Patch 3.0 have implemented many changes to the Protection Tree, Strength is now our primary damage stat instead of the late Spell Damage. How have the changes affect the Protection paladin? And if you’re gearing up to be a tanking paladin, how should your gear focus be?

This guide is intended to solve that problem. Talent builds and tanking cycles will be discussed in this guide. Note that this guide is intended for level 70 at patch 3.0.

First this guide is compiled from what I read at Maintankadin. If you are a Protection paladin, that is THE FORUM for you. It provides great resources and information on Protection paladins.

PROTECTION 3.0 CHANGES

Spell damage has been removed from all paladin tanking gear and replaced with strength, gear that used to have spell damage now has roughly the same value in strength. Strength is now a important stat to stock up on, not only is it our primary threat stat (more damage = more threat), it also increases our block value (1 block value = 2 strength)

your avoidance might have dropped a few percent in patch 3.0.This is because diminishing returns is added to dodge, miss and parry.

Now that we are getting all this attack power from our tanking gear our white hits are going to pack a harder punch. This means it would be better to use a tanking weapon than a caster weapon. The defensive stats from the tanking weapon would be able to cover the small drop in your avoidance as well. Don’t throw your caster weapon away yet though, it is still effective for AoE tanking (such as Mount Hyjal).

Dig out your Divine Protection spell and put it in your bar. It reduces incoming damage by 50%, making it the paladin’s version of Shield Wall.

Seals and Judgement
Use Seal of Vengeance(Alliance) or Seal of Corruption(Horde) for tanking and cast Judgement of Wisdom for mana regeneration. I read that you can weave Seal of Righteousness after stacking Seal of Vengeance/Corruption, but its up to you.

LEVEL 70 TALENT BUILD

NOTE: This talent build is not cast in stone. It is how I would use my talent points. Feel free to customize and obtain talents which you feel are essential. The above build would be how I would spec for tanking, I would switch Reckoning for Blessing of Kings if needed. Reckoning still isn’t an ideal talent for fear of the boss parrying your attacks. Here I will go over the key talents.

Divine Strength
With Strength becoming one of the important stat for tanking, this is a great talent to pick up. More strength equals to more damage done and also more block value

Blessing of Kings
Not a necessity unless you want to set aside 5 points for raid utility or you want to load up talent points so it would be easier to get to the deeper Protection talents.

Anticipation
Changed from a 20 DEFENSE bonus to 5% dodge. If you had 490 DEFENSE with this talent before patch 3.0, you would have lower DEFENSE now. Try to stock up on DEFENSE to cover that.

Improved Righteous Fury
6% damage reduction. Enough said.

Toughness
10% additional armor. Depends on your preference.

Improved Devotion Aura
Not only does it increases Devotion Aura’s armor bonus by 50%, this gives a group/raid wide 6% healing bonus. Definite must-have if your ask me.

Blessing of Sanctuary
Reduces damage taken by 3% and refunds 2% mana whenever you dodge, block or parry. Another great talent to have.

Reckoning
It is a great talent but it works both ways. Procs less when your avoidance goes up and when it does proc, there is the danger a raid boss might parry your strikes. Take it or leave it.

Sacred Duty
Bonus 6% stamina and reduces your Divine Protection cooldown to 4 minutes. Please take it.

One-Handed Weapon Specialization
Grants up to 10% additional damage, meaning additional threat. As you can see I did not load up fully on this one. It is up to your preference, I was saving points for the deeper talents.

Holy Shield
One of the main spells of the Protection paladin. Must-have

Ardent Defender
When you’re low on health, you’re going to need all the avoidance, damage reduction you can get to buy enough time for healers to top you up.

Combat Expertise
Additional 6% stamina, 6% critical chance and 6 expertise. Too good to miss.

Redoubt
Additional 30% block value and it has a chance to increase your block chance by 30%. Great talent.

Avenger’s Shield
Our only range spell for pulling. Got to have it. Now being instant cast you can also work it into you tanking cycle.

Touched by the Light
30% of stamina as spellpower? Too good to pass up.

Guarded by the Light
Reduces spell damage by 6% and reduces mana cost. Your preference.

Shield of the Templar
More damage done equals more threat. Not to mention 3% reduction is another bonus.

Judgements of the Just
Your judgement reduces the attacking speed of the target by 20%. This not only reduces damage but also buys more time for healers to heal you.

Hammer of the Righteous
The 51 point talent. What’s more to say. Hits 3 targets for 4 times your weapon damage as Holy damage. UBER

Other Talents

Deflection
Additional 5% parry adds to your avoidance.

Improved Judgements
1 point in it for maximizing your tanking cycle

TANKING CYCLE
With new spells and changes to current spells, tanking is no longer just spamming Holy Shield, Consecration and Judgements anymore. The new cycle is a 969696 rotation. What this means is using spells that are on a 9 or 8 second cooldown and fitting in spells on a 6 second cooldown when possible.

The cycle goes like this:

Holy Shield > Hammer of the Righteous > Judgement > ? > Consecration > Hammer of the Righteous > Holy Shield > ? > Judgement > Hammer of the Righteous > Consecration > ? and repeat.

? are free slots when you can add in spells such as Avenger’s Shield or Hammer of Wrath, since both spells are instant cast now.

END
I hope this guide has been of help to you. If you feel this guide needs some correction, please leave a comment and let me know. Credits to Maintankadin forums. If you want to be a good tanking paladin, there’s the place to go.