Thanks to the thread the bodhi posted on the Main forum, and also thanks to an awesome tankadin that I ran several instances with last week, I've decided to start a paladin. He's only level 11, but I'll probably have him in the high 20's or low 30's by the weekend.
Anywho, I've seen a few threads here speculating on a leveling guide, but I haven't read anything concrete. I do plan to follow James' Horde guide(s) as far as my interest holds out, but I'm curious as to what talent spec I should use while leveling, and what stats I should be concentrating on in terms of gear. Also, if anybody has experience speed leveling a belfadin, I'd appreciate the insight.
Basically, I know that Ret is the "leveling spec." I know which talents are the key ones, but I can't help but notice that none of the leveling specs go into Prot for the +3% hit chance, or put any points into Divine Strength. Is there a reason for this?
Also, I imagine that the important stats for leveling are strength, stamina, and intellect. Is agility worth looking out for? Can it be ignored completely, or should I take it in balance with the other stats?
I plan on using a two hander as much as possible, but what situations require a sword and board? Also, what exactly is this Prot AoE grinding I've read about, and how does one go about doing it?
And to those of you that will tell me not to power through the lower levels because I'm "missing out on the game" and "not learning how to play my class," I've leveled a paladin to the mid 40's before, and I've seen enough of the Barrens to make my head ache. I'm leveling this toon because I want to try my hand at tanking in the Outlands with the option to heal if needed. My main is a rogue, so all I've been doing for the past several months is DPS, and I want to see the other side of the coin.
- Forums
- World of Warcraft
- Class Discussion
- Paladin Leveling
Paladin LevelingFollow
Jophiel wrote:
I managed to be both retarded and entertaining.
Jamies Leveling guide is good, I have never followed it step by step. But it is great for general ideas and for learning about quests you have never heard of.
For Ret you want a slow 2 hander 3.6 seconds or more ideally, not always possible but the higher the better. You want to focus on Str, Agi and Stam and Int which is quite the joy to do. Str gives you atp, agi crit, critting is what paladin is all about. You want to max those while making sure you have the health and mana to grind efficiently.
Ret doesn't go into 3% chance to hit (prot tree) because that is more of a concern for hitting mobs higher in level than you. Such as raid content. Better to sink points into Holy and get Divine Intellect and Spiritual focus, both will up your survivability by a bit.
Prot becomes feasible only after lvl 35. Mainly due to reckoning, Reckoning gives you double hits (and double seals) for x amount of strikes in a certain time period. It has a chance to proc each time you are hit, therefore the more you get hit the more dps you do. That along with Holy Shield and Blessing of Sanctuary it means the more you get hit the more dps you put out (the incredible hulk of dps). Since you are prot you can grab 2-4 mobs have them hit you and you put out more dps and burn em down faster than you would if you were fighting one at a time. It is not aoe in the sense of a mage, just a name that has stuck.
For Ret you want a slow 2 hander 3.6 seconds or more ideally, not always possible but the higher the better. You want to focus on Str, Agi and Stam and Int which is quite the joy to do. Str gives you atp, agi crit, critting is what paladin is all about. You want to max those while making sure you have the health and mana to grind efficiently.
Ret doesn't go into 3% chance to hit (prot tree) because that is more of a concern for hitting mobs higher in level than you. Such as raid content. Better to sink points into Holy and get Divine Intellect and Spiritual focus, both will up your survivability by a bit.
Prot becomes feasible only after lvl 35. Mainly due to reckoning, Reckoning gives you double hits (and double seals) for x amount of strikes in a certain time period. It has a chance to proc each time you are hit, therefore the more you get hit the more dps you do. That along with Holy Shield and Blessing of Sanctuary it means the more you get hit the more dps you put out (the incredible hulk of dps). Since you are prot you can grab 2-4 mobs have them hit you and you put out more dps and burn em down faster than you would if you were fighting one at a time. It is not aoe in the sense of a mage, just a name that has stuck.
Bode - 100 Holy Paladin - Lightbringer
13 posts
I have levelled a Paladin up to level 65 and i switched specs a few times along the way so ill do my best to tell you what i experienced.
Up until level 40, the Ret tree is by far your best bet, as long as you get yourself Seal of Command as soon as you can, because in my opinion, the Protection tree has nothing to offer you which will be that useful until level 40. So if i was gonna give you some pre level 40 advice it would be to spec to Retribution, get yourself a half decent weapon and basically quest like any other class would.
However, I found that when you hit 40, you can quest much more efficiently, quickly and have more fun along the way with the protection tree, as you can kill multiple mobs at the same time and come out with 100%hp and 80% mana with a little practise. (The term most people use for this is AOE grinding, but with a paladin I find this term to be slightly misleading).
As for the way that “AOE Grinding†with a paladin works is something like this:
Apply Righteous Fury – Your holy spells cause more threat and with talents reduces the damage you take by 6%.
Put Blessing of Sanctuary on yourself – Reduces all the damage you take by 10 and inflicts damage when you block.
And finally, Retribution Aura – Does 12 Holy Damage to anyone that hits you.
Once you have rounded however mobs you feel confident enough to kill up, you put Seal of Light on yourself, then Judgement it onto the mob, then put Seal of Light back on so you are gaining health with each hit, and when Reckoning proccs your health with more often then not actually be going up with 4 mobs beating on you. As long as you apply Holy Shield whenever you can (Increases block rate by 30% and causes damage when you block) and keep an eye on your health, it’s a breeze, and great fun too.
Even though consecration is an option, I find it doesn’t really make you kill that much faster and drains your mana too much, that’s why there isn’t really much AOE involved which makes the term misleading.
From there you pretty much repeat until you can stare at the big pile of dead bodies with a massive grin on your face :).
As for gear, for most of the time I just levelled myself as a warrior would, however I saved my rings and neck for intellect with a mixture of Stam Strength and Agility on everything else.
(Most of this was summed up in the previous post, which I didn’t realise was even there until after I wrote it but, meh :P)
Sorry if its too long, just thought I would share my opninions, hope this helps.
Up until level 40, the Ret tree is by far your best bet, as long as you get yourself Seal of Command as soon as you can, because in my opinion, the Protection tree has nothing to offer you which will be that useful until level 40. So if i was gonna give you some pre level 40 advice it would be to spec to Retribution, get yourself a half decent weapon and basically quest like any other class would.
However, I found that when you hit 40, you can quest much more efficiently, quickly and have more fun along the way with the protection tree, as you can kill multiple mobs at the same time and come out with 100%hp and 80% mana with a little practise. (The term most people use for this is AOE grinding, but with a paladin I find this term to be slightly misleading).
As for the way that “AOE Grinding†with a paladin works is something like this:
Apply Righteous Fury – Your holy spells cause more threat and with talents reduces the damage you take by 6%.
Put Blessing of Sanctuary on yourself – Reduces all the damage you take by 10 and inflicts damage when you block.
And finally, Retribution Aura – Does 12 Holy Damage to anyone that hits you.
Once you have rounded however mobs you feel confident enough to kill up, you put Seal of Light on yourself, then Judgement it onto the mob, then put Seal of Light back on so you are gaining health with each hit, and when Reckoning proccs your health with more often then not actually be going up with 4 mobs beating on you. As long as you apply Holy Shield whenever you can (Increases block rate by 30% and causes damage when you block) and keep an eye on your health, it’s a breeze, and great fun too.
Even though consecration is an option, I find it doesn’t really make you kill that much faster and drains your mana too much, that’s why there isn’t really much AOE involved which makes the term misleading.
From there you pretty much repeat until you can stare at the big pile of dead bodies with a massive grin on your face :).
As for gear, for most of the time I just levelled myself as a warrior would, however I saved my rings and neck for intellect with a mixture of Stam Strength and Agility on everything else.
(Most of this was summed up in the previous post, which I didn’t realise was even there until after I wrote it but, meh :P)
Sorry if its too long, just thought I would share my opninions, hope this helps.
Thanks guys. Incoming karma love.
Jophiel wrote:
I managed to be both retarded and entertaining.
Have you even seen the inside of Kara yet Twiz?
Get it crackalackin, trust me when I say it is a frickin blast.
Get it crackalackin, trust me when I say it is a frickin blast.
Bode - 100 Holy Paladin - Lightbringer
if you've already been to 60 or 70 I recommend jame's guide. The one I use on wow pro (only one I know of) is a little out of date because it doesn't have recently added BE's and quests (dranei for alliance). but it still works just as well. I'll add in those quests if they are easy. Like the purifying earth quest in 1000 needles. Real easy to kill 2 earth golem thingies or whatever they're called. you can do that when doing the alien egg quest (they are near there). The horde version seems a bit better than alliance, but maybe that's my preference.
I don't recommend barrens. If you are playing a horde pally then you have the expansion. Go for ghostlands. It's a smaller area with still many quests and you can get from 13 to 21 or 22 there quite easily. And a pretty good sword for the traitor's quest at the end. After that maybe run WC for that sword (1 hander). Do the pally quests and instances for that polearm. Then go into Jame's guide. He doesn't do much in stonetalon, but I like that zone, and recommend it.
I'm holy spec, and levelling with holy hasn't been too bad. Most of it on rest bonus though which helps. I'll turn her into a holy shockadin type spec here when I get a few more talents available. She's a fantastic healer. So I can't comment much on ret or protection levelling. And just dinged 40 and got my plate (can't find any leggs or shoulders though). She looks like a **** with a plate halter top LOL. Maybe I should wear a shirt underneath, but I would never do that.
Edited, Aug 27th 2007 4:12pm by thrashering
I don't recommend barrens. If you are playing a horde pally then you have the expansion. Go for ghostlands. It's a smaller area with still many quests and you can get from 13 to 21 or 22 there quite easily. And a pretty good sword for the traitor's quest at the end. After that maybe run WC for that sword (1 hander). Do the pally quests and instances for that polearm. Then go into Jame's guide. He doesn't do much in stonetalon, but I like that zone, and recommend it.
I'm holy spec, and levelling with holy hasn't been too bad. Most of it on rest bonus though which helps. I'll turn her into a holy shockadin type spec here when I get a few more talents available. She's a fantastic healer. So I can't comment much on ret or protection levelling. And just dinged 40 and got my plate (can't find any leggs or shoulders though). She looks like a **** with a plate halter top LOL. Maybe I should wear a shirt underneath, but I would never do that.
Edited, Aug 27th 2007 4:12pm by thrashering
bodhisattva wrote:
Have you even seen the inside of Kara yet Twiz?
Get it crackalackin, trust me when I say it is a frickin blast.
Get it crackalackin, trust me when I say it is a frickin blast.
I just need to get a Black Morass run together to finish my key. Needless to say, most of my guild is not jumping at the opportunity to go there again.
Jophiel wrote:
I managed to be both retarded and entertaining.
Recent Visitors: 84
All times are in CST
Anonymous Guests (84)
- Forums
- World of Warcraft
- Class Discussion
- Paladin Leveling
© 2024 Fanbyte LLC