Post by Elorivan
Talonfireiv, if you want to make sure you've got the
all the basics right, check out the link in my sig. I've tried to cover everything a beginner - intermediate pally tank should know.
A little self-promoting, perhaps, but I've responded on your other posts, and, well, I'm trying to keep you from having to create a new thread every step of the way.
To save you a little time though, here's what I wrote about the rotation:
RotationUnlike some classes, paladin tanks have a definable rotation of abilities for creating and sustaining threat. This rotation requires one point in
Imporved Judgements (which, if you copied the talent build above, you have), and is called the 6/9, 69, 96, 69696, or 96969, or some variation of 6 and 9, rotation. It's called the 6/9 rotation because the abilities used have a cool down of either 6 or 9 seconds.
The 6 second abilities are
Shield of Righteousness and
Hammer of the Righteous.
The 9 second abilities are
Consecration,
Judgement of Light]/url], and Holy Shield.
The theory of the rotation is that by rotating these abilities, which include your highest threat-generating abilities, you will always have one of these moves available because of the cool down times (9+9=18 and 6+6+6=18), which allows you to sustain this rotation indefinitely as long as you have mana.
If we say that one global cool down looks like this: "|___| " we can say that we can rotate
ShoR and
HotR like this:
|ShoR|___|HotR|___|ShoR|___|HotR|___|ShoR|___|HotR|... etc.
Inserting
JoL,
Cons, and
HS, the order looks like this:
|ShoR | JoL | HotR | Cons | ShoR | HS | HotR | JoL | ShoR | Cons | HotR | HS | ShoR|... etc.
Also, realize that the initial order of these abilities doesn't matter - you can use HotR first instead of ShoR, or Cons before JoL, etc. However, you should tailor which abilities you use according to the pull. On a single mob, it might be best to start the rotation with ShoR, then JoL, and with multiple mobs it might be better to use HotR followed by Cons. Tanking is more art then science, and it's up to you to make the call on which ability is most appropriate.
Edits: Added excerpt, fixed spelling, fixed links.
Post by Elorivan
I read the wowpro guide that was linked above, and I wanted to make a suggestion about key-bindings. I have my 969 keys bound like this:
3:
ShoR4:
JoL5:
Cons6:
HS7:
HotRA few points:
o The specific keys aren't as important as the positioning, 1-5 or 2-6, etc, would work just as well.
o I'll have my ring, middle, and pointer fingers on 4, 5, and 6, respectively.
o To start the rotation, I simply slide a finger over to 3 or 6, leaving my other fingers in place, and then move it back as soon as the ability is cast.
o The rotation becomes outside button (3 or 7), one of the three middle buttons (4, 5, or 6), other outside button.
I've found it easier than grouping the abilities, and having
ShoR and
HotR next to each other.