Cataclysm Classic Protection Paladin Enchants and Consumables

Cataclysm is a relatively straight forward expansion when it comes to Enchants Gems and Consumables, but each of them is extremely important to maximizing your damage out put and survivability in any situation; this is especially true in Raids and Dungeons. Below is a list of the optimal consumables and enchants to help you get the most out of your Protection.

Slot	Enchantment
Head	Arcanum of the Earthen Ring
Shoulders	Greater Inscription of Unbreakable Quartz
Back	Enchant Cloak - Protection
Chest	Enchant Chest - Greater Stamina
Bracers	Enchant Bracer - Major Stamina
Gloves	Enchant Gloves - Greater Mastery
Legs	Drakehide Leg Armor
Feet	Enchant Boots - Mastery
Weapon	Enchant Weapon - Windwalk
Weapon	Enchant Shield - Mastery

As a Protection Paladin there are some considerations to be made when choosing a Meta gem, generally in lower levels of gear Austere Shadowspirit Diamond will perform better due to the flat increase to your armor value. As you get more gear and more importantly Block rating you will switch to Eternal Shadowspirit Diamond for the increased Shield Block value to further mitigate damage.

Our focus while gearing as a Protection Paladin is to reach the 102.4% avoidance cap and then focus on maximizing Stamina, your gem choices will largely depend on where you are in relation to the avoidance cap.

• If avoidance capped in Red Sockets, you will use Defender's Shadow Spinel if not use Fine Lava Coral.
• If avoidance capped in Blue Sockets, you will use Solid Deepholm Iolite if not use Puissant Elven Peridot.
• If avoidance capped in Yellow Sockets, you will use Regal Elven Peridot if not use Fractured Lightstone.

Similar to Gems, the goal with your food buff is maximizing your avoidance until reaching avoidance cap. Mastery typically yields the most consistent results of avoidance stats so we will opt for Mastery food, Lavascale Minestrone.

As a Protection Paladin we will use Flask of Steelskin for the added Stamina, it is also an option to run Prismatic Elixir and Elixir of the Master for encounters with heavy Magic damage but generally speaking the Stamina added from Steelskin will give you better survivability throughout the course of an encounter.

Earthen Potion are a nice added cooldown to allow you to mitigate even more Physical damage, so make sure to have them on hand to pre-pot to ease into pulling the boss or using it as a defensive cooldown if needed. It is important to also have Mythical Healing Potions on hand for a quick burst of healing if you find yourself in a situation where you would otherwise die.

While you will not have much time to cast them and any kind of damage taken will interrupt their healing Dense Embersilk Bandage can be the difference between surviving or dying so it is a great mana-free way to heal yourself in an emergency.