World of Warcraft: Forever Class Deep Dives — Paladin

Our class deep dive series concludes with developer insights into Paladins in World of Warcraft: Forever . In this final installment, we’re looking at how the class is evolving through updates that build on its defining strengths: wielding Holy power, supporting allies, and standing firm against powerful foes.

Key updates and verified adjustments for Baseline Abilities.

• Holy Strike : (New ability is learned at level 6.) Holy Strike deals instant Holy damage to the target based on 50% of equipped weapon damage plus a bonus that increases with each new rank.
• Judgement : This ability no longer consumes the Paladin’s active Seal .
• Salvation : This ability is no longer a Blessing , so a Paladin can now have a Blessing on the target as well as Salvation . The version of this spell designed for raids that targets an entire class is now called Mass Salvation . Note: This change is not yet live and is going into a future beta build.
• Righteous Fury : The threat bonus from this ability has been reduced. Protection Paladins have access to more Holy damage than in Classic Era, so this multiplier does not need to be as high.
• Fire Resistance Aura, Frost Resistance Aura, and Shadow Resistance Aura : These auras now affect all raid members within 30 yards
• Lay on Hands : Cooldown reduced to 20 minutes from 1 hour.

Altered talents: Improved Lay on Hands (cooldown reduced baseline) Talents Moved to Baseline : Consecration (now baseline), Improved Blessing of Wisdom (now baseline), Lasting Judgement (now baseline)

• Healing Light : Moved from row 3 up to row 2. Now also increases Holy Shock healing.
• Spiritual Focus : Now also applies to Light’s Vigil . Total talent cost reduced to 2 points from 5 points.
• Improved Seals : (Formerly Improved (only) Seal of Righteousness .) Now affects damage from all Seals and Judgements . Total talent cost reduced to 3 points from 5 points.
• Unyielding Faith : Moved from row 3 up to row 2. Now reduces the duration of Fear and Disorient effects instead of increasing chance to resist them.
• Voice of Truth : (New 11-point gold medal talent that grants a new ability.) Voice of Truth grants immunity to Silence and Interrupt for 6 seconds, with a 3-minute cooldown.
• Reverence : (New row 3 talent) Grants the Paladin up to 30% of their mana regeneration from Spirit while casting.
• Illumination : (Requires Reverence.) This talent can now also be triggered by Light’s Vigil . In addition, it was historically too strong of an effect and scaled out of control, so the mana refund it grants has been reduced to 50% of the base cost of the affected healing spell.
• Divine Favor : Now the 16-point gold medal talent instead of the 21-point gold medal talent.

Removed talents: Blessing of Sanctuary, Improved Concentration Aura Talents Moved to Baseline : Blessing of Kings.

• Toughness : Moved from row 2 up to row 1.
• Redoubt : (Redesigned.) This talent no longer requires the Paladin to be hit with a critical strike; it now grants a 10% chance when hit to gain increased Block Chance. The increase to Block Chance is now up to 20% instead of 30%.
• Precision : Now increases chance for all spells and attacks to hit instead of just melee weapon attacks. By helping key abilities—including the taunt from Seal of Fury’s Judgement —land more reliably, this talent makes Protection Paladin tanking smoother and more approachable.
• Anticipation : Moved from row 3 to row 2. Maximum increase to Defense doubled to 20 Defense, was 10 Defense.
• Improved Righteous Fury : No longer increase threat from Righteous Fury . Instead, grants up to 6% reduced damage taken while Righteous Fury is active.
• Shield Specialization : Now also causes your blocks to have up to 100% chance to restore 6% of your maximum mana. May only occur once every 3 seconds.
• Sacred Duty : (New row 3 talent.) Increases total Stamina by up to 4% and reduces the cooldown on Divine Shield , Divine Protection , and Templar’s Bulwark by up to 1 minute.
• One-Handed Weapon Specialization : Moved from row 6 to row 4. Now requires only 3 talent points instead of 5 for the full effect.

Altered talents: Improved Seal of the Crusader (Judgement bonus made baseline) Removed Talents: Improved Retribution Aura, Sanctity Aura

• Deflection : Moved from row 2 up to row 1.
• Benediction : Now reduces the cost of all instant cast spells and abilities by up to 10% instead of reducing costs on only Seals and Judgement by up to 15%.
• Holy Conduit : (New row 2 talent.) Reduces the mana cost of Consecration , Holy Wrath , and Exorcism by up to 40%.
• Conviction : Moved from row 3 up to row 2. Tooltip wording updated to clarify that it benefits melee attacks specifically.
• Sanctified Judgement : (New row 3 talent.) Grants your Judgement up to 100% chance to refund up to 60% of the cost of the judged Seal .
• Pursuit of Justice : The benefit of this talent was increased from a maximum of 8% movement speed to 15% movement speed, for the same number of talent points.
• Eye for an Eye : Moved from row 4 down to row 5. Now works against all critical strikes, not just spells, but damage reflected is now up to 10% of the damage taken, down from 30%.
• Repentance : Now the 21-point gold medal talent instead of the 31-point gold medal talent.