Tank Rotation & Cooldowns

This rotation offers a general priority list for Protection Paladin abilities, along with key cooldowns at the bottom. It's based on a standard build and is here to help while we work on a smarter, build-aware system. If you are very new to the game or this class, we added info on the new assisted rotation features at the bottom of this guide. Updated for the latest patch in World of Warcraft: The War Within (11.2).

Single Target

Pre-place Consecration before engaging.

• Avenging Wrath
• Sacred WeaponView detailsIf Avenging Wrath is not active.
• Moment Of Glory
• Eye Of TyrView detailsUse at 0-2 Holy Power.
• Hammer Of LightView detailsIf Blessing Of Dawn stacks are present.
• Bastion Of Light
• ConsecrationView detailsIf not standing in it.
• Shield Of The RighteousView detailsAt 3-5 Holy Power to avoid capping.
• Divine TollView detailsIf not at 5 Holy Power.
• Avengers ShieldView detailsIf Moment Of Glory is active.
• Hammer Of Wrath
• Judgment
• Hammer Of The Righteous / Blessed HammerView detailsIf Shake The Heavens is active.
• Word Of GloryView detailsIf Shining Light and Shake The Heavens are active.
• Holy BulwarkView detailsIf 2 charges are available.
• Holy BulwarkView detailsIf 1 charge is available.
• Hammer Of The Righteous / Blessed HammerView detailsIf Shake The Heavens is not active.
• Arcane Torrent
• Avengers ShieldView detailsTo refresh Barricade Of Faith.
• Word Of GloryView detailsIf Shining Light is active and health is below 50%.
• ConsecrationView detailsTo refresh duration if all else is on cooldown.

Maintain Consecration uptime and use Shield Of The Righteous to manage Holy Power. Prioritize Avenging Wrath, Moment Of Glory, and Eye Of Tyr for Holy Power generation and survivability.

AoE

• Avenging Wrath
• Sacred WeaponView detailsIf Avenging Wrath is not active.
• Moment Of Glory
• Eye Of TyrView detailsUse at 0-2 Holy Power.
• Hammer Of LightView detailsIf Blessing Of Dawn stacks are present.
• Bastion Of Light
• ConsecrationView detailsIf not standing in it.
• Shield Of The RighteousView detailsAt 3-5 Holy Power to avoid capping.
• Avengers ShieldView detailsTo gain Bulwark Of Righteous Fury stacks.
• Hammer Of Wrath
• Judgment
• Divine TollView detailsWhen at 0 Holy Power.
• Hammer Of The Righteous / Blessed HammerView detailsIf Shake The Heavens is active.
• Word Of GloryView detailsIf Shining Light and Shake The Heavens are active.
• Holy Bulwark
• Hammer Of The Righteous / Blessed HammerView detailsIf Shake The Heavens is not active.
• Arcane Torrent
• Word Of GloryView detailsIf Shining Light is active and health is below 50%.
• ConsecrationView detailsTo refresh duration if all else is on cooldown.

For AoE, prioritize Avenging Wrath and Moment Of Glory for burst. Use Avengers Shield to build Bulwark Of Righteous Fury stacks and maintain Consecration uptime.

Cooldowns

• Guardian Of Ancient KingsView detailsUse before large damage phases for 50% damage reduction.
• Ardent DefenderView detailsReduces damage by 20% and prevents death once during its duration.
• Avenging WrathView detailsBoosts damage, healing, and critical strike chance by 20%.
• Lay On HandsView detailsMassive heal for yourself or an ally, best used in emergencies.
• Divine ShieldView detailsGrants immunity to all damage for 8 seconds; use with Final Stand for tanking.

Use Guardian Of Ancient Kings and Ardent Defender for heavy damage phases. Avenging Wrath enhances both damage and healing, while Lay On Hands serves as an emergency heal. Divine Shield can be used for immunity or with Final Stand to maintain threat.

New to Class? Try Assisted Rotation

Patch 11.1.7 introduced new features that make it eaiser to pick and play new characters. These new settings can be enabled from settings » gameplay enhancements:

• Single-Button Assistant
• Assisted Highlight
• Cooldown Manager

If you are new to World of Warcraft or a certain class, enabling Assisted Highlight and Cooldown Manager can help you learn which abilities to prioritize and use.

While the Single-Button Assistant can be a much easier and more accessible way to play the game, it does come with a slight performance hit due to a small GCD penalty, as you will have to wait 25% longer in between spells and abilities.

To see which specs are best with the Single-Button Assistant feature, you can check out our DPS Rankings which uses SimC to sim every class using this feature.