WoW Shadowlands: Blizzard changes holy power mechanics of paladins

The so-called Holy Power is one of the central elements of the play style of every Protection Paladin in World of Warcraft. Blizzard has therefore taken a closer look at the associated mechanics and plans to make a few adjustments to them in the next alpha build of WoW: Shadowlands. In addition, the designers are adapting the Night Fae ability "Blessing of the Seasons".

WoW Shadowlands: Creation of Holy Power adjusted

The changes affect several abilities of the Protection Paladin in detail:

• Hammer of the Righteous has a shorter recharge time.
• Avenger's Shield gets a new effect, generating additional Holy Power the first time it hits a target.
• Judgement no longer generates Holy Power. Instead, this ability should focus entirely on the bonus provided by Shining Light's mechanics.
• Entrenchment lasts longer than before.
• Consecrated Wrath generates two units of Holy Power.
• Blessing of the Seasons is supposed to work synchronously for all Paladins in a group. The effect is also stronger when there are multiple Paladins in the group.

Blizzard explains the adjustments with the changes to the rotation for Paladins, among other things:

"The protection rotation has become slightly emptier due to the longer loading time of Hammer, and therefore more similar to the state of BFA. Also, Protection needs Holy Power especially when the Paladin is about to enter combat with a larger group of enemies (but in a way that doesn't overload the rotation in longer fights). Shield of the Avenger will therefore provide you with Holy Power when pulling groups of enemies. Finally, we needed to streamline the rotation a bit with all this extra Holy Power, and decided to do that with Judgement because it just does another important job with the Shining Light mechanic."

The full Bluepost (via Wow (buy now €14.99 ) head) on this reads:

"Some changes in an upcoming build:

Protection: Holy Power generation rearranged somewhat. Hammer of the Righteous is on a shorter recharge again, and Avenger's Shield has a new effect whereby it generates an additional HP the first time it hits a given target (i.e. on the pull), but Judgment no longer generates.

The Protection rotation had gotten a little bit emptier with the longer recharge on Hammer, and this puts it back closer to BFA. Also, one particular time when Prot really wants Holy Power is the moment of engagement with a large group (but in a way that doesn't flood the rotation in longer combats). Avenger's shield will now conveniently start you with some HP when pulling packs of multiple enemies. Finally, with all this added Holy Power, we had to pull some back out of the rotation, and chose to do that on Judgment, since it currently serves a separate important purpose with the Shining Light mechanic.

A few ancillary changes to this are increasing the duration of Redoubt, and making Sanctified Wrath generate 2 HP (so Judgment still gives 2 in total while it is active).

Blessing of the Seasons: Keeping this short for now since we are considering further updates to this in subsequent weeks that make this change obsolete. But in this week's build, the Seasons will be in sync for all Paladins within a party, and their effects are stronger if there are multiple Paladins in the party. "

What do you think about these changes to the Protection Paladin? Write us your opinion in the comments!

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