Introduction
Hey everyone, and welcome to the Protection Paladin Guide! My name is Tactyks and I’m an avid tank player who has played paladin at the top 100 world level in raiding as well as to the 0.1% M+ title in both Dragonflight and The War Within. I’ve also competed in The Great Push as a tank player and create M+, Raid, and Tank guide content over on my YouTube and Twitch channels, so make sure to stop by and say hi!
Socials
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/tactyks
- Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/tactyks
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/tactyks
Protection Paladins are your classic holy warrior archetype, using the strength of the light to empower allies as well as their own fighting abilities. The Hero trees double down on both of these ideas, with Lightsmith enhancing the fantasy of buffing your allies and Templar allowing you to rain down hammers on your enemies. The Paladin class also has a unique and powerful utility kit that makes them very desirable in group content, so they’re always a solid choice in both M+ and raid!
Protection Paladin Video Guide
What has changed
Going into patch 11.1, Prot paladins have been extremely dominant in M+, resulting in them receiving quite a few nerfs to some of their most powerful talents, as well as a couple buffs:
- Strength in Adversity parry per stack reduced to 3% from 5%
- Uther’s Counsel CDR reduced to 15% from 30%
- Refining Fire damage reduced by 30%
- Lightforged Blessing healing reduced to 1% of your max health from 2%
- Lightsmith’s Tempered in Battle health redistribution now only happens once per Sacred Weapon
- Templar’s Undisputed Ruling now causes Hammer of Light to grand Shield of the Righteous and drop a Consecrate beneath your target on top of the previous effects
- All damage increased by 15% (general tank buff, others received 15% or more as well)
These changes do have a significant negative impact on both the damage output and durability of the spec relative to the other tanks, however rotationally the spec is unaffected and I think it remains a strong option in all forms of content, especially when you consider they still bring the powerful paladin utility kit.