DrainingSouls.net

Most Popular Specs

Holy - 51/0/20

Protection - 0/58/13

Retribution - 0/10/61

Discussion

Holy - Holy is a very capable healing tree, and the mobility issues have at least been addressed (if not totally solved) by Blizzard. Holy Pallies have always been strong raid healers, and have been given additional raid utility in WotLK, but due to their lack of HoTs and mobility are still somewhat weak as Arena healers.

Protection - Protection Pallies received some interesting changes in WotLK. They got some buffs to improve their survivability and bring them more into line with Warriors as viable Main Tanks. And while the other tanking classes received significant buffs to help with AoE-tanking, Prot Pallies will most likely retain their title of most effective AoE-tank.

Retribution - The Retribution tree received significant buffs during the last part of The Burning Crusade and the start of WotLK. In addition to their standard raid utility, Ret Pallies are now fully capable PvE DPS classes and are also quite strong in PvP. Personally, I feel that Blizzard is not quite done tweaking Ret, but any future changes remain to be seen.

Other Notable Specs

The most common changes among Paladin specs are found in the Blessings talents. Only one Pally per raid needs BoK, Imp BoW, and Imp BoM, and while each Pally can easily pick up the Blessing talents in their tree, but it can get a bit more difficult when a raid will be dependent on only one Pally for Blessings.

Ret and Prot Pallies can both get BoK and Imp BoM rather easily, but neither can get Imp BoW without sacrificing several key talents. Holy, on the other hand, can grab all three talents without sacrificing a great deal, but it’s still not recommended unless you absolutely must.

Holy - Imp BoW, BoK, and Imp BoM - 51/5/15