Paladin
The class Blizzard rebuilt first and documented in full. Seal of Fury makes Protection a real tank, Twist of Light makes Retribution a real DPS, Light's Vigil gives Holy a bit of group healing.
Source pending
Alliance races: Human, DwarfHorde races: Undead (new)
Sourced: Blizzard news · 22 Sep
Our picks
Recommendation- PvE
- Protection
- PvP
- Retribution
- Leveling
- Retribution
What the tier lists say
Each rating exactly as its tier list gives it, with the list's own date. Ratings are opinions, so lists often differ; we compare them only within one role.
Holy
PvE · healer listsDifferent scalesA on one list, #3 of 5 on a ranked list
| Rating | List | Page date | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | healers | page 3 Oct · read 6 Oct | 6 Oct |
| #3 of 5 | best raid healers | page not shownnot dated · read 6 Oct | 6 Oct |
Protection
PvE · tank listsDifferent scalesA on one list, #2 of 3 on a ranked list
| Rating | List | Page date | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | tanks | page 3 Oct · read 6 Oct | 6 Oct |
| #2 of 3 | best raid tanks | page not shownnot dated · read 6 Oct | 6 Oct |
Retribution
PvE · damage listsOne ratingC on 1 list
| Rating | List | Page date | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| C | damage dealers | page 3 Oct · read 6 Oct | 6 Oct |
The whole class
PvP · class listsLists agreeA on 2 lists
| Rating | List | Page date | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | PvP tier list | page 2 Oct · read 6 Oct | 6 Oct |
| A | PvP tier list | page not shownnot dated · read 6 Oct | 6 Oct |
Leveling
One rating
- Sclass leveling tier list (levels 1–20) · page not dated
Class tier list, no mode stated
One rating
- Sclass tier list · page not dated
What changed this patch
1 Oct: Redoubt block chance 4/8/12/16/20% (was 6–30%); Holy Shield block 30% (was 20%); Retribution's Champion of the Light 20/40/60% (was 33/66/100%). 3 Oct sim run: Prot Paladin tank DPS 318 → 464, level with Prot Warrior.
Sourced: Dev notes · 1 Oct
Holy Strike weapon-damage per rank raised to 25→50% (was 25→40%); cooldown 10 sec baseline; Improved Holy Strike removed from the Holy tree.
Sourced: Dev notes · 24 Sep
Righteous Fury Holy-threat bonus lowered to 60% (was 90%) — the one Protection change to watch in the L30 dungeons.
Sourced: Dev notes · 24 Sep
Consecration bugs fixed; Echo of Justice proc rate fixed; Retribution Aura scales with spell power.
Sourced: Dev notes · 24 Sep
Retribution: Vengeance procs off non-periodic crits, max 3 stacks (was 5); Two-Handed Weapon Spec 2/4/6% (was 3/6/9%); Sacred Arbiter +20% Holy Strike (was 10%); Twist of Light also −20% seal mana cost.
Sourced: Dev notes · 24 Sep
Holy: Holy Power now also +15% Holy Strike crit; Light's Vigil tooltip clarified (damage version returns mana).
Sourced: Dev notes · 24 Sep
8 Oct: Retribution Aura base damage back to Vanilla values (about 33% lower), spell power ratio 6% (was 13.3%); it now uses the Paladin's own spell power.
Sourced: Dev notes · 8 Oct
Protection: Reckoning can trigger at most once per 1.5 sec; Seal of Fury returns mana only with Improved Seal of Fury talented; the mana from Shield Specialization and Improved Seal of Fury no longer adds threat.
Sourced: Dev notes · 8 Oct
Seen in the beta
Judgement with Seal of Fury = 4 sec taunt at 10 yd on a 10 sec cooldown; Swift Judgement (L25) resets it. Improved Seal of Fury and Shield Specialization cover most of the mana problem.
Source pending
No interrupt, no snare on any Paladin spec — Blizzard said so explicitly.
Source pending
Retribution Twist of Light (seal-twisting capstone) is the community's open-world PvP pick; Repentance is the CC.
Source pending
Sim, 11 Oct run: Retribution 790 (fourth of 20 damage results); as a tank, deep Protection 551 (first of three tanks). On the same run, the 'Shockadin' hybrid scored 927, and the tank builds Ret-prot 569, Holy-prot 563 and deep Prot 551 were within 18 DPS of each other.
Sourced: Sim · 11 Oct run