Paladins are some of the best small group tanks in the game. They specialize in fighting multiple mobs at once, which makes they perfect for tanking five man and heroic dungeons. When it comes to ten and twenty five man raids though they begin to have serious problems. Warriors rely on rage which is generated over time and can fight indefinitely if they receive enough healing. But paladins are dependant on mana which is limited by your gear and will eventually run out. Making a paladin tank a time limited one. In this situation it is best to let a warrior be the main tank while you stand back as the secondary tank. Things have gotten better since the expansion though with things like Spiritual Attunement and Righteous Defense as well as an overhaul of the Protection tree. Paladins also have access to the same gear as a warrior, have the ability to heal themselves and are known for being nearly impossible to take down.
Gaining Threat.
The most basic principle of being a good tank is to your ability to keep the enemy focused on you while your other party members fight it. While your group is fighting an enemy it will be going after what it feels is the biggest threat. If a mage is constantly pounding it with fire balls then it will focus its attention on him because the mage is the biggest danger. Also, if the enemy notices that all of the damage that it is doing is being healed by a priest it will go after her. The tanks job is to keep the monsters attention by fooling it into thinking that it is the biggest threat.

Warriors have several abilities like Defensive Stance or Sunder Armor that directly increase the amount of threat they have. Paladins have no direct threat generating abilities so instead they rely on their holy damage to increase their threat. By itself holy damage does not create anymore threat then other damage types like fire or shadow. But at level sixteen you will gain the spell Righteous Fury which increases the amount of threat you create with holy spells by 60%. Obviously if you want to create a lot of threat you will want to have this spell active and do as much holy damage as you possibly can.

Seals And Judgments.
Righteousness
This is your best choice for a seal when tanking. While active each of your melee hits will also deal extra holy damage. This is the most reliable way of dealing holy damage over a fight and accumulating threat. Judging this seal will blast the enemy with a burst of holy damage and is a great way to start off a fight at the top of the threat list or to try and taunt the enemy back onto you if you lose agro.
Command
This is slightly worse then Righteousness since it does not proc on every weapon strike. When it does it deals huge bursts of holy damage, but it really to unreliable and dangerous to use as a tanking seal. Also, to get the full effect of Command you would need to have a two handed weapon equipped, which is a terrible idea as described in the weapons section. The judgment can be very useful though if you have a reliable way of stunning the target. It deals double the damage of a Judgment of Righteousness so if you can use Hammer of Justice or another character uses their stun abilities it can be a good way make a huge spike in your threat level.
Crusader.
Seal of the crusader is one of the worst you could have because it deals absolutely no holy damage. But its judgment is one of the best because it will increase all of you holy damage attacks. When tanking it is usually best to charge in with Seal of the Crusader up and immediately judge the enemy so they get the debuff. Then you can switch to a different seal like Righteousness.
Vengeance
Vengeance is a good replacement for Righteousness at the higher levels if you have enough extra spell damage. Once you have stacked enough dots on one target you can leave it for a moment and switch to another before switching back. This is very helpful when fighting multiple mobs and the healer might pull aggro.

Auras
Retribution Aura
When tanking this is by far your best option. Every time the enemy attacks you they will be hit with a small amount of holy damage much like Seal of Righteousness deals extra holy damage. If you have another paladin in your group though and he has this aura activated you will still gain the threat from it since you will have technically caused the damage.
Sanctity Aura.
While this is active all holy damage will be increased by 10%. This would obviously help increase your threat but it means you would have to replace Retribution Aura. It is also low in the retribution tree which is designed for offense and not defense, so many dedicated tanks won’t have it. The best solution is to see if another paladin in your group can cast it instead of you.
Miscellaneous Spells And Abilities.
Consecration
Consecration purifies the land under your feet and deals holy damage over time to anyone that steps on it. The beauty of this spell is that you can cast it and then forget about it like your retribution aura or seal of righteousness in slowly but steadily increasing your threat. It is also one of our only Area of Effect spells so if you have to fight multiple mobs at once you will be building up threat while you fight them one at a time. It is rather mana intensive though so you can’t always keep it up. Usually it is best to use it at the beginning of the fight to spike your threat level. It is also terrible for when you need to do any type of crowd control like a mages Polymorph or priests Shackle Undead since any damage will break them free. But if you know what you're doing you won't need to do any CC at all!
Holy Shock
Holy shock is one of our few ranged magical attacks that deals an instant burst of holy damage This can only be obtained by spending 31 points in the Holy talent tree so not everyone is expected to have it. Because

of its high mana cost and long cool down you will not want to use it very often. The most efficient use of Holy Shock is to save it for when you have lost the mobs attention and need to pull it back right away. Combining it with a Judgment of Righteousness should create a spike in threat large enough for you to regain the monsters attention. Since it is a ranged attack you can also use it by pulling mobs from afar and establishing a huge piece of threat in the process.
Blessing of Sanctuary
This blessing is a must have for a serious paladin tank, even though it requires you to spend twenty points in the Protection talent tree. For ten minutes all of your incoming damage is reduced. (higher ranks reduce more damage) and every time you block with a shield the attacking monster takes a small bit of holy damage. The damage reduction is good, but the extra holy damage once again creates more threat for you. Since it is a talent it might not always be available but if it is, use it. There are situations where you don't want to use it though. If you are tanking an encounter that you are over geared for the enemy might attack you and deal zero damage. This causes all kinds of havoc with your threat generation so when fighting thinks much weaker than you consider clicking it off.
Holy shield
Right after Blessing of Sanctuary in the Protection tree is Holy Shield. When this is activated for the next ten seconds your chance to block with shields is increased by 30% and every time you block you will deal a sizable piece of holy damage. This talent will not only increase your threat but also up your survivability by reducing damage. Combining this with Blessing of Sanctuary can be a truly devastating combo. However, you have to spend thirty one points in the protection tree in order to get it, making it only really available to those who are dedicated to tanking. It will proc off of any block and not just the ones from your target so it is one of your best ways of getting extra threat when fighting multiple mobs.
Avengers Sheild
This is the ultimate pally tank ability. Not only does it deal a huge amount of holy damage, but it is also a ranged attack and effects multiple units. As an extra bonus, it no longer breaks CC. Use this when pulling a

group and you will be way ahead on threat for several seconds. Since it is mana intensive, has a long cooldown and has a cast time you should not try to use it in the middle of a fight.
Damage Mitigation.
The second part to being a good tank is being able to take the hits. All the threat generation in the world won’t help you if you die in five seconds. The first key will be your gear. If you charge in wearing cloth or leather you will fall fast. Max out all your slots with plate and stamina items. There are also situations where you will have to face fights where the enemy uses powerful magic or elemental attacks. In this situation you will want to max out your magic resistances instead of your armor and other stats. A more complete explanation is found in the Weapons and Armor section of this guide.
You also have quite a few options when it comes to damage reducing abilities as well. Devotion Aura is pure damage mitigation and nothing else. It will increase your armor and let you live longer, but does nothing to increase your threat. Depending on your party set up, extra armor may be more valuable to you then extra threat but that will rarely happen. Resistance Auras are also great for protecting yourself and the party but use them carefully since they offer no other benefits. Other abilities like Blessing of Sanctuary and Holy Shield were covered above because of their threat abilities, but they also help reduce as great deal of damage over time in the process.
Tanking Strategies.

So now its time to learn exactly how to use all those abilities. One of the most important parts of pally tanking is getting the pull right. You need to have all of the targets attack you as soon as possible so you can start building up threat. Otherwise they will start to go after your healers. As soon as your allies have used their CC spells throw an Avenging Shield into the target group. Pick one of them as your main target and start attacking it. If some of your targets are ranged attackers you need to try and break their line of sight so they will come to you. Or pull the rest of the group towards them so they will melee you a bit. Once you are in position the real job of tanking begins.

First, judge your primary target with a seal. Judgment of the Crusader is best when the mob is very strong like a boss or a very powerful trash mob because of the added holly damage. If the fight has gone on a long while and you have a large buffer of threat you should eventually judge it for wisdom so you and the group can regain some mana. If it is just a regular trash mob though it will die very fast and most debuff seals aren't worth it. In this case use a Judgment of Righteousness to give yourself a spike in threat. Immediately use a Holy Shield and Consecration to deal with the other targets. When your judgment timer has finished cooling down switch your attention to the target next on the kill list. Judge it for extra threat and if your old target is almost dead and you have enough threat on it keep focusing on your new target. As the fight goes on keep using Holy Shield whenever possible and carefully use Consecrate so you don't waste mana. When you get down to just a few targets you can back off on these abilities and just let your seals and judgments do most of the threat generation.
If things go bad and a mob attacks one of your teammates immediately use Righteousness Defense to force it to attack you again. If it is still on cool down you can try using your Hammer of Justice but most elite mobs will be immune to that. Besides these two tools we don't have as many panic buttons as a warrior or druid tank so being careful is vital.