Need Advice

[Anthology187]

Hello,
I just joined the forums and had a question about the differences between tanks mainly between Paladin and Warrior for 5.2. I have played every tank in the game, Monk i have the least experience with because hes still 34.

The main two classes I wanted a comparison on was the Warrior and the Paladin. Currently I run a DK but wanted a TANK which in my eyes carries a shield.

Which is better?
Which has more mitigation?
Which can I farm Heroics with the easiest?
Which would have a better OS for farming, Side Stuff?

Please help.

[Fetzie]

Which is better?

Paladin players say a Paladin is better, Warrior players will say the opposite. I'm a Paladin, so I say Paladin is better.

Which has more mitigation?

Both about equal

Which can I farm Heroics with the easiest?

See above

Which would have a better OS for farming, Side Stuff?

See above.

So...yeah. Pick whichever you like the best. The flashy light effects were one of the reasons I picked up a Paladin.

[Ion]

Harsh words and steel...none of this foofoo magic crap.

Warriors.

Obviously.

[Bovinity]

Harsh words and steel...none of this foofoo magic crap.

Foofoo Magic. Pansy Armor.

Go Bear druid and just tank naked.

[Dreador]

Fetz lies and says he joined the order for all the flashy lights and shit, but it was really for the pink raid frame to call home. <3

[Fetzie]

Fetz lies and says he joined the order for all the flashy lights and shit, but it was really for the pink raid frame to call home. <3

I used to have a purple raid frame (warlock), so pink wasn't exactly a huge leap.

[Tjomek]

Foofoo Magic. Pansy Armor.

Go Bear druid and just tank naked.

I second this motion.

[captanmurdoc]

I personally prefer warrior simply because of the mobility. Prot warriors are probably the most mobile tanking class in the game at the moment with leap, charge and intervene. That being said, both warriors and paladins are fairly equal. Since you mentioned OS also, pally tanking and dps gear isn't too different with haste being the primary stat for both after hit and expertise caps so the ease in gearing your OS could be something to consider also.

[Gregasaurous]

Well, I just actually switched mains form a Prot War to Tankadin, so here's my thoughts on the matter:
They stand up to eachother fairly evenly as far as mitigation goes, and they are both classes I really love playing. I will say that one major utility advantage a Pally has is they can heal other people in a pinch. And if geared and played correctly, a Pally will do more damage.
Warriors though, are the *cough*formerly undisputed*cough* kings of mobility, which can be incredibly useful and fun as well. And they definitely make for very strong tanks against large groups of mobs.

Those are the defining differences I can think of between the two. If you're wondering, I switched to pally because I was really enjoying the way the rotation played out. My suggestion is to just play both, and go with the one you enjoy more. Whether that enjoyment comes form play style or different flexibility in utility.

***If you ask me, Monks got nothin on us man! Some of them have an alternate opinion to that though, so I give them the benefit of the doubt.

[captanmurdoc]

I've played both monk and warrior a fair bit greg and I agree, monks don't even begin to touch a warrior's mobility. They can roll around a fair bit on a short cd and clash but they don't have the flexibility a warrior does with where they end up or who they move to.

[Tielyn]

My suggestion is to grab the PTR and run both using the pregen level 90s and see for yourself.

But in a brief, gross, 10,000 foot view from someone who doesn't raid with either class (yet!), the big difference you'll find is in the Active Mitigations of the two of them.

The Warrior active mitigations are Shield Block and Shield Barrier, which are powered by Rage generation. You'll have to build around managing your Rage bar in a granular way, since SB costs 60 Rage outright and ShB costs 20-60 for an absorb. Since its mitigation is based around reducing incoming damage, it's more of a proactive thing than a recovery thing, as you don't have much in the way of self-healing compared to a paladin.

The Paladin active mitigations are Shield of the Righteous and Word of Glory, which are powered by Holy Power generation, at a fixed cost of 3 per ShotR and 1-3 for WoG. You'll be building around connecting with Crusader Strikes, Hammer of the Righteous, and Judgement, all of which are on longish cooldown timers, plus the occasional quasi-random Avengers Shield proc that also gives you a HP point. If you talent for Sacred Shield, you have a minor ability to prevent damage on yourself, and there's some stunts you can pull by chaining ShotR together that can make it so you take a lot less damage for several seconds in a row. But primarily, while soloing dungeons, I'm alternating back and forth between incoming damage reduction and self healing myself.

I'm currently leveling one of each in my copious spare time. Each have a very different feel to them.

I won't say one is better than the other, because I'm a bear. :}

From an OS utility spec, if your preference is damage, Arms seems to pull ahead of Ret between the two. If your preference is healing, well, go Paladin. Healers get the easy queues in LFR these days, and Pally healing is fairly simple and mana efficient.

And while admittedly, while this is a personal experience thing, I run a lot of PuGs and LFRs... and I've seen a lot of paladins who have threat issues compared to warriors. It sounds like you're more in favor of mobility, so I'd go with the warrior -- though if you want to solo dungeons, I can say that I find it a lot easier to do it on my paladin.

Again, personal experience, though. I can't push your buttons for you nor know what your skillset is like, so your best bet is to play what feels right for you.

-Tielyn

[Tengenstein]

SHield barrier costs 20-60 rage

[Tielyn]

Fixed! Thanks.

[Fetzie]

If you talent for Sacred Shield, you have a minor ability to prevent damage on yourself,

In 25 man raids I often get 200+k absorb shields from sacred shield ... every 4 seconds. I would say that "minor" is the wrong word for that

[Tengenstein]

In 25 man raids I often get 200+k absorb shields from sacred shield ... every 4 seconds. I would say that "minor" is the wrong word for that

damn straight, Overpowered as fuck.

[Fetzie]

damn straight, Overpowered as fuck.

How big does Shield Barrier get again?

[Tengenstein]

Compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges. Sbar is our equivalent of WoG; a full rage Sbar will absorb 90% of our Vengeance AP, but i very much doubt many prot warriors can generate 15rps needed to consistently put a full sbar up every 4 seconds.

The closest equivlent to Sacred Shield warriors have is probably Impending Victory or Second Wind. My problem with Sacred Shield is that it scales far too well, not with AP, but with Haste. Every prot warrior defensive ability either scales with only boss damage or with only stamina, theres no case off it gets better with gear and with boss damage.

[Fetzie]

Yeah, scaling with dps stats is something needing fixing for the warrior tanks. Maybe they could make Second Wind or IV's heal scale with your crit chance or something.

[Kazeyonoma]

Yeah, scaling with dps stats is something needing fixing for the warrior tanks. Maybe they could make Second Wind or IV's heal scale with your crit chance or something.

Can you imagine the amount of QQ that'll come from Arms warriors in PvP if this were implemented though? OMG THAT ARMS WARRIOR JUST KEEPS HEALING BACK TO FULL CUZ HE STACKED CRIT FOR SECOND WIND. IMBA. -_-'

Scaling for warriors has always been an issue. Remember the old 'warriors are the most gear dependent class in the game' and 'at the top 1% warriors are performing... too well' yeah...

[Tengenstein]

Yeah they really need to let Prot white swings generate Rage and/or give us a similiar passive to Sanctity of Battle.