Protection Paladin Tank Spec, Builds, and Talents - The War Within (Season 1) (2025)

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button toimport these talents directly into your game!

Be sure to make use of the 'Export Talents' button toimport these talents directly into your game!

Due to the nature of The War Within's talent trees, almost every talentis meant to be viable or have a desirable niche where you may want to select it.As such, we will cover some of the more favored talents that you will want to prioritizemost of the time from the top of each tree on down, followed by mentioning someof the bigger niche talents that are likely only rarely useful. If you would liketo see a list of every single talent's effect as well as the abbreviations they areoften known by in the community, please consult ourSpell List and Glossary section instead.

Talent	Description/Effect
Hammer of Wrath	Hammer of Wrath is a fairly key rotational ability, both dealing highdamage and generating Holy Power. However, it is only usable if the enemy isbelow 20% Health or if you have Avenging Wrath active.
Divine Steed	Divine Steed is a mandatory pick, as you will need mobility. Cavalier will give a 2nd charge to Divine Steed which is alwaysnice to have. Taking Divine Steed also allows access to Avenging Wrath, which is a must-have talent.
Greater Judgment	Greater Judgment allows for target hit by Judgment to take20% more damage from your Shield of the Righteous.
Blessing of Freedom	Blessing of Freedom is picked regardless of whether you need it or notas you need to spend 8 points in order to progress further in the tree.
Obduracy	Free avoidance and speed. What's not to love about this 1 point talent!

Talent	When to Consider
Crusader Aura	Purely picked to path through the talent tree. It also has the added bonusof increasing your mounted movement speed when active (this includes Divine Steed).
Seasoned Warhorse	Seasoned Warhorse is likely picked regardless, as you need to spend8 talent points in order to progress further in the tree.
Blinding Light	Blinding Light is very strong in Mythic+ as it can act as an AoEinterrupt, even for abilities that cannot be silenced.
Cleanse Toxins	Cleanse Toxins is useful to have if the dungeon/raid boss has anyPoison or Disease Mechanics. If there is no need for it, simply skip this talentunless you want a low point-cost method of obtaining Blinding Light. ManyMythic+ Scenarios want you to obtain Blinding Light anyway.
Turn Evil	This can be used to kill Undead enemies that are below 30% Health.
Rebuke	Rebuke is one of two ways you can interrupt a spell as a Protection Paladin(The other being Avenger's Shield). If you require additional interrupt utilitythis is a solid choice, or you simply want the extra damage (and Holy Power) frominterrupting with Punishment.

The second part of the class tree has a strong focus on cooldowns and healing.We strongly recommend picking the following core talents at all times:

Talent	Description/Effect
Holy Aegis	Holy Aegis primarily for the armor bonus, and it comes with criticalstrike, too, which is always useful.
Avenging Wrath	Avenging Wrath is centerpiece of Paladin cooldowns; it both increasesyour damage and enables you to generate more Holy Power by allowing Hammer of Wrathto be used regardless of the target's Health.
Justification	A simple damage increase to Judgment.
Punishment	When you interrupt a spell with Rebuke you will cast Blessed Hammeror Hammer of the Righteous. This also generates 1 Holy Power.
Blessing of Sacrifice	Blessing of Sacrifice is your main external cooldown, and you should pick this upto help DPS/Healers survive mechanics, or throw it on your co-tank as an external cooldown.This can be enhanced further with Recompense to give you bonus damage!
Blessing of Protection	Blessing of Protection is a very flexible cooldown. It can be used to remove bleedeffects on yourself as it will nullify any Physical damage taken. However, while you have thisactive on yourself you will lose all threat so be ready with a cancelaura macro to remove this quickly.You can also place it on DPS players who are generating too much threat to keep threat on yourself. Thisis quite notable in Mythic+, where burst DPS from some classes can make enemies focus on them instead of you!
Sanctified Plates	This will increase your Armor, stamina and reduce damage taken from AoE effects(this is in addition to any Avoidance rating you have).
Lightforged Blessing	This talent triggers a heal for you and nearby players equal to 2% of your maximum Health.
Unbreakable Spirit	Unbreakable Spirit should always be picked for the cooldown reductionto Ardent Defender primarily, but also Divine Shield and Lay on Handshave their cooldowns reduced, too.
Crusader's Reprieve	This talent increases the range of your melee-only abilities by 3 yards andprovides a small heal when you use Blessed Hammer/ Hammer of the Righteous. Thisalso triggers from Punishment.

Talent	When to Consider
Unbound Freedom	Turns Blessing of Freedom into a short movement speed cooldown. It also gives youthe benefits of Blessing of Freedom when you use it on another player!
Afterimage	A fairly passive heal for your group, you will cast a weaker version of Word of Gloryon a nearby ally when you cast it after spending 20 Holy Power.
Recompense	If you want to get additional damage in raid while yourco-tank has the boss.
Improved Blessing of Protection	If you need higher cooldown frequencyof Blessing of Protection or Blessing of Spellwarding.

Our final points are in this area of the talent tree. For every build, we wouldrecommend you obtain the following talents:

Talent	Description/Effect
Seal of Might	Seal of Might gives you more Mastery during Avenging Wrath.
Seal of Alacrity	Seal of Alacrity simply gives you 4% more Haste.
Of Dusk and Dawn	Of Dusk and Dawn adds additional effects from using Holy Power.Dusk gives you 20% more damage/healing to your next Holy Power spending ability andDawn gives you 5% reduced damage taken.
Seal of Order	This talent makes Of Dusk and Dawn even stronger by making Dawn give you10% more damage/healing on your next Holy Power spending ability, and Dusk increasesyour Armor by 10% and makes your Holy Power generating abilities cool down faster.
Divine Toll	Divine Toll fires up to 5 Avenger's Shield's and gives you 1Holy Power for each target hit.
Divine Resonance	Divine Resonance fires an additional Avenger's Shield every5 seconds for 15 seconds after Divine Toll.
Seal of the Crusader	Seal of the Crusader adds bonus Holy damage to your auto attacks.
Zealot's Paragon	Zealot's Paragon allows you to extend the duration of Avenging Wrathwith Judgment and Hammer of Wrath.

You could consider using Divine Purpose on this part of the talenttree to add some additional casts of Shield of the Righteous; however, becauseof the position this has on the talent tree, obtaining this talent would meanmissing one of the three capstones at the end of the tree.

This part of the tree focuses on getting your core identifying abilities as aProtection Paladin:

Talent	Description/Effect
Avenger's Shield	Avenger's Shield interrupts your target and bounces to nearby targets, dealingdamage.
Holy Shield	Holy Shield had some changes where it is no longer able to block spell DoTs,but do not worry; this interaction has been moved into Mastery: Divine Bulwark. As long asyou stand in Consecration you can block spell DoTs.
Redoubt	Redoubt will apply a buff which increases your Strength & Staminaby 2% for 10 seconds each time you use Shield of the Righteous. Redoubtcan stack up to 3 times.
Blessed Hammer	Blessed Hammer should be picked over Hammer of the Righteous. Blessed Hammer will toss a hammer that spins away from your character, hittingevery target (up to 3 times) for a small amount of Holy damage. Each time an enemy is hit, theirnext hit on you is reduced by a small amount.
Grand Crusader	Grand Crusader is the same as it was in Shadowlands. 15% chancewhen you avoid an attack (Dodge/Parry/Miss) or use Blessed Hammer toreset the cooldown of Avenger's Shield.
Shining Light	Shining Light will allow you to cast Word of Glory for freeafter 3 casts of Shield of the Righteous (You can have up to 2 charges of Shining Light).
Sanctuary	Allows you to keep the benefits of Consecration after leaving the area.
Ardent Defender	Ardent Defender reduces all damage you take by 20% for 8 seconds. Ifyou take lethal damage while Ardent Defender is active, it will heal you to20% Health instead. 2-minute cooldown.
Barricade of Faith	Barricade of Faith increases your block chance by 10% for 10 secondswhen you cast Avenger's Shield.
Consecration in Flame	Consecration in Flame increases the duration of Consecrationby 2 seconds and the damage by 20%.

You do not need to take any additional talents to progress further in the tree,however, the below talents should be picked as they are powerful in certainscenarios:

Talent	When to Consider
Inspiring Vanguard	This should be taken in raid scenarios. Inspiring Vanguard increases the chance for Grand Crusader totrigger to 20% and provides 2% Strength for 8 seconds when it triggers.

The following talents will be picked regardless of your playstyle due tothe power they provide:

Talent	Description/Effect
Bulwark of Order	Bulwark of Order adds an additional effect to Avenger's Shield. Avenger's Shield provides you with a damage absorption shield for 8 secondsfor 25% of the damage dealt per stack. This absorb cannot be more than 30% of yourmaximum Health.
Relentless Inquisitor	This is a free haste buff, which you will maintain rotationally.
Avenging Wrath: Might	Avenging Wrath: Might increases your Critical strike chance by 20% whenyou use Avenging Wrath.
Guardian of Ancient Kings	Guardian of Ancient Kings reduces all damage taken by 50% for 8 seconds.5 minute cooldown.
Crusader's Judgment	Crusader's Judgment adds an additional charge to Judgment andallows the cooldown of Judgment to be reset when you trigger Grand Crusader.

Talent	When to Consider
Blessing of Spellwarding	This talent should only be obtained if there is a need to immune magic effectsthat you are unable to completely cover with just Divine Shield.
Crusader's Resolve	Reduces the damage that enemies hit by your Avenger's Shield deal to you,this will be used primarily for Raiding scenarios.
Strength in Adversity	This is a powerful defensive tool in Mythic+ scenarios as you are casting Avenger's Shieldon multiple targets frequently.
Tyr's Enforcer	In Mythic+, you will be dealing AoE damage frequently, and this adds even more.
Seal of Reprisal	This talent can be picked for some more consistent DPS; however, if you overcap on charges of Blessed Hammer/ Hammer of the Righteous then you may have just dealt more damage with Bastion of Light.
Hand of the Protector	This talent allows you to heal others fully with Word of Glory! However, this comes atquite a bit of cost to your DPS/Threat as you need to sacrifice a few talent points to reach this node.This should only be taken in specific circumstances, such as when you are not tanking a boss (Mythic Tindral).

The choice between these two talents entirely depends on what you need. Youmay not always need the defensive boost from Sentinel, so the defaulttalent should be Avenging Wrath: Might.

Your final points are spent in this area of the talent tree.

Both Raiding and Mythic+ focused builds will spend points in the following talents:

Talent	Description/Effect
Sanctified Wrath	This must-have talent allows you to generate twice as much Holy Power with Judgmentwhile you are under the effects of Avenging Wrath / Sentinel. This both increasesyour damage, but also your uptime of Shield of the Righteous or the amount of Word of Glory'syou can cast.
Righteous Protector	Righteous Protector is a powerful cooldown reduction talent.
Eye of Tyr	Eye of Tyr deals damage to all enemies in 8 yards and reduces the damagethey deal to you by 25% for 9 seconds. 1-minute cooldown.
Inmost Light	This increases the power of Eye of Tyr and reduces the cooldown. Thisshould always be taken to make Eye of Tyr a more effective button press.
Resolute Defender	This talent will lower the cooldown of Ardent Defenderand Divine Shieldwhen you spend Holy Power.
Gift of the Golden Val'kyr	Gift of the Golden Val'kyr should be where your final point is spent. Thepassive effects are powerful but not powerful enough to justify multiple points.
Bastion of Light	Bastion of Light makes your next 5 casts of Judgmentgenerate 1 additional Holy Power. 2-minute cooldown.

Talent	When to Consider
Focused Enmity	In Raiding scenarios, you will typically be fighting 1 target; this talentsupports that and allows you to deal even more damage.
Soaring Shield	In Mythic+ Scenarios, you will be fighting enough enemies at once to reachthe Avenger's Shield bounce cap. Adding more targets to this bolsters bothyour damage and defensiveness via interactions with other talents.
Bulwark of Righteous Fury	Another AoE damage talent pick. Great for Mythic+, and it adds a lot ofadditional damage.
Final Stand	This talent will be picked for Mythic+ scenarios and allows you to use Divine Shieldboth as an AoE taunt and as a powerful defensive tool with no risk to your group.