Holy Paladin Patch 9.2 Changes Analysis and Tier Set Thoughts

This page will cover Holy Paladin changes heading into Patch 9.2, Eternity's End. Legendary choices, covenants, gameplay changes, and much more will be broken down to see how the class will look in the next patch. If you are interested in more detailed list of 9.2 changes or class changes, you can visit our Patch 9.2 Overview page or dedicated Paladin page.

Heading into Patch 9.2, Holy Paladin has received some significant nerfs. These nerfs are as follows:

• Judgment, Hammer of Wrath, Ashen Hallow, Holy Shock, and Hallowed Discernment have all had their damage reduced by approximately 12%.
• Ashen Hallow healing reduced by 15%.
• Avenging Wrath was changed to now increase damage, healing, and critical strike by 20% (was originally 30%).

These changes have the potential to shake up both the Mythic+ and Raiding healer meta. The nerfs to damage will likely not overly impact Holy Paladin raiding viability, but it is a substantial nerf in Mythic+ where one of Holy Paladin's biggest strengths was its damage. The 10% nerf to Avenging Wrath is a huge nerf in every form of content. Holy Paladin was already not the strongest healer when it comes to output, but it provided very strong utility and brings a raid CD in the form of Aura Mastery to cover for its weaker overall healing. The nerf to Avenging Wrath only puts the class further behind in its healing ability. While the nerfs are significant, Holy Paladin should still remain one of the stronger healers as its utility has remained untouched. Whether or not it will be the strongest healer remains to be seen, but it is still a viable and strong choice for both raiding and mythic+.

Similarly to the previous patch, the most common talent changes will come in the Level 15 and Level 50 talent rows. In each row, all three talents remain strong contenders depending on the situation. In the Level 50 row, Beacon of Virtue has its value increased the most as it becomes a competitive talent choice when tanks are not in need of extra healing and Mana permits. Your best Level 15 talent will be decided by Covenant choice and Legendary selection. When using Maraad's Dying Breath you will stick with Light's Hammer. If using another Legendary such as Shock Barrier, you would benefit more from Crusader's Might or Bestow Faith.

Within the new Sepulcher of the First Ones raid that will be coming in Patch 9.2, every class will once again earn pieces of a gear set that is uniquely class-themed with its own two- and four-piece bonuses for every specialization. For Holy Paladin, these set bonuses currently are:

• Holy Paladin 2-Piece — Casting Word of Glory causes your next Light of Dawn to heal for 50% more and cast twice. Cannot occur more than once per 30 sec.
• Holy Paladin 4-Piece — Each target hit by Light of Dawn has a 50% chance to reduce the remaining cooldown of Avenging Wrath by 2 sec.

The current Holy Paladin 4pc remains exceptionally strong to the point in which it would not be unexpected to see nerfs in the upcoming weeks. Most notably this tier set increases the viability of Necrolord Holy Paladin by a significant margin. Due to Necrolord spending so much Holy Power, they will be able to cast Light of Dawn more frequently and see insanely high levels of uptime on Avenging Wrath nearing 85-90% over the course of a raid encounter. Venthyr players will still benefit from this set but will not see nearly as high of an uptime on Avenging Wrath as Necrolord.

Overall, this tier set is incredibly strong and could result in Holy Paladin players choosing another Covenant such as Necrolord, once more data is collected and we gain the ability to use two Legendaries.

With the new Tier set being added in Patch 9.2, Necrolord becomes a competitive Covenant choice, surpassing Kyrian and becoming the biggest rival to Venthyr. Due to the Venthyr-specific Legendary not being as strong as its Necrolord counterpart, Venthyr will lose some of its lead once double Legendaries are accessible. In situations where Venthyr is not strong to begin with, Necrolord will likely find use in a raid setting and players will likely find themselves swapping covenants between Necrolord and Venthyr depending on which performs better on a certain fight. That being said, Venthyr will remain the strongest covenant in Mythic+.

In addition, Conduits will be unlocking their final few ranks, though this will not alter gameplay in any substantial way.

Recall that in Patch 9.1, every class received a Legendary Power that was unique to each Covenant. The Covenant-specific Legendaries are as follows:

• Kyrian — Divine Resonance — casts an extra Holy Shock every 5 seconds for 15 seconds.
• Venthyr — Radiant Embers — extends the duration of Ashen Hallow while also reducing the cooldown of it if you were to cancel the ability early.
• Necrolord — Duty-Bound Gavel — provides an additional charge of the Covenant ability Vanquisher's Hammer and makes another Word of Glory trigger Light of Dawn with each use.
• Night Fae — Seasons of Plenty — increases the effectiveness of Blessing of Summer, Blessing of Spring, Blessing of Winter, and Blessing of Autumn by 100% for part of each blessing's duration.

In Patch 9.2, we gain the ability to use our Covenant-specific Legendary combined with another Legendary of our choosing. For example, Venthyr players are able to combine the Radiant Embers Legendary with The Mad Paragon in Mythic+ to gain extra Ashen Hallow uptime without sacrificing the damage that Mad Paragon provides.

It is also important to note that the Shadowbreaker, Dawn of the Sun Legendary will gain extra value in Patch 9.2. In previous patches it has not been as punishing for a Light of Dawn to not fully hit all your targets. While it was already a significant healing loss, the loss becomes increasingly significant in the next patch. Missing a target only causes you to lose healing, but it also causes you to miss out on cooldown reduction on Avenging Wrath thanks to the Holy Paladin 4-Piece bonus. During fights that are extremely spread and difficult to hit max targets with Light of Dawn, this Legendary could potentially be used.

If you are interested in reading about the other Legendaries available to Holy Paladin, you can visit the dedicated page linked below.

None of the Holy Paladin Covenant Legendaries will greatly impact how you play the game. They all provide passive increases to your healing/damage output and generally are not anything that should be heavily played around. Because of this, the Legendary combinations are fairly boring with the exception of Necrolord as it is the only Covenant that currently uses their Covenant Legendary. Below we will break down some of the possible combinations that could be used next patch.

Radiant Embers will provide either an increase in Ashen Hallow duration or a reduced cooldown on it if cancelled early. The Mad Paragon will provide a strong DPS increase for Mythic+ when combined with the Covenant-specific Legendary. In terms of raiding, both Shock Barrier and Maraad's Dying Breath will be strong depending on what kind of healing is needed.

Necrolord has the most interesting Legendaries available to Holy Paladins. Given that Necrolord uses the Covenant-specific Legendary by default, you are basically able to run whatever Legendary combination you want. The Mad Paragon may add even more damage in Mythic+ and an increase to Avenging Wrath for raiding. Shock Barrier and Maraad's Dying Breath provide noticeable increases to healing output as well.

Given that Shock Barrier is the strongest Legendary for Kyrian players, this will not change. You can combine this Legendary with Divine Resonance for a strong healing increase. In Mythic+ however, damage-increasing Legendaries such as The Mad Paragon and Vanguard's Momentum could potentially be viable as the damage increase might be worth more than the extra healing Shock Barrier provides.

Unfortunately Night Fae will remain the weakest Covenant for Holy Paladins heading into next tier. That being said, the Covenant-specific Legendary does increase your blessings' abilities quite a bit while not losing as much healing and damage that you would have in previous patches. This means Legendaries such as Shock Barrier, Maraad's Dying Breath, The Mad Paragon, and some others could be decent combinations depending on the content you are doing.