Mythic Expedition: Protection Paladin Dread Chain Guide

To clear the Dread Chain map on Mythic difficulty in Mythic Expedition, the Protection Paladin must lead the group by pulling large clusters of Azerite-rich mobs, establishing threat in open areas, and cycling defensive cooldowns to stay alive without draining healer mana. Reaching the Azerite goal before the opposing faction requires continuous mob pulls, efficient pathing, and active team utility.

Grouping Enemies and Managing Threat

Maximizing your group's Area of Effect (AoE) damage requires gathering multiple enemy packs into tight clusters. Use ranged abilities to tag scattered groups and pull them together:

1. Tag packs from range: Cast Avenger's Shield to pull enemy clusters from a distance.
2. Move to open ground: Pull mobs into flat, open areas or tight chokepoints so allies can land AoE abilities without losing target uptime or mobility.
3. Establish stationary threat: Drop Consecration directly under gathered enemies immediately to hold threat and keep mobs in place.
4. Maintain healer visibility: Position yourself where your healer retains a clear line-of-sight, avoiding line-of-sight breaks around dense map pillars or ridges.

Defensive Cooldown Rotation

Mythic enemy packs hit hard enough to quickly overwhelm a tank who relies on passive stats alone. Rotate your defensive abilities preemptively rather than stacking them all at once:

• Shield of the Righteous: Spend Holy Power consistently during pulls to maintain high uptime on this physical damage reduction buff.
• Ardent Defender: Trigger this short-cooldown defensive tool right as a large mob group or elite pack engages, taking stress off your healer's mana pool.
• Guardian of Ancient Kings: Reserve this major defensive cooldown for heavy elite encounters or when pulling multiple large packs simultaneously.

Using major cooldowns before health drops into critical range prevents unnecessary stops for health and mana regeneration.

Positioning and Map Traversal

Dread Chain features vertical terrain, narrow bridges, and environmental pits that can scatter pulls or force extra mob aggro.

• Back to obstacles: Stand with your back toward walls or terrain obstructions during combat to prevent knockback mechanics from sending you into unpulled enemy packs.
• Clear in a loop: Path through the island in a continuous loop toward high-value targets rather than crisscrossing cleared zones.
• Divine Steed: Use Divine Steed to close distance on distant packs, kite enemies backward if over-extended, or quickly reposition when the group needs to move.

Team Support and Utility

A Protection Paladin's utility keeps the group mobile and prevents wipes when team members draw accidental threat:

• Blessing of Freedom: Cast this on snared or rooted teammates to keep them moving along the pull route.
• Blessing of Protection: Target DPS allies who draw threat or take focused physical damage so they can keep attacking uninterrupted.
• Pacing adjustments: If allies lag behind, reduce pull sizes slightly to prevent splitting the group, but keep moving forward to stay ahead of the enemy AI.