Protection Paladin Raid Guide (2024)

When to use this spec

This loadout is a very heavy damage loadout. It is not recommended to play this for difficult progression bosses. To make your life easier, boss-specific talent loadouts are available in theRaidssection.

Gameplay Altering Talents

Discover all talents that significantly alter your gameplay within the Spec and Class Talent trees. This section gives a concise overview of these talents and their applications but for a more detailed look check out the Rotation andDeep Divesections below.

Spec Tree

• Righteous Protector
  • Gives much higher uptime on both Avenging Wrath / Sentinel and Guardian of Ancient Kings. This allows for higher uptime on 2 strong defensives, while also granting a very large DPS increase increased uptime on Avenging Wrath / Sentinel.
• Consecration in Flame
  • Makes Consecration last 2 seconds longer and increases its damage by 20%. This makes Consecration last 14 seconds, which makes it much easier to weave into the rest of your abilities without having to worry about refreshing it very often unless there is heavy movement.
• Sanctified Wrath
  • Both Avenging Wrath / Sentinel are given increased uptime to 25 seconds duration. Additionally, giving Judgment increased Holy Power generation by 1.
• Zealot's Paragon
  • Extends the duration of Avenging Wrath with each cast of Judgment and Hammer of Wrath.
• Shining Light
  • Makes your Word of Glory free after 3 Shield of the Righteous and has a maximum of 2 stacks. This talent is integral to playing Protection Paladin!
• Barricade of Faith
  • You want to prioritize Avenger's Shield to keep up this potent defensive buff active.
• Sanctuary
  • The effects of Consecration persists for 4 seconds after leaving, which makes heavy movement more manageable.

Class Tree

• Sanctified Plates
  • Increases your armor by 10%, Stamina by 10%, and reduces damage taken from area of effect attacks by 10%. This is an incredibly strong passive defensive talent.
• Divine Toll
  • Instantly casts Avenger's Shield on up to 5 targets within 30 yards. Generates 1 Holy Power per Target hit. This is affected by Divine Resonance which makes it so that after casting Divine Toll you instantly cast Avenger's Shield every 5 seconds for 15 seconds. This goes onto your main target.
  • Quickened Invocation reduces the cooldown of your Divine Toll by 15 seconds.
• Resolute Defender
  • Allows you to use Ardent Defender and Divine Shield a lot more often, which makes for higher uptime on some of your strongest defensive cooldowns.
• Greater Judgment
  • Judgment causes the target to take 40% increased damage from your next Shield of the Righteous.
• Cavalier
  • This talent gives Divine Steed 2 charges, which makes planning movement much easier.

When to use this spec

Pick this loadout for very difficult bosses that you struggle to survive on. To make your life easier, boss-specific talent loadouts are available in theRaidssection.

Talent Adjustments

Listing all the changes within the Class and Spec tree compared to the default build.

Spec Tree

• Added
  • Sentinel
    • Strong Survivability Option vs Avenging Wrath.
  • Final Stand
    • A very good defensive for hard bosses.
  • Improved Holy Shield
    • Adds a bit of Survivability to bosses where you can block spells.
  • Light of the Titans
    • More off healing potential for hard bosses as well as self-healing.
  • Blessing of Spellwarding
    • Used to mitigate damage for your allies on hard bosses, this is often used for specific tactics.
  • Barricade of Faith
    • Adds slightly more Survivability.
  • Resolute Defender
    • Gives increased CDR on Divine Shield and Ardent Defender allowing for more uptime of these defensives.

• Removed
  • Avenging Wrath
    • Changed to Sentinel.
  • Moment of Glory
  • Inspiring Vanguard
  • Seal of Reprisal
  • Ferren Marcus's Fervor
  • Soaring Shield
  • Bastion of Light

• Below you can see the opener rotation using the the recommended survivability talent spec.

• Below you can see the opener rotation using the Moment of Glory talent and the recommended Moment of Glory talent spec.

1. Always stand in Consecration for damage reduction from Mastery and Sanctuary, aiming for 100% uptime.
2. Cast Avenging Wrath on cooldown.
3. Cast Divine Toll on cooldown.
4. Cast Judgment if you have 2 charges.
5. Cast Hammer of Wrath on cooldown.
6. Cast Judgment on cooldown.
7. Cast Avenger's Shield to maintain Ally of the Light and Barricade of Faith.
8. Never cap Holy Power; always use Shield of the Righteous at 3-5 Holy Power.
9. Cast Blessed Hammer to keep up Ally of the Light.
10. Only use Word of Glory with Shining Light procs when below 70% health, or in emergencies when Shield of the Righteous uptime is high.
11. Refresh Consecration.

When you have Moment of Glory active, you should follow this priority:

• 1. Avenger's Shield
• 2. Judgment (if at 2 stacks)
• 3. Hammer of Wrath
• 4. Judgment (if at 1 stack)
• 5. Blessed Hammer / Hammer of the Righteous
  When Moment of Glory is active and with enough haste you should be able to use Avenger's Shield after 2 other important globals, which means you most likely skip Blessed Hammer / Hammer of the Righteous and Avenger's Shield again.

On 3+ targets, prioritize Avenger's Shield over Judgment and Hammer of Wrath for more damage. Use Bulwark of Righteous Fury to maximize Shield of the Righteous damage, especially in AoE. Use Grand Crusader procs immediately.

1. Always stand in Consecration for damage reduction from Mastery and Sanctuary, aiming for 100% uptime.
2. Cast Avenging Wrath on cooldown.
3. Cast Divine Toll on cooldown.
4. Cast Avenger's Shield on Cooldown.
5. Cast Judgment on Cooldown.
6. Cast Hammer of Wrath on Cooldown.
7. Cast Blessed Hammer on Cooldown.

Phase 1

Add Tank

• When tanking the adds in Phase 1 of the fight in most cases it is worth holding your Avenging Wrath and Divine Toll on pull so you have them when the adds spawn to keep aggro against your DPS players.
• In case your team has an Evoker, use Cauterizing Flame to cleanse Rending Bite when you reach too many stacks. Oftentimes you parry or dodge them so if you are unlucky, cleanse them instead.
  • Divine Shield, Blessing of Protection, and Stoneform all allow you to cleanse it yourself if needed.
• You can use Divine Shield and pre-use Blessing of Spellwarding to immune the stun of Static Jolt from the add casts.
• Use strong defensives at the start of every add wave and towards the end against Tarasek Earthweavers as their Burrowing Strike stacks up quite fast and increases damage taken a lot. A brief example is to start with Sentinel and use Ardent Defender late.
• Make sure to always aim Tremors away from the ranged and melee players, preferably into a wall. Keep in mind the cast time, and dodge it yourself at the last second so you have a higher chance of stacking up multiple casts on the same position to create more space.
• Lastly, make sure to keep dragging the 2 packs that spawn around the same time together so they stack up. Assign kicks and other stops while dragging caster packs to make it easier.

Boss Tank

• The most important thing to know on this fight is the path you want to take to break the eggs. Different guilds have varying strategies for this mechanic, so be sure you know which one you are doing ahead of time.
• Mechanics like Wildfire and Icy Shroud can be quite annoying when tanking the boss since they often overlap with Mortal Wounds. For these overlaps, use defensives during the overlaps and you can use Blessing of Freedom to pre-immune the Icy Shroud damage and absorb.
• Making use of externals when tanking the bosses' Mortal Stoneclaws is super important since you want to stay healthy during the Mortal Wounds debuff.
  • Dropping low and then trying to heal up afterwards with a large healing taken reduction is really difficult for Protection Paladins.
• Make sure to rotate defensives on each Mortal Stoneclaws and use immunities such as Divine Shield and Blessing of Spellwarding to pre-immune the debuff Mortal Wounds, as well as Wildfire and Icy Shroud.
• Below is a timeline of how to use your cooldowns while tanking the boss in Phase 1:

Second Phase

• During Phase 2 both tanks are now on the boss and the damage the boss does ramps up every 30 seconds Broodkeeper's Fury.
• The key to this phase is alternating both tank's defensives well to deal with the newly added tank explosion mechanic application of Stoneslam Detonation. It is applied after Mortal Stoneslam.
• Swap after every Mortal Stoneslam.
• In this phase Protection Paladin is very strong since you can use Divine Shield and Blessing of Spellwarding before Mortal Stoneslam hits and immune both Crushing Stoneclaws and the new explosion, Stoneslam Detonation, fully negating the mechanic.
• The times when you do not have Divine Shield or Blessing of Spellwarding can be dangerous so you want to make sure you have Sentinel and 2 other defensives, such as Ardent Defender and an external cooldown, or just Guardian of Ancient Kings in order to be able to tank the big hit plus the explosion afterwards.
• The important part about the tank mechanic is that after taking it, you receive a 12 second 90% healing taken reduction, Mortal Suffering, while exploding for a lot of magic damage afterwards with Stoneslam Detonation. This kills you most of the time if you do not go into this mechanic with a healthy amount of defensives up and subsequently staying high health after the hit. You can have people soak the Stoneslam Detonation if you would otherwise die because you are low on defensives.
• Time Dilation from a Preservation Evoker is an extremely strong external cooldown here since you take reduced healing afterwards, allowing you to tank the big hit and the explosion very easily.
• Lastly, during Phase 2, the Frozen Shroud and Wildfire combo does a good amount of magic damage to you overall so remember you can use Blessing of Freedom to remove the absorb on yourself or others.
• Below is a timeline for using your cooldowns while tanking in Phase 2:

Special Tips and Tricks

• A DPS/Healer player with an immunity can taunt right before Mortal Stoneslam if necessary. They take all the deadly debuffs and just immune them outside the raid group giving you and your tank partner more time to regenerate defensives.
• Using Blessing of Sacrifice can be quite dangerous for the paladin in this fight so make sure they are ready when you call for it.
• Dwarf Stoneform is a strong defensive option in this fight for its bleed removal and 10% physical damage reduction.

Phase 1

• Electrified Jaws is the only tank mechanic in Phase 1 and is easy to handle. The damage is quite low and the important part is the debuff after. Increasing your physical damage taken by 100% and giving you a magic DoT.
  • When the other tank has the debuff applied and you taunt it from them, you still have a short duration remaining on yours meaning that you take 1 hit with +100% damage taken. Be ready to use your defensives such as such as Sentinel or Ardent Defender for this hit.
  • Also, watch out for the damage from Static Charge overlapping with Electrified Jaws as this does substantial damage to you and warrants using a defensive.
  • Swap after 1 stack of Electrified Jaws.
• Hurricane Wing can be immuned with Divine Shield or Blessing of Spellwarding, preventing the pushback. While tanking the boss, face him away from the raid to make it easier for them to position and see the mechanics. A good rotation to use here is the following:
  • Hurricane Wing 1: Divine Steed + Demonic Gateway
  • Hurricane Wing 2: Divine Shield
  • Hurricane Wing 3: Blessing of Spellwarding
  • Hurricane Wing 4: Divine Steed + Demonic Gateway
  • Hurricane Wing 5: Boss should be pushed at this point
• Volatile Current spawns Sparks that need to be dealt with. As a Protection Paladin, your toolkit is the following:
  • Rebuke with it you can just kick 1 Spark and remove 1 stack.
  • Divine Toll removes 1 stack from all Sparks the initial shields hit. If you talent Quickened Invocation you can use Divine Toll on every Volatile Current wave.
  • Hammer of Justice removes 1 stack from 1 Spark, best used on close targets since its 10 yard range.
  • Avenger's Shield removes 1 stack from 1 Spark and is 30 yard range so you should always use this spell if you can.

Intermission 1

• In the intermission, the main struggle is going to be picking up aggro from all the adds spawning when breaking the shield of the Surging Ruiners. For this, have Divine Toll ready for the 1st and 3rd waves with Quickened Invocation so you can generate the initial threat. Also pre-place Consecration in the middle of where the adds spawn and pool 3-5 Holy Power to instantly Shield of the Righteous mobs.
• Apart from that make use of Avenger's Shield to move Stormseeker Acolytes with you by interrupting and silencing them to keep them out of Lightning Devastation. If they are not interrupted they just stand there and cast on your group.

Phase 2

• Electrified Jaws still exists with the same rules as P1
• Hurricane Wing is now Tempest Wing. This does not change how easy it is to handle with Divine Shield and Blessing of Spellwarding. You want to use Divine Steed as well, just make sure when you press it to move forward quickly and avoid nearby players that are still actively moving through the wave to take as little damage as possible.
• Fulminating Charge is a non-tank mechanic but you can help a struggling DPS/healer with the mechanic by using Blessing of Freedom on them allowing them to move out of the Raid and explode.
• Volatile Current still exists with the same rules as phase 1.

Intermission 2

• Agree on which tank takes which Colossal Stormfiend. One important note is that they do not melee swing but use a ranged magical attack to hit their target. Even if you are not in range of them but have aggro, you get hit by their attack.
  • Their attack can be blocked despite being a ranged attack.
• During this intermission, the whole raid is busy and generally, there isn't much healing going towards the tanks. Whenever you are tanking the Stormfiend and they are not casting anything consider pressing defensives and being aware that this can be a scary moment for you.
• Storm Break spawns adds from every Stormfiend, here you can make use of the slow from Consecrated Ground when the adds meet in the middle to slow them so they can be killed easily.

Phase 3

• Phase 3 is the most interesting phase for tanking since the boss casts Raging Storm and starts spawning Storm's Spite.
  • The main goal is to soak as many as possible as a tank to reduce the amount of stacks on the Raid.
  • While not tanking the boss, you should be constantly walking around the boss soaking them.
• Thunderous Blast is the new tank mechanic. It is very different from the other phases now it is a frontal during which you must use defensives to lessen the impact of the explosion on the raid after Thunderous Energy.
  • Divine Shield and Blessing of Spellwarding can be used to immune this ability, preventing any damage to you and the Raid. Beware in the case of Blessing of Spellwarding that you still take very large melees from the debuff of Thunderstruck Armor.
  • Aiming it away from the raid or any other players is important as anyone getting hit but the tanks will blow up and almost certainly cause a wipe.
  • Asking for absorb external cooldowns or making use of any absorb trinket in the game can be really powerful here as well. Here is an example of a rotation to immune every single one if you start the boss in Phase 3:
    • Thunderous Blast 1: Divine Shield
    • Thunderous Blast 3: Blessing of Spellwarding
    • Thunderous Blast 5: Divine Shield should be back from Resolute Defender if talented. If it is not up yet, use absorb trinkets or external cooldowns.
• Thunderstruck Armor is the debuff after taking the explosion, similar to phase 1 and phase 2. Since you are using your immunities for Thunderous Blast be sure to use Ardent Defender and Guardian of Ancient Kings for this.
• Magnetic Charge is a new mechanic for non tank players, it grips you to their position when the debuff runs out.
  • Using Divine Steed to reposition quickly and keeping the boss facing in a good position is very helpful for the Raid.
  • On top of that you can use Divine Steed to soak Storm's Spite that is now far away from the relocated Raid.
• Fulminating Charge + Tempest Wing are the same as in Phase 2.

Special Tips and Tricks

• Blood Elf Arcane Torrent removes 1 stack from the Sparks and is a really strong racial in this fight
• Playing higher Mastery on this fight can be quite nice since a lot of the damage taken in this fight is magical and a lot of the mechanics are Holy Shield blockable.

Phase 1

• In Phase 1, it is important to position the boss correctly for Echoing Fissure. Most of the time, you want to place this in a corner far away from the broken wall you pass through.
• Use Calamitous Strike to break walls. It is important to note that this ability knockbacks into the wall and far behind it so aim yourself correctly before it goes off.
  • Beware of the debuff from Calamitous Strike which makes you take 200% increased physical damage.
  • On top of that, your tank partner can taunt during the cast and it still goes on the initial target.
  • DO NOT Divine Shield before this hits you! It prevents you from being knocked back which means you can not break any walls making you overwhelmingly likely to wipe.
    • You can sometimes stand right next to the wall after using Divine Shield and still break the walls even though you did not get knocked back but this is not consistent and should never be relied upon.
  • Getting gripped back by a Priest or Evoker after you fly through a wall works perfectly fine and is very nice since you are slow as Protection Paladin.

Phase 2

• In Phase 2, you have to drag the boss depending on your guild's strategy, same with which wall to break with Sunder Shadow.
• Sunder Shadow knocks you back a small amount and leaves an image of your body behind and puts you into an ethereal realm where you can pass through walls. It is important to note here that you always need to leave melee range to break walls make sure to use Blessed Hammer and Judgment to generate resources while out of range.
  • Run behind the wall you desire to break and use Ardent Defender as well as being inside Consecration.
  • Should there be a Volcanic Heart in the way, make sure to also use Divine Shield or Blessing of Spellwarding.
• Do not underestimate the damage you can take while walking away from the boss with Sunder Shadow especially when he follows it up with a Umbral Annihilation.
• When Corruption is cast, avoid pressing Avenger's Shield and Divine Toll to not cleave the mind controlled players.

Phase 3

• In Phase 3, the boss positioning is relevant to which portals become available when Sunder Reality is cast, so position the boss properly.
• After Sunder Reality is cast, portals open and adds spawn from them. Aggro is the biggest problem here especially since the adds are spread out while spawning. Make sure to have Avenger's Shield ready and get ready to Hand of Reckoning some far away adds.
• During this one of the 2 tanks also get Calamitous Strike from the boss. Make sure to negate the knockback with Divine Shield and Blessing of Protection to not break any walls, and to also remove the debuff from Calamitous Strike which makes you take 200% increased physical damage.

Special Tips and Tricks

• In Phase 3, position the boss close to the portals so the melee players can have full uptime while also being safe from Ebon Destruction.
• You can Blessing of Spellwarding allies so they can avoid Ebon Destruction and use Divine Shield for the same effect on yourself.

Phase 1

• Burning Claws is the main mechanic for tanks in Phase 1. Blazing Blast triggers at the end of the debuff making it crucial to keep defensives and absorbs through the entire duration.
  • While having this debuff, make sure to use Divine Shield when Scorching Bomb is going off, you can get incredible value by reducing the amount you explode for and also immuning the stacks from Scorching Bomb.
  • A good defensive rotation makes the explosion at the end of the debuff much smaller.
  • Swap after 1 stack of Burning Claws.
• Moving the boss while Drifting Embers is going on is nice and can lead to melee players dodging the mechanic more easily.
• Always make sure to bait Searing Breath away from the ranged players unless your guild's strategy says otherwise. What this means is do not stand with your back towards the range camp.

Phase 2

• After playing the intermission, reposition the boss for Abyssal Breath. This means you should be keeping him towards the inner circle of the room instead of near the edge.
• Abyssal Breath spawns a lot of adds, Empty Recollection is the tank add so make sure you pick it up. It casts Empty Strike increasing your damage taken.
  • As a Protection Paladin you have a ranged interrupt with Avenger's Shield so make sure to keep an eye on Cosmic Volley to help single kick it or kick multiple with Divine Toll.
• With Blinding Light you can AoE Stop Blasting Scream whenever needed or is necessary.
• Void Claws is the new main tank mechanic in this phase, it does a good amount of damage to you so make sure to have Ardent Defender or Guardian of Ancient Kings for it when you get it and cast a Word of Glory yourself just after.
  • This mechanic functions differently compared to Phase 1. You do not need to use defensives throughout the duration, but toward the end when it explodes.
  • When the debuff expires, it explodes around you. Run out of the Raid and do not hit anyone with this mechanic.
• Infinite Duress is a debuff on a non tank-player. When dispelled it triggers Dread, a decent knockback that can sometimes be quite problematic. To counter it, be close to the dispel by using Divine Steed before the knock and not in line with any Dimensional Puncture on the ground as this instantly kills you. You can use Divine Shield or Blessing of Spellwarding to avoid the knockback, however you would ideally have used Blessing of Spellwarding already and look to save Divine Shield for later.

Solo Intermission

• If you are handling the solo outside phase make sure to have Divine Shield ready before going into Intermission:
  • You want to tank Destabilize with a defensive like Ardent Defender and request an external as well, such as Life Cocoon.
  • After that, you want to press Divine Steed to help stay in the middle of the room and move the boss towards the middle. Use Divine Shield to immune the application of Infinite Duress, thus preventing the mechanic from occurring.
  • With the boss in the middle, he casts Cosmic Ascension. Move quickly towards where he came from all the way to the edge, wait for the cast to finish and the Astral Formation to spawn under you.
  • The boss reappears and walks towards you so be ready with a strong defensive as he is about to cast Void Slash.

Third Phase

• In Phase 3, tanks have a unique job, the new Void Slash mechanic is a frontal cone that should not hit anyone but the current tank.
  • Most of the time 1 tank is taking 2 stacks of it and then going down into the Emptiness Between Stars since the explosion would otherwise kill the Raid.
• Stand inside either Astral Formation or in one of the falling Motes of Oblivion to gain stacks of Oblivion.
• Every Cosmic Ascension is quite dangerous since the boss flies up and you have to break uptime. Move out and meet the boss who is ready to swing at you, it is advised to have Ardent Defender for this.
• During Scouring Eternity pre-position the Boss behind a crystal so you can be safe from this mechanic and so the Raid can do efficient damage.
• Embrace of Nothingness is the big soak mechanic on non-tank players. If your tactic is to help and soak this, make sure you press strong defensives such as Ardent Defender and Guardian of Ancient Kings. You can also Blessing of Spellwarding the person who has this mechanic and prevent them from taking any damage.
• Infinite Duress again be present, so watch where the individual is being dispelled as there are a lot of Dimensional Punctures on the ground and you have no displacement movement effect as Protection Paladin.

Special Tips and Tricks

• Dwarf Stoneform is a really strong utility in this fight when you want to do the solo intermission without using Divine Shield, since you can self-dispell Infinite Duress.

Phase 1

Smolderon is a very scripted fight and there is only 1 random factor determining how the fight plays out.

After each Intermission World In Flames, it is random which tank gets the first debuff.

Depending on whether you get the first or second debuff, the fight and how you play it changes a tiny bit so the following section is split to cover both scenarios.

First Overheated

• When you get the first Overheated debuff, you want to step away from the tanking position and your tank partner needs to taunt the boss to get Brand of Damnation on him.
• While your tanking partner is getting hit by the Brand of Damnation, you have to look for a nice position to stand in and be ready to taunt the boss.
• During the cast of Brand of Damnation, taunt the boss and don't be in the circle of the mechanic. Defensives are not needed here at all since you are just tanking the boss with his normal melee swings.
• After this, you are going to be taking on the second Brand of Damnation of the phase.

SecondOverheated

• When your tank partner gets Overheated first, you need to act fast since you need to have aggro of the boss. This means taunting the boss and getting ready to take Brand of Damnation.
  • Follow the steps directly below on how to handle Brand of Damnation.
• After coming back to the boss, you have to get ready to receive the second Overheated of the fight. With this debuff, position yourself well and wait for your tank partner to take Brand of Damnation, taunt the boss, and play it out until intermission starts.

How to Brand of Damnation

• It is time to talk about Brand of Damnation and how to use defensives for the hard part of the fight.
  • Ideally, you want to rotate Divine Shield and Guardian of Ancient Kings for this ability since it is very hard hitting, and you need to be out of the Raid with it.
  • Cauterizing Wound is a big healing absorb and when removed it drops an exploding zone under you. To clear this after the mechanic hits you, walk away from the stack of players and use a Word of Glory.
  • Make sure you do not have Final Stand talented on this boss, otherwise you move the boss as you run out of the Raid with Searing Aftermath. Bring this debuff either behind or in front of the raid team with the most possible distance between you and the players since it does fall off damage. Utilize Divine Steed here to move out efficiently and quickly.
  • Right before Searing Aftermath explodes, make sure you have your defensive still running after the initial of Brand of Damnation.
  • After Searing Aftermath you should move back to the raid and pay attention to the Lava Geysers timer. Make your way back while being either close to Lava Pools or instead waiting out the timer and then walking back to the boss.

Intermission

• Intermission is the easiest part for tanks, the boss goes afk and nothing really happens. Make sure to pick up your 5 Ignited Essence to min max your damage.
• Min max damage here by always saving Avenging Wrath, Moment of Glory, and Divine Toll for the intermission to do as much damage as possible.

How Wild Mushrooms Work

• Wild Mushrooms are the main mechanic for tanks throughout the whole fight and are fairly easy if understood correctly.
• The Boss casts Wild Mushrooms and summons 2 types of mushrooms. 1 Poisonous Mushroom and 1 Blazing Mushrooms.
  • Both of them need to be soaked by 1 tank each, otherwise they explode and wipe the raid.
  • After soaking, you receive a debuff making you take 500% more damage from the next mushroom of the same color for the next set.
  • With that in mind, it is quite simple what the goal is, soak 1 color then soak the other color and repeat
  • Before the start of the fight, you and your tank partner should decide who does which color first and from then on the rotation just flows naturally.
• Tips for the mushrooms
  • Cutting it too close to the edge of the mushroom can cause it to not be soaked, so be sure to take an extra step inside to ensure proper soaking.
  • The mushrooms spawn quite quickly one after another so move efficiently and fast to each one. Divine Steed can be useful, but it also has too much speed sometimes and makes the boss movement janky while you are moving to said mushrooms.
  • Divine Steed can also be weird here and if you're on the edge of a mushroom while mounted you might not soak it even though you are in it.
  • The damage of the mushrooms is not too high by themselves but if it overlaps with raid damage events it can be quite dangerous at times. Use Ardent Defender and be inside Consecration when possible while running between mushrooms.
  • You can also immune the mushroom damage with Divine Shield.

Platform 1

• When players break Mass Entanglement small treants spawn, pick them up by using Consecration and Avenger's Shield.
• Treants might spawn further away from melee when players break their Mass Entanglement away from the boss. Use Hand of Reckoning to taunt them underneath the boss before the Flare Bomb players land to get rid of the trees quickly.
• You can use Blessing of Freedom to get people out of Mass Entanglement. This spawns a treant, but can be very useful on a squishy target or a healer to help them maximize their output. You can also use Blessing of Spellwarding to pre-immune someone which renders them ineligible to be rooted by Mass Entanglement.
• Move the boss far away after a Fire Beam to make it as easier to dodge for the rest of the raid.

Platform 2

• The only added mechanic in Phase 2 is Flaming Germination which spawns Seed of Flame. Here 2 things are important for tanks:
  1. First, make sure to always keep the boss close to the dispel fire zones caused by Fiery Growth since the seeds can not spawn in the fire, allowing you to control the area where they spawn in a better way.
  • Try to always soak a seed right behind you when tanking the boss in the middle so the boss stays in range for every player in the raid.

Platform 3

• In Phase 3 all mechanics mentioned above are happening simultaneously, but the way to handle them stays the same.
• For the Boss movement consult with your guild and check what tactics you are running

Special Tips and Tricks

• Unbound Freedom can be quite nice here to speed you up during Mushrooms without having to use Divine Steed, which can make boss movement janky, as well as immuning another player's Mass Entanglement.

As with most later bosses, a lot of specifics come down to the tactic your Raid picks on this boss so these tips will be more focused on tips and tricks for the fight rather than strategy specific tips. Be sure to watch the video below if you want more in-depth tips!

Phase 1

• Predator is a special tank mechanic that makes the boss leap after you when you leave melee range to hit you with a melee swing. It is nothing special just keep in mind that if you run far away from him he leaps to you in the same way.
• Fyr'alath's Bite is the tank mechanic in Phase 1 and Phase 2. Always make sure to aim it in a set direction and do not change this last second because in Phase 2 you can't hit any friendly Souls or Ancients with it as it corrupts them.
• In phase 1, position the boss nicely for your melee players to still hit the boss while placing the Dream Rend.
  • Use a defensive such as Ardent Defender before walking into the fire patch on the ground since it deals a very large amount of damage together with the tank debuff and melee swings. You can also immune the fire damage with Divine Shield.
  • The boss facing is important for the position of Dream Rend since the boss keeps on turning while he is casting until the cast is finished.
  • The Dream Rend pull in is greater the closer you are to it, so move the boss out and do a shuffle-type movement together with the Raid. It is important to utilize Divine Steed to help yourself here.
• Do not move around during the Blaze mechanic just tank the damage and if anything moves inside your line do not shift your position.

Intermission

• Basically, everything here comes down to the tactic your guild plays and what WeakAura you use. You can immune a lot of orbs with Divine Shield and Blessing of Spellwarding.

Phase 2

• During the Shadowflame Devastation phase, Greater Firestorm summons two Colossus adds. If the tank circles overlap use a strong defensive ability and remain inside Consecration to prevent dying.
• In phase 2, Divine Toll is very useful for interrupting the Screaming Souls, as well as silencing them briefly.

Phase 3

• In phase 3, you take more damage over time from Infernal Maw due to its stacking debuff. Rotate defensives on every Infernal Maw and be sure to use Divine Shield at some point when Infernal Maw overlaps with high stacks from Corrupted Seed.
• An example rotation for Infernal Maw assuming you are the off tank looks like this:

• Normally tanks hold a Corrupted Seed or Seed of Amirdrassil with which you can't get hit by any mechanic including Infernal Maw or the Raid wipes.

Special Tips and Tricks

• Playing higher Mastery on this fight can be strong for survivability since you can block corruption, Infernal Maw DOT and Fyr'akath's Bite.

Below you are presented with a good list of farmable alternatives that are obtainable outside of WoW’s weekly lockout system. While replaced in time as you progress, these offer immediate character power.

#showtooltip/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][]Hand of Reckoning

/cast [@boss1] Hand of Reckoning

/cast [@boss2] Hand of Reckoning