[MoP] Protection Paladin Guide

[Deleted]

Hello, new-ish protection paladin here! I am not sure where exactly to ask this, but I figured this would be at least in the right direction.
I just received a head token from LFR Sha of Fear. Now I've heard this and that about protection set bonuses and the itemization on the gear, so I thought I'd make sure before making a purchase: how well does using better itemized pieces compare to protection set bonuses? While dodge and parry are not the most optimal stats, they aren't terrible either, so I'm leaning towards set bonuses with my limited knowledge, even if they're not as impressive as they could be.
This is for 10-man by the way if that makes a difference.

Also, if going for the set bonuses: which off-set piece would be best? Using retribution tier legs instead of protection ones is looking pretty decent in my eyes, but I was just wondering if there's any obviously better options available.

Thank you in advance for your time

[Deleted]

Personally I am not going for the protection set. Wether protection or retri set is better for prot paladins can be debated. The two are not directly comparable.

My own choice is to go for retribution set as I feel it fits my playstyle better. Though I am letting everyone else in the group take tiers first. I won't use it until I got 4p.

I am probably going for hands off-set. Though I will keep a full off-set set for those fights I do not want set bonus as off set pieces are better itemized than the set pieces.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

I'm letting all the dps and healers get their Tier gear first, then I'll collect it. You are far more likely to get stuck on a dps check or healing check than you are a tank check.

[Deleted]

I'm letting all the dps and healers get their Tier gear first, then I'll collect it. You are far more likely to get stuck on a dps check or healing check than you are a tank check.

Tank checks are almost non existant in this tier, and even in those cases, having tier set or not will not make any difference.
So yeah, dps and healer should take prio on tier.

[DrDreads]

@Dragonland If you're going as haste heavy as possible you are correct in swapping legs out but you'll want to swap them out for the dps legs off will of emp instead of ret tier.

Personally I probably won't be using either prot or ret 4set pieces as the haste loss compared to the bonuses gained from those pieces just doesn't seem worth it to me.

[Deleted]

Alright, thanks for your answers, much appreciated!

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Tank checks are almost non existant in this tier, and even in those cases, having tier set or not will not make any difference.
So yeah, dps and healer should take prio on tier.

"Tank checks" are all but non-existent in the entire game, you can probably count off the tank checks since classic on one hand. Any time the tank dies, either he effed up, a healer effed up, or you just use an external cooldown to cover the gear deficit. It is almost never a gear issue (even if people like to think that they are dying because their gear sucks.) The only way that the tank can be challenged is awareness and reaction tests - Stone Guards, Will, Zorlok, Garalon, Lei Shi; all bosses that demand the tank do something specific, but they don't require any gear as such. If you can avoid the Dance, you can do it naked.

[Deleted]

Well, comparing start of cata and start of mop, I think that T11 had alot more tank checks than this tier have. Now, tank check is a matter of defintion. For me it is when you actually gotta actively think alot on your playstyle. Generally, I would define it as a fight where tanks have a good responsibility and a small fuck up is a wipe. Given, a fuck up on any fight for a tank is bad, though talking about the less lenient fights.

If I can make it through a fight without using any defensive cds, or just maybe using a defensive cd when boss does ultimate ability of doom death volcano, then it is not a tank check, but a fight that requires constant focus and losing focus just for a second during most part of the fight = wipe, then it is a tank check in my eyes.

In T11 for example, Chimaeron double attack tanking, Maloriak HC tanking, Magmaw Add tanking, even a fight like Omnotron HC just in terms of positioning. Nef HC add tanking, Halfus HC and Conclave HC, all of these are fights that I personally thought was more challenging than basically every fight in this tier from a tank PoV.

I was however raiding 25 man in cata and 10 man now in MoP so that is a step down in difficulty.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Of course, that is more a tanking skill check than a tanking gear check.

[Deleted]

Given, it feels like previous tiers have had a more roflomg 4p bonus, this tier the set bonus is more, meeeh. Especially with the horrible stats on the tier pieces.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Given, it feels like previous tiers have had a more roflomg 4p bonus, this tier the set bonus is more, meeeh. Especially with the horrible stats on the tier pieces.

Yeah, the tier 14 4 bonus is basically "(4) Set: Increases your Mastery Rating by 2000".

[Deleted]

Which is not really that great considering how horrible the itemization is.

[Xothic]

Item - Paladin T15 Protection 2P Bonus (New) Casting Word of Glory or Eternal Flame also grants you 40% additional block chance for 5 sec per Holy Power.
Item - Paladin T15 Protection 4P Bonus (New) You gain 1 Holy Power for each 0% of your health taken as damage while Divine Protection is active.

Interdasting. Curious to see what that % ends up being on the 4piece. Also, does this mean we will have to maintain a block buff with wog now? Interdasting indeed.

[Deleted]

Item - Paladin T15 Protection 2P Bonus (New) Casting Word of Glory or Eternal Flame also grants you 40% additional block chance for 5 sec per Holy Power.
Item - Paladin T15 Protection 4P Bonus (New) You gain 1 Holy Power for each 0% of your health taken as damage while Divine Protection is active.

Interdasting. Curious to see what that % ends up being on the 4piece. Also, does this mean we will have to maintain a block buff with wog now? Interdasting indeed.

My immediate thought is what a horrible 2 set bonus...who uses wog?! Hmmm losing SotR buff to cast a heal? No thanks....

[Xothic]

My immediate thought is what a horrible 2 set bonus...who uses wog?! Hmmm losing SotR buff to cast a heal? No thanks....

Uhh, alot of us. That shit can crit for like 300k, why would you not use it after 5 stacks? Also what, you're using SotR on Lei Shi? How is that working out for you? Wog is obviously a situtational ability, but neglecting it in certain situations is just silly.

What I want to know is whether 40% extra block chance for 15 seconds is better then ~50% melee DR for 3. I personally think it might be, especially for Haste paladins.

[Deleted]

Uhh, alot of us. That shit can crit for like 300k, why would you not use it after 5 stacks? Also what, you're using SotR on Lei Shi? How is that working out for you? Wog is obviously a situtational ability, but neglecting it in certain situations is just silly.

What I want to know is whether 40% extra block chance for 15 seconds is better then ~50% melee DR for 3. I personally think it might be, especially for Haste paladins.

Healing for 300k but losing 50% damage reduction buff isnt a good trade off imo. I RARELY wog...i rely on my healers to keep me up: keeping a large damage reduction buff on me helps them a ton imo. im guessing a lot of that 300k WoG would be overheal (or make your healers overheal with their incoming heal spam).

Not sure how relevant next tier set is to current tier boss. Would increasing your block chance against lei Shi be good?

Still not convinced using 1 HP on wog to get block chance increase would be better over saving that HP for more SotR up time. It may be, just initial thoughts were "meh". Ill wait for Theckster.

Edit: rereading bonus it's 5 sec buff per HP used, so that improves things a bit. still ill wait and see what the maths dudes think.

[Deleted]

interesting for me is whether the extra block chance will stack(duration) or it will overwrite itself...Will it be possible to have 100% +40%block buff stacked(from HA to next HA)...Don't think it will be like this though...

[Deleted]

interesting for me is whether the extra block chance will stack(duration) or it will overwrite itself...Will it be possible to have 100% +40%block buff stacked(from HA to next HA)...Don't think it will be like this though...

Well that's how it stacks for SotR buff, so im thinking it may also extend the duration.
Seems to me your replaceing a 50% damage reduction buff with a 30% damage reduction buff and a heal. /shrug

[Deleted]

Hmm. I'm not sure what to think of 4set.
In theory, it could be nice on a big pull + Holy Avenger.
But other than that, it's pretty shit.
Main time you use WoG is against heavy magic damage (if you don't Divine Protection obviously) so why would I need block against spell damage.

[Deleted]

Seems to me your replaceing a 50% damage reduction buff with a 30% damage reduction buff and a heal. /shrug

Please read, from HA(holy avenger) to next HA. 2 minutes KD. During HA, stack buff to approx. 1min 40sec, then proceed as usually, but with +40%block chance. I would replace 15sec 50%buff with a 2min. 30%buff(an also during these 2 min with norml 50%). Not sure if i explained myself well...