So you decided to roll the best class in the game. Congratulations you’ve chosen to be a Paladin. There are 85 levels of awesome out there to explore and ‘judge.’ Take your time and experience everything this game has to offer.Ding! Level 85. You’ve hit the endgame, and you’ve got the awesome hair and sparkles down. So what’s next? What will separate you from the other classes? What will separate you from other Paladins?

There are a set of spells in the Paladin book that separates it from every other class. They are your ‘Hand’ spells. These ‘Hand of…’ spells can take you to an entirely different level utility and style.

Hand of Reckoning – Level 14

Taunt.

Lay on Hands – Level 16

This spell is an instant health bar reset in any encounter. There is a major glyph http://www.wowhead.com/item=43367 that reduces the cooldown to 7 mins, or once every boss pull. Don’t feel like you have to save this spell for the end of an encounter. If you tank is dying, you won’t even make it there. Bring the tank up to 100% and let the rest of the healers catch their breath. BTW this is not just a healer spell, any Paladin can use this spell. I’d like to see a Fury Warrior do that. (Last Stand does not count, you still need a healer)

Hand of Protection – Level 18

Commonly called a ‘Bubble’ Example: ” I’m going to ‘bubble off the debuff that’s killing me!” Basically this is a spell that removes your damage taken for a short period, but there is a catch. You can’ t attack. If used on a tank during an encounter it will instantly drop their aggro and the buff must be manually removed with a right click on the icon. Another useful way to cast this spell is to target a dps player that is pulling aggro from a stray mob. They will be safe, and can do no more damage. Most of the time they will wonder wtf just happened. It’s a great way to give them a time-out. Again, any paladin can use this spell.

Hand of Salvation – Level 66

This is one of the spells that is always left in a Paladin’s toolkit. This spell is a targetable threat dump. The g

lyphed version http://www.wowhead.com/item=45747 is much more desirable than the unglyphed. Now that the threat for tanks has been ramped up though, the original version might be all you need. This spell won’t provide any damage protection, but it will remove the players threat from a mob over time or all at once. This is a major glyph so it will take up a slot used by many other useful spells. If your group is pulling threat from tanks b/c of gear or is just being overzealous this is the spell for you.

Hand of Sacrifice – Level 80

The go to Holy Paladin spell for high damage mitigation. It is worth noting that the caster will take damage as it is just a damage transfer. Like all the ‘Hand of…’ spells any spec can utilize this spell. If you are a Ret Paladin and you aren’t using this spell, you are not filling all the roles you can for the group.

You’ve rolled a Paladin. How do you separate yourself from the ocean of cookie cutter dps players? Learn to use every spell in your toolkit and maintain the sexy!