Paladin abilities

Classes
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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.

Trainable abilities

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

Icon	Ability	Min Level	Tree	Description
	[Crusader Strike]	Starts with	Retribution	An instant strike that causes 120% weapon damage and grants a charge of Holy Power.
	Judgement	3	Retribution	Unleashes the energy of a Seal to judge an enemy for $d Holy damage.
	[Seal of Righteousness]	3	Protection	Fills the Paladin with holy spirit for 30 min, granting each single-target melee attack (MWS * (0.011 * AP.022 * holy power)) additional Holy damage. Only one Seal can be active on the Paladin at any one time.
	[Devotion Aura]	5	Protection	Gives X additional armor to party and raid members within 40 yards. Players may only have one Aura on them per Paladin at any one time.
	[Hammer of Justice]	7	Protection	Stuns the target for 6 sec.
	[Word of Glory]	9	Holy	Consumes all Holy Power to heal a friendly target for X per charge of Holy Power.
	Parry	10	Protection	Gives a chance to parry enemy melee attacks.
	[Righteous Fury]	12	Protection	Increases your threat generation while active, making you a more effective tank. Lasts until cancelled.
	[Hand of Reckoning]	14	Protection	Taunts the target to attack you, but has no effect if the target is already attacking you.
	[Holy Light]	14	Holy	Heals a friendly target for X.
	[Flash of Light]	16	Holy	A quick, expensive heal that heals a friendly target for X.
	[Lay on Hands]	16	Holy	Heals a friendly target for an amount equal to the Paladin's maximum health and restores X of their mana. If used on self, the Paladin cannot be targeted by Divine Shield, Divine Protection, Hand of Protection, or self-targeted Lay on Hands again for 2 min.
	[Exorcism]	18	Holy	Causes X Holy damage to an enemy target. If the target is Undead or Demon, it will always critically hit.
	[Hand of Protection]	18	Protection	A targeted party or raid member is protected from all physical attacks for 10 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 targeted by Divine Shield, Divine Protection, or Hand of Protection again for 2 min.
	[Blessing of Kings]	22	Protection	Places a Blessing on the friendly target, increasing Strength, Agility, Stamina, and Intellect by 5%, and all magical resistances by (cond($lte(level, 70), level / 2, cond($lte(level, 80), level / 2 + (level) / 2 * 5, level / 2 + (level) / 2 * 5 + (level) / 2 * 7)) - 0.5), for 1 hour. If target is in your party or raid, all party and raid members will be affected. Players may only have one Blessing on them per Paladin at any one time.
	[Consecration]	24	Holy	Consecrates the land beneath the Paladin, doing (8 * (0 + 0.027 * holy power.027 * AP)) Holy damage over 10 sec to enemies who enter the area.
	[Retribution Aura]	26	Retribution	Causes X Holy damage to any enemy that strikes a party or raid member within 40 yards. Players may only have one Aura on them per Paladin at any one time.
	[Holy Wrath]	28	Holy	Sends bolts of holy power in all directions, causing (0.3 * holy power + X) Holy damage divided among all targets within 10 yds and stunning all Demons and Undead for 3 sec.
	[Redemption]	28	Holy	Brings a dead ally back to life with 35% of maximum health and mana. Cannot be cast when in combat.
	[Divine Protection]	30	Protection	Reduces all damage taken by 20% for 10 sec.
	[Seal of Insight]	32	Holy	Fills the Paladin with divine power for 30 min, giving each single-target melee attack a chance to heal the Paladin for (0.15 * AP.15 * holy power) and restore 4% of the paladin's maximum mana. Only one Seal can be active on the Paladin at any one time. Unleashing this Seal's energy will deal (1 + 0.25 * holy power.16 * AP) Holy damage to an enemy.
	[Cleanse]	34	Holy	Cleanses a friendly target, removing 1 Poison effect and 1 Disease effect.
	[Righteous Defense]	36	Protection	Come to the defense of a friendly target, commanding up to 3 enemies attacking the target to attack the Paladin instead.
	Plate Mail	40	General
	[Concentration Aura]	42	Holy	All party or raid members within 40 yards lose 35% less casting or channeling time when damaged. Players may only have one Aura on them per Paladin at any one time.
	[Divine Plea]	44	Holy	You gain 10% of your total mana over 15 sec, but the amount healed by your healing spells is reduced by 50%.
	[Seal of Truth]	44	Retribution	Fills the Paladin with holy power, causing single-target attacks to Censure the target, which deals ((0.013 * holy power.025 * AP) * 5) additional Holy damage over 15 sec. Censure can stack up to 5 times. Once stacked to 5 times, each of the Paladin's attacks also deals 16% weapon damage as additional Holy damage. Only one Seal can be active on the Paladin at any one time. Lasts 30 min. Unleashing this Seal's energy will deal (1 + 0.22 * holy power.14 * AP) Holy damage to an enemy, increased by 10% for each application of Censure on the target.
	[Hammer of Wrath]	46	Retribution	Hurls a hammer that strikes an enemy for 1254+0.15*holy power.15*AP to 1384+0.15*holy power.15*AP Holy damage. Only usable on enemies that have 20% or less health.
	[Divine Shield]	48	Protection	Protects the paladin from all damage and spells for 8 sec, but reduces all damage you deal by 50%. Once protected, the target cannot be targeted by Divine Shield, Divine Protection, or Hand of Protection again for 2 min.
	Plate Specialization	50	General	Grants a 5% increase to your primary attribute for wearing plate in all armor slots. Increases your primary attribute by 5% while wearing Plate in all armor slots. Holy specialization grants Intellect, Protection specialization grants Stamina, and Retribution specialization grants Strength.
	[Hand of Freedom]	52	Protection	Places a Hand on the friendly target, granting immunity to movement impairing effects for 6 sec. Players may only have one Hand on them per Paladin at any one time.
	[Blessing of Might]	56	Retribution	Places a Blessing on the friendly target, increasing attack power by 10% and restoring X mana every 5 seconds for 1 hour. If target is in your party or raid, all party and raid members will be affected. Players may only have one Blessing on them per Paladin at any one time.
	[Crusader Aura]	62	Retribution	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.
	Divine Light	62	Holy	A large heal that heals a friendly target for X. Good for periods of heavy damage.
	[Seal of Justice]	64	Protection	Fills the Paladin with the spirit of justice for 30 min, causing each single-target melee attack to limit the target's maximum run speed for 5 sec and deal (MWS * (0.005 * AP.01 * holy power)) additional Holy damage. Only one Seal can be active on the Paladin at any one time. Unleashing this Seal's energy will deal (1 + 0.25 * holy power.16 * AP) Holy damage to an enemy.
	[Hand of Salvation]	66	Protection	Places a Hand on the party or raid member, reducing their total threat by 2% every 1 sec. for 10 sec. Players may only have one Hand on them per Paladin at any one time.
	[Avenging Wrath]	72	Retribution	Increases all damage and healing caused by 20% for 20 sec.
	[Resistance Aura]	76	Protection	Gives (cond($lte(level, 70), level, cond($lte(level, 80), level + (level) * 5, level + (level) * 5 + (level) * 7))) additional Fire, Frost and Shadow resistance to all party and raid members within 40 yards. Players may only have one Aura on them per Paladin at any one time.
	[Turn Evil]	78	Holy	The targeted undead or demon enemy will be compelled to flee for up to 20 sec. Damage caused may interrupt the effect. Only one target can be turned at a time.
	[Hand of Sacrifice]	80	Protection	Places a Hand on the party or raid member, transfering 30% damage taken to the caster. Lasts 12 sec or until the caster has transfered 100% of their maximum health. Players may only have one Hand on them per Paladin at any one time.
	Mastery	80	N/A	Allows you to benefit from mastery rating. Check your talent overview pane for additional details.
	[Inquisition]	81	Retribution	Consumes all Holy Power to increase your Holy Damage by 30%. Lasts 4 sec per charge of Holy Power consumed.
	[Holy Radiance]	83	Holy	Heals all friendly targets within 10 yards for X every sec. Lasts 10 sec.
	[Guardian of Ancient Kings]	85	Protection	Select a talent specialization in order to activate Guardian of Ancient Kings.

Talent Granted Abilities

Holy

Icon	Ability	Reqs	Description
	[Divine Favor]	Holy 10	Increases your spell casting haste by 20% and spell critical chance by 20% for 20 sec.
	[Beacon of Light]	Holy 15	The target becomes a Beacon of Light to all members of your party or raid within a 60 yard radius. Any heals 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 1 min.
	[Aura Mastery]	Holy 20	Causes your Concentration Aura to make all affected targets immune to Silence and Interrupt effects and improve the effect of all other auras by 100%. Lasts 6 sec.
	[Light of Dawn]	Holy 30	Send a wave of healing energy before you, healing yourself and all friendly targets up to 30 yards away.

Protection

Icon	Ability	Reqs	Description
	[Hammer of the Righteous]	Protection 10	Hammer the current target for 30% weapon damage, causing a wave of light that hits all targets within 8 yards for Holy damage. Grants a charge of Holy Power.
	[Shield of the Righteous]	Protection 15  [Sanctuary] 3	Slam the target with your shield, causing Holy damage. Consumes all charges of Holy Power to determine damage dealt.
	[Divine Guardian]	Protection 20	All party or raid members, excluding the Paladin, take 20% reduced damage for 6 sec.
	[Ardent Defender]	Protection 30	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.

Retribution

Icon	Ability	Reqs	Description
	[Divine Storm]	Retribution 10	An instant attack that causes 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. Consumes all Holy Power to increase damage dealt.
	[Rebuke]	Retribution 15	Interrupts spellcasting and prevents any spell in that school from being cast for 4 sec.
	[Repentance]	Retribution 20	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.
	[Zealotry]	Retribution 30	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.

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% with [Improved 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 60 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.

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 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. It increases all resilience by 32, Strength, Agility, and Stamina 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.

Note that Patch 4.0.1 removed "Greater" Blessings, Blessing of Sanctuary, and Blessing of Wisdom from the game.

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 [Dazed] 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 Truth]

Leaves a stacking DoT debuff that deals holy damage and stacks to 5. In addition, deals 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 ideal for tanking, but takes extra time to generate high levels of threat compared to Righteousness or Command. Depending on fight length, over time SoV will deal 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 additional 33% Holy damage from a melee hit on a 5-stack Holy Vengeance/Blood Corruption-inflicted target can critically hit at melee critical damage, with critical rate equal to the Paladin's melee 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. Alternatively, this seal is superior to Vengeance in fights where the Paladin won't have time to stack Holy Vengeance/Blood Corruption (i.e. trash fights). 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 4 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 Truth] 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 (very effective 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 Truth]).

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.