That's highly dependent in the other classes in the group, you generally need atleast some reliable area damage. As an example it's faster for my 3 box team to pull consistent 2 or 3 pulls and 2hander tank, (but without stuns) then pull 5 to 10,mobs with a sword and board because I've got very minimal AE damage. Plus if your hitting good up time on BOTF in the first scenario (group make up dependent). Scenario #1=more kills in less time However if you have good area damage s&b can outpace it, but you have to pull consistently close or at the target limit (or more) of Beacon and HL.
I don't know what the raid gear has to do with it because the spell dmg (not really relevant) and the magic focus provided by the raid gear won't be a very huge difference for the nukes. The autogrant should give you enough AAs if you didn't spend anything in the spells AAs to make them worth it. In my post, I didn't say that 1h+shield and nukes would make you necessarily out damage the 2h with stuns but would allow you to tank more mobs than what you do now. It seems interesting since your group partners are necro/sham (iirc?), they will need enough mobs for their dots to last their full duration. You can also still use your 2hander with the nukes. My whole point was that it's better to use nukes than stuns since they won't offer a good enough protection that you should loose the dps from the nukes: they will represent about 15% of your dps (though it's hard to give an accurate number since it can vary depending on what you use, how many you use, your support etc...). You also don't have to take my words for granted and can just try to see if it works for you: Brilliant (it's your best nuke and comes with a bonus, you should see it like that), the 2 crushes to keep some aggro (there is better for dps but if you need the aggro, keep them, I'd guess you'll need it with a shaman and a necro), Consecration, Laudation.
Exactly spam crush crush BV cons laud throw in VD after BV and you will have hit 100% uptime for spamming spells. That's about 6k dps from spell spam w/hedgewizards. Add in DP if you can your at 12k. VD covers all your proactive healing. Grief/Sorrow/Dicho cover reactive (which should be happening less than the frequency of recasts. I doubt we have enough AE hate to hold aggro if his shaman and necro are batting for the fences and loading up a full slew of dots on every mob unless he's cycle targetting and chasing hate in the ETW when he notices creep on the meter. And Bob's your uncle
So it sounds like the need for stuns depends upon gear lvl, which not everyone realizes. I just got to 105, and dont have many AAs yet. I'm like almost all Paladins that just get to 105, they won't have much lvl 105 gear, or many AAs post 100. I have mostly cotf gear, with a bit of tmb gear, and the tds tradeskill jewelry. Tanking 4-5 tbm mobs? Not possible. Spending 50 krono for gear? Just as impossible. For new paladins, stuns = the only way to tank 3 mobs. Though I'm glad to hear that once I get the many many hours in, I won't need stuns. Yup. Single target agro switching between is the only way.
Is the group gaining more dps by having 3 in camp? Otherwise just pull 2 and pound that nuke bind. If they are gaining more dps by having 3, are you investing your AA in the highest benefit AA and using all your tools correctly. Not trying to be rude, asking seriously. I recently came back to the game and had to completely regear and aa. During that process I followed the spell lineup I laid out in my previous post. Though when I started the process, I did have to play it safe at first in T2 EOK zones, I still don't pull 4 or 5 when I am 2hander tanking. And I am always 2hander tanking because it's faster. But we get more done if I root off adds and focus fire on 1 or 2 and I 2hander tank them (I am still not even in full EOK gear). Your group make up that may or may not work.
Exactly how much consistent sustained DPS does the group gain by doing that. Math can directly answer the question of whether your making the most effective choice, or if another option is better. The return on investment must be superior to the other method, or else it is a waste of time/effort. Unless face tanking is mathematically superior, which it could be, shackle/vp/pp park the adds and have them preload dots, then taunt crush when you are ready to engage the parked mob. Just because it can be done, does not mean it is the right or wrong strategy. To support my argument: I leveled an SK recently from 85 to 105, doing basically the same thing I do on my paladin, obviously they don't have stuns and their self healing is only situationally equal. Pretty much got the same result by the time I hit 105. Though I wasn't consistently face tanking bunches, occasionally I had to bandolier to 1hander till reprove/repel came off cooldown, or wait to unload with a 2hander till carapace/guardian/mantle came off cooldown.
I don't play a paladin , but the cleric marks are awesome for power leveling.. can make it to lvl 60 easily using marks
Unless it's some crazy DS that will smoke you most DS's are not relevant. Most of the ones that are crazy we can sort out ourselves by laying down some no damage aggro. It's actually pretty easy if you pay attention.
Except that mobs summon. Anything CC'd cannot have a single dot on it. Even if they didn't summon, the tank still needs to keep agro on CC'd mobs that are being dotted, because once root breaks, the casters are in trouble. Also, once you lose agro to shaman/necro dots, crushes are like throwing flowers at the mobs.
I do the exact thing I proposed daily, I haven't had a shackle break early without excessive nuking in a very long time. Chains of Purity AA is stout. If it does break you have taunt, ageless, unbroken, and divine call. The necro has FD The shaman has totem and possibly the FD ring from sky and/or FD pots. Let alone all the other abilities both those classes have for oh situations, dying grasp, embalmers, union of spirits, ancestral guard, 2x different intervention heals. Taunt Crush if taunt fails, ageless. If ageless is down unbroken, if that's down divine call. Then hit dicho and taunt again. Reflexive/HOP if necessary. But honestly that's all unnecessary like I said earlier, the only time I've had a shackle break is if I forgot to toggle target and my beast and started lighting up my multibind. Even then it takes quite afew nukes to break shackle.
