Protection Paladin

The priority

1. Ardent Defender — before a big hit
2. Guardian of Ancient Kings — before a big hit, if ardent defender is down
3. Word of Glory — when you’re low
4. Avenging Wrath — when it is ready
5. Shield of the Righteous — when it is down, or at 5 holy power
6. Judgment — when it is ready
7. Avenger’s Shield — when it is ready
8. Consecration — when it is not down
9. Blessed Hammer — as a filler
10. Word of Glory — with shining light
11. Consecration — when nothing else is ready

Common mistakes

• Letting Shield of the Righteous fall off while you have Holy Power.
• Sitting at 5 Holy Power, wasting what you build next.
• Pressing a defensive after the big hit instead of before it.
• Standing outside your Consecration.

What’s simplified

• Each turn is one decision (about one global cooldown). Cooldowns and buff durations are converted to turns, so timing is approximate.
• Priority order follows SimulationCraft’s default priority list for this build, simplified to the abilities modeled here. Costs, cooldowns and effects come from Blizzard’s spell data. Rule wording is our own.
• Holy Power: Judgment and Blessed Hammer give 1 each. During Avenging Wrath, Judgment becomes Hammer of Wrath and gives 2.
• Shield of the Righteous costs 3 Holy Power and lasts 3 turns (4.5 seconds). In game it is off the global cooldown; here it takes a turn.
• Shining Light (a free Word of Glory) comes after every 3 Shields of the Righteous.
• Big hits, low health and incoming damage are scripted moments in each lesson, not a full damage model. Healers, positioning and taunts are not modeled.
• Cooldowns in turns: Judgment 7, Avenger’s Shield 10, Consecration 6 (lasts 8), Blessed Hammer 3 charges every 3, Avenging Wrath 80, Ardent Defender 60, Guardian of Ancient Kings 120.

Sources

• SimulationCraft: Default action priority list (Oct 20, 2026)
• SimulationCraft: Spell data dump, build 12.1.5.70391 (Oct 16, 2026)
• Blizzard Entertainment: Spell tooltips and Game Data API (spells) (Oct 13, 2026)
• Warcraft Secrets: Patch 12.1.5 content update notes (class changes) (Oct 13, 2026)

Core Protection priority from SimulationCraft’s default list. Templar’s Hammer of Light and Lightsmith’s Holy Armaments are not modeled. Reviewed Oct 20, 2026. A training aid, not a damage simulator.