Consecration

After Patch 4.0.1 went live I decided to tank a couple heroics to get a feel for the new mechanics (in full ilvl 264 gear and T10 2pc bonus). After failing miserably on AOE threat and having to spam Righeous Defense as a core part of my new rotation just to keep agro off of everyone else in my group (who were all in much lower level gear), I logged out of the game and cursed Blizzard as I cried myself to sleep in the fetal position...

Then the next day I thought..., maybe, just MAYBE I'm missing something very basic here. Turns out, I was (it pays to do a little research/practice). Here are some CRITICALLY IMPORTANT, yet easy to miss changes that you may not have caught yet which will play in to the new Consecration/AOE threat (read the tooltips closely as i explain the significance):

-Holy Wrath: This spell has undergone changes that are just as extreme as Consecration. Before the patch it had a 30 second cooldown (glyphed down to 15 seconds) and only affected undead targets. Now it natively has a 15 second cooldown, and affects ALL TARGETS (yes, any target in the game) and can be glyphed to stun/interrupt elementals and dragonkin in addition to undead and demons. Simply put, this alone nearly fills the AOE threat gap for Consecration and should be used on cooldown during every single trash mob you tank.

- Avenger's Shield / Grand Crusader: Avenger's Shield has now been buffed tremendously. Before the patch, it was on a 30 second cooldown and costed a ton of mana which made it only practical as a pulling tool or "oh crap, get over here!" crowd controller. Now it costs almost no mana at all, does more damage, and has only a 15 second cooldown (currently via talents; baseline in cataclysm) with a 20% chance to be INSTANTLY RESET each time you use Hammer of the Righteous or Crusader Strike. This means that if you open up with Avenger's Shield, followed by HOTR, it is possible to launch two Avenger's Shields within less than 5 seconds! Grand Crusader also has no internal cooldown, so with all the HOTR and Crusader Strikes you will be casting, this will generally proc multiple times in every fight. Add in the fact that it automatically silences (and dazes if glyphed) any mob it touches, and it becomes a core part of your rotation that can and should be used on cooldown every chance you get.

- Consecration / Hallowed Ground: This has probably undergone the most extreme change out of all tankadin abilities. Before the patch, Consecration lasted 8 seconds and had an 8 second cooldown, which meant that it was part of our core rotation with 100% uptime. It costed a ton of mana, but our Divine Plea (also nerfed hard) had 100% uptime, so it wasn't a problem. Now it does the same amount of damage with a whopping 30 SECOND COOLDOWN and no more constant Divine Plea (and all Tankadins said in unison, WTH BLIZZ!). However, the new Hallowed Ground talent makes this spell dirt cheap manawise and increases it's potency. Instead of having 100% uptime, it lasts only 33% as long, but does 40% more damage. If used as an opener on each trash mob this makes it much easier to gain initial crowd control due to it's high levels of threat generation through Righteous Fury. When used in conjunction with the huge buffs to Holy Wrath and Avenger's Shield your mobs will stick to you like glue even through the most powerful mage's blizzard or druid's hurricane.

I hope these tidbits have helped clear the air on what Blizzard was trying to do in this patch. I urge everyone to play around with these talents and abilities, and I assure you, you WILL be able to find a spec/rotation that is just as much if not MORE powerful than what you had before the patch.

Good luck everyone! (Oh and rate me up if this was helpful, it took a while to type up and my fingers are tired : )

if you are looking for Consecration now it is linked to blade of justice as a passive...edit prot and holy still have a button,not a clue why

Consercration is the only Paladin Area of Effect spell, other than some strictly undead only ones. This helps with, in PVP, keeping those nasty rogues from ambushing you!