9/19/2013




Index:
  • Introduction
  • Pros and Cons
  • Race Selection
  • Talent Specs
  • Glyphs
  • Stats
  • Gems and Enchants
  • Reforging
  • Combat Table Coverage (CTC)
  • The Protection Toolkit
  • Tanking
  • Raiding Tips
  • Credits


To start off with, let me make it plainly known that I am nowhere near the best paladin tank out there. In fact, I don't even main this class. However, I find it to be the most fun tank I have played, with a good combination of survivability and utility, as well as a nice set of tricks to keep you going. I am writing this guide because when I first made my Paladin with the intention of tanking on Cataclysm on Molten, I found almost nothing to get me started. They're easily one of the most underrated tanks in the game, so I hope to get more people interested in them with this guide. Also, if you are new to tanking, I will always recommend starting out with a paladin. They are very easy to pick up and difficult to do badly with. 



Pros:
  • Large number of cooldowns that you can rotate
  • A good balance of magic and physical defensive abilities
  • Easy to pick up and learn, and difficult to get wrong
  • Always loved in a raid, because of your auras, buffs, HoP, Divine Guardian, etc. 
  • Acceptable self-healing if you spec into it, very good survivability even if you don't.
  • You get the shiniest tanking skills


Cons:
  • Compared to DKs, you have very little self-healing
  • Compared to Warriors, your mobility is quite bad and you are mostly just a pillar that will not die.
  • You have a ridiculous number of skills that you can use effectively, so you need to know what to use for each occasion, which only comes with time. Paladins are not 3 button tanks.


Alliance:
Dwarf: In my opinion, this is by far the best race to tank with. Stoneform reduces ALL DAMAGE TAKEN (not just physical) by 10% for 8 seconds, and also removes all poison, disease, and bleed effects. If you combine this with a trinket such as Stay of Execution, you effectively have an added defensive cooldown. Note that the racial will only remove all the current debuffs once, and not make you immune to them. 
Human: Their racial can get you out of a stun or fear that might drop on you, which is very handy for preventing wipes. Also, if you plan on PvPing a lot in another spec, this is probably the best race for you.
Draenei: Your extra racial heal is nice to have, but subpar compared to the Dwarf racial from a purely tanking perspective in current gear. However, keep in mind that with Dragon Soul level gear, your larger health pool will make this heal more viable. The 1% hit would be quite big, but I have found this to be a very minor problem on Molten. I don't know of any tanks that actually worry about hit.

Horde:
Tauren: Increased health AND an AoE stomp stun. Also, you get to be big and beefy, and also get in built nature resist. What's to think about? This is the best pick, in my opinion.
Blood Elf: The AoE silence and resistance to arcane damage is not worth looking like a gaylord. 




In this build, I have included the talents that I think are compulsory for any kind of protection tanking. I will attempt to explain the logic behind making your own build by going into the talent choices you have to fix up your own personalized spec. 

Protection Tree
Judgment of the Just: Note that even though I included this talent in all my specs, it does not affect bosses. I take it because switching talents around for mob packs and bosses is too much of a hassle. 
Hallowed Ground: I left this at 1/2 in all three talent specs because you tend to use it mostly just to "catch" mobs in your damage as they spawn, to prevent them from running to a healer or AoEing melee right away. In all honesty, the mana reduction from this talent is what you want. Hammer of the Righteous is a much better AoE threat ability, so don't worry too much about falling short there.
Reckoning: Keeping this at 1/2 is also fine, since it will proc almost all the time even at level 1. However, if it's a choice between Hallowed Ground, Reckoning, and Improved Hammer of Justice, I'd take an extra point in Reckoning any day.
Eternal Glory & Guarded by the Light: The reason I list these two talents together is because they form the basis of the self-healing Protection Paladin. Do not take one without the other. My advice is this; if you decide to go for self-healing, go all out or nothing. Word of Glory is on a pretty long cooldown, so when you cast it, you want it to count. 

Retribution Tree
Pursuit of Justice: Paladins have such horrible mobility compared to most other tanks (Bears and Warriors can charge, DKs can just grip to them), that I find this talent a must. However, note that this does not stack with the speed boost that you get from boot enchants. If you intend on getting that enchant, do not take this talent. I prefer to take it, though, since that gives me the ability to use the 50 mastery enchant on my boots. Every bit of ctc helps. 

Rule of Law: What else are you going to put your points in? Got spares and need a talent to dump your points in? This is it. Extra threat is always nice, although you should not be having problems in that area at all. 

2. Standard Raiding Build: http://wowtal.com/#k=-kfXr8_Vb.bqj.paladin.


If you are a new tank, and would feel more comfortable with that extra self-healing, or even if you just prefer this play style, this is the spec you would use. However, to be entirely honest, I don't think that going for Word of Glory is worth it, since it requires 4 talent points and a glyph to be viable. 


Prime
Glyph of Shield of Righteousness: Your #1 threat ability. Glyph it, no questions asked.
Glyph of Hammer of the Righteous: Your #1 AoE threat ability, and also part of your regular rotation. This skill makes me cry with happiness. Glyph it.
Glyph of Seal of Truth: This is the best tanking glyph in the game. It gives you straight up 10 expertise - not expertise rating - but base expertise. It's that amazing. Take it. 
Glyph of Judgement: 10% extra damage is alright, if you can't get hold of one of the above 3 glyphs.
Glyph of Crusader Strike: Increases critical chance by 5%. Since it's part of your single target rotation you could consider taking this. 
Glyph of Word of Glory: If you are going for the self-healing build, pick up this glyph. You can give up Hammer of the Righteous for it.
Glyph of Seal of Insight: Acceptable if you're self-healing a lot or trying to Rambo through dungeons alone. 

Major
Glyph of Divine Protection: It depends on the boss fight, but in most cases I prefer to have this glyphed only because I have a reasonable amount of physical damage reduction inherently, and 40% magic reduction on a cooldown of 1 minute is godly to have. It's basically 20% reduction from all damage vs 40% from magical, and I find that it is easier to handle physical damage most of the time. Also, many boss channeled abilities are magical (dragon breath, etc) so having this ready to cast right before it hits helps mitigate a lot of it.
Glyph of Lay on Hands: This is great in dungeons, where the gap between boss fights is shorter than in raids, and having a big cooldown like LoH is good to have. 
Glyph of Holy Wrath: Your AoE stun is suddenly useful in dungeons outside Deadmines! Take it if you know it will be useful in the encounter you're doing.
Glyph of Consecration: It's an alright glyph if you want it. You can replace Holy Wrath with this when you're doing dungeons where the AoE stun won't be useful. I would not recommend it, though. 
Glyph of Focused Shield: In 80% cases, this is most likely going to be a bad thing to have. However, if you want that edge in a boss fight with no adds, consider taking this. You will be casting quite a few Avenger's Shields whenever you get your Grand Crusader procs, since it will give you holy power if you cast it with a proc.

Minor
Glyph of Blessing of Kings: Useful if you have to rebuff a player that got combat resurrected. 


Base Stats:
Stamina: This is obviously something that every tank wants in decent amounts. If you tanked WOTLK and moved to Cataclysm, keep in 
mind that tanks are more focused on blocking and avoiding damage, rather than stacking the amounts of stamina that we did on WOTLK. Do not disregard this stat, however. A larger health pool is never a bad thing, as long as it does not cost us too much avoidance. Do not forget about Vengeance, which is a passive ability of ours. Each time you take damage, you gain 2% of the unmitigated damage taken as attack power for 20 sec. In this way, stamina is actually a threat increase for us. 
Strength: Strength is our source of attack power for us, and it also gives us parry rating. 27% of our Strength is converted into parry rating. 

Secondary Stats:
Mastery: For Protection Paladins, Mastery provides block rating via Divine Bulwark. Currently for every point of Mastery the Paladin will receive 2.25% increased chance to block. Tanking gear (to date) has only had dodge/parry for secondary defensive stats. Paladins will want a lot of Mastery. Mastery is the best defensive stat for Protection Paladins for two reasons. First, up to full Combat Table Coverage (CTC) of 102.4% (sometimes referred to as “Block Cap”), Mastery provides more damage reduction per itemization point than any other stat. Second, in addition to reducing damage taken, Mastery also smooth-ens out the incoming damage a tank faces, making them easier for healers to heal.
Parry: A successful parry will let you avoid all damage from an attack. This is one of our two avoidance stats. Our main sources of parry will be from gear as a secondary stat, and also from our strength.
Dodge: A successful dodge will let you avoid all damage from an attack. It's a nice stat to have on your equipment. Every character has a 5% chance to dodge an attack, regardless of gear. 
Expertise: This is actually a wonderful threat stat for us, but it doesn't seem to be working entirely on Molten. I have the Seal of Truth glyph, and safely disregard expertise with no ill effect. Note that Humans get +3 expertise with One or Two-Handed Swords and Maces, and Dwarves get +3 expertise with One and Two-Handed Maces.
Hit: Makes you not miss. It's less valuable than expertise for us. 


Gems:
Meta Gem
Austere Shadowspirit Diamond: +81 Stamina and 2% increased armor from items (Requires 2 Yellow gems)
Eternal Shadowspirit Diamond: +81 Stamina and +1% shield block value (Requires 3 Blue gems)
Note: At 35% total avoidance and 50% block, the block meta and armor meta are roughly equal. At lower avoidance/block, the armor meta is up to 25% more effective than the block meta.

Single Stats:
Solid Ocean Sapphire: +60 Stamina (Counts as a Blue gem)
Fractured AMberjewel: +40 Mastery (Counts as a Yellow gem)

Combination with Stamina:
Puissant Dream Emerald: +20 Mastery Rating and +30 Stamina (Counts as a Yellow or Blue gem)
Defender's Demonseye: +20 Parry Rating and +30 Stamina (Counts as a Red or Blue gem)
Guardian's Demonseye: +20 Expertise Rating and +30 Stamina (Counts as a Red or Blue gem)

Enchants:
Head: Arcanum of the Earthen Ring (Currently unavailable due to bugged reputation quests. Use the PvP head enchant instead.)
Shoulders: Greater Inscription of Unbreakable Quartz (Currently unavailable due to bugged reputation quests. Use the PvP shoulder enchant instead.)
Back: Enchant Cloak - Protection
Chest: Enchant Chest - Greater Stamina
Wrist: Enchant Bracer - Dodge OR Enchant Bracer - Greater Expertise
Hands: Enchant Gloves - Greater Mastery
Finger: Enchant Ring - Greater Stamina (Enchanters Only)
Legs: Drakehide Leg Armor
Feet: Enchant Boots - Earthen Vitality (if you do not have Pursuit of Justice) OR Enchant Boots -Mastery
Weapon: Enchant Weapon - Windwalk OR Enchant Weapon Mending (it's a cheaper alternative, if you don't have a good weapon yet)
Shield: Enchant Shield Blocking


Reforging will let you convert 40% of a secondary stat on your gear to another secondary stat. Hit, Crit, Haste, Parry, Dodge, etc. are examples of secondary stats that can be converted, while primary stats like Stamina are not affected by reforging. Keep in mind that even though it is a secondary stat, resilience cannot be reforged. When reforging, keep your stat priority in mind:
Mastery (to avoidance cap of 102.4%) > Parry = Dodge >> Expertise > Hit
Always try to balance your parry, dodge, and block for maximum avoidance. Never favor any single stat mindlessly. 


CTC, short for Combat Table Coverage, is how close a tank is to being unhittable. The goal is to make sure that every hit is either an inherent evade dodge (every character has 5% dodge chance, regardless of class or spec), dodge (affected by dodge rating), parry (affected by parry rating), or failing that, block (amount and chance is affected by your block rating and skills) in that order. Lastly, armor is calculated. For example, I have around 40k armor, so any hit I take after applying the previous modifiers is reduced by a further 60% or so. Remember that these effects are applied multiplicatively, not additively, which is why you can never take 0 damage from a boss unless you do something crazy like bubble. After that your cooldowns come into play, such as Holy Shield (extra block value of 20%, meaning a 51% damage reduction upon a successful block), Divine Protection (basic 20% damage reduction if not glyphed) and so on. It's at this stage absorbs like Power Word: Shield etc. are also accounted for.

You see, bosses are always considered to be +3 levels above maximum level players, in end game content. So for every level above you, a boss (or other mob) has a bonus extra 0.8% chance to hit you successfully, getting past your dodge, parries and shield blocks. That results in them having an extra 2.4% (0.8 x 3) chance to hit you over and above your already 100% mitigation. That means tanks have to have 102.4% avoidance (technically not avoidance, more mitigation, but that's the common parlance) in order to remove unmitigated hits from the aforementioned Combat Table. To make it simple, this is how you would calculate your total mitigation in the ctc table:
ctc = 5 [5% inherent dodge] + (your dodge rating) + (your parry rating) + (your block rating)
With current gear available on Sargeras, it is very difficult to go above 85% ctc without buffs. 

Alternatively, you could use this macro to check your ctc.

Code:
 /run ChatFrame1:AddMessage(format("Unhittable at 102.4%% - you have %.2f%%", GetDodgeChance() + GetBlockChance() + GetParryChance() + 5 + 1/(0.0625 + 0.956/(GetCombatRating(CR_DEFENSE_SKILL)/4.91850*0.04))))


Holy Power
Holy Power is our "combo point" gauge. You can have a maximum of 3 Holy Power. Using certain skills will give you holy power, while some skills require holy power to use, and some are enhanced depending on how much holy power you currently have.
The following abilities/talents relevant to Protection Paladins use Holy Power:
  • Inquisition
  • Shield of the Righteous
  • Word of Glory

The following abilities relevant to Protection Paladins generate Holy Power:
  • Crusader Strike
  • Hammer of the Righteous
  • Divine Plea (3 Holy Power if talented)
  • Avenger's Shield (If casted when Grand Crusader procs)


Seals and Utility: Seals are buffs that usually last for 30 minutes or so. You ALWAYS want to have a seal active. 
Seal of Truth: What was once known as Seal of Vengeance is now known as this. It applies a stacking DoT called Censure on each hit, which stacks up to 5 times. Additional hits after 5 stacks provide a burst of additional damage. This is your main tanking seal. If you have this glyphed, it also gives you 10 expertise.
Seal of Insight: It has a chance of healing the Paladin for each swing. Usually, you will not be using this seal unless **** really hits the fan and your healers die, and it's pure survival mode. 

Auras
Devotion Aura: There are very few exception when a Protection Paladin would not be using this aura while tanking. The aura confers the benefit of providing additional armor to the Paladin and all party/raid members affected by the aura.
Resistance Aura: Gives 195 additional Fire, Frost, and Shadow resistance to your entire party or raid. If there is another paladin with Devotion Aura on, you could use this to make the healer's life easier. Note that if you have a druid buff on with Resistance Aura, it does not additively stack but it overrides the resistance gained from druid buffs, and will give you 195. Similarly, it does not stack with a Shaman's totems. 

Key Abilities
Righteous Fury: Increases your threat generation while active. This should always be on when you are tanking, or mobs will laugh in your face and walk away to sit on your DPSers. If you happen to notice that your threat is really weird after a wipe, right click on this buff to remove it and re-apply it. I don't know why, but it tends to mess up sometimes. 
Avenging Wrath: Increases all damage and healing by 20% for 20 seconds. Wings are good if combined with Inquisition for maximizing threat on your first pull. It make stabilizing aggro when all your DPS throw out their initial burst.
Divine Plea: Grants you one holy power. If you have the protection talent Shield of the Templar, it will give you 3 holy power. This is a good skill to use to cast your first Inquisition before the first pull.
Inquisition: Consumes all your holy power to increase your holy damage by 30%. This is an amazing threat generating skill that is one of the reasons paladins are such amazing AoE tanks. If you combine this with Hammer of the Righteous, you will rarely lose aggro on a pack of adds, while other tanks will struggle to hold on to them with DPSers going crazy. If you Divine Plea and cast Inquisition right before a pull, it helps solidify initial aggro. 
Cleanse: Removes one poison and one disease effect, but does not cure curses. Seriously, hotkey this. Use it on yourself. You are not a DK or a Warrior, you don't have to wait around taking extra damage from DoT ticks for no reason. Cleanse yourself. 
Hand of Freedom: Grants immunity to movement impairing effects such as slows and snares, but NOT stuns or fears. Use it if you happen to walk in something bad and adds are charging at your healer at breakneck speed. 
Hand of Protection: Hand of Protection allows you to target yourself or party/raid member to protect them from physical attacks only for 10 seconds. This ability will cause for Forbearance for 1 minute. It is a very useful way of getting adds off a healer or caster DPS. Keep in mind that if you HoP melee DPS or hunters, they will probably hate you because they won't be able to attack. 
Hand of Sacrifice: There are some clever ways to use this - you can HoS your offtank on fights that require taunt rotations and then bubble to receive no damage, but reduce the damage your offtank takes. Keep in mind that this will cause forbearance on you. 
Hand of Salvation: Reduces total threat on the target by 2% every 1 second for 10 seconds. Very useful, keep it ready to save an overzealous mage.
Crusader Strike: Single target strike that gives you one holy power. Note that shares a cooldown with Hammer of the Righteous, and seems to generate about as much threat as Hammer on Molten. However, it does more single target damage, so if you are in a boss fight use this to generate holy power.
Hammer of the Righteous: Your AoE damage ability. It will hit your primary target hard, and anything else within 8 yards for holy damage. Unlike WOTLK, this ability no longer has a limit to how many targets it can affect. It also grants you one holy power on use. This is an amazing skill, and part of your priority queue.
Judgment: Deals holy damage, and has respectable range with Improved Judgment. If you happen to run out of taunts and your Avenger's Shield is on cooldown, throw a Judgment out.
Shield of the Righteous: Our principle single target attack. This ability is powered using Holy Power and as such will not activate unless you have at least 1 Holy Power charged on your gauge. Best used when you have 3 Holy Power.
Avenger's Shield: Your Captain America shield toss is your best opening move, esspecially on caster adds. It has an added bonus of silencing the target, so if you toss it on a caster at the back of a pack of mobs, it will be silenced and automatically start walking to you, which makes it easier to pack mobs together in a group for your DPSers to AoE down. If casted with Grand Crusader proc, it will give you 3 Holy Power. 

Taunts:
Hand of Reckoning: It no longer does damage, and works the same as any other tank's taunt. It will force the mob to attack you for 3 seconds regardless of the threat table. This will never miss. 
Righteous Defense: Use it on a party/raid member to direct up to 3 enemies to attack you instead. If you use it with the below macro, it effectively works as an extra taunt that affects 3 targets instead of one. 

Code:
#showtooltip
/cast [@targettarget] Righteous Defense

Interrupts: 
Rebuke: Now a baseline ability, this allows you to interrupt spell casting, and like all non-damaging interrupts it cannot miss, but does anyway on Molten occasionally. 
Hammer of Justice: A dedicated stunning ability with a 1 minute cooldown. Will not interrupt stun immune targets, like raid bosses. 
Holy Wrath: An AoE stun that affects all Undead within 10 yards for 3 seconds. If glyphed, this will also affect Elementals and Dragonkin. Needless to say, it also interrupts spell casting. 

Cooldowns: 
These abilities help you survive situations where your risk of death is elevated. These situations range from the obvious - a special attack on a predictable 
timer - to the more subtle but no less deadly, like a debuff that disables or distracts your healers. Here are a couple guidelines for using cooldowns effectively:
  • Use cooldowns before you take damage. If you use Guardian of Ancient Kings at half health, 90k HP, the cooldown is effectively adding 90k more HP before you die. If you wait until you reach 20k HP, it only adds an effective 20k HP. Waiting to use your cooldowns until you’re at low HP is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
  • You get the most mileage out of consciously using them in dangerous situations, but the more you use them, the more value you get. It’s a balancing act. 
  • Match the cooldown to the level of threat by planning your cooldown usage before the fight. 


Ardent Defender: Activate this right before you expect a deadly hit. When activated the ability provides a 10 second buff window. During that window if a Paladin is struck by an attack that would kill them they are instead healed for 15% of max health. During the 10 second window when the ability is activated Paladins will also benefit from a fixed 20% reduction to all incoming damage. If this ability successfully saves you from a fatal hit, it will put you in Forbearance for 1 minute. If the 10 seconds wear off without a fatal hit, you won't be affected by Forbearance. 
Divine Protection: This should be used to manage damage in non-emergency situations. I prefer it glyphed, which removes its ability to reduce physical damage, instead reducing magic damage by 40%.
Divine Guardian: If you pick up this talent you receive a new cooldown that reduces damage by 20% to all members of your party/raid within 20 yards for 6 seconds; you do not benefit from the damage reduction of this ability. This is still very handy to use for the benefit of your offtank, or when the raid expects a lot of sudden AoE damage.
Divine Shield: This ability is available to all Paladins but should be used carefully by tanks since it effectively removes you from combat and thus the threat table temporarily. Enemies on you will immediately go toward the next party/raid members on the threat table. This ability also 
causes Forbearance. However, it removes almost all debuffs in game and can be a game changer (for example, it removes the debuff that Halfus will put on you, which makes you capable of tanking up to 40 stacks by yourself. No other tank can do this). Use the below macro to cast bubble and then immediately remove it. Don't forget to taunt the boss to keep it on you.

Code:
#showtooltip 
/cancelaura Divine Shield 
/cast Divine Shield

Guardian of Ancient Kings: Will reduce damage to the tanking Paladin by 50% through the Ancient Guardian ability for 12 seconds. Cooldown on this ability is 5 minutes; or 3 minutes if spec'ed into all ranks of [Shield of the Templar]. This is your best damage reduction cooldown. 
Holy Shield: It is an activate-able ability which provides 10 seconds of +20% to amount blocked on a 1 minute cooldown. It is typically used nearly on cooldown during fights, though it may be delayed briefly if a period of high blockable damage is expected to come soon. Note that it inreases the amount of damage blocked, not your block rating. 
Lay on Hands: Casting it will heal the target equal to the maximum health of the casting Paladin. It is off the global cooldown, cannot crit heal, is not effected by many healing boosting effects, and will cause Forbearance for 1 minute on whomever it's cast. Note that it persists through debuffs, such as Chimaeron's healing reduction in the last phase. It will ALWAYS heal you to full health, no matter how many healing reduction debuffs you are affected by. 
Word of Glory: An instant Holy Power powered heal with a 20 second cooldown and no mana cost. Additionally the base spec (via Guarded by the Light) also provides the additional benefit of converting any over healing into a temporary bubble. Sometimes underestimated, it can crit and easily heal for 30+K, making it a powerful survival tool. You can glyph it for more healing, but it is not recommended unless you are going for pure self-healing.


Before you start, make sure that Righteous Fury is on, and that you have a Seal and an Aura active. 

The Pull: Divine Plea -> Inquisition -> Avenging Wrath -> Avenger's Shield -> Priority Queue

Priority Queue: Crusader Strike (use to build holy power) -> Judgment -> Avenger's Shield (if Grand Crusader procs) -> Shield of the Righteous (with full Holy Power) -> Hammer of Wrath (below 20% hp)
Use Holy Shield, Divine Protection, and Word of Glory on cooldown or when required. 

AoE Rotation: Consecration (Only to "catch" adds as they spawn. Do not use it actively- it is a massive mana hog and not very effective as a threat generator), Hammer of the Righteous, Avenger's Shield. 
Build up 3 stacks of Holy Power and keep Inquisition active as much as possible. 


Bastion of Twilight (BoT)
Halfus Wyrmbreaker
  • Use bubble and cancel it with the cancelaura macro to remove the healing debuff Halfus puts on you.
  • Interrupt Halfus' Shadow Nova ability with Rebuke
  • Cast Consecration on the floor outside the whelps before you release them, and then Hammer of the Righteous right away to keep aggro on them

Valiona and Theralion
  • If you have Engulfing Magic on you, hit escape and stop attacking the boss. You won't lose aggro instantly, but it will save the lives of your melee pile.
  • Move the boss out of Dazzling Destruction, which is the purple ground ability. 

Ascendant Council
  • Interrupt Hydro Lance, it will murder clothies.
  • Run away from Feludius when he is casting Glaciate because the closer you are, the more damage you take.
  • In the third phase, make sure you don't get hit by Lava Seeds. 


Blackwing Descent (BWD)
Magmaw
  • Use a cooldown whenever you get eaten. Rotate Holy Shield, Guardian of Ancient Kings, Lay on Hands, and even bubble if required.
  • Do not click on him when the time comes to chain him! This is a job for DPSers. If he isn't chained correctly, he will sometimes throw whoever is on his head down into the lava below, and it will be a sure wipe if your tank falls down.
  • Stay away from worms.

Omnotron Defense System
  • Pay attention to which machine is going to activate and be ready to taunt it.
  • Don't stand in anything bad, and move bosses out of the blue Power Generator that Arcanotron casts on the ground.
  • Hit escape and stop hitting Electron when he has Unstable Shield on.
  • Pay attention to what the bosses are casting (esspecially Electron and Arcanotron), and be ready to interrupt their cast skills with Rebuke. If you miss key interrupts, your raid members could get one shot. 

Maloriak
  • Interrupt Arcane Storm
  • Face Maloriak to the raid when the red cauldron is active.
  • Make sure you are 6 yards away from everyone else during the blue cauldron phase.
  • Pay attention to when the boss is releasing aberrations if you are on add duty.

Atramedes
  • Don't get hit by too many bad things that increase your sound. 

Nefarion
  • If you hit him hard enough he drops gold. 


Firelands (FL)
Beth'tilac
  • Do not face Drones towards your raid.
  • Taunt Spinners down so they stop hitting your DPS and healers.
  • If you see Spiderlings coming towards the Drone you are tanking, kite it away from them while making sure to not face them to the raid.
  • In the last phase, stand at least 6 yards away from the other tank to prevent taking unnecessary damage.
  • Taunt Beth'tilac off your other tank when he/she has 2 stacks of Killing Kiss. Focus target your OT to make sure you know when to taunt.
  • She hits harder the longer the fight progresses, so be sure to use your cooldowns wisely.

Lord Rhyolith
  • Pick up adds as they spawn, esspecially the Sparks of Rhyolith, and make sure they are not in range of any raid members. Once it is safely away from the raid, stun and use glyphed divine protection to reduce the damage you take.
  • Don't forget to help out using Divine Guardian before a particularly bad concussive stomp
  • Once you get to the last phase, Rhyolith hits about as hard as Beth'tilac, so don't forget to use your cooldowns. 

Shannox
  • If you are tanking the boss, face him away from the raid to prevent getting cleaved. 
  • Save your cooldowns for when the dogs die.
  • If you are tanking the dog, make sure to keep an eye out for crystal traps and try and trap the dog as often as possible.
  • Don't stand in fire, it's really bad for you.

Alysrazor
  • Make sure you are the only person standing next to your egg before the hatchlings spawn. They are not tauntable, and if you don't do this the person they imprint on will have to either alt+f4 or die or kill them to get rid of them.
  • Focus on DPSing the Hatchling down, and run them over worms as soon as possible. The worms do a LOT of AoE damage, so run straight through as fast as possible. Pop glyphed Divine Protection to soften the blow. 
  • NEVER point Alysrazor towards the raid. She does a massive cleave that will oneshot any non tank. Even the other tank shouldn't be standing around to take it.
  • Rotate cooldowns and keep switching at around 15 stacks, or whatever is comfortable for you. Watch your hp and see how much you can take.

Baleroc
  • You can either two tank, or single tank this boss on Molten. Single tanking is by far easier if you can handle it. Just stand and take damage, and pop a cooldown before Decimation Blade if your healers can't keep up. 
  • Make sure you are not taking damage from the crystal, that is the fastest way to the graveyard.
  • If you are two tanking, the offtank needs to start the fight and gain enough stacks so that his health pool is at least over 250k. 350k is safer. Then the main tank will take the boss and stack up the fire debuff. Whenever the boss casts Decimation Blade (his shadow ability), the OT needs to taunt and soak up this damage, and the MT has to taunt off again right after.

Majordomo Staghelm
  • In Scorpion form, point the boss towards your raid. You must be stacked for this fight to share raid damage. If your healers are good and the dps can push it, you can kill the boss by staying in this phase entirely. (rotate tranquility, spirit link totem, bloodlust, etc)
  • If you must spread, then be sure to taunt the cats that spawn and try and dps them down if you have steady boss aggro. They have almost no health and tend to jump around on your DPS. Don't forget to keep taunting them.
  • If you happen to be standing in a pool of fire, move. 


A note on the Pre-Majordomo Staghelm adds:
These wiped us more cleanly than any other boss in the instance the first time we encountered them, and they can still pose a challenge in our 6th-7th run of the week where healers are not very geared. The DPS has to be VERY careful about their debuff on this fight. The more you attack, the more stacks of a fire dot you get on you. This does massive damage and is unhealable above 3 stacks, so don't push it over 1 if your health is low. 
Also, kill the humanoid add first, since he does the "sunfire" AoE. Once he is dead, it makes things much easier.
The cats will also jump and AoE stun anyone in the area that they land, so having a priest with glyph of mass dispel or anyone that can do the job is very handy. 
Kite these adds, do not tank them in one place. Even auto attacks will build stacks.

Ragnaros
  • Set focus on the other tank, and make sure to taunt switch at 4 stacks of the debuff. 
  • In the transition phases use your stuns- you will have nothing to do in the first one so stun and dps as many Sons of Flame as you possibly can. Make sure you have Holy Wrath glyphed for this fight. 
  • In the second transition phase, if you are not tanking the boss then make sure you pick up the Scions that spawn a second or two before the Sons of Flame do, and drag them away from the raid but not too far, not out of range of your healers.
  • When you're stacking in the molten seeds phase, make sure you get a hit or two with your hammer of the righteous and drop a consecration, because people underestimate the damage 20 of those adds can do to one squishy hunter, and you don't want their death to be on your conscience.


Blacksmithing & Jewelcrafting seem to be the best possible combination for a Paladin tank (or for that matter, any tank), however- Blacksmithing, Jewelcrafting, Inscription, Leatherworking and Enchanting are very similar in the stat bonuses you gain. If you absolutely must get a gathering profession, then take Mining. Mining+Jewelcrafting is a good alternative, since you can pre-mine the mats and then abandon it for Blacksmithing. 


Blacksmithing: You gain two additional gemming slots. When epic gems come out, the stat value will be around 100, vs the 80ish you gain from other professions. 
Jewelcrafting: Apart from being a useful profession to have (which only gets better with time), it's going to provide around 81 stat points with the jewelcrafter only gems.
Enchanting: Provides +60 stamina to each ring, for a total of 120 stamina. 
Inscription: Provides a shoulder enchant which provides the same bonus as enchanting. This is an alternative to the Therazane rep reward, but not optimal. 
Leatherworking: Draconic Embossment for bracers give you 195 stamina, which is a huge improvement over the alternative, which is the 50 dodge enchant. 
Alchemy: The crafted trinket (Lifebound Alchemist Stone) is quite good early on, and it gives you Mixology which increases the duration of your flasks to 2 hours instead of 1. 
Engineering: This is mostly a utility profession, which should only be considered for the helm and cogwheel enchants, which are currently not very attractive. 
Mining: 80 stamina and the ability to mine, this is by far the best gathering profession for us. 
Herbalism: A small self heal and a haste boost. The haste buff is okay for Retribution, but terrible for tanks. Unless you plan to heavily use your offspec, this is a bad idea. 
Skinning: It gives you critical strike rating, which us basically useless for a paladin tank. 
Tailoring: None of the enchants are optimal for tanks.


Most consumables are optional, but I recommend always having a stamina scroll on, and a flask for difficult instances (such as Firelands). Scrolls are really cheap, and even easier to get if you ask a scribe friend to make you a big batch. 

Flasks:
Flask of Steelskin +450 Stamina for 1 hour. 

Scrolls:
Scroll of Stamina IX +150 Stamina (Guardian Elixir)
Runescroll of Fortitude II +468 Stamina to the whole raid, stacks with Priest's fortitude buff. 

Food:
Seafood Magnifique Feast: +90 Dodge and +90 Stamina
Lavascale Minestrone: +90 Mastery rating and +90 Stamina
Mushroom Sauce Mudfish: +90 Dodge rating and +90 Stamina
Blackbelly Sushi: +90 Parry rating and +90 Stamina

Potions:
Earthen Potion: +4800 armor for 25 seconds

Elixirs:
Elixir of Deep Earth: +900 Armor (Guardian Elixir)
Prismatic Elixir: +90 to all Resistances (Guardian Elixir)
Elixir of the Master: +225 Mastery rating (Battle Elixir)


My guild Care for being awesome and providing a great learning environment where everyone strives to be better.
Noobert: For looking over it in its earliest stages and helping me proof read and improve it.
Schakall: A tank supremist that looked over this guide and gave me some very useful tips.
Chea: Another guildie, for mentioning a few things I missed out and providing the ctc macro.
Epic: For managing to be more picky than I am about the little details, and help fix a lot of minor issues. 
Lynea: Random forum fairy that did the links in the glyph section for me!

Resources:

Changelog:
Monday, July 08 2013 - Added a few improvements to the section about Consecration, and also added links to the glyphs.
Tuesday, July 09 2013 - Fixed the section about Glyph of Divine Protection. It's on a 60 second cooldown, not 30. Also added information about racial passive expertise gain.
Monday, July 29 2013 - Updated to include sections on professions and consumables, and also included boss tips for Alysrazor, Baleroc, and Majordomo Staghelm.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - Added a video to go with the guide.
Monday, September 16, 2013: A long overdue section on handling Ragnaros as a paladin tank has been added.

If you would like to check the newest changelog of this guide you can visit it here.

This is not owned by us this was just copied from molten wow official list of guides.


9/09/2013



 
Let me first start off by saying I am not the best Hunter or player in the world. I have just recently come from Ragnaros with my guild <Care> to join Sargeras and progress into Cataclysm as we had cleared all content on Ragnaros and it posed no fun for our guild anymore. I am learning Survival just as everyone else, but I thought I could be of help with my current knowledge to Hunter's who are learning just as I am. The reason I am writing this guide is because I remember when I started Cataclysm on Sargeras, I came looking for a guide and found nothing with great detail so I decided that it was time this section for such an amazing class had one.
This guide will contain information that may help any new Hunter's on the path to enjoying one of the most fun classes in the game. Currently Survival is the best tree available to Hunter's for most encounters inside of Cataclysm 4.3.4 but each is viable to be played and maintain high damage per second output with the current available gear. I will test each specialization as more content is released and update accordingly.
 

  • Talent Tree
  • Glyphs
  • Stat Priority (w/ enchants)
  • Gemming
  • Rotation
  • Pet Choices
  • Pet Talents
  • BiS List - Non-Donor, Donor, and End Game
  • Professions
  • Macros
  • Skill Knowledge
  • Ending


The talent tree I am currently using is this. I will explain why below.



The reason I chose to take Point of No Escape over Survival Tactics is because you encounter more instances where you will need to be using Multi-Shot as well as Frost Trap to help the tank as well as nuking the adds that spawn not to mention trash clearing. Another reason is because you do not receive resists on Molten, for some reason.


Encounters where this may occur are, in instance order:
Blackwing Descent - Magmaw, Omnitron Defense System, Maloriak, and Nefarian.
Bastion of Twilight - Halfus Wyrmbreaker, Cho'gall and Sinestra.
Firelands - Beth'tilac, Lord Rhyolith and Ragnaros.
Dragon Soul - Yor'sahj, Hagara Stormbinder, Warmaster Blackhorn, Spine of Deathwing and Madness of Deathwing.

**Note: This is only if you fire/drop the Ice or Freezing Trap, otherwise it is a useless talent and you should take Survival Tactics.

The reason I took a point in Sic Em' and maximized Serpent Spread over taking two points in Careful Aim is based off personal preference because the overall damage in most fights will be much higher due to the opening ten percent health being shaved off fairly quickly currently with the available progression content (Firelands being only 10-man). I will more than likely change this on bosses with insanely large healthpools like Ragnaros and Deathwing. However, if you want to take the higher opening burst build rather than lengthy DPS - take this one below.




The glyphs you will want will change as content is released, but I will again explain that below after I have listed what glyphs you want.

Prime Glyphs:

Major Glyphs:

Minor Glyphs:

These are currently the best glyphs available to a Survival Hunter Guide. However, with the release of Dragon Soul gear you will obtain the Haste soft cap with your T13 fairly easily and it will cause you to remove the Glyph of Serpent Sting and replace it with Glyph of Arcane Shot due to the amount of focus you generate.

Glyph of Mending is to help sustain your pet in fights where you will be required to heal him since Molten is bugged on certain aspects of pet damage. This is also the reason for the Glyph of Revive Pet as if you do not have a pet, you will lose an insane amount of damage.


Stat Priority is tricky. Personally, I currently maintain a balance between Haste and Critical Strike rating due to being unable to hit the Haste cap which is 2665 but at the same time I aim for Haste before Critical Strike. I will be adding enchant selection within this sub-section as well.

Agility > 8% Ranged Hit > Haste Cap > Critical Strike > Mastery > Haste

The reason you want to be hitting the Haste Cap is to make sure you can fit in 3 Cobra Shots between each Explosive Shot cooldown. However, once Tier 13 becomes available you will want to drop that Haste down to 757 total Haste once you obtain 4 Pieces of T13. Sadly, it will be impossible to go that low but still try to minimize the total Haste at this point by reforging to Critical Strike and then Mastery.

The haste you want is 29.17% (1794 Haste Rating - This is the lowest I got it to without breaking the 1.5 to 1.6 barrier) total Haste to obtain a 1.5 second cast on your Cobra Shot. Once you hit this percentage, it is more profitable to stack Critical Strike or Mastery. Credit to Skiploom for finding out what percentage of Haste you want.

Enchants:
Ranged Weapon - Gnomish X-Ray Scope


Gemming is very easy and straight forward, I will list both the current available gems and the ones you will want in the future once Dragon Soul gems become available.

Meta Gem:
Agile Shadowspirit Diamond - 54 Agility and 3% Increased Critical Effect.

Pre-Dragon Soul Gems:
Red Socket - Delicate Inferno Ruby - 40 Agility.
Yellow Socket - Deft Ember Topaz/Deadly Ember Topaz - 20 Agility and 20 Haste/Critical Strike Rating.
Blue Socket - Delicate Inferno Ruby/Glinting Demonseye - 40 Agility/20 Agility and 20 Hit Rating.

You can socket determining on what you require most. Remember to look for beneficial socket bonuses that will give you that increase in agility as well as another stat for free.

Dragon Soul Gems:
Red Socket - Delicate Queen's Garnet - 50 Agility
Yellow Socket - Deft Lava Coral/Deadly Lava Coral - 25 Agility and 25 Haste/Critical Strike Rating.
Blue Socket - Delicate Queen's Garnet/Glinting Shadow Spinel - 50 Agility/25 Agility and 25 Hit Rating.

Same rules apply from the above gemming.


The rotation is a fairly simple one but I will start with the priority and work from there.
1) Explosive Shot
2) Kill Shot
3) Black Arrow
4) Serpent Sting
5) Cobra Shot
6) Arcane Shot

Explosive is the highest priority in the rotation because it will be your number one damage output. You want to keep this always on cooldown. You will be using Arcane Shot, Killshot, and Cobra Shot as fillers between Lock and Loads procs to minimize dot clipping.

The opening rotation I use is Serpent Sting -> Hunter cooldowns (listed below) -> Explosive Shot -> Black Arrow -> Cobra Shot <Lock and Load Proc> Explosive Shot -> Arcane Shot -> Explosive Shot -> Cobra Shot -> Explosive Shot -> Cobra Shot <Lock and Load Proc> Repeat Prior.

The standard rotation for me is Explosive Shot -> Black Arrow -> Cobra Shot <Lock and Load Proc> Explosive Shot -> Arcane Shot -> Explosive Shot -> Cobra Shot -> Explosive Shot -> Cobra Shot <Lock and Load Proc> Repeat Prior -> Cobra Shot -> Cobra Shot -> Cobra Shot -> Black Arrow -> Explosive Shot -> Repeat Prior.

The AoE rotation is Misdirection -> Trap Launcher -> Explosive Trap -> Multi-Shot until out of focus -> Cobra Shot -> Explosive Shot -> Cobra Shot -> Multi-Shot -> Rinse and repeat.

**Note** If you do not misdirect, you will more than likely strip aggro from the tank unless they are very aware as to what they are doing.

The Hunter ability you should use before the fight begins is Hunter's Mark. Make sure it is always on the target you plan on DPSing.

The Hunter cooldowns you should use at the beginning of the fight are Rapid Fire, Call of the Wild, Engineering Abilities, Trinkets, Potion of the Tol'vir, etc. to maximize how many times you may use these during the entire encounters duration. Be sure to use them each time they are available to maximize your damage per second!


Pet choices will come down to raid composition and players within the raid, as well as what is stackable on Molten itself as well as the base overall damage.

Using a Cat is only beneficial to the raid if you do not have a Warrior, Death Knight or Shaman within the raid.
Using a Wolf is only beneficial to the raid if you do not have a Subtlety Rogue, Fury Warrior, Elemental Shaman, or a Feral Druid within the raid.
Using a Dragonhawk or Wind Serpent is only beneficial to the raid if you do not have a Warlock or Unholy Death Knight within the raid.
Using a Raptor is only beneficial to the raid if you do not have a Protection Warrior or Arms Warrior within the raid.

What pet do you choose when all of the above are within your raid? Make your decision based off the raid members and who is most likely to die, or if you just want straight damage - either a Cat or a Wolf is fine.

Cat provides - Roar of Courage - 549 Agility and Strength.
Wolf provides - Furious Howl - 5% Critical Strike.
Wind Serpent provides - Lightning Breath - 8% Increased Magical Damage.
Raptor provides - Tear Armor - 12% Reduced Armor.

There are other various abilities that are the same as the listed above but these are the most common you will see on Hunter's as they are currently the best available abilities out there.


These are just my personal preferences which I will explain below.

Cat:

The reason I choose Wild Hunt over Shark Attack is that your pet will maintain high focus due to Sic 'Em! proccing often.

Wolf:
The same talent tree and reason as the Cat's tree.

Wind Serpent:


These talents I chose to maximize damage output, sadly though, Wolverine Bite is bugged and does not always cast making it a pet that does less damage overall but still offers the 8% Spell Damage increase when your raid lacks a Warlock or an Unholy Death Knight.

Raptor:
The same talent tree and reason as the Cat's tree.


Non-Donor BiS List:
Head - Ragnaros - Helm of the Fiery Protector turns into Flamewaker's Headguard ** BELOW
Neck - Justice Points - Necklace of Smoke Signals
Shoulders - Majordomo Staghelm - Flickering Shoulders ** BELOW
Chest - Justice Points - Flamewaker's Tunic
Back - Lord Rhyolith/Avengers of Hyjal - Dreadfire Drape/Sleek Flamewrath Cloak
Wrist - Justice Points or Firelands Trash - Bracers of Forked Lightning OR Hide-Bound Chains
Gloves - Justice Points - Flamewaker's Gloves
Belt - Avengers of Hyjal - Firearrow Belt
Legs - Justice Points - Flamewaker's Legguards
Feet - Fireland's Leatherworking Pattern - Earthen Scale Sabatons
Weapon - Firelands Trash Drop or Majordomo Staghelm - Ranseur of Hatred OR Fandral's Flamescythe
Ranged Weapon - Ragnaros - Arathar, the Eye of Flame
Ring #1 - Avengers of Hyjal - Viridian Signet of the Avengers
Ring #2 - Justice Points or Beth'tilac- Splintered Brimstone Seal OR Widow's Kiss

** You have a choice, based off the Haste or Critical Strike Rating you need. However, my suggestion is to take the Tier Helmet as well as Flickering Shoulders with 192 Haste, Critical, or Mastery (depending on your luck or desire) but you can take Tier Shoulders and Shannox's Helmet.

Trinkets are based off of your own preference, the current best ones available are:
Matrix Stabilizer from Ragnaros.
The Hungerer from Majordomo Staghelm.
Ancient Petrified Seed from the Avengers of Hyjal.
Essence of the Cyclone from Halfus Wyrmbreaker.
Fluid Death from Justice Points.
Key to the Endless Chamber from Corborus in Stonecore Heroic mode.

Current Donor BiS:
Back - Dreadfire Drape/Sleek Flamewrath Cloak ** These can be obtained in-game **
Ranged Weapon - Horrifying Horn Arbalest ** Read Below ** OR Arathar, The Eye of Flame
Ring #2 - Viridian Signet of the Avengers ** You can farm this reputation **
Trinket #1 - Vial of Shadows
Trinket #2 - Wrath of Unchaining

The Horrifying Horn Arbalest currently is showing 583.6 damage per second on the coin shop which is wrong, even for Raid Finder gear so be warned when purchasing this that it may not be correct.

End Game BiS List:
Head - Warmaster Blackhorn - Wyrmstalker's Headguard
Neck - Valor Points - Cameo of Terrible Memories
Shoulders - Hagara the Stormbinder - Wyrmstalker's Spaulders
Chest - Ultraxion - Wyrmstalker's Tunic
Back - Lord Rhyolith - Dreadfire Drape
Wrist - Ultraxion - Bracers of Looming Darkness ** Below **
Gloves - Morchok - Sporebeard Gauntlets
Belt - Warmaster Blackhorn - Belt of the Beloved Companion
Legs - Yor'sahj - Wyrmstalker's Legguards
Feet - Hagara the Stormbinder - Treads of Dormant Dreams
Weapon - Madness of Deathwing - Kiril, Fury of Beasts
Ranged Weapon - Madness of Deathwing - Vishanka, Jaws of the Earth
Ring #1 - Hagara the Stormbinder - Signet of Grasping Mouths
Ring #2 - Valor Points - Emergency Descent Loop ** No Heroic Available*
Trinket #1 - Shared Boss Loot - Vial of Shadows
Trinket #2 - Spine of Deathwing - Wrath of Unchaining


** NOTE **
This is different from Molten's server, this is comparative to retail. I compared a planned setup and my current setup has more damage output than what this planner would say. This has only the two buffs shown on the screen, just like in-game as well.

** Note ** All of the above items except the marked one are Heroic quality.
* Bracers are difficult to weigh up as the crafted bracers have more agility, yet Bracers of Looming Darkness from Ultraxion have more secondary stats leading to easier reforging optimization (no haste so it gets you closer to the ~758 cap).


These are the benefits to our class, choose which one you think is the most beneficial to you.

Alchemy - 80 Agility with the use of the flask.
Blacksmithing - 80 or100 Agility based on the gems you use.
Enchanting - 40 Agility per ring.
Engineering - 480 Agility for 10 seconds on a one minute cooldown.
Inscription - 130 Agility and 25 Mastery to shoulders.
Jewelcrafting - 27 stats per gem, maximum of three gems, which equals 81 bonus stats.
Leatherworking - 130 Agility to Bracers.
Tailoring - 1000 Attack Power for 15 seconds.
Herbalism - 480 Haste for 20 seconds, two minute cooldown.
Mining - 120 base stamina.
Skinning - 80 base Critical Strike rating.

Personally, I would use Tailoring and Engineering just for the extra burst damage over the fight when it is needed most. Even then, most of the professions come out to be equal at 80 bonus stats so it is not a huge loss to take any of the professions (except Mining and Skinning).


In this section, I will go through some macros that I use with the explanation as to why. I do not use many macros yet but I will update as the need arises for them.

#showtooltip
/cast [target=focus] Misdirection
This macro will help enable you to have an easier time Misdirecting your target.

#showtooltip
/cast [@targettarget] Misdirection
This macro will Misdirect the target of the person or mob you are currently targeting, allowing you to have two quick Misdirection macros available if you have to swap tanks.

/petfollow [@pettarget,exists]
/petattack [@pettarget,noexists]
This macro will either make your pet attack the current target you are attacking, or pull him back to you.

#showtooltip Rapid Fire
/cast Call of the Wild
/use Potion of the Tol'vir
/cast Rapid Fire
This is the macro to use your cooldowns, as well as a Potion of the Tol'vir that gives you 1200 Agility for 20 seconds.

/script SetCVar ("cameraDistancemax" ,50)
This is the max camera distance macro and it will help you be more aware of what is going on around you.

/script RepopMe();
If you ever get stuck falling the world or unable to release - use this macro. It will save your unstuck on the website to enable you to hunt more pets efficiently.


Every skill in the Hunter spellbook is useful, even right down to the most unused talents. Do not forget to go through your book and read the use of every skill as it will improve your ability to play a Hunter ten fold.

Disengage - Currently one of the best gap closes, and gap making ability in the game. This ability will save you countless times during your Hunter career.

Deterrence - The best avoidance skill, in my mind, currently available to classes as it allows you to take next to no damage from almost any skill in the game if you use the ability at the right time.

Feign Death - You will use this if you happen to pull aggro or a mob randomly targets you. It will save you almost as much as the above two skills will.

Camouflage - This is the best addition to Hunter's in Cataclysm. You can Feign Death and Camouflage right away, enabling you to remain out of combat for a fair duration until you are Healed or until an AoE ability hits you.

Trap Launcher - Ever since The Burning Crusade I have wished for this, and finally it is given to us. This makes our lives as Hunter's so much easier without having to get into a bad position to place a trap.

Scatter Shot - This is useful even in raid content, especially on mobs that need to be interrupted like on the Alysrazor. It may not always work though.

Wyvern Sting - Same as Scatter Shot, it helps you disable a mob that needs to be interrupted when you lack the ability. It may not always work though.

Explosive Trap - This trap, in combination with Serpent Spread and Multi-Shot makes Hunter's the best AoE damage available in the game currently.

Ice Trap - This skill is simply beautiful. Who does not want a massive AoE slow for an encounter where mobs must be kited or killed?

Distracting Shot - Tank is about to die? Save him for a few seconds with this skill and Deterrence by taunting the boss, or a mob off him. Feign Death drops aggro and the mob will run to a random raid member, not the tank like it normally would had the effect of the skill wore off.

Tranquilizing Shot - You will not use this skill that much in 4.3.4 but it is still a good skill to have on your bars for moments where you wish to dispel a buff that a mob or the boss has that is dispellable.

Master's Call - During encounters like Hagara Stormbinder, you can use this skill during the Frost Phase to clear your slowing debuff. It is just an amazing skill, it even removes daze effects.

Widow Venom - This is a useful thing to have on a boss like Maloriak where he will heal if it not dispelled by Tranquilizing Shot or a Mage's Spellsteal.


This completes the guide. Thank you for reading and I hope you will learn as much as I did while making this guide.

Skiploom and I went out to investigate and make certain that all of what I wrote here was correct and I was not leading anyone on or making them purchase an item incorrectly. Currently everything I have wrote is correct and in working condition unless specified.

I hope it teaches you a lot and you enjoy reading it as much as I did typing it.

If you have any questions, comments, etc. I will happily answer them as I see them. 

Noobert

Credit goes to..
Wolololol for the Banners and Headers design and my guildies on <Care> for the support and dedication to make me a better player and person.

This is not owned by us this was just copied from molten wow official list of guides.