The overall rotation of a Protection Paladin has changed in Cataclysm, especially with the arrival of the Holy Power system. The rotation is a bit more complicated, however, quite intuitive, meaning that it has an easy learning curve. The playstyle revolves around consistently generating Holy Power and spending it with different abilities while using your defensive cooldowns to mitigate as much damage as possible.
In this section of the guide, we will go over the rotation and abilities of Protection Paladin Tank, in both Single-Target and AoE/Cleave encounters.
Single-Target Rotation
- Cast Righteous Fury and never remove it
- Cast Divine Plea to generate 3 x Holy Power
- Cast Inquisition to increase your Holy Damage and initial Threat Generation on Pull
- Cast Holy Shield on cooldown
- Cast Avenger’s Shield on cooldown and whenever you gain the Grand Crusader proc
- Cast Consecration after you pull and properly position yourself
- Cast Consecration on Cooldown
- Cast Hammer of Wrath during the Execution Phase
- Cast Judgement on cooldown
- Cast Shield of the Righteous when you have 3 x Holy Power
- Cast Crusader Strike to generate Holy Power (Main Filler)
Compared to the previous version of Protection Paladin from WotLK, the current Cataclysm version is a lot more spammier with a lot less downtime, especially with the new Holy Power system. The rotation can be a bit convoluted, with abilities such as Judgement and Avenger’s Shield that overlap in terms of availability from time to time. However, there is one simple thing to keep in mind, you must maintain your mana high at all times, use abilities on cooldown, while also consistently generating and spending Holy Power!
To do so, you will spam Crusader Strike on cooldown and Shield of the Righteous whenever you have 3 x Holy Power. Judgement should be prioritized over Avenger’s Shield only if you are below 50% Mana while Avenger’s Shield will be prioritized over Judgement whenever you have more than 50% Mana or the Grand Crusader proc. Consecration should be placed as early as possible, even during a Single-Target encounter for the Threat Generation, and should be used on cooldown afterward. Divine Plea and Inquisition will also be used at the beginning of each boss fight to ensure Threat Generation, since it will considerably raise the damage of abilities such as Avenger’s Shield and Consecration.
In terms of defensive abilities and major cooldowns, Holy Shield is the ability that you will cast most often as it has the lowest cooldown, effectively pressing it whenever you have it available. Abilities such as Divine Protection and Guardian of Ancient Kings should be used during critical moments of the encounters when you are about to take heavy amounts of damage.
AoE/Cleave Rotation
- Cast Righteous Fury and never remove it
- Cast Divine Plea to generate 3 x Holy Power
- Cast Inquisition to increase your Holy Damage and initial Threat Generation on Pull
- Cast Holy Shield on cooldown
- Cast Avenger’s Shield to pull
- Cast Avenger’s Shield on cooldown and whenever you gain the Grand Crusader proc
- Cast Consecration after you pull and properly position yourself
- Cast Consecration on Cooldown
- Cast Hammer of Wrath during the Execution Phase
- Cast Judgement on cooldown
- Cast Shield of the Righteous when you have 3 x Holy Power
- Cast Hammer of the Righteous to generate Holy Power (Main Filler)
- Cast Holy Wrath only if you have above 75% Mana
The AoE/Cleave rotation is extremely similar to the Single-Target rotation. It works on a priority list for spells, with Avenger’s Shield and Judgement being used on cooldown and prioritized one over another depending on the situation. Instead of Crusader Strike, Hammer of the Righteous acts as your Main Filler, having no target limit in Cataclysm! Since the target limit from WotLK has been removed, Protection Paladins have a much easier time in AoE/Cleave encounters now.
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