Page 2: Playing your Paladin 2.1 Group PvE Play 2.1.1 How do Paladins tank in groups? There is a bit of a difference depending on what level you are. Before about the level 50's, it is not necessary to be prot spec to be able to tank the instances. You will have an easier time tanking as protection, but it's not 100% necessary. A one-handed weapon and shield is required, have Righteous Fury up at all times, and tank with SoR for one-mob. Use consecration if you need to tank more than one mob at a time. If you lose aggro, use righteous defense to pull the mob back onto you (it does work on the target of target). With this method alone you should be fine. Judge Crusader if you are having problems with threat, judge Wisdom or Light if you are good on threat and you want to increase your mana or health pool.
As you level higher past the 50s, it becomes more and more necessary to at least have Holy Shield in the protection tree, by 60 it's a requirement. With Holy Shield, you can increase your survivability and your threat on single and multiple-mobs. Imp. Righteous Fury will also increase your threat and survivability. Other good talents to have are: Reckoning, Redoubt, Shield Specialization, Toughness, Anticipation. (Discussed more in the talents section).
Good buffing guidelines for Blessings (and you should buff) are as follows: BoSalv for DPS, BoW for Healers, BoW on self if mana regen is a problem, BoSanc on self if threat is a problem, and BoK on self if those areas are good. Retribution Aura on multiple mobs, Devotion Aura on single mobs.
IF you are tanking and you end up losing aggro, don't panic, as there are a few things to do (in order, moving to the next one if that didn't work.
1. Wait for your taunt to cd, if it is a vital time and you really don't want that person to die and they will if they wait for your cd, skip to 5.
2. Use your taunt and Judge your tanking seal (be it SoR or SoV)
3. Use Avenger's Shield
4. Use Exorcism if it is an Undead or Demon.
5. Cast Blessing of Protection on the player with aggro.
6. If all that fails, keep hitting it with everything you have until it turns or the player dies. Don't kick yourself too much if it was a dps class, they have to watch their own threat. If it was the healer, then you might want to reevaluate your tanking strategy to induce more threat, or evaluate your gear to take less of a beating, although the first reason will be it 9 times out of 10.
2.1.2 How do Paladins heal in a group? For a while, a Paladin does not have to have points in Holy to effectively heal in a group, however they should keep a healing set of gear on them in case they do need to heal.
Pre-BC there is not much healing plate/mail out there, so try to focus on int, sta, and mp5 where possible, get pieces other than plate/mail if you need to.
A paladin only has two healing spells (unless you are a Draenei, in which you have your HoT). Holy Light is our large heal, and Flash of Light is our quick, mana-efficient heal. When healing, the policy is to always make sure your main tank is alive. If the tank dies, you are (usually) screwed, as aggro will fly everywhere and you can't keep up heals on that many targets at once without having a good eye and a great amount of skill. Also, it helps to bring a few mana potions, as Paladins don't have any abilities to quickly regain a ton of mana (i.e. Innervate, Mana Tide totem, Shadowfiend, etc..). In long fights, always pot early, to ensure the cooldown will be up when you need it again.
A good strategy when healing is casting Flash of Light on the main tank unless they start dipping below about 60-70%, after that, throw out a Holy Light to keep them up. Also, look out for poisons/diseases/magic effects and Cleanse them off. If other people start taking damage from aoes, throw out quick Flash of Lights (starting with yourself) after a Holy Light on the tank. Using this method, you can keep the entire party alive. Draenei can also use their racial HoT on someone who just took damage. If you manage to pull threat off the tank, a quick HoJ will give the tank time to pull it back. If that doesnt work then BoP/Divine Shield will temporarily remove aggro on you and transfer it to the next highest person on the threat list (hopefully the tank), however dont do this immediately, only if it looks like the tank won't be able to pull the mob off you before you die for whatever reason.
Good buffing guidelines are BoSalv on DPS, BoW on self, BoL on tank, or BoK if your healing is good enough without BoL.
2.1.3 I dont want to heal or tank, what should I do in a group? There is a big difference from being a retadin and a retnoob. A retnoob will join parties, at any level, and only DPS and stands there like an idiot when things go bad and everyone wipes, not offering a helping hand. A retadin can and will off-heal when necessary, can and will off-tank when necessary and will do everything they can to make sure that the party is alive and comfortable, with DPS a kind of after-thought. Off tanking is not desired after 65, a full tank really needs to handle those mobs, and cc is much more preferrable. Offtanking at that level can put unnecessary strain on the healer.
If you are not main-tanking or main-healing, this should be your priorities:
1. Off-heal/Off-tank if necessary.
2. Cleanse Poisons/Diseases/Magic effects.
3. Keep up blessings.
4. DPS mob.
Your party will appreciate it, and you can turn a party that would have wiped frequently into a no-death or near no-death run. You will probably be dpsing the majority of the time, however if either of the other opportunities come up, a well-played Retribution Paladin will be able to handle them.
2.2 Solo PvE Play 2.2.1 What is the best way to level up a Paladin? This is extremely subjective, as there is no "best" way to level up. In grinding from 1 - 70, you will be discovering every nuance of the Paladin class, and some methods will work better for you than others. Other than that, there are basically 2-methods of leveling up for a paladin.
Single-Target(Can be used from 1 - 70 effectively)
The idea for this is putting out as much single-target damage as possible. In order to do that, you will be looking for either a ret/holy or holy/ret build, the key talents to grab are Seal of Command and Spiritual Focus. SoC will greatly increase your dps, making almost every other hit as if you got a crit, which by itself is capable of critting. Spiritual Focus will make sure that you can survive without worrying about getting interrupted by casting. After getting those talents, any path up holy or ret is a good idea to help maximize your damage and/or survivability. For gear, grab as much str and sta as possible, think warrior. Get a nice heavy 2-hander and start pounding away.
An option for Holy Paladins once they get into Outlands is to start a shockadin build. This does require a good amount of mana, and is more focused on spell damage. Outlands has a good amount of Plate spell damage gear, so stacking that up, using a shield and one-hander, and using SoR, JoR and Holy Shock to kill can be another viable option.
Multiple-Target/AOE Grinding(Should be started around 35 - 70)
The idea for this is that a Paladin can become a porcupine and survive a lot. It may take a few pulls in a certain area to figure out your limit, but the idea is to be able to reflect as much damage as possible to all your enemies, and to survive through them pounding you. In order to pull off this attempt to level, a protection spec must be chosen, and you must use a shield. A shield spike, Retribution Aura, Blessing of Sanctuary, and Holy Shield are all methods of inflicting damage to any enemy that attacks you. Judge seal of wisdom on your current mob and pull up Seal of Light, this will keep both your mana and health topped off with those mobs beating on you. For increased survivability, throw 10 points into Holy to get Spiritual Focus, allowing you to heal uninterrupted. Throwing out Consecration every now and then if mana allows can help speed up the process. This approach to leveling really takes more skill than the single-target, however it is very good practice if you plan on tanking end-game.
2.2.2 What talents should a Paladin be getting as he levels? Again, it depends on which of the methods above you want to do. My personnal recommendation for single-target grinding is to first move up retribution, grabbing Benediction, Imp. Judgement, Imp. SotC, and then SoC. After that, move up Holy, getting Divine Strength, Spiritual Focus, Healing Light, next 2 whatever, then Illumination, and Divine Favor. Once you have DF, there is almost no downtime between pulls. After this, you can move down holy to get holy shock, or you can start moving down Ret towards CS.
At level 61, I did this, but you don't have to. I respecced to 10/31/11. This gave me SF, Reckoning, HS, and SoC. I gave up my DF, but I gained the ability to tank in instances, and by myself I was able to put out more dps, especially when Reckoning would proc, giving me usually 3 hits (2 normal and 1 SoC proc), and still keep my uninterruptable heals.
For AOE grinding, just get talents that you would get if you were tanking. Get Redoubt, Anticipation, Toughness, Shield Specialization, Imp. RF, BoK, Reckoning, BoSanc, HS, Sacred Duty, One-Handed Weap Specialization, Imp. HS, Ardent Defender and Avenger's Shield.
2.2.3 What is the best place for a Paladin to grind? (And where are the Undead/Demons) The best places are where there are melee mobs for AOE grinders cause the Paladin needs to be hit for AOE grinding to work effectively, and casters for Single-Target grinders because they are generally quicker to kill as they have less health. Anytime there are demons or undead around you can have an easier time grinding due to Exorcism, Turn Undead, and Sense Undead. Here is a list of some Undead Locations:
(Massive thanks to LikeIke for helping to fill out this list, including all of the instances.)
Levels 10-20: Ghostlands
Levels 21-30: Duskwood, Silverpine Forest
Levels 26-30: Wetlands (The lost Fleet)
Levels 28-30: Ashenvale (Dor'danil Barrow Den)
Levels 32-37: Desolace (small area in south center)
Levels 36-42: Desolace (outside Mauradon)
Levels 40-45: Stranglethorn Vale (Zanzil ruins)
Levels 45-50: Azshara (Highborne ruins)
Levels 50-55: Western Plaguelands
Levels 51-56: Winterspring (Lake Maz'Thoril)
Levels 53-58: Silithus
Levels 55-60: Eastern Plaguelands
Levels 59-60: Deadwind Pass (south of the map)
Levels 60-62: Hellfire Peninsula (Expedition Armory)
Levels 62-64: Terrokar Forest
Levels 64-68: Nagrand (SE of Forge Camp: Fear)
Levels 68-70: Shadowmoon Valley (Sketh'lon Wreckage)
According to several people, the undead on the large island near Hillsbrad are apparently elites now.
Instances:
Levels 22-30: Shadowfang Keep
Levels 33-40: Razorfen Downs
Levels 34-45: Scarlet Monestary (Graveyard section)
Levels 44-54: Zul'Farrak (Graveyard past the bug farm)
Levels 45-55: Temple of Atal'Hakkar (Sunken Temple)
Levels 55-60: Dire Maul (West side)
Levels 56-60: Scholomance
Levels 58-60: Stratholme
Almost all instances in Outlands have demons inside, only a few have undead.
2.3 PvP Play 2.3.1 How do I fight against class X? A Paladin wins fights in most cases by outlasting their opponents by healing often and early, and using smart tactics to take advantage of both your and your opponent's cooldowns. I'm not going to list every single scenario on here. The easiest fights are against melee fighters. Just simply heal when you can and necessary and you should win. Casters are another story as most fights turn into mana battles. A Shadow Priest can burn out your mana, a Warlock can fear-chain you, and a Mage can blast you with all sorts of spells while keeping away from you. Your best bet is to just try to heal yourself as much as possible. Avoid their kiting effects with BoF if possible, and get in the damage when you can. With the right gear, skill, and a little luck you can take them down, this applies to Hunters as well.
2.3.2 What should a Paladin be doing in BGs? In BGs Paladins are most effective when they are healing allies. A Paladin doing damage can rack up HKs, but the damage done would be so much more if that Paladin sat back and healed up the other dps classes.
In WSG/EotS, a Paladin can make an excellence flag holder. Not neccessarily a good runner, but if the Paladin has the flag, they can take much more of a beating before dying, Divine Shield however removes the Paladin's flag, so it should not be used. If you don't have the flag, then you should be healing the guy with the flag, making an excellent body guard.
In AB, a Paladin is great for holding a node. With their survivability, they can live long enough for help to come, or to potentially kill the rogue that tried to ambush him. Also, being on the front lines and healing those that need it will vastly help to ensure a captured node, even if outnumbered.
In AV, which can be more PvE oriented, a tanking Paladin can help capture nodes or fight bosses, a healing Paladin does what they do best, and Ret Paladins can go off on their own if they want to, though it is not necessarily good for the group and they can help much more by healing.
2.3.3 What should a Paladin be doing in Arena? Arena is much more frantic than bgs. No matter what spec the paladin is (except for prot), they are almost always the first target from the other team. This is due to the fact that most Paladins are healers in Arena and for good reason. Retribution paladins are viable in 2v2 and 3v3 arenas for their burst damage output and their counter to Resto druids doing the kite/heal method. In 5v5, they are not as sought after for their lack of player control. If you are holy, you definately want to be decked out in the best plate healing gear you can get. Investing in talents to help your survivability is best, a lot of Arena Paladins opt for a 41/20/0 talent placement. This allows them to get the essential healing talents, while also getting a good amount of the protection talents, including Imp. Concentration aura which is invaluable in arenas.
2.4 Gear 2.4.1 What kind of gear can a Paladin equip? A Paladin can equip 1 and 2-handed swords, axes, and maces as well as Polearms. A Paladin can equip cloth,leather, and mail armor from level 1, and plate armor from level 40.
A Paladin cannot equip any ranged item, ever. The slot has been replaced with a Libram slot, which the Paladin can equip.
2.4.2 What kind of gear does an end-game Tanking Paladin look for? An end-game tanking paladin tries to go for the following gear (all Plate).
- A spell damage/healing bonus of at least 200.
- 490 Defense (for reaching uncrittable status).
- 102.4% avoidance (about 52.4% of that must come from gear/talents).
- As much stamina and Armor as possible.
These stats will help ensure your ability to keep threat and to take a beating.
2.4.3 What kind of gear does an end-game Healing Paladin look for? At end-game, a healer needs to try to grab a balance of the following:
- +Healing - Increases the effectiveness of the heals.
- +Spell Crit - Further increases the effectiveness, and also an important source of mana regen.
- +Mp5 - Another important source of mana regen.
- +Int - Increases mana pool, spell crit, and +heal.
There is an ongoing debate over Plate vs. Non-Plate gear. What seems to be a good guideline is if you think you are going to get hit, then you should probably get more armor. Examples of when you will get hit are arenas, battlegrounds, and probably PuG groups. You will (or at least should) not get hit in guild runs, unless you are heal tanking something.
To heal in Kara, 1200 healing, 15% crit, and 70mp5 is a good starting point. Every raid after that requires a little more, you should probably ask your guild what they want you to be at for further instances.
2.4.4 What kind of gear does an end-game DPSing Paladin look for? There are 2 kinds of end-game Paladin DPSers, there are Retadins, and there are Shockadins.
Retadins follow almost the same philosophy as warriors, looking out for +AP, +STA, +Crit, +Hit, etc.. The only difference is possibly a slight amount of attention to Int.
A Retribution Paladin trying to get into raids should work for the following stats:
1100-1400 AP
25% crit
9% hit (3% from precision helps)
~8k hp
~4.5k mana
You might be wondering if you should get spelldamage, however there is actually very little benefit for a Retribution Paladin to get spelldamage. Focusing on it would take away from other stats like crit rating and AP which will help you out more in damage.
Shockadins are like plate wearing spell casters as they tend to focus damage through Seal/Judgement of Righteousness and Holy Shock. Their gear will be loaded with spell damage, spell crit, intellect, and Stamina. A shockadin spec usually isn't used in raids so I won't list any requirements for it here. Shockadins are generally what holy paladins do when they aren't raiding to speed up their own grinding/questing or they are strictly PvP.
2.4.5 Is there any difference between maces, swords, and axes? There isn't much difference in those weapons for a Paladin besides their inherent properties. Paladin's do not get any kind of specific weapon specialization, the only time there is a difference is for Human Paladins, as they get an extra 5 point experise bonus to their mace and sword skills.
When deciding which weapon to get, just get the one with the better stats going towards what you want.
2.4.6 So do Paladins get any kind of ranged attack? Weeelllll.... there is a trinket you can get from an Un'goro Crater quest line which ends with a few rewards, one of which being [wowitem=11905]Linken's Boomerang[/wowitem] which as you can see has a range increment. Other ranged possibilities are EZ throw dynamite, and other Engineering tools if you go into there (you don't need to be Engineering to get the EZ throw dynamite).
Beyond gear the only other ranged attacks come from talents: Holy Shock 31 points in the Holy tree and Avenger's Shield 41 points in the Protection tree. Retribution does not have any kind of ranged attack, oh well.
Another ranged option is the BE Racial Mana Tap. It deals no damage, and is only usable on enemies with mana, but it can be useful to pull some mobs.
2.5 Talents 2.5.1 What does an end-game healing spec look like? End game there are different situations in which you will be healing, here are are some sample specs which can be used in these situations:
Arena/PvP Healing (41/20/0)
This spec focuses on being able to heal, while also being able to take a punch. Imp. Concentration Aura is a must for healing in arena, as there are many classes that can silence or interrupt you, and getting that over with asap is essential.
Instance/Raid Healing (41/20/0)
This spec concentrates a little less on taking a hit, and grabs some more utility talents for other raid/party members.
Raid Buffing/Healing (44/12/5)
This spec includes even more raid utility, and grabs improved versions of blessings. This is good if you are the designated Paladin "buffer" in the raid group, making sure that DPS and Mana classes get the best of the best.
2.5.2 What does an end-game tanking spec look like? With Patch 2.3, more talents were added to buff paladin tanking, however the number of talents grew to the point where it was not possible to gain all of them. As such, some of the more popular tanking talents had to be removed, most notably Reckoning, which as you get better and better geared becomes less and less useful. However, please note that Reckoning is still a great talent for leveling up and after you just hit 70. The following specs are what I feel to be best for the given situations.
Raid Main Tankadin (0/46/15)
This focuses on being able to dish out the threat and take the hits. Some utility talents were removed in order to grab some of the other talents. Also, a couple points were dropped out of Ardent Defender. This is because as you fight tougher enemies, AD is not as useful as it is when fighting lesser enemies, and a Main Tank should be expecting to fight the toughest of the bunch.
Raid Off Tankadin (0/48/13)
Improved Seal of the Crusader is a great utility talent and this spec picks it up. If you are offtanking, it is easy enough to keep this judgement up and it will increase your overall raid dps. This also maxes out AD. AD is more useful now as you can expect to fight lesser mobs or groups of lesser mobs, lesser here meaning not a boss.
You may notice that neither of these specs has picked up Blessing of Kings. Most healers end up speccing for BoK anyways, so let them give it to you, and you need every point you can get at this point.
Instance Tankadin (0/51/10)
This spec is the only one that grabs Reckoning. In instances, you can expect to fight multiple mobs at once, and this will almost guarantee that Reckoning will always be up for you.
2.5.3 What does an end-game damage-dealing spec look like? Retadin (Instance/Raid) (5/8/48)
This spec focuses on being able to deal as much damage as possible with a 2-handed weapon. The points to get Precision is well speant, as 3% less misses means 3% more damage.
Retadin (PvP) (0/20/41)
This is the typical Retribution Paladin arena spec. With the 4 piece set bonus and Imp. Hammer of Justice, you can get a stun out every 35 seconds, which is very nice. Also, stoicism helps to resist stuns from other classes and reduces dispell chance. The major change to Retribution is the non-inclusion of Fanaticism as the threat reduction doesn't mean anything in PvP and the judgement crit chance is alright at best. Certainly not as important as the rest of the talents gathered.
Shockadin (PvE and PvP) (51/0/10)
This spec focuses heavily in the Holy Tree, opting for as much spell damage, mana regen, and int as possible. With this spec, in the right gear you can put out major holy damage, and in the right gear you can heal instances.
Shockadin (Pure PvP) (40/0/21)
This spec is finely tuned for being an effective damage dealer in PvP. Sanctity Aura in ret boosts your holy damage by 10% and the talents along the way offer some nice bonuses such as Eye for an Eye and Pursuit of Justice. Like a Retribution Paladin, the only time you are probably going to heal is if you are bubbled or if your opponent is stunned, so Spiritual Focus in the holy tree isn't completely necessary.
2.5.4 Are hybrid specs a good idea for a Paladin? No not really, most of the best talents for a Paladin to get are deep in their respective trees. Holy Shock, Holy Shield, and Crusader Strike are all currently impossible to have any combination of. Half and half specs are generally not a good idea, as you are hurting yourself more by stretching yourself too thin over 2 areas. They can be viable while leveling up, and while running normal lvl 70 instances, however they should not be used in heroic or raid instances, as this can spell disaster for your group.
Edited, Jul 3rd 2008 8:11am by CapJack