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With Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Inlinegfx/img_link_data.json' not found. Mists of Pandaria, paladins can begin choosing their talents beginning at level fifteen. Players may choose a new talent from the same group of three talents at periodic levels (15, 30, 45, etc.).

Current talents[]

Level Abilities (choose one)
15 Holy (Paladin) Bestow Faith
Protection (Paladin) Holy Shield
Retribution Final Verdict
Holy (Paladin) Light's Hammer (paladin talent)
Protection (Paladin) Blessed Hammer (paladin talent)
Retribution Execution Sentence
Holy (Paladin) Crusader's Might
Protection (Paladin) Consecrated Hammer
Retribution Consecration
30 Holy (Paladin) Cavalier
Protection (Paladin) First Avenger
Retribution The Fires of Justice
Holy (Paladin) Unbreakable Spirit
Protection (Paladin) Bastion of Light (paladin talent)
Retribution Zeal
Holy (Paladin) Rule of Law
Protection (Paladin) Crusader's Judgment
Retribution Greater Judgment
45 Fist of Justice Repentance Blinding Light
60 Holy (Paladin) Devotion Aura
Protection (Paladin) Blessing of Spellwarding
Retribution Virtue's Blade
Holy (Paladin) Aura of Sacrifice
Protection (Paladin) Cavalier
Retribution Blade of Wrath
Holy (Paladin) Aura of Mercy
Protection (Paladin) Retribution Aura
Retribution Divine Hammer (paladin talent)
75 Holy (Paladin) Divine Purpose
Protection (Paladin) Hand of the Protector
Retribution Justicar's Vengeance
Holy (Paladin) Holy Avenger
Protection (Paladin) Knight Templar
Retribution Eye for an Eye
Holy (Paladin) Holy Prism
Protection (Paladin) Final Stand
Retribution Word of Glory
90 Holy (Paladin) Fervent Martyr
Protection (Paladin) Aegis of Light
Retribution Divine Intervention
Holy (Paladin) Sanctified Wrath
Protection (Paladin) Judgment of Light
Retribution Cavalier
Holy (Paladin) Judgment of Light
Protection (Paladin) Consecrated Ground
Retribution Seal of Light
100 Holy (Paladin) Beacon of Faith
Protection (Paladin) Righteous Protector
Retribution Divine Purpose
Holy (Paladin) Beacon of the Lightbringer
Protection (Paladin) Seraphim
Retribution Crusade
Holy (Paladin) Beacon of Virtue
Protection (Paladin) Last Defender
Retribution Holy Wrath


Pre-Mists of Pandaria[]

Starting at level 10, a Paladin can begin spending talent points to gain new abilities and spells, strengthen existing abilities, and specialize how he/she functions. See the entry on Talents for more information about the Talent system. Paladin Talents have undergone significant changes since the game was released, most notably with the patch 2.3 Retribution Tree revamp.

Paladins train in three schools: Holy, Protection, and Retribution. Which talent trees the Paladin spends points in determines the Paladin's role in parties and raids. Holy Paladins are strong single target healers, and are able to do burst spell damage if specced properly. Protection Paladins make great tanks. Retribution Paladins are powerful melee DPS.

The Holy tree contains talents focused on healing and caster-related buffs. A Holy Paladin may go into the protection tree for Divinity, Guardian's Favor, Divine Guardian, and/or Improved Devotion Aura. A Holy Paladin could alternatively go into the Retribution tree for Benediction, Heart of the Crusader, Conviction and/or Sanctity of Battle. If your raid makeup does not have a regular dps warrior with improved battle shout putting points into Improved Blessing of Might may be a viable option to assist the raid.

One talent to be aware of in PvE is Pure of Heart It was found during the Grobbulus encounter in Naxxramas the reduced time of the disease made it harder for paladins to get to a safe distance before the debuff wore off. Similar situations have been seen when fighting Rotface in Icecrown Citadel.

Talent Requirements Ranks Description
Holy Shock Holy None 1 Blasts the target with Holy energy, causing X Holy damage to an enemy, or Y healing to an ally, and grants a charge of Holy Power.
Walk in the Light Holy None 1 Increases the effectiveness of your healing spells by 10% and removes the cooldown on your Word of Glory.
Meditation Holy None 1 Allows 50% of your mana regeneration from Spirit to continue while in combat.
Arbiter of the Light Holy None 2 Increases the critical effect chance of your Judgement and Templar's Verdict by X%.
Protector of the Innocent Holy None 3 Casting a targeted heal on any target, including yourself, also heals you for X.
Judgements of the Pure Holy None 3 Your Judgement increases your casting and melee haste by X% for 1 min.
Clarity of Purpose Holy 5 3 Reduces the casting time of your Holy Light and Divine Light spells by X sec.
Last Word Holy 5 2 Gives your Word of Glory a X% increased critical chance when used on targets with 35% or less health.
Blazing Light Holy 5 2 Increases the damage of your Holy Shock and Exorcism by X%.
Denounce Holy 10 2 Reduces the mana cost of Exorcism by X%. In addition, you have a Y% chance when casting Holy Shock to make your next Exorcism spell instant and cost no mana.
Divine Favor Holy 10 1 Increases your spell casting haste by 20% and spell critical chance by 20% for 20 sec.
Infusion of Light Holy 10 2 Increases the critical effect chance of your Holy Shock by X%. In addition, your Holy Shock critical effects reduce the cast time of your next Holy Light by Y sec.
Daybreak Holy 10 2 Your Flash of Light, Holy Light and Divine Light have a X% chance to make your next Holy Shock not trigger a cooldown if used within 12 sec.
Enlightened Judgements Holy 15 2 Grants hit rating equal to X% of any Spirit gained from items or effects, and increases the range of your Judgement by Y yards. In addition, your Judgement instantly heals you for Z.
Beacon of Light Holy 15 1 The target becomes a Beacon of Light to all members of your party or raid within a 60 yard radius. Each heal you cast on party or raid members will also heal the Beacon for 50% of the amount healed. Only one target can be the Beacon of Light at a time. Lasts 5 min.
Speed of Light Holy 15
Infusion of Light 2
3 Grants X% spell haste and reduces the cooldown of Holy Radiance by Y sec. Casting Holy Radiance increases your movement speed by X% for 4 sec.
Sacred Cleansing Holy 15 1 Your Cleanse spell now also dispels 1 Magic effect.
Conviction Holy 20 3 Gives you a X% bonus to damage and healing for 15 sec after causing a critical effect from a weapon swing, spell, or ability. This effect stacks up to 3 times.
Aura Mastery Holy 20 1 Causes your Concentration Aura to make all affected targets immune to Silence and Interrupt effects and improve the effect of Devotion Aura, Resistance Aura, and Retribution Aura by 100%. Lasts 6 sec.
Paragon of Virtue Holy 20 2 Reduces the cooldown of Divine Protection by X sec, Hand of Sacrifice by Y sec and Avenging Wrath by Z sec.
Tower of Radiance Holy 25
Beacon of Light 1
3 Healing the target of your Beacon of Light with Flash of Light or Divine Light has a X% chance to generate a charge of Holy Power.
Blessed Life Holy 25 2 You have a X chance to gain a charge of Holy Power whenever you take direct damage. This effect cannot occur more than once every 8 seconds.
Light of Dawn Holy 30 1 Consumes all Holy Power to send a wave of healing energy before you, healing up to 5 of the most injured targets in your party or raid within a 30 yard frontal cone for X per charge of Holy Power.

The Protection tree contains talents focused on defense, damage mitigation, damage return and one-handed weapons.

Paladins receive Avenger's Shield as soon as they choose protection spec. It is the only ranged ability that a protection paladin has to pull with other than via items or via proximity/judgements or other close range abilities, it bounces and tags a total of 3 targets and applies a 6 second snare to its targets. With 3.0 and inscription, this ability can be modified with a Glyph to increase its damage by 100% while reducing the number of targets hit by 2, making it ideal for tanking hard hitting mobs or bosses that you want to have individual tanks upon. Since patch 2.3, there are more useful talents than the points we can spend, so we see a lot of tanking builds with some minor variation here and there. However, as long as it contains the following core talents, it should be viable: Redoubt (Now with Shield Specialization built into it), Toughness, Improved Righteous Fury, Anticipation, Blessing of Sanctuary, Sacred Duty, One-Handed Weapon Specialization, Holy Shield, Ardent Defender, Combat Expertise, Avenger's Shield, Hammer of the Righteous.

Other talents worth noting for paladin tanks include: Guarded by the Light, which provide some protection against spell damage and reduces mana costs of Holy Shield, Avenger's Shield and Shield of Righteousness; Blessing of Kings, and Touched by the Light, which eliminates the need for gear that adds spell power.

Reckoning is a very good skill when AOE leveling/farming. With more than four to five mobs keep hitting you, reckoning will be up most of the time. This is a very significant improvement in dps, health regen or mana regen when combined with Seal of Righteousness, Seal of Light, or Seal of Wisdom respectively. Nevertheless, its usefulness in end-game instance tanking is not much, so most tankadins would put the points to some where else at level 70.

Concerning PvP, paladin's protection tree is not as designed as the warrior's against enemy spellcasters, since your damage output comes from blocking and being hit by melee damage, and your improved armor and defense will not lower spell damage at all. With Reckoning however, at close proximity to casters, higher damage output may be dealt. Improved Hammer of Justice is excellent if they're trying to cast, so not only do you interrupt them, but you can also get in heals more frequently. Also, with Sacred Duty, you can use Divine Shield while still pummeling spellcasters without slowing or stunning effecting you, and like before, more time for healing as well. Improved Concentration Aura is also useful, especially if you have caster groupmates. Stoicism provides some protection against stun and dispel.

Talent Reqs Ranks Description
Avenger's Shield Protection None 1 Hurls a holy shield at the enemy, dealing X Holy damage, silencing and interrupting spellcasting for 3 sec, and then jumping to additional nearby enemies. Affects 3 total targets.
Vengeance Protection None 1 Each time you take damage, you gain 5% of the damage taken as attack power, up to a maximum of 10% of your health.
Touched by the Light Protection None 1 Increases your total Stamina by 15%, increases your spell hit by 8%, and increases your spell power by an amount equal to 60% of your Strength.
Judgements of the Wise Protection None 1 Your Judgement grants you 30% of your base mana over 10 sec.
Divinity Protection None 3 Increases all healing done by you and all healing effects on you by X%.
Seals of the Pure Protection None 2 Increases the damage done by your Seal of Righteousness, Seal of Truth, and Seal of Justice by X%.
Eternal Glory Protection None 2 Your Word of Glory has a X% chance not to consume Holy Power.
Judgements of the Just Protection 5 2 Your Judgement reduces the melee and ranged attack speed of the target by X% for 20 sec. In addition, increases the duration of your Seal of Justice effect by Y sec.
Toughness Protection 5 3 Increases your armor value from items by X%.
Improved Hammer of Justice Protection 5 2 Decreases the cooldown of your Hammer of Justice spell by X sec.
Hallowed Ground Protection 10 2 Increases the damage of your Consecration by X% and decreases its mana cost by Y%.
Sanctuary Protection 10 3 Reduces the chance you'll be critically hit by melee attacks by X% and reduces all damage taken by Y%. In addition when you block or dodge a melee attack you gain Z% of maximum mana.
Hammer of the Righteous Protection 10 1 Hammer the current target for 30% weapon damage, causing a wave of light that hits all targets within 8 yards for X Holy damage. Grants a charge of Holy Power.
Wrath of the Lightbringer Protection 10 2 Increases the damage of your Crusader Strike and Judgement abilities by X%, and increases the critical strike chance of your Holy Wrath and Hammer of Wrath spells by Y%.
Reckoning Protection 15 2 You have a X% chance after blocking an attack for your next 4 weapon swings within 8 sec to generate an additional attack.
Shield of the Righteous Protection 15
Sanctuary 3
1 Slam the target with your shield, causing Holy damage. Consumes all charges of Holy Power to determine damage dealt.
Grand Crusader Protection 15 2 When your Crusader Strike or Hammer of the Righteous deal damage to your primary target, they have a X% chance of refreshing the cooldown on your next Avenger's Shield and causing it to generate a charge of Holy Power if used within 6 sec.
Vindication Protection 20 1 Your Crusader Strike and Hammer of the Righteous reduce physical damage done by their primary targets by 10% for 30 sec.
Holy Shield Protection 20
Sanctuary 3
Shield of the Righteous 1
1 Increases chance to block by 30% for 10 sec and deals X Holy damage for each attack blocked while active. Each block expends a charge. 8 charges.
Guarded by the Light Protection 20 2 Increases your Word of Glory by X% when used to heal yourself, and allows your Word of Glory to grant Holy Shield.
Divine Guardian Protection 20 1 All party or raid members within 30 yards, excluding the Paladin, take 20% reduced damage for 6 sec.
Sacred Duty Protection 25
Sanctuary 3
Shield of the Righteous 1
Holy Shield 1
2 Your Judgement and Avenger Shield have a X% chance of making your next Shield of the Righteous a critical strike. Lasts 10 sec.
Shield of the Templar Protection 25 3 Reduces the cooldown of Avenging Wrath by X sec and Guardian of Ancient Kings by Y sec. In addition, your Divine Plea will generate Z Holy Power.
Ardent Defender Protection 30 1 Reduce damage taken by 20% for 10 sec. While Ardent Defender is active, the next attack that would otherwise kill you will instead cause you to be healed for 15% of your maximum health.

The Retribution tree contains talents focused on damage output, two-handed weapons, holy damage, and damage avoidance.

DPS Retribution Paladins: Gone from being the underestimated Paladin spec to becoming a formidable holy melee fighter, the Retribution Paladin brings buffs and debuffs, offhealing, cleansing and excellent damage when properly geared. The Retribution tree has both raid and arena viability and can be of interest to any Paladin who would rather deal damage than take or heal it.

For those interested in being a melee damage Paladin, 51 talent points should be invested in the Retribution tree. It is strongly advised that any serious Retribution spec for Divine Storm and Crusader Strike. It is also highly recommended that the Paladin puts 3 points into Heart of the Crusader, as it gives a 3% critical bonus to melee, ranged and spells for everyone who attacks the judged target.

The most common Retribution builds have at least 51 points in the Retribution tree. Several variations of Retribution build exist, such as 0/5/56 or 0/10/51.

As for PvP builds, there are a few variations. A common PvP build tends to be 0/16/45, being specced for increased survivability Divine Purpose and for shorter cooldown on your primary stun Improved Hammer of Justice this build is very potent for high end arena play, as your stun when combined with the Gladiator PvP set bonus and the Improved Hammer of Justice talent has its cooldown lowered to 35 seconds, making it quite semi effective as Crowd Control.

Eye for an Eye is a great talent for PvP, as it returns damage from all criticals against you. This ends up being a noticeable damage increase in PvP, and even while soloing. Vindication is an excellent choice as the 20% reduction of all stats can be very useful in many situations. Note, that most bosses are immune to Vindication, but it still serves a purpose when fighting trash mobs, solo'ing, and of course PvP'ing.

Holy Paladins can put points in Benediction for the reduced mana cost of Holy Shock, seals, judgements, and instant Flash of Lights. They may also want to put points into Heart of the Crusader, Conviction, and Sanctity of Battle.

Paladin Tanks usually max Deflection and have one point into Improved Judgement (for smoother spell rotation) here. Other retribution tree talents that may be useful for tankadins include Heart of the Crusader, Conviction and Pursuit of Justice. While Retribution Aura is useful for additional threat generation occasionally, it is too far in the Retribution tree to get Sanctified Retribution. Devotion Aura (with Improved Devotion Aura) is usually a better aura for tanking.

Talent Reqs Ranks Description
Templar's Verdict Retribution None 0 An instant weapon attack that causes a percentage of weapon damage. Consumes all applications of Holy Power to increase damage dealt.
Sheath of Light Retribution None 0 Increases your spell power by an amount equal to 30% of your attack power and increases your chance to hit with spells by 8%.
Two-Handed Weapon Specialization Retribution None 0 Increases the damage you deal with two-handed melee weapons by 20%.
Judgements of the Bold Retribution None 0 Your Judgement grants you 25% of your base mana over 10 sec.
Eye for an Eye Retribution None 2 All magic attacks against you have a X% chance to cause 30% of the damage taken back to the attacker as well.
Crusade Retribution None 3 Increases the damage of your Crusader Strike, Hammer of the Righteous, and Templar's Verdict by X%, and the damage and healing of your Holy Shock by Y%. In addition, for 15 sec after you kill an enemy that yields experience or honor, your next Holy Light heals for an additional Z%
Improved Judgements Retribution 5 2 Increases the range of your Judgement by X yards.
Guardian's Favor Retribution 5 2 Reduces the cooldown of your Hand of Protection by X sec and increases the duration of your Hand of Freedom by Y sec.
Rule of Law Retribution 5 3 Increases the critical effect chance of your Crusader Strike, Hammer of the Righteous and Word of Glory by X%.
Pursuit of Justice Retribution 5 2 You have a X% chance to gain a charge of Holy Power when struck by a Stun, Fear or Immobilize effect. In addition, increases your movement and mounted movement speed by Y%. This effect does not stack with other movement speed increasing effects.
Communion Retribution 10 1 Your auras increase your party and raid's damage dealt by 3%, and your own damage is increased by an additional 2% at all times. In addition, your Judgement causes Replenishment.
Replenishment - Grants up to 10 party or raid members mana regeneration equal to 1% of their maximum mana per 10 sec. Lasts for 15 sec.
The Art of War Retribution 10 3 Your autoattacks have a X% chance to make your next Exorcism instant, free and cause 100% additional damage.
Long Arm of the Law Retribution 10
Improved Judgements
2 Your Judgement has a X% chance to increase your movement speed by 45% for 4 sec when used on targets at or further than 15 yards from you.
Divine Storm Retribution 10 1 An instant attack that causes 100% weapon damage to all enemies within 8 yards. The Divine Storm heals up to 3 party or raid members totaling 25% of the damage caused, and will grant a charge of Holy Power if it hits 4 or more targets.
Sacred Shield Retribution 15 1 When reduced below 30% health, you gain the Sacred Shield effect. The Sacred Shield absorbs ((1) + (AP * 2.8)) damage and increases healing received by 20%. Lasts 15 sec. This effect cannot occur more than once every 60 sec.
Sanctity of Battle Retribution 15 1 Haste effects lower the cooldown of your Crusader Strike and Divine Storm abilities.
Seals of Command Retribution 15 1 Your Seal of Righteousness, Seal of Truth, and Seal of Justice now also deal 7% weapon damage when triggered. In addition, your Seal of Righteousness now hits up to 2 additional targets.
Sanctified Wrath Retribution 15 3 Increases the critical strike chance of Hammer of Wrath by X%, reduces the cooldown of Avenging Wrath by Y secs and allows the use of Hammer of Wrath at all times during Avenging Wrath.
Selfless Healer Retribution 20 2 When you heal others with your Word of Glory, it increases the effectiveness of the heal by X% and increases your damage done by Y% per charge of Holy Power for 10 sec.
Repentance Retribution 20 1 Puts the enemy target in a state of meditation, incapacitating them for up to 1 min. Any damage from sources other than Censure will awaken the target. Usable against Demons, Dragonkin, Giants, Humanoids and Undead.
Divine Purpose Retribution 20 2 The following attacks have a X% chance to cause your next Holy Power ability to consume no Holy Power and to cast as if 3 Holy Power were consumed.
Inquiry of Faith Retribution 25 3 Increases the periodic damage done by your Seal of Truth by X%, and the duration of your Inquisition by Y%.
Acts of Sacrifice Retribution 25 2 Reduces the cooldown by X% and mana cost by Y% of your Hand of Freedom, Hand of Salvation and Hand of Sacrifice. In addition, your Cleanse will remove one movement impairing effect if cast on yourself.
Zealotry Retribution 30 1 Your Crusader Strike generates 3 charges of Holy Power per strike for the next 20 sec. Requires 3 Holy Power to use, but does not consume Holy Power.

See also[]

  • Paladin builds, a list of several different builds for paladins.
  • Shockadin, a Holy / Retribution hybrid specialization mostly used for PvP.
  • Tankadin, a paladin tanking specialization (Protection).

Patch changes[]

  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Inlinegfx/img_link_data.json' not found. Patch 3.2.0 (04-Aug-2009): Illumination has been changed to only return 30% of mana. In addition, Divine Intellect had its bonus reduced by 5%.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Inlinegfx/img_link_data.json' not found. Patch 3.1.0 (14-Apr-2009): Blessing of Kings is not a talented skill anymore, but it's trainable at level 20.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Inlinegfx/img_link_data.json' not found. Patch 3.1.0 (14-Apr-2009): Improved Retribution Aura has been removed.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Inlinegfx/img_link_data.json' not found. Patch 3.1.0 (14-Apr-2009): Spiritual Attunement has been removed from trainers. Instead, it will be in the Protection tree for 2 ranks at 5/10%.

External links[]

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