This build leaves 5 points to be placed into Reckoning, Hallowed Ground, Pursuit of Justice or Rule of Law as you desire.
Note: Some aspects of this guide may not apply to your character until higher level. If are interested in getting your character to max level quickly, take a look at this leveling guide.
Glyphs come in three varieties, Prime, Major and Minor. Prime glyphs enhance core aspects of your class and generally provide the greatest benefit of the three types.
Major Glyphs, while not quite as powerful as Prime Glyphs, are still useful and continue to provide a myriad of benefits.
Minor Glyphs often times provide small quality of life improvements or visual changes, such as the Glyph of Shadow Form for priests which makes the character more visible through Shadow Form. However, a few are known to provide more significant benefits such as the warrior glyph of Berserker Rage.
Prime Glyphs:
Major Glyphs:
Here are your highest priority abilities.
Holy Power can be used to either increase damage, and thus threat, or to heal yourself as well as, with the talent, apply a protective shield for 6 seconds with the overheal from your Word of Glory.
Depending on how hard you’re being hit and whether or not a bigger attack may be coming up, you’ll have to choose between these two choices while tanking.
Use Judgement to keep the buff active. Avenger’s Shield has a silence effect that with pulling spell casting mobs that would otherwise remain at a distance and can be used as an interrupt when already in combat along with Rebuke.
AoE Rotation
The primary change when tanking groups of mob as opposed to a single target is the use of Hammer of the Righteous rather than Crusader Strike. Use Consecration and Holy Wrath whenever possible.
Cooldowns
As a tank, your cooldowns largely relate to your own survival. Determining when and how many to use depends on a number of factors from fight mechanics to how much mana your healers have left, making it a sometimes difficult and important personal judgement call.
In smaller 5-man situations cooldowns make things easier on healers, but are generally not mandatory, whereas in raid settings there are mechanics that demand the tank use his cooldowns or die. Proper use of cooldowns requires anticipation of, or quick reaction to damage levels that your healers can’t keep up with or are incapable of handling at that moment due to being dead, mind controlled, etc.
Generally speaking if you feel threatened it’s better to blow a cooldown or two rather than potentially die, because if you do die your team will more likely than not follow soon after.
Master > Parry = Dodge > Stamina > Expertise = Hit
Mastery – Divine Bulwark:
Protection Paladin Mastery increases block chance, and is the most effective way of reaching the block cap and increasing survivability.
Stamina:
Stamina increases your maximum life and with that the effectiveness of Vengeance.
Parry:
Parry Rating increases your chances of parrying an attack.
Dodge:
Dodge rating increases your chance of dodging an attack, another form of damage avoidance.
Expertise:
Expertise reduces the chance that your attacks are parried dodged by an enemy. You gain Expertise by using a Glyphed Seal of Truth, making this a stat that is generally unnecessary in most cases.
Hit:
Hit rating reduces the chance that your attacks miss.
Reforging
When reforging gear, it’s important that you look to reforge from your least effective stat into the most effective for whatever gear goal you are currently aiming for. See our stat priority list for more information.
Mastery (To Block Cap 102.4%) > Dodge = Parry > Expertise > Hit
Reaching the block cap requires that your combined Block/Parry/Dodge equal 102.4% when enemy miss rate, 5%, is taken into account. Reforging into Mastery is the best way of achieving this cap.
Dodge and Parry offer additional damage avoidance, try to keep them at similar levels.
Gems
- Red – Fine Ember Topaz
- Blue – Puissant Dream Emerald
- Yellow – Fractured Amberjewel
- Meta – Eternal Shadowspirit Diamond – Austere Shadowspirit Diamond
Enchantments
- Main Hand: Windwalk
- Shield: Enchant Shield – Mastery
- Helm: Arcanum of the Earthen Ring
- Shoulders: Greater Inscription of Unbreakable Quartz
- Cloak: Enchant Cloak – Protection
- Chest: Enchant Chest – Greater Stamina
- Bracers: Enchant Bracer – Superior Dodge
- Gloves: Enchant Gloves – Greater Mastery
- Belt: Ebonsteel Belt Buckle
- Leggings: Drakehide Leg Armor
- Boots: Enchant Boots – Mastery
Our class guides for whichever class you’re playing:
Death Knights – Druid – Hunter – Mage – Paladin
Priest – Rogue – Shaman – Warlock – Warrior
The GotWarcraft Gold Guide
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