Protection Paladin Tank Gems, Enchants, Professions, and Consumables (WoW MoP 5.3)

Last updated by Vlad on 20 May. 2013
Protection Paladin Art Image

In this article, we present you with the best gems and enchants that you can get for a Protection Paladin in WoW MoP 5.3, including profession-specific perks. We also list the best consumables: food, flasks, and potions.

Make sure to check our Gear Optimisation Guide, which serves as a support guide for this article. The other articles of our Protection Paladin guide can be accessed from the table of content on the right.

This guide has been reviewed and approved by Theck (@TheckPhD), the main author of Sacred Duty (a well respected, and arguably the most valuable Protection Paladin theorycrafting resource).

1. Gems↑top

Gem choice will vary based on your raid category (10 or 25, Normal or Heroic), healers setup, raid composition, and personal preference. While Stamina is generally your best raw survivability stat, it is common to find yourself in a situation where adding more survivability is less advantageous than adding more DPS, or than increasing another stat for a smaller survivability gain in a more specific situation.

Below we list both Stamina and non-Stamina options for each socket type. Players who value Stamina highly will likely use pure Stamina gems in blue sockets, and hybrid Stamina gems in yellow or red sockets. Players who do not value Stamina as highly will gravitate more towards secondary stat gems according to their gearing strategy. If you are unsure of what to choose, we recommend playing it safe and choosing the Stamina or hybrid Stamina options, and then adjusting your gem choices as you become more experienced in evaluating your needs.

1.1. Control/Mastery Gemming

Sockets Gems
Meta Socket Austere Primal Diamond Icon Austere Primal Diamond or Indomitable Primal Diamond Icon Indomitable Primal Diamond (better)
Blue Socket
Red Socket
Yellow Socket
Prismatic Socket

1.2. Avoidance Gemming

Sockets Gems
Meta Socket Austere Primal Diamond Icon Austere Primal Diamond or Indomitable Primal Diamond Icon Indomitable Primal Diamond (better)
Blue Socket
Red Socket
Yellow Socket
Prismatic Socket

1.3. Control/Haste Gemming

Sockets Gems
Meta Socket Austere Primal Diamond Icon Austere Primal Diamond or Indomitable Primal Diamond Icon Indomitable Primal Diamond (better)
Blue Socket
Red Socket
Yellow Socket
Prismatic Socket

If you are still unsure what the optimal gemming strategy is for your character, you can Ask Mr. Robot for a personalised optimisation of your character's gear, by filling the form below.

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Character Name
Ask Mr. Robot

2. Enchants↑top

Slot Main Enchantments Extra Enchantments
Shoulders
Back
Chest Enchant Chest - Superior Stamina Icon Enchant Chest - Superior Stamina
Wrists Socket Bracer Icon Socket Bracer (Blacksmithing)
Hands
Waist
Legs
Feet
Rings Enchant Ring - Greater Stamina Icon Enchant Ring - Greater Stamina (Enchanting)
Weapon
Shield Enchant Shield - Greater Parry Icon Enchant Shield - Greater Parry

Note that Extra Enchantments can be applied to an item in addition to a Main Enchantment.

3. Consumables↑top

3.1. Food

We advise you to always eat food that gives you Stamina. You will be granted:

3.2. Flask

For the vast majority of encounters, you should use a Flask of the Earth Icon Flask of the Earth. Your other option is Flask of Winter's Bite Icon Flask of Winter's Bite, which grants you Strength. Strength provides you with increased DPS/threat, as well as increasing your chance to parry.

Finally, it is possible to use a combination of elixirs. The best combinations are either Elixir of the Rapids Icon Elixir of the Rapids and Mantid Elixir Icon Mantid Elixir, or Monk's Elixir Icon Monk's Elixir and Mantid Elixir Icon Mantid Elixir.

3.3. Potion

During the encounter, your best choice for a potion will be Potion of the Mountains Icon Potion of the Mountains for physical damage and Master Healing Potion Icon Master Healing Potion for magic damage.

4. Summing-up Profession Perks↑top

Choosing a profession for your Protection Paladin can impact your raid performance. As a rule, you should shy away from gathering professions (with the exception of Mining), which leaves the following viable professions for raiding:

Profession Perks
Blacksmithing Provides a 640 Mastery or 480 Stamina gain through two extra sockets, Socket Bracer Icon Socket Bracer and Socket Gloves Icon Socket Gloves, in which you can fit 2 Fractured Sun's Radiance Icon Fractured Sun's Radiance or 2 Solid River's Heart Icon Solid River's Heart..
Jewelcrafting Provides a 320 Mastery Rating gain through the ability to use 2 Fractured Serpent's Eye Icon Fractured Serpent's Eye, or a 480 Stamina gain through the ability to use 2 Solid Serpent's Eye Icon Solid Serpent's Eye (if you gem for Stamina).
Engineering Provides +1,920 Strength for 10 seconds every minute through Synapse Springs Icon Synapse Springs (the overall gain is +320 Strength), which translates into a higher chance to parry. Engineering also provides a belt addon called Frag Belt Icon Frag Belt, which you can use every minute (off the global cooldown) for additional damage, as well as Nitro Boosts, which may have situational uses.
Alchemy Provides a 480 Stamina gain to your flask through Mixology Icon Mixology.
Leatherworking Provides +750 Stamina through Fur Lining - Stamina Icon Fur Lining - Stamina, instead of the usual +170 Dodge provided by Enchant Bracer - Superior Dodge or +170 Mastery provided by Enchant Bracer - Mastery Icon Enchant Bracer - Mastery. Also provides Heavy Leg Reinforcements Icon Heavy Leg Reinforcements, a much cheaper equivalent to Ironscale Leg Armor Icon Ironscale Leg Armor, the traditional leg enchant.
Enchanting Provides a 480 Stamina gain through Enchant Ring - Greater Stamina Icon Enchant Ring - Greater Stamina.
Inscription Provides a 450 Stamina gain through Secret Ox Horn Inscription Icon Secret Ox Horn Inscription.
Mining Provides a 480 Stamina gain, through Toughness Icon Toughness.

5. Changelog↑top

  • 20 May 2013: Patch 5.3 update: nothing to change.
  • 24 Apr. 2013: Added legendary meta-gem.
  • 04 Apr. 2013: Added Fractured Sun's Radiance Icon Fractured Sun's Radiance/Perfect Fractured Sunstone Icon Perfect Fractured Sunstone or Fractured Serpent's Eye Icon Fractured Serpent's Eye (JC) as a prismatic socket option for the Control/Mastery priority. Also added Engineering belt attachments as options. Changed the recommended Engineering hand tinker to Synapse Springs Icon Synapse Springs in the profession perk section.
  • 02 Apr. 2013: Removed green-quality gems.
  • 31 Mar. 2013: Made several changes.
    • Added different gem tables for each of the three statistic priorities, as well as an introductory paragraph that hopefully sheds more light on how to choose your gems.
    • Added various enchants to the enchants section.
    • Fixed the mention of the only viable gathering profession to correctly suggest Mining instead of Herbalism.
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