How to Defeat the Paladin Bubble

In "World of Warcraft," Paladins can use the Divine Shield ability to absorb incoming damage.

"World of Warcraft" is a massively multi-player online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Blizzard Entertainment for the PC. In "World of Warcraft" players use class-specific abilities and spells to battle enemy mobs and players in both player versus environment (PvE) and player versus player (PvP) settings. The Paladin's "Divine Shield" ability, often called the Paladin "bubble" due to its transparent, spherical appearance, prevents all incoming damage to the caster for eight seconds. Thus, removing or circumventing the "Divine Shield" ability is an important component of Paladin combat.

Instructions

1. Use abilities with a lasting spell lock effect. Although "Divine Shield" cancels nearly all crowd-control abilities, interrupting a spell from the Paladin's Holy school with a spell lock can prevent the Paladin from casting "Divine Shield" for the duration of the lock. A Mage's "Counterspell," a Rogue's "Kick," a Death Knight's "Mind Freeze" and the Warlock Felhunter's "Spell Lock" abilities all have spell lock effects that players can use to prevent "Divine Shield."

2. Dispel the "Divine Shield." If your class does not have access to a spell-locking ability, you may be able to dispel the shield. There are two abilities that can remove "Divine Shield": a Priest's "Mass Dispel" and a Warrior's "Shattering Throw."

3. Disable the Paladin with "Cyclone." If you have a Druid in your group, the "Cyclone" ability can be used to temporarily disable the Paladin. "Divine Shield" can not be cast while the player is under the "Cyclone" effect; however, "Cyclone" also makes the target invulnerable to incoming damage for the duration of the spell.

References

• Ten Ton Hammer: How to Tank as a Paladin; April 2011
• Joystiq: The Light and How to Swing It: Divine Sacrifice; Gregg Reece; October 2009
• Battle.net: "World of Warcraft"