Protection Paladin Tank Guide (Legion 7.3.5)

Table of Contents

• ×Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 7.3 Changes for Protection Paladins
  • 3. Patch 7.2.5 Changes for Protection Paladins
  • 4. Patch 7.2 Changes for Protection Paladins
  • 5. Contents
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. The Basics of Protection Paladins
  • 2. Talent Choice for Protection Paladins
  • 3. Stat Choice for Protection Paladins
  • 4. Basic Rotation for Protection Paladins
  • 5. Active Mitigation Abilities for Protection Paladins
  • 6. Cooldown Usage for Protection Paladins
  • 7. ChangeLog
• +Spell Summary
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Main Resource of Protection Paladins
  • 3. Basic Abilities for Protection Paladins
    • 3.1. Utility for Protection Paladins
  • 4. Important Procs for Protection Paladins
  • 5. Active Mitigation for Protection Paladins
  • 6. Cooldowns for Protection Paladins
  • 7. ChangeLog
• +Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices
  • 2. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents for Protection Paladins
  • 3. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents for Protection Paladins
  • 4. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents for Protection Paladins
  • 5. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents for Protection Paladins
  • 6. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents for Protection Paladins
  • 7. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents for Protection Paladins
  • 8. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents for Protection Paladins
  • 9. ChangeLog
• +Artifact Traits and Relics
  • 1. Artifact Progression for Protection Paladins
  • 2. Relic Choice for Protection Paladins
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Netherlight Crucible Relic Paths
  • 1. General Optimization Advice for Protection Paladins
  • 2. Tier 2 Upgrade Priority for Protection Paladins
    • 2.1. Defense
    • 2.2. Offense
  • 3. Tier 3 Upgrade Priority for Protection Paladins
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Single Target Rotation for Protection Paladins
    • 1.1. Defensive Rotation
    • 1.2. Offensive Rotation
  • 2. Multiple Target Rotation for Protection Paladins
  • 3. Active Mitigation for Protection Paladins
    • 3.1. Shield of the Righteous
    • 3.2. Light of the Protector
  • 4. Taunting
  • 5. Cooldown Usage for Protection Paladins
  • 6. Optional Read: Mastering Your Protection Paladin
    • 6.1. Artifact Ability for Protection Paladins
    • 6.2. Creative Divine Shield Usage
      • 6.2.1. Divine Shield Taunting
      • 6.2.2. Avoiding Mechanics
      • 6.2.3. Blessing of Protection
    • 6.3. Abilities and Cooldowns from Talents
      • 6.3.1. Tier 4 Talents
      • 6.3.2. Tier 5 Talents
      • 6.3.3. Tier 6 Talents
      • 6.3.4. Tier 7 Talents
  • 7. ChangeLog
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. Basics
    • 1.1. Survivability
    • 1.2. DPS
  • 2. Getting a Better Understanding of Protection Paladin Stats
    • 2.1. Statistics Explanations
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Gems for Protection Paladins
  • 2. Enchants for Protection Paladins
  • 3. Consumables for Protection Paladins
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. Macros
    • 1.1. Generic Macros for Paladins
      • 1.1.1. Blessing Mouseover Macros
      • 1.1.2. Lay on Hands Mouseover Macro
      • 1.1.3. Hand of the Protector Mouseover Macro
      • 1.1.4. Mouseover Cleanse Toxins Macro
      • 1.1.5. Divine Shield
      • 1.1.6. Rebuke
    • 1.2. Specific Macros for Protection Paladins
      • 1.2.1. Divine Shield Cancelaura Macro
      • 1.2.2. Blessing of Protection Cancelaura Macro
  • 2. Addons
    • 2.1. Generic Addons for Paladins
      • 2.1.1. ElvUI
      • 2.1.2. Boss Mods: Deadly Boss Mods or Bigwigs
      • 2.1.3. GTFO
      • 2.1.4. Parrot or Mik's Scrolling Battle Text
      • 2.1.5. Recount / Skada / Details!
      • 2.1.6. Weak Auras
      • 2.1.7. Omen Threat Meter
      • 2.1.8. Grid and GridClickSets (Optional)
    • 2.2. Specific Addons for Protection Paladins
      • 2.2.1. Tidy Plates: Threat Plates
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot
  • 1. Best in Slot List for Protection Paladins
  • 2. Trinkets for Protection Paladins
    • 2.1. Non-Raid Trinkets
    • 2.2. Raid Trinkets
  • 3. Tier 21 Set Bonuses for Protection Paladins
  • 4. Legendary Items for Protection Paladins
  • 5. Loot Competition for Protection Paladins
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Battle for Azeroth
  • 1. Foreword
  • 2. Mechanical Changes for Protection Paladin in BfA
  • 3. Ability Changes for Protection Paladin in BfA
  • 4. Protection Paladin Talents in BfA
    • 4.1. Level 15
    • 4.2. Level 30
    • 4.3. Level 45
    • 4.4. Level 60
    • 4.5. Level 75
    • 4.6. Level 90
    • 4.7. Level 100
  • 5. Base Rotation for Protection Paladin in BfA
  • 6. Azerite Traits for Protection Paladin
  • 7. ChangeLog

General Information

Welcome to our Protection Paladin tank guide for World of Warcraft Legion 7.3.5. Here, you will learn everything you need to know about playing a Protection Paladin in a raid environment and in Mythic+ dungeons.

About Our Reviewer

This guide has been reviewed and approved by Treckie, who has been a long-time leading Protection Paladin who has competed for world first kills for 5 years. He is one of the casters for both last year's and this year's upcoming Mythic Dungeon invitational. You can watch his stream on Twitch and you can follow him on Twitter.

1. Class Overview

As a Protection Paladin, you can expect to perform the role of a solid and reliable tank. In general, your damage intake will be relatively smooth, with many attacks being blocked by your shield or softened by your strong active mitigation. No other tank class has quite the array of tricks up their sleeve that a paladin does.

Note that this guide focuses on aspects that are specific to Protection Paladins, and general tanking strategies are beyond its scope. If you wish to know more about the tanking role and what you can do to improve, we recommend that you read our tanking guide.

2. Patch 7.3 Changes for Protection Paladins

• All damage increased by 8%.
• Bulwark of the Silver Hand trait increased to providing 35% extra armor instead of 20%.
• Seraphim has been nerfed to 45-second duration (from 30-second).

3. Patch 7.2.5 Changes for Protection Paladins

• Ardent Defender is capped and will not absorb a killing blow of more than 200% of your max HP
• The Blessed Stalwart artifact trait has been nerfed considerably.
• The Tier 3 Repentance and Blinding Light talents no longer deal damage.
• Shield of the Righteous can now only be extended up to a maximum of 3 times.
• Two new legendary items, Soul of the Highlord and Pillars of Inmost Light, have been added.

4. Patch 7.2 Changes for Protection Paladins

• Artifact traits have been slightly reworked. After spending 35 points, you now open up a new path, made up of 5 new traits ( Bulwark of the Silver Hand, Holy Aegis, Defender of Truth, Blessed Stalwart, and Concordance of the Legionfall) and all traits with 3 ranks get an additional 4th rank that you can invest in.
• Judgment of Light has received a buff.

5. Contents

To make it easy to navigate the guide, we have split it into 11 pages:

• Easy Mode: TL;DR to own without reading much;
• Spell Summary: see a summary of all your useful spells;
• Builds and Talents: learn how to choose your talents;
• Artifact Traits and Relics: discover how to level up your Artifact;
• Netherlight Crucible Relic Paths: choose the right paths on your Netherlight Crucible;
• Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities: master your rotation and your cooldowns;
• Stat Priority: read up on the respective values of your statistics;
• Gems, Enchants, and Consumables: choose the best gems, enchantments, etc.;
• Macros and Addons: step up your game with useful macros and addons;
• Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot: find the best gear you can wear;
• Battle for Azeroth: learn how to play your class in Battle for Azeroth.

6. ChangeLog

• 29 Jun. 2018 (Battle for Azeroth page): Added Rotation and Azerite section.
• 28 Jun. 2018 (Battle for Azeroth page): Updated description for Consecrated Ground.
• 19 Jun. 2018 (Battle for Azeroth page): Page added.
• 13 Mar. 2018 (gear page): Removed a duplicate mention of Rethu's Incessant Courage.
• 01 Feb. 2018 (Netherlight Crucible page): Added tier 3 trait priority.
• 01 Feb. 2018 (artifact page): Added a mention about having added relic priorities to the Netherlight Crucible page.
• 31 Jan. 2018 (Netherlight Crucible page): Updated the tier 2 offensive priority for clarity.
• 30 Jan. 2018 (easy mode page): Made a small update to the usage of Shield of the Righteous.
• 30 Jan. 2018 (spells page): Made small updates to the Consecration and Ardent Defender sections.
• 30 Jan. 2018 (talents page): Updated the tier 1, 4, 5, and 6 discussions.
• 30 Jan. 2018 (artifact page): Slightly updated the relic priority regarding survivability.
• 30 Jan. 2018 (Netherlight Crucible page): Updated the page considerably.
• 30 Jan. 2018 (rotation page): Made small tweaks to the Shield of the Righteous and Light of the Protector sections.
• 30 Jan. 2018 (enchants page): Updated back enchants and potion section.
• 30 Jan. 2018 (addons page): Added Tidy Plates to the add-on list.
• 30 Jan. 2018 (gear page): Updated Set Bonus recommendation section, as well as a few other items (Aggramar's Conviction, Aman'Thul's Vision, Apocalypse Drive, Riftworld Codex, Soul of the Highlord, Sephuz's Secret, and Insignia of the Grand Army).
• 03 Dec. 2017 (enchants page): Replaced Ancient Healing Potion with Astral Healing Potion.
• 29 Nov. 2017 (gear page): Updated Set Bonus recommendations, trinket discussion, and legendary rankings.
• 12 Sep. 2017 (Netherlight Crucible page): Added Netherlight Crucible page for Protection Paladin.
• 28 Aug. 2017 (gear page): Updated trinket and legendary item recommendations.
• 28 Aug. 2017 (enchants page): Updated consumables section. Added Lightforged Augment Rune and new 7.3 epic gems.
• 28 Aug. 2017 (stats page): Improved the stat discussion.
• 28 Aug. 2017 (rotation page): Made various updates to the page (notably to rotation and cooldown usage).
• 28 Aug. 2017 (artifact page): Slightly updated relic priority.
• 28 Aug. 2017 (talents page): Updated most of the talent discussions considerably.
• 28 Aug. 2017 (this page): Added summary of Patch 7.3 changes.
• 28 Aug. 2017 (easy mode page): Updated the page to account for changes made to the rest of the guide.
• 28 Aug. 2017 (spells page): Made small tweaks to the cooldowns.
• 13 Jun. 2017 (spells page): Page reviewed and deemed updated for 7.2.5.
• 13 Jun. 2017 (enchants page): Page reviewed and deemed updated for 7.2.5.
• 13 Jun. 2017 (stats page): Page reviewed and deemed updated for 7.2.5.
• 13 Jun. 2017 (artifact page): Added a small mention regarding Blessed Stalwart, following changes to it in Patch 7.2.5.
• 13 Jun. 2017 (talents page): Made updates to tier 2, 3, and 5 talents.
• 13 Jun. 2017 (rotation page): Page reviewed and deemed updated for 7.2.5.
• 13 Jun. 2017 (this page): Added summary of Patch 7.2.5 changes.
• 13 Jun. 2017 (easy mode page): Updated tier 3 talents to match updates on the talents page.
• 13 Jun. 2017 (gear page): Updated trinket and legendary item recommendations and added Tier 20 Set Bonus recommendations.
• 23 May 2017 (enchants page): Added a mention of switching to Retribution before eating in order to receive the Strength buff.
• 28 Mar. 2017 (artifact page): Added path for the Artifact traits added in Patch 7.2.
• 28 Mar. 2017 (enchants page): Changed food recommendation to Lavish Suramar Feast.
• 28 Mar. 2017 (stats page): No changes needed for Patch 7.2.
• 28 Mar. 2017 (easy mode page): Made a small tweak to the rotation.
• 28 Mar. 2017 (this page): Added summary of Patch 7.2 changes.
• 28 Mar. 2017 (rotation page): Tweaked the single and multiple target rotations slightly.
• 28 Mar. 2017 (talents page): Made updates to tier 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7 talent evaluations.
• 28 Mar. 2017 (gear page): Updated trinket and legendary item rankings.
• 28 Mar. 2017 (enchants page): Added Mark of the Hidden Satyr as a neck enchant for damage output.
• 24 Jan. 2017 (spells page): Page added.
• 24 Jan. 2017 (easy mode page): Added easy mode page.
• 10 Jan. 2017 (talents page): Updated the talent descriptions to account for Patch 7.1.5, and changed some talent discussions (tiers 1, 4, 6, and 7).
• 10 Jan. 2017 (enchants page): Added Potion of Prolonged Power and Flask of Countless Armies as alternative recommendations.
• 10 Jan. 2017 (this page): Added summary of Patch 7.1.5 changes.
• 10 Jan. 2017 (addons page): Added a Hand of the Protector mouseover macro.
• 10 Jan. 2017 (gear page): Updated legendary ranking (including new items) and added recommendations for Tier 19 Set Bonuses.
• 10 Jan. 2017 (stats page): Slightly improved the stat description text.
• 10 Jan. 2017 (rotation page): Checked and confirmed for Patch 7.1.5.
• 10 Jan. 2017 (artifact page): Updated the Relic recommendations slightly.
• 21 Dec. 2016 (gear page): Revised the Sephuz's Secret text.
• 14 Nov. 2016 (talents page): Removed a mention about Blinding Light not damaging raid bosses.
• 25 Oct. 2016 (talents page): Updated Bastion of Light, Crusader's Judgment, First Avenger, and Retribution Aura descriptions and discussions to account for Patch 7.1 changes.
• 17 Oct. 2016 (enchants page): Updated the recommendations (gems, neck, consumables; Versatility recommendations removed).
• 17 Oct. 2016 (stats page): Updated the survivability stat priority slightly, and added more mentions about the value of stats.
• 17 Oct. 2016 (rotation page): Updated the Eye of Tyr text to correctly mention that all damage is reduced, and expanded its recommended usage.
• 17 Oct. 2016 (artifact page): Updated Artifact progression path introduction text and slightly updated Relic mentions.
• 17 Oct. 2016 (gear page): Added BiS list.
• 17 Oct. 2016 (talents page): Updated Consecrated Ground evaluation.
• 22 Sep. 2016 (rotation page): Updated Hand of the Protector and Light of the Protector healing percentage (now 30% of missing health).
• 22 Sep. 2016 (talents page): Updated Hand of the Protector and Light of the Protector healing percentage (now 30% of missing health).
• 19 Sep. 2016 (rotation page): Made some small updates to the Light of the Protector section.
• 19 Sep. 2016 (artifact page): Clarified that Stern Judgment should be taken before Forebearant Faithful in the Artifact progression, and slightly tweaked Relic recommendations.
• 19 Sep. 2016 (talents page): Updated tier 1, 4, 5, and 7 talent sections to slightly re-evaluate our recommendations.
• 19 Sep. 2016 (gear page): Updated the texts for Sephuz's Secret, Heathcliff's Immortality, and Breastplate of the Golden Val'kyr.
• 19 Sep. 2016 (enchants page): Added separate recommendations for total damage reduction and a smoother damage intake, and also tweaked some of the other recommendations.
• 19 Sep. 2016 (stats page): Updated survivability stat priority slightly, and added a mention about Mastery.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (gear page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (talents page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (rotation page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (this page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (artifact page): Added.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (enchants page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 29 Aug. 2016 (stats page): Updated for Legion's launch.
• 21 Aug. 2016 (rotation page): Updated the Light of the Protector description to account for a recent hotfix.
• 21 Aug. 2016 (talents page): Updated Hand of the Protection description to account for a recent hotfix that changed the healing amount, and revamped Hand of the Protector, Seraphim, and Righteous Protector discussions.
• 04 Aug. 2016 (talents page): Added Cavalier talent in place of Blessing of Salvation.
• 20 Jul. 2016 (addons page): Removed a WeakAuras string that is no longer up to date.
• 20 Jul. 2016 (enchants page): Changed potion recommendation to Draenic Versatility Potion.
• 20 Jul. 2016 (enchants page): Added different recommendations for survivability and DPS stat priorities.
• 20 Jul. 2016 (stats page): Added separate stat priorities for DPS and survivability.
• 20 Jul. 2016 (rotation page): Updated the explanation for using Seraphim to clarify that it is a survivability loss to do so and that you should be careful not to die.
• 19 Jul. 2016 (talents page): Removed a mention that Hand of the Protector's healing is not increased if you stand in Consecration, since this has been fixed.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (enchants page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (addons page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (stats page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (this page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (rotation page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (gear page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.
• 18 Jul. 2016 (talents page): Updated for the Legion pre-patch.