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Forever keeps the Paladin’s identity, Seals and Judgements, and gives each tree a clear new job: Holy gets single-target healing plus a party-healing tool, Protection gets a real cooldown kit, and Retribution gets a friendlier way to play Seal twisting. Blizzard’s Paladin deep dive is the last in the class series, and the October 15 development notes already changed parts of it.
Below: what every Paladin gets, what each tree adds, and which one to pick for leveling and dungeons.
Every Paladin: New Core Tools
- Holy Strike at level 6 is an instant strike for 50% of your weapon damage as Holy damage, plus bonus damage that grows with spell rank.
- Seal of Fury at level 10 adds fixed Holy damage to every melee hit and a small absorb shield. Its Judgement adds damage and taunts, with 10 yards of range, twice a warrior’s Taunt.
- Judgement no longer consumes your active Seal.
- Consecration is a baseline spell at level 20. It hits the first four enemies in range for solid damage and everything else for very little, so Paladin threat stays aligned with Warrior’s Thunder Clap.
- Lay on Hands drops from a 1-hour to a 20-minute cooldown.
- Salvation is no longer a Blessing, so you can keep a Blessing and Salvation on the same target. The raid version is Mass Salvation. Since the October 15 notes, it is live in the beta, and Paladins learn Revoke with it to remove Salvation from a chosen party or raid member.
Your move: if you are leveling, expect Holy Strike at 6 and Seal of Fury at 10 to change your rotation before you ever touch a talent point.
Holy: Single-Target Healer With a Party Tool
Holy keeps Flash of Light and Holy Light as the core of single-target healing, then adds new depth:
- Holy Shock moves from the 31-point slot to 21 points, and its cooldown drops from 30 to 10 seconds.
- Voice of Truth (level 11) makes you immune to Silence and interrupts for 6 seconds, on a 3-minute cooldown.
- Infusion of Light shortens your next Holy Light by up to 1 second after a Holy Shock or Flash of Light crit.
- Light’s Vigil (31 points) is a 1.5-second cast on an ally or enemy. On an ally it heals their party members. On an enemy it deals extra Holy damage and refunds 75% of its mana. Either way, your next Holy Shock on that target skips its cooldown.
The point of Light’s Vigil is preparation: place it on several groups before a raid-wide damage spike, then chain Holy Shocks. It is not a panic button. The October 15 notes fixed focus macros for Light’s Vigil and an Infusion of Light bug that gave Holy Shock 50% extra damage against enemies.
Protection: A Tank With Cooldowns
- Swift Judgement (16 points) costs no mana, has a 1-minute cooldown, and resets Judgement so the next one costs nothing. It lets you recover when a Taunt is resisted.
- Templar’s Bulwark (21 points) is an instant 5-minute cooldown that gives an absorb shield equal to 100% of your maximum health for 8 seconds, with a Forbearance trade-off.
- Iron Creed raises Holy Strike threat by up to 15% and, while Righteous Fury is active, lowers damage taken for 6 seconds after Holy Strike.
- Reckoning can now trigger from blocks, and since October 15 it stores up to 4 charges and spends them on your next melee swing, as in Classic Era.
- Shield Specialization now restores mana on block, tuned down to 4% on October 15. Righteous Fury threat went from 60% to 90% in the same notes.
Seal of Fury and Judgement keep your threat rolling, and the two new cooldowns mean a Paladin tank no longer lacks an emergency button.
Retribution: Seal Twisting Made Readable
- Sacred Arbiter (16 points) raises Holy Strike damage by 20% and refreshes every Judgement on the target, including those from other Paladins. That keeps Wisdom, Light, and Crusader debuffs up for the whole group.
- Vengeance now stacks to 3 times for 9% damage over 30 seconds.
- Champion of the Light adds spell damage equal to a share of your Intellect. It started at 100% in testing, was cut to 60%, and the October 15 notes set it to 10/20/30%.
- Instrument of Law makes Holy Wrath instant and lowers your threat by 20% when Righteous Fury is off.
- Twist of Light (31 points) lowers Seal costs by 20% and leaves an echo when a damaging Seal is replaced. Your next melee hit gets both the old and the new Seal.
Twist of Light gives you Seal twisting without frame-perfect timing. The Holy alternative is to skip it and run Holy Shock with a hybrid “shock” build.
Which Tree to Pick
| Goal | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Solo leveling | Retribution | Holy Strike, Seal of Fury, and Vengeance kill fastest. |
| Dungeon tank | Protection | Swift Judgement, Templar’s Bulwark, and Reckoning give you control. |
| Dungeon healer | Holy | Flash of Light and Holy Shock, with Light’s Vigil for party burst. |
| Buff-focused raid role | Retribution | Sacred Arbiter keeps other Paladins’ Judgements alive. |
At level 40 you unlock a second talent spec, so a leveling Retribution spec and a dungeon Protection or Holy spec can live together. Details and level-by-level starter builds are on the Paladin class guide, and you can try any layout in the talent calculator.
Blizzard says class abilities and talents can still change during the beta, so check the build notes before you lock a long-term plan.
Read the full announcement on Blizzard News