The righteous protectors of the world. Bound to the light (and now with a taunt), you defend others in the heat of battle, sacrificing your body to protect your allies.
Ratings
Dungion Desirability - 5/5
Every dungeon needs a tank, and if they can get a paladin, they’ll take it every time. Your ability to hold AoE threat means that trash can be burnt down in a hury, and chances are you won’t need to crowd control a mob you otherwise would need to. Oh, and you’re still a tank that can handle a single boss mob too!
Raid Desirability - 3/5
Every 25 man raid needs 1 of these, but some guilds may decide to take 2 (see more under casual raid makeup here). While it is possible to clear content without a tankadin, why would you want to? There are so many situations where having a pally tank will make fights trivial. You will be called on to tank some raid bosses, especially those that have fast attack speeds and can parry haste, or that require a tank swap. Most of the time, you will be the tank running around and tackling the changing fight mechanics, picking up adds that spawn, and handling large packs of mobs that other tanks would strugle with.
NOTE: There is a difference between horde and alliance tankadins. Alliance paladins have seal of vengeance, allowing them to generate much more threat over time on a boss. If you are horde, it is less likely you will be boss tanking, due to generating substantially less threat than a warrior or druid tank. If you read posts complaining about paladin threat and them not being viable as boss tanks, this is generally one of the main reasons why. This does not change the desirability of the class, just be aware if you roll horde your raid leader may determine that you’ll be stuck to AoE duties
Skill Required - 3/5
Tankadins don’t require a lot of skill in terms of rotation or cooldown usage, but they do require quite a bit of raid awareness to pick up adds as they spawn, or grab something leaving the AoE pack that’s going after your dps. If you want to be “usable” in raids, you have to know the fight mechanics like the back of your hand, and keep a bunch of smaller adds on you so the dps can AoE them. Oh, and don’t break the sheep with your shield or AoE… It will quickly get you labeled as a ‘tardadin.
Skill to master - 5/5
While being a “usable” tankadin means tanking trash and the things the warriors don’t want to, some want to truly master what it means to be a tankadin. If you plan on speed running, you’re looking at the wrong guide, but speed run guilds will utalize their tankadin substantially more often than they will any other tanks. Mastering the tankadin is managing threat & surviability through multiple sets of gear, cheesing mechanics through divine shield macros, mastering the art of placing a large group of mobs to where the fight mechanics do the work for you, staring down fast hitting bosses that would flatten other types of tanks, and shouting “anything a warrior tank can do, I can do better”. Just be ready to back those claims up, and know when to let the warrior do their thing.
Leveling Experience - 2/5
Let’s admit it, you’re a tank. While you’ll be able to pull a bunch of mobs and aoe them down, making everyone around you cry, your 1v1 fights are painful. You are very gear dependent, and most likely won’t have a lot while leveling. You’ll be wanted for dungeons though, so if you’re only intereted in leveling through dungeons, you’ll have a much easier time. If you want to open world level, ret will generally be better. Unfortunately, your leveling experience doesn’t end at 70. As the tank being the most gear dependent, you will need to put in extra effort to gear up and be ready for Karazan.
Overall 4/5
Overall, you cannot go wrong with rolling a tankadin if you plan on doing group content. Your raid will need 1 and you will be called on most of the time to handle the fight mechanics. You’ll be loved in 5 man content, and won’t have any problems finding dungeon groups. Paladin tanking requires slightly more raid awareness than any other tank, and you’ll have to prove you’re not a ‘tardadin.
Final Notes:
If you are on a raid team where they choose to have 2 paladin tanks (see casual raiding here), you’ll be asked to tank or dps depending on the fight. Since it is assumed you won’t be tanking any bosses, my recommendation is to go something like https://legacy-wow.com/tbc-talents/paladin-talents/?tal=0000000000000000000005305033500021005210510520405100030000000000. While not a traditional build, it allows you to slap on a 2h weapon and ret gear while still getting the only ranged ability a paladin has for pulling (avengers shield). Just don’t expect to be competitive on the charts with this build.