ehrie

This space is reserved for my long, boring, and probably something we'll all have a good laugh at in a few months when half my conclusions are horribly incorrect.

Anyways, the Cleric is a unique calling. It is the only soul that can Main Heal, Support Heal, Melee DPS, Ranged DPS, and Tank. Pretty much the only thing a cleric can't do well is straight Support ala a Bard type. Then again, Bards are mana from heaven(literally 40+), so we'll agree to leave the Rogue something to do.

You see a lot of Clerics running around in the launch because of all the great flexibility the calling offers.

Tanking

Let's start with what I know best, and that is Cleric Tanking. Tanking is done with a majority of points in the Justicar Soul. Nearly every defensive ability a Cleric tank gets is from here, the bread and butter being the 14 point ability Mein of Leadership. This someday to be nerfed ability more or less gives us plate armor, a ton more HP and hate generation on the level of a middle eastern dictator.

All that aside the way a Justicar tanks is very different from the way a warrior or Rogue tanks. Justicars are all about self and party heals to generate massive threat and a myriad of damage shields to get us through spikes that a warrior tank and eat or a rogue can avoid.

Common builds for Justicar involve spending either 38 or 44 points in the tree. Both get you very neat defensive cooldowns. Which way you go depends entirely on your playstyle. Do you want to off tank or just tank 5 mans? Go with 38 and get yourself Just Defense and put more points into your off souls. If main tanking is your aim then it has to be 44. The 44 points get you Resplendent Embrace, a 2 minute cooldown that when popped will increase ALL healing done to you by 50% to 10 seconds.

As for off souls, the Shaman pairs the best with Justicar in my experience, but their are others that feel the Druid can be just as well. I chose the Shaman because there are a lot of defensive and healing enchance abilities early in the tree and with 14 points spent there you get another mana cooldown. Mana is an issue as a Justicar tank, especially like me you chose to go with a 2 handed weapon instead of a mace and board while leveling. So keep that in mind.

Your third soul is entirely up to you and what little perk you want to give yourself. Pick a healing soul for a quick zero point self heal or Cabalist for an extra 5% spellpower. You can even go deep into the Shaman tree for the 21 point charge ability to close a glaring weakness that the Justicar soul lacks.

So that's my initial thoughts on Justicar Tanking. Next time, some suggested Justicar builds and healing primer!