Why your guild should try a Prot Pally

[TheFishyOne 9]

'ey guys.

Back on Nost PvP, I was a raiding Prot Pally. My guild was almost raid ready when Nost died, but I had no problem finding PuG raids for ZG, MC, or Ony while I waited for them to hit 60. Naturally, a few puggers blamed things like the DPS overaggroing (seriously guys, don't blow your trinkets and cooldowns the instant the tank makes contact with the boss), or issues arising from the composition of the raid, but more puggers were impressed with what I could do. I would solo tank the core hound packs in raids that would let me (without dying or losing aggro), I would solo tank spiders in ZG, and tank 3 or 4 adds on Garr if we were light on locks. On my first Hakkar kill, the MT (a Prot War) simply let me have the Bloodsoaked Legplates that dropped as a sign of respect for being able to successfully MT him. A lot of people in the community assume that anything that isn't min/max optimal is also not viable, and this is simply not true.

That said, although we are perfectly viable, we are not always optimal. Our lack of a taunt is a factor on tank-swap fights (that is easily worked sround), and our oh фекал buttons are more situational than a Prot War's. On the other hand, we can help cleanse while tanking, give BoSanc to the other tanks without the need for a hybrid spec, and we make gauntlets a joke. Some people would cite our Mana bar as a weakness, but it brings more positives when played correctly: We can never be Rage starved, never start the fight with an empty resource bar, and can do the job eithout needing to drink every pull. In raids, I drank less often then the healers, and only when they needed a mana break. It could be said that we are like Prot Wars on hard mode, requiring more skill to do the same job.

Anyhow, I know that like any other hybrid, we are not for everyone, or every guild. You should also never have more than one in a raid, as we cannot replace the need for Prot Wars. There may be other positives and negatives that I did not think of when writing this. Speaking of which, everything I did on Nost, I did with it's janky itemization that featured a pre-buff Deathbone set. All itemization here will be consistent with 1.12.1, so this will not be the case here. If you are a recruitment officer for your guild, I hope the preceding has convinced you to reconsider that Prot Pally app.

[Suzerain 91]

So what you're saying is I can expect you to be running my alts through Scarlet Monastery? : )

[Xudojnik 904]

As a prot warrior, I can say tanking of core hounds and garr adds is a routine that any tank should handle.

One more thing. Judjement of crusader do not just add damage to holy shield. It was fixed and adds spell damage, which adds fraction of its value to damage.

[TheFishyOne 9]

Kudo, while what you said is not wrong (on Nost, HS received no benefit from spelldmg), I am referring to solo tanking them. In other words, say for core hound packs, the Prot War throws on his DPS gear. For Garr adds, we may have 2 Prot Wars, 3 Locks, and me as a Prot Pally, so a War would MT Garr, the other War would OT an add, the locks would banish one each, and I would pick up everything that was left over. At once.

 

An equivalently geared Prot War could certainly handle the damage intake a little better than I could, but he could never hold aggro on everything without the help of at least one OT. Actually, at t1 gear levels, Prot Pallies not only block more often than Prot Wars, our blocks stop much more damage due to talents, so the damage intake factor would come out to a wash at best, and the Prot Pally taking even less damage than the Prot War with enough adds.

[Xudojnik 904]

An equivalently geared Prot War could certainly handle the damage intake a little better than I could, but he could never hold aggro on everything without the help of at least one OT. Actually, at t1 gear levels, Prot Pallies not only block more often than Prot Wars, our blocks stop much more damage due to talents, so the damage intake factor would come out to a wash at best, and the Prot Pally taking even less damage than the Prot War with enough adds.

I have tanked 3 or 4 garr adds solo in t1 and in addition was on guard in case of failed banish. Tab all the time, cleave, Essence of Pure Flame. Thats all you need.

[TheFishyOne 9]

I have tanked 3 or 4 garr adds solo in t1 and in addition was on guard in case of failed banish. Tab all the time, cleave, Essence of Pure Flame. Thats all you need.

Essence is a fairly rare drop off Rags. Most Wars will not have it, and I've done the same job in mostly blues. The fact that you have it suggests that you likely have t1 on farm status.

 

Also, as a Prot Pally, I can tank raid bosses just fine. Mana pots and a spelldmg weapon are all I need. That said, I sometimes have to work harder than a Prot War to achieve the same result. Personally, I've never heard of a Prot War doing what you claim to have done, but you've likely never heard of a Prot Pally doing what I claim to have done. My point in writing this was to show that we do, in fact, bring value to a raid and can pull our weight, and not to argue that my threat weapon is longer, thicker, and studlier than a Prot War's. =)