Lightsworn: Mythic plus with a Paladin tank

Hey Blizzard Watch, it’s hammer time! Mythic+ dungeons have added a progression path for 5 man content that has been needed for a long time. Paladin tanks are an asset to their group in all content, and Mythic+ dungeons are no exception.

The basics

Like most group content, you can PuG Mythic+ dungeons, but having a dedicated team will be better. Using raid level consumable buffs from flasks, runes and food is recommended when you are pushing your limits. Haste is the name of the game in Mythic+, and you still want good Versatility. Unlike your raid set up, Critical Strike surpasses Mastery.

Each dungeon requires you to kill all the bosses plus a certain number of trash mobs in a set amount of time. As the tank, it’s important to know the shortest path through the dungeon that will allow your team to kill enough mobs. You can try to learn these paths by watching videos or running as DPS. Early on, I had one of our melee DPS help me by marking mobs.

To the victor

If you succeed, you’ll get a chest (or multiple chests) of loot at end and your key will be upgraded to a higher level. It should change to a different dungeon. Don’t ask me about the week my group kept getting Vault of Wardens keys over and over. Oy vey. Even if you fail, you’ll still get a chest in your Order Hall the following Tuesday.

Utility

Stuns are important tool, and you’ll need a little help from your friends. Paladin tanks lack a true AoE stun. We can interrupt spell casting with our AoE disorient, Blinding Light. This has its uses, but its no where near as useful as a stun. We do bring other utility like cleansing ourselves from Disease and Poison effects. This frees up the healer to cleanse someone else in the party, maybe even themselves. Eye of Azshara and Neletharion’s Lair are two places where you can use this to your advantage several times. Dwarves, don’t forget to abuse Stormform.

Talents

You cannot change your talents once the Mythic+ run has started. Be sure you have your talents set the way you want them before you activate the key.

I run Blessed Hammer in every Mythic for the AoE and the damage reduction. I bounce back and forth between First Avenger and Bastion of Light based on the level of the key.

On lower keys, I’ll use Cavalier to get from pull to pull, and in Neltharion’s Lair for Naraxas’ Spiked Tongue attack. We can cast Blessing of Spellwarding on party members to save them taking damage. Blinding Light is not only a disorient but it does damage and every drop of DPS matters.

Hands and stands

I like the reduced cooldown from Hand of the Protector for the harder keys and also for when we are running with 4 DPS. The ability to cast Light of the Protector on other players can keep someone from dying. This is generally considered a Bad Thing. Each death incurs a time penalty. Gazer in Vault of Wardens and Helya in Maw of Souls are two places I tend to do a bit off healing.

If you’ve got some outstanding AoE DPS players, take Final Stand. You can grab a giant pull, hit Final Stand, and your DPS players have 8 seconds to blast it all down.

Seraphim is part of my package as I upgrade my lower level keys to get the higher level ones. It takes some practice to micromanage, but once you get it, it’s a powerful tool.

Trash packs provide a larger challenge than the Bosses do in many Mythic+ dungeons and affixes. Last Defender helps your survival early on in pulls as well as increase your DPS. Remember, Squires, death is the ultimate form of Crowd Control. The faster the mobs die the less time they have to do damage to you. Last Defender lets us do what we do best (smooth the damage profile) and lets healers do what they do best — heal our furry dwarf behinds.

Affixes

As you start to climb the Mythic+ ladder, you’ll encounter affixes that add another layer of challenge to the dungeon. Some of these are more difficult for Paladin tanks than others.

At +4, you get one prefix that will be either Bolstering, Raging, Sanguine, or Teeming.

• Bolstering

When a trash mob dies, it buffs all the mobs with 40 yards with a health and damage increase. The large the pull, the higher bolstering will stack. Final Stand is helpful to finish off large pulls and not get one shot by a stray spider with a high stack. I don’t like Last Defender in Bolstering. Your defenses are going down as your incoming damage is ramping up. Righteous Protector is a better choice. It combos with Bastion of Light and provides fast recharges on Avenging Wrath. This can turn your Hand of the Protector into a mini Lay on Hands.

• Raging

At 30%, trash mobs will enrage and start dealing double damage on every attack. Final Stand is an option here, but I find normal cooldowns, and Bastion of Light are better tools for Raging. The same comment on Last Defender from Bolstering applies to Raging as well.

• Sanguine

When a trash mob dies, it leaves a pool on the ground that heals the other trash mobs and damages players that stand in it. Consecrated Hammer doesn’t make that much of a difference even when I’m constantly on the move for Sanguine. I still run Blessed Hammer.

• Teeming

Welcome to Trash Mob Depot. We’re overstocked with trash mobs, everything must go! There is extra trash throughout the dungeon and you have to kill more trash to meet the minimum requirement for completing the dungeon. More mobs mean higher Last Defender damage and damage reduction.

Moving on up

At +8, you’ll add Necrotic, Skittish, or Volcanic to whatever your +4 prefix was. For example, one week, we had Teeming and Skittish.

• Necrotic

Each mob (trash and Boss) puts a stacking Damage over Time debuff on you that also reduces the effectiveness of any healing you receive. You’ll kite so much in Necrotic that you’ll think you rerolled Hunter. Consecrated Ground is our best kiting tool with an honorable mention to the daze affect from Avenger’s Shield.

Blessing of Spellwarding will stop the application of new Necrotic stacks.  Final Stand will clear your stacks, and you’ll taunt everything giving your DPS time to finish the pull, or for their AoE stuns to come off of cooldown.  If you decide to not take Final Stand, I recommend making a Bubble cancel macro. You can use Divine Shield to remove stacks and get aggro right back.

#showtooltip Divine Shield
/cast Divine Shield
/cancelaura Divine Shield

• Skittish

Have you wondered what it must have been like to play in the days of yore when Tanks had to work hard to hold threat? Well, Squire, get ready to hop in the DeLorean because when you get Skittish, you won’t have to wonder. Skittish nerfs Tank threat generation, and your DPS will pull threat. Depending on the key level, or buffs from Bolstering or Raging, pulling threat could end up with your DPS getting one shot.

First Avenger is helpful for locking down the first mob. Final Stand will give you access to an AoE taunt, albeit on a long cooldown. I also like Consecrated Ground in Skittish. If the ranged DPS happens to pull, Consecrated Ground will give them more time to kite themselves or for you get a taunt off. Last Defender’s damage buff can be helpful here.

I like to face the mobs away from the party in Skittish. This is a good idea in general with all the frontal cone attacks, but this also lets you see the mob turn away from you when you lose aggro. A good nameplate replacement and a Threat Meter are recommend. Both are integrated into the ElvUI suite.

• Volcanic

A small volcano will spawn under the ranged players and after a moment, it will erupt, and do a good chunk of damage. These can affect tanks in some high movement encounters. A ranged will get targeted but as everyone moves, either they move into you and spawn it under you, or you move into them. Always be aware of your feet when you are tanking a Volcanic dungeon.

• Bursting

7.2 replaced the old Overflowing affix with Bursting. When slain, trash mobs explode, causing all players to suffer 20% of their max health in damage over 4 sec. This stacks. While I haven’t run Bursting, I expect the same tools we use for Bolstering will be helpful for Bursting. Pat, can I have a ‘B’ please? If the explosion is magic damage, Blessing of Spellwarding could save a melee DPS.

At +9, you’ll add a third prefix of either Fortified or Tyrannical. These are similar but one applies to trash mobs and the other applies to Bosses.

• Fortified

Trash mobs have much more health and do much more damage. I like Last Defender here.

• Tyrannical

Bosses have much more health and do much more damage. Bastion of Light is a must have.

Paladins are solid choices for a Mythic+ tank. We have a combination of good DPS, self-heals and utility. A clutch Lay on Hands or Blessing of Freedom can save a run. Necrotic magnifies our weakness (reliance on self-healing, no stun), but with good talent choices and better team work, you can still get the job done.