Removing Blessed Hands Kills Holy Paladin in PvP

PVP Arenas
1

Blizzard, we need to talk about Blessed Hands being removed.

Right now, Blessing of Protection (BoP) is already in a terrible spot, and without Blessed Hands, Holy Paladins are taking a massive hit in PvP survivability and utility. Almost every class in the game has access to some form of purge or dispel**, meaning that BoP is almost **never lasting its full duration. Losing a second charge means we don’t even have a backup when the first one gets instantly removed.

We are happy to see Blessing of Spellwarding return this is a great change for dealing with magic damage-heavy comps but if Blessed Hands is gone, then BoP and Spellwarding absolutely need to be on separate cooldowns to be functional.

BoP Is One of the Weakest Defensives in the Game Right Now

Let’s compare Blessing of Protection to the new Ancient of Lore talent for Restoration Druids.

|Defensive Ability|Cooldown|Effectiveness|
|Blessing of Protection|5 min|Can be purged instantly, only works on physical damage, doesn’t prevent CC, can be stolen by Mages, and leaves a Forbearance debuff preventing Divine Shield (If cast on self)
|Ancient of Lore (Resto Druid Talent)|1.5 min|Outheals major cooldowns, requires no mana, can’t be CC’ed, works against all damage types, and can even be instant cast with Nature’s Swiftness.|

How is this balanced?

BoP is on a 5-minute cooldown, yet it can be instantly removed by a purge, leaving you with nothing. (Bop needs a 3 secund Purge Immunity)
Ancient of Lore is on a 1.5-minute cooldown, low cast time, doesn’t require mana, and can heal through massive burst.
Druids can even make Ancient of Lore instant cast with Nature’s Swiftness, while BoP has no counterplay against purge.
BoP is one-dimensional (only physical damage), while Ancient of Lore works against all damage types and is undispellable.

Why This Change Hurts Holy Paladin:

BoP is already a weak defensive – Purge spam makes it unreliable, and it doesn’t help against magic damage.
Almost every class has purge now.
Losing a second charge of BoP + freedome and Spellwarding means we get less counterplay – No way to cycle defensives effectively.
Other healers are getting significantly stronger defensives, while Paladins are losing key utility that made us viable in PvP. (Lets just add a talent Holy Paladins got this season: Shining Revelation is one of the weakest Honor Talents we’ve ever received. It only reveals stealthed enemies for 20 seconds after using Divine Shield, which is a 3.5-minute cooldown and our best defensive. No Paladin in their right mind is going to waste Bubble just to reveal a Rogue or Druid, especially when another class the DH has it aswell, but on a seperate cooldown that is what 30 secunds recharge?)

What Needs to Change:

  1. Give us Blessed Hands back – The game is too purge-heavy for us to function without it.
  2. Make BoP and Spellwarding separate cooldowns – If we can’t have two charges, at least let us use them independently.
  3. Give BoP some purge protection – It needs either a short window of immunity or a rework to make it less vulnerable to immediate removal.

Right now, Holy Paladin is left without a key tool to counter physical damage, while other healers keep their core defensives intact and even gain powerful new tools like Ancient of Lore. If the goal is to make Paladins stronger, removing Blessed Hands without compensation is the wrong way to do it.

What do other Paladins think? Are you feeling the same issues in PvP?

4o

Du sagde:

Can you add what Bop is frequently used on aswell. Like removing Disarms on teammates or removing Karma to get that kill, but with only one of them you have to think about when to use this massive 5 minute cooldown which then will be up for 2-3 secunds tops because of Purge.

ChatGPT sagde:

Removing Blessed Hands Kills Holy Paladin in PvP

Blizzard, we need to talk about Blessed Hands being removed.

Right now, Blessing of Protection (BoP) is already in a terrible spot, and without Blessed Hands, Holy Paladins are taking a massive hit in PvP survivability and utility. Almost every class in the game has access to some form of purge or dispel, meaning that BoP is almost never lasting its full duration. Losing a second charge means we don’t even have a backup when the first one gets instantly removed.

We are happy to see Blessing of Spellwarding return—this is a great change for dealing with magic damage-heavy comps—but if Blessed Hands is gone, then BoP and Spellwarding absolutely need to be on separate cooldowns to be functional.

BoP Is One of the Weakest Defensives in the Game Right Now

Let’s compare Blessing of Protection to the new Ancient of Lore talent for Restoration Druids.

Defensive Ability Cooldown Effectiveness
Blessing of Protection 5 min Can be purged instantly, only works on physical damage, doesn’t prevent CC, can be stolen by Mages, and leaves a Forbearance debuff preventing Divine Shield.
Ancient of Lore (Resto Druid Talent) 1.5 min Outheals major cooldowns, requires no mana, can’t be CC’ed, works against all damage types, and can even be instant cast with Nature’s Swiftness.

How is this balanced?

  • BoP is on a 5-minute cooldown, yet it can be instantly removed by a purge, leaving you with nothing.
  • Ancient of Lore is on a 1.5-minute cooldown, is uninterruptible, doesn’t require mana, and can heal through massive burst.
  • Druids can even make Ancient of Lore instant cast with Nature’s Swiftness, while BoP has no counterplay against purge.
  • BoP is one-dimensional (only physical damage), while Ancient of Lore works against all damage types and is undispellable.

BoP Is Used for More Than Just Damage Reduction

BoP isn’t just a defensive cooldown—it’s an offensive and utility tool that PvP Paladins frequently rely on to make key plays. But with only one charge, using it now becomes an impossible choice because it won’t last longer than a couple of seconds due to purges.

Here’s what we frequently use BoP for in PvP:

  • Removing Disarms from our Warrior, DK, or Ret teammates so they can keep dealing damage.
  • Removing Touch of Karma from Windwalker Monks to secure a kill.
  • Preventing a Rogue or Warrior from shredding a teammate during burst windows.
  • Denying a kill on a focused target, only for it to be instantly purged.

Without Blessed Hands, we now have one BoP every 5 minutes, which is absurd considering that most of the time, it only lasts 2-3 seconds before being purged. This turns it into one of the least reliable defensive cooldowns in the game, while other healers are gaining more powerful and more consistent defensive tools.

Why This Change Hurts Holy Paladin:

  • BoP is already a weak defensive – Purge spam makes it unreliable, and it doesn’t help against magic damage.
  • Almost every class has purge now – DH, Shaman, Priest, Evoker, Hunter (Tranq), Warlock (Felhunter), Mage, and even DKs with Strangulate can prevent us from effectively using our core defensives.
  • Losing a second charge of BoP and Spellwarding means we get less counterplay – No way to cycle defensives effectively.
  • Other healers are getting significantly stronger defensives, while Paladins are losing key utility that made us viable in PvP.

What Needs to Change:

  1. Give us Blessed Hands back – The game is too purge-heavy for us to function without it. (Or go to 2)
  2. Make BoP and Spellwarding separate cooldowns – If we can’t have two charges, at least let us use them independently.
  3. Give BoP some purge protection – It needs either a short window of immunity or a rework to make it less vulnerable to immediate removal.
  4. Just remove Shining Revelation (Nobody asked for it, Nobody needed it and nobody will use it)

Right now, Holy Paladin is left without a key tool to counter physical damage, while other healers keep their core defensives intact and even gain powerful new tools like Ancient of Lore. If the goal is to make Paladins stronger, removing Blessed Hands without compensation is the wrong way to do it.

What do other Paladins think? Are you feeling the same issues in PvP?

2

It’s removed, deal with it.

3 Likes
3

Sure is a good way of thinking about making the game better for everyone… Thats sarcasm btw.

4

I’ve had stuff removed aswell, atleast you have ur bubble still, and writing an essay on forums aint gonna bring either of our skills back, sadly. :cry:

5

I cannot believe you compare a spell from the best healer to the worst healer and still don’t get it yourself.

2 Likes
6

making the game better for everyone

What are you talking about? Blessed Hands removal makes the game better for everyone. It should have never existed in the first place and you should be happy that you were allowed to abuse it for as long as you got to.

Do you think it is fun to have every go mitigated by an immunty? Do you think its fun having to play through 2xBoP, 1xSpellwarding, 2xBubbles, Aura Mastery and Sac in a Hpala + ret lobby?

Only a Hpala main could write an essay on defending this ridiculous BS talent. You are more out of touch than the Blizz devs.

7 Likes
7

Thats a rly issue into a lot of spells like alternate time from mage for me as MW if i play with other non purger its a rly insane good defensive, play with 3x purge and this ability is non existend

Same with bop, don’t rly know how too improve this

Next is Mortel strike effect almost everyone got one if you dont play full caster

8

Would be lovely if they could remove double Ice Block from frost mages as well :smiley:

1 Like
9

Not true.

Only Priests, Shamans and Mages have reliable purges. A few other ones are RNG. BoP is one of the most oppressive CDs in the game, rendering melees absolutely useless.

Of course you are, It’s been 2 expansions worth of spam buffing your class, at this points hands are not even required.

It’s a complete tragedy Holy paladins got the entire season 1 the way they were. Can’t oom, can’t die, team can’t die, doesn’t cast.

It’s one of those specs that create a 0-fun environment for the enemy team and basically have no weaknesses.

1 Like
10

oh that means theres a fighting chance as a melee now vs paladin, nice.

3 Likes
11

tl;dr

kekw

12

My eyes, you didn’t even bother removing this.

And on topic, blessed hands should have been removed long ago, it always was way too strong against anything lacking purge spam. Also the double bops acting like two extra trinkets against physical cc is dumb.

Why are you even complaining when you get spellwarden instead, and hpalas have been eating buff after buff, so they still remain one of the best healers?

2 Likes
13

Class stacking is never fun, 2pala, 2 sham (2 grounding /tremor / static field) 2 evoker etc…

1 Like
14

haha paladin sad cus they can purge bop while on rdruid they can literally purge our healing

1 Like
15

It breaks CC for you or someone else, lets you soak pshysical damage trough Sac, doesn’tsound that useless to me mate. Also beig immune to a fundamental game mechanic (here:purge) is just bad design.
I for one welcome the new talent that lets us see enemies in stealth after popping bubble, gotta love to annoy those pesky rogues in bgs.

16

Rdruid is in a bad spot sure, but that doesnt change the fact that the talent is insanely strong.

17

I get where you’re coming from—playing into a Holy Paladin with multiple Blessings, Bubble, and Sac can feel frustrating—but let’s be real: Blessed Hands wasn’t what made Holy Paladin overpowered, and its removal hurts more than just Paladins.

:one: BoP Was Already Weak Before This Change

  • BoP is a 5-minute cooldown that is instantly purged in most matchups.
  • It doesn’t work against magic damage, meaning it’s useless against casters, which dominate the meta right now.
  • It also causes Forbearance, locking us out of Bubble for 30 seconds.

You act like BoP is some game-breaking, oppressive cooldown, but let’s compare it to defensives from other healers:

  • Druids have instant, un-CCable healing with Ancient of Lore (1.5-min CD).
  • Priests have Greater Fade + Pain Suppression + Void Shift (which are all way harder to counter than BoP).
  • Monks have Life Cocoon, which absorbs more damage than BoP mitigates and can’t be purged.

Holy Paladin was never an “immunity bot” spec like you claim. Blessed Hands just let us have a second charge of an already mediocre cooldown.

:two: “Only a Hpala main would defend this”

No, anyone who understands PvP balance should be asking why Blessed Hands was removed while overpowered mechanics in other specs were left untouched.

  • If the game is getting rid of PvP mitigation tools, why do some classes still have multiple damage negation mechanics that last longer and can’t be purged?
  • If you think having to go through two BoPs was unfair, why is it okay for Druids to sit in Ancient of Lore, healing for free while being immune to CC?
  • Purge-heavy specs already destroyed Paladins, and now we’ve lost another tool to deal with physical damage, while melee burst remains high.

This isn’t just about “Hpala mains wanting to abuse a broken talent.” It’s about removing a counterplay tool in a meta that already punishes Paladins heavily.

:three: “Do you think it’s fun to play against this?”

You know what’s not fun?

  • Having BoP last 2 seconds before getting purged while it’s still on a 5-minute cooldown.
  • Trying to heal through 100-0 damage from specs like Sub Rogue, Arcane Mage, and Ele Shaman with no meaningful defensives left.
  • Being one of the most punishable healers in PvP while other specs have multiple strong defensive layers with lower cooldowns.

I’m not saying Blessed Hands needed to stay exactly as it was, but if Blizzard was going to remove it, they should have done one of the following:
:heavy_check_mark: Reduce BoP’s cooldown (3 minutes instead of 5).
:heavy_check_mark: Give BoP short purge protection (2-3 seconds before it can be removed).
:heavy_check_mark: Make BoP & Spellwarding separate cooldowns so we have counterplay for both melee and casters.

Right now, Holy Paladin lost a core tool while other classes got to keep stronger, more consistent defensives with less counterplay.

18

Double bop is bad for the game and made alot of comps completely unviable. But the one bop we have left should be 3 minute cooldown and unpurgable. Should only be able to be shattered or mass dispelled .

Not sure why they removed double freedom and judge dispel though really bad changes there.

Also sac cooldown is really weird (it is 1.7 or 1.8) wish they would just make it 1.5 so it lines up with trinket.

19

True, but as Paladins only have freedome and if playing Herald they got Eternal flame hot. Which if we have all 3 up it’s a 33,3% chance to get the bop. And lets be honest we’ll very rarely have all 3 purgable spells up. So usually either a 50-50 or a 100% chance to remove bop even with unreliable purge. Warrior also has a 100% chance to remove bop with it’s shattering throw or the other option (dont remember the name)

With Hpala being in a good spot the past 2 seasons you also gotta remember that they have been in the gutter for years before that. If you want to talk about other changes this is not the subject on the balancing of the entire class.

20

If we talking this season Saying that hpala is top tier is crazy, but ok. While bop and spell bop shares the same cooldown it’s only usuable against certain classes and it takes a talent or honor talent