Welcome to the Protection Paladin guide for World of Warcraft the Burning Crusade. In this guide, you will learn about playing a Protection Paladin in dungeons and raids. The guide includes Talents, Gems, Enchantments, Gameplay & Skill rotation tips.

Table of Contents

• Talents
• Gems
• Enchants
• Professions
• Rotation
• Consumables
• Stat Priority
• Pre-Raid BiS
• Best in Slot

Talents

Below we have a standard Protection build. As you can see there’s not much room for changes, but Pursuit of Justice can be taken instead of Improved Judgement and Blessing of Kings. BoK will be taken by Holy Paladins in raids, but if you are just starting with 5-man dungeons as the only Paladin, it will be a great addition to your kit.
Gems

• Meta: Eternal Earthstorm Diamond or Powerful Earthstorm Diamond as an alternative
• Red: Shifting Shadowsong Amethyst, or Runed Crimson Spinel (only if the socket bonus is needed, otherwise fill with Blue)
• Yellow: Enduring Seaspray Emerald or Rigid Lionseye
• Blue: Solid Empyrean Sapphire

Enchants

• Head – Glyph of the Defender
• Shoulder – Greater Inscription of Warding or Greater Inscription of the Knight
• Cloak – Enchant Cloak - Dodge
• Chest – Enchant Chest - Exceptional Health
• Bracers – Enchant Bracer - Major Defense or Enchant Bracer - Fortitude
• Gloves – Enchant Gloves - Threat or Heavy Knothide Armor Kit
• Legs – Nethercleft Leg Armor
• Boots – Enchant Boots - Boar's Speed or Enchant Boots - Fortitude
• Weapon – Enchant Weapon - Major Spellpower
• Shield – Enchant Shield - Shield Block or Enchant Shield - Major Stamina

Enchanters can also benefit from Enchant Ring - Spellpower on both of the rings. Note: it’s important to understand that spells play a big role in Protection Paladins rotation and threat generation, and that is why we are increasing the Spell Damage with enchants.

Professions

• Enchanting is useful for the unique Enchant Ring - Spellpower enchant on rings and keeping down the costs of armor enchants.
• Jewelcrafting is a great choice for making gold. It also provides you with starter trinkets, rings, necklaces, and epic gems.
• Alchemy can be used to create consumables that are mandatory in serious raids. If you’re just starting, Alchemy will also set you aside from tanks that are not using Flasks, Elixirs, and Potions.
• Engineering is usually referred to as the PvP / Fun choice, but it does have different tier Goggles that you can craft.
• Blacksmithing is costly to level up and will allow you to craft some starter gear. Higher tier armor will be mainly from drops because of the unique stats that Paladin requires. Not the worst possible choice, but a Warrior would get more out of this profession.

Rotation

Use appropriate blessings if you are the only Paladin. A detailed breakdown can be found in the Holy Paladin guide. Keep up Righteous Fury and use Auras accordingly. Retribution Aura is used when fighting against a physical encounter, and Resistance auras are for specific encounters which use certain school of magic. Pull the boss with Seal of the crusader, followed up with Holy Shield, Avenging Wrath, Avenger's Shield and Judgement. Apply Seal of Vengeance (A) or Seal of Righteousness (H) depending on the fraction you play for. Keep up Holy Shield and Consecration at all times. Every Judgement should be followed with a Seal since it doesn’t trigger a global cooldown.

Consumables

Elixirs are providing more stats in theory, but the Flask persists through death making it a better option in most cases.

• Flask: Flask of Fortification or Flask of Blinding Light for increased damage when having problems maintaining threat
• Elixir: Elixir of Major Defense combined with Elixir of Major Agility or Elixir of Mastery
• Potion: Super Mana Potion, Super Healing Potion
• Healthstones
• Food: Spicy Crawdad, Fisherman's Feast
• Superior Wizard Oil

Stat Priority

• Defense
• Stamina
• Spell Damage
• Block Value

Defense cap is 490 for raids, making you uncrittable. This stat can be increased by acquiring gear with Block Rating, Dodge Rating, Defense Rating, and Parry Rating.

Hit and Spell Hit are beneficial stats but don’t focus on them.

The above-mentioned stats should be a priority.

Same goes for Expertise – don’t disregard armor with it, but don’t focus on it either.

Pre-Raid Best in Slot

Slot	Item
Head	Tankatronic Goggles
Neck	Necklace of the Juggernaut
Shoulders	Gladiator's Lamellar Shoulders
Back	Devilshark Cape
Chest	Breastplate of the Righteous
Wrist	Bracers of Dignity
Hands	Dauntless Handguards
Waist	Girdle of Valorous Deeds
Legs	Timewarden's Leggings
Feet	Boots of the Righteous Path
Main Hand	Gladiator's Gavel
Ranged	Libram of Repentance
Off Hand	Azure-Shield of Coldarra
Ring 1	Band of Impenetrable Defenses
Ring 2	Elementium Band of the Sentry
Trinket 1	Gnomeregan Auto-Blocker 600
Trinket 2	Darkmoon Card: Vengeance

Best in Slot