Holy Strike Rank 3

What does the Paladin's Holy Strike do and when do you learn it?

Holy Strike is a melee strike every Paladin trains at level 6. It is instant, costs a little mana and has a 10 second cooldown, so it is your main damage and threat button while levelling.

It hits for a share of your weapon damage plus a set amount of Holy damage, and both grow with each rank. Rank 1 does 25% weapon damage plus 10 to 14 Holy; the linked Rank 3 does 32% plus 17 to 21 (learned at level 20); the top Rank 8 reaches 50% weapon damage plus 81 to 105 Holy at level 60. There are eight ranks in all, trained from level 6 to 60.

Every spec has a talent built around it: Holy Power in Holy, Iron Creed in Protection and Sacred Arbiter in Retribution. Iron Creed (Protection, from level 35, three ranks) raises Holy Strike's threat by 10% per rank, 30% at 3/3, and while Righteous Fury is up it also makes Holy Strike cut your damage taken by 2% per rank, 6% at 3/3, for 6 sec. That is why it anchors Paladin tanking.