Paladin abilities

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This is an article on Paladin abilities. Nearly all of the Paladin's abilities are mana-based and are split into three disciplines.

Holy

Includes all healing spells, supportive seals, and spells.

Protection

Includes spells that protect yourself and others.

Retribution

Includes most damage-related skills.

Contents 1 Trainable abilities 2 Talent Granted Abilities 2.1 Holy 2.2 Protection 2.3 Retribution 3 Abilities by Type 3.1 Auras 3.2 Blessings 3.3 Hands 3.4 Judgements 3.5 Seals 3.6 Heals 3.7 Threat Modifiers 4 Abilities by Function 4.1 Protection 4.2 Tanking 4.3 Debuffs 4.4 Area of Effect & Damage over Time 4.5 Direct Damage 5 Misc Information on Abilities 5.1 Spell Damage and Healing Coefficients 5.2 Critical Hits

Trainable abilities

These abilities are available to all Paladins, at the appropriate level, regardless of Talents.

Icon	Ability	Min Level	Description
	Seal of Righteousness	1	Fills the Paladin with holy spirit for 30 min, granting each melee attack additional Holy damage. Slower weapons cause more Holy damage per swing. Only one Seal can be active on the Paladin at any one time. Unleashing this Seal's energy will cause Holy damage to an enemy.
	Devotion Aura	1	Gives X additional armor to party members within 30 yards.
	Holy Light	1	Heals a friendly target for X to Y.
	Blessing of Might	4	Places a Blessing on the friendly target, increasing attack power by X for 10 min. Players may only have one Blessing on them per Paladin at any one time.
	Judgement of Light	4	Unleashes the energy of a Seal spell upon an enemy, granting melee attacks made against the judged enemy a chance of healing the attacker for X.
	Divine Protection	6	Reduces all damage taken by 50% for 12 seconds. Once protected, the target cannot be made invulnerable by Divine Shield, Divine Protection or Hand of Protection again for 2 minutes. Cannot be used within 30 sec of using Avenging Wrath.
	Hammer of Justice	8	Stuns a hostile target for up to 6 seconds. It also interrupts their spellcasting for 3 sec, even though that target is stun immune. The spellinterruption affects only NPCs.
	Purify	8	Purifies the friendly target, removing 1 disease effect and 1 poison effect.
	Lay On Hands	10	Heals a friendly target for an amount equal to the Paladin's maximum health. Higher ranks also restore mana.
	Hand of Protection	10	A targeted party or raid member is protected from all physical attacks for 6 sec, but during that time they cannot attack or use physical abilities. Players may only have one Hand on them per Paladin at any one time. Once protected, the target cannot be protected by Divine Shield, Divine Protection or Hand of Protection again for 2 min. Cannot be targeted on players who have used Avenging Wrath within the last 30 sec.
	Redemption	12	Brings a dead player back to life with X health and Y mana. Cannot be cast when in combat.
	Judgement of Wisdom	12	Unleashes the energy of a Seal spell upon an enemy, granting melee attacks made against the judged enemy a chance of restoring X mana.
	Blessing of Wisdom	14	Places a Blessing on the friendly target, restoring X mana every 5 seconds for 10 min. Players may only have one Blessing on them per Paladin at any one time.
	Righteous Defense	14	Come to the defense of a friendly target, commanding up to 3 enemies attacking the target to attack the Paladin instead.
	Hand of Reckoning	16	Taunts the target to attack you and causes X Holy damage.
	Retribution Aura	16	Causes X Holy damage to any creature that strikes a party member within 30 yards. Players may only have one Aura on them per Paladin at any one time.
	Righteous Fury	16	Increases the threat generated by your Holy attacks by 90%. Lasts 30 min.
	Exorcism	20	Causes X to Y Holy damage to an enemy target. If the target is Undead or Demon, it will always critically hit.
	Flash of Light	20	Heals a friendly target for X to Y.
	Sense Undead	20	Shows the location of all nearby undead on the minimap until cancelled. Only one type of tracking can be used at a time.
	Consecration	20	Consecrates the land beneath Paladin, doing X Holy damage over 8 sec to enemies who enter the area.
	Blessing of Kings	20	Places a Blessing on the friendly target, increasing total stats by 10% for 10 min. Players may only have one Blessing on them per Paladin at any one time.
	Summon Warhorse	20	Summons a warhorse, which serves as a mount. Speed is increased by 60%.
	Concentration Aura	22	Gives a 35% chance of ignoring spell interruption when damaged to all party members within 30 yards. Players may only have one Aura on them per Paladin at any one time.
	Seal of Justice	22	Fills the Paladin with the spirit of justice for 30 min, giving each melee attack a chance to stun for 2 sec. Only one Seal can be active on the Paladin at any one time. Unleashing this Seal's energy will judge an enemy for 10 sec, preventing them from fleeing. Your melee strikes will refresh the spell's duration. Only one Judgement per Paladin can be active at any one time.
	Turn Undead	24	The targeted undead or demon enemy will be compelled to flee for up to X sec. Damage caused may interrupt the effect. Only one target can be turned at a time.
	Shadow Resistance Aura	28	Gives X additional Shadow resistance to all party members within 30 yards. Players may only have one Aura on them per Paladin at any one time.
	Judgement of Justice	28	Unleashes the energy of a Seal spell upon an enemy, preventing them from fleeing and limiting their movement speed.
	Divine Intervention	30	The paladin sacrifices himself to remove the targeted party member from harms way. Enemies will stop attacking the protected party member, who will be immune to all harmful attacks but cannot take any action for 3 min.
	Seal of Light	30	Fills the Paladin with divine light for 30 min, giving each melee attack a chance to heal the Paladin for X. Only one Seal can be active on the Paladin at any one time. Unleashing this Seal's energy will judge an enemy for 10 sec, granting melee attacks made against the judged enemy a chance of healing the attacker for X. Your melee strikes will refresh the spell's duration. Only one Judgement per Paladin can be active at any one time.
	Frost Resistance Aura	32	Gives X additional Frost resistance to all party members within 30 yards. Players may only have one Aura on them per Paladin at any one time.
	Divine Shield	34	Protects the paladin from all damage and spells for 12 sec, but reduces all damage you deal by 50%. Once protected, the target cannot be protected by Divine Shield, Divine Protection or Hand of Protection again for 2 min. Cannot be used within 30 sec. of using Avenging Wrath.
	Fire Resistance Aura	36	Gives X additional Fire resistance to all party members within 30 yards. Players may only have one Aura on them per Paladin at any one time.
	Seal of Wisdom	38	Fills the Paladin with divine wisdom for 30 min, giving each melee attack a chance to restore X of the Paladin's mana. Only one Seal can be active on the Paladin at any one time. Unleashing this Seal's energy will judge an enemy for 10 sec, granting attacks and spells used against the judged enemy a chance to restore X mana to the attacker. Your melee strikes will refresh the spell's duration. Only one Judgement per Paladin can be active at any one time.
	Cleanse	42	Cleanses a friendly target, removing 1 poison effect, 1 disease effect, and 1 magic effect.
	Hammer of Wrath	44	Hurls a hammer that strikes an enemy for X to X Holy damage. Only usable on enemies that have 20% or less health.
	Hand of Sacrifice	46	Places a Hand on the party member, transferring 30% of damage taken per hit to the caster. Lasts 30 sec. Players may only have one Blessing on them per Paladin at any one time.
	Holy Wrath	50	Sends bolts of holy power in all directions, causing X to X Holy damage to all Undead and Demon targets within 20 yds, and Stunning them for 3 sec.
	Greater Blessing of Might	52	Gives all members of the raid or group that share the same class with the target the Greater Blessing of Might, increasing attack power by X for 30 min. Players may only have one Blessing on them per Paladin at any one time.
	Greater Blessing of Wisdom	54	Gives all members of the raid or group that share the same class with the target the Greater Blessing of Wisdom, restoring X mana every 5 seconds for 30 min. Players may only have one Blessing on them per Paladin at any one time.
	Greater Blessing of Kings	60	Gives all members of the raid or group that share the same class with the target the Greater Blessing of Kings, increasing total stats by 10% for 30 min. Players may only have one Blessing on them per Paladin at any one time.
	Crusader Aura	62	Increases the mounted speed by 20% for all party and raid members within 40 yards. Players may only have one Aura on them per Paladin at any one time. This does not stack with other movement speed increasing effects.
	Seal of Vengeance Seal of Corruption	64 66	Fills the Paladin with holy power, causing attacks to apply Holy Vengeance, which deals 161 additional Holy damage over 15 sec. Holy Vengeance can stack up to 5 times. Only one Seal can be active on the Paladin at any one time. Lasts 30 min.
	Avenging Wrath	70	Increases all damage and healing caused by 20% for 20 sec. Cannot be used within 30 sec of being the target of Divine Shield, Divine Protection, or Hand of Protection.
	Divine Plea	71	You gain 25% of your total mana over 15 sec, but the amount healed by your Flash of Light, Holy Light, and Holy Shock spells is reduced by 50%.
	Shield of Righteousness	75	Slam the target with your shield, causing Holy damage equal to 100% of your block value plus 520. High Threat.
	Sacred Shield	80	Each time the target takes damage they gain a Sacred Shield, absorbing 500 damage and increasing the paladin's chance to critically hit with Flash of Light by 50% for up to 6 sec. They cannot gain this effect more than once every 6 sec. Lasts 30 sec. This spell cannot be on more than one target at any one time.

Talent Granted Abilities

Rank 1 in these abilities is only unlocked by purchasing them from the appropriate Talent tree. Ranks 2 and beyond can then be purchased from the Paladin Trainer as normal.

Holy

Icon	Ability	Reqs	Description
	Aura Mastery	Holy 11	Grants anyone affected by Concentration Aura immunity from Interrupt and Silence mechanics, and increases the effectiveness of all other auras by 100%. Lasts 10 seconds.
	Divine Favor	Holy 20 Illumination 5	When activated, gives your next Flash of Light, Holy Light or Holy Shock spell a 100% critical effect chance.
	Holy Shock	Holy 30 Divine Favor 1	Blasts the target with Holy energy, causing X to X Holy damage to an enemy, or X to X healing to an ally.
	Divine Illumination	Holy 40	Reduces the mana cost of all spells by 50% for 15 sec.
	Beacon of Light	Holy 50	The target becomes a Beacon of Light to all targets within a 40 yard radius. Any heals you cast on those targets will also heal the Beacon for 100% of the amount healed. Only one target can be the Beacon of Light at a time. Lasts 1 min.

Protection

Icon	Ability	Reqs	Description
	Divine Sacrifice	Protection 10	30% of all damage taken by party or raid members within 30 yards is redirected to the Paladin (up to a maximum of 150% of the Paladin's health). Lasts 10 sec.
	Blessing of Sanctuary	Protection 20	Places a Blessing on the friendly target, reducing damage dealt from all sources by 3% for 10 min. In addition, when the target blocks, parries, or dodges they gain 10 rage, 20 runic power, or 2% of their maximum mana. Players may only have one Blessing on them per Paladin at any one time.
	Greater Blessing of Sanctuary	Protection 20	Gives all members of the raid or group that share the same class with the target the Greater Blessing of Sanctuary, reducing damage dealt from all sources by 3% for 15 min. In addition, when the target blocks, parries, or dodges they gain 10 rage, 20 runic power, or 2% of their maximum mana. Players may only have one Blessing on them per Paladin at any one time.
	Holy Shield	Protection 30 Blessing of Sanctuary	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.
	Avenger's Shield	Protection 40 Holy Shield	Hurls the paladin's shield at an enemy 8 to 20 yards away, inflicting X Holy damage and bouncing to affect up to 2 additional nearby targets within 10 yards.
	Hammer of the Righteous	Protection 50	Hammer the current target and up to 2 additional nearby targets, causing 4 times your main hand damage per second as Holy damage.

Retribution

Icon	Ability	Reqs	Description
	Seal of Command	Retribution 10	Gives the Paladin a chance to deal additional Holy damage equal to 70% of the damage of the attack. Only one Seal can be active on the Paladin at any one time. Lasts 30 min. Unleashing this Seal's energy will judge an enemy, instantly causing X Holy damage, and is a critical strike if the target is stunned.
	Repentance	Retribution 30	Puts the enemy target in a state of meditation, incapacitating them for up to 1 min (6 seconds for PvP). Any damage caused will awaken the target. Usable against Demons, Dragonkin, Giants, Humanoids and Undead.
	Crusader Strike	Retribution 40	An instant strike that causes 75% weapon damage.
	Divine Storm	Retribution 50	An instant weapon attack that causes Holy damage to up to 4 enemies within 8 yards. The divine storm heals up to 3 party or raid members for 20% of the damage caused.

Abilities by Type

Auras

Auras are buffs that benefit the Paladin as well as raid and party members within 40 yards. There are a wide variety of Auras, but only one Aura can be activated on the Paladin at any one time. If there are other Paladins in the group, the same Aura's effects do not stack, but different Auras can be used to further strengthen the group. Changing Auras does not cost mana, but does trigger the global cooldown. Therefore it is not feasible to change Auras just to absorb a certain magic school (such as Devotion Aura to Shadow Resist Aura to absorb a single Shadowbolt), then reverting back to the previous one. These Auras are very much support buffs that make grouping easier, but they are not so vital that they are the key factor in determining whether the group will succeed or fail.

The range of your Auras can be increased by an additional 10 yards with the 3-piece bonus from Judgement Armor.

Devotion Aura

Increases armour by X. Armour bonus can be increased by up to 50% and increase healing done to the target by 6% withImproved Devotion Aura.

This is the Paladin's first Aura. Classes with low armour will benefit from this aura the most as in some cases it will double the player's existing armour. This Aura will not mitigate magical damage.

Retribution Aura

Reflects X Holy damage.

Anyone under this Aura who is physically struck will reflect a fixed small amount of holy damage to the attacker. This is good against light and fast melee hitters or increasing damage output passively through reflective damage. Magical attacks will not reflect holy damage, nor will fully blocked, parried or dodged attacks. Note that partial blocks will reflect damage. This Aura can also be used for Paladin tanking provided damage mitigation is already high enough.

Concentration Aura

Increases spell casting delay resistance by an additional 35%. Effects of the aura can be increased by 15% as well as reducing the duration of silence and interrupt effects by up to 30% via talents.

This is a great Aura to have on when expected to heal in the fray. It is also highly beneficial to other spell casters and those who use lot of channeling spells. With spells that already have increased resistance to spell interruption, such as a Paladin healing with the talent Spiritual Focus or a Warlock using Hellfire with the Intensity talent, the effect of this Aura is added on, providing an uninterruptable cast/channel when chance to resist reaches 100%. In this case, only a stun, incapacitate or controlled spell interrupt can stop the spell.

Note: When fully improved by talents, Concentration Aura will increase spell casting delay resistance by 50% and decrease the duration of silence and interrupt effects by 30%.

Shadow Resistance Aura Frost Resistance Aura Fire Resistance Aura

Increases resistance to Shadow/Frost/Fire spells by 30, up to 130 over 5 ranks.

Handy auras during encounters where massive shadow, frost or fire damage is unavoidable. These Aura does not stack with any other resistance-increasing effects such as Gift of the Wild or Prayer of Shadow Protection. If any spell resistance effects are on the target simultaneously, the resistance effect that provides the highest resistance will be used to calculate the total resistance.

Crusader Aura

Increases mount speed by 20%, including flying mounts. The speed bonus does not stack with other speed enhancing effects, such as Carrot on a Stick or Riding Crop.

Blessings

Paladins have a wide range of powerful Blessings, which provide 10 minute buffs. Like Auras, only one Blessing can affect a target per Paladin. This means two Paladins cannot cast the same Blessing on a target, but two different Blessings on a target is possible.

At higher levels Greater Blessings become available. These blessings last 30 minutes. Each cast requires a reagent, and all players of the same class of the target in the group will receive the Blessing. Training of Greater Blessings begins at level 52. All Blessings are instant cast.

Note that Blessing of Salvation and Blessing of Light no longer exist as of Patch 3.0.2. Instead, Blessing of Salvation has been renamed Hand of Salvation and has had its mechanics changed while the effects of Blessing of Light have been folded into Holy Light and Flash of Light, increasing their base heal amount.

Blessing of Might

Increases attack power by X. The attack power of this Blessing can be increased by up to 25% with Improved Blessing of Might. Shares a buff category with Battle Shout.

This Blessing increases both melee and ranged attack power. It is useful for any physical DPS class.

Blessing of Wisdom

Restores X mana every 5 seconds. Mana regenerated can be increased by up to 20% with Improved Blessing of Wisdom. Shares a buff category with Mana Spring Totem

This is a good blessing for any caster. Although the mana regeneration is small, it occurs even while casting. This blessing excels on particularly long battles.

Blessing of Kings

Increases total attributes by 10%

This is an excellent blessing for tanks and good secondary Blessing to have for other members in group. It is also a powerful Blessing in PvP for its low-cost ability to increase a player's health and mana pool. It increases Strength, Agility, Stamina, Intellect and Spirit by 10%; secondary attributes such as attack power and defense are not directly affected. The increase of these base attributes, however, contributes to increases in most of the other secondary attributes. Since the increase is percentage-based, this Blessing scales well into end-game. Also, the increase is calculated after other attribute-increasing spells are counted, such as Prayer of Fortitude. If the class related Blessing(s) is already available from another Paladin, Blessing of Kings is an universial blessing that can benefit anyone.

Blessing of Sanctuary Talent Only (Protection Tree, Level 30+)

Decreases damage taken from all sources by 3%, increases Strength and Stamina by 10% and whenever the target Blocks, Dodges or Parries, they gain 2% of maximum displayed mana. The 3% damage reduction shares a buff category with Renewed Hope's damage reduction.

This Blessing has changed significantly with Patch 3.0.2 and has become a very good Blessing to have on a Paladin tank. Not only does it now reduce damage taken, it replenishes the player's mana on a successful dodge, parry or block. Note that it does not increase Energy, qualifying it as a tank-only Blessing. Formerly granted Rage and Runic Power as well, but now only restores mana. The damage reduction still makes it worthwhile for a tank, but it is no longer as necessary.

Hands

Hand spells replace the situational Blessings (Blessing of Protection, Blessing of Sacrifice, Blessing of Freedom and Blessing of Salvation). These were used in very situational events and applying them would overwrite the previous Blessing cast by the same Paladin, wasting mana and possibly Symbol of Kings in order to recast the previous Blessing. By separating these spells from Blessings, the Paladin can use these powerful spells without overwriting the standard Blessings. When used correctly, these Hand spell effects are very powerful, especially in a Player versus Player environment. Only one Hand spell can be cast per Paladin on a target at any one time.

Hand of Protection (Up to 10 second duration, 5 minute cooldown, Group member only, Causes Forbearance)

Protects the target from all physical attacks for 6 seconds, up to 10 seconds over 3 ranks. The player cannot physically attack with the spell active. The cooldown of this Hand spell can be decreased by up to 2 minutes through talents.

Hand of Protection will protect any player from physical attacks, but in turn the player cannot physically attack. However spell-casting is still allowed. Due to this effect, this blessing is used on primary spell-casters being attacked by melee-only damage. Hand of Protection also removes any threat built up by the target for the duration of the Blessing. Once the spell fades, the threat is returned and the foe may return to its original target unless dealt with by another player. This Blessing causes the Forbearance effect.

Hand of Freedom (10 second duration, 25 second cooldown)

Grants immunity to movement-impairing effects by 10 seconds. This hand can dispell stuns with the talents.

This Hand spell is extremely powerful in PvP as it renders the snare-and-attack strategy used by some classes useless. It grants immunity from the effects of Frost Trap, Slow, Frost Nova and Earthbind Totem and other similar abilities. It also negates effects that increase melee swing duration such as Chilled. This spell does not negate daze effects.

Hand of Sacrifice (12 second duration, 2 minute cooldown, Group member only)

Transfers 30% of damage taken from the target to yourself.

This spell can be used to save an ally from taking too much damage. Although it can be used on a tank, your own hit points must be monitored as the damage can accumulate to a significant amount. Paladins using this spell should heal the damage they take themselves in a raid environment as other healers do not want to focus on another target.

Hand of Salvation (2 minute cooldown, Group member only)

Reduces the target's threat by 2% each second for 10 seconds.

Judgements

Judgements instantly cast a negative magic effect on the enemy target. Judgements have a 10 second cooldown. Only one Judgement debuff can be cast on an enemy by the same Paladin. Since Judgements are the basis of the Paladin's support system, they are highly used spells if the Paladin is utilizing melee potential.

The cooldown of Judgements can be reduced by Improved Judgement, the critical strike chance of Judgement can be increased by Fanaticism, and have up to a 100% chance to return 25% of base mana cost of the judged Seal with every Judgement via Judgements of the Wise.

Judgement of Justice

Applies a magical debuff on the target, preventing PvE targets from fleeing in fear in rank 1, with rank 2 also limiting PvP targets to 100% movement speed (running speed) for the duration of the debuff.

In instances where enemies will flee at near-death to get reinforcements (often wiping a party), this Judgement will stop the target from running away, making this spell one of the most useful in the PvE environment. Targets with this debuff will also be immune from a crowd-control fear, so be mindful if fear effects are used for crowd-control. In a PvP environment, this Judgement is used to stop runners, primarily flag carriers in Warsong Gulch. It will limit player movement to running speed, therefore any gear with +% movement effects as well as various movement-increasing spells and forms will be negated.

Judgement of Light

Applies a magical debuff on the target; upon physically striking the target, will have a chance to heal the attacker. The chance to heal can be increased by 10% with the Lawbringer Armor set bonus (3 pieces), and amount healed can be increased by 20 with the Justicar Raiment set bonus (2 pieces).

This is an excellent support debuff in raids. The target must be hit by the player for this debuff to heal, and has a heal chance of 50% so fast-hitting characters such as Rogues will benefit most from this Judgement. Any improvements to the Judgement from various armour set bonuses will be shared with all players, not just the Paladin.

Judgement of Wisdom

Applies a magical debuff on the target; upon damaging the target, the attacker may gain X mana.

Like Seal of Light, this is a valued support debuff for any group for classes that use mana. The player has to hit the target with this Judgement to have a chance of gaining mana. This Judgement shines on long boss encounters where mana preservation is important. Healers who wish to regenerate more mana can simply wand the target or auto-attack it; Paladins can also use Seal of Wisdom with auto-attack to regenerate even more. It has the same triggering rates as Judgement of Light.

Seals

Seals are Paladin self-buffs that modify the auto-attack. They are instant cast and last 30 minutes; only one Seal can be used by the Paladin at a time.

Seal of Righteousness

Adds constant Holy damage per swing. The Holy damage dealt by this spell can be increased by up to 15% with Improved Seal of Righteousness.

Note: The additional Holy damage cannot be estimated as it varies depending on weapon speed, attack power and spell power. The in-game tooltip values will change immediately as the Paladin changes weapon.

Adds a constant amount of Holy damage per melee hit on the target. The extra damage may be small at lower levels, but a generous +spell damage coefficient can add a significant amount of damage per melee hit, often doubling melee damage output. This is a standard Seal to use for damage, and is commonly used for tanking at lower levels. Holy damage added by the Seal is normalised across all weapon speeds, with slower weapons adding more Holy damage per hit than faster ones. The benefit from spell power is not constant, but increases with slower weapon speed. Therefore slower weapons gain extra spell damage than fast ones, with a further bonus if the weapon is two-handed instead of one. The extra holy damage cannot crit. Can be superior to Seal of Vengeance for shorter fights or PvP, but if given time to stack, Vengeance will outperform Righteousness.

Seal of Justice

Gives each melee hit a chance to stun the target for 2 seconds.

Seal of Justice can act as an unreliable PvE interrupt against primary spell casters for those who are not immune to stun effects. It has limited use in PvP because of diminishing returns to the stun effect, rendering your Hammer of Justice spell useless after the target has been stunned three times from the seal. This seal will stun the enemy 4-5 times a minute.

Seal of Light

Gives each melee hit a chance to heal the Paladin.

This Seal is useful if the Paladin requires healing without leaving melee combat. The amount healed from melee becomes respectable when used along with Judgement of Light. Protection Paladins use it most during AoE grinding. The chance to heal depends on the speed of the weapon; slower weapons have higher chances to heal than faster weapons. Spell power gear will not increase the amount healed.

Seal of Wisdom

Gives each melee hit a chance to restore mana.

This is an excellent Seal to use for regenerating mana, and is even more effective if Judgement of Wisdom is on the target. The chance to gain mana depends on the speed of the weapon; slower weapons have higher chances to heal than faster weapons.

Seal of Vengeance Alliance or Seal of Corruption Horde

33% additional weapon damage as Holy after 5 stacks of the debuff with critical strikes dealling double damage.

This Seal is for PvE Retribution. It is also good for tanking, but takes extra time to generate high levels of threat compared to Righteousness. Depending on gear and talents, over time SoV can do more damage than SoR, and shines on multiple-target tanking as the DoT component will continue to generate threat for the Paladin even when not focused on that target. The chance to apply Holy Vengeance/Blood Corruption is 20 times a minute, meaning a 3.00 or slower speed weapon will have a 100% chance to apply the DoT. The additional 33% Holy damage from a melee hit on a 5-stack Holy Vengeance/Blood Corruption-inflicted target can critically hit at spell critical damage, with critical rate Paladin's spell critical chance.

Seal of Command Talent only - Retribution Tree

Adds constant holy damage to each swing equal to 36% weapon damage to each swing. This holy damage will chain to two nearby enemies.

Due to it's chaining nature, this seal is best utilized in AoE situations where you need to deal damage to multiple targets at once. This Seal is also considered as melee damage, so it deals double the damage when it crits and is determined by melee critical strike chance. Since Patch 3.2.2, this Seal also procs its weapon damage on up to three adajcent targets.

Heals

Paladins have two basic healing abilities (Holy Light and Flash of Light), one talented healing ability (Holy Shock), and Lay on Hands.
Holy Light (2.5 second cast)

Heals the target for X to Y. The amount healed by this spell can be increased by up to 12% with Healing Light.

Holy Light is the Paladin's biggest heal, offering good heal per second rate but at a relatively high mana cost. Holy Light is only used when the target needs a quick and strong heal, otherwise the Paladin will run out of mana very quickly. Holy talents help with the heavy mana cost, such as Illumination and Sanctified Light. Therefore, Holy Paladins will have a much easier time healing constantly with this spell than other specs. This spell also has a high spell power coefficient, so appropriate gear can improve efficiency further.

Flash of Light (1.5 second cast)

Heals the target for X to Y. The amount healed by this spell can be increased by up to 12% via talents.

Flash of Light is a quick heal that heals a small amount. Even though the amount it heals is low compared to the amount of time it needs to be cast, it is extremely mana efficient, more than Holy Light. It has a lower spell damage coefficient (100%) than Holy Light (166%), but in decent healing gear, continuously casting Flash of Light is a good way of healing effectively and very efficiently, using Holy Light when faster heals per casting time is required. This ability is obtained at level 20.

Lay on Hands (Instant cast, 20 minute cooldown)

Heals the target equal to the the Paladin's maximum health and returns X mana. The cooldown of this ability can be decreased by up to 16 minutes, as well as cause the target to take 20% reduced physical damage for 30 seconds with Improved Lay on Hands.

Lay on Hands is a last resort, instant cast heal that heals the target equal to the the Paladin's maximum health. Lay on Hands has a lengthy cooldown, but has the ability to save wipes or turn the tide of a losing battle. Higher ranks of this ability also return a small amount of mana to the target. Lay on Hands cannot be improved by healing gear, but can critically heal (Divine Favor will not work with Lay on Hands).

Holy Shock Talent only (level 40+) (Instant cast, 6 second cooldown)

Heals a friendly target, or inflicts Holy damage on an enemy for X to Y.

After changes to cooldown and range in Patch 3.0.2 Holy Shock is a very effective instant-cast heal. If used in conjunction with the talent Infusion of Light, Holy Shock is a very powerful tool. Holy Shock can also be used with Divine Favor for a critical heal with mana return from Illumination when used on a friendly target. If used against an enemy in which Holy Shock crits, no mana will be returned with Illumination. Note that both critical heals and critical damage will trigger Infusion of Light.

Threat Modifiers

Righteous Fury (Instant cast)

Righteous Fury is a self-buff that lasts until cancelled and increases all threat generated by your Holy spells by 80% and all threat generated by 43%. This has the interesting effect of increasing the threat of all holy spells by 157.4%. (For example, threat from dealing 100 holy damage would be the equivalent of threat from dealing ~257.4 damage to the target). Healing spells are Holy spells, so Righteous Fury should not be used by healers. Improved Righteous Fury reduces all damage taken by up to 6% while Righteous Fury is active.

Righteous Defense (Instant cast)(8 second cooldown)

Cast it on a friendly target, commanding up to 3 enemies to attack you instead.

Righteous Defense is a cost-free, long-range taunt. Similar to warriors' Taunt, Righteous Defense force the mobs to attack you for three seconds regardless of their threat list, at the same time give you the same threat level as the one with the highest threat on their threat list. Since patch 2.4, you can also cast Righteous Defense on an enemy mob, which will taunt the target mob plus two more mobs that are attacking target mob's target.

Hand of Reckoning (Instant cast)(8 second cooldown)

Cast it on an enemy, dealing damage if it is not currently attacking you and if it is tauntable.

A very useful tool for pulling due to its 30 yard range, and a paladin's only single-target taunt that does not rely on the enemy targeting something else.

Abilities by Function

Protection

Paladins have several protective blessings at their disposal for use on group members: Hand of Protection, which will temporarily protect a member from all physical damage; Hand of Sacrifice, which will send a small part of damage taken from the target player and send it to the paladin unmitigated; Hand of Freedom, which will make the target player immune to movement hampering effects; and Hand of Salvation, which will reduce the threat of the target player.

Tanking

Seal of Vengeance/Seal of Corruption is the preferred seal to use when tanking. It takes a slightly longer time to build up threat than Seal of Righteousness but will eventually deal more Holy damage.

Debuffs

• Judgement of Light, Judgement of Wisdom and Judgement of Justice) are the primary debuffs.
• Holy Vengeance is a damage-over-time debuff that causes Holy damage on the target every 3 seconds, and its effect can be stacked up to 5 times. It is applied while attacking with Seal of Vengeance/Seal of Corruption active.
• Vindication is a passive ability talent obtained in the Paladin's Retribution tree. It reduces the target's attack power by 23/46 for 10 seconds.

Area of Effect & Damage over Time

Paladins have one universal AoE ability: Consecration. Holy Wrath is another paladin AoE ability but only usable against Undead and Demons. Consecration is also one of two of the Paladin's damage-over-time spells - the other being Holy Vengeance (from Seal of Vengeance/Seal of Corruption).

Direct Damage

Paladins are a melee Hybrid class, with no ability to use ranged weapons. They deal direct damage with weapons and also have damaging spells such as Exorcism, Holy Wrath and Holy Shock. There are various Seals, which deals holy damage with melee strike. When a Seal is active, Judgement spells can be used to do an amount of direct damage and apply a specific debuff to the mobs. Hammer of Wrath is a ranged spell usable on targets under 20% health and is instant cast; if the target heals or regenerates above 20% health at any time - even if the projectile is in flight - the spell will be cancelled.

Most of the paladin's damage is done within melee range. There are four paladin ranged attacks: Holy Shock (31-point Holy talent), Avenger's Shield (41-point Protection talent), Hammer of Wrath (only usable against targets under 20% health) and Exorcism. Enlightened Judgements increases the range of the Judgement spells by up to 30 yards.

Misc Information on Abilities

Spell Damage and Healing Coefficients

The majority of a holy or protection paladins damage comes from spells. Aside talents that can be used to increase holy damage output, the main way is to increase attack power and spell power. Paladin spells are unique in that they increase in effectiveness with both stats, rather than just one like most classes. The maximum amount of damage or healing increased is not 100%; it is based on a percentage of both attack power and spell power, as listed below:

Key: AP = attack power, SP = spell power

• 16% AP + 25% SP Judgement of Light/Justice/Wisdom
• Weapon Speed x (2.2% AP + 4.4% SP) One-handed Seal of Righteousness
• 20% AP + 32% SP% Judgement of Righteousness
• 36% weapon damage Seal of Command
• 19% weapon damage + 8% AP + 13% SP Judgement of Command
• 32% AP + 32% SP Consecration
• 43% SP Holy Shock
• 15% AP + 15% SP Hammer of Wrath
• 15% AP + 15% SP Exorcism
• 7% AP + 7% SP Holy Wrath
• 44.8% AP + 72% SP Holy Shield (5.6% AP + 9% SP per Block)
• 7% AP + 7% SP Avenger's Shield
• 12.5% AP + 6.5% SP Seal of Vengeance (2.5% AP + 1.3% SP per tick)(Add an additional 33% weapon damage per hit at 5 stacks)
• 14 AP + 22% SP + 10% per stack Judgement of Vengeance
• 50% AP Hand of Reckoning

• 166% Holy Light (healing only)
• 100 SP% Flash of Light (healing only)
• 81% SP Holy Shock

For example, 100 spellpower will increase each cast of Judgement of Righteousness by 32 damage, Holy Shock by 43 damage and Holy Light by 166 health.

Note: Lay on Hands is not listed here because amount healed depends on the Paladin's maximum health.

Critical Hits

A paladin uses both types of critical hits: melee and spell. Each ability is listed under the appropriate critical rate mode. Abilities not listed here are ones that cannot have critical effects.

Melee Critical Percentage (x2 effect)

• Seal of Command
• Judgement of Command
• Hammer of Wrath
• Avenger's Shield
• Seal of Vengeance (the direct damage dealt when there are 5 stacks of Holy Vengeance on the target)
• Judgement of Vengeance (with at least 1 Holy Vengeance debuff on the target)

Spell Critical Percentage (x1.5 effect)

• Judgement of Righteousness
• Holy Shock
• Exorcism
• Holy Wrath
• Holy Light (heal)
• Flash of Light (heal)
• Lay on Hands (heal)

Notes:

• The talent Holy Power in the Holy tree will only increase the critical chance of spell-related abilities, and will not affect critical rates of abilities affected by melee critical percentages.
• Paladins can increase their Judgements' critical hit rate by up to 18% by investing Talent Points in Retribution's Fanaticism. This stacks with the paladin's critical chance.

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