Paladin Hero Talents — The War Within (11.1.7)
This guide will walk you through the best Hero Talents for Protection Paladin for Raiding and Mythic+, how they impact your gameplay, and more.
Best Hero Talents for Protection Paladin in The War Within
This page is specifically about Hero Talents in The War Within. If you want to learn more about the best regular talents for Protection Paladin, check out our Talents page:
Raiding Hero Talents for Protection Paladin
Templar
Templar will provide more DPS in Raids, however
it does not provide any raid utility in comparison to
Lightsmith.
Lightsmith
Both Hero Talent choices are as good as each other in raiding. Lightsmith provides a wider raid benefit by giving shields to players with
Holy Bulwark and buffing players with
Sacred Weapons (this damage all gets attributed to you).
Lightsmith also makes learning encounters easier as the hero talent doesn't change your basic rotation.
Mythic+ Hero Talents for Protection Paladin
Templar
Templar will be the preferred choice in Mythic+ as it has higher damage output than
Lightsmith but offers
less utility as you need to maintain
Shake the Heavens which means
Avenger's Shield has a lower rotational priority.
Lightsmith
Lightsmith offers more utility for Mythic+ than
Templar but less DPS. It offers a simpler rotation
and utility for your group via
Holy Bulwark /
Sacred Weapon.
Lightsmith is a great choice for learning dungeons and for lower level keys.
Best Hero Talent Builds for Protection Paladin
Hero Talents Rotation for Protection Paladin
Templar
Playing as a Templar paladin will change your rotational priorities.
Eye of Tyr and
Hammer of Light must be used on cooldown; therefore, this build
works on a 45-second cycle. After casting
Hammer of Light
Shake the Heavens becomes active, and your focus shifts to keeping this active for as long as possible
by generating Holy Power (
Higher Calling).
Lightsmith
There are two main changes to your rotation as a Lightsmith paladin. The first is using
Holy Bulwark /
Sacred Weapon as they become available.
The second is while you are in your
Avenging Wrath /
Sentinel window, you need to focus on generating as much Holy Power as possible to get the most
value from
Blessing of the Forge. Outside of these periods, you will go back to your normal rotation.
Changelog
- 15 Jun. 2025: Reviewed for Patch 11.1.7.
- 21 Apr. 2025: Reviewed for Patch 11.1.5.
- 24 Feb. 2025: Updated for Patch 11.1.0.
- 15 Dec. 2024: Updated for Patch 11.0.7.
- 22 Oct. 2024: Updated for Patch 11.0.5 with new Lightsmith Trees to take the new talent option into consideration.
- 16 Sep. 2024: Changed Hero Talent Tree imagery to be smaller.
- 09 Sep. 2024: Reviewed for The War Within Season 1.
- 21 Aug. 2024: Page added.
More Paladin Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Panthea, who raids in Catalyst and is the author of TankNotes. He plays all tanks and is a Moderator for the Hammer of Wrath Paladin Discord. You can follow him on Twitter.
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