I’m around 270 item level and rounding out my gearing farming valor. I haven’t decided on the trinkets yet though.
This is my first season playing a paladin but so far playing prot I’m leaning towards Codex of the first technique and IQD.
And as for holy Its first class healing distributor and IQD. And ret I’m thinking IQD and Solaehs secret technique
Most top prot pallies use 2 on use trinkets with absorb effects such as scale and aegis. This is because prot needs coverage while ad is on cd.
I should be trying to get scale then is what you’re saying. Codex seems too good to give up
IQD sucks for holy and FCH is just worse then other stat sticks, your better of farming for a changling and secret technique.
If you are interested in playing all 3 specs I would recommend soleahs, then scale for prot and changeling for holy! (Not very familiar with ret so I don’t want to mislead you) If you are new, passive trinkets will always give you the best value as they are “set it and forget it” and leave no room for misuse.
With soleahs, I would also recommend a weak aura that reminds you to apply the buff as it falls off after only 30 minutes.
It is very good but prot pallies die when cds are down. So yes scale would be good. I too need one.
For tanking Blood Splattered Scale is your BiS. You can have some freedom with the 2nd trinket, Secret Technique/Elegy/IQD.
Codex sounds good on paper, but it’s not that great in practice.
I would recommend scale from dos and shard from last raid. If you can’t get shard from last raid I would recommend soleahs, elegy or phial from current content.
Codex doesn’t add to your armor from sotr since the armor gain is based on your strength and codex gives stam
I use the same setup as you because i was fortunate enough to get leech on both my trinkets, if you go with the Codex/IQD set up means the codex scales off your vers you will have to go out of your way a little bit and get some rating in vers also Final Stand will be a must, especially in a PUG group.
As far IQD goes i believe it to be a great Offensive/Defensive trinket depending on proc which should be either Haste or Mastery also can be used as an execute if you didn’t know and a 2nd lay on hands 
IQD is ok for Ret with soleah but if you have the choice between IQD and OPC give OPC a try. Feels much better to have it with Wings each time rather than IQD every 2 wings.
Been using Scale and Soleahs as a stat stick. Seems fine. Ardent is usually up really quick. Considering restoring my 252 aegis but also season 4 will mean 278 aegis will be possible.
Edit: I do believe aegis is by far the best paladin m+ trinket. It smooths things out a lot
Absolutely not lol. It’s usually not worth losing more wings uptime. If you find you’re dying and rely on bubble, you’re probably not doing well with defensives or not kiting soon enough
I fell into this trap initially but changed this season and it just feels so much better. Part of that might be 4set. that block rating increase makes us so damn tanky I honestly wonder why a whole lot of defense is even needed. Tbf yet to do actually high scaled content like a mythic boss or a 25 key. Just where I am rn progression wise.
The level where pally tankyness fails from my experience is 22. Especially fort week you just get b***h slapped. It’s why I swapped mains to monk. Not that pally isn’t good…it is… But you can’t face tank without having a cd or trinket up.
That’s completely fair and good to know. Looking forward to it.
Absolutely and you would know this if you PUG enough keys as to why final stand is the go to, or could just be me and have bad luck with group’s. You gotta tell me where you pick yours up? Either your keys are to low to matter or you being a whale?
Lmfao look at my page dude, it’s public. I’m 3338 io and you’re mid 2500s. So yeah, final stand is a trap talent even in 23-25s. If I needed final stand it’s because I was playing poorly majority of the time
Kind of unrelated but I remember hearing a ton of praise for Necro prot paladins and now I never see them. Is that more of a raiding covenant?
Necro is actually pretty good survival wise and it really pumps on 1 target. The Power of divine toll in m+ just outshines all other covs by a mile though.
iqd better then opc in most scenarios