Blessing

For the Torghast mechanic, see Torghast, Tower of the Damned#Blessings.

A blessing is a powerful buff that can be applied to friendly players and some non-player characters. Blessings are unique to the paladin class.

The paladin's blassings and auras are the buffs that combine to give the class its flexibility. Blessings can be applied to most friendly targets, drastically increasing their combat abilities.

Available blessings

Blessings are short-term spells that give their target a powerful effect before fading shortly after. These were previously known as hands.

Blessing	Level	Spec	Description
[Blessing of Protection]	Level 32	All	Places a blessing on a party or raid member, protecting them from all physical attacks for 10 sec. Causes Forbearance for 30 sec.
[Blessing of Freedom]	Level 22	All	Places a blessing on a party or raid member, granting immunity to movement impairing effects for 8 sec.
[Blessing of Sacrifice]	Level 41	All	Blesses a party or raid member, reducing their damage taken by 30%, but you suffer 100% of damage prevented. Last 12 sec, or until transferred damage would cause you to fall below 20% health.
[Blessing of Sanctuary]	Honor Level 25	Retribution	Instantly removes all stun, silence, fear and horror effects from the friendly target and reduces the duration of future such effects by 60% for 5 sec.
[Blessing of Spellwarding]	Level 35	Protection	Blesses a party or raid member, granting immunity to magical damage and harmful effects for 10 sec.

Removed blessings

Blessing	Description
[Blessing of Might]	Places a blessing on an ally that increases their Mastery.
[Blessing of Kings]	Places a blessing on an ally that increases their Strength, Agility, and Intellect by 5%.
[Blessing of Wisdom]	Places a blessing on an ally that restores their mana for 10 min.
[Blessing of Light]	Places a blessing on an ally that increases the effects of Holy Light spells used on the target.
[Blessing of Sanctuary]	Places a blessing on an ally that reduces damage taken from all sources by 3% for 10 minutes and increases stamina and strength by 10%.
[Blessing of Salvation]	Places a blessing on an ally that temporarily removes all threat from the target and causing all additional threat generated to be transfered to the paladin.

Greater Blessings last for 60 minutes and are only available Retribution. There can only be three Greater Blessings active at one time per paladin, meaning a single paladin can only cast a total three Greater Blessings on friendly targets. Casting the same Greater Blessing from multiple paladins do not stack, and applying a Greater Blessing on a fourth target removes the first one cast.

Blessing	Description
[Greater Blessing of Might]	Places a blessing on an ally that gives their attacks a 10% chance to deal 30% additional damage as Holy.
[Greater Blessing of Kings]	Places a blessing on an ally that grants them an absorption shield. It absorbs up to (180% of Spell power) damage, and will be refreshed to full strength every 6 sec, even if fully consumed.
[Greater Blessing of Wisdom]	Places a blessing on an ally that causes them to regenerate 1% of maximum health and mana per 3 sec.

History

Originally all blessings lasted for only 5 minutes. If you wanted to buff a whole 40-man raid, by the time you ended the buffing, first members had only 2-3 minutes left on their blessings, making paladins more like walking buff machines than efficient healers or DPSers.

Gallery

Blessing of Kings in the TCG.
Blessing of Protection in the TCG.
Blessing of Divinity in the TCG.
Blessing of Freedom in the TCG.
Blessing of Wisdom in the TCG.
Blessing of Sanctuary in the TCG.
Blessing of the Righteous in the TCG.
Blessing of Liberty in the TCG.
Blessing of the Templar in the TCG.
Blessing of the Just in the TCG.
Blessing of Virtue in the TCG.

Patch changes

Patch 7.0.3 (2016-07-19):
- Blessings are now known as Greater Blessings, only available to Retribution and redesigned. [Blessing of Kings] and [Blessing of Might] have been replaced by [Greater Blessing of Kings] and [Greater Blessing of Might].
- Hands are now known as Blessings.
Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12):
- The functionality of Greater Blessings has replaced the single-target Blessings, making all Blessings last for 1 hour and apply to all same-class members of your raid or group as your target.
- [Symbol of Kings] no longer required.
- [Blessing of Sanctuary] became [Sanctuary], a passive effect for the protection paladin, instead of a buff.
- [Blessing of Kings] does not stack with a Druid's [Mark of the Wild] buff.
- MP5 from [Blessing of Wisdom] merged into [Blessing of Might]. Blessing of Wisdom removed.
Patch 3.0.2 (2008-10-14):
- [Blessing of Freedom], [Blessing of Protection], [Blessing of Sacrifice] and [Blessing of Salvation] have become short-term blessings known as Hand spells.
- [Blessing of Light] removed.