Protection Paladin Tank Spec, Builds, and Talents — Midnight Pre-Patch (12.0)

This page covers all the talents you can access, explaining how each will be used. Some of these active or passive talents can make a huge difference in how Protection Paladins are played, all of which is explained on our rotation page.

Some talents have a more versatile use in Mythic+ than in raids; as such, if this is more your thing, we strongly recommend you check the Mythic+ page.

Two default builds are detailed below. These provide a balance of throughput and unique utility. You can also get the import code by pressing the "Copy Export String" button on the calculator.

3.

Best Talents for Protection Paladin

Single-Target Talents Templar Mythic+ Talents Templar Delves Talents Templar Talents Explained

3.

Best Single-Target Talents for Protection Paladin

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import these talents directly into your game!

3.

Mythic+ Talents for Protection Paladin

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import these talents directly into your game!

3.

Delve Talents for Protection Paladin

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button to import these talents directly into your game!

3.

Talent Explanations for Protection Paladins

Due to the nature of The War Within's talent trees, almost every talent is meant to be viable or have a desirable niche where you may want to select it. As such, we will cover some of the more favored talents that you will want to prioritize most of the time from the top of each tree on down, followed by mentioning some of the bigger niche talents that are likely only rarely useful. If you would like to see a list of every single talent's effect as well as the abbreviations they are often known by in the community, please consult our Spell List and Glossary section instead.

Protection Paladin Spell List and Glossary

2.1.

Rows 1-4 Class Talents for Protection Paladins

2.1.1.

Noteworthy Talents

Talent	Description/Effect
Hammer of Wrath	Hammer of Wrath replaces Judgment while Avenging Wrath active. It retains all of the bonuses from Judgment from talents.
Greater Judgment	Greater Judgment allows for target hit by Judgment to take 40% more damage from your Shield of the Righteous.
Blessing of Freedom	Blessing of Freedom is picked regardless of whether you need it or not as you need to spend 8 points in order to progress further in the tree.
Afterimage	A fairly passive heal for your group, you will cast a weaker version of Word of Glory on a nearby ally when you cast it after spending 20 Holy Power.

2.1.2.

Niche Talents

Talent	When to Consider
Blinding Light	Blinding Light is very strong in Mythic+ as it can act as an AoE interrupt, even for abilities that cannot be silenced.
Cleanse Toxins	Cleanse Toxins is useful to have if the dungeon/raid boss has any Poison or Disease Mechanics. If there is no need for it, simply skip this talent unless you want a low point-cost method of obtaining Blinding Light. Many Mythic+ Scenarios want you to obtain Blinding Light anyway.
Turn Evil	This can be used to kill Undead enemies that are below 30% Health.
Empyreal Ward	This can be useful to heal yourself (or another player) when heal immunities or reductions are a factor.
Rebuke	Rebuke is one of two ways you can interrupt a spell as a Protection Paladin (The other being Avenger's Shield). If you require additional interrupt utility this is a solid choice, or you simply want the extra damage (and Holy Power) from interrupting with Punishment.

2.2.

Rows 5-7 Class Talents for Protection Paladin

2.2.1.

Noteworthy Talents

The second part of the class tree has a strong focus on cooldowns and healing. We strongly recommend picking the following core talents at all times:

Talent	Description/Effect
Obduracy	Free avoidance and speed. What's not to love about this 1 point talent!
Divine Toll	Divine Toll fires up to 5 Avenger's Shield's and gives you 1 Holy Power for each target hit.
Divine Resonance	Divine Resonance fires an additional Avenger's Shield every 5 seconds for 15 seconds after Divine Toll.
Holy Aegis	Holy Aegis primarily for the armor bonus, and it comes with critical strike, too, which is always useful.
Avenging Wrath	Avenging Wrath is centerpiece of Paladin cooldowns; it both increases your damage and enables you to generate more Holy Power by allowing Hammer of Wrath to be used regardless of the target's Health.
Justification	A simple damage increase to Judgment.
Punishment	When you interrupt a spell with Rebuke or Avenger's Shield you will cast Blessed Hammer or Hammer of the Righteous. This also generates 1 Holy Power.
Blessing of Sacrifice	Blessing of Sacrifice is your main external cooldown, and you should pick this up to help DPS/Healers survive mechanics, or throw it on your co-tank as an external cooldown. This can be enhanced further with Recompense to give you bonus damage!
Blessing of Protection	Blessing of Protection is a very flexible cooldown. It can be used to remove bleed effects on yourself as it will nullify any Physical damage taken. However, while you have this active on yourself you will lose all threat so be ready with a cancelaura macro to remove this quickly. You can also place it on DPS players who are generating too much threat to keep threat on yourself. This is quite notable in Mythic+, where burst DPS from some classes can make enemies focus on them instead of you!
Sanctified Plates	This will increase your Armor, stamina and reduce damage taken from AoE effects (this is in addition to any Avoidance rating you have).
Unbreakable Spirit	Unbreakable Spirit should always be picked for the cooldown reduction to Ardent Defender primarily, but also Divine Shield and Lay on Hands have their cooldowns reduced, too.

2.2.2.

Niche Talents

Talent	When to Consider
Unbound Freedom	Turns Blessing of Freedom into a short movement speed cooldown. It also gives you the benefits of Blessing of Freedom when you use it on another player!
Recompense	If you want to get additional damage in raid while your co-tank has the boss.
Improved Blessing of Protection	If you need higher cooldown frequency of Blessing of Protection or Blessing of Spellwarding.

2.3.

Rows 8-10 Class Talents for Protection Paladin

2.3.1.

Noteworthy Talents

Our final points are in this area of the talent tree. For every build, we would recommend you obtain the following talents:

Talent	Description/Effect
Lightforged Blessing	This talent triggers a heal for you and nearby players equal to your attack power.
Seal of Might	Seal of Might gives you more Mastery and Strength.
Vengeful Wrath	Vengeful Wrath increases the damage of Hammer of Wrath as the health of your target gets lower. The lower their health the more damage you deal!
Blessing of Dawn	Blessing of Dawn allows you to redirect 5% damage taken by allies to yourself while you are above 85% health.
Blessing of Dusk	Blessing of Dusk reduces your damage taken by up to 10% (based on missing health).
Lightbearer	This one point choice gives your group a bunch of free healing! 10% of healing you recieve from other players is split with the group.

2.3.2.

Niche Talents

You could consider using Light's Revocation on this part of the talent tree to give more flexibility with your Lay on Hands and Divine Shield casts, but the situations where you would use both in quick succession are incredibly rare.

2.4.

Rows 1-4 Spec Talents for Protection Paladin

2.4.1.

Noteworthy Talents

This part of the tree focuses on getting your core identifying abilities as a Protection Paladin:

Talent	Description/Effect
Avenger's Shield	Avenger's Shield interrupts your target and bounces to nearby targets, dealing damage.
Shining Light	Shining Light will allow you to cast Word of Glory for free after 3 casts of Shield of the Righteous (You can have up to 2 charges of Shining Light).
Blessed Hammer	Blessed Hammer should be picked over Hammer of the Righteous. Blessed Hammer will toss a hammer that spins away from your character, hitting every target (up to 3 times) for a small amount of Holy damage. Each time an enemy is hit, their next hit on you is reduced by a small amount.
Grand Crusader	Grand Crusader is the same as it was in Shadowlands. 15% chance when you avoid an attack (Dodge/Parry/Miss) or use Blessed Hammer to reset the cooldown of Avenger's Shield.
Seal of Charity	No longer are you punished for healing someone else, as you will heal yourself for the same amount. This heal will be significantly lower than if you just healed yourself unless you talent into Hand of the Protector.
Ardent Defender	Ardent Defender reduces all damage you take by 20% for 8 seconds. If you take lethal damage while Ardent Defender is active, it will heal you to 20% Health instead. 2-minute cooldown.

2.4.2.

Niche Talents

You do not need to take any additional talents to progress further in the tree, however, the below talents should be picked as they are powerful in certain scenarios:

Talent	When to Consider
Valiant Crusade	This should be taken in Mythic+ scenarios. This will give you Shield of the Righteous when you use Divine Steed out of combat.

2.5.

Rows 5-7 Spec Talents for Protection Paladin

2.5.1.

Noteworthy Talents

The following talents will be picked regardless of your playstyle due to the power they provide:

Talent	Description/Effect
Bulwark of Order	Bulwark of Order adds an additional effect to Avenger's Shield. Avenger's Shield provides you with a damage absorption shield for 8 seconds for 25% of the damage dealt per stack. This absorb cannot be more than 30% of your maximum Health.
Relentless Inquisitor	Free Haste!
Avenging Wrath	Avenging Wrath increases your Critical strike chance by 20% while active and increases the Holy Power generated by Judgment / Hammer of Wrath by 1.
Guardian of Ancient Kings	Guardian of Ancient Kings reduces all damage taken by 50% for 8 seconds. 5 minute cooldown.
Crusader's Judgment	Crusader's Judgment adds an additional charge to Judgment and allows the cooldown of Judgment to be reset when you trigger Grand Crusader.
Sanctuary	Sanctuary allows you to keep the benefits of Consecration for 4 seconds after leaving the area or when it expires. It also reduces damage taken by 5% while you have the Consecration buff.

2.5.2.

Niche Talents

Talent	When to Consider
Blessing of Spellwarding	This talent should only be obtained if there is a need to immune magic effects that you are unable to completely cover with just Divine Shield.
Tyr's Enforcer	In Mythic+, you will be dealing AoE damage frequently, and this adds even more.
Seal of Reprisal	This talent can be picked for some more consistent DPS.
Hand of the Protector	This talent allows you to heal others fully with Word of Glory! However, this comes at quite a bit of cost to your DPS/Threat as by using this talent you will be actively healing others instead of doing damage. This should only be taken in specific circumstances, such as when you are not tanking a boss and need to roleplay as a Healer.
Soaring Shield	In Mythic+ Scenarios, you will be fighting enough enemies at once to reach the Avenger's Shield bounce cap. Adding more targets to this bolsters both your damage and defensiveness via interactions with other talents.

2.6.

Avenging Wrath versus Sentinel

The choice between these two talents entirely depends on what you need. You may not always need the defensive boost from Sentinel, so the default talent should be Avenging Wrath.

2.7.

Rows 8-10 Spec Talents for Protection Paladin

Your final points are spent in this area of the talent tree.

2.7.1.

Noteworthy Talents

Both Raiding and Mythic+ focused builds will spend points in the following talents:

Talent	Description/Effect
Sanctified Wrath	This must-have talent allows you to generate twice as much Holy Power with Judgment while you are under the effects of Avenging Wrath / Sentinel. This both increases your damage, but also your uptime of Shield of the Righteous or the amount of Word of Glory's you can cast.
Righteous Protector	Righteous Protector lowers the cooldown of Avenging Wrath to 1 minute (which matches Divine Toll) but lowers the duration by 40%.
Zealot's Paragon	Zealot's Paragon allows you to extend the duration of Avenging Wrath with Judgment and Hammer of Wrath.
Gift of the Golden Val'kyr	Gift of the Golden Val'kyr should be where your final point is spent. The passive effects are powerful but not powerful enough to justify multiple points.

2.7.2.

Niche Talents

Talent	When to Consider
Focused Enmity	In Raiding scenarios, you will typically be fighting 1 target; this talent supports that and allows you to deal even more damage.
Bulwark of Righteous Fury	Another AoE damage talent pick. Great for Mythic+, and it adds a lot of additional damage.
Final Stand	This talent will be picked for Mythic+ scenarios and allows you to use Divine Shield both as an AoE taunt and as a powerful defensive tool with no risk to your group.
Crusader's Resolve	Reduces the damage that enemies hit by your Avenger's Shield deal to you, this will be used primarily for Raiding scenarios.
Strength in Adversity	This is a powerful defensive tool in Mythic+ scenarios as you are casting Avenger's Shield on multiple targets frequently.

Talent	Description/Effect
Light's Guidance	For 12 seconds after casting Divine Toll you will get access to Hammer of Light. This ability costs 3 Holy Power and does Holy damage to your target and up to 4 additional enemies. Additionally, it will trigger Empyrean Hammers to deal instant damage to up to 3 nearby enemies and trigger other talents in the Hero tree.
Zealous Vindication	Hammer of Light will trigger 2 more Empyrean Hammers to hit your target.
Shake the Heavens	Hammer of Light will now summon an additional Empyrean Hammer every 2 seconds for 8 seconds.
Wrathful Descent	When your Empyrean Hammers critically strike, they deal AoE damage. Targets hit by this deal 5% less damage to you. This effect will not do damage to the enemy the critical strike came from.
Divine Hammer (NEW)	Casting Divine Toll will cause Divine Hammers to spin around you for 8 seconds which deal damage to all enemies nearby.
Sacrosanct Crusade	Divine Toll will give you a shield for 15% of your max Health. Hammer of Light will heal you for 15% of your max Health and increases by 2% for each additional enemy hit. Any overhealing will convert into an absorb shield.
Higher Calling	Judgment, Hammer of Wrath, and Blessed Hammer/ Hammer of the Righteous increase the duration of Shake the Heavens by 1 second for each cast. This effect can only trigger every 0.5s.
Bonds of Fellowship (Choice Node 1)	You take 20% less damage from Blessing of Sacrifice. Each time the target takes damage, you gain a stacking 4% run speed buff (max 40%).
Unrelenting Charger (Choice Node 1)	The movement speed of Divine Steed is increased by 30% for the first 3 seconds, and the duration is extended by 2 seconds.
Light's Judicator (NEW)	Empyrean Hammer deals 20% more critical strike damage and crits have a 50% chance to give another stack of Light's Deliverance.
Sanctification (Choice Node 2)	Casting Judgment increases the damage dealt by Empyrean Hammers by 5% for 10 seconds.
Hammerfall	Casting Shield of the Righteous or Word of Glory will cause an Empyrean Hammer to fall on the target. If Shake the Heavens is active, two hammers will fall.
Undisputed Ruling	Hammer of Light will give you Shield of the Righteous, cast Consecration. and increase your Haste by 12% for 6 seconds.
Divine Exaction (NEW) (Choice Node 3)	Divine Toll will cast two more Avenger's Shields at 150% power.
Light's Deliverance	Every time an Empyrean Hammer falls, you gain a stacking buff. At 60 stacks, if both Divine Toll and Hammer of Light are not available, you will be able to cast Hammer of Light for free.

Talent	Description/Effect
Holy Bulwark / Sacred Weapon	This ability rotates Holy Bulwark and Sacred Weapon. You start with 2 charges, and it takes 1 minute to recharge. It will start the cycle as Holy Bulwark, which gives the target a health absorption shield. Sacred Weapon gives the target a chance to deal additional damage or healing based on your attack power.
Rite of Sanctification (Choice Node 1)	This weapon enchant will increase your Armor by 5% and Strength by 2%. You cannot use Weapon Oils with this.
Solidarity	Casting Holy Bulwark / Sacred Weapon on a friendly player will also give you the buff. If you use them on yourself it will go on a nearby friendly player. For Holy Bulwark it will prioritise Tanks and Healers, Sacred Weapon will priortise DPS.
Blessed Assurance (Choice Node 2)	Casting a Holy Power spending ability will increase the damage of your next Blessed Hammer/ Hammer of the Righteous by 200%.
Masterwork (NEW)	Casting Holy Bulwark / Sacred Weapon will make your next 3 abilities cast a lesser variant on a nearby ally.
Laying Down Arms	The cooldown of Lay on Hands is reduced by 15 seconds, and you gain a charge of Shining Light whenever Holy Bulwark / Sacred Weapon fades from you.
Divine Inspiration (Choice Node 3)	Your spells and abilities have a chance to buff a nearby friendly player with Holy Bulwark / Sacred Weapon. This triggers approximately once per minute.
Authoritative Rebuke (Choice Node 4)	Interrupting a target will reduce the cooldown of Rebuke by 1 second. Increased to 2 seconds with Holy Bulwark / Sacred Weapon active.
Tempered in Battle (Choice Node 4)	Overhealing on targets with Holy Bulwark is transferred to other targets with Holy Bulwark. When targets with Sacred Weapon drop below 40% Health, their health will be redistributed (similar to Spirit Link Totem.)
Hammer and Anvil (Moved)	Judgment / Hammer of Wrath will now deal additional AoE damage if they critically strike.
Shared Resolve	Your active aura is 33% more effective on targets buffed by Holy Bulwark / Sacred Weapon.
Valiance	Using a Shining Light charge will reduce the recharge time of Holy Bulwark / Sacred Weapon by 3 seconds.
Reflection of Radiance (NEW)	When the effects of Holy Bulwark / Sacred Weapon trigger you have a small chance to trigger Grand Crusader.
Resounding Strike (NEW)	Divine Toll triggers Hammer and Anvil.
Blessing of the Forge	Avenging Wrath will give you and a nearby friendly player Sacred Weapons. While Avenging Wrath is active, all of your Holy Power spending effects will be duplicated.

Protection Paladin gets to pick between Templar and Lightsmith.

Templar is focused around big bursts of damage. Every time you use Divine Toll you will be able to cast Hammer of Light. As these have a 1 minute cooldown it pairs perfectly with Avenging Wrath (with Righteous Protector talented) to create very frequent high damage burst windows.

Lightsmith is more utility focused as the focus of this Hero Talent is applying Holy Bulwark / Sacred Weapon to players. Holy Bulwark provide a damage absorb shield to the player, and Sacred Weapon gives bonus damage or healing to the player.

The recommendation in this pre-patch would be towards Templar talent builds.

Certain talents require you to change how you play and change your rotation in varied amounts. We will go over the strengths of those talents here, but if you want to know how to use those talents in the rotation, follow the link to the Rotation page where we go through the rotation or priority system we follow.

Opting into War Mode makes you eligible for open-world PvP but also grants you the following benefits:

• World Quests at maximum level have 10% increased rewards (30% if you are Alliance).
• You gain 10% increased Experience while leveling (30% if you are Alliance).
• Allows you to earn Conquest Points towards weekly gear rewards.
• Grants you the use of PvP talents in the open-world.

With the benefits of enabling War Mode for leveling and PvE content, it is recommended that you enable the feature to maximize your leveling and rewards at maximum level. However, you will make yourself eligible for open-world PvP, and the possibility of being "ganked" while leveling or doing World Quests exists.

This list is going to be assuming you care little about actual PvP combat, and focuses rather on optimal talents for outdoor PvE, such as World Questing and Leveling.

• Warrior of Light makes Shield of the Righteous deal 30% more damage at the cost of less Armor granted. This is generally fine for outdoor content since tanks usually do not struggle to survive in it.
• Steed of Glory increases the duration of Divine Steed by 2 seconds, which means you can travel a lot further per Steed charge, allowing you to quickly get between two places. Note, however, that it does cause you to knock back enemies that get close to you, which can be a negative aspect if you are trying to gather them up to AoE.
• Aura of Reckoning will give you passive additional damage after you are hit 50 times.

Talents, such as Hallowed Ground and Shield of Virtue, do what Protection Paladins already do very well with either Blessing of Freedom or Avenger's Shield. Shield of Virtue most importantly makes Avenger's Shield silence players, as it does not do it normally, but it will silence targets around it as well and has very limited use.

Most other talents are either very weak or benefit players around you instead and are very limited in use.