Cataclysm Classic Protection Paladin Stat Priority

The stat priority for Protection Paladin is as follows:

1. Mastery
2. Stamina and Strength
3. Armor
4. Expertise Rating (26 Expertise Cap)
5. Hit Rating
6. Expertise Rating (56 Expertise Cap)
7. Dodge and Parry

What is the CTC table? The CTC (Combat Table Coverage) table is when all of your sources of avoidance (Block, Parry, Dodge.) equal out to 102.4%. We settle on the number 102.4% because each level the boss is above you ignores 0.2% of your avoidance stats. Being CTC Capped causes every attack you are hit with by a boss mob to be mitigated in some way, blocked, dodged, or parried. We will put a large emphasis on Mastery while seeking out our CTC cap as Dodge and Parry both diminish in effectiveness as they happen. If you are unsure where you stand in relation to this cap feel free to use this command in game and it will tell you what your current CTC percentage is.

/run DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage("Need 102.4 combat table coverage. Currently at: "..string.format("%.2f", GetDodgeChance()+GetBlockChance()+GetParryChance() +5))

Mastery is the new stat added in during Cataclysm and provides a different, unique benefit for every single specialization in the game. For Protection Paladins, Mastery gives Divine Bulwark, which increases your chance to block Melee Attacks based off of the amount of Mastery you have available. Block is a very difficult stat to find on gear in Cataclysm and is by far our largest effective HP increase among secondary stats making this our highest priority secondary stat and a massive help to get towards our CTC Cap.

At Level 85:

• 179.28 Mastery Rating = 1% Mastery

Stamina and Strength are the two primary stats you should be focusing on with an emphasis on Stamina, while gearing you will never have to choose between Stamina or Strength but when it comes to gemming, once we have reached our CTC cap then we can consider gemming towards Stamina. Strength increases our Attack Power and grants Parry equal to 25% of your Strength. Stamina while still mostly a Tank stat also now increases your damage thanks to the addition of Vengeance which causes you to gain Attack Power equal to 5% of the damage you've taken up to a total of 10% of your total health.

At Level 85:

• 1 Strength = 2 Attack Power
• 1 Stamina = 10 health

Armor is a flat physical damage reduction that can be found in most gear slots. We will not have to do anything to optimize the amount of Armor on our gear as it is not able to be reforged to and it will already be present on most items.

Expertise Rating reduces the chance that the target will Dodge or Parry At 26 Rating which is what we are aiming for you will have completely remove any boss level mobs ability to Dodge your attacks, if you have an excess of stats and decide to go for the hard cap of 56 Expertise you will have removed their ability to Dodge AND Parry your attacks. We do not recommend seeking this out until you have also hit 8% hit rating however. Keep in mind Glyph of Seal of Truth greatly helps us reach these caps.

Rating	Skill	Percent	Information
30.02	1	0.25%	1 Expertise Skill
691	23	5.75%	Dodge cap on bosses when racial is active: Sword Specialization, or Mace Specialization.
781	26	6.5%	Dodge cap on bosses without racial
1592	53	13.25%	Parry cap on bosses when racial is active: Sword Specialization, or Mace Specialization.
1682	56	14%	Parry cap on bosses without racial

Hit Rating is another great way to deal damage and more importantly land our abilities, in Cataclysm the vast majority of spells you will be using as a Protection Paladin are now on the Physical Hit rating table, for spells however we largely do not need to worry about Hit rating thanks to the Touched by the Light talent.

At Level 85:

• 120.1 Hit Rating = 1% Hit Chance

Dodge and Parry are equally weighted so trying to keep them as close to even as possible is ideal in order to minimize the amount of Diminishing Returns you will face. As mentioned above our goal is to maximize the amount of Mastery we have available on gear so definitely consider Reforging which ever of these two stats you have more of in order to get closer to the CTC Cap.