Protection Paladin Tank Spec, Builds, and Talents — Dragonflight 10.2
On this page, you will find out the best talents for each tier for your Protection Paladin in World of Warcraft — Dragonflight 10.2. We also have default talent lists for various types of content, such as raiding or Mythic+. If you play with Warmode on, we have your PvP talents covered as well.
If you were looking for WotLK Classic content, please refer to our WotLK Classic Protection Paladin talents.
Protection Paladin Talents Guide for Dragonflight
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.
Best Dragonflight Talents for Protection Paladin
Best Talents for Protection Paladin
Best Single-Target Talents for Protection Paladin
Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import these talents directly into your game!
Mythic+ Talents for Protection Paladin
Be sure to make use of the 'Copy Export String' button to import these talents directly into your game!
Talent Explanations for Protection Paladins
Due to the nature of Dragonflight'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.
Rows 1-4 Class Talents for Protection Paladins
Noteworthy Talents
Talent | Description/Effect |
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Niche Talents
Talent | When to Consider |
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Scenarios where you have multiple Paladins
in a group, and you are not required to use ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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This can be used to kill Undead enemies that are below 30% Health. |
Rows 5-7 Class Talents for Protection Paladin
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 |
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A simple damage increase to ![]() |
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When you interrupt a spell with ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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This will increase your armor, stamina and reduce damage taken from AoE effects (this is in addition to any Avoidance rating you have). |
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This talent triggers a heal for you and nearby players equal to 2% of your maximum health. |
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Niche Talents
Talent | When to Consider |
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A fairly passive heal for your group, you will cast a weaker version of ![]() |
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If you want to get additional damage in raid whilst your co-tank has the boss. |
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If you need higher cooldown frequency
of ![]() ![]() |
Rows 8-10 Class Talents for Protection Paladin
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 |
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This talent makes ![]() |
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Niche Talents
You could consider using Divine Purpose on this part of the talent
tree to add some additional casts of
Shield of the Righteous; however, because
of the position this has on the talent tree, obtaining this talent would mean
missing one of the three capstones at the end of the tree.
Rows 1-4 Spec Talents for Protection Paladin
Noteworthy Talents
This part of the tree focuses on getting your core identifying abilities as a Protection Paladin:
Talent | Description/Effect |
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Additional damage reduction from ![]() |
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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 |
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This should be taken in raid scenarios.
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Rows 5-7 Spec Talents for Protection Paladin
Noteworthy Talents
The following talents will be picked regardless of your playstyle due to the power they provide:
Talent | Description/Effect |
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This is a free haste buff, which you will maintain rotationally. |
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Niche Talents
Talent | When to Consider |
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This talent should only be obtained if there is a need to immune magic effects
that you are unable to completely cover with just ![]() |
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Reduces the damage that enemies hit by your ![]() |
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This is a powerful defensive tool in Mythic+ scenarios as you are casting ![]() |
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In Mythic+, you will be dealing AoE damage frequently, and this adds even more. |
Avenging Wrath: Might 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: Might.
Rows 8-10 Spec Talents for Protection Paladin
Your final points are spent in this area of the talent tree.
Noteworthy Talents
Both Raiding and Mythic+ focused builds will spend points in the following talents:
Talent | Description/Effect |
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This increases the power of ![]() ![]() |
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This talent will lower the cooldown of ![]() ![]() |
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Niche Talents
Talent | When to Consider |
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In Raiding scenarios, you will typically be fighting 1 target, this talent supports that and allows you to deal even more damage. |
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In Mythic+ Scenarios, you will be fighting enough enemies at once to reach
the ![]() |
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Another AoE damage talent pick. Great for Mythic+, and it adds a lot of additional damage. |
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This talent will be picked for Mythic+ scenarios and allows you to use ![]() |
Rotation
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.
PvP Talents (War Mode)
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.
PvP Talents for Protection Paladins
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.
Unbound Freedom turns your
Blessing of Freedom into a 30% speed increase, helping you get around slightly faster when questing and leveling.
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.
Changelog
- 06 Nov. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.2
- 04 Sep. 2023: Updated talent tree layout.
- 10 Jul. 2023: Updated talent trees for Patch 10.1.5.
- 06 May 2023: Talent fix.
- 01 May 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.
- 20 Mar. 2023: Updated both talent builds and talents for Patch 10.0.7 Changes.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight 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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