Tankadin[BC] - The Tank of the Future

Eigentlich hatte ich vor einen ausführlichen Bericht über die neue Aufgabe des Tanka...ehm...Paladins zu schreiben, nun wühle ich mal wieder durch die US-Foren und finde dies hier.

Tjo, und anstatt jetzt nochmal das Selbe zu erzählen zitiere ich doch einfach:

In the midst of all the speculations about the new skills/talents for paladins, a few brethrens had already pointed out that a whole new possibility opened up for paladins to tank multiple, weaker targets. I'd like to point out various existing skills and talents and insert my opinion on what Blizzard thinks our new role would be.

Existing Talents

Consecrate / Redoubt / Reckoning / Holy Shield / Blessing of Sanctuary

The effects of these abilities usually work best against multiple targets attacking the paladin. I found out that it usually takes 2 or more mobs to consume the full charges of Redoubt or Holy Shield, for example. Consecrate and Sanctuary theoretically scales up so that they can affect an indefinite amount of mobs.

New Skills and Talents

Spiritual Attunement

I'm claiming this skill as a tank - only skill. Holy paladins should never be in the thick of the battle and therefore should not get hurt, and in turn should not be getting healed. Retribution paladins will not be healed often, and Seal of Command is a low mana, high damage skill that does not benefit too much from getting extra mana anyway.

For a tankadin though, this skill is the missing piece to the pally tank puzzle. One of the biggest disadvantage of a pally tank versus a warrior tank is that paladins lose mana over time while warriors gains rage over time. With the neat conversion of heals to mana, a well supported paladin can now tank continuously under the support of a full time healer.

Righteous Defense

Snap aggro for, note, multiple mobs. Being able to snap 3 mobs at once is the only advantage the spell has over the warrior version, and that also leads to another thing - that you'll end up tanking those 3 mobs yourself. Another nod that indicates we're being fitted as an AoE tank.

Seal of Blood/Seal of Vengence

While the two seals work very differently, I'd call these tanking seals. Seal of Blood generates more holy damage on the premise that you're being supported by a healer. Adding Spiritual Attunement to the equation, you're looking at a tanking cycle in the making... although admittingly, this sounds much better as a single target tanking ability than a multiple target tanking one.

Seal of Vengence, though, has multi-target tank written all over it. Being able to apply a holy DoT means that a paladin can potentially be actively (rather than reactively via existing talents) generating holy damage on multiple mobs. Used in conjunction with Righteous Defense, this means you'd be able to retain some aggro generation on existing mobs while you try to gain aggro on some new ones.

Ardent Defender

There are already discussions on how this talent works best against constant, slow damage. While it's still underpowered and needs to get fixed, it's still highly suggestive of the nature of a paladin to not tank against heavy one-shotters and instead tank against slower, possibly multiple sources, of damage.

Avenger's Shield

Finally, the 41 point talent... is a holy chain lightning. Why the heck would we be given such an ability in the first place? First of all, note: 3 targets. Perfect to start generating aggro against those 3 mobs you pulled with Righteous Defense. On top of that, you can use this talent to pull mobs... multiple mobs. Finally, you can use this skill to retain aggro on said 3 mobs, although that on top of every other spell you need to keep up (a seal, holy shield, consecrate) can get a little costly.

Conclusion

Warriors are, and always will be, the best choice for main tanking a single strong target. It's in their main job and nobody should ever try to steal it away from them. Out of the two true hybrid classes, Shamans are getting multiple, obvious buffs on their offensive damage output...

Which leaves the paladins to become a better defensive hybrid. Without stealing the Warrior's show as main tank, we are now given multiple abilities that makes us highly viable tanks against, say, a constant stream of pestering pets that a boss sends out. Not to mention our aggro generating source, holy damage, can kill these mobs as well as hold their aggro, something that no other class can do and survive to tell the tale (because someone is going to sneak in a remark about arcane explosions if I don't make this line clear).

Und weils so schön ist zitier ich gleich weiter und verabschiede mich in die verdiente Nachtruhe mit den Worten

«All hail your tankadin overlords.»
~Glyx