Protection Paladin Patch 9.2 Changes Analysis and Tier Set Thoughts

This page will go over the changes in Patch 9.2, specifically how the changes impact the playstyle, Legendaries, Covenants and other topics. If you are simply interested in what the current changes are for Protection Paladin in 9.2, you can instead read our full list of changes to the entire Paladin class on our dedicated pages below. For an additional list of content in Patch 9.2, you can also check out our Patch Overview page.

Currently there are no base spec changes for Protection Paladins in Patch 9.2. However, with the addition of Tier sets and double Legendaries there will be likely a change to how you play the class.

There have been no changes to the Talents for Protection Paladins. While no changes have been made to the Talents themselves, your choices may differ with being able to equip 2 Legendaries later in the Patch.

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 Protection Paladin, these set bonuses currently are:

• Protection Paladin 2-Piece — Casting Shield of the Righteous increases your Block chance by 4% for 15 sec, stacking up to 3 times.
• Protection Paladin 4-Piece — When you take damage, you have a chance equal to 100% of your Block chance to cast Judgment at your attacker..

The Protection Paladin 2-Piece bonus can be maintained with a standard rotation at 3 stacks giving you ~4.5% damage reduction. It is quite a simple and powerful defensive bonus.

The Protection Paladin 4-Piece is very strong. It gives you a smooth flow of Holy Power and should trigger on its 3-second internal cooldown often. Expect to see gains of ~8-15 Holy Power per minute from this bonus (the higher end of the range being in scenarios where you are taking damage all of the time such as Mythic+).

Ashen Hallow can now be cancelled early by pressing the button again.

Ashen Hallow healing has been reduced by 15%.

Generally speaking Kyrian and Venthyr will still be the ones to pick between for Protection Paladin.

Recall that in Patch 9.1, every class received a Legendary Power that was unique to each Covenant. For Paladins, these Powers were as follows.

• Kyrian — Divine Resonance simply fires off additional casts of Avenger's Shield to your current target. It looks to be exceptionally powerful in scenarios where you will get multiple hits on Divine Toll such as Mythic+. This is further enhanced with the Soulbind trait Effusive Anima Accelerator which can reduce the cooldown of Divine Toll significantly.
• Venthyr — Radiant Embers provides you with a reduced cooldown on Ashen Hallow when you cancel the ability, along with extending the base duration.
• Necrolord — Duty-Bound Gavel provides you with an additional charge of Vanquisher's Hammer. This Legendary is a respectable gain in power for Necrolord Paladins, however it addresses a concern of Vanquisher's Hammer — where it is forcing you to use your Word of Glory in a non-ideal way — via a Legendary Power, rather than addressing the concerns with the spell on its own.
• Night Fae — Seasons of Plenty enhances your Blessing of Summer and Blessing of Winter, empowering them by 100% for 10 seconds. This feeds into the fantasy of being a support player, however it is yet another external buff to party/raid members in an expansion that has seen community issues arise from these ( Power Infusion being a key example).

With Patch 9.2 you will obtain the Unity Legendary which will give you The Covenant Legendary effect; this can be used in addition with another Legendary giving you 2 powers in total. The Covenant Legendaries were only worth considering on their own for Kyrian and Night Fae in the previous patch. Now you are able to combine your Covenant Legendary with your otherwise standard picks of The Magistrate's Judgment, The Mad Paragon, or Holy Avenger's Engraved Sigil.