Protection Paladin Guide

There is a bit of flexibility in what level you do things, but I like questing straight to 16 and then starting dungeons. At 16 you'll get Righteous Fury and Retribution Aura to make dungeons a breeze. Early dungeons can definitely be done without these abilities, but you'll end up needing to quest or grind at some point to bridge the gap between dungeons anyway. I like just going straight to 16, so I can just run a bunch of different dungeons back to back.

For each level range mentioned, I'm mainly focusing on dungeon suggestions, since that's probably what you're most interested in as a tank. But you always have the option to just quest or grind mobs and skip some dungeons or do them at different levels. There's no set in stone way you have to level.

Horde
Level 1-13: Tirisfal Glades
Just basic questing with a 2 hander. You can leave Tirisfal earlier if you want but doing all of the quests will take you to 13.

Level 13-16: Silverpine Forest or The Barrens
If you go about halfway into 16 now, you'll be level 20 after running Ragefire Chasm and Ruins of Lordaeron, so you can just go right into Wailing Caverns with Consecration. Keep questing with a 2 hander but hold onto a 1 hander and shield in case you need it for dungeons. Barrens will be more crowded, so I prefer Silverpine. When you go to Undercity, make sure to pickup The Power to Destroy, so you'll already have it when you're ready to run RFC. If you go to Barrens, prioritize finishing the quest chain that starts with The Forgotten Pools (technically there's a breadcrumb quest before this but it isn't needed), as this will unlock the main Wailing Caverns quest for later.

Level 16-18 Ragefire Chasm
At this point, I like to run all of the dungeons. I really recommend the Dungeon Journal addon to easily see all of the quests for each dungeon and where to get them. In Forever, the vast majority of dungeon exp comes from the quests due to dungeon quest exp buffs and dungeon mob exp nerfs, so you really want to make sure you have every quest for a dungeon before you run it.

You should have 5 quests going into RFC:

1. Hidden Enemies (Orgrimmar) - This will require you to finish a short chain that starts with Thrall and sends you to a cave outside Orgrimmar.
2. Slaying the Beast (Orgrimamr)
3. Searching for the Lost Satchel (Thunder Bluff)
4. Testing an Enemy's Strength (Thunder Bluff)
5. The Power to Destroy (Undercity)

Level 18-20 Ruins of Lordaeron
You should have 4 quests going into RoL:

1. A Frightened Request (The Sepulcher, Silverpine Forest)
2. Light's Justice (Undercity)
3. The New Plague (Undercity)
4. The Wrath of Rath'mael (Camp outside UC, Tirisfal Glades)

Inside, you'll get 2 more quests:

1. Unending Torment (Dropped by The Baron)
2. Crest of Lordaeron (Hanging on a wall, various locations)

Level 20-22 Wailing Caverns
If you aren't quite 20 yet, just do a few quests to get there so you can have Consecration for Wailing Caverns. The quests around Camp Taurajo in southern Barrens are great for some quick exp. If you didn't already do the The Forgotten Pools quest chain to unlock the Wailing Caverns quest step, you can just do that.

Now that you have Consecration, you can do extremely efficient farming anytime you want. Generally you're looking for hyperspawn areas where you can pull 3-4 mobs at once with little downtime between pulls.

You should have 6 quests going into WC:

1. Trouble at the Docks (Ratchet) - Mob is outside the dungeon and has 4 spawn locations.
2. Smart Drinks (Ratchet) - Ooze mobs both inside and outside the dungeon drop these.
3. Serpentbloom (Thunder Bluff)
4. Leaders of the Fang (Thunder Bluff)
5. Deviate Eradication (Barrens, cave above WC entrance)
6. Deviate Hides (Barrens, cave above WC entrance) - Raptor mobs both outside and inside the dungeon drop these.

Inside, you'll get 2 more quests:

1. The Glowing Shard (Drops from Mutanus)

Level 22-24 Shadowfang Keep
If you aren't quite 22+, you can quest in Southern Barrens, Stonetalon Mountains, Ashenvale, or Hillsbrad Foothills or grind.

You should have 3 quests going into Shadowfang Keep:

1. Deathstalkers in Shadowfang (The Sepulcher, Silverpine Forest)
2. Arugal Must Die (The Sepulcher, Silverpine Forest)
3. The Book of Ur (Undercity)

Inside SFK, grab the Black Tome next to Arugal at the end of the dungeon. You can use this later to summon an extra boss in the City of Dalaran dungeon.

Level 24-26 Blackfathom Deeps
If you aren't quite 24+ yet, you can quest in Hillsbrad Foothills, Stonetalon Mountains, Ashenvale, or Thousand Needles or grind.

You should have 3 quests going into Blackfathom Deeps:

1. Allegiance to the Old Gods (Ashenvale) - From Damp Note that drops from Blackfathom Tide Priestess outside BFD. Make sure to hand the first part in before you start. The second part requires you to kill a boss in BFD.
2. The Essence of Aku'mai (Zoram'gar Outpost, Ashenvale) - The crystals are looted outside the dungeon.
3. Amongst the Ruins (Zoram'gar Outpost, Ashenvale) - Found in the water under the ruins near the end of the dungeon that lead you to the last 2 bosses. Looting it will summon Baron Aquanis.

Inside, you'll get 2 more quests:

1. Blackfathom Villainy (Given by Argent Guard Thaelrid) - He's in a cave you can swim to on the Southwest part of the turtle room.
2. Baron Aquanis (From Strange Water Globe that drops from Baron Aquanis) - Baron Aquanis spawns when you loot the Fathom Core for Amongst the Ruins.

Level 26-28 Quest/Grind
The next dungeon we'll tackle is the new Excavation Site dungeon, but there's a lot of tank damage in there, so I recommend getting to 28 before doing it.

In this level range, you can grind or quest in Hillsbrad Foothills, Thousand Needles, Stonetalon Mountains, or Ashenvale. Grinding will be very efficient with Consecration and Retribution Aura if you can find some uncontested spots to pull 3-4 mobs at a time with little downtime between pulls.

Level 28-30 Excavation Site
You should have 2 quests going into Excavation Site:

1. Dragonmaw Rumors (Hammerfall, Arathi Highlands) - Turn this into the Deathstalker Agent outside the dungeon to get Open the Maw
2. Changing Tastes (Orgrimmar)

Inside, you'll get 1 more quest:

1. Elder Knowledge (Starts from the Titan Relic that drops off of Relic Guardian)

The quest from the Titan Relic will send you to a new area in Northern Mulgore. This spot is fanastic for prot pally farming, with tons of hyperspawning mobs that you can easily pull 3-4 of. Do the quests while you're here and stay a bit to grind if it's open to hit 30.

Alliance
Level 1-12: Elwynn Forest / Dun Morogh
Just basic questing with a 2 hander.

Level 13-16: Westfall / Loch Modan
Just quest or grind if questing is overrun and you find a good spot. If you get about halfway into 16, you should be level 20 after running your first 2 dungeons and you'll be able to get Consecration.

Level 16-18 Hall of Thanes
At this point, I like to run all of the dungeons. I really recommend the Dungeon Journal addon to easily see all of the quests for each dungeon and where to get them. In Forever, the vast majority of dungeon exp comes from the quests due to dungeon quest exp buffs and dungeon mob exp nerfs, so you really want to make sure you have every quest for a dungeon before you run it.

You should have 5 quests going into Hall of Thanes:

1. Important Heirlooms (Ironforge)
2. The Restless Dead (Ironforge)
3. Old Ironforge Incursion (Ironforge) - To unlock this, you must first kill Captain Beld in Eastern Dun Morogh and loot the Dark Iron Map to start the quest chain.

Inside, you'll get 2 more:

1. An Ancient Grudge (Quest giver inside)
2. A Treaty of Understanding (Looted from a vault on the right side of the Reliquary of Kings)

Level 18-20 Ruins of Lordaeron
Inside, you'll get 4 quests. Alliance doesn't have any outside the dungeon.

1. Abominable Creatures (Captain Truman)
2. Bloodied Insignia (Looted as an item that starts a quest)
3. Crest of Lordaeron (Hanging on a wall in various locations)
4. Remember That I love You (Interactable item near Rath'mael

Level 20-22 The Deadmines
If you aren't quite 20 yet, just do a few quests or grind some mobs to get there so you can have Consecration for Deadmines.

Now that you have Consecration, you can do extremely efficient farming anytime you want. Generally you're looking for hyperspawn areas where you can pull 3-4 mobs at once with little downtime between pulls.

If you plan to do the Paladin class quest for the Verigan's Fist 2 hander, make sure you have The Test of Righteousness before you go into Deadmines, as the first piece is inside.

You should have 6 quests going into Deadmines:

1. Collecting Memories (Stormwind) - Done outside the dungeon
2. Oh Brother... (Stormwind) - Done outside the dungeon
3. Underground Assault (Stormwind)
4. Destruction in Deadmines (Westfall) - Chain quest
5. Red Silk Bandanas (Westfall) - Chain quest
6. The Defias Brotherhood (Westfall) - Chain quest

Inside, you'll get 1 quest:

1. The Unsent Letter (Drops off VanCleef)

Level 22-24 Wailing Caverns
You may or may not be level 22 at this point, but don't go out of your way to get there if you aren't, as you're already going to be at the higher end of the level range for WC.

You should have 5 quests going into WC:

1. Trouble at the Docks (Ratchet) - Mob is outside the dungeon and has 4 spawn locations.
2. Smart Drinks (Ratchet) - Ooze mobs both inside and outside the dungeon drop these.
3. Deviate Eradication (Barrens, cave above WC entrance)
4. Deviate Hides (Barrens, cave above WC entrance) - Raptor mobs both outside and inside the dungeon drop these.

Inside, you'll get 1 more quest:

1. The Glowing Shard (Drops from Mutanus)

Level 24-26 Blackfathom Deeps
If you aren't quite 24+ yet, you can grind or quest in Duskwood or Wetlands

You'll get another piece for Verigan's Fist in here if you're doing that quest.

You should have 3 quests going into Blackfathom Deeps:

1. Knowledge in the Deeps (Ironforge)
2. Twilight Falls (Darnassus)
3. In Search of Thaelrid (Darnassus)
4. Researching the Corruption (Darkshore)

Inside, you'll get 1 more quest:

1. Blackfathom Villainy (Given by Argent Guard Thaelrid) - He's in a cave you can swim to on the Southwest part of the turtle room.

Level 26-28 The Stockade
If you aren't quite 26, it isn't a big deal.

You should have at least 5 quests going into The Stockade:

1. Crime and Punishment (Darkshire, Duskwood)
2. What Comes Around... (Lakeshire, Redridge Mountains)
3. Quell the Uprising (Stormwind)
4. The Color of Blood (Stormwind)
5. The Stockade Riots (Stormwind) - Chain from the letter you got from VanCleef
6. Optional: The Fury Runs Deep (Wetlands) - This one is part of a pretty inconvenient chain.

Level 28-30 Excavation Site
There's a lot of tank damage in this dungeon, so I recommend grinding or questing to 28+ if you aren't there yet, but it can be done earlier if you want.

You should have 5 quests going into Excavation Site:

1. Fallen in the Fen (Redridge)
2. Songblade Search (Redridge)
3. Lost in the Thicket of Things (Wetlands)
4. Highland Hides (Wetlands) - Chain
5. Horrors in the Highland (Wetlands) - Chain

Inside, you'll get 1 more quest:

1. Lost Relic Carry (Starts from the Titan Relic that drops off of Relic Guardian)

If you aren't quite level 30 from this, grind out the rest or quest in Duskwood, Wetlands, or Ashenvale.

This section is written with level 60 in mind, so just ignore any abilities you don't have if you're playing on the level capped beta.

Rotation Overview

Consecration gives us constant multi target threat. It does full damage against the first 4 mobs to enter it and significantly reduced damage to any mobs past that.

Holy Strike is a single target melee ability that can also give some damage reduction with the Iron Creed talent.

Seal of Fury is a 30 second buff that causes our attacks to deal additional holy damage. It also grants us an absorb shield for 50% of the damage dealt by the seal, and when they absorb shield breaks, we get mana back due to Improved Seal of Fury.

Judgement is off GCD, so it can be pressed at the same time as any other ability. It also has a 10 yard range, so you can cast it before a mob is even within melee range. It will have a different effect depending on which Seal you have active when you use it. Typically, you'll have Seal of Fury on, so Judgement will do holy damage and taunt the mob for 4 seconds. Check the Judgements and Seals section of the guide for more info on other Judgements and Seals you may use. Swift Judgement allows us to double cast Judgement for huge snap threat.

Exorcism deals high damage and is our only long range spell, but only works on undead and demon type mobs.

Holy Shield increases block chance and deals damage on blocks for up to 4 blocks. This extra block can help us prevent Crushing Blows from raid bosses.

Hammer of Wrath deals single target damage and has a large range, but it's only usable on mobs with 20% or less health. It also has a cast time, and you cannot block, dodge, or parry attacks while casting.

Pre-Pull

1. Cast Seal of Fury
2. Cast Holy Shield
3. Cast Consecration if you'll tank at your pull location

Single Target Opener

1. Cast Exorcism if target is undead/demon
2. Cast Judgement
3. Cast Swift Judgement
4. Cast Judgement
5. Cast Holy Strike
6. Cast Consecration

This may look like a lot but Judgement and Swift Judgement are off GCD and can be combined with an on GCD step, so those 4 steps will happen at the same time. You can simplify this by using a macro that casts steps 2-5 for you on one button, and you can find it in the Macros section of this guide ("Big Threat Opener").

Single Target Rotation

1. Maintain Seal of Fury
2. Cast Holy Shield
3. Cast Judgement (not on GCD)
4. Cast Exorcism if target is undead/demon
5. Cast Holy Strike
6. Cast Consecration
7. Cast Hammer of Wrath if target is below 20%

Holy Shield priority can be lowered if the combat table coverage (CTC) granted by it is unimportant for what you're doing.

Multi Target Opener

1. Cast Exorcism if there is an undead/demon mob
2. Cast Judgement on a different mob
3. Cast Swift Judgement + Judgement on an untouched mob
4. Cast Consecration
5. Cast Holy Strike on a mob you didn't use Judgement on

This opener will spread snap threat across a pack quickly so DPS can immediately begin AOE/cleave. If it's a pull where there's going to be a single mob heavily focused, you can instead allocate all of the snap threat to that mob.

Multi Target Rotation

1. Maintain Seal of Fury
2. Cast Consecration
3. Cast Holy Shield
4. Cast Judgement
5. Cast Exorcism if target is undead/demon
6. Cast Holy Strike

Seals

Seal of Fury - Your primary tanking seal. It scales with Spell Power and the damage doesn't change with weapon speed, so fast weapons will deal more DPS with this Seal. It also gives you an absorb based on the damage you deal, so more damage dealt means more damage absorbed. You'll also taunt when you use Judgement with this Seal, so you'll want to use a different Seal in raid tank swap situations when, for example, you're letting a boss debuff fall off. Improved Seal of Fury gives you mana back when your absorb is fully used up.

Seal of Righteousness - Damage only Seal that scales with Spell Power and varies based on weapon speed. You can use Seal of Righteousness anytime you want to do damage but don't want to taunt with Judgement.

Seal of Wisdom - Generally will only be used to apply its Judgement debuff that returns mana when hitting the target. This is an important raid debuff for bosses and should generally always be up. Protection Paladin has so much mana reduction and regen now that you aren't likely to OOM, but if you do, you can use this Seal to get your mana back.

Seal of the Crusader - You'll only use this Seal to apply its Judgement debuff, which gives a huge amount of increased Holy Spell Power against the target. This is your most important threat and damage debuff as a Protection Paladin, so you always want this up for any fight that will be longer than 20ish seconds. Depending on how many Paladin you have in your raid, someone else may apply this. If you're the only Paladin in a raid, you may need to use JudgementSeal of Wisdom to benefit the rest of the raid instead.

Seal of Light - You'll generally only use this Seal to apply its Judgement effect, which heals players when they attack the target. You will sometimes use this Seal for sustain when soloing.

Seal of Justice - The Judgement effect of this Seal will cause mobs to not flee, which can be useful for Humanoid mobs that flee at low health to prevent them from pulling extra mobs. The Seal can also stun on proc, which can be situationally useful for PVP.

Judgements

Generally you'll prioritize Wisdom > Crusader > Light when figuring out Judgements amongst paladins in a raid. However, Light could take priority over Crusader if the raid needs the extra healing from it to survive. In smaller group play, you will often be the only Paladin. Just think about what Judgement would benefit that specific group the most.

• Judgement Seal of Wisdom returns a ton of mana and is an essential debuff for many classes.
• Judgement Seal of the Crusader will allow you, Retribution paladins, and Smite priests to do a lot more damage.
• Judgement Seal of Light isn't usually necessary to have up, but it's good on any fight with at least moderate raid damage.

Auras

Retribution Aura - This is your primary Aura. It gives a damage reflect that has good Spell Power scaling and is the main way we generate threat across big pulls that exceed our 4 target Consecration full damage cap. You pretty much always want to have this up.

Devotion Aura - Only used if someone else is providing Retribution Aura or you absolutely have to use it to survive.

Concentration Aura - Generally only used if you're in a caster group and there's a specific mechanic causing spell pushback to the group. It can also be useful while leveling to get a heal off while mobs are attacking you.

Shadow Resistance Aura, Fire Resistance Aura, and Frost Resistance Aura - Used when there's significant incoming elemental damage of the specified type.

One-Handed Weapon Specialization: Increases the damage of auto attacks, Holy Strike, Seal of Fury, and Judgement Seal of Fury.

Reckoning: Causes an instant attack against your current target on proc and has no affect on swing timer. This attack cannot be stored like other versions of Classic. The proc will fizzle if you are not actively swinging, are out of range of your target, or are not facing your target.

Pursuit of Justice: The run speed increase stacks with other run speed increases, but the mount speed increase does not stack with other mount speed increases.

Once sims are built we'll have a concrete idea of stat priority and this section will be more fleshed out, but for now, you're generally just trying to stack Spell Power. If you need more survivability, Stam is king.

• Holy Strike: 42.9% SP and 50% normalized weapon damage (max rank)
• Consecration: 33.6% SP (4.2% per tick)
• Holy Shield: 32% SP (8% per hit)
• Seal of Fury: 10% SP, cannot miss, melee crit
• Seal of Righteousness: 10% SP, cannot miss, melee crit
• Judgement of Fury: 42.9% SP, melee hit/crit
• Judgement of Righteousness: 42.9% SP, melee hit/crit
• Exorcism: 43% SP
• Hammer of Wrath: 43% SP
• Holy Wrath: 19% SP
• Retribution Aura: 6% SP

Horde only has one option, so you're going Undead.

For Alliance, I like Human more for the insane 2% crit racial and ability to get out of stuns at any time. Dwarf is also a great choice, getting 2% crit damage that will get better as the game goes on, 5% beast damage, and a defensive CD that is situationally amazing against bleeds. Both races are very strong, so pick whichever you like more.

Horde
Undead
Touch of the Grave - Damage/healing proc that scales with hp, 25 sec ICD

Will of the Forsaken - Situationally great, value depends on how prevalent these CC mechanics are. Great for PVP

Cannibalize - Great regen tool for leveling and farming.

Underwater Breathing - Makes any kind of underwater content way more enjoyable, just a nice quality of life racial.

Alliance
Human
Ruthless - Best crit racial in the game. Could eventually get eclipsed by Dwarf's crit damage racial if crit levels get really crazy.

Will to Survive - Situationally great, stuns are dangerous to tanks since they take away our ability to dodge, parry, or block. The value just depends on how prevalent stuns will be. Great for PVP.

The Human Spirit - Minor amount of regen that isn't really a factor.

Perception - Situationally useful for stealthed mobs or for PVP.

Dwarf
Earth Fury - Crit damage bonus that will be fairly weak at the start but get progressively stronger as you get gear.

Big Game Hunter - Highest DPS racial in the game but requires mob to be beast type. Value depends on how prevalent beast mobs will be.

Stoneform - Decent defensive CD and prot pally can definitely use an extra one. The Bleed removal effect is situationally very strong, but the value depends on how prevalent high damage bleeds are.

Find Treasure - Fun ability that helps you find chests but is largely inconsequential.

When you use an immunity like Divine Shield or Divine Protection, mobs will ignore your threat and go to the next highest person. However, you can pre-taunt a mob with Judgement Seal of Fury and then Divine Shield or Divine Protection to keep that mob on for the duration of the taunt debuff while bubbled and then cancel the immunity. This is useful for removing debuffs during a boss fight without the boss turning and killing someone else. You can take this a step further and use Swift Judgement while inDivine Shield to taunt a second time and stay immune a bit longer while keeping the mob on you. Once you cancel an immunity, you must do an action that generates threat in order for mobs to stop ignoring you and "remember" what your threat was. In a typical situation where you're just immuning off a debuff, you'd want to re-establish your threat immediately to keep the mob from targeting someone else. But there are some very niche cases where you can use this to your advantage and delay re-establishing your threat (mainly in a dire situation where you're trying to ping pong kite a mob).

Some mobs will cast breakable CCs on you, most commonly a Disorient like Gouge. When this happens, the mobs will ignore you and go to the next highest threat. You can pre-emptively cast Blessing of Sacrifice on the next highest threat or someone who will take damage to proc the damage transfer effect, which will do a small amount of damage to you and break you out.

Big Threat Opener
#showtooltip Swift Judgement
/start attack
/cast Judgement
/cast Swift Judgement
/cast Judgement
/cast Holy Strike

Target of Target Blessing of Protection
#showtooltip
/cast [@targettarget] Blessing of Protection
/cancelaura Blessing of Protection

Immunity Cancelaura
/cancelaura Divine Shield
/cancelaura Divine Protection
/cancelaura Blessing of Protection

Bubble + Cancel (pressing once bubbles, pressing twice cancels)
#showtooltip Divine Shield
/cancelaura Divine Shield
/cast Divine Shield

Bubble Cancel
#showtooltip
/cast Divine Shield
/cancelaura Divine Shield

Taunt Bubble Cancel
#showtooltip
/cast Judgement
/cast Divine Shield
/cancelaura Divine Shield

Consecration
#showtooltip
/cast Consecration
/startattack
/cancelaura Blessing of Salvation
/cancelaura Greater Blessing of Salvation

Holy Strike
#showtooltip
/cast Holy Strike
/startattack
/cancelaura Blessing of Salvation
/cancelaura Greater Blessing of Salvation

Holy Shield
#showtooltip
/cast Consecration
/startattack
/cancelaura Blessing of Salvation
/cancelaura Greater Blessing of Salvation

Judgement
#showtooltip
/cast Judgement
/startattack
/cancelaura Blessing of Salvation
/cancelaura Greater Blessing of Salvation

Exorcism
#showtooltip
/cast Consecration
/startattack
/cancelaura Blessing of Salvation
/cancelaura Greater Blessing of Salvation

Lay on Hands Mouseover
#showtooltip Lay on Hands
/cast [@mouseover,help][] Lay on Hands

Cleanse Mouseover
#showtooltip Cleanse
/cast [@mouseover,help][] Cleanse

Blessing of Protection Mouseover
#showtooltip Blessing of Protection
/cast [@mouseover,help][] Blessing of Protection

Blessing of Freedom Mouseover
#showtooltip Blessing of Freedom
/cast [@mouseover,help][] Blessing of Freedom

Blessing of Sacrifice Mouseover
#showtooltip Blessing of Sacrifice
/cast [@mouseover,help][] Blessing of Sacrifice

Holy Light Mouseover
#showtooltip Holy Light
/cast [@mouseover,help][] Holy Light

Flash of Light Mouseover
#showtooltip Flash of Light
/cast [@mouseover,help][] Flash of Light

WeakAuras
Forever Prot Pally Pack: https://wago.io/5MQYLZ4No

Addons
Ellesmere UI (Profile: https://wago.io/3FyGpjHAu) - Complete UI overhaul addon, very user friendly with tons of options.

ForeverAuras - WeakAuras fork for Forever but has limited functionality compared to other expansions due to the addon restrictions in Forever.

Pally Power - Tracks Blessings across different classes and allows easy coordination amongst Paladins to ensure the raid is fully buffed.

Dungeon Journal - Shows lots of dungeon info including bosses, loot, quests, and maps.

What's Training? - Adds a new tab to the spell book that shows what level spells are available.

Senpai Plates - Modifies nameplates to add important tank information like target, threat differential, and threat based coloring.