Protection Paladin

Protection Paladin is a very active tank. Your survivability comes from keeping Shield of the Righteous up as close to permanently as you can manage, which means generating Holy Power constantly rather than reacting to damage after it lands. In exchange you get some of the strongest pull-wide threat in the game and a deep set of defensive cooldowns.

How this spec operates

• Holy Power feeds Shield of the Righteous — mitigation uptime is the entire defensive model.
• Keep Consecration under you — standing outside it is a common and expensive habit.
• Avenger's Shield pulls, interrupts, and generates — press on cooldown.
• Ardent Defender and Guardian of Ancient Kings stagger across the fight — don't stack them.
• Outstanding AoE threat — Consecration and Blessed Hammer lock packs in place.

Strengths & weaknesses