Paladin Class Overview
Sworn protectors of the light and champions of justice Paladin is one of the strongest classes in all of World of Warcraft. As one of the two classes that are able to Tank, DPS and Heal Paladin is able to contribute to groups in all kinds of different ways and are highly competitive in all three roles. Paladin regardless of specialization provides some of the strongest buffs in the game in the form of Blessings and Hands. Regardless of the role you choose to play Paladins are a staple of any group.
Introduction to Paladin
Paladin is a melee oriented class that is one of two classes able to Tank, DPS and Heal. Paladins have two
primary resources, Mana and Holy Power.
While all three Paladin specializations use Mana, you will
only really be concerned with maintaining your Mana as Holy.
However, all three specializations will be heavily utilizing Holy Power.
This is a resource that is generated by abilities like
Holy Shock and
Crusader Strike. Holy Power allows you to
use powerful abilities like
Word of Glory,
Templar's Verdict
and
Shield of the Righteous.
Paladin Specializations
Paladin is able to choose from three specializations:
Holy, Protection,
and Retribution.
Protection — Protection is the tanking specialization for Paladin. Protection Paladin remains one of the sturdiest tanks in the game with the ability to generate incredible AoE threat and mitigate massive amounts of incoming damage. Protection Paladin also provides extremely valuable utility that many other tanking classes cannot due to generic class abilities such as
Hand of Protection or even
Divine Shield, allowing you to easily deal with mechanics that other tanks cannot.
Holy — Holy is the healing specialization for Paladin. Holy Paladin's healing output tends to fall behind other healers in Mists of Pandaria, but it still remains an overall viable choice due to the utility and cooldowns it provides a raid group. In addition,
Illuminated Healing is stronger than ever, encouraging you to always be healing even when no damage occurs, that way you can stack your mastery for extra shields.
Retribution — Retribution is the DPS specialization for Paladin. While not offering the highest DPS, Retribution will continue to be used in many 25-man comps due to the large utility it brings to raid, as well as strong burst damage.
What Specialization Should I Play?
Each Paladin specialization fills a different role so it really depends on
what role you are interested in playing, and that becomes one of the main reasons to play Paladin
in the first place. Protection Paladin is one of the most consistently durable classes and if
played correctly provides very little variance in survivability from attempt to attempt.
Holy Paladin while not topping the meters continues to offer very strong single target healing
in addition to powerful raid cooldowns. Similarly, Retribution offers some of the most utility
out of any DPS class while also providing strong raid damage.
Protection
Protection is as mentioned the Tanking specialization for Paladin. Prot Paladins
will focus on consuming Holy Power on
Shield of the Righteous to increase tankiness before
damage goes out, or casting
Word of Glory to heal themself after the damage has occurred.
As a Prot Paladin, you will also have access to a large set of tools to help you manage every different
damage pattern that might be thrown at you.
Guardian of Ancient Kings,
Ardent Defender
and
Divine Protection all provide strong defensive value while
Divine Shield will
allow you to completely stop damage if used at the correct time.
Holy
Holy is the Healing specialization for Paladin. While Holy does not provide the highest
healing output among the healers, it still remains a competitive choice due to the utility it provides.
Holy Paladins similar to Ret and Prot will focus on building Holy Power through key abilities like
Holy Shock and
Holy Radiance, and spending it when possible on
Word of Glory
for single target healing or
Light of Dawn for AoE healing. That being said, the majority of your
healing comes from your mastery effect:
Illuminated Healing, which causes all your abilities to
place shields on targets. This will incentivize you to always be casting healing spells even when no
damage is occurring, creating a fast paced rotation where you always have something to do.
Retribution
Retribution is the DPS specialization for Paladin. Retribution focuses on building Holy Power
through abilities such as:
Crusader Strike,
Judgment and even
Exorcism. With Holy Power,
you are able to maintain a damage increase buff (
Inquisition) and cast either a powerful single target
or AoE ability:
Templar's Verdict or
Divine Storm. This creates a unique rotation where you are tasked
with maintaining your key buff while also maximizing how often you cast one of your powerful Holy Power spending
abilities.
How Viable is Paladin in Mists of Pandaria?
Paladin is extremely viable and highly sought-after as all three specializations;
While their output may be behind other specs for their respective role, they offer some of the best utility in the game
and you will often see raids running multiple paladins. Though each Paladin specialization fills a different role,
they are all extremely competitive among the other classes that fill the same role and viability is far from an issue.
Races For Paladin
Paladin is unfortunately quite limited in regards to what Race can be selected, but
below we have highlighted the races available and how to best make an informed decision as to what the
benefits are for each race for your Paladin. As Horde you are able to choose from Blood Elf and Tauren.
As Alliance you are able to choose from Dwarf, Human and Draenei.
Horde Races
Tauren is widely regarded as the best race for Protection due to its
Endurance racial, which increases your base health by 5%.
War Stomp is another great tool that stuns up to five enemies for two seconds. Tauren are also slightly more resistant to Nature damage. Specifically for Retribution, Tauren may be the ideal choise as they start with more Strength.
Blood Elf will be our default choice as Holy as
Arcane Torrent returns a small amount of Mana.
Alliance Races
Human is your default choice as both Holy and Retribution.
The Human Spirit increases your Spirit by 3% greatly increasing your Mana regeneration.
Sword Specialization increases your Expertise when using a Sword, and the majority of weapons you will be using through Mists of Pandaria as Retribution are swords. Human comes with the ability to instantly remove all crowd controlling abilities in the form of
Will to Survive which can be extremely powerful in very specific encounters.
Dwarves are considered to be the best race for tanking as Alliance due to their
Stoneform racial. Stoneform is another Tank cooldown that reduces incoming damage by 10% for 8 seconds and removes all Poison, Disease and Bleed effects. Dwarf also gains expertise when using a Mace thanks to
Mace Specialization.
Draenei is a great choice for both tanking or DPSing due to their ability to self heal with
Gift of the Naaru, healing the target for 20% of their total health over 15 seconds. Draenei passively have an extra 1% chance to hit thanks to their
Heroic Presence racial.
Gearing and Stats
Paladin can wear all armor types but you should only be wearing
Plate.
Plate Specialization greatly outweighs any possible benefit
you may find by wearing a non-plate piece due to the emphasis put on Primary stats
in Mists of Pandaria.
Paladin is able to equip one and two-handed Swords, one and two-handed Maces,
One and two-handed Axes, Shields, and Polearms. The Weapon you use will depend on the specialization
you are playing, but generally speaking the type of weapon you use is irrelevant as long as it
is offering you the most of your desired stats.
Due to the nature of stats and gearing, it is recommended that you visit our dedicated pages for each respective spec to get a full understanding of what gear you should be after. A general rule to follow is that the more primary stat an item has, the more of an upgrade it will be.
Paladin Addons and Macros
Addons and Macros can greatly improve your quality of life in Azeroth and Pandaria. Listed below are some of our recommendations on Addons and Macros to help get the most out of your time playing the game.
Changelog
- 15 Jun. 2025: Page added.
This guide has been written by Mytholxgy, a former RWF progression raider and analyst for Pieces and Liquid. He is also a Templar in the Paladin Class Discord, as well as one of the class experts in the Evoker Discord. You can reach him on Twitter and watch him stream occasionally on Twitch.