Paladin

• Revealed at BlizzCon on September 12, 2026. Paladin trees shown day one, detailed in the day-two deep dive.
• Beta opened Thursday September 17 at a level cap of 20, rising to 30 after about two weeks. About 5 weeks long. No Legacy points are earnable at 20.
• The live Q&A ran September 17 at 10:30 a.m. Pacific, right before the beta. Questions came from a forum thread; the channels’ verdict was that none were about classes.
• Launch is November 4 per trailer metadata. Onyxia (40-man), a 10-man with 8 bosses and a 20-man with 13 bosses open December 9.
• A legendary questline is on the spring roadmap; the first revamped old raid is next summer.

1. How much Intellect does Champion of the LightChampion of the LightRetribution · Max rank 3 · New in ForeverIncreases your spell damage and healing by up to 33% of your Intellect.Requires 25 points in RetributionMax rank not read from footage; showing rank 1 text. convert at rank 3? Rank 1 reads “up to 33%”. The Ret channel reads 1 Intellect to 1 spell power.
2. Will it keep its healing half? Most now expect not. Blizzard said on stage it gives damage and healing.
3. Will Light’s Vigil get cheaper, instant, or a second interaction? It’s a 1.5-second cast costing about 730 mana. Its heal can crit and IlluminationIlluminationHoly · Max rank 5 · Changed from ClassicAfter getting a critical effect from your Flash of Light, Holy Light, Light's Vigil, or Holy Shock heal spell you have a 40% chance to gain Mana equal to 50% of the base cost of the spell.Requires 15 points in Holy · Requires 3 points in ReverenceMax rank not read from footage; showing rank 2 text. applies.
4. Is IlluminationIlluminationHoly · Max rank 5 · Changed from ClassicAfter getting a critical effect from your Flash of Light, Holy Light, Light's Vigil, or Holy Shock heal spell you have a 40% chance to gain Mana equal to 50% of the base cost of the spell.Requires 15 points in Holy · Requires 3 points in ReverenceMax rank not read from footage; showing rank 2 text. really a 50% refund now? The tooltip reads that way, down from 100% in Classic.
5. Is Holy Strike normalized, and what does the coming buff do? The beta answered the rest: an instant attack, 25% weapon damage at rank 1 rising to 40%, a 42.5% spell power coefficient, no seal procs.
6. What is PvP beyond battlegrounds? The demo’s arena NPC only queues Warsong Gulch. Seals are dispellable. The PvP realm is faction locked.
7. Will the Judgement taunt get fixed? The beta tooltip says Judgement of Fury “taunts the target to attack you for 4 sec”. Still argued daily.
8. Does Prot scale with spell power or Strength? Spell power. Every crafted tank piece is defense and spell power, and Seal of Fury scales at about 10% of it.
9. Is Consecration’s 4-target cap the end of AoE tanking? Full damage to 4 targets, about 80% less beyond. The datamine reads 9.5% of spell power per tick on those four and a base around a quarter of vanilla’s.
10. How does the Twist of LightTwist of LightRetribution · Max rank 1 · New in ForeverWhen you replace your Seal of Command, Seal of Righteousness, Seal of Fury, or Seal of Justice with a different Seal, gain an Echo. Your next melee attack applies the replaced Seal's effects, consuming the Echo.Requires 30 points in Retribution · Requires Level 40All ranks read from demo footage. echo work? It fires on white hits only, never on Command procs or Windfury. The rest can’t be tested in beta.
11. Will Ret and Shockadin be separated? They share a tree and gear. Both channels call that a Season of Discovery mistake repeated.
12. Does a threat API survive the addon restriction? The base UI now has a swing timer and a damage meter. The Prot beta test plan still needs a threat addon.
13. How do off-tank paladins get mana? Blocks are the mana source. The channel’s answer is dual spec, not a fix.
14. Does Holy ShieldHoly ShieldProtection · Max rank 1 · Changed from Classic150 Mana | Instant | 10 sec cooldownIncreases chance to block by 20% for 10 sec, and deals 110 Holy damage for each attack blocked while active. Damage caused by Holy Shield causes 20% additional threat. Each block expends a charge. 4 charges.Requires 30 points in Protection · Requires 1 point in Templar's Bulwark · Requires ShieldsAll ranks read from demo footage. have charges? The demo said four. No rank tooltip in the beta files lists any.
15. What is Seal of Righteousness’s coefficient? One beta test with Judgement of the Crusader reads 20 to 25% per hit on a one-hander, not the demo’s 10%.

• Holy is meant to be the best single-target healer with the longest-lasting mana, with limited party healing that needs planning through Light’s Vigil (deep dive, 1:13:35). Blizzard said
• Light’s Vigil exists because paladins had no party heal, but Blizzard does not want them healing like priests, druids or shamans (deep dive, 1:08:28). Blizzard said
• Holy ShockHoly ShockHoly · Max rank 1 · Changed from Classic160 Mana | Instant | Enemy: 20 yd range | Friendly: 40 yd range | 10 sec cooldownBlasts the target with Holy energy, causing 129 to 139 Holy damage to an enemy, or 110 to 118 healing to an ally.Requires 20 points in HolyAll ranks read from demo footage. plus Champion of the LightChampion of the LightRetribution · Max rank 3 · New in ForeverIncreases your spell damage and healing by up to 33% of your Intellect.Requires 25 points in RetributionMax rank not read from footage; showing rank 1 text. is the intended alternative to seal twisting (deep dive). Blizzard said
• Champion of the LightChampion of the LightRetribution · Max rank 3 · New in ForeverIncreases your spell damage and healing by up to 33% of your Intellect.Requires 25 points in RetributionMax rank not read from footage; showing rank 1 text. gives spell damage and healing from Intellect (deep dive, 1:11:46). Blizzard said
• Paladins “will be doing as much damage as everyone else” (deep dive, 49:35). Blizzard said
• “No more seal busywork”: Judgement no longer consumes seals. Twist of LightTwist of LightRetribution · Max rank 1 · New in ForeverWhen you replace your Seal of Command, Seal of Righteousness, Seal of Fury, or Seal of Justice with a different Seal, gain an Echo. Your next melee attack applies the replaced Seal's effects, consuming the Echo.Requires 30 points in Retribution · Requires Level 40All ranks read from demo footage. is “our answer to the seal twisting we know you love” (deep dive, relayed). Blizzard said
• Holy Strike is 40% weapon damage plus holy on a 12-second cooldown. Ideal Ret gear is “Strength and damage”; Ret and Shockadin share gear (deep dive, relayed). Blizzard said
• Consecration is capped because “our tanks can only do threat on 3 or 4 targets at once” (deep dive, 30:50). Blizzard said
• No Shaman or Warlock tank at launch (Aggrend, GameSpot interview). No flex raiding; 10, 20 and 40 are different raids (Kotaku). No test realm for raids and item stats hidden until they drop (MMORPG.com, relayed). Blizzard said
• The team does not want players staring at swing timers, and addons follow retail-style restrictions (Ion and Holly interview). A swing timer is nonetheless coming to the base UI (Q&A, September 17) and was in the beta client the same evening. Blizzard said
• Beta notes, September 17: Holy Strike “doesn’t feel great to rank up”; VengeanceVengeanceRetribution · Max rank 3 · Changed from ClassicIncreases your Physical and Holy damage dealt by 1% for 30 sec after landing a critical strike. Stacks up to 5 times.Requires 20 points in Retribution · Requires 3 points in Sanctified JudgementMax rank not read from footage; showing rank 1 text. “can activate off of periodic critical strikes. This is fixed in the next Beta build.” (Screenshot only.) Blizzard said
• From the Q&A, relayed: no GDKP, the Reals currency returns, Oceanic servers in Australia, real-money trading is a permanent ban, some Season of Discovery class quests return and some are expanded. Blizzard said
• Relayed secondhand with no links: the demo is outdated and most things have changed; one PvP mega realm with no war mode; dungeons are meant to be tactical; every piece of gear is being redone; weapon skill stays but with less per item; casters’ base spell damage was cut to make room for spell power on gear. Blizzard said

Source links and timestamps are on the Sources page.

• Hit is unified across melee, spells and ranged. Crit too.
• Seals are no longer consumed by Judgement. Judgement is 10 seconds base, 8 talented, and off the global cooldown. No double judging.
• Holy ShockHoly ShockHoly · Max rank 1 · Changed from Classic160 Mana | Instant | Enemy: 20 yd range | Friendly: 40 yd range | 10 sec cooldownBlasts the target with Holy energy, causing 129 to 139 Holy damage to an enemy, or 110 to 118 healing to an ally.Requires 20 points in HolyAll ranks read from demo footage. is a 10-second cooldown, down from 30, 20-yard range, and no longer resets on crit.
• Seal of Righteousness and Consecration can crit. Seal of Righteousness fires on white hits only.
• Lay on Hands is a 20-minute cooldown. The Improved talent is gone.
• Consecration and Blessing of Kings are baseline. Blessings last one hour. Resistance auras are raid-wide.
• Undead can be paladins. Human got +5% Spirit and +2% spell crit. Skyborne cannot be paladins.
• Classic seal twisting is gone, tested on the demo. Twist of LightTwist of LightRetribution · Max rank 1 · New in ForeverWhen you replace your Seal of Command, Seal of Righteousness, Seal of Fury, or Seal of Justice with a different Seal, gain an Echo. Your next melee attack applies the replaced Seal's effects, consuming the Echo.Requires 30 points in Retribution · Requires Level 40All ranks read from demo footage. stores the previous seal as an echo on your next white hit. ReckoningReckoningProtection · Max rank 5 · Changed from ClassicGives you a 8% chance to gain an extra attack after Blocking a melee attack and a 20% chance to gain an extra attack after being the victim of a non-periodic critical strike.Requires 20 points in ProtectionMax rank not read from footage; showing rank 1 text. does not work with it.
• Holy Strike is shared by all three specs. It does not trigger seals and refreshes judgements with a talent.
• Seal of CommandSeal of CommandRetribution · Max rank 1 · Changed from Classic65 Mana | InstantGives the Paladin a chance to deal additional Holy damage equal to 70% of normal weapon damage. Only one Seal can be active on the Paladin at any one time. Lasts 30 sec. Unleashing this Seal's energy will judge an enemy, instantly causing 68 to 73 Holy damage, 137 to 146 if the target is stunned or incapacitated.Requires 10 points in RetributionAll ranks read from demo footage. is 70% weapon damage plus 20% spell damage. Seal of Fury is flat damage per hit, so it favors fast weapons.
• Exorcism and Holy Wrath are Undead and Demon only. Sanctity Aura is not in the tree.
• Holy has a 6-second silence immunity talent and reduced fear and disorient duration.
• Prot’s taunt is Judgement of Fury, 10-yard range. Seal of Fury adds a small absorb on melee hits that refunds mana when it breaks.
• Holy ShieldHoly ShieldProtection · Max rank 1 · Changed from Classic150 Mana | Instant | 10 sec cooldownIncreases chance to block by 20% for 10 sec, and deals 110 Holy damage for each attack blocked while active. Damage caused by Holy Shield causes 20% additional threat. Each block expends a charge. 4 charges.Requires 30 points in Protection · Requires 1 point in Templar's Bulwark · Requires ShieldsAll ranks read from demo footage. is still the Prot capstone: +20% block, 4 charges, about double the block damage. Templar’s Bulwark absorbs 100% of max health on a 5-minute cooldown.
• Spell power appears on items from level 10, including crafted plate with defense and Stamina at 57. Legacy talent points can start at level 5.
• Edgemaster’s Handguards are +1 weapon skill per type plus 1% reduced dodge and parry chance. Manual Crowd Pummeler is unique.
• Each raid boss reportedly carries 1 to 3 rare chase items. The bank defaults to 96 slots. Transmog must match armor type.
• PvP vendor gear is labeled “Premier”, bought with honor. Dead Hardcore characters can continue on the PvP realm.
• One person’s read: spell batching is now 0.1 seconds instead of 0.4, which would explain why Classic twisting and sit-stand ReckoningReckoningProtection · Max rank 5 · Changed from ClassicGives you a 8% chance to gain an extra attack after Blocking a melee attack and a 20% chance to gain an extra attack after being the victim of a non-periodic critical strike.Requires 20 points in ProtectionMax rank not read from footage; showing rank 1 text. no longer work. One person
• World buffs do not work in raids. Dual spec is in.
• Beta client, September 17: Blessing of Kings and Consecration are trainer spells at 20; greater and single-target blessings both last an hour; spells miss instead of resisting; Holy Wrath stuns at 20 yards; the character sheet shows the crit cap and lists crushing blows; Strength gives block value at 20 to 1; Touch of the Grave procs off everything, including crowd control, which everyone calls a bug. Confirmed
• Characters have two names and only the combination is unique. The bank is 96 slots and 18-slot bags are cheap.
• The demo is an older build than the beta. Demo paladins had about 47 spell power at most.