The new talents for Paladins in 5.0 bring a lot of questions to the table. The following is a discussion and personal view of how each Paladin Spec could benefit from each Talent available. I’ll follow up each talent with a rating, out of 3, on how useful it would be for each spec and for PvP.

Level 15

Speed of Light – Increases your movement speed by 60% for 6 sec. During this time, you radiate healing to nearby allies.

This talent is probably the one Holy Paladins will pick without much thought because of the healing bonus tacked on. Prot Paladins as well could choose this and not loose any situational effectiveness. A Ret Paladin would benefit least from this talent because the uptime is so much lower compared the other two. While the 1 minute cooldown is relatively low, a DPS class would want more bang for their Talent buck. If you want a burst of speed in PvP every minute now you can.

Holy +3

Prot +3

Ret +1

PvP +2

Long Arm of the Law – A successful Judgment increases your movement speed by 45% for 4 sec.

Read the spell note again. There is no cooldown associated with the talent itself. The 45% speed uptime is only limited by the 8 sec cooldown of judgments. IMO this is best suited for a Ret Paladin who judges the most for damage purpose. A Prot paladin would find this useful as well. Being that much faster 50% of the time is never a bad thing! Holy Paladins would benefit the least from this talent because of the recent change to mana regen from Seal of Insight. PvPers can be 45% faster 50% of the time during engaugments.

Holy +1

Prot +2

Ret +3

Pvp+3

Pursuit of Justice – You Gain 10% movement speed of each current charge of Holy Power.

You gain a 100% uptime speed bonus for not spending Holy Power, with a maximum increase of 30%. Interesting… I’m not an Arena player, but if I was this could be a useful talent. All paladin specs benefit greatly by using their Holy Power charges. Holding on the them in a PvE environment would seem counterproductive. In a PvP environment this could be very useful. A Prot Paladin flag carrier with a 30% speed bonus could be an asset indeed.

Holy +1

Prot +1

Ret +1

PvP +2

Level 30

Fist of Justice – Stuns the target of 6 sec.

This talent replaces our Hammer of Justice stun. Holy paladins are out of melee range most of the time, so they would benefit little taking this talent. Although with the recent changes to Seal of Insight being in melee range isn’t a bad idea. Prot Paladins will see this as their go to talent for level 30. Rebuke and Fist of Justice are almost mandatory tanking spells. Ret Paladins could find a lot of use from this spell and is attractive with a 30 sec cooldown. PvP Paladins are going to find the Level 30 talents very hard to choose from!

Holy +2

Prot +3

Ret +2

PvP +3

Repentance – Puts then enemy target in a state of meditation incapacitating them for up to 1 min.

This version of Repentance has a 1.5 second cast. Making it a classic CC option for any spec. Holy Paladins will find most use from this talent. Finally being able to bring a CC to the 5 mans will be a big quality of life upgrade. Prot Paladins could find a lot of Pre-Pull use from this spell in the new 5 mans. Ret Paladins… oh what a choice you have to make. Take the spell you had exclusive to your spec, or pick something that you had taken away! PvP players will find some use for this, but not as much as the other options at level 30.

Holy +3

Prot +2

Ret +2

PvP +2

Seal of Justice – Fills the Paladin with Holy Light, causing direct attacks to reduce the target’s movement speed by 50% for 5 secs and deal 87 additional Holy damage.

The current PvP talent in the Ret tree. Oh the choices you have to make this level! All specs that PvP will find a lot of value in this choice, all PvE specs will find little.

Holy +0

Prot +1

Ret +2

PvP +3

Level 45

Blessed Life – You have 100% chance to gain a charge of Holy Power whenever you take direct damage or are stunned, feared, or immobilized (8 sec cooldown).

Holy Paladins will find minimal use because of the direct damage modifier to this talent. Prot Paladins could gain a free Holy Power every 8 seconds with this talent. Couple that with gaining Holy Power from Judgments and you have a very viable Prot choice. Ret Paladins are in nearly the same boat as Holy b/c of the direct damage requirement. This talent will find the most use in a PvP environment when you also choose the Level 15 talent Pursuit of Justice.

Holy +1

Prot +2

Ret +1

PvP +3

Sacred Shield – When reduced below 30% health, you gain the Sacred Shield Effect. The Sacred Shield absorbs 18005 damage and increases healing received by 20%. Lasts 15 seconds (60 sec cooldown).

As a Holy Paladin this is a great safety net and the bonus of being passive is nice because you are probably healing others at that moment. Prot Paladins could make a case of using this talent for the same reasons. It’s a passive ability with a 60 sec cooldown. That cooldown lines up nicely with Rag-like tanking encounters. This was originally a Ret only talent and will probably still be the go-to Ret talent choice at level 45. When PvP is involved, staying alive is good. Not having to push the button is even better. Lasting 15 seconds is just the icing on the delicious Gnome Tear cake.

Holy +3

Prot +3

Ret +3

PvP +3

Ardent Defender – Reduces damage taken by 20% for 10 sec. While Ardent Defender is active, the next attack that would otherwise kill you will instead cause you to be healed for 15% of your maximum health (3 min Cooldown).

Finally a Prot only talent option for other specs! Yet it is not as sexy as I would like it to be because of the 3 minute cooldown when compared to Sacred Shield. Holy Paladins will find this nice, but the cooldown and active need to hit the button will shy most away from it. A Prot Paladin will have a tough choice this level. Take what you already know and love, or choose the previously Ret only shield. Arena players will find the most use in a PvP setting. About to die? HaHa, nope!!! /Rude

Holy +2

Prot +3

Ret +2

PvP +3

Level 60

Selfless Healer – Your successful Judgments reduce the mana cost of your next Flash of Light by 50% and improve its effectiveness by 50% wen used to heal others. Stacks up to 2 times.

This talent opens up so many possibilities, as all the talents do at this level. Holy paladins could work into their rotations two judgments in a row. Testing will need to be done, but if the throughput is there this could be a viable addition to Holy Healing. Prot paladins would have to give up there shield for 1.5 seconds to make use of this talent, and they get no bonus for self-healing. Most likely Prot will make little to no use of this talent. Ret and PvP players could make use of this perk if it is already a part of their play style. If these players aren’t utility healing already, they will pass this up as well. If they make this talent and instant cast at 2 stacks, then it becomes a viable talent.

Holy +1

Prot +0

Ret +1

PvP +1

Eternal Glory – Your Word of Glory and Light of Dawn have a 30% chance not to consume Holy Power. The current first level Prot talent shows up to temp all specs. Holy Paladins who already abuse this talent (yours truly) will find it hard to pass up. It has an internal cooldown of a few seconds that theory crafters so isn’t worth the talent points, but whenever I need two 3 point WoG’s they always seem to show up at the party. Prot paladins could still make use of this talent the way they already do. Ret players can gain the same bonus they already do, as well as PvP specs.

Holy +3

Prot +2

Ret +1

PvP +1

Holy Shield – Shields a friendly target, absorbing 1507 damage per charge of Holy Power for 10 sec. Hello Mr. Bubble, nice to meet you! It seems only fair that Holy Paladins get real shields because Priests got our Beacon of Light. This talent is a tough choice over Eternal Glory for Holy Paladins. I could give dozens of examples of how a Holy Paladin could abuse this talent, but I’ll save you the read and give you my Holy rating below. Prot Paladins could spend Holy Power on mitigation, and they will like moths to Holy Flame of Bubble goodness. Holy Power is a Ret Paladin’s damage dealing currency. Using it to gain no dps bonus is a tough sell. I don’t see many PvE Ret Paladins taking this talent. In a PvP setting a last minute bubble could save the day. The use in PvP will depend on the team make-up.

Holy +3

Prot +2

Ret +0

PvP +2