Season of Discovery Protection Paladin Tank Leveling

Paladin is one of three classes that can play every role, with Protection being the tanking specialization. Protection Paladin is one of the kings of AoE threat and are incredibly useful in not only dungeons, but also raids, as their ability to generate and maintain threat on multiple targets is unmatched. Leveling as a Protection Paladin can be quite slow and if you do not intend on spending most of your time in dungeons you should consider leveling as Retribution.

The talent build recommended above focuses primarily on maximizing your personal survivability, thanks to many of the Runes added through Season of Discovery you will find yourself with plenty of damaging abilities to quickly deal with mobs you may encounter throughout the world though Protection really shines inside of Dungeons this build works both in a group or solo.

• Chest — Divine Storm
• Hands — Crusader Strike
• Legs — Avenger's Shield
• Waist — Sheath of Light
• Feet — Guarded by the Light
• Helm — Improved Sanctuary
• Wrist — Hammer of the Righteous
• Back — Shield of Righteousness
• Ring — Sword Specialization
• Ring — Holy Specialization

Divine Storm deals a considerable amount of damage to multiple targets which makes killing mobs much easier when soloing. In a dungeon where you are likely tanking, it allows you to generate quick snap aggro on multiple targets. With Seal of Martyrdom becoming a baseline ability for Paladin there is little argument to any other Runes for this slot unless you find yourself taking large amounts of incoming Physical damage you can consider swapping to Aegis.

Crusader Strike acts as an additional damage button to fill what can otherwise be an empty rotation. This is a great source of Mana return, but if you find yourself consistently running dungeons to level consider switching over to Hand of Reckoning for the additional threat modifier and the ability to taunt.

Avenger's Shield will be our default choice in this slot as it allows us to deal considerable Holy damage instantly and fills a hole in our kit as we do not have many tools to deal damage at range. With Exorcist becoming baseline has made this choice much easier and now allows us to deal damage with both of these great abilities.

Sheath of Light greatly increases the potency of your damaging abilities. While Malleable Protection is another strong option we will have rarely any Defense rating on our gear to take advantage of the bonus Attack Power and you are rarely to be in a situation where you need the 50% damage mitigation while leveling.

Guarded by the Light removes basically all Mana problems in exchange for limiting your healing output. Your primary focus while leveling either solo or in dungeons is likely to be on dealing damage, not healing.

Improved Sanctuary helps mitigate incoming damage even more as a Protection Paladin since we will almost always have Blessing of Sanctuary active as well as increasing the amount of damage dealt by the return damage portion of the ability.

Hammer of the Righteous adds another damaging button that is especially strong with a slower, higher damage weapon. You will often be fighting multiple mobs at once while leveling, so the added cleave functionality also makes it a great way to deal with mutliple enemies at once.

Shield of Righteousness is another great ability that allows us to deal Holy damage to our enemies. Righteous Vengeance is another great option but as a Protection Paladin you are unlikely to have enough Critical Strike rating to warrant using it over Shield of the Righteous.

Holy Specialization and Sword Specialization greatly increases your chance to hit with both Holy Damaging abilities and your Physical attacks. While leveling the 6% spell hit and the 5 added Weapon skill greatly reduces the chance your attack will miss the target. While this guide recommends Sword Specialization make sure to use the Specialization for the weapon you are currently using.

If you are unsure where to find these Runes or are just curious what other options may be available, feel free to check out our Paladin Rune guide listed included below to get a better idea of how to plan this all out in your leveling journey.

Your focus on leveling as a Protection Paladin should be maximizing up time and minimizing downtime. Due to an incredibly limited toolkit (which is fortunately augmented by Runes) your kill time as a Protection Paladin will be rather slow, but if you are properly utilizing your abilities such as Seal of Righteousness to deal as much damage as possible and Holy Light to keep yourself healthy, you should have no issue staying in combat almost constantly. In Dungeons your priority shifts towards maintaining threat. This can be done a number of ways, but the most important thing you can do as a tank is mitigate the damage others in your party are taking. Maintain Righteous Fury at all times in dungeons for an incredible multiplier on your threat generating abilities. Don't forget to bolster your party with Blessing of Might or Blessing of Wisdom depending on their role; the quicker they can kill things the less damage you will take as a tank.

1. Ensure you have an Aura active.
2. Ensure you have a Blessing active.
3. Keep Seal of Martyrdom up.
4. Use Crusader Strike on cooldown.
5. Use Holy Shield on cooldown.
6. Use Avenger's Shield on cooldown.
7. Use Hammer of the Righteous on cooldown.
8. Use Shield of Righteousness on cooldown.
9. Use Divine Storm on cooldown.
10. Use Judgement on cooldown if you have the Mana for it, keeping in mind that you will need to reapply your seal after.
11. Melee.

Do your class quest to get Redemption when possible. If you are planning on leveling via Dungeons this is a crucial ability, as deaths are likely to happen no matter how skilled or careful your group is.

Leveling as a Protection Paladin Strength is your absolute focus though most gear choices will be quite simple while leveling as it is often a combination of two primary stats. If your intention is to focus on leveling in Dungeons than you should prioritize Stamina above all, second only to Strength. Each Stat has its benefits, but these two are what will yield you the greatest returns while leveling.

1. Strength;
2. Spirit;
3. Intellect;
4. Stamina;
5. Agility.

Strength increases the amount of damage dealt by not only your abilities, but also your auto attacks. The faster you kill things the more time you have to regenerate.

Spirit and Intellect both allow you for more time spent in combat. Spirit grants you regeneration outside of combat or after 5 seconds of not spending Mana, and Intellect increases the amount of Mana available to you by 15 per 1 Intellect.

Stamina and Agility are primarily survival stats while leveling. Stamina gives you more health at 10 hp per 1 point of Stamina and Agility gives you dodge and a very slight amount of crit chance. These are both great stats, but should be prioritized below the others, unless your intent is to dungeon level where Stamina then becomes incredibly valuable.

Weapons at this level often do not offer much in the way of stats and as a Protection Paladin very little is impacted by weapon damage so you should focus primarily on fast weapons to proc Seal of Martyrdom as much as possible to maximize your damage output.

Leveling Professions while leveling can slow down your time if you are in a rush to max level however, working towards leveling them while you are out in the level appropriate zone will generally save you more time in the long run if you level as you go, this is especially true with Gathering professions such as Herbalism, Skinning and Mining. These can be used both to create supplies for the crafting profession of your choosing or simply to supplement your income by selling the material on the Auction House to help pay for things like new abilities and even a mount at level 40.

First Aid is incredible even as a class that can self heal the fact that you can quickly heal yourself at no mana cost can sometimes be the difference between surviving an encounter or dying.