Can the Horde play a Paladin in Forever?

Yes, as a Forsaken. The Battle.net Shop lists Forsaken Paladin among the new race and class options, the announcement cinematic shows one, and Blizzard's Warcraft III Reforged: Forsaken Kingdom campaign tells the story of the first Forsaken Paladin.

Can a Skyborne be a Paladin?

Nothing says so. Blizzard's recap lists the Skyborne classes as Warrior, Hunter, Rogue and Druid for all, plus Mage for the Alliance-aligned and Shaman for the Horde-aligned. Paladin is not on the list.

Is the Paladin a healer or a tank?

In Classic raids, mostly a healer and a buffer. Forever gives each tree new tools: Blizzard's Deep Dive recap names Seal of Fury and a taunt for Protection, Infusion of Light and Light's Vigil for Holy, and Vindication and Twist of Light for Retribution, while keeping the class without an interrupt or a slow. How far that moves Protection and Retribution in practice is the first thing we will check.

Does the Paladin finally get a taunt?

Yes, through the Seal and Judgment system rather than a button: Seal of Fury makes Judgment a taunt while the Seal is active, and Swift Judgment can reset Judgment once a minute after a miss.

Paladin in World of Warcraft: Forever

The short answer

The Paladin is Classic’s holy knight: plate, mana, a seal on the weapon, a blessing on every party member and an aura under everyone’s feet. In Classic it was Alliance-only. Forever gives it to the Forsaken, and Blizzard has made that story a headline: its Collector’s Edition post says the Warcraft III Reforged: Forsaken Kingdom campaign tells the story of the first Forsaken Paladin Confirmed Blizzard. Everything below describes the class as Classic shipped it; the beta opens September 17, and this page changes as we play.

Roles: Tank, Healer, Damage
Style: Melee, Hybrid
Races: 3 · 1 new in Forever

Who can play it

Alliance
- Human
- Dwarf
Horde
- Undead new one of the six new combinations in Blizzard’s Deep Dive recap; their journey starts at Bandarion Keep in Tirisfal Glades. Blizzard — Deep Dive panel recap · Blizzard — Found Photos panel recap · Battle.net Shop — product page · Wowhead — Undead Paladins Coming to Forever · Blizzard — Collector’s Edition post

Classic's pairings per Wowhead — Classic races database and Warcraft Wiki — Playable race , checked 2026-09-13; Blizzard has not restated them for Forever and has not published the full list of additions. Pairings marked new are the ones Blizzard or its trailer has shown. Filter all nine classes in the class picker .

How it plays

Seals and Judgements. A seal changes what the weapon does on every swing; Judgement spends it for a burst or a debuff. Seal of the Crusader then Judgement is the leveling opener; Seal of Righteousness the steady one.
Blessings and auras. One blessing per party member (Might, Wisdom, Salvation and the rest) and one aura at a time from the Paladin. In raids the Paladins split blessings between them, which is a job in itself.
Healing without a channel. Holy Light and Flash of Light are the whole kit, plus Lay on Hands as the emergency button and Divine Shield to survive anything for a few seconds.
Plate at 40. Mail before that. The armor and the self-healing make the Paladin the hardest class to kill, in the open world and in duels.
Roles by talent tree. Holy heals, Protection tanks dungeons, Retribution fights in melee; in Classic raids only the first is a regular job.

Leveling

The safest levelling in the game and one of the slowest: auto-attack under a seal, judge, heal when needed, and never die. It speeds up with a two-hander and Blessing of Wisdom to keep mana flowing, and a Paladin never needs to wait for a group to finish an elite quest.

What Forever changes

Paladins gain Holy Strike at level 6 (an instant Holy weapon strike on a 12-second cooldown), Seals are no longer consumed by Judgment, Consecration is baseline at level 20, and Blessing of Kings is baseline. Seal of Fury gives Protection a tank Seal that favors fast weapons, grants small absorbs and makes Judgment a taunt. Paladins still lack an interrupt and a slow.

Confirmed Blizzard — Deep Dive panel recap
Forsaken Paladins begin “deeply mistrusted by other Forsaken” at Bandarion Keep in the Whispering Wood of Tirisfal Glades, and at level 60 ride their epic charger “in the name of Retribution” where Alliance Paladins ride for Redemption.

Confirmed Blizzard — Found Photos panel recap Blizzard — Collector’s Edition post

Blizzard’s Deep Dive recap names six new race and class combinations: Gnome Priest, Human Hunter, Dwarf Shaman, Orc Mage, Troll Warlock and Undead Paladin, “with more planned for future updates.”

Confirmed Blizzard — Deep Dive panel recap
Talent trees keep Classic’s structure: the same number of rows, milestone talents at 11, 21 and 31 points, and a new 16-point milestone. Some talents are unchanged from patch 1.12, some adjusted, and key class buffs (Divine Spirit, Blessing of Kings, Improved Mark of the Wild) are now baseline. Each race gets two active and two passive racial abilities, reworked to be stronger and more distinct.

Confirmed Blizzard — Deep Dive panel recap
Combat keeps Classic’s pace: an ordinary creature takes a solo player “roughly 10–15 seconds to defeat,” crowd control still matters in dungeons, and damage dealers still respect threat. Spell, melee and ranged hit chance are combined into one stat, as are the three crit chances. Paladins are the first class detailed; “more class and race details are planned through future videos and articles.”

Confirmed Blizzard — Deep Dive panel recap
Blizzard: class identity “remains central,” with “new abilities, new race and class combinations, and updates designed to preserve the feel of the original game.” The updates “focus on talents and abilities you notice, meaningful trade-offs, and reasons to value what each class brings.”

Confirmed Blizzard — What’s Next panel recap
The Battle.net Shop describes “updated class design” and “an expanded list of race and class options, including Dwarf Shaman and Forsaken Paladin.”

Confirmed Battle.net Shop — product page

What Blizzard has detailed

Paladins are the one class Blizzard has gone through so far, in its Deep Dive recap, as “one example of the wider class update philosophy: give each specialization new tools while preserving meaningful gaps in the class toolkit” Confirmed Blizzard. Its list, with the recap as the source for every line:

For every Paladin. Holy Strike at level 6, an instant weapon strike that deals Holy damage on a 12-second cooldown. Seals are no longer consumed by casting Judgment. Consecration is baseline at level 20, with high damage and threat on the first four targets it hits and less beyond. Blessing of Kings is baseline rather than a talent.
Holy. Improved Holy Strike shortens Holy Strike’s cooldown; Voice of Truth grants temporary immunity to Silence and Interrupts; Reverence regenerates Mana from Spirit while casting; Infusion of Light makes Holy Shock and Flash of Light critical heals shorten the next Holy Light; Holy Shock moves to a 10-second cooldown; Consecrated Ground makes enemies in Consecration take more Holy damage; Light’s Vigil is a high-cost cooldown that resets Holy Shock and triggers extra damage or party healing.
Protection. Seal of Fury favors fast weapons, grants small absorb shields and makes Judgment a taunt while active. Improved Seal of Fury returns Mana when the Seal absorbs damage; Shield Specialization grants Mana on blocks; Swift Judgment resets Judgment once a minute so a missed taunt does not end the moment; Templar’s Bulwark is an absorb based on maximum health that interacts with Forbearance; Reckoning also triggers from blocks so crit-immune tanks keep it; Iron Creed lets timed Holy Strikes reduce incoming damage briefly.
Retribution. Vindication lowers the enemy’s Attack Power while raising the Paladin’s own; Sacred Arbiter empowers Holy Strike and refreshes Judgments on the target; Champion of the Light adds spell damage from Intellect; Instrument of the Law lowers threat and makes Holy Wrath instant; Twist of Light lets a new Seal echo into the next swing, seal twisting without a swing-timer add-on; Holy Shock stays an option for ranged, spell-powered play.
What stays missing, on purpose. No interrupt, no slow, and the taunt lives in the Seal and Judgment system rather than a single-purpose button. Paladins stay especially strong against Undead and Demons through Exorcism, Holy Wrath and Turn Undead.

Blizzard’s Found Photos recap adds the Forsaken side: their journey begins at Bandarion Keep in the Whispering Wood of Tirisfal Glades, “deeply mistrusted by other Forsaken” Confirmed Blizzard, and at 60 they ride their epic charger in the name of Retribution where Alliance Paladins ride for Redemption.

What we will check in the beta

Every ability and talent above, in the client: names, numbers, cooldowns and levels.
The Forsaken Paladin at Bandarion Keep, its trainers, its mount at 40 and the Retribution charger chain at 60.
How Protection holds a dungeon pull with Seal of Fury and Consecration, and how Retribution’s damage compares with Classic’s at 60.
Whether Blessing of Salvation and the raid buff economy work as in Classic now that Blessing of Kings is baseline.
Whether a Skyborne Paladin exists at all: nothing says so today.