Protection Paladin: First Impression of the New Paladin Talent Trees in Dragonflight

Dragonflight Geposted 06.08.2022 um 10:00 von Lincoln

To learn about the best PvE talent builds in Dragonflight for this class, and export these builds into the game, please check out our Holy, Protection, and Retribution Paladin class guides:
Holy Paladin Talent BuildsProtection Paladin Talent BuildsRetribution Paladin Talent BuildsPaladin Dragonflight Class TreePaladin Dragonflight Talents - What’s NewGöttliche BestimmungGeweihter ZornDas Wahnsinnige ParagonAbendrot und Morgenrot

Nachbild: This is just a passive healing trait for Wort der Herrlichkeit. We’ll need to test how smart it is but with smart Hand des Beschützers usage, it could be a nice passive bonus at the right tuning.

Wiedergutmachung: This talent will give more damage or healing based on the damage intake of our Segen der Aufopferung target. You’ll want to pop it on the other tank to maximize damage output. It does add some co-op gameplay with your co-tank so you know when to use it. Communication will be key to using this well. However, I find this idea a bit toxic as it adds incentive to use a critical utility button for throughput.

Siegel der Wohltätigkeit: The concept isn’t new. We had something similar in Shadowlands but this works off spenders and not builders.

Göttliches Streben: This is a permanent stat buff that will always be up.

Gleißendes Strahlen & Berührung des Lichts: These are just passive damage traits. Both are not fully working on Alpha so we can’t judge the damage gain. These will only be used if they sim well.

Siegel der Ordnung: This adds a new effect to Abendrot und Morgenrot. You get more damage in the Dawn phase and more defensive value in the Dusk phase.

Siegel des Kreuzfahrers: This is a throwback to Classic/Vanilla Paladin!

Paladin Dragonflight Talent Tree - First Impressions

The tree is too inflexible with its pathing – This boils down to that the fact that it's very linear and vertical. There aren’t many connecting nodes into different paths of the tree. Once you’re on a path, you can’t pivot for another path like you can in the Shaman class tree. You are forced to pick up specific talents and go a specific path because it's the only way to move down the tree.

Too many two- and three-point talents – There are simply too many two- and three-point talents that water down the value of my talent points. It feels better to spend two points and get two unique talents than spend two points on the same talent.

Too much of a clear division between right and left – The character power is on the right side of the tree while the utility is more towards the left. This means that you have to go a completely separate branch/path to pick up utility. You can't just pick them up on your normal path to the bottom.

Too many trivial talents that should be "baseline" – This includes talents like Großes Richturteil, Zornige Vergeltung, Zornige Vergeltung: Macht, and even Göttliches Ross. Even something like Handauflegung, should be baseline as its part of the current Shadowlands New Player Experience and it's such an iconic button in the history of the class.

Lessening of Rewarding gameplay – , for example, is much harder to justify because it doesn't mesh well with how Schildwache works and our reduced Holy Power economy. is meant to reward a Protection Paladin with more damage for taking some risk to their survivability. The risk as presented is not worth the reward.

Gives away my only unique button – I’ve written a lot on Wowhead about Segen des Zauberschutzes being such an important button in the tank meta as well in the meta of other Paladins. Now that Holy has access to it and Aurenmeisterschaft, I’ve lost the one thing that made me unique. Holy Paladin is such a staple in PvE content that now any tank has access to Segen des Zauberschutzes.

The left side/branch is a mini-game – Abendrot und Morgenrot was not an interesting mini-game in Shadowlands and it won't be an interesting mini-game in Dragonflight. It's too much work for what is extraordinarily little payoff.

View in Dragonflight Talent CalcDas Wahnsinnige ParagonProtection Paladin Dragonflight Spec TreeProtection Paladin Dragonflight Talents - What’s New?

Schildwache: This is the big new one. It adds a damage reduction effect to Avenging Wrath and some interplay with the Holy Power system. We'll need to optimize our resource economy to use it well. This looks like a must pick so far.

Inneres Licht: This was an Azerite trait in BFA and I’m really surprised that it was brought back. This trait was notorious for being insanely broken/overpowered for all BFA beta and nerfed beneath the ground the night before BFA launched. The pendulum in power swung so much that you never used this, ever. And I think it won’t be used again without a massive buff. The biggest issue is the ICD on the damage part. And if it’s ever “good” again, you’ll see potential /cancelaura macros to maximize damage output. This is a clear candidate for replacement in the iteration process.

Unnachgiebiger Inquisitor: This is a boring and passive haste trait. The reason it’s on here is to call out that I think they put the wrong version of this trait in the talent tree. This is the Azerite version that was in BFA but I think they meant to include the Shadowlands legendary version. The BFA Azerite version was not particularly good and if it remains, you'll skip over it.

Flammenweihe: This was a Legion Artifact trait that extended the duration of Weihe. But unlike then, this will be skipped unless it sims well for damage. The intent of the talent is to reduce the cast frequency of Weihe and make maintenance a bit easier. However, a one second duration increase is not even one global cooldown. You gain nothing in terms of rotation flexibility. It has to be at least three seconds for it to have an impact, even if that means the damage bonus is a bit lower.

Bastion des Lichts: This is a returning talent from BFA. This is the type of thing that Protection Paladin needs as mitigation ramp-up e.g. the time into a fight it took to get Schild der Rechtschaffenen and Weihe active was four global cooldowns in Shadowlands and it could be five in Dragonflight. This could be a good talent for those situations where a Protection Paladin could just die on the pull or to even offset potential usage. However, its placement could use some work as I think it should be more centralized and harder to dodge.

Licht der Titanen: This is a returning Legion Artifact trait. Back then it was quite weak but now it’s very strong after a huge buff. This could be a must pick.

Entschlossenheit des Kreuzfahrers: This is a returning set bonus from Tomb of Sargeras that gives your Schild des Rächers a damage reduction effect to any target it hits. After thinking about this, as well as recollecting the Legion version of the bonus, I don't think this will be any good. It has two flaws: first, the hits on Schild des Rächers are random. You can’t ensure it debuffs the mob you need especially if your priority is another target from the dangerous mob in a dungeon pull. And in raid, Oberster Kreuzfahrer procs vary a lot from boss to boss and you could have extremely poor uptime. With low uptime, you’ll get more damage reduction from Refugium which is more predictable and not subject to RNG.

Vollstrecker von Tyr / Konzentrierte Feindseligkeit / Ferren Marcus' Eifer / Barrikade des Glaubens: These are a series of talents to add more weight to Schild des Rächers and keep it an important button in the rotation as they are meant to offset the loss of Holy Power. All of them have situational value and could see use in Dragonflight.

Vertrauen in das Licht: This is the return of a Mists of Pandaria set bonus. It will only be picked because of its tree location and pathing but it will add some better defensive value to free Wort der Herrlichkeit self-heals.

Gabe der goldenen Val'kyr: This is a returning Legendary from Legion. Back then it wasn’t used much and yet to be seen how much use it sees in Dragonflight. It’s on the same row as Beschützer der Rechtschaffenen which can be a better all-around talent. This could be a candidate for changes in future alpha builds.

Auge von Tyr: And finally, we come to our Legion Artifact ability, which is returning for Dragonflight. I wrote a bit about this in my wish list and my general opinion remains. However, given the layout of the tree, I think it is a strong talent option that will be included in a number of builds.

Protection Dragonflight Talent Tree - First Impressions

There aren’t enough talents to change and customize our gameplay.

There are too many two-point talents. Again, it feels better to spend two points on two talents instead of two points on the same talent.

It’s way too linear without much horizontal movement. Once you’re stuck in a path, you usually can’t get out of it.

SchildwacheZornige VergeltungView in Dragonflight Talent CalcBeschützer der RechtschaffenenSchildwacheAuge von TyrSchild der RechtschaffenenFerren Marcus' EiferKonzentrierte FeindseligkeitVollstrecker von TyrSegelnder SchildProtection Class Dragonflight Talents for Raiding - How Strong is It?Schild der RechtschaffenenAuge von TyrSchildwacheSchild der RechtschaffenenSchild der RechtschaffenenConclusionHammer der RechtschaffenenGesegneter Hammer

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