Our other Paladin guides take you from 10 to 60: the starter guide, Retribution leveling, Holy and Protection dungeon tanking. This one covers what comes after 60: which stats each Paladin spec should gear for, why all three specs want spell damage, and how to plan pre-raid gear before the first raids open.
Key dates (Blizzard): name reservation and early character creation opened Oct 27 at 1:00 p.m. PDT. Launch is Nov 4, 2026 at 3:00 p.m. PST. Barrow Deeps (10 players), Hyjal Summit (20) and Onyxia's Lair (40) open Dec 9.
Read this first: the beta stopped at level 30, so nobody has geared a level 60 Paladin in Forever yet. The stat weights below come from SixtySim, a community simulator running beta client data and marked "unverified until level 60 opens". Where Forever hasn't published a number (a boss's miss and parry chances), it uses Classic's. Treat every number as a starting point.
What Forever changed about Paladin gear
From Blizzard's Deep Dive recap:
- Hit and crit are each one stat now. Melee, ranged and spell hit are combined, and so are the three kinds of crit. That matters a lot for Paladins, who mix swings and spells.
- Every dungeon drop was re-examined, unique boss items are now blue (rare) quality, and set bonuses were improved.
Two Forever details SixtySim builds its Paladin numbers on:
- Judgements roll on the melee table, not the spell table as in Classic. So they never miss once you have 8% hit, and they crit for double. SixtySim says beta logs show them never dodged, parried or blocked, but no level 60 log has checked this yet.
- Spell damage reaches almost everything you hit with. For example, 0.429 of it on each Judgement, Holy Strike and Hammer of Wrath, and 0.1 on each Seal of Fury hit. That's why every spec below, even the tank, wears caster pieces.
Stat priorities by spec (level 60, simulated)
From SixtySim (updated Oct 28, pre-raid gear, one boss for one minute, beta data). Holy is measured in points of healing power, and Protection and Retribution in points of Strength (= 1.00).
| Spec | Top weights | Gear for |
|---|---|---|
| Holy | 1% haste 20.8, 1% crit 11.9, Intellect 0.81, MP5 0.17 | Healing power and crit, then Intellect and MP5 for longer fights |
| Protection (threat build) | 1% hit 35.5 (until 8%), 1% crit 26.0, 1% haste 14.4, expertise 5.55, spell damage 3.61 | Melee hit to 8%, then spell damage, crit and expertise |
| Retribution | 1% crit 19.5, 1% haste 8.80, expertise 1.99, spell damage 1.44, Agility 1.08, Intellect 1.05 | Crit, spell damage, then Agility and Intellect |
What stands out, per SixtySim:
- Holy: fight length changes everything. On one minute, haste tops the list because you cast Holy Light back to back. On three minutes your mana runs out first, so haste falls to 6.85, while crit (14.8), MP5 (2.32 a point) and Intellect (1.60) climb. Crits heal for 150% and return half the spell's base cost through Illumination. The only haste source in these sets is the Minor Haste glove enchant, which Wowhead lists as PTR only, so it may not exist at launch.
- Holy: hit does nothing. Heals can't miss, so skip the 1% hit on items like Sageblade when comparing.
- Protection: spell damage is threat. Under Righteous Fury, all your Holy damage is threat at 190%, so a point of spell damage is worth about three and a half points of Strength. Defense and dodge come out slightly negative for threat, because a swing you avoid doesn't trigger Retribution Aura or Reckoning. That's a threat number only: your healers still want you sturdy, so don't strip defense.
- Protection: expertise is big. A boss you face dodges 6.5% and parries 14% of your swings (Classic's parry figure). Each lost swing is a lost Seal of Fury hit, and parries speed up the boss's next swing.
- Retribution: crit leads. It refreshes Vengeance, and your seal hits, Judgements and Holy Strikes all crit for double. Champion of the Light turns 60% of your Intellect into spell damage, which is why Intellect is worth about as much as Strength.
Hit: how much do you need?
- 8% hit stops your swings from missing a level 63 boss. SixtySim's Retribution set sits at exactly 8.0% with Precision, so melee hit has no weight there. The Holy/Ret-style tank set without Precision is short, which is why hit is worth 35.5 until 8%.
- Spells need 17%, because Forever has no 1% floor on spell misses (Classic figure). Consecration, Holy Shock and Hammer of Wrath roll spell hit. Hit on gear counts for both, so it never goes to waste.
- On three bosses spell hit jumps (14.4 for Retribution, 32.6 for Protection), because Consecration becomes a big share of your damage.
Lightforge Armor: the Paladin dungeon set
Forever reworked the bonuses on the eight-piece Paladin dungeon set. Per the beta client (builds 1.60.1.70532 and 70658), as listed on ForeverDB and ForeverDiff:
| Pieces | Bonus |
|---|---|
| 2 | +8 all resistances |
| 3 | Up to +18 spell damage and healing |
| 4 | When struck by a harmful spell, 7% chance to silence the caster for 3 sec (once every 60 sec) |
| 5 | Melee auto-attacks and spellcasts can raise spell damage and healing by up to 65 for 10 sec |
| 6 | +8 mana per 5 sec |
In Classic it was +200 armor (2), +40 attack power (4), a melee proc for up to 95 spell damage (6) and +8 all resistances (8). So Forever turned it into a spell power set that tops out at six pieces, which fits how all three specs now gear.
Caveats: most pieces' stats are still hidden, and Blizzard hasn't confirmed Forever's drop sources. SixtySim lists Lightforge Spaulders as a drop from The Beast in Upper Blackrock Spire, but only as a runner-up for tank shoulders. No full Lightforge pieces made its current pre-raid sets.
Pre-raid planning, spec by spec
SixtySim builds each set from items whose Forever stats are published. wow4ever builds its own list from items with a known source and says many numbers are still Classic ones until launch, so the two disagree in places.
Holy (SixtySim):
- Libram of Economy (Pix Xizzix, Stranglethorn Vale) takes 5% off every Holy Light. No other pre-raid libram touches a heal; going without costs 14.9 HPS.
- Weapons: Sageblade (bind-on-equip Blacksmithing craft) with Lei of the Lifegiver (vendor). Hand of Edward the Odd (world drop) is close behind.
- Trinkets: Talisman of Ascendance (Eastern Plaguelands quest) and Serenity Field (Pix Xizzix).
- Crafts you can buy: Living Crown and Hide of the Wild (Leatherworking), Breastplate of Salvation and Martyr's Legplates (Blacksmithing), Belt of the Archmage and Mooncloth Boots (Tailoring). The sim only counts stats, so it mixes armor types.
- wow4ever's Holy list is different: Whitesoul Helm, Breastplate of Salvation, Martyr's Legplates, Band of Mending (Balnazzar, Stratholme) and Royal Diplomatic Scepter. Both agree on Hide of the Wild, Breastplate of Salvation and Martyr's Legplates.
Protection (SixtySim threat set):
- Soulforge quest pieces (chest, gloves, boots and, on one-minute sets, shoulders) leave the widest gaps: replacing the chest alone costs 29.5 threat per second on three minutes.
- Stalwart Helm (Blacksmithing, 2% hit and 38 spell damage) on every set.
- Weapon and shield: Sageblade or Hand of Edward the Odd, plus Thrash's Trash (14 spell damage), sold by Friz Frazzlespark at Honored.
- Trinkets: Adaptive Combat Assistant (Pix Xizzix, 2% expertise) and Talisman of Ascendance. Libram of Law (Pix Xizzix) adds 4% Judgement damage.
- Reputation: Theramore Mantle (Theramore Expeditionary Force, Exalted) for the Alliance, Darkspear Mantle (Darkspear Raiders, Exalted) for the Horde. Start early.
Retribution (SixtySim):
- Blade of Hanna, a fast two-handed sword and bind-on-equip world drop, so you can buy it. Its 30th stack of Improving Form deals 490 Physical damage and gives 20 to every stat for 20 seconds. The next weapon costs about 29 DPS on longer fights.
- Manual Crowd Pummeler (Gnomeregan) as a pull opener: 30 seconds of 50% attack speed, then swap to your sword. It has three charges and binds on pickup.
- Caster pieces in cloth slots: Belt of the Archmage, Dryad's Wrist Bindings, Arcanoweave Cloak and Mantle of the Timbermaw. Armor counts for nothing in the sim because the boss never hits you.
- Head and legs: Stalwart Helm and Champion's Legplates (Blacksmithing). Gloves: Storm Gauntlets (mail craft, 1% hit) or Soulforge Gauntlets.
- Trinkets: Talisman of Ascendance plus Gnomish Battle Chicken (Gnomish Engineering) or a Pix Xizzix trinket. Rings: Don Julio's Band (vendor) and Brilliant Watcher's Signet (The Watchers, Exalted).
Enchants and consumables worth planning for:
- Forever lets you enchant necklaces (Spell Power or Healing Power).
- Holy: Major Intellect chest, Healing Power bracers, Revelation on the weapon, and the new Mystic Rugged Armor Kit (adds healing) on hands and feet.
- Ret and Prot: Spellblasting (Ret, 65 spell damage) or Revelation (Prot) on the weapon, Greater Spellpower bracers, Holy Power gloves (20 Holy damage) and Arcanum of Focus on head and legs.
- The weapon, bracer and Holy Power glove formulas come from the Merchant's Favor vendors: Alynsia in Redridge (Alliance) and Beneris in The Barrens (Horde).
- Holy runs on mana: Flask of Distilled Wisdom (9.1%), Major Mana Potion (8.4%) and Demonic Rune (3.8%). Ret's best is Flask of Supreme Power (8.1%) and Dragonbreath Chili (3.3%, scales with spell damage). Prot gets the most from Elixir of Holy Power and Brilliant Wizard Oil (about 2.5% each); Flask of the Titans adds almost no threat but take it for the health.
Remember the catch: per Blizzard's interviews (as reported by WoW Classic Forever), there's no Dungeon Journal, and you can't see an item's stats until it has dropped for you or on your server. Use these lists to plan where to go, not as a final shopping list.
Where to farm at 55–60
Blizzard's new endgame dungeons are Blackmaw Hold (55–60) and Shaper's Terrace (58–60), and Icy Veins still lists their loot as "Coming Soon". The Classic endgame dungeons are also in Forever: Blackrock Depths, Lower and Upper Blackrock Spire, Dire Maul, Scholomance and Stratholme (Icy Veins dungeon overview).
Side note: Shockadin
SixtySim also sims a "Shockadin" damage build, and on its Oct 28 rankings it places #4 of 25 damage specs, ahead of Retribution at #9. That's a simulated, single-target, pre-raid result on beta data, so treat it as a curiosity until real logs exist.
Still unclear
- A raid boss's miss and parry chances in Forever (the 17%, 8% and 14% figures are Classic's).
- Whether Judgements really never miss, get dodged or parried at level 60.
- Real item stats and drop sources, especially from the new dungeons, and where Lightforge drops.
- Whether the Minor Haste glove formula can be learned at launch.
Sources
- Blizzard: Deep Dive panel recap (combined hit and crit, itemization, set bonuses), name reservation, pre-purchase and launch (Nov 4), raid overview (Dec 9)
- SixtySim stat weights (updated Oct 28): Holy, Protection, Retribution
- SixtySim pre-raid gear, enchants and consumables: Holy, Protection, Retribution
- wow4ever: Holy Paladin pre-raid list (updated Oct 28)
- Lightforge Armor set bonuses: ForeverDB, ForeverDiff
- WoW Classic Forever: dungeons (no Dungeon Journal, item stats hidden until they drop)
Fan community guide by Systematic. World of Warcraft © Blizzard Entertainment; we're not affiliated with Blizzard.
Images: header and gearing cheat-sheet by Systematic, using the Systematic wallpaper and brand colours. Ability and item icons on the card © Blizzard Entertainment via Wowhead (Classic icons used as stand-ins; Forever's may differ). Stat weights on the card from SixtySim; set bonuses from ForeverDB/ForeverDiff.
