Protection Paladin Guide — Class Guides · WoW Wrath of the Lich King

Tanking with a shield: Holy Shield, more block and armour, damage reduction and threat.

A plate-wearing holy warrior who heals with the Light, protects with blessings, auras and seals, and fights in melee. Paladins heal, tank or deal damage with a two-handed weapon. More about the paladin

Class: Paladin
Roles: Tank
Used for: Raids and dungeons
Top talent: Hammer of the Righteous
Popular builds: 1
Version: WoW Wrath of the Lich King

How to play

Protection paladins are top tanks in Wrath. Hammer of the Righteous hits three enemies, Shield of Righteousness hits hard based on your block value, Holy Shield and Consecration add threat, and Avenger's Shield pulls and silences. Divine Protection and Ardent Defender keep you alive.

Paladins tank with the '969' rhythm: alternate abilities with a six-second cooldown (Hammer of the Righteous, Shield of Righteousness) and a nine-second one (Holy Shield, Consecration, Judgement). It keeps you busy and holds threat on anything.

Mana is never a problem with Divine Plea and Spiritual Attunement, and Avenger's Shield and Hand of Reckoning handle loose enemies.

At a glance

Single-target threat
Holding several enemies
Survivability
Utility for the group
Solo play and leveling
Ease of play

Rated 1 to 5 against the other specs in WoW Wrath of the Lich King.

Rotation and priorities

1Righteous Fury on; Seal of Vengeance (Alliance) or Corruption (Horde).
2Alternate six- and nine-second abilities: Hammer of the Righteous and Shield of Righteousness, then Holy Shield, Consecration and Judgement.
3Avenger's Shield to pull and between the others.
4Divine Plea whenever it is ready: it costs a tank nothing.
5Hand of Reckoning or Righteous Defense on loose enemies.
6Divine Protection and Lay on Hands for emergencies.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

Excellent at holding packs.
Never runs out of mana.
Avenger's Shield pulls and silences casters.

Weaknesses

Fewer emergency cooldowns than a warrior or death knight.
Less self-healing than a Blood death knight.
The rhythm punishes pauses.

Stats and gear

Stat priority

Most valuable first. Bars compare each stat with the best one; a cap in the note means the stat drops off once you reach it.

1
Defenseto 540: bosses can't crit you
2
Stamina
3
Dodge and parry
4
Armour
5
Block valueShield of Righteousness damage
6
Expertisethreat

What to look for

Defense to 540 first, then Stamina and avoidance.
A one-handed weapon and a shield; block value raises Shield of Righteousness.
Some hit and expertise make threat smoother on easy fights.

Items worth chasing

Glyph of IndomitabilityA trinket with defense and a dodge proc.
Corroded Skeleton KeyA trinket with Stamina and an absorb on use.
Sindragosa's Flawless FangA trinket that cuts damage taken on use.

Builds

Each bar splits the build's talent points by tree.

Holy
Protection
Retribution

Protection Tank
TankPvE
5318
0/53/18
Raid tanking with 53 points in Protection, down to Hammer of the Righteous, and 18 in Retribution.
- Touched by the Light 3/3
- Avenger's Shield 1/1
- Shield of the Templar 3/3
- Judgements of the Just 2/2
- Hammer of the Righteous 1/1
Glyphs: Glyph of Seal of Vengeance (major), Glyph of Righteous Defense (major), Glyph of Divine Plea (major), Glyph of Sense Undead (minor), Glyph of Lay on Hands (minor), Glyph of Blessing of Kings (minor)
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting

Key talents

Hammer of the Righteous · top talent, up to 1
Hammer the current target and up to 2 additional nearby targets, causing 4 times your main hand damage per second as Holy damage.
Spiritual Attunement · tier 7, up to 2
A passive ability that gives the Paladin mana when healed by other friendly targets' spells. The amount of mana gained is equal to 10% of the amount healed.
Holy Shield · tier 7, up to 1
Increases chance to block by 30% for 10 sec and deals 79 Holy damage for each attack blocked while active. Each block expends a charge. 8 charges.
Redoubt · tier 8, up to 3
Increases your block value by 30% and damaging melee and ranged attacks against you have a 10% chance to increase your chance to block by 30%. Lasts 10 sec or 5 blocks.
Combat Expertise · tier 8, up to 3
Increases your expertise by 6, total Stamina and chance to critically hit by 6%.
Touched by the Light · tier 9, up to 3
Increases your spell power by an amount equal to 60% of your Strength and increases the amount healed by your critical heals by 30%.
Avenger's Shield · tier 9, up to 1
Hurls a holy shield at the enemy, dealing 440 to 536 Holy damage, Dazing them and then jumping to additional nearby enemies. Affects 3 total targets. Lasts 10 sec.
Guarded by the Light · tier 9, up to 2
Reduces spell damage taken by 6% and gives a 100% chance to refresh the duration of your Divine Plea when you hit an enemy. In addition, your Divine Plea spell is 100% less likely to be dispelled.
Shield of the Templar · tier 10, up to 3
Reduces all damage taken by 3% and grants your Avenger's Shield a 100% chance to silence your targets for 3 sec.
Judgements of the Just · tier 10, up to 2
Reduces the cooldown of your Hammer of Justice by 10 sec, increases the duration of your Seal of Justice effect by 1 sec and your Judgement spells also reduce the melee attack speed of the target by 20%.

Protection abilities by level

When each ability arrives: trained abilities at the level a trainer first teaches them, talent abilities (gold frame) at the first level the talent can be taken.