Protection Paladin Tank Gear and Best in Slot — The War Within Pre-Patch
On this page, you will find the best gear and best in slot items for your Protection Paladin in World of Warcraft The War Within Pre-Patch.
If you were looking for WotLK Classic content, please refer to our WotLK Classic Protection Paladin gear and best in slot.
BiS Gear for Protection Paladins
Welcome to our Gear and BiS Page for Protection Paladin for Dragonflight Season 4. Check this page to learn everything you need to know about gearing a Protection Paladin, including the BiS Gear from all sources, Raiding, and Mythic+, information on the best Trinkets, Tier Sets, and much more.
Generally speaking, you will prioritize an item level upgrade over an "optimal" item at a lower item level as your survival is heavily reliant on Strength and Stamina. If you have a choice on the same item level, the alternative will likely, in generic circumstances, not make a difference defensively. We recommend just simming the choice and doing whatever helps you do more damage.
There are exceptions to this rule and encounter specific situations where a stat is massively devalued. You should keep an eye on the raid encounter guides to be aware of this. Similarly, certain Mythic+ key levels and dungeons require a slightly different gearing path. We linked the related guides below, but generally, we will add a note here as well:
BiS Gear for Protection Paladin
BiS List for Protection Paladin
This list contains the best gear setup from most sources for Protection Paladin. Wherever possible, we made use of the ilvl 528 gear available from Mythic Vault of the Incarnates, Aberrus and Amirdrassil.
A couple of items on this list may be from Mythic+ and listed at 528. This item level - in other words, getting it from Great Vault - is a requirement on the item. We opted to do this rather than to list 522s, as they would frankly never show up. In true BiS fashion, the list is, indeed, true BiS.
Every slot that is socketable is assumed socketed, and every enchant is assumed acquired.
It is worth noting that for Raiding and M+, the slots your embellished items will sit in will differ. For a generic recommendation, I would recommend following the Raid Embellishment list, and then as the season goes on, you can craft the additional slots to change the options.
Slot | Item | Source/Note |
---|---|---|
Weapon | ![]() |
Mythic Fyrakk in Amirdrassil |
Shield | ![]() |
Mythic Gnarlroot in Amirdrassil |
Helm | ![]() |
Mythic Raszageth / Mythic Magmorax / Mythic Tindral Sageswift / Creation Catalyst |
Neck | ![]() |
Mythic Assault of the Zaqali in Aberrus |
Shoulder | ![]() |
Mythic Broodkeeper Diurna / The Forgotten Experiments / Smolderon / Revival Catalyst |
Cloak | ![]() |
Mythic Scalecommander Sarkareth in Aberrus |
Chest | ![]() |
Mythic Dathea in Vault of the Incarnates |
Bracers | ![]() ![]() |
Crafted |
Gloves | ![]() |
Mythic Dathea / The Forgotten Experiments / Igira the Cruel / Revival Catalyst |
Belt | ![]() ![]() |
Crafted |
Legs | ![]() |
Mythic Sennarth / Rashok / Larodar / Revival Catalyst |
Boots | ![]() |
Mythic Magmorax in Aberrus |
Ring #1 | ![]() |
Mythic Eranog in Vault of the Incarnates |
Ring #2 | ![]() |
Mythic Vault of the Incarnates Trash Drop |
Trinket #1 | ![]() |
Mythic Amalgamation Chamber in Aberrus |
Trinket #2 | ![]() |
Mythic Smolderon in Amirdrassil |
BiS List from Raid Protection Paladin
This list contains the best gear setup from Amirdrassil specifically for Protection Paladin./p>
This list is mostly useful for informing your organized guild of what loot is optimal for you for loot distribution purposes.
Season 4 carries on the systems from Season 3 where every item obtained from Mythic can be upgraded to the end boss item level of 528!
Every slot that is socketable is assumed socketed, and every enchant is assumed acquired.
Slot | Item | Source/Note |
---|---|---|
Weapon | ![]() |
Mythic Fyrakk in Amirdrassil |
Shield | ![]() |
Mythic Gnarlroot in Amirdrassil |
Helm | ![]() |
Mythic Raszageth / Mythic Magmorax / Mythic Tindral Sageswift / Creation Catalyst |
Neck | ![]() |
Mythic Assault of the Zaqali in Aberrus |
Shoulder | ![]() |
Mythic Broodkeeper Diurna / The Forgotten Experiments / Smolderon / Revival Catalyst |
Cloak | ![]() |
Mythic Scalecommander Sarkareth in Aberrus |
Chest | ![]() |
Mythic Dathea in Vault of the Incarnates |
Bracers | ![]() ![]() |
Crafted |
Gloves | ![]() |
Mythic Dathea / The Forgotten Experiments / Igira the Cruel / Revival Catalyst |
Belt | ![]() ![]() |
Crafted |
Legs | ![]() |
Mythic Sennarth / Rashok / Larodar / Revival Catalyst |
Boots | ![]() |
Mythic Magmorax in Aberrus |
Ring #1 | ![]() |
Mythic Eranog in Vault of the Incarnates |
Ring #2 | ![]() |
Mythic Vault of the Incarnates Trash Drop |
Trinket #1 | ![]() |
Mythic Amalgamation Chamber in Aberrus |
Trinket #2 | ![]() |
Mythic Smolderon in Amirdrassil |
Mythic+ Farmable (522) List for Protection Paladin
This list contains the most valuable items from Mythic+ Dungeons. The farmable nature of this makes it a great place to start your character-gearing journey.
This list also only lists items which can be obtained from the dungeons directly rather than the weekly vault which will be available at a maximum of 528 item level.
Every slot that is socketable is assumed socketed, and every enchant is assumed acquired.
Slot | Item | Source/Note |
---|---|---|
Weapon | ![]() |
Mythic+: Neltharus |
Shield | ![]() |
Mythic+: The Azure Vault |
Helm | ![]() |
Revival Catalyst any Helm from Mythic+ |
Neck | ![]() |
Mythic+: Uldaman |
Shoulder | ![]() |
Revival Catalyst any Shoulder from Mythic+ |
Cloak | ![]() |
Mythic+: Ruby Life Pools |
Chest | ![]() |
Mythic+: The Azure Vault |
Bracers | ![]() ![]() |
Crafted |
Gloves | ![]() |
Revival Catalyst any Gloves from Mythic+ |
Belt | ![]() ![]() |
Crafted |
Legs | ![]() |
Revival Catalyst any Legs from Mythic+ |
Boots | ![]() |
Mythic+: Neltharus |
Ring #1 | ![]() |
Mythic+: The Azure Vault |
Ring #2 | ![]() |
Mythic+: The Nokhud Offensive |
Trinket #1 | ![]() |
Mythic+: The Nokhud Offensive |
Trinket #2 | ![]() |
Mythic+: Ruby Life Pools |
"Simming" Yourself as a Protection Paladin
Throughout this page, we will regularly refer to the importance of simming yourself on Raidbots, as it is an indispensable aspect of optimizing your character.
While we do offer generic sim charts for Trinkets, this should not be a
replacement for simming. As they will neglect nuances such as two on-use trinkets,
Avenging Wrath timings or rotational changes that occur from using a trinket.
If you are new to simming and Raidbots, check out our detailed guide below.
Embellishment Recommendations for Protection Paladin
Embellishments are additional item effects present on profession gear,
either as a baseline (such as Elemental Lariat) or added
as an optional reagent when crafting (such as
Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch). These
grant a free, additional effect to the piece.
You may only have two embellishments active at a time.
For Protection Paladins, we recommend the following for Raiding:
Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch on
Primal Molten Vambraces.
Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch on
Primal Molten Greatbelt.
And the following for Mythic+:
Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch on
Primal Molten Vambraces.
Frostfire Legguards of Preparation.
Alchemical Flavor Pocket can be added to crafted items and does not
count as an embellishment.
Protection Paladin Tier Set - Heartfire Sentinel's Authority
With the launch of Season 4, Protection Paladins will be able to don the bonuses from Virtuous Silver Cataphract (Season 1 bonus) but with the appearance and name of Heartfire Sentinel's Authority (Season 2). This armor, when enough pieces of it are worn, unlocks two special bonuses for Protection Paladins:
Protection Paladin 2pc —
Avenger's Shield grants you and your closest ally
Ally of the Light, increasing Versatility by 6% for 8 sec.
Protection Paladin 4pc —
Hammer of the Righteous/
Blessed Hammer increases your Parry by 5% for 10 sec and extends the duration of
Ally of the Light by 1 sec.
Once available, you should aim to acquire the set bonuses as soon as possible.
- The 2-piece bonus gives you another hook to
Avenger's Shield and will increase the priority of this ability if
Ally of the Light is not active.
- The 4-piece bonus will be more impactful in Mythic+ than raiding, as the value of Parry
is felt more there, but also serves to lower the priority of
Avenger's Shield back to normal levels by extending the duration of
Ally of the Light.
You have the option to force Ally of the Light to be on specific targets by
moving on top of them, but should focus on your own positioning and survival before trying
to game the set bonus.
With the 4-piece bonus you want to ensure that you are casting Blessed Hammer
before pulling a pack of mobs to gain the extra parry chance.
PvP Gear Recommendations for Protection Paladin
Obtaining gear from rated PvP can boost your item level early in the season.
It is essential to note that all of these items have Versatility on them.
If you want to obtain PvP gear, we advise doing Rated Battlegrounds as either Protection or Retribution, or Solo Shuffle as Retribution.
Trinket Recommendations for Protection Paladin
Season 4 brings back all of the raids in Dragonflight and the 8 Dragonflight dungeons for Mythic+. Protection Paladins get to re-discover a wide array of trinkets with different effects.
We strongly recommend using trinkets that suit the encounter at hand. For instance, if you are not able to line up a defensive trinket with a mechanic, or flat-out do not need it, pick a generic trinket instead!
General Purpose Trinkets
Caveat: All trinkets with a primary stat budget (Strength) or a secondary stat have defensive value. In fact, the bulk of any trinket's defensive value is in the Strength they have, as this provides armor and a noticeable amount of parry rating.
Cataclysmic Signet Brand is by far one of the strongest trinkets
acquired in Season 4, both for single-target and AoE. All of your
direct damage abilities have a chance to apply a strong DoT to your target,
and gives you a stack of
Firestarter.
Each application of
Firestarter increases the damage of the
DoT by 2.5%, stacking up to a maximum of 15 times. Above 5 stacks, this DoT also deals 50%
of its damage to you. At 15 stacks, all enemies within 8 yards of the DoTted target also
take 10% of the damage from the DoT, split between them. Every 5 seconds spent not
in combat causes a stack of
Firestarter to fade,
with all stacks fading after 15 seconds (Similar to
Elementium Pocket Anvil
you want to make sure you chain pull in M+ to prevent the stacks from fading).
Elementium Pocket Anvil adds a chance for your
Hammer of the Righteous /
Blessed Hammer (and auto attacks for Protection Paladins!) to deal
additional damage. The on-use aspect of this trinket boosts the damage from this proc up,
and this additional damage buff can stack up to 5 times. The buff from the on-use effect
will fade when you leave combat, and you have 15 seconds to keep the buff up.
Manic Grieftorch is the trinket of the season. An old favourite returns
with new functionality. You can now move whilst channeling the trinket. This trinket
provides a very large amount of priority damage and has a small chance to cleave
to nearby enemies. Furthermore, the cooldown is reduced by 90 seconds if someone
in your team dies, making it that much more impactful for raid progression scenarios,
as the tank will be the last one alive most of the time.
Storm-Eater's Boon drops from Dathea returns and is one of two
trinkets with uncapped AoE damage (the other being
All-Totem of the Master).
After activating the trinket, you will be rooted for 10 seconds and pulse damage around
yourself. Timing the use of this trinket well is an essential requirement, as if you do
not consider the next 10 seconds of the encounter, you may find yourself dying to otherwise
avoidable damage.
All-Totem of the Master synergizes well with our 4-piece bonus and increases
the likelihood of this trinket triggering on cooldown. Every time you parry or dodge
an attack, you damage everything in front of you (with no cap). The trinket goes on
a 30-second internal cooldown. The stances are the following:
- Elemental Stance: Earth increases your armor by a flat amount.
- Elemental Stance: Fire has a chance to apply a DoT to your target, burning them for a small amount of fire damage for 6 seconds.
- Elemental Stance: Air increases your Haste while it is active.
- Elemental Stance: Ice heals you for a large amount while it is active.
The order in which the stances rotate is always the same and is not reset by dropping combat:
- Earth
- Fire
- Air
- Ice
Branch of the Tormented Ancient allows you to tether yourself to a target,
which slows you by 15% per root, with 4 roots total. This slow effect can be removed
with
Blessing of Freedom. Every direct damage ability
damaging a rooted target deals a large amount of shadowflame damage, split between
all nearby targets.
Irideus Fragment is an on-use trinket with a lot of Mastery and provides
a large boost to Strength for 20 seconds when used. However, the amount of Strength
reduces per ability you cast. The Strength bonus will decay rather quickly as a Protection Paladin
as you will typically be casting an ability every GCD. The only downside to this trinket is the
3-minute cooldown, as it will not line up with every cast of
Avenging Wrath.
Dragon Games Equipment is a strong DPS trinket. When you use it, kickballs will
spawn nearby, and when you run into one of them, they will deal a large amount of Physical
damage to your current target (if it is 15 yards or closer to you). The kickballs spawn
nearby to you, so finding them is not difficult.
Coiled Serpent Idol creates Hydras, which attack your target when you critically
strike. Every third Hydra created spawns 3 Hydras. If the target dies, it will deal AoE
damage instead. This trinket will likely perform better in raid scenarios than in dungeon
scenarios due to the nature of when the effects may trigger.
Augury of the Primal Flame, the Very Rare DPS trinket from Fyrakk, which means
it drops at a higher item level to any other item in game on Mythic. It gives a large
amount of critical strike rating and triggers on critical strikes, creating a feedback loop.
The proc has a chance to apply a very large amount of fire damage split between all targets.
Gift of Ursine Vengeance is a very interesting trinket from
Amirdrassil. Every time somebody near you takes direct damage,
you gain a stack of
Rising Rage, up to once every 3 seconds. This buff gives you
a stacking amount of Strength. When you reach 30 stacks, these are converted into
Fury of Urctos, causing you to deal damage to any enemy within 8 seconds that
damages you, and regenerating a small amount of health every second while this effect persists.
The counterattack proc has a 0.1s internal cooldown, allowing you to deal a significant amount of
damage in AoE.
Finally, there is Ashes of the Embersoul. The on-use Strength bonus is
great for damage cooldown windows, however, it comes at a price, and this is losing
a large amount of Haste for 1 minute. This downside makes the trinket not valuable
for Protection Paladins. There is also another dangerous aspect of the trinket, and
it requires you to go below 15% HP to reset the buff. Avoid this trinket.
Season 4 also bring a number of stat stick trinkets. Rather than endlessly copying descriptions, we have instead created a table to represent what they do:
Trinket | Stat | Cooldown | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
Cycling between all secondaries | Passive | Cycles every 12 seconds between secondaries and decays for 12 seconds thereafter. |
![]() |
A secondary stat of your choice | Passive | Buffs you and all other users of this trinket |
![]() |
Versatility | Passive | Buffs you and all other users of this trinket |
Defensive Trinkets
Season 4 brings back a few additional defensive trinkets to the mix. Most of them either have a very concrete (but niche) use case or deal enough damage to be considered hybrid. We have listed them here, along with their use case
Trinket | Use case | Notes |
![]() |
Shield every 1min30 | Deals a high amount of damage to targets when used. You have a very strong incentive not to delay using this trinket. You would use this for burst damage with the on use rather than the shield. |
![]() |
Cheat death | Cheat death trinkets are great for learning a new, difficult encounter or just having a safety blanket. When you've learned the encounter and the trinket is not going to proc this becomes a wasted trinket slot and should be replaced with another option. |
![]() |
Shidld every 1min and usable on anyone | This trinket has seen some changes since the last time it was available in Season 2 and is in a now much more usable state. The cooldown got reduced from 2 minutes to 1 minute, however the absorb has been lowered. Overall this buffed the trinket in usability as you can rotate the effect in your cooldown plan more effectively. |
![]() |
Shield every 1min30 | A worse version of the above two trinkets./td> |
Flightstone Upgrades
Dragonflight Season 4 continues the same trend of item level upgrading which started in Season 2. They can also upgrade Crafted Gear up to iLvl 525, which is late-Mythic Item Level.
For more information on the new Gear Upgrades system, check out our dedicated page for it below.
As with Valor, the cost to upgrade scales differs per slot but now also increases quickly as item levels go up.
We recommend upgrading your Weapon and Shield first, as these will provide you with the largest offensive and defensive gain.
Enchants and Sockets
Once you have obtained a piece of gear containing a prismatic socket or needing to be enchanted, you will need to know how to modify it. Details about these tweaks can be found on our dedicated gems, enchants, and consumables page.
A new helm enchant was added with the launch of Amirdrassil. Don't
forget to complete the raid-only quest to unlock access to
Incandescent Essence!
Changelog
- 23 Jul. 2024: Updated for The War Within pre-patch.
- 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
- 22 Apr. 2024: Updated for Season 4.
- 19 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6.
- 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
- 28 Nov. 2023: Updated Dawn of the Infinite links to be specific to their keystone dungeons.
- 07 Nov. 2023: Updated the page to account for the nerfs to Sporecloak. The Embelishment recommendations have been changed to account for this.
- 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Season 3.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Updated gear layout. Added BiS list.
- 10 Jul. 2023: Updated Onyx Annulet section to note when you replace this ring. Added 10.1.5 item section.
- 01 May 2023: Moved Onyx Annulet section to the bottom of the page (It's still good for damage!). Updated gear, trinkets, and embelishments for Season 2.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Added Onyx Annulet section.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Updated for Season 1.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 24 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
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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