12.0 Judgement
13.5 HotR
15.0 Cons
16.5 Free

18.0 HS (starting over)
19.5 HotR
21.0 Judgement
...

First of all, notice one thing. If you have 2/2 Imp Judgement, you can sacrifice the GCD at 10.5 to cast at 11.0. This lets you recast by 19, but you can't cast it anyway until 21.0! Those two seconds you gained are completely wasted. Similarly if you take 0/2 Imp Judgement, you can't Judge a second time at all until 13.0, but there's no open GCD until 16.5 unless you want to push back your entire rotation by a second which would cut your TPS by ~7%. Waiting until 16.5 to Judge leaves you judging as if your cooldown was 13.5sec, then 12sec, repeating so a loss of about 29% of your Judgement damage relative to the 9sec cooldown.

Secondly, you'll see we have 3 free GCDs in those 18sec. If we have the mana -- and on a boss, we almost certainly do -- we can do a couple of things in there to increase our TPS. Avenger's Shield on cooldown fits perfectly into the rotation, taking up 1 GCD out of every 5 open ones.

This leaves clusters of 4 GCDs at 6sec intervals, 12sec apart. That %#@!!@%%'s seal twisting time. Now, like RF spamming on Brut, this has limited application. Don't be going OOM trying to do this because aside from what I just mentioned, it's definitely the least efficient thing you can possibly do with your mana pool!

With Vengeance at 15sec, it's too dangerous to leave SoR up for that 12 second time window -- one miss or mistiming and the stack falls off. So what we want to do is open the fight with SoV and use those 4 GCDs to do SoR,SoV,SoR,SoV. This gives us 12/30 or 40% uptime of SoR, at the cost of 40% of our SoV Hits (the tiny bonus damage at a 5-stack) and 9% of our Judgement damage (since 40% of the time they're doing 125% instead of 150%). It also drains 413 mana per cast, which translates into 55 mana/sec or 52 TPS from Spiritual Attunement.

The final rotation:

Prep SoV
00.0 HS
01.5 HotR
03.0 Judgement
04.5 (free) <-- AS / Exorcism
06.0 Cons
07.5 HotR
09.0 HS
10.5 (free) <-- SoR
12.0 Judgement
13.5 HotR
15.0 Cons
16.5 (free) <-- SoV
18.0 HS
19.5 HotR
21.0 Judgement
22.5 (free) <-- SoR
24.0 Cons
25.5 HotR
27.0 HS
28.5 (free) <-- SoV
30.0 Judgement
31.5 HotR
33.0 Cons
34.5 (free) <-- AS /Exorcism
...


To the folks adapting the TPS spreadsheet for level 70, the proper uptimes for this twisting rotation are as follows. Note that I mentioned SA threat up there which isn't modeled at all in my spreadsheet, but mana costs are independent of weapon choice.
HotR,SoV,AS = 1.0
Judge = .9333...
Cons = .888...
SoV-Hit = .60
SoR = .40


TL;DR:
1/2 Imp Judgement
No Glyph of Consecration
96969 using AS in place of ShoR


Credits to: PsiVen from Maintankadin!

Note: If using Hammer of jsutice either continue your rotation from where you stopped or wait for a cooldown and start again. Best to continue from where you left but if you;re confused and threat is fine then just take a pause and continue as long as you keep holy shield and judgement up.

Glyphs:

The Glyphs below are presented in full explanations

The Staple Major glyphs:

Glyph of Hammer of the Righteous
Your Hammer of the Righteous hits 1 additional target. This will help on threat for AoE tanking and will help spread your Seal of vengeance to more targets faster.

Glyph of Seal of Vengeance
One of the better tanking glyphs since expertise reduces the chance your theat generating abilities are avoided. On bosses you will want to use this seal to keep 5 stacks of the vengeance debuff up at all tomes for threat generation and the big judgement hits.

Glyph of Divine Plea - While Divine Plea is active, you take 3% reduced damage from all sources. Divine Plea has a 1minute cooldownm but now refreshes on a hit from a protection paladin meaning it can be kept indefinately on so long as you're tanking. Use it to give mana and now can use it to provide mitigation, 3% less dmg is a real bonus!

The Situational Major glyphs:

Glyph of Righteous Defense
The glyph for Righteous Defense, which reduces it's chance to be resisted to 0. In certain fight you'll be very happy to have this when a taunt resist will wipe the raid / group. A great safety glyph, but it's vallue may be argueable depending on how much you PvE. We're mainly in Warrior tank gear that should have a nice amount of +hit on it, Righteous Defence Should not miss often.

Glyph of Salvation
When you cast Hand of Salvation on yourself, it also reduces damage taken by 20%. Basically this can act as a second far less powerfull bubbewall for when Divine Protection is on cool down. It could be hand on certain hard hitting bosses, for instance Mimiron when he casts Plasma Blast.

Glyph of Spiritual Attunement
It's obviously a glyph for paladins with mana issues while tanking. Overall when on bosses or trash you'll have either enough mobs hitting you to keep up 100% mana (blessing of sanctuary) or you'll take enough damage (for spiritual attunement). Either way, this glyph is good for paladins who are so heavy on avoidance that they will not take enough damage to have their mana healed back up.

Glyph of Judgement
You have multiple choices here, the first and one of the best is still the good old Judgement glyph.
10% more damage on any judged seal (let's say vengeance, the boss tanking seal) it will increase your threat a fair amount and add leveling dps for protection. In my opinion this is a must have glyph.

Glyph of Avengers Shield
It's basically a great theatboost for single mob pulls. However a great nerf for tanking 3-4 mobs at once. It makes it usefull for theat on boss fights but worse for pulling many mobs at once (specially if this amount is 2 or 3, which is when Avengers shield is perfect). This glyph seems more of an end game glyph, soloing or prot-pvp.

Glyph of Consecration
The next option is the Consecration glyph which can give you room for more global cooldowns, but may aswell mess up your rotation or be messy when you drop a consecration on an AoE pull and have to move (aka mobs are no longer in Conse and you have a longer cooldown).

Glyph of Exorcism
Increases the Damage of Exorcism by 20%. Nothing special

Glyph of Avenging Wrath
I know this may at first seem like a retri glyph, and it is. But the less cooldown your Hammer of Wrath has, the more tps you can push on those last 20% of a boss, allowing them to deal additionally much damage. Overall you will be a few 100k threat off the DPSers by this time, but some bosses have an agro reset, thereby making this one worth it's major glyph spot. It will however change your rotation slightly.

Minor glyphs:

Glyph of Lay on Hands
Overall the only minor glyph that could matter. It reduces the cooldown on lay on hands by 5mins, making it ready for almost every boss fight.

Glyph of Sense undead
It's 1% more damage to undeads and thereby a little bit more theat dealt. Great for naxxramas not so great in Ulduar but will be useful again In Icecrown

Glyph of Blessing of Kings
Reduces the cost of your Blessing of Kings by 50%. Not especially useful since likely you'll buff sanctuary. but could help on mana during 5man groups.

Pheew, bit longer then I expected this to be. I hope it helps :)

Credits to Brukt of <Epiunion> on Laughing Skull for this information. Much Appreciated.

Original Credits to Abiz of < Bad Karma > @ Wildhammer for the Above info on Class Buffing.

This over-time will be Edited and added to by Apollya of <Illumination> on Argent Dawn, It can be copied and pasted as long as credit is given to all the Authors responsible. As this content may change as updates come in, please check the info you take and also check for updates regularily.

Enchants and Gems:

Weapon Enchants:

Accuracy :
Enchant a melee weapon to increase critical strike and hit rating by 25. We as paladin tanks need hit rating to help increase hits and threat. This is the best enchant in game at present for a Protection paladin for threat, unless you are over the hit cap.

Titanium Weapon Chain:
Adds 26 hit rating and disarm immunity. Again the hit here adds threat, Obviously due to lack of crit rating it is not as high threat value but the material costs are much cheaper so this is generally a great starter enchant on any weapon till you got something worth throeing better enchants on.

26 Agility on 1h Weapon:
Agility gives threat and mitigation. Agility gives crit, attack power, dodge and armor in very small amounts so can be used as a Weapon enchant. Like Str it can also be boosted by Kings however it gives no where near as good threat as Accuracy and not even as much as Potency, it however probably is the better avoidance/mitigation enchant of all those mentions

Bladewarding:
Permanently enchants a weapon to sometimes grant Blade Warding when striking an enemy. Blade Warding increases your parry rating by 200 and inflicts 600 to 800 damage on your next parry. Can stck upto 5 times and Lasts 10 sec. For Paldins procs max 3 stacks and proc rate is not very high, also the 200 Parry is rating so suffers from diminishing returns. Proc value reported at 3-4% which is very poor. (Can also consider mongoose which is threat and avoidance)

Shield Enchants:

Defence:
Adds +20 Defence to your shield. Most of you will want this enchant unless you are seriously over capped on defence.

Stamina:
Adds +18 Stamina to your shield. The old TBC stamina enchant can still be useful if you want more stamina and are already over-capped on defence.

Titanium Plating (Blacksmiths only):
Adds +40 Block Value and 50% reduction to disarm effects to your shield.


Head Enchants:

Arcanum of Stalwart Protector, from Argent Crusade (Revered):
+37 Sta and +20 Defence


Shoulder Enchants:

Lesser Inscription of the Pinnacle (The Sons of Hodir - Honored):
Permanently adds 15 dodge rating and 10 defense rating to a shoulder slot item.

Greater Inscription of the Pinnacle (The Sons of Hodir - Exalted ):
Use: Permanently adds 20 dodge rating and 15 defense rating to shoulder armor.

Greater Inscription of the Gladiator (Resilience Glyph):
Purchasable with 10,000 honor from an Officer Accessories Quartermaster in SW or OG. Rersilience still adds to crit immunity in PvE and it has a stamina boost.


Cloak Enchants:

Titanweave:
Adds +16 Defence Rating to your cloak. Again is a nice booster to defence rating unless you are over-capped.

Major Agility:
Adds +22 Agility to your cloak. (Around .5% dodge and 22 armor). Good for mitigation/avoidance.

Mighty Armor:
Adds +225 Armor to your cloak. Not the best, the other 2 are certainly your more likely choices however this one is worth a mention if you have plenty of the other stats and want to add more armor for EH.


Chest Enchants:

Powerful Stats:
Adds +10 to All Stats. A useful enchant that should not be overlooked. So the real impotant stats from this are 10 Sta, 10Str and 10Agi. These can all be booseted by Kings, Buffs and Talents. This provides some Sta as well as mitigation and threat. A rgeat Allrounder if you don't need the Defence.

Defence:
Adds +22 Defence to a Chestpiece. A very good Enchant points wise to get you to the Defence Cap. Should be taking this one unless way overcapped on defence

Super Health:
Adds +275 HP to a Chestpiece. Well if you lack the HP then this might be the enchant for you, personally I would advice getting Powerful Stats or Defence as a far better use of this enchant slot since the 275HP cannot be boosted by talents, blessing or any other beneficial buff.


Bracer (Wrist) Enchants:

Greater Stamina:
Adds +40 Sta to your bracer.

Fur Lining - Stamina (Leatherworker only):
Adds +90 Stamina enchant to your bracer. This does take the slot of any other Enchant and there are far far better proffessions available than being a LW for a protection Paladin.


Gloves Enchants:

Armsman:
Adds +2% Threat and 10 Parry Rating (about 0.125% Parry Skill). This is the threat enchant for protection Paladins. And should be the one almost all of you enchant.

Major Agility:
Adds +20 Agility (for avoidance, 20 agility gives about 0.50% dodge) as well as a very small amount of armor. Certainly not to be overlooked, depends very much on your gear level and stats though.

Heavy Borean Armor kit:
Adds +18 Sta to your gloves. This enchant should not be overlooked if you don't have a lot of cash and are trying to boost your stamina (18 Sta is about 200 HP and 6 SP). Personally I will always recomment Armsman over this since if you don't have the Sta yet likely is you don't have the threat either.

Belt Enchants:

Eternal Belt Buckle:
Adds a Prismatic gem slot to your belt. You can place any gem you choose into this socket.


Leg Enchants:

Frosthide Leg Armor:
Permanently attach frosthide armor onto pants to increase Stamina by 55 and Agility by 22. The Best tanking leg enchant out there. And should be the one you're all aiming for.

Jormungar Leg Armor:
Permanently attach jormungar armor onto pants to increase Stamina by 45 and Agility by 15. This is the lesser version of the Frosthide Leg Armor.

Icescale Leg Armor :
Permanently attach icescale armor onto pants to increase attack power by 75 and critical strike rating by 22. Well am mentioning this enchant but not recommending anyone take it. It could be useful in an off-tank situation where you want as much threat as possible but are not having to try and gain more stamina. Basically it adds more threat than the Frosthide, but no mitigation/avoidance and no stamina.

Nerubian Leg Armor:
Permanently attach nerubian armor onto pants to increase attack power by 55 and critical strike rating by 15. This is the lesser version of the Icescale Leg Armor.

Heavy Borean Armor Kit:
Adds +18 Sta to your Legs. This can be used while levelling as a cheap way of gaining a small Stamina boost. Once you get a semi-decent pair of legs I would advise going for either the Frosthide or Jormungar Leg Armor. Since they are far better.


Boot Enchants:

Greater Fortitude:
Adds +22 Sta to your boots. This is the main enchant that most tanks will go for since it has the most Stamnina. It does depend very much on your spec, for my spec I have gone more threat based and chosen not to take Pursuit of Justice, so I also choose not to take this enchant in favour of one that helps make up some of the runspeed increase I could've taken in Pursuit of Justice.

Tuskarr's Vitality:
Adds +15 Sta and 8% increase to run speed. Take this if you are not speccing for Pursuit of Justice. You drop 7 Sta for 8% runspeed increase, whilst this is not as nice as the 15% from Pursuit of Justice it's still very useful. It does not stack with pursuit of justice so only take one or the other.


Gems:

Now Gems are a bit of an oddity. It depends very much on your gear and specific needs as to which gems you should take. I'm going to list all the different useful ones however I will not order them in any way since your sepcific needs indicate which are best for you and their is no real set rule.

My suggestion unless you seriously need certain stats is to gem for as much Stamina as you possibly can. And whilst certain Socket bonuses can be very nice some are jsut not worth bothering about so can put whichever gems you like in and forget the socket bonus. Also not I have listed Epic gems but rare versions of all exist.

JC only Prismatic Sockets:
(JC only. Can Equip 3 of any type at any time)

Solid Dragons Eye +51 Sta

Thick Dragons Eye +27 Def

Delicate Dragons Eye +27 Agi

Bold Dragons Eye +27 Str

Subtle Dragons Eye +27 Dodge

Flashing Dragons Eye +27 Parry

Rigid Dragons Eye +27 Hit

Precise Dragons Eye +27 Expertise

Blue Sockets:

Solid Majestic Zircon +30 Sta.

Yellow Sockets:

Thick King's Amber: +20 Def

Red Sockets:

Delicate Cardinal Ruby: +20 Agi

Subtle Cardinal Ruby: +20 Dodge

Flashing Cardinal Ruby: +20 Parry

Precise Cardinal Ruby: +20 Expertise

Green Sockets:

Enduring Eye of Zul: +10 Def +15 Sta

Vivid Eye of Zul: +10 Hit +15 Sta

Orange Sockets:

Champion's Ametrine: +10 Str +10 Def

Glimering Ametrine: +10 Parry +10 Def

Resolute Ametrine: +10 Expertise +10 Def

Stalwart Ametrine: +10 Str +10 Def

Accurate Ametrine: +10 Hit +10 Expertise

Glinting Ametrine: +10 Hit +10 Agility

Purple Sockets:

Shifting Dreadstone: +10 Agi +15 Sta

Regal Dreadstone: +10 Dodge +15 Sta

Defender's Dreadstone: +10 Parry +15 Sta

Guardian's Dreadstone: +10 Expertise +15 Sta

Sovereign Dreadstone: +10 Str +15 Sta

Credits to: Nzall of <Troopers> @ Kor'gall for Info on Glove enchants.
Credits to Apollya of <Illumination> @ Argent Dawn.

Items and Starter Gear:

At level 80 you need 5.60% reduction to be critically hit, this comes from a defence skill of 540+ (Base Defence Skill of 400 +140 from gear). It is very important to note that Defence Skill is rounded so at time 540 def might not give 100% crit immunity. They key really is checking the 5.6% reduced chance to be crit, if not go for that extra point and know you're safe.

Of this 540 defence Skill:

400 Defence Skill from talents
689 Defence Rating = 140 Defence Skill.

So each Defence Skill at 80 is 4.92 Defence Rating.

At level 70 you need 490 defence skill to be crit immune against a level 73 Mob.

...So Let''s start with the simple items that you have no real choice but to buy from a vendor / badge farm for

Librams:

Libram of Valiance:
Bought with Emblems of Triumph. Each time your Seal of Vengeance or Seal of Corruption ability deals periodic damage, you have a chance to gain 200 Strength for 16 sec. So Technically this is the Retribution libram, however as tank unless AoE tanking trash we use Seal of Vengeance/Corruption. 200 Str gives 480 Attack Power, 120 Spell Power and around 400 Block Value. It has 100% uptime. So is great for threat and adds some dmg reduction. Since when well geared we start getting diminishing return on dodge I choose personally to use this libram on all occasions except seriously hard hitting bosses.
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47661

Libram of Defiance
This Libram comes from Emblems of Triumph. Each time you use your Hammer of The Righteous ability, you have a chance to gain 200 dodge rating for 18 sec. If you need a dodge libram for extra avoidance Then grab this one, it'll be nice for extra avoidance while gearing and useful until you got more Emblems of frost than sense.
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47664

Libram of the Eternal Tower:
This is the new Forst Badge Libram. Your Shield of Righteousness ability grants 73 dodge rating for 15 sec. Stacks up to 3 times. To be honest, I've not bought this nor would I recommend it to anyone as the first libram to get hold of. The dodge rating has a ramp time to build 3 stacks to get 219dodge, So you'll not have the effect of 219 with 100% uptime. If you need to get a dodge libram, get the Emblems of Triumph one until you have frost emblems coming out your ears. Waste of Badges at start.
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50461

Libram of Repetence:
The old TBC libram of 15 badge of justice, which is more block rating while using holy shield. This adds more damage mitigation and takes a little stress of your healers. However this one weakens as you level up.
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=29388

Shield of Righteous
A new libram obtainable in grizzly hills vendor. This will boost the damage of your Shield of Righteous by a small amount, but it is affected by talents like One handed specialization and shield of the templar, thereby increasing the threat bonus more then it first seems.
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=38363

Libram of Obstruction
For 15 Emblem of Heroism you can buy Libram of Obstruction in Dalaran. Your Judgement ability also increases your shield block value by 352 for 5 sec." This is the definitive AoE Tanking Libram.
http://armory.wow-europe.com/item-info.xml?i=40707

Libram of Resurgence:
For 25 Emblems of Valor you can buy Libram of Resurgence in Dalaran. Increases the spell power of your Consecration spell by 141 . It's an AoE tanking Libram but not the most useful.
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40337

(Note Downside to Libram of Obstruction is you Judge every 9seconds and therefore there is a 4sec window each time where you are not gaining this benefit)

Gear:

Weapon:
Falric's Wrist-Chopper - Axe - Falric - Halld of Reflection Heroic
Rimefang's Claw - Sword - Scourge Lord Tyranus - Pit of Saron Heroic
Lucky Old Sun - Mace - Bronjahm - Forge of Souls Normal
Peacekeeper Blade - Eadric the Pure / Argent Confessor Paletress - Trial of the Champion Heroic
Red Sword of Courage - Sword - King Ymiron - Utgarde Pinnacle Heroic
Axe of the Sen'jin Protector (H) or Teldrassil Protector - Axe - 25 Champion's Seal - Argent Tournament Vendors
Cloudstrider's Waraxe - Axe - Varos Cloudstriker - Occulus Heroic
Infantry Assault Blade - Sword - Prince Keleseth - Utgarde Keep Heroic
Eternally Folded Blade - Sword - Volkhan - Halls of Lightning

Shield:
Splintered Door of the Citadel - Marwyn - Halls of Reflection Normal
Northern Barrier - Ulduar 25man, Hodir - BoE so can buy off Auction House
Royal Crest of Lordaeron - Mal'Ganis - The Culling of Stratholme Heroic
Titansteel Shield Wall - Crafted by Blacksmith
Bulwark of the Noble Protector - Keristrazsa - Nexus Heroic
Leeka's Shield - Mal'Ganis - The Culling of Stratholme
Saronite Bulwark - Crafted by Blacksmith
Shield of the Lion-hearted - Alliance Vanguard Reverred
Bulwark of the Warchief - Horde Expedition Reverred

Necklace:
Fossilized Ammonite Choker - Arthas, Lich King - Halls of Reckoning Heroic
The Warlord's Depravity - The Black Knight - Trial of the Champion Heroic
Shard of the Crystal Forest - 19 Emblem of Conquest
Titanium Earthguard Chain - Crafted by Jewelcrafter
Burning Skull Pendant - Trash Drop - Gundrak Heroic
Pendant of the Nathrezim - Mal'Ganis - The Culling of Stratholme Heroic
Shadowseeker's Pendant - Jedoga Shadowseeker - Anh'Khahet: The Old Kingdom Heroic
Amulet of Deflected Blows - Skadi The Ruthless - Utgarde Pinnacle
Amulet of Wills - Sjonnis The Ironshaper - Halls of Stone

Rings:
Harbinger's Bone Band - ICC 10/25man, Trash Drop - BoE so can buy off Auction House
Band of the Traitor King - ToTC 25man, Anub'Arak - BoE so can buy off Auction House
Signet of the Earthshaker - Ulduar 25man, XT-002 - BoE so can buy off Auction House
Clutch of Fortification - 35 Emblem of Triumph
Mark of the Relentless - Champions - Trial of the Champion Heroic
Signet of the Accord - Sartharion 10man - BoE so can buy off Auction House
Titanium Earthguard Ring - Crafted by Jewelcrafter
Unsmashable Heavy Band - Ingvar The Plunderer - Utgarde Keep Heroic
Band of Torture - Drakos The Interogator - Occulus Heroic
Woeful Band - Maiden of Grief - Halls of Stone Heroic
Nerubian Shield Ring - Elder Nadox - Anh'Khahet: The Old Kingdom Heroic
Dragonflight Great-Ring - Ley Guardian Eregos - The Occulus

Trinkets:
Corroded Skeleton Key - 60 Emblem of Frost
Ick's Rotting Tumb - Ick and Krick - Pit of Saron Heroic
Glyph of Indomitability - 50 Emblems of Triumph
Valor Medal of the First War - 40 Emblem of Heroism
Essence of Gossamer - Hadronox - Azjol'Nerub Heroic
Lavanthor's Talisman - Lavanthor - Violet Hold Heroic
Seal of the Pantheon - Loken - Halls of Lightning
Offering of Sacrifice - Gal'darah - Gundrak Heroic

Continued on next post.

Credits to Worldie of <Fleetwood> @ Twilight's Hammer for ICC 5man and Heroic drops
Credits to Apollya of <Illumination> @ Argent Dawn

Starter Gear Continued:

Helm:
Headplate of the Honorbound - 75 Emblem of Triumph
Second Helm of the Executioner - Arthas, Lich King - Halls of Reflection Heroic
Liadrin's Faceguard of Conquest - Tier 9 232 Vendor ToTC - 50 Emblem of Triumph
Helm of the Crestfallen Challenger - Eadric the Pure / Argent Confessor Plaetress - Trial of the Champion Heroic
Tempered Titansteel Helm - Crafted by Blacksmith
Helm of the Ley-Guardian - Ley Guardian Eregos - The Occulus
Ground Tremor Helm - Moorabi - Gundrak Heroic
Arcane-Shielded Helm - Grand Magus Telestra - Nexus Heroic


Shoulder:
Shoulderguards of Enduring Order - 45 Emblem of Triumph
Liadrin's Shoulderguards of Conquest - Tier 9 232 Vendor ToTC - 50 Emblem of Triumph
Shoulderplates of Frozen Blood - Forgemaster Garfrost - Pit of Saron Heroic
Regal Aurous Shoulderplates - Argent Confessor Paletress - Trial of Champion Heroic
Wapach's Spaulders of Solidarity - BoE World Drop
Iron Dwarf Smith Pauldrons - General Bjarngrim - Halls of Lightning Heroic
Pauldrons of the Colossus - Drakkari Colossus - Gundrak Heroic
Crusader's Square Pauldrons - Trash Drop - The Culling of Stratholme Heroic or Regular, BoE
Glimmershell Shoulder Protectors - Reputation Reward - The Oracles Revered

Cloak:
Sentinel's Winter Cloak - 50 Emblem of Frost
Eerie Runeblade Polisher - Falric - Halls of Reflection Normal
Cloak of the Iron Council - The Iron Council - Ulduar BoE
Durable Nerubhide Cape - Created by Leatherworkers
Tattered Castle Drape - Trash Drop - Utgard Keep Heroic (BoE)
Cloak of the Enemy - Commander Stoutbeard - Nexus Heroic
Cloak of Peaceful Resolutions - Reputation Reward - The Wyrmrest Accord Honored
Flowing Cloak of Command - Salramm the Fleshcrafter - The Culling of Stratholme

Chest:
Cataclysmic Chestguard - 95 Emblem of Frost
Liadrin's Breastplate of Conquest - Tier 9 232 Vendor ToTC - 50 Emblem of Triumph
Icebound Bronze Cuirass - Scourgelord Tyrannus - Pit of Saron Heroic
Scourgelord's Frigid Chestplate - Scourgelord Tyrannus - Pit of Saron Normal
Breastplate of the Solemn Council - Reputation Reward - Wyrmrest Accord Reverred
Ziggurat Imprinted Chestguard - The Prophet Tharon'ja - Draktharon Keep Heroic
Sun-Emblazoned Chestplate - Sjonnir the Ironshaper - Halls of Stone Heroic
Reanimated Armor - Gortok Pilehoof - Utgarde Pinnacle
Engraved Chestplate of Eck - Eck - Gundrak Heroic

Bracers:
Saronite Swordbreakers - Crafted - Blacksmithing ToTC Pattern and Crusader Orbs
Bracers of Dalaran's Parapets - 60 Badges of Valor - BoE
Bracers of the Herald - Herald Voljaz - Ahn'Kahet: The Old Kingdom Heroic
Bindings of Dark Will - Salramm the Fleshcrafter - The Culling of Stratholme Heroic
Svala's Bloodied Shackles - Svala Sorrowgrave - Utgarde Pinnacle Normal
Bracers of Reverence - Quest Reward - The Occulus: A Wing and a Prayer
Tempered Saronite Bracers - Crafted by Blacksmith

Gloves:
Gauntlets of the Kraken - 60 Emblem of Frost
Liadrin's Handguards of Conquest - Tier 9 232 Vendor ToTC - 50 Emblem of Triumph
Crystalline Citadel Gauntlets - Arthas, Lich King - Halls of Reflection Normal
Mercy's Hold - Argent Confessor Paletress - Trial of the Champion
Gauntlets of the Water Revenant - Ichoron - Violet Hold Heroic
Gauntlets of the Water Revenant - Trash Drop - Halls of Stone Heroic
Giant-Sized Gauntlets - Reputation Reward - Frenzyheart Revered
Daunting Handguards - Crafted by Blacksmith

Belt:
Verdigris Chain Belt - 60 Emblem of Frost
Titanium Links of Lore - Trash Drop - Forge of Souls, Pit of Saron and Halls of Reflection (Normal/Heroic)
Girdle of the Pallid Knight - The Black Knight - Trial of the Champion Normal
Indestructible Plate Girdle - Ulduar Recipe - Created by Blacksmith
Waistguard of Living Iron - 40 Emblems of Heroism
Skadi's Iron Belt - Skadi The Ruthless - Utgarde Pinnacle Heroic
Waistguard of the Risen Knight - Trash Drop - Drak'Tharon Keep Heroic

Legs:
Pillars of Might - Crafted - Blacksmithing Icecrown recipe (No Defence rating)
Liadrin's Legguards of Conquest - Tier 9 232 Vendor ToTC - 50 Emblem of Triumph
Legplates of Frozen Granite - Devourer of Souls - Forge of Souls
Legguards of Abandoned Fealty - Champions - Trial of the Champion Normal
Bolstered Legplates - Cyanigosa - Violet Hold Heroic
Ley-Guardian's Legguards - Ley Guardian Eregos - The Occulus Heroic
Legplates of the Infinite Drakonid - Chrono Lord Epoc - The Culling of Stratholme Heroic
Special Issue Legplates - Reputation Reward - The Argent Crusade Honored
Daunting Legplates - Created by Blacksmith

Boots:
Boots of Kingly Upheaval - Crafted - Blacksmithing Icecrown recipe (No Defence rating)
Black Spire Sabatons - Devourer of Souls - Forge of Souls Heroic
Boots of Heartfelt Repentance - Eadric The Pure - Trial of the Champion Normal
Spiked Deathdealers - Ulduar Recipe - Created by Blacksmith
Inexorable Sabatons - Naxxramas Heroic BoE (Actually not very good Boots - Avoid)
Sabatons of Draconic Vigor - Reputation Reward - The Wyrmrest Accord Revered
Greaves of Ancient Evil - Herald Voljaz - Ahn'Kahet: The Old Kingdom Heroic
Toxin-Tempered Sabatons - Reputation Reward - The Ebon Blade Honored
Slaughterhouse Sabatons - Meathook - The Culling of Stratholme
Terrace Defence Boots - Trollgore - Drak'Tharon Keep Heroic


This list is by no means the be all and end all, I may have deliberately missed a few items off the list in order to keep them short and to the point. If you believe there is an Item that SHOULD be on the list drop me a line and I will take it under consideration.

Credits to Worldie of <Fleetwood> @ Twilight's Hammer for ICC 5man and Heroic drops
Credits to Apollya of <Illumination> @ Argent Dawn

Useful Macros and Addons

Righteous Defence:

General Macro for Righteous Defence;

#showtooltip Righteous Defense
/cast [target=mouseover,help,nodead][help,nodead][target=targettarget,help,nodead]Righteous Defense

Mob specific taunt;

#showtooltip
/target <Insert Mob Name>
/cast Righteous Defense


Hand of Sacrifice:

#showtooltip
/target <Insert Player Name>
/cast Hand of Sacrifice


Hand of Freedom:

#showtooltip
/target <Insert Player Name>
/cast Hand of Freedom

Divine Shield Macro: ( Can be used to remove certain debuffs and save a wipe)

#showtooltip
/cast Divine Shield
/cancelaura Divine Shield


I'm by no means a macro expert, some are ones I made myself for specific situations as I found it far more productive.

For instance the Hand of freedom used at Lady Vashj, Hand of Sacrifice very useful to help reduce damage of another tank on boss fights or a specific healer during a raid damage phase. The target specific Righteous Defence macro was very useful at The Illidari Council, but could also have numerous other uses in Naxxramas or even Ulduar.

Please add any other macros you think are useful.

Addons:

PallyPower
Class Timers
Elkanno Buff bars


This Section is Still in Progress. User imput from other Protection paladins would be greatly appreciated and ofc credit given where credit is due :)

Credits to Apollya of <Illumination> @ Argent Dawn

Reserved

Reserved

Just to nit-pick, dodge and parry are avoidance, not mitigation. Otherwise good :)

However, I do not understand why you have gone to the trouble of elaborating the 969 rotation for level 70, and telling people to switch seals every 6 seconds. would this not cause a huge mana starvation problem, especially given that divine plea is only available at level 71, and you need 4-5 mobs beating on you to sustain the HS/HotR/JoX/ShoR/cons rotation through BoSanc alone. Would it not be easier to simply tell new tanks, whom this guide is designed for, to use an ability such as exorcism to bridge the GCD gap until they hit level 75 (?) and get ShoR?

---

Q u o t e:
Just to nit-pick, dodge and parry are avoidance, not mitigation. Otherwise good :)

However, I do not understand why you have gone to the trouble of elaborating the 969 rotation for level 70, and telling people to switch seals every 6 seconds. would this not cause a huge mana starvation problem, especially given that divine plea is only available at level 71, and you need 4-5 mobs beating on you to sustain the HS/HotR/JoX/ShoR/cons rotation through BoSanc alone. Would it not be easier to simply tell new tanks, whom this guide is designed for, to use an ability such as exorcism to bridge the GCD gap until they hit level 75 (?) and get ShoR?

---

Relative term tbh, avoidance although named differently is merely 100% mitigation by definitions, I may change it though :P

The 96969 rotation is in it's pure form as posted after the theorycrafting, I actually need to update this and find a give both level 70-79 and 80 versions.

---

Q u o t e:


Relative term tbh, avoidance although named differently is merely 100% mitigation, I may change it though :P

The 96969 rotation is in it's pure form as posted after the theorycrafting, I actually need to update this and find a give both level 70-79 and 80 versions.

---

hmm...I would say a fully blocked attack would be 100% mitigated, a hit that fails to land is avoided in my book; mitigation only reduces the effect of something. After all, a blocked attack still counts as a hit, no matter how much damage the hit does.

But that is up to the etymologists amongst us to decide.

*Bumping*

Additions are now in place. Tons more info added from the previous sticky version.

Didn't read every post in depth, but a few points would be:

the redirected damage from Divine Sacrifice goes through divine protection, it does however work with divine shield and in ulduar there are plenty of chances to use it still (i.e. XT stops attacking during tantrum so can use even if you're tanking him).

Take out the +16 expertise gem from viable ones, it's kind of weak stat for us anyway and might spare someone from gemming it since they see warriors gem for it and see it's on your list as one of usefuls, put the +12 stam +8 dodge and +12 stam +8 agi in there.

My Sacred shield absorbs easily 1,2k or something on me allready and i'm not specced DG, i've lately been thinking of speccing into it just for the longer duration and +10% absorb. It's a viable choice attleast (could mention it as the other recommended if not taking imp. HoJ, which i personally take too atm).

missing % mark from redoubt description (not 30 BV, 30% bv, nitpicking here)

Exorcism isn't a threat increase in 969 unless it's a undead/demon, it Is however good to use instead of concecrate sometimes for the lower mana cost if you feel strapped for mana. AS is in similar boat, it's only beneficial if you're attacking more than one target or if it's glyphed (and it's only glyphed for special reasons such as pvp like i have).

Sometimes better not use either as substitutions since you may need to kite/run away from boss ability so now you can do something from range too (hodir puts snow at range, mimiron blows up, need to pick-up adds, kite vezax/moving ignis as few examples)

Hand of Salvation is a good situational glyph (need to add /cancelaura macro too for it)

Mongoose and +26 Agi are good avoidance enchants still to weapon (better than Bladewarding imo)

+18 stamina to gloves is actually 227 health with our talents and kings, and 7 SP when rounded (6,8).
Nothing wrong with it even if you're good geared since you don't need the threat from armsman most of time so no need to downplay it, just state what it gives and leave it as option.

Add a:
/cast Divine Shield
/cancelaura Divine Shield
macro, for debuff clearing. Situationally a wipe saver.

Those would be some things i noticed/thought after fast skimming through.

---

Q u o t e:
Didn't read every post in depth, but a few points would be:

---

So am not going to quote all your text but have read and taken it in.

Divine Sacrifice - You are indeed right it's fantastic at XT and I've been using it there for a while even when Main tanking, as long as I cancel the aura before the tantrum is over. I didn't use Dvine Protection as the example as it is very situational and does cause temporary aggro loss so can only really be used when aggro is not an issue like at temper tantrum or Off-tanking. I'll add something in to say it can be used this way though.

With the gems, by skim reading you missed the important part at the start where I explain that whilst we can consider them we should only use them if we need a particular stat Expertise is viable if we have not reached the 26 Expertise value needed as a soft cap (26 with Glyph of Seal of vengeance active). Also The 8Agi/12 Sta and 8 Dodge/12 Sta gems were on the list jsut were written under the purple gem section since that's their colour.

Have updated Dibine Guardian info to reflect a bit about Sacred Shield.

Updated Redoubt info.

Updated Exorcism info.

Added Glyph of Hand of Sacrifice to Situational, yes it is an interesting glyph and viable in certain fights.

Mongoose has NEVER been very good for a protection paladin it relies far too much on us using melee hits and half our casts in a rotation are "spells". 26 Agi is viable I guess so will add but don't want to suggest people really go down that route. Accuracy is the real deal for threat and sure Agi gives a little dodge / armor but it's pretty negligeable we should maximise hit as prio. I've added more info on Baldewarding that I've read about from theorycrafting sites and moved it to the bottom of the list to be seen as a last choice enchant.

I'm not adding +18Sta to the list. It's a poormans' Enchant and Suggesting taking it is lunacy for many reasons. Sure we don't "need" extra threat, however we should have it, the higher your TPS the faster and harder your DPS can nuke which will speed up boss fights and lead to more success. It also helps you sto stay more competitive on fights where you are off tanking and need to be 2nd on threat. and Armsman also adds the avoidance from parry as well as the threat increase.

Macro was added, I'm also going to be trying to find other useful macros to add, You can for instance use Hand of Reckoning with Divine Shield to still maintain threat and aggro while getting the 100% dmg reduction from the bubble.

Bump to keep above old Innactive topic

Really nice post(s); great info and detail and perfect for the target audience.

/salute

Something to consider is that vindication might be a very useful talent for tankadins in 3.2.

Also exorcism will no longer be usable in rotations (unless there are changes before 3.2).