Hi I'm Ryken! I started playing on Warmane's Lordaeron realm in January of 2024. You could say that I'm a paladin enthusiast...

< Storm Peaks Ski Patrol >
25/03/21 — 25/05/16

< The Drunk Shark >
25/05/23 — 25/08/10

< Heroes of the Heavens >
25/04/19 — NOW

< Storm Peaks Ski Patrol >
25/08/10 — WE ARE SO BACK

1. defense cap (540)
2. hit cap (8%)
3. expertise soft cap (26)
4. armor/avoidance/stamina (nuanced)
5. everything else

If you are in the process of putting together a set at max level but don't know what stats to favor over others, this should give you a general idea. You can think of it more like a flow chart.

Am I defense-capped?
Yes = nothing to do, move onto next stat
No = get more items with defense or gem/enchant defense
Can I tank bosses without reaching defense cap? Nope. You will get crit and die. Badly.

Am I hit-capped?
Yes = nothing to do, move onto next stat
No = get more items with hit or gem/enchant hit or use hit food
Can I tank bosses without reaching hit cap? Technically yes, but you will struggle with aggro and might even miss a taunt.
Isn't taunt affected by spell hit over melee hit? Hand of Reckoning yes, Righteous Defense no.

Am I expertise-soft-capped?
Yes = nothing to do, move onto next stat
No = get more items with expertise or gem/enchant expertise or use expertise food
Can I tank bosses without reaching expertise soft cap? If you're otherwise hit-capped, absolutely, but expertise is still valuable to have. It reduces your chance to be parried.

Here is an actual chart I made to illustrate my decision making process when it comes to gemming. If I lack hit/expertise I try to hit socket bonuses for additional stamina while gemming for them. If I don't need any more hit/expertise, I ignore socket bonuses in favor of more raw stamina. Everything else is not worth gemming for.



(Open image in new tab for better viewing quality.)

This stat priority works all the way up until you reach the armor bit, at which point you'll need to think a little harder about whether to take another high armor value item or rather something with more stamina and avoidance.



You'll never truly reach armor cap (49905 = 75% physical damage reduction), but building armor makes incoming damage more predictable. The damage will always land, but it will be reduced, and it will be reduced by a set amount. Avoidance on the other hand gives you a chance to not get hit to begin with. Essentially.

Every time you cast an offensive spell, use a special attack or even just auto-attack with a melee weapon, WoW uses the hit table to determine the results of the attack. Instead of performing a roll for each possible outcome, the game will roll one die and then see what that number means in terms of results. [...] This leads to some major divergences from a multiple-roll system.

[...] Because the chances of each event are added together, and there is only a limited amount of space on the attack table (as well as a set order in which the results are considered), it is possible to push off certain events to prevent them from ever occurring.



This is the defense table for one of my current (non-bis) main tanking sets for demonstration purposes. The way it works is it goes from top to bottom. Miss → dodge → parry → block → critical strike (+100% damage) → crushing blow (+50% damage) → regular hit. As soon as all of these add up to full avoidance, then anything below that is pushed off the table and cannot happen.

So, for a level 80 mob, full avoidance means 100%. For every level a mob is over your level, you're gonna add 0.8% to that. This is because as mob level increases, you lose 0.2% chance to be missed/dodge/parry/block for each level the mob has over you. 0.2% x 4 = 0.8% total lost avoidance.

Raid bosses have a "dynamic" level—when a numeric level is required for some calculation, they are considered to be 3 levels above the player character involved in that calculation. For a level 83 mob that's gonna be 2.4% reduced avoidance, so you need 102.4% to never take a critical strike, crushing blow or normal hit from a mob. This is the theory behind how block sets function!



Defense and resilience also reduce your chance to be critically hit. This is unrelated to avoidance. For level 80 you need 5% and for level 83 you need 5.6% (again, +0.2% per level above you). This means that if you are defense-capped (540) you have pushed critical strikes off the table entirely. The same cannot be said for crushing blows, which is where avoidance comes into play.

There is a script macro you can use to check whether you are uncrushable (= immune to crushing blows).


If the value shown is >= 102.4, congrats! You are uncrushable. With my main set right now I have 77.76 without Holy Shield and 107.76 with Holy Shield.

My personal profession journey on my main has been Mining + Jewelcrafting while leveling → Engineering + Jewelcrafting once I got into raiding → Engineering + Leatherworking as I got to endgame content. On my second prot paladin (not at all optimized) I have Engineering + Enchanting for fun.

Engineering

Meta profession for any class. As a prot paladin you want Engineering for Reticulated Armor Webbing (+885 armor on gloves) and Nitro Boosts (slight crit increase on boots and big nyoooom). Mind Amplification Dish (+45 stamina on head) is also viable but eventually you will want to swap to a resistance head enchant.

Jewelcrafting / Leatherworking

Jewelcrafting grants you access to 3 Dragon's Eye gems per gear set, particularly Solid Dragon's Eye (+51 stamina). Can never go wrong with that much stamina.

Leatherworking on the other hand grants you access to Fur Lining on bracers. The raw stat option is +102 stamina, which is 51 less than the combined stamina you would gain from Jewelcrafting (+153)—however, where Leatherworking edges out Jewelcrafting in endgame is the fact that it offers resistance (+70 fire/frost/nature/shadow/arcane, frost and shadow being the most useful ones), which is particularly handy but difficult to incorporate into your setup without sacrificing other stats. If you are able to comfortably obtain multiples of items and gem/enchant them differently for different sets, you might want to consider Leatherworking solely for its resistances.

Blacksmithing / Mining / Enchanting

All three of these options give you +60 stamina.

Blacksmithing allows you to add an extra socket to both your bracers and gloves, which in turn means you can use two additional epic stamina gems (+30 stamina x2).

Mining passively provides you with +60 stamina through Toughness. Wouldn't recommend picking up a gathering profession if you're looking to become the sweaty min-maxer of your dreams, but if this is your 10th alt and you just really want to go mining with Crusader Aura and stun anyone who tries to steal ores from you... who am I to tell you otherwise.

Enchanters can enchant their own rings, and there is a stamina option available (+30 stamina x2).

As a tank you don't have a concrete "BIS" set—correction: you have multiple BIS sets depending on the situation/encounter. Tank gear comes in various shapes and sizes and you'll have to look a bit into which stats you want to prioritize for what fight. Do I want to stack armor? Do I want avoidance? Block? So on and so forth... But Havi's BIS list says differently! That list is complete BS without nuance. Good as a rough outline but don't adhere to it too much. Not that this is any better but at least I have opinions I can back up.

Weapons and Librams

Your weapon will always depend on the fight you are currently about to do. You can even swap weapons mid-fight however I am usually too lazy to do this. You generally want a slower weapon (2.6) so your abilities hit harder and you generate more threat. Every bit of prot paladin's aggro generation comes from how much holy damage you deal with your spells.

Weapons you will want to keep around and toy with:

• Bloodvenom Blade [2.6] (DBS 25HC)— Your most accessible and best all-around option for a long time.
• Havoc's Call, Blade of Lordaeron Kings [2.6] (LoD) — Might generally be better than BvB if your gear supports the hit you'd lose but you will never be a priority for it. Don't take Havoc NM over BvB HC either, not worth.
• Mithrios, Bronzebeard's Legacy [1.6] (LK 25NM/LoD) — Your best expertise option. This is what you want Blade Ward on. It's a faster weapon so your threat will suffer a bit. BvB HC + exp gems/food might be better than Mithrios NM in some cases.
• Troggbane, Axe of the Frostborne King [1.6] (Bane) — Your best avoidance option.
• Falric's Wrist-Chopper [1.6] (HoR 5HC) — Your best block option. DO NOT SELL THIS.
• Last Word [1.8] (Professor 25NM/25HC) — Mayhaps there is some fun to be had with this one...

Potential alternatives if desperate:

• Gutbuster [2.6] (Festergut 10HC) — Really good if you're unable to get BvB HC but can get your hands on this early on.
• Soulbreaker [2.6] (BPC 10HC) — Agi one-hander with the correct speed. Not the worst ever if you truly don't have anything else.
• Frost Giant's Cleaver [2.6] (Gunship 10HC) — Same as Soulbreaker, except this has arpen instead of haste. Very minimal difference.
• Facelifter [1.6] (Professor 10HC) — An okay alternative to Mithrios. Again, might just be better to go BvB HC + exp gems/food over an expertise weapon that is just okay.

Every other weapon is not good for you (with the exception of ones for achievements with ilvl requirements, but that will get expanded on later).

Librams are never set in stone. They count as weapons so you can swap them out mid-fight as well. Your defensive options are Eternal Tower (stacking dodge), Defiance (dodge proc) and Sacred Shield (block proc). Your threat option is Valiance (strength proc). If you are able to keep Eternal Tower stacked up, it nets you more dodge overall. If you know you'll be forced to drop stacks, Defiance is better. (Same reasoning as Three Truths vs Valiance for retri.)

Set 1: T10 2-set Avoidance-Leaning

Head: Broken Ram Skull Helm (Lady 25HC)
Neck: Bile-Encrusted Medallion (Rotface 25HC)
Shoulders: Boneguard Commander's Pauldrons (Gunship 25HC)
Back: Royal Crimson Cloak (BPC 25HC)
Chest: Sanctified Lightsworn Chestguard (T10)
Bracers: Bracers of Dark Reckoning (Marrowgar 25HC)
Gloves: Sanctified Lightsworn Handguards (T10)
Waist: Belt of Broken Bones (Festergut 25HC)
Legs: Legguards of Lost Hope (Marrow 25HC)
Boots: Treads of Impending Resurrection (Halion 25HC)
Ring 1: Devium's Eternally Cold Ring (Valithria 25HC)
Ring 2: Juggernaut Band (Lady 25HC)
Trinket 1: Sindragosa's Flawless Fang (Sindragosa 25HC)
Trinket 2: Petrified Twilight Scale (Halion 25HC)
Main Hand: Troggbane, Axe of the Frostborne King (Bane)
Shield: Icecrown Glacial Wall (BQL 25HC)
Libram: Libram of Defiance (25 Emblem of Triumph)

x

Set 2: T10 4-set Armor-Leaning

Head: Sanctified Lightsworn Faceguard (T10)
Neck: Bile-Encrusted Medallion (Rotface 25HC)
Shoulders: Sanctified Lightsworn Shoulderguards (T10)
Back: Sentinel's Winter Cloak (50 Emblem of Frost)
Chest: Sanctified Lightsworn Chestguard (T10)
Bracers: Gargoyle Spit Bracers (DBS 10HC)
Gloves: Sanctified Lightsworn Handguards (T10)
Waist: Verdigris Chain Belt (95 Emblem of Frost)
Legs: Pillars of Might (ICC Blacksmithing craft)
Boots: Treads of Impending Resurrection (Halion 25HC)
Ring 1: Devium's Eternally Cold Ring (Valithria 25HC)
Ring 2: Juggernaut Band (Lady 25HC)
Trinket 1: Unidentifiable Organ (Professor 10HC)
Trinket 2: Petrified Twilight Scale (Halion 25HC)
Main Hand: Bloodvenom Blade (DBS 25HC)
Shield: Icecrown Glacial Wall (BQL 25HC)
Libram: see librams section

A lot of the items listed in this line-up feel a lot more attainable compared to the first set. Plenty of great armor-value items only require you to spend gold or emblems as opposed to running ICC25HC.

Set 3: Dragonslayer

Head: Sanctified Lightsworn Faceguard (T10)
Neck: Noose of Malachite (Valithria 25HC)
Shoulders: Sanctified Lightsworn Shoulderguards (T10)
Back: Royal Crimson Cloak (BPC 25HC)
Chest: Cataclysmic Chestguard (95 Emblem of Frost)
Bracers: Bracers of Dark Reckoning (Marrowgar 25HC)
Gloves: Sanctified Lightsworn Handguards (T10)
Waist: Belt of Broken Bones (Festergut 25HC)
Legs: Sanctified Lightsworn Legguards (T10)
Boots: Grinning Skull Greatboots (Valithria 25HC)
Ring 1: Devium's Eternally Cold Ring (Valithria 25HC) / Juggernaut Band (Lady 25HC)
Ring 2: Signified Ring of Binding (Onyxia 25M)
Trinket 1: Sindragosa's Flawless Fang (Sindragosa 25HC)
Trinket 2: Petrified Twilight Scale (Halion 25HC)
Main Hand: Mithrios, Bronzebeard's Legacy (LoD)
Shield: Icecrown Glacial Wall (BQL 25HC)
Libram: Libram of Valiance (25 Emblem of Triumph)

Specifically for Halion and Sindragosa 25HC. Aim is expertise hard cap (56), resistance and avoidance.

Set 4: Budget Block

Head: Liadrin's Faceguard of Triumph (T9)
Neck: Necklace of Unerring Mettle (Kologarn 25M)
Shoulders: Boneguard Commander's Pauldrons (Gunship 25HC)
Back: Royal Crimson Cloak (BPC 25HC)
Chest: Unbreakable Chestguard (Auriaya 25M)
Bracers: Bracers of Dark Reckoning (Marrowgar 25HC)
Gloves: Handguards of the Enclave (Iron Council 25M)
Waist: Dragonslayer's Brace (Razorscale 25M)
Legs: Wyrmguard Legplates (39 Emblem of Conquest)
Boots: Grinning Skull Greatboots (Valithria 25HC)
Ring 1: Signet of the Earthshaker (XT 25M BoE)
Ring 2: Abomination's Bloody Ring (Gunship 10HC)
Trinket 1: Purified Onyxia Blood Talisman (Onyxia 10M/25M quest)
Trinket 2: Lavanthor's Talisman (Violet Hold 5HC)
Main Hand: Falric's Wrist-Chopper (HoR 5HC)
Shield: Neverending Winter (Gunship 10HC)
Libram: Libram of the Sacred Shield (Vezax 10M/25M or 19 Emblem of Conquest)

Maybe not as budget as other sets you'll see around because I did run Ulduar religiously for a while, but all items should be decently easy to obtain. A bunch of items from ICC10HC can be recycled into a block set.

Gems:

Head: Eternal Earthsiege Diamond (+21 def +5% shield block value) + Glimmering Ametrine (+10 parry +10 def)
Shoulders: 2x Thick King's Amber (+20 def)
Back: Thick King's Amber (+20 def)
Chest: Glimmering Ametrine (+10 parry +10 def) + Thick King's Amber (+20 def)
Wrists: Thick King's Amber (+20 def)
Waist: Thick King's Amber (+20 def)
Legs: 2x Thick King's Amber (+20 def)
Boots: 2x Thick King's Amber (+20 def)
Ring 2: Thick King's Amber (+20 def)
Shield: Defender's Dreadstone (+10 parry +15 stam)

Enchants:

Head: Arcanum of the Stalwart Protector (+37 stam +20 def; Argent Crusade rep)
Shoulders: Greater Inscription of the Pinnacle (+20 dodge +15 def; Sons of Hodir rep)
Back: Titanweave (+16 def)
Chest: Greater Defense (+22 def)
Bracers: Fur Lining - Stamina (+102 stam; Leatherworking)
Gloves: Major Agility (+20 agi)
Waist: Eternal Belt Buckle (+1 socket; Blacksmithing craft)
Legs: Frosthide Leg Armor (+55 stam +22 agi; Leatherworking craft)
Boots: Nitro Boosts (+24 crit and gotta go fast; Engineering)
Main Hand: Exceptional Agility (+26 agi)
Shield: Defense (+20 def)

Consumables:

Any stat increase beyond your avoidance cap is unimportant as your goal is to not take any damage whatsoever.

Set 5: Harold

Head: Conqueror's Aegis Faceguard (T8.5 Thorim 25M or 58 Emblem of Conquest)
Neck: Necklace of Unerring Mettle (Kologarn 25M)
Shoulders: Conqueror's Aegis Shoulderguards (T8.5 Yogg 25M)
Back: Cloak of the Makers (Auriaya 25M)
Chest: Conqueror's Aegis Breastplate (T8.5 Hodir 25M or 58 Emblem of Conquest)
Bracers: Mimiron's Inferno Couplings (Flame Leviathan 25M)
Gloves: Conqueror's Aegis Handguards (T8.5 Mimiron 25M or Emalon VoA25M)
Waist: Indestructible Plate Girdle (Ulduar Blacksmithing craft)
Legs: Wyrmguard Legplates (39 Emblem of Conquest)
Boots: Spiked Deathdealers (Ulduar Blacksmithing craft)
Ring 1: Signet of the Earthshaker (XT 25M BoE)
Ring 2: Seal of Ulduar (XT 10M HM)
Trinket 1: Heart of Iron (Ignis 25M)
Trinket 2: The Black Heart (The Black Knight ToC5)
Main Hand: Shiver (Hodir 10M HM)
Shield: The Boreal Guard (Hodir 10M HM)
Libram: Libram of the Sacred Shield (Vezax 10M/25M or 19 Emblem of Conquest)

Herald of the Titans is an achievement that requires you to kill Algalon on 10M with ilvl 226 armor and 232 weapons. The actual BIS sets are kind of debated but you really don't need full BIS to do Herald. You just need 10 people who have the right ilvl gear and know mechanics.

Your damage sources for the fight are physical (regular melee swing + Quantum Strike), arcane (Phase Punch + Arcane Barrage from Living Constellations), shadow (Black Hole Explosion) and fire (Cosmic Smash). I would say ignore going for resistances, as physical damage is what's gonna kill you if you're not careful. Everything else can be handled just fine.

Because of this tier's lacking stats you will be hungry for hit and expertise even with the most optimized setup. You will both want to gem some hit (make sure you try to hit as many socket bonuses as possible while gemming) and use hit food. You can also use Lavanthor's Talisman from VH5 HC instead of The Black Heart since it is an activation trinket and not a proc trinket, making the benefit more predictable—however, I have not had that drop yet...

Gems:

Head: Austere Earthsiege Diamond (+32 stam and 2% increased armor value) + Vivid Eye of Zul (+10 hit +15 stam)
Shoulders: Solid Majestic Zircon (+30 stam)
Chest: Solid Majestic Zircon (+30 stam) + Accurate Ametrine (+10 exp +10 hit)
Gloves: Accurate Ametrine (+10 exp +10 hit)
Waist: Vivid Eye of Zul (+10 hit +15 stam) + Accurate Ametrine (+10 exp +10 hit) + Thick King's Amber (+20 def)
Legs: Thick King's Amber (+20 def) + Accurate Ametrine (+10 exp +10 hit)
Boots: Thick King's Amber (+20 def) + Vivid Eye of Zul (+10 hit +15 stam)
Ring 2: Solid Majestic Zircon (+30 stam)
Main Hand: Accurate Ametrine (+10 exp +10 hit)
Shield: Vivid Eye of Zul (+10 hit +15 stam) + Guardian's Dreadstone (+10 exp +15 stam)

Enchants:

Head: Arcanum of the Stalwart Protector (+37 stam +20 def; Argent Crusade rep)
Shoulders: Greater Inscription of the Pinnacle (+20 dodge +15 def; Sons of Hodir rep)
Back: Titanweave (+16 def)
Chest: Powerful Stats (+10 all stats)
Bracers: Fur Lining - Stamina (+102 stam; Leatherworking)
Gloves: Reticulated Armor Webbing (+885 armor; Engineering)
Waist: Eternal Belt Buckle (+1 socket; Blacksmithing craft)
Legs: Frosthide Leg Armor (+55 stam +22 agi; Leatherworking craft)
Boots: Nitro Boosts (+24 crit and gotta go fast; Engineering)
Main Hand: Accuracy (+25 hit +25 crit)
Shield: Defense (+20 def)

Consumables:

Flask/Elixir: Guru's Elixir (+20 all stats) + Elixir of Protection (+800 armor)
Potion: Indestructible Potion (+3500 armor)
Food: Snapper Extreme (+40 hit +40 stam) + Dirge's Kickin' Chimaerok Chops (+25 stam)
Misc.: Greater Rune of Warding (25% chance of 400 physical damage absorption)

Parsing

Blah blah just get DC and STS

2025/08/17
PUG ICC10 6/12 6HC

2025/08/09
HOTH RS25HC + ICC25 12/12 8HC + TOGC25 4/5 2HC

2025/08/08
PUG RS25HC + ICC 9/12 8HC