Gear
Tier Set
The Protection Paladin tier set is rather bland but strong.
- The 2-set gives Avenger’s Shield a DoT component for 20% additional damage, which heals you for 100% of that damage.
- The 4-set makes your Judgment critical strikes apply the same Heartfire DoT and trigger our Grand Crusader passive.
The 4-set being based on Judgment critical strikes isn’t great, and opens up an opportunity for Paladins to lean more favorably towards crit as a stat. However, based on the level of power we gain from haste and mastery I don’t see it changing much and it leaves the 4-set in a weird spot with a low uptime.
Trinkets
Beacon to the Beyond
This trinket currently does a huge amount of damage. It provides mastery as a base stat, which is great for Paladin defensively. The on-use effect is a channel that deals a massive amount of cosmic damage split between all nearby enemies, increased for each enemy struck (up to 5). As this drops from Scalecommander Sarkareth, it will be hard to come by. However, with current tuning, it's the best damage trinket from the raid.
Elementium Pocket Anvil
Anvil is easily your 2nd best trinket option from the raid. Its damage ramps hard and inflicts a large amount of both single target and AoE damage currently. It’s damage splashes within an area around you, so you need to position yourself near the boss or mobs when using it.
Ominous Chromatic Essence
This provides a huge amount of secondary stat, which is increased by the number of other people with this trinket that are attuned to the same stat as you. It's a solid trinket, and if you have the ability to use it, I'd recommend doing so, especially in an organized group where you can provide more benefit to others and yourself.
Neltharion’s Call to Chaos
A massive main stat proc that has roughly 30% uptime, and the passive crit has some synergy with the new tier set. The increased damage taken is generally offset by the main stat you get. The issue with this is that it's a rare drop from the raid, so it will be hard to come by.
Zaqali Chaos Grapnel
A decent trinket for damage, its effect is split into two parts: the first part being direct damage and the second part AoE. One notable thing is that it moves your character towards your target, so it's something to keep in mind.
Vial of Animated Blood (Underrot):
This will likely be a decent trinket for damage when paired with wings. It has flat mastery as its stat, which is strong defensively, as well as providing a large main stat gain on use.
Treemouth’s Festering Splinter:
The absorb on this trinket, on a 1 minute 30s cooldown, is of extreme value defensively. You take a small hit of Nature damage on use but provide yourself with an extremely large absorb, which protects you from 50% of damage taken. You'll have to be careful when using it, but if you play proactively, this trinket can be very strong.
Key items/Crafted gear
Voice of the Silent Star:
A drop from Scalecommander Sarkareth, this cloak has massive value, providing a large amount of secondary stats through the effect, as well as decent base stats for Paladins. It's definitely a must-have if you can get your hands on it.
Forgestorm
Easily the best weapon we can find, coming straight from the depths of Neltharus. Your attacks have a chance to trigger Forgestorm for 12s, causing your attacks to explode for fire damage split between all nearby enemies. This effect is very strong right now, having been buffed, it’s easily our bis weapon doing massive damage.
Best Embellishments for Protection Paladin
- Shadowflame-Tempered Armor Patch (2x is bis)
- Unstable Frostfire Belt (if you still have access to Eranog ring from previous tier)
- Elemental Lariat (If you have 5+ sockets on your gear)
The Onyx Annulet ring and Primordial Stones
Note: These stones were nerfed in patch 10.1.5 by 40%, and aren’t particularly great to use anymore unless you have low item level, poorly statted rings.
With Patch 10.0.7 we were introduced to the Onyx Annulet ring that utilizes a few different and unique gems, called Primordial Stones. It’s worth noting that some stones provide players with a new way of triggering the raid rings from Vault of the Incarnates, but it’s not something I’d worry about much as there is a very strong effect loop that’s a must use right now.
Unfortunately the defensive stones are under-tuned right now in comparison to their damaging counterparts, and with that in mind, here is my suggestion for what to use for Protection Paladin.
Raiding: Desirous Blood Stone + Prophetic Twilight Stone + Freezing Ice Stone
Mythic Plus: Desirous Blood Stone + Prophetic Twilight Stone + Storm Infused Stone