BC tanking equipment (paladin)/Karazhan

Karazhan Entry Set
Disclaimer: This list was accurate during the early stages of gear distribution after the release of The Burning Crusade. Currently, however, most groups are accustomed to their tanks having higher epic-level gear (either scripted or welfare). This can cause difficulties for tanks starting out in Kara unless they are with a guild that is pushing them through to gear them up. This list should not be assumed to be the minimum for Kara for PuGs.

This is a sample set consisting of gear obtainable before Karazhan. All of them are taken from the list of Some Easy to Acquire Pre-raiding Tanking Gear, which means none of them are boss-drops. Therefore, even someone with the worst luck should be able to collect all of them within two to three weeks after reaching level 70.


 * Head   --Enchant:  --Gems: 3&times;
 * Neck
 * Shoulders   --Enchant:
 * Back   --Enchant: Enchant Cloak - Dodge
 * Chest --Enchant: Enchant Chest - Exceptional Health
 * Wrist --Enchant: Enchant Bracer - Major Defense
 * Hands --Enchant:  --Gems: 2&times;Solid Star of Elune
 * Waist
 * Legs --Enchant;  --Gems; 3&times;Solid Star of Elune
 * Feet --Enchant: Enchant Boots - Fortitude
 * Rings ,
 * Trinkets ,
 * Weapon --Enchant: Enchant Weapon - Major Spellpower
 * Shield Enchant: Enchant Shield - Major Stamina --Gems; 2&times;Solid Star of Elune
 * Libram

On a Male Dwarf paladin with maxed Toughness, Anticipation, Sacred Duty, Combat Expertise and Deflection this brings your unbuffed stats to:
 * Health: 11667
 * Armor: 13047
 * Defense: 507
 * Miss: 11.28%
 * Dodge: 21.07%
 * Parry: 16.28%
 * Block: 18.38% (53.71% with Holy Shield)
 * Spelldamage: 239

Note that the total avoidance is 102.34%, which means there is still 0.06% chance of taking crushing blow. This 0.06% is easily removed after self-buffing Blessing of Kings, which is normally the top blessing for tanks. Therefore, with full raid buff, it is uncritable, uncrushable with fair health and armor for someone starting to tank Karazhan. Besides those casted buff, buffing with, and food buff is also recommended. The stats are good enough for maintanking the easier bosses but probably not yet Prince Malchezaar or Nightbane. Nevertheless, this list only used the easiest obtainable sources, so one should have better stats with better drops from 5-man instance bosses or BoP crafted items.

Karazhan Exit Set
Below are two possible gear sets for a full-Karazhan-cleared paladin tank. Note that those Badge of Justice epics added in 2.3, and BoP crafted tanking epics are not included because they are comparable to T5 level gear. Nevertheless, any Kara level tanks should be able to farm heroics or Karazhan for BoJs, and BoP crafted items are only a matter of money. Therefore, it is not difficult for a Kara level tanks to have better stats than listed here.

Standard Tanking Set

 * Head   --Enchant:  --Gems: 3x
 * Neck
 * Shoulders   --Enchant:  --Gems: 2x Solid Star of Elune
 * Back   --Enchant: Enchant Cloak - Dodge
 * Chest --Enchant: Enchant Chest - Exceptional Health --Gems: 3xSolid Star of Elune
 * Wrist Enchant: Enchant Bracer - Fortitude
 * Hands --Enchant: Enchant Gloves - Major Spellpower --Gems: 2xSolid Star of Elune
 * Waist --Gems: 2xSolid Star of Elune
 * Legs --Enchant:  --Gems: 3xSolid Star of Elune
 * Feet --Enchant: Enchant Boots - Fortitude
 * Rings ,
 * Trinkets, - instead of  its much better to use  (as a result you'll have more HP then the one stated down - probably around 15050)
 * Weapon --Enchant: Enchant Weapon - Major Spellpower
 * Shield Enchant: Enchant Shield - Major Stamina
 * Libram

On a Male Dwarf paladin with maxed Toughness, Anticipation, Sacred Duty, Combat Expertise and Deflection this brings your unbuffed stats to:


 * Health: 14997
 * Armor: 14617
 * Defense: 496
 * Miss: 10.84%
 * Dodge: 19.93%
 * Parry: 15.84%
 * Block: 20.48% (55.81% with Holy Shield)
 * Spelldamage: 239

This set aims at maxing the stamina while keeping uncrushable and uncritable. The two blue rings are needed for their avoidance in this particular settings, though you can always replace them with or  if you have more than enough avoidance. Also note that both trinkets are chosen for their stamina, but has the additional benefit as an extra source of threat.

Spell Damage Set

 * Head   --Enchant:  --Gems: Solid Star of Elune, Powerful Earthstorm Diamond
 * Neck
 * Shoulders   --Enchant:  --Gems: 2x
 * Back   --Enchant: Enchant Cloak - Dodge
 * Chest --Enchant: Enchant Chest - Exceptional Health --Gems: 3xSolid Star of Elune
 * Wrist --Enchant: Enchant Bracer - Spellpower
 * Hands --Enchant: Enchant Gloves - Major Spellpower
 * Waist --Gems: 2xGlowing Nightseye
 * Legs --Enchant:  --Gems: 3xSolid Star of Elune
 * Feet --Enchant: Enchant Boots - Fortitude
 * Rings ,
 * Trinkets ,
 * Weapon --Enchant: Enchant Weapon - Major Spellpower
 * Shield Enchant: Enchant Shield - Shield Block --Gems: 2xSolid Star of Elune
 * Libram

On a Male Dwarf paladin with maxed Toughness, Anticipation, Sacred Duty, Combat Expertise and Deflection this brings your unbuffed stats to:


 * Health: 13267
 * Armor: 14803
 * Defense: 490
 * Miss: 10.6%
 * Dodge: 19.1%
 * Parry: 15.6%
 * Block: 22.14% (57.47% with Holy Shield)
 * Spelldamage: 419

This set focuses on spell damage, at the expense of the health. The high spell damage allows the DPS to go all out. This is good for tanking trash mobs and the easier bosses. However, the health is a bit low for the more difficult bosses, so during those encounters, changing back to the standard tanking set is recommended.