Finally Meta? - Why Protection Paladins Are Good in Shadowlands Mythic+ Season 2

Live Posted 2021/11/30 at 7:12 PM by Lincoln

CptrogersShield of the RighteousHammer of Wrath CommunityTwitterStat Scaling ExplainedShield of the RighteousWord of GloryShield of the RighteousWord of GloryResolute DefenderRighteous ProtectorOld Warrior's SoulMastery: Divine BulwarkConsecrationConsecrationMastery: Critical BlockMastery: Blood ShieldMastery: Divine BulwarkHoly ShieldConsecrationTormented Anima PowersChampion's BrandCrumbling BulwarkChampion's BrandThe Stygian King's BarbsChampion's BrandChampion's BrandChampion's BrandChampion's BrandCrumbling BulwarkConsecrationShield of the RighteousCrumbling BulwarkTank and Dungeon Tuning AdjustmentsAegis of LightDemonic WardsConsecrationUtility and Synergy

Blessing of Protection to cheese mechanics like Carnage on Executioner Varruth or to remove a Juggernaut Rush soak from Kryxis the Voracious in Sanguine Depths.

They can use Blessing of Sacrifice on any party member who needs an external.

Brings Devotion Aura for passive group wide damage reduction.

Brings general crowd control like Hammer of Justice or Blinding Light or even Turn Evil that can be used on the Doctor Ickus encounter in Plaguefall.

Brings obscure utility like Pure Concentration for Ingra Maloch in Mists of Tirna Scithe to help with Repulsive Visage.

Through Rebuke, Avenger's Shield, Divine Toll, and Wind Shear, both specs can cover the large number of the interrupts required in a Mythic+ dungeon.

Paladin brings Cleanse Toxins while Shaman brings Purify Spirit. This covers all four debuff types and makes doing big pulls in some dungeons like Plaguefall or Sanguine Depths easier.

Shaman has a group-wide damage reduction through Spirit Link Totem which is primarly used as a tank external in high keys.

Shaman has a complimentary amount of crowd control with Capacitor Totem, Earthbind Totem, or Hex.

Shaman brings strong utility buttons like Bloodlust, Tremor Totem and Purge.

Shaman has Earth Elemental to help take the pressure off in a big pull where a Paladin might have had to kite.

Soulbinds and LegendariesEffusive Anima AcceleratorDivine TollDivine TollDivine ResonanceAvenger's ShieldDivine TollFirst AvengerDivine ResonanceEffusive Anima AcceleratorDivine ResonanceBulwark of Righteous FuryBulwark of Righteous FuryDivine ResonanceSeason 3 and BeyondCrumbling Bulwarksecond legendarytier bonuses

Comment by HopefulBlizzFanvery interesting thanksComment by Mighty1404Out of curiosity, why not Holy Avenger's Engraved Sigil? You get 3 AS every 40 sec with Divine Ressonance, but on a M+s evoirnment, won't Holy Avenger's Engraved Sigil give you more uses? Also, in 9.2 when double legendary becomes an option, Do you think that Divine Ressonance + Holy Avenger's Engraved Sigil may be a AS Machine Gun build?Comment by LincolnOut of curiosity, why not Holy Avenger's Engraved Sigil? You get 3 AS every 40 sec with Divine Ressonance, but on a M+s evoirnment, won't Holy Avenger's Engraved Sigil give you more uses? Also, in 9.2 when double legendary becomes an option, Do you think that Divine Ressonance + Holy Avenger's Engraved Sigil may be a AS Machine Gun build?Comment by Ibokpally tanks have been good since bfa.Comment by greeneggprot was good in season 1 too, it's just DH was insane and overshadowed everyone else.Comment by PbhuhSeason 3 and Beyond
Heading into Season 3 M+, Prot Paladin is looking to be in a strong position to keep its place in the meta. Sure, it will lose access to ~400 secondary stats and Crumbling Bulwark but that will be made up with another tier’s worth of gear, and more external power systems through a second legendary, tier bonuses, potential new trinkets, and other new systems.Comment by GwenodaiI think the Champion's Brand write up is mistaken and is confusing Champion's Brand with the real stat buffs they should be looking at. The Champion's Brand buff that you get from the anima orb doesn't actually give you stats but instead applies Champion's Brutality or Champion's Mastery when appropriate. If you select Champion's Brand in logs you'll see that 100% uptime despite health drops exactly as the image in the post shows. However if you look at either of the two actual stat buffs in logs with similar health charts, you'll notice they do very much drop off even during quick spikes in health. The buff that stays active during those dips in health (Champion's Brand) actually doesn't give you either stat, it just exists to return the appropriate stat buff to you when your health returns to >=70%.Comment by lovelywazthere is the Divine Resonance legendary which automatically fires off an Avenger's Shield every 5 seconds for 15 seconds after you Divine Toll. This provides a First Avenger shield every 5 seconds ...Divine ResonanceAvenger's ShieldJudgmentDivine TollAvenger's ShieldComment by SaidinThis whole paragraph actually doesn't fit in when you read the tooltip of Divine Resonance again. It doesn't cast Avenger's Shield but Judgment ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Casting Divine Toll does actually cast a free Avenger's Shield but that's just once and not every 5 secs.Comment by LincolnI think the Champion's Brand write up is mistaken and is confusing Champion's Brand with the real stat buffs they should be looking at. The Champion's Brand buff that you get from the anima orb doesn't actually give you stats but instead applies Champion's Brutality or Champion's Mastery when appropriate. If you select Champion's Brand in logs you'll see that 100% uptime despite health drops exactly as the image in the post shows. However if you look at either of the two actual stat buffs in logs with similar health charts, you'll notice they do very much drop off even during quick spikes in health. The buff that stays active during those dips in health (Champion's Brand) actually doesn't give you either stat, it just exists to return the appropriate stat buff to you when your health returns to >=70%.Comment by AuraCCI really like this type of article, kudosComment by LuumThis changes depending on the spec since it's not a spec spesific legendary. Judgement for Ret, Holy Shock for Holy, and Avenger's Shield for Protection.Comment by lovelywazThis whole paragraph actually doesn't fit in when you read the tooltip of Divine Resonance again. It doesn't cast Avenger's Shield but Judgment ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Casting Divine Toll does actually cast a free Avenger's Shield but that's just once and not every 5 secs.Comment by BullseyedThis whole paragraph actually doesn't fit in when you read the tooltip of Divine Resonance again. It doesn't cast Avenger's Shield but Judgment ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Casting Divine Toll does actually cast a free Avenger's Shield but that's just once and not every 5 secs.Comment by PelontirThanks alot for this article Lincoln, very informative!Comment by GwenodaiI think the Champion's Brand write up is mistaken and is confusing Champion's Brand with the real stat buffs they should be looking at. The Champion's Brand buff that you get from the anima orb doesn't actually give you stats but instead applies Champion's Brutality or Champion's Mastery when appropriate. If you select Champion's Brand in logs you'll see that 100% uptime despite health drops exactly as the image in the post shows. However if you look at either of the two actual stat buffs in logs with similar health charts, you'll notice they do very much drop off even during quick spikes in health. The buff that stays active during those dips in health (Champion's Brand) actually doesn't give you either stat, it just exists to return the appropriate stat buff to you when your health returns to >=70%.Champion's BrandChampion's BrandComment by lovelywazThis whole paragraph actually doesn't fit in when you read the tooltip of Divine Resonance again. It doesn't cast Avenger's Shield but Judgment ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Casting Divine Toll does actually cast a free Avenger's Shield but that's just once and not every 5 secs.https://www.wowhead.com/news/blizzard-on-paladin-tier-set-bonuses-clarification-on-prot-4-set-and-ret-2-set-325156JudgmentComment by LincolnI think the Champion's Brand write up is mistaken and is confusing Champion's Brand with the real stat buffs they should be looking at. The Champion's Brand buff that you get from the anima orb doesn't actually give you stats but instead applies Champion's Brutality or Champion's Mastery when appropriate. If you select Champion's Brand in logs you'll see that 100% uptime despite health drops exactly as the image in the post shows. However if you look at either of the two actual stat buffs in logs with similar health charts, you'll notice they do very much drop off even during quick spikes in health. The buff that stays active during those dips in health (Champion's Brand) actually doesn't give you either stat, it just exists to return the appropriate stat buff to you when your health returns to >=70%.Champion's BrandChampion's BrandComment by LincolnThis whole paragraph actually doesn't fit in when you read the tooltip of Divine Resonance again. It doesn't cast Avenger's Shield but Judgment ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Casting Divine Toll does actually cast a free Avenger's Shield but that's just once and not every 5 secs.https://www.wowhead.com/news/blizzard-on-paladin-tier-set-bonuses-clarification-on-prot-4-set-and-ret-2-set-325156Judgment