Paladin abilities

Classes
Class races	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	Ev	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Quests	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	Evuid	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Abilities	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	Evuid	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Trainers	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	-	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Armor sets	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	Evuid	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Useful macros	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	-	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Class Halls	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	-	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior

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.

Abilities Table

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 sec, 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 X.
	[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	4	Unleashes the energy of a Seal spell upon an enemy.
	[Divine Protection]	6	You are protected from all physical attacks and spells for X sec, but during that time you cannot attack or use physical abilities yourself. Once protected, the target cannot be made invulnerable by Divine Shield, Divine Protection or Blessing of Protection again for 1 min.
	[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 and restores X of their mana. Drains all of the Paladin's remaining mana when used.
	[Redemption]	12	Brings a dead player back to life with X health and X mana. Cannot be cast when in combat.
	[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.
	[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 60%. Lasts 30 min.
	[Spiritual Attunement]	18/66	Gives the Paladin mana when healed by other friendly targets. The amount of mana gained is equal to 8%/10% of the amount healed.
	[Exorcism]	20	Causes X to X Holy damage to an Undead or Demon target.
	[Flash of Light]	20	Heals a friendly target for X to X.
	[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.
	[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 sec, 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 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.
	[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 sec, 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.
	[Summon Warhorse]	30	Summons a warhorse, which serves as a mount. Speed is increased by 60%.
	[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 X sec, but reduces attack speed by 50%. Once protected, the target cannot be made invulnerable by Divine Shield, Divine Protection or Blessing of Protection again for 1 min.
	[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 sec, 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 35% or less health.
	[Hand of Sacrifice]	46	Places a Hand on the party member, transferring X 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.
	[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.
	[Turn Evil]	52	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.
	[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.
	[Crusader Aura]	62	Increases the mounted speed by 20% for all party members within 30 yards. Players may only have one Aura on them per Paladin at any one time.
	[Seal of Blood]	64	Horde Only All melee attacks deal additional Holy damage equal to 22% normal weapon damage, but the Paladin loses health equal to 10% of the total damage inflicted.
	[Seal of Vengeance]	64	Alliance Only 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 2 min. Unleashing this Seal's energy will deal 199 Holy damage to an enemy, increased by 10% for each application of Holy Vengeance on the target.
	[Seal of the Martyr]	66	Alliance Only All melee attacks deal 63 to 78 additional Holy damage, but the Paladin loses health equal to 10% of the total damage inflicted. Lasts 2 min. Unleashing this Seal's energy will judge an enemy, instantly causing 329 to 353 Holy damage at the cost of health equal to 33% of the damage caused.
	[Seal of Corruption]	66	Horde Only Fills the Paladin with holy power, granting each melee attack a chance to cause 80 Holy damage over 12 sec. This effect can stack up to 5 times. Only one Seal can be active on the Paladin at any one time. Lasts 30 sec.
	[Avenging Wrath]	70	Increases all damage caused by 20% for 20 sec. 3 min cooldown. Causes Forbearance.

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
	[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

Protection

Icon	Ability	Reqs	Description
	[Blessing of Kings]	Protection 10	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.
	[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.
	[Blessing of Sanctuary]	Protection 20	Places a Blessing on the friendly target, reducing damage dealt from all sources by up to X for 5 min. In addition, when the target blocks a melee attack the attacker will take X Holy damage. Players may only have one Blessing on them per Paladin at any one time.
	[Greater Blessing of Sanctuary]	60	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 up to X for 15 min. In addition, when the target blocks a melee attack the attacker will take X Holy damage. Players may only have one Blessing on them per Paladin at any one time.
	[Holy Shield]	Protection 30 Blessing of Sanctuary 1	Increases chance to block by 30% for 10 sec, and deals X Holy damage for each attack blocked while active. Damage caused by Holy Shield causes 20% additional threat. 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.
	[Hammer of the Righteous]	Protection 50

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 sec. Unleashing this Seal's energy will judge an enemy, instantly causing X to X Holy damage, Y to Y if the target is stunned or incapacitated.
	[Repentance]	Retribution 30	Puts the enemy target in a state of meditation, incapacitating them for up to 6 sec. Any damage caused will awaken the target. Only works against Humanoids.
	[Crusader Strike]	Retribution 40	An instant attack that causes 110% weapon damage and refreshes all Judgements on the target.
	[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 party members within a 30 yard range. There are a wide variety of Auras a Paladin can have on, 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 instead to further strengthen the group. Changing Auras is free, but it 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 to 40 yards by the talent [Aura Mastery], or by an additional 10 yards obtaining the 3-piece bonus from Judgement Armor.

[Devotion Aura]

Increases armour by 55, up to 861 over 8 ranks. Armour bonus can be increased by up to 40% through talents.

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 is not effective against pure spell casters as it only increases armor; it will not mitigate magical damage.

[Retribution Aura]

Reflects 5 Holy damage, up to 26 over 6 ranks. Holy damage reflected can be increased by up to 50% through talents.

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. Any magical attacks against you with this Aura will not reflect holy damage so it's best not to use this against spell casters. 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 70 over 4 ranks.

Handy auras during encounters that 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

Besides Auras, Paladins also have a wide range of powerful Blessings. These provide a buff that generally lasts 10 minutes. Due to their short duration, they also cost very little mana so different Blessings can be used on a target when circumstances change. Like the Auras, only one Blessing can be cast on the target per Paladin. This means two Paladins cannot cast the same Blessing on a target, but two different Blessings on a target is possible.

Thirty-minute versions of most of these Blessings are also available called Greater Blessings. They are typically used in raids where there are enough Paladins to cast most of the Blessings useful to each class. 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 20, up to 305 through 8 ranks. The attack power of this Blessing can be increased by up to 25% through talents.

This is a good Blessing given to increase the player's melee and ranged attack power. It is useful for any physical DPS class.

[Blessing of Wisdom]

Restores 10 mana every 5 seconds, up to 41 mana per 5 seconds over 7 ranks. Mana regenerated can be increased by up to 20% through talents.

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

[Blessing of Kings] Talent Only (Protection Tree, Level 10+)

Increases total attributes by 2% (up to 10% with 4 points in [Improved Blessing of Kings])

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 blessings that anyone can benefit from it.

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

Decreases damage taken from all sources by 3% and whenever the target Blocks, Dodges or Parries, they gain 10 rage, 20 runic power or 2% of their maximum mana.

This Blessing has changed significantly at Patch 3.0.2 and has become a very good Blessing to have on any tank. Not only does it now reduce a percentage of damage taken, it replenishes the player's power on a successful dodge, parry or block. Note that it does not increase Energy used by Rogues, qualifying it as a tank-only Blessing.

Hands

New in Patch 3.0.2, these Hand spells replaced the non-standard situational Blessings, namely Blessing of Protection, Blessing of Sacrifice, Blessing of Freedom and Blessing of Salvation. Since these were used in very situational events, applying them would often overwriting the previous Blessing cast by the same Paladin, wasting mana and possibly Symbol of Kings recasting the previous Blessing. By renaming these situational Blessings to Hands, essentially separating the two systems, it allows the Paladin to use utilise 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. As often with the Paladin arsenal, 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. Not only will it protect the target from all physical damage, it also removes any threat built up by the target for the duration of the Blessing. Once the spell fades though, the normal threat is returned and the foe may return to its original target unless dealt with by another player. This Blessing causes the [Forbearance] effect, and the target cannot receive another Hand of Protection from another Paladin for one minute.

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

Grants immunity to movement-impairing effects by 10 seconds. The duration of this Hand spell can be increased by up to 4 seconds through 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 [Dazed] effects.

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

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

With its mechanics changed in Patch 3.0.2, instead of it being cast as a crowd control breaker, it can now 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 it can accumulate to a significant amount of damage. Paladins using this spell should heal the damage they take themselves in a raid environment as other busy healers do not want another target to focus their healing on.

[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 which may have positive effects on other friendly units who may be attacking the same target. Judgements have a 10 second cooldown, are instant, and do not affect the global cooldown. If a Judgement results in a debuff magic effect on the enemy, it will last 20 seconds but the Paladin can refresh the duration of that debuff by simply striking the target with a melee hit. Only one Judgement debuff can be cast on the enemy by the same Paladin at any one time, but multiple Paladins can maintain different Judgement effects. Judgement effects do not stack. 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 up to 2 seconds via [Improved Judgement] talent, the critical strike chance of Judgement can be increased by 3-15% via [Fanaticism] talent (only affects Judgements that inflict Holy damage), and have up to a 100% chance to return 50% of base mana cost of the judged Seal with every Judgement via [Sanctified Judgement] talent.

Important notes common to all Judgements:

• Judgement is always instant cast.
• Judgement can only be cast on enemy targets.
• Judgement effects last 20 seconds on an enemy target and must be refreshed by judging the seal again.

[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 (walking 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 on occasion if fear effects are used in 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 walking 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 for 25, up to 95 over 5 ranks. 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, gaining value as raid size increases (more melee players will benefit from this Judgement, increasing healing rate). The target must be physically hit by the player for this debuff to heal, and has a heal chance of 50% so fast-hitting melee such as Rogues will benefit most from this Judgement. The value of this Judgement in whatever sized group should not be underestimated, but unfortunately serves no use for players who do not engage in melee combat. 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 33 mana, up to 74 over 4 ranks.

Like [Seal of Light], this is a valued support debuff for any group for classes that use mana. The player only has to hit the target with this Judgement to have a chance of gaining mana. This damage can be physical (melee), spell or from wands. 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 user's auto-attack in various ways and is the basis of the Paladin's melee system. They are instant cast and last 30 seconds, but only one Seal can be used by the Paladin at a time.

All Seals are instant cast with a 30 second duration, and only one can be active at a time.

[Seal of Righteousness]

Adds constant Holy damage per swing, with Holy damage per swing increased with upgrade over 9 ranks. The Holy damage dealt by this spell can be increased by up to 15% via talents.

Note: The additional Holy damage cannot be estimated as it varies depending on weapon speed, handedness and DPS. 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 to begin with at lower levels, but a generous +spell damage coefficient with the Seal depending on the weapon can add a significant amount of damage per melee hit, often doubling damage output from melee damage alone. This is a standard Seal to use for damage, and is a commonly used Seal for Paladin tanking. Holy damage added by the Seal is normalised across all weapons speeds, with slower weapons adding more Holy damage per hit than faster ones to keep the Seal's damage output on par over different weapons. However the benefit from +spell damage with the Seal is not constant, but increases with slower weapon speed. Therefore slower weapons gain extra +spell damage effects with the Seal than fast ones, with a further bonus if the weapon is two-handed instead of one. The damage done each swing cannot crit no matter what the Paladin's spell or melee critical strike rate is.

[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 for 39, up to 133 over 5 ranks.

This Seal isn't often used in either PvE or PvP, but can be useful if the Paladin requires heals without leaving melee combat. The amount healed from melee becomes respectable when used along with [Judgement of Light] on the target. Protection Paladins use it most during AoE grinding. The chance of heal depends on the speed of the weapon; slower weapons have higher chances to heal than faster weapons, normalising the effectiveness of this spell across all weapon types. +Healing gear will not increase the amount healed.

[Seal of Wisdom]

Gives each melee hit a chance to for the Paladin to gain 50 mana, up to 121 mana over 4 ranks.

This has the same utility as [Seal of Light]. This is an excellent Seal to use for regenerating mana, and is even more effective if [Judgement of Wisdom] is already on the target. The chance to gain depends on the speed of the weapon; slower weapons have higher chances to heal than faster weapons, normalising the effectiveness of this spell across all weapon types.

[Seal of Vengeance] Alliance or [Seal of Corruption] Horde

Gives each melee hit a chance to apply Holy Vengeance/Blood Corruption on the target, dealing 150 Holy damage over 15 seconds (30 damage every 3 seconds). The effect can stack up to 5 times (150 damage every 3 seconds). When Holy Vengeance/Blood Corruption has stacked 5 times on a target, each melee attack will deal additional Holy damage.

This Seal is 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 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 the Martyr] Alliance or [Seal of Blood] Horde

Adds Holy damage equal to 22% of normal weapon damage, but 10% damage inflicted with this spell is returned to the Paladin.

The additional Holy damage inflicted cannot be increased with +spell damage gear. It isn't recommended to use this Seal to tank. However, it procs every time you hit, so the overall damage is comparable, or even better than Seal of Command depending on your gear setup. PvE Retribution paladins simply use this seal as their primary seal and save the trouble of getting Seal of Command. The apparent drawback of 10% damage returned is actually benefitial in raid because when the healers heal through that damage, the paladins also gain back mana.

[Seal of Command] Talent only - Retribution Tree

Adds a chance to deal Holy damage equal to 70% of normal weapon damage.

Due to its nature, this Seal is best utilised with a slow, two-handed weapon. On average it procs at about 7 times per minute, so the slower the weapon, the more likely (and harder) it hits. 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.

Heals

Paladins have two basic healing abilities: Holy Light and [Flash of Light], one talented healing ability [Holy Shock] and a last resort heal [Lay on Hands].
Holy Light (2.5 second cast)

Heals the target for 37 to 47, up to 2196 to 2446 through 11 ranks. The amount healed by this spell can be increased by up to 12% via talents.

Holy Light is the Paladin's strongest heal, offering good heal per second rate but at a relatively high mana cost. Due to this, 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 helps with the heavy mana cost, such as [Illumination] combined with and [Sanctified Light]. Therefore, Holy Paladins will have a much easier time healing constantly with this spell than other specs, due to the way the Holy talent tree is set up. This spell also has a high spell damage/healing coefficient, so it is feasible to stock up on the respective items to improve efficiency further. With the proper talents and right gear, it has the potential to become more mana efficient.

[Flash of Light] (1.5 second cast)

Heals the target for 62 to 72, up to 448 to 502 through 7 ranks. 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 that Holy Light, 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, 1 hour cooldown)

Heals the target equal the the Paladin's maximum health and returns 0, up to 900 mana over 4 ranks. The cooldown of this ability can be decreased by up to 20 minutes, as well as increase the target's armour by up to 30% for 2 minutes via talents when Lay on Hands is used.

Lay on Hands is a last resort heal that heals the target equal the the Paladin's maximum health. It is an instant cast, but drains the rest of the Paladin's mana (it cannot be used at 0 mana). Lay on Hands has a very long cooldown, but has the ability to save wipes or turn the tide of a losing battle so time its use correctly. Higher ranks of this ability also returns 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, 15 second cooldown)

Heals a friendly target, or inflicts Holy damage on an enemy for 204 to 220, up to 365 to 395 through 3 ranks.

Due to its high mana cost, it isn't used for healing very often, even with high spell damage and healing stats. It is more likely used in an offensive case due to its range, to compensate for the lack of ranged attacks in the Paladin's base spellbook. [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].

Threat Modifiers

A Paladin has several tools for threat management.

[Righteous Fury] (Instant cast)

Righteous Fury is a self-buff that lasts 30 minutes and increases all threat generated by your Holy spells by 60% (For example, threat from dealing 100 holy damage would be the equivalent of threat from dealing 160 damage to the target). Keep in mind that healing spells are Holy spells, so only use it when you need it and leave it alone if you do not intend on being hit. The threat bonus from this spell can be increased with the Protection Tree talent [Improved Righteous Fury], increasing the effect by up to 50% (for a total of 90% increased threat) as well as reducing all damage taken by up to 6%.

[Righteous Defense] (Instant cast)

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

Righteous Defense is a low-mana, 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.

Abilities by Function

Protection

Paladins have several protective blessings at their disposal for use on group members: Blessing of Protection, which will protect a member from all physical damage for a set number of seconds; Blessing of Sacrifice, which will send a small part of the taken from the blessed player and send it to the Paladin unmitigated; and Blessing of Freedom, which will make the blessed player immune to movement hampering effects.

Tanking

Paladins tanking generally use [Seal of Righteousness] as it is a guaranteed number of holy damage each weapon swing, and may lead with a Judgement of the Crusader for increased Holy Damage. [Seal of Vengeance] (Alliance Paladins only, obtained at level 64) is also a viable seal to use when tanking, although it takes a longer time to build up threat. However, it can deal more Holy damage over time than [Seal of Righteousness] (thus causing more threat), depending on the Paladin's gear.

Debuffs

Paladins have two debuffs (other than judgements) that weaken or harm the victim:

• 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 when the Paladin uses [Seal of Vengeance] whilst physically striking the victim, but its rate of application depends on the weapon. (Alliance Paladins only)
• [Vindication] which is a passive ability talent obtained in the Paladin's Retribution tree, reduces all of the victim's attributes by 5% per talent point (up to 15%).

Area of Effect & Damage over Time

Paladins have one universal AoE ability (besides [Holy Wrath], only usable against Undead NPCs), [Consecration], which is available to everyone. This is also one of two of the Paladin's damage-over-time spells - the other being Holy Vengeance (from [Seal of Vengeance]) but the spell is unique to Alliance Paladins only.

Instant cast | 8 sec cooldown
Consecrates the land beneath the Paladin, doing X Holy damage over 8 sec to enemies who enter the area. The aura is affected by Judgement of the Crusader which can dramatically increase the Paladin's threat levels when tanking.

Rank 1: 136 mana | 64 damage (8 per sec)
Rank 2: 235 mana | 120 damage (15 per sec)
Rank 3: 320 mana | 192 damage (24 per sec)
Rank 4: 435 mana | 280 damage (35 per sec)
Rank 5: 565 mana | 384 damage (48 per sec)

The Consecrate ability has been made available as a class skill starting at level 20 in the Burning Crusade patch released in December of 2006.

Direct Damage

Paladins are a melee Hybrid class, with no ability to use ranged weapons (or wands) whatsoever, so naturally they deal direct damage with weapons. They also have several spells such as instant-cast exorcism and casted holy wrath, which only affect Undead and Demons, Holy Shock, which deals holy damage to any target, and is accessible via the Holy Talent Tree. Finally there is Seal of Righteousness, which deals holy damage with every melee strike, and can be judged to do an amount of direct damage. Seal of Command is similar to Seal of Righteousness, except it triggers less often for more damage; and the amount of holy damage dealt on judging is increased if the target is stunned or otherwise incapacitated. Seal of Command is most useful in burst-damage situations, like PvP. Hammer of Wrath is a ranged spell available to all paladins and only usable on targets under 20% health and has a very brief cast time; if the target heals or regenerates above 20% health at any time - even if the projectile is in flight - the spell will be cancelled. Seal of Blood/Seal of the Martyr is similar to Seal of Command with equal or slightly better overall effectiveness depending on your gear.

Upon release of Patch 2.0 in December of 2006, the three talents that allow paladins to used Ranged Attacks are Holy Shock (Holy, 31-point), Avengers Shield (Protection, 41-point) and Exorcism. Holy Shock's cooldown was halved to 15 seconds, making the Holy Castadin or Mageadin template very viable.

Misc Information on Abilities

Spell Damage and Healing Coefficients

The majority of a holy or protection paladins damage comes from spells. (Spell damage for retribution paladins is being replaced in favor of stats like strength and critical stike in patch 2.4.) Aside from a few talents that can be used to increase holy damage output, the main way is to increase the spell damage/healing attribute. The maximum amount of damage or healing increased is not 100%; it is based on a percentage on a spell by spell basis, as listed below.

• 9.2% per 1.0 weapon speed, One-handed Seal of Righteousness
• 10.8% per 1.0 weapon speed, Two-handed Seal of Righteousness
• 73% Judgement of Righteousness
• 20% Seal of Command (29% with Judgement of the Crusader)
• 43% Judgement of Command
• 96% Consecration
• 43% Holy Shock
• 43% Hammer of Wrath
• 43% Exorcism
• 19% Holy Wrath
• 20% Holy Shield (5% per Block)
• 9% Avenger's Shield
• 17% Seal of Vengeance (per tick)
• 43% Judgement of Vengeance
• 0% Seal of Blood

• 71% Holy Light (healing only)
• 43% Flash of Light (healing only)

For example, 100 spell damage/healing will increase each cast of Judgement of Righteousness by 73 damage, [Holy Shock] by 43 damage and [Holy Light] by 71 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
• Seal of Blood
• Judgement of Blood
• Hammer of Wrath
• Avenger's Shield

Spell Critical Percentage (x1.5 effect)

• Judgement of Righteousness
• 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)
• 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 15% by investing Talent Points in Retribution's [Fanaticism]. This stacks with the paladin's critical chance (spell critical for Judgement of Righteousness, melee critical for Judgement of Command).