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Disclaimer: The content included in this FAQ is the consensus opinion of various members of the Paladin community. You do not have to play your paladin in any way specified in this faq, however these are the most recommended suggestions to optimize your playing experience.
Acknowledgements
This is a reconstruction of a FAQ created by the very knowledgable Cathela and revised by CapJack of the Seven Seas. This FAQ is being updated to include new content. The original FAQ can be found here. (Help me out and your name gets added to the list.)
Many thanks to:
Bodhisattva, Alastaironsiren, aicoped, GAJackets, Dilbrt, Poldaran, Tynuv, Hartzos, Xorq, essenceofstealth, Dalerend, KTurner, Maulgak, FenrirSullis, theMadTitan, CapJack, YJMark, HoyadinFTW
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Table O' Contents
Page 1: Introduction
1.1 About Paladins
1.1.1 So what are paladins good for?
1.1.2 Are paladins fun to play?
1.1.3 Should I roll a warrior or a paladin?
1.1.4 Okay, I'm going to make a Paladin. What race should I make?
1.1.5 What are good professions for a Paladin?
1.1.6 What about secondary skills? Are those worth bothering with?
1.1.7 What do paladins end up doing in the endgame raid instances?
1.2 Spells
1.2.1 What are auras? When are they useful?
1.2.2 What are blessings? When are they useful?
1.2.3 What are Hand Spells?
1.2.4 What are seals? When are they useful?
1.2.5 What are the Judgement Spels?
1.2.6 What are other key spells?
Page 2: Playing your Paladin
2.1 Group PvE Play
2.1.1 How do Paladins tank in groups?
2.1.2 How do Paladins heal in groups?
2.1.3 I dont want to heal or tank, what should I do in a group?
2.2 Solo PvE Play
2.2.1 What is the best way to level up a Paladin?
2.2.2 What talents should a Paladin be getting as he levels?
2.2.3 What is the best place for a Paladin to grind? (And where are the Undead/Demons?)
2.3 PvP Play
2.3.1 How do I fight against class X?
2.3.2 What should a Paladin be doing in Battlegrounds?
2.3.3 What should a Paladin be doing in Arena?
2.4 Gear
2.4.1 What kind of gear can a Paladin equip?
2.4.2 What kind of gear does an end-game Tanking Paladin look for?
2.4.3 What kind of gear does an end-game Healing Paladin look for?
2.4.4 What kind of gear does an end-game DPSing Paladin look for?
2.4.5 Is there any difference between maces, swords, and axes?
2.4.6 So do Paladins get any kind of ranged attack?
2.5 Talents
2.5.1 What does an end-game healing spec look like?
2.5.2 What does an end-game tanking spec look like?
2.5.3 What does an end-game damage-dealing spec look like?
2.5.4 Are hybrid specs a good idea for a Paladin?
Page 3: Paladin Only Quests/Gear
3.1 Alliance Quests
3.1.1 How do you do the lvl 12 quest?
3.1.2 How do you do the lvl 20 quest?
3.1.3 How do you do the lvl 21 quest?
3.1.4 How do you do the lvl 50 quest?
3.1.5 How do you do the lvl 60 quest?
3.2 Horde Quests
3.2.1 How do you do the lvl 12 quest?
3.2.2 How do you do the lvl 20 quest?
3.2.3 How do you do the lvl 21 quest?
3.2.4 How do you do the lvl 50 quest?
3.2.5 How do you do the lvl 60 quest?
3.3 Tier Sets
3.3.1 What are the tier 0-3 sets?
3.3.2 What is the dungeon set 3 (tier 3.5) set and where does it drop?
3.3.3 What is the tier 4 set and where does it drop?
3.3.4 What is the tier 5 set and where does it drop?
3.3.5 What is the tier 6 set and where does it drop?
3.4 Other notable sets.
3.4.1 What is the Purple Judgement set I've heard about?
Page 4: Miscellaneous
4.1 Formulas/Theorycraft
4.1.1 What are the spell coefficients for Paladin spells?
4.1.2 How much of X stat will provide Y bonus to Z other stat?
4.1.3 What is the Paladin proc per minute system?
4.1.4 Why don't anti-undead spells like Exorcism work against undead PC's?
4.2 Useful Paladin Mods
4.3 Links
Edited, Nov 13th 2008 6:28pm by toolofjesus
Edited, Nov 13th 2008 7:13pm by toolofjesus
Edited, Dec 16th 2008 12:52pm by Darqflame
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WotLK Paladin FAQFollow
Page 1: Introduction
1.1 About Paladins
1.1.1 So what are paladins good for?
The role of the Paladin is certainly one that has changed over time. Once considered to be only good for the sidelines and support, they are now being chosen as equals with classes that have always been thought of to be the be-all end-all of main roles.
A tanking Paladin can sometimes be more desirable than a warrior or druid and are able to keep up with them even in end game raids now. The abilities and mechanics of a Paladin tank are extremely well suited for tanking multiple mobs more effectively than any other tank.
Healing Paladins are the best choice for keeping a single person alive (i.e. your tank). They have the best survivability relative to all other healing classes. Properly spec'd, a Holy Paladin the only class/spec that can keep 2 tanks alive through large amounts of damage without issue. On the flip side, the biggest weakness of a healing Paladin is against AoE damage. Priests, Shamans, and Druids can all heal large amounts of people much better than a Paladin. However, while all 3 have had their single target healing increase it remains true that none of them can match the raw healing power and longevity of a Holy Paladin for keeping a tank alive for an entire fight. Their mana efficiency is much better than any other class, allowing for constant healing over long periods of time. These types of Paladins are wanted for raiding and arena fighting.
Retribution Paladins have been something of an interesting case. For the longest time they were considered to just not have enough damage output to compete with the rest of the dps classes at end game. However, it is considered to be the best spec for leveling as this spec allows for nearly endless mana while killing. At end-game now, they are finding spots in raids as our DPS has been increased to be on par with the "pure" dps classes. These paladins also bring several raid wide damage increasing buffs that raids find valuable and even act as a mana battery to up to 10 mana users.
1.1.2 Are paladins fun to play?
It depends on what's fun for you. A Paladin is and always will be a hybrid class. That means that you have the capability to play different roles depending on talents and gear. With the right talents and gear you can heal with the rest of the healers, or you can take a hit on the frontlines, or you can swing your two-handed weapon to put a hurting on your enemies. A Paladin is the most survivable class in the game.
1.1.3 Should I roll a warrior or a paladin?
The counter-question to this is... what do you want to do?
In the past this came down to wether you wanted to tank and only tank, or heal and only heal. In WotLK this has been pretty well evened out. Both Warrior and Paladin tanks have been given big boosts to their tanking abilities and while the feel of each is different and each is slightly better in certain areas, the differences between them have been narrowed so that now it's really a matter of gameplay preference.
If you want to swing around a big-two handed weapon and do a lot of damage while still being able to take a hit, you break about even in that regards also. Warriors have 2 talent trees that allow them to DPS and have the flexibility to dual wield, but Paladins have a little more survivability. The DPS of the two classes has been pretty well equalized however.
Really, it boils down to wether you want to fight for the light, using Holy spells or use the rage built up from being beat on and pounding on your enemies to deal purely physical damage.
However, if you want to do it all then a Paladin is for you. If you want to live forever with 5 or 6 mobs pounding at you, then a Paladin is for you. If you want to ensure that a tank can stay alive while being able to take a beating yourself, then a Paladin is for you. If you want to be the center of attention in a party, able to help out every class in a way that other classes can't.... then a Paladin is definately for you.
A Paladin, in the same instance, with different gear on him, can easily switch out between a Main/Off healing role, a Main/Off tanking roll, and/or a DPS role. If this appeals to you, then roll a Paladin and have fun saving lives.
1.1.4 Okay, I'm going to make a Paladin. What race should I make?
There are 4 different races currently in the game that can be a Paladin. They all have unique abilities which can be useful in certain situations.
Alliance
Humans
- Perception: grants one character level of passive stealth detection
- "Every Man for Himself": This works like the pvp trinket and removes all movement impairing effects.
- Diplomacy: increases Reputation gains by 10%
- The Human Spirit: Increases spirit by 3%
- Mace/Sword Specialization: Increases Expertise with maces and swords by 3
Dwarves
- Frost Resistance: reduces the chance to be hit by Frost spells by 2%
- "Mace Specialization": Expertise with Maces and Two-Handed Maces increased by 5.
- Stoneform: Activate to gain immunity to poison, disease, and bleed (will also remove these types of debuffs); +10% Armor; Lasts 8 seconds. 3 minute cooldown.
- Mace Specialization: Expertise with maces and Two-handed Maces increased by 5
- Frost Resistance : Reduces the chance you will be hit by Frost spells by 2%
- Find Treasure : Activate to see treasure chests on mini map - lasts until canceled - no cooldown;
Draenei
- Gift of the Naaru: heal over time; now scales based on the higher of either the caster's Attack Power or Spell Power
- Shadow Resistance: reduces the chance to be hit by Shadow spells by 2%
- Heroic Presence : Increases chance to hit with all spells and attacks by 1% for you and all party members within 30 yards
Horde
Blood Elves
- Arcane Torrent : Activate to silence all enemies within 8 yards for 2 seconds. In addition, you gain 15 Energy, 15 Runic Power or 6% Mana. 2 min. cooldown
- Magic Resistance: reduces the chance to be hit by spells by 2%
1.1.5 What are good professions for a Paladin?
There are a lot of options; which one is best depends on what you want.
If you're looking for something that will make you stronger in combat, especially PvP, Engineering is probably the best choice, since it gives you a nice assortment of bombs and other nifty gizmos you can use in fights. Most of the craftable items in Engineering can only be used by other engineers, so there's not a large sales market. Also, as an Engineer, you can make some of the best Helms for yourself for just about any job you might do.
Blacksmithing lets you make your own weapons and armor. This can be quite a help at the lower levels, since the craftable items are often better than the drops you get at those levels, although as you level up the drops become better and better. Once you hit 80 and are raiding, you'll find the craftable gear is pretty sub-par with what you could get in raids. There are some exceptions to this, but everything is few and far between.
Leatherworking and Tailoring are essentially like Blacksmithing, except that you'll be making leather and cloth gear that you generally won't be using yourself, except for bags.
Enchanting is difficult to make money with until you get to the very high levels, but it has advantages in that it doesn't require you to get a separate gathering skill, and you can use it to disenchant the otherwise useless Bind-on-Pickup items that drop off of instance bosses and you can get from quests.
Jewelcrafting lets you craft various rings, necklaces and trinkets, and at higher levels it lets you create the gems that are used to customize armor and weapons.
Alchemy is very nice, both for personal use and for making money, since everyone can use potions. If you start raiding, this can be a big money saver as you should expect to use a TON of potions, flasks, etc....
Inscription will be handy for making Glyphs for yourself and your friends and to make money selling them to others. This requires mats from Herbalism which would be a great secondary skill for this.
All of the crafting professions include Bind-on-Pickup items that can only be used by the crafter. It's worthwhile to look through the crafting lists to see what items will be available to you for each profession.
If all you want out of professions is money, your best bet is to pick up two gathering skills, probably Skinning and Mining, and sell the materials you gather at the Auction House.
1.1.6 What about secondary skills? Are those worth bothering with?
First Aid might seem unnecessary for a healing class, but it can come in quite handy for situations where you don't want to spend mana to heal. If you're grinding monsters solo, you might prefer to spend your mana on Consecration, Holy Shield, Exorcism, etc, so you can kill faster and then use bandages to patch yourself up. There are situations in PvP and some of the PvE raid boss fights where it can be useful to be able to heal yourself without spending mana.
Cooking and Fishing are matters of personal preference. You can make useful foods with them for stat boosts, but you can also get friends to make these things for you, so whether you want to level them up yourself is your call.
1.1.7 What do paladins end up doing in the endgame raid instances?
In the past most Paladin's have been made to heal by their guilds in end-game raids. Most raids have taken 1 tanking Paladin for trash, and most only took 1 ret at most in any 25man raid. In WotLK though, Paladins are equally capable of serving in any of the 3 capacities equally well. What you will end up doing will depend on what you prefer to do and what your guild needs for their raid makeup. It is always helpful to be as flexible as possible and have gear sets for all 3 if possible.
1.2 Spells
1.2.1 What are Auras? When are they useful?
A Paladin can have up to 7 auras by the time they hit level 70. Only one can be active at a time, and as long as nothing removes them, they will last forever. These auras are buffs that apply to both you, your party and your raid within 40 yards forever and for free. Here's a quick rundown:
Devotion Aura
-Increases armor by X amount. (Can be increased by talents).
-(Talented) Increases the amount of armor given.
-Useful to reduce the amount of physical damage taken by you and your party.
Retribution Aura
-Deals X amount of damage to attackers that strike a party member.
(Can be increased by talents)
Concentration Aura
-Reduces spell pushback while casting or channeling spells by 35%.
(Can be increased by talents)
-This is a great aura, which when combined with other talents can make
your heals uninterruptable by damage.
Resistance Auras
-Increases either Fire,Ice,or Shadow (depending which one you have up)
reisitance by X.
-Pretty self-explanatory, put one of these up when you know you will be
taking damage from that element.
Crusader Aura
-Increases mounted speed by 20%, does not stack with other increased speed
effects.
-This aura can make you the fastest person in the game on a mount.
Unfortunately, you have to wait until lvl 62 to get it.
1.2.2 What are Blessings/Greater Blessings? When are they useful?
A blessing is a Paladins primary buffing ability. They have several of these which can benefit every class in every situation. However, only one blessing per Paladin can be active on a player at any given time.
Blessing of Might(BoM)
-Increases the target's attack power by X for 10 minutes.
-This is useful if you need to deal more damage than usual, but not too good
for grinding. In a party, DPS classes will love this as it will let them do
more damage.
-This is the same base and improved amounts as Battle Shout (normal and improved) and does not stack with it. If there are 2 Warriors and only one Paladin the second Warrior should keep up Battle Shout and the Paladin can give out another blessing.
Blessing of Wisdom(BoW)
-Increases the target's mana regeneration by X for 10 minutes (can be increased by talents).
-This is the best blessing for grinding. You need mana to do everything, so
more mana regen=longer fighting. Also great for any mana-user who is having
trouble keeping topped off.
Blessing of Kings(BoK)
-Increases all of the target's stats by 10% for 10 minutes.
-This is the best secondary blessing for most situations. While other
blessings can be better for different classes, this will put more points
in the stats they want, assuming they made intelligent gear choices. This
is arguably better for tanks who have a lot of stamina than Blessing of
Santuary.
Blessing of Sanctuary(BoSanc) (requires at least 21 points in Protection)
-Decreases damage done to target by 3% for 10 minutes and returns mana on blocks, parries and dodges.
-This is a great blessing for tanks. It reduces the damage they take while
providing more mana to continue generating threat.
Greater Blessings have the same effect as normal blessings, except when cast they buff everyone with the same class as your target in the raid. They also last for 30 minutes. They also require a reagent: Symbol of Kings which sell in stacks of 20 for pretty cheap from reagent vendors. These stack up to 100 and the standard amount expected for 5-10 man instances is one stack (100) and for 25 mans 2 stacks (200). These dont become available until the 50s.
1.2.3 What are Hand Spells?
Hand spells are short duration spells usefull in certain situations to assist your friends.
Hand of Protection
- A targeted party member is protected from all physical attacks for x sec, but during that time they cannot attack or use physical abilities. Once protected, the target cannot be protected by Divine Shield, Divine Protection or Hand of Protection again for 3 min (forbearance).
Hand of Freedeom
- Places a Hand on the friendly target, granting immunity to movement impairing effects for 10 sec.
Hand of Salvation
- Places a Hand on the party or raid member, reducing their total threat by 2% every 1 sec. for 10 sec.
Hand of Sacrifice
- Places a Hand on the party member, transfering 30% damage taken to the caster. Lasts 12 sec and is capped at the health of the casting Paladin.
1.2.4 What are seals? When are they useful?
Seals are temporary buffs that only apply to Paladins for 2 minutes. They have a secondary use in that a Paladin must have a seal active in order to use Judgement of Light, Judgement of Wisdom or Judgement of Justice. The duration of the debuff is refreshed every time the enemy is hit by the Paladin who cast that judgement.
Seal of Righteousness (SoR)
-Imbues the Paladin with holy energy, causing each melee hit to damage the Paladin's target with X holy damage. (X is affected by melee weapon speed, Attack Power and SPellpower - 2.2% of Melee Weapon Speed * AP + 4.4% of Melee Weapon Speed * Spell Power)
-Judgment: Increases the damage done by the Judgement Spell by 25%
-This is a common seal for use when you have a 1-hander and a shield. Moderately good in tanking, it provides a nice steady flow of threat towards the Paladin.
Seal of Command (SoC) (Requires 11 talents in Retribution)
-Causes every melee hit and many specials to deal holy damage equal to 36% weapon damage and can chain to 2 additional targets with single target abilities.
-This has been the premier damage dealing seal for a long time for Alliance Paladins. With a slow 2-handed weapon, the extra holy damage when SoC activates is almost like getting a critical hit. However, both are also independently capable of dealing critical hits, giving the very nice "double crit."
-Judgement: Increases the damage done by the Judgement Spell by 19% of your weapon damage.
-This is the best seal for dps on trash mobs and multiple target boss fights.
Seal of Light (SoL)
-Gives every damaging attack a chance to heal the Paladin for 15% of AP + 15% of SP.
-Judgement: Deals base Judgement Damage
-Very useful for keeping your health topped off in long fights.
Seal of Wisdom (SoW)
-Gives every damaging attack a chance to restore 4% of the Paladin's mana.
-Judgement: Deals base Judgement Damage
-This is a very good judgement for keeping your mana up. Very useful in long grinding sessions, as the less time you spend drinking your mana up, the more experience you are getting by killing mobs.
Seal of Vengeance/Seal of Corruption (SoV/SoCor)
-Causes every melee attack to deal 15% of AP + 8.8% of Spell Power holy damage over 15 seconds. This can stack up to 5 times and at a 5 stack additionally deals 33% weapon damage as holy damage.
-Judgement: Deals base Judgement multiplied by (10% multiplied by the number applications of Seal of Vengeance).
-This is a very useful tool for tanking and single target boss dps. It allows the Paladin to bring a nice amount of threat towards himself while tanking even when switching to another target. The judgement is useful if the Paladin loses aggro, instantly dealing a great amount of holy damage, while also keeping the DoT on the enemy, generating even more threat. This should be used for nearly all tanking situations. Also due to the increased dps this seal does since Patch 3.2 this should be used on any single target boss fights by Retribution Paladins.
1.2.5 What are the Judgement Spells?
The previous Judgement Spell has been changed into 3 new unique Judgement Spells. These Judgement spells deal 14% of AP + 22% of Spell Power + 1 in addition to their unique defuffs.
Judgement of Wisdom
-This Judgement will cause all attackers to regen 1% of their max mana on each hit (this cannot happen more than once every 8 seconds).
Judgement of Light
-This Judgement will cause all attackers to regen 2% of their HP on each attack.
Judgement of Justice
-This Judgement will cause the mob to not be able to flee and will limit the movement speed to 100%.
1.2.6 What are other key spells?
There are a few other spells that are a Paladins defining attributes after the auras, blessings and seals.
Divine Shield (Bubble)
-Makes the Paladin immune to all melee and magical attacks and removes (almost) all detrimental effects on the Paladin for 12 seconds and temporarily drops aggro (all aggro will return when Divine Shield runs out). 5 minute cooldown (can be decreased to 4 minutes with talents).
-Reduces all damage caused by 50% while active.
-This is the spell that every other class hates about us. This can allow us to heal ourselves back to full, hearth back to our homepoint in pointless or unwinable fights, and sometimes can be used offensively if you know what you are doing. This is the Paladin's main panic button, and will save your life more time than you can count.
-Causes Forbearance which lasts for 2 minutes.
Divine Protection
-Reduces the incoming damage to the paladin by 50%. 3 minute cooldown.
-Causes Forbearance which lasts 2 minutes.
Lay on Hands
-Heals the target for the full amount of the Paladins maximum health. Later ranks also restore X amount of mana to the target. 20 minute cooldown (can be decreased to 11 minutes and increase armor for a period of time with talents and glyph).
-This is panic button number two. The long cooldown may make you apprehensive to use it, but it is far less effective if you never do. Use this when it would be extremely inconvenient for you to die, and you would much rather live through whatever encounter.
Hammer of Justice
-Stuns the target for X amount of seconds (3-6). 1 minute cooldown (can be reduced to 30 seconds with talents).
-This is a nice interrupt if you just need a break from damage for a second to heal up. The stun is long enough at the last rank to get 2 holy lights in.
Holy Light/Flash of Light
-Heals the target for X. Casting time is 2.5 seconds for HL, 1.5 seconds for FoL.
-The Paladins healing spells, can be very mana-efficient. Holy Light heals for much more than Flash of Light, however Flash of Light is much more mana efficient.
-Holy Light is increased by 166% of your Spellpower; Flash of Light is increased by 100%
Holy Shock (requires 31 points in Holy)
-Heals the target for x if they are friendly and deals x damage to the target if it is not friendly. This is the Holy Pally's main Instant cast heal and with only a 6 second cooldown it is now very useful for adding mobility and flexibility to a Holy Pally.
-Holy Shock is increased by 81% of your spellpower when used as a heal; 43% when used offensively
Beacon of Light (requires 51 points in Holy)
-Makes the friendly target a Beacon of Light causing all healing done by the casting Paladin to party/raid members within 60 yards to also heal the Beacon.
Righteous Fury
-Increases the Paladins threat from holy attacks by 80% (additionally provides 6% damage reduction with talents) lasts until canceled or death.
-A must to have up when tanking. This is what allows tanking paladins to accumulate threat.
Purify/Cleanse
-Removes one poison, disease, (and magic with Cleanse) effect on the target.
-This is a very useful spell for removing debuffs. While most other classes have to live with their poisons, diseases, or magic debuffs, you can take them off of yourself and other classes who will love you for it.
Hammer of Wrath
-A finishing attack that deals a high amount of Holy damage to targets under 20% health.
Divine Plea
-Restores 25% of the Paladin's Maximum Mana over 15 seconds, but reduces healing done by 50% for Holy Light, Flash of Light and Holy Shock. 1 Minute cooldown.
Sacred Shield
-Casts a Sacred Shield on the target absorbing 500 damage + 75% of SP each time they get hit. Additionally when the shield is activated the casting Paladin's Flash of Light receives an additional 50% critical strike chance and when this is on a target any FoL will also heal the target for 100% of the initial heal amount over 12 seconds. Can only have one Sacred Shield at any time. Lasts 30 Seconds. No cooldown.
Shield of Righteousness
-Slam your target with your shield causing Block Value Damage as Holy Damage plus x and causes a high amount of threat. 6 Second cooldown.
Hammer of the Righteous
-Hits your target and up to 2 additional targets for 4 times your weapon damage per second as Holy Damage. Requires 1 handed weapon. 6 second cooldown.
Divine Storm
-Hits up to 4 targets around you for 1.1 times your melee weapon damage as physical damage and heals up to 3 people in your party or raid for a total of 25% of the total damage done. 10 second cooldown.
Edited, Oct 5th 2009 1:44pm by toolofjesus
1.1 About Paladins
1.1.1 So what are paladins good for?
The role of the Paladin is certainly one that has changed over time. Once considered to be only good for the sidelines and support, they are now being chosen as equals with classes that have always been thought of to be the be-all end-all of main roles.
A tanking Paladin can sometimes be more desirable than a warrior or druid and are able to keep up with them even in end game raids now. The abilities and mechanics of a Paladin tank are extremely well suited for tanking multiple mobs more effectively than any other tank.
Healing Paladins are the best choice for keeping a single person alive (i.e. your tank). They have the best survivability relative to all other healing classes. Properly spec'd, a Holy Paladin the only class/spec that can keep 2 tanks alive through large amounts of damage without issue. On the flip side, the biggest weakness of a healing Paladin is against AoE damage. Priests, Shamans, and Druids can all heal large amounts of people much better than a Paladin. However, while all 3 have had their single target healing increase it remains true that none of them can match the raw healing power and longevity of a Holy Paladin for keeping a tank alive for an entire fight. Their mana efficiency is much better than any other class, allowing for constant healing over long periods of time. These types of Paladins are wanted for raiding and arena fighting.
Retribution Paladins have been something of an interesting case. For the longest time they were considered to just not have enough damage output to compete with the rest of the dps classes at end game. However, it is considered to be the best spec for leveling as this spec allows for nearly endless mana while killing. At end-game now, they are finding spots in raids as our DPS has been increased to be on par with the "pure" dps classes. These paladins also bring several raid wide damage increasing buffs that raids find valuable and even act as a mana battery to up to 10 mana users.
1.1.2 Are paladins fun to play?
It depends on what's fun for you. A Paladin is and always will be a hybrid class. That means that you have the capability to play different roles depending on talents and gear. With the right talents and gear you can heal with the rest of the healers, or you can take a hit on the frontlines, or you can swing your two-handed weapon to put a hurting on your enemies. A Paladin is the most survivable class in the game.
1.1.3 Should I roll a warrior or a paladin?
The counter-question to this is... what do you want to do?
In the past this came down to wether you wanted to tank and only tank, or heal and only heal. In WotLK this has been pretty well evened out. Both Warrior and Paladin tanks have been given big boosts to their tanking abilities and while the feel of each is different and each is slightly better in certain areas, the differences between them have been narrowed so that now it's really a matter of gameplay preference.
If you want to swing around a big-two handed weapon and do a lot of damage while still being able to take a hit, you break about even in that regards also. Warriors have 2 talent trees that allow them to DPS and have the flexibility to dual wield, but Paladins have a little more survivability. The DPS of the two classes has been pretty well equalized however.
Really, it boils down to wether you want to fight for the light, using Holy spells or use the rage built up from being beat on and pounding on your enemies to deal purely physical damage.
However, if you want to do it all then a Paladin is for you. If you want to live forever with 5 or 6 mobs pounding at you, then a Paladin is for you. If you want to ensure that a tank can stay alive while being able to take a beating yourself, then a Paladin is for you. If you want to be the center of attention in a party, able to help out every class in a way that other classes can't.... then a Paladin is definately for you.
A Paladin, in the same instance, with different gear on him, can easily switch out between a Main/Off healing role, a Main/Off tanking roll, and/or a DPS role. If this appeals to you, then roll a Paladin and have fun saving lives.
1.1.4 Okay, I'm going to make a Paladin. What race should I make?
There are 4 different races currently in the game that can be a Paladin. They all have unique abilities which can be useful in certain situations.
Alliance
Humans
- Perception: grants one character level of passive stealth detection
- "Every Man for Himself": This works like the pvp trinket and removes all movement impairing effects.
- Diplomacy: increases Reputation gains by 10%
- The Human Spirit: Increases spirit by 3%
- Mace/Sword Specialization: Increases Expertise with maces and swords by 3
Dwarves
- Frost Resistance: reduces the chance to be hit by Frost spells by 2%
- "Mace Specialization": Expertise with Maces and Two-Handed Maces increased by 5.
- Stoneform: Activate to gain immunity to poison, disease, and bleed (will also remove these types of debuffs); +10% Armor; Lasts 8 seconds. 3 minute cooldown.
- Mace Specialization: Expertise with maces and Two-handed Maces increased by 5
- Frost Resistance : Reduces the chance you will be hit by Frost spells by 2%
- Find Treasure : Activate to see treasure chests on mini map - lasts until canceled - no cooldown;
Draenei
- Gift of the Naaru: heal over time; now scales based on the higher of either the caster's Attack Power or Spell Power
- Shadow Resistance: reduces the chance to be hit by Shadow spells by 2%
- Heroic Presence : Increases chance to hit with all spells and attacks by 1% for you and all party members within 30 yards
Horde
Blood Elves
- Arcane Torrent : Activate to silence all enemies within 8 yards for 2 seconds. In addition, you gain 15 Energy, 15 Runic Power or 6% Mana. 2 min. cooldown
- Magic Resistance: reduces the chance to be hit by spells by 2%
1.1.5 What are good professions for a Paladin?
There are a lot of options; which one is best depends on what you want.
If you're looking for something that will make you stronger in combat, especially PvP, Engineering is probably the best choice, since it gives you a nice assortment of bombs and other nifty gizmos you can use in fights. Most of the craftable items in Engineering can only be used by other engineers, so there's not a large sales market. Also, as an Engineer, you can make some of the best Helms for yourself for just about any job you might do.
Blacksmithing lets you make your own weapons and armor. This can be quite a help at the lower levels, since the craftable items are often better than the drops you get at those levels, although as you level up the drops become better and better. Once you hit 80 and are raiding, you'll find the craftable gear is pretty sub-par with what you could get in raids. There are some exceptions to this, but everything is few and far between.
Leatherworking and Tailoring are essentially like Blacksmithing, except that you'll be making leather and cloth gear that you generally won't be using yourself, except for bags.
Enchanting is difficult to make money with until you get to the very high levels, but it has advantages in that it doesn't require you to get a separate gathering skill, and you can use it to disenchant the otherwise useless Bind-on-Pickup items that drop off of instance bosses and you can get from quests.
Jewelcrafting lets you craft various rings, necklaces and trinkets, and at higher levels it lets you create the gems that are used to customize armor and weapons.
Alchemy is very nice, both for personal use and for making money, since everyone can use potions. If you start raiding, this can be a big money saver as you should expect to use a TON of potions, flasks, etc....
Inscription will be handy for making Glyphs for yourself and your friends and to make money selling them to others. This requires mats from Herbalism which would be a great secondary skill for this.
All of the crafting professions include Bind-on-Pickup items that can only be used by the crafter. It's worthwhile to look through the crafting lists to see what items will be available to you for each profession.
If all you want out of professions is money, your best bet is to pick up two gathering skills, probably Skinning and Mining, and sell the materials you gather at the Auction House.
1.1.6 What about secondary skills? Are those worth bothering with?
First Aid might seem unnecessary for a healing class, but it can come in quite handy for situations where you don't want to spend mana to heal. If you're grinding monsters solo, you might prefer to spend your mana on Consecration, Holy Shield, Exorcism, etc, so you can kill faster and then use bandages to patch yourself up. There are situations in PvP and some of the PvE raid boss fights where it can be useful to be able to heal yourself without spending mana.
Cooking and Fishing are matters of personal preference. You can make useful foods with them for stat boosts, but you can also get friends to make these things for you, so whether you want to level them up yourself is your call.
1.1.7 What do paladins end up doing in the endgame raid instances?
In the past most Paladin's have been made to heal by their guilds in end-game raids. Most raids have taken 1 tanking Paladin for trash, and most only took 1 ret at most in any 25man raid. In WotLK though, Paladins are equally capable of serving in any of the 3 capacities equally well. What you will end up doing will depend on what you prefer to do and what your guild needs for their raid makeup. It is always helpful to be as flexible as possible and have gear sets for all 3 if possible.
1.2 Spells
1.2.1 What are Auras? When are they useful?
A Paladin can have up to 7 auras by the time they hit level 70. Only one can be active at a time, and as long as nothing removes them, they will last forever. These auras are buffs that apply to both you, your party and your raid within 40 yards forever and for free. Here's a quick rundown:
Devotion Aura
-Increases armor by X amount. (Can be increased by talents).
-(Talented) Increases the amount of armor given.
-Useful to reduce the amount of physical damage taken by you and your party.
Retribution Aura
-Deals X amount of damage to attackers that strike a party member.
(Can be increased by talents)
Concentration Aura
-Reduces spell pushback while casting or channeling spells by 35%.
(Can be increased by talents)
-This is a great aura, which when combined with other talents can make
your heals uninterruptable by damage.
Resistance Auras
-Increases either Fire,Ice,or Shadow (depending which one you have up)
reisitance by X.
-Pretty self-explanatory, put one of these up when you know you will be
taking damage from that element.
Crusader Aura
-Increases mounted speed by 20%, does not stack with other increased speed
effects.
-This aura can make you the fastest person in the game on a mount.
Unfortunately, you have to wait until lvl 62 to get it.
1.2.2 What are Blessings/Greater Blessings? When are they useful?
A blessing is a Paladins primary buffing ability. They have several of these which can benefit every class in every situation. However, only one blessing per Paladin can be active on a player at any given time.
Blessing of Might(BoM)
-Increases the target's attack power by X for 10 minutes.
-This is useful if you need to deal more damage than usual, but not too good
for grinding. In a party, DPS classes will love this as it will let them do
more damage.
-This is the same base and improved amounts as Battle Shout (normal and improved) and does not stack with it. If there are 2 Warriors and only one Paladin the second Warrior should keep up Battle Shout and the Paladin can give out another blessing.
Blessing of Wisdom(BoW)
-Increases the target's mana regeneration by X for 10 minutes (can be increased by talents).
-This is the best blessing for grinding. You need mana to do everything, so
more mana regen=longer fighting. Also great for any mana-user who is having
trouble keeping topped off.
Blessing of Kings(BoK)
-Increases all of the target's stats by 10% for 10 minutes.
-This is the best secondary blessing for most situations. While other
blessings can be better for different classes, this will put more points
in the stats they want, assuming they made intelligent gear choices. This
is arguably better for tanks who have a lot of stamina than Blessing of
Santuary.
Blessing of Sanctuary(BoSanc) (requires at least 21 points in Protection)
-Decreases damage done to target by 3% for 10 minutes and returns mana on blocks, parries and dodges.
-This is a great blessing for tanks. It reduces the damage they take while
providing more mana to continue generating threat.
Greater Blessings have the same effect as normal blessings, except when cast they buff everyone with the same class as your target in the raid. They also last for 30 minutes. They also require a reagent: Symbol of Kings which sell in stacks of 20 for pretty cheap from reagent vendors. These stack up to 100 and the standard amount expected for 5-10 man instances is one stack (100) and for 25 mans 2 stacks (200). These dont become available until the 50s.
1.2.3 What are Hand Spells?
Hand spells are short duration spells usefull in certain situations to assist your friends.
Hand of Protection
- A targeted party member is protected from all physical attacks for x sec, but during that time they cannot attack or use physical abilities. Once protected, the target cannot be protected by Divine Shield, Divine Protection or Hand of Protection again for 3 min (forbearance).
Hand of Freedeom
- Places a Hand on the friendly target, granting immunity to movement impairing effects for 10 sec.
Hand of Salvation
- Places a Hand on the party or raid member, reducing their total threat by 2% every 1 sec. for 10 sec.
Hand of Sacrifice
- Places a Hand on the party member, transfering 30% damage taken to the caster. Lasts 12 sec and is capped at the health of the casting Paladin.
1.2.4 What are seals? When are they useful?
Seals are temporary buffs that only apply to Paladins for 2 minutes. They have a secondary use in that a Paladin must have a seal active in order to use Judgement of Light, Judgement of Wisdom or Judgement of Justice. The duration of the debuff is refreshed every time the enemy is hit by the Paladin who cast that judgement.
Seal of Righteousness (SoR)
-Imbues the Paladin with holy energy, causing each melee hit to damage the Paladin's target with X holy damage. (X is affected by melee weapon speed, Attack Power and SPellpower - 2.2% of Melee Weapon Speed * AP + 4.4% of Melee Weapon Speed * Spell Power)
-Judgment: Increases the damage done by the Judgement Spell by 25%
-This is a common seal for use when you have a 1-hander and a shield. Moderately good in tanking, it provides a nice steady flow of threat towards the Paladin.
Seal of Command (SoC) (Requires 11 talents in Retribution)
-Causes every melee hit and many specials to deal holy damage equal to 36% weapon damage and can chain to 2 additional targets with single target abilities.
-This has been the premier damage dealing seal for a long time for Alliance Paladins. With a slow 2-handed weapon, the extra holy damage when SoC activates is almost like getting a critical hit. However, both are also independently capable of dealing critical hits, giving the very nice "double crit."
-Judgement: Increases the damage done by the Judgement Spell by 19% of your weapon damage.
-This is the best seal for dps on trash mobs and multiple target boss fights.
Seal of Light (SoL)
-Gives every damaging attack a chance to heal the Paladin for 15% of AP + 15% of SP.
-Judgement: Deals base Judgement Damage
-Very useful for keeping your health topped off in long fights.
Seal of Wisdom (SoW)
-Gives every damaging attack a chance to restore 4% of the Paladin's mana.
-Judgement: Deals base Judgement Damage
-This is a very good judgement for keeping your mana up. Very useful in long grinding sessions, as the less time you spend drinking your mana up, the more experience you are getting by killing mobs.
Seal of Vengeance/Seal of Corruption (SoV/SoCor)
-Causes every melee attack to deal 15% of AP + 8.8% of Spell Power holy damage over 15 seconds. This can stack up to 5 times and at a 5 stack additionally deals 33% weapon damage as holy damage.
-Judgement: Deals base Judgement multiplied by (10% multiplied by the number applications of Seal of Vengeance).
-This is a very useful tool for tanking and single target boss dps. It allows the Paladin to bring a nice amount of threat towards himself while tanking even when switching to another target. The judgement is useful if the Paladin loses aggro, instantly dealing a great amount of holy damage, while also keeping the DoT on the enemy, generating even more threat. This should be used for nearly all tanking situations. Also due to the increased dps this seal does since Patch 3.2 this should be used on any single target boss fights by Retribution Paladins.
1.2.5 What are the Judgement Spells?
The previous Judgement Spell has been changed into 3 new unique Judgement Spells. These Judgement spells deal 14% of AP + 22% of Spell Power + 1 in addition to their unique defuffs.
Judgement of Wisdom
-This Judgement will cause all attackers to regen 1% of their max mana on each hit (this cannot happen more than once every 8 seconds).
Judgement of Light
-This Judgement will cause all attackers to regen 2% of their HP on each attack.
Judgement of Justice
-This Judgement will cause the mob to not be able to flee and will limit the movement speed to 100%.
1.2.6 What are other key spells?
There are a few other spells that are a Paladins defining attributes after the auras, blessings and seals.
Divine Shield (Bubble)
-Makes the Paladin immune to all melee and magical attacks and removes (almost) all detrimental effects on the Paladin for 12 seconds and temporarily drops aggro (all aggro will return when Divine Shield runs out). 5 minute cooldown (can be decreased to 4 minutes with talents).
-Reduces all damage caused by 50% while active.
-This is the spell that every other class hates about us. This can allow us to heal ourselves back to full, hearth back to our homepoint in pointless or unwinable fights, and sometimes can be used offensively if you know what you are doing. This is the Paladin's main panic button, and will save your life more time than you can count.
-Causes Forbearance which lasts for 2 minutes.
Divine Protection
-Reduces the incoming damage to the paladin by 50%. 3 minute cooldown.
-Causes Forbearance which lasts 2 minutes.
Lay on Hands
-Heals the target for the full amount of the Paladins maximum health. Later ranks also restore X amount of mana to the target. 20 minute cooldown (can be decreased to 11 minutes and increase armor for a period of time with talents and glyph).
-This is panic button number two. The long cooldown may make you apprehensive to use it, but it is far less effective if you never do. Use this when it would be extremely inconvenient for you to die, and you would much rather live through whatever encounter.
Hammer of Justice
-Stuns the target for X amount of seconds (3-6). 1 minute cooldown (can be reduced to 30 seconds with talents).
-This is a nice interrupt if you just need a break from damage for a second to heal up. The stun is long enough at the last rank to get 2 holy lights in.
Holy Light/Flash of Light
-Heals the target for X. Casting time is 2.5 seconds for HL, 1.5 seconds for FoL.
-The Paladins healing spells, can be very mana-efficient. Holy Light heals for much more than Flash of Light, however Flash of Light is much more mana efficient.
-Holy Light is increased by 166% of your Spellpower; Flash of Light is increased by 100%
Holy Shock (requires 31 points in Holy)
-Heals the target for x if they are friendly and deals x damage to the target if it is not friendly. This is the Holy Pally's main Instant cast heal and with only a 6 second cooldown it is now very useful for adding mobility and flexibility to a Holy Pally.
-Holy Shock is increased by 81% of your spellpower when used as a heal; 43% when used offensively
Beacon of Light (requires 51 points in Holy)
-Makes the friendly target a Beacon of Light causing all healing done by the casting Paladin to party/raid members within 60 yards to also heal the Beacon.
Righteous Fury
-Increases the Paladins threat from holy attacks by 80% (additionally provides 6% damage reduction with talents) lasts until canceled or death.
-A must to have up when tanking. This is what allows tanking paladins to accumulate threat.
Purify/Cleanse
-Removes one poison, disease, (and magic with Cleanse) effect on the target.
-This is a very useful spell for removing debuffs. While most other classes have to live with their poisons, diseases, or magic debuffs, you can take them off of yourself and other classes who will love you for it.
Hammer of Wrath
-A finishing attack that deals a high amount of Holy damage to targets under 20% health.
Divine Plea
-Restores 25% of the Paladin's Maximum Mana over 15 seconds, but reduces healing done by 50% for Holy Light, Flash of Light and Holy Shock. 1 Minute cooldown.
Sacred Shield
-Casts a Sacred Shield on the target absorbing 500 damage + 75% of SP each time they get hit. Additionally when the shield is activated the casting Paladin's Flash of Light receives an additional 50% critical strike chance and when this is on a target any FoL will also heal the target for 100% of the initial heal amount over 12 seconds. Can only have one Sacred Shield at any time. Lasts 30 Seconds. No cooldown.
Shield of Righteousness
-Slam your target with your shield causing Block Value Damage as Holy Damage plus x and causes a high amount of threat. 6 Second cooldown.
Hammer of the Righteous
-Hits your target and up to 2 additional targets for 4 times your weapon damage per second as Holy Damage. Requires 1 handed weapon. 6 second cooldown.
Divine Storm
-Hits up to 4 targets around you for 1.1 times your melee weapon damage as physical damage and heals up to 3 people in your party or raid for a total of 25% of the total damage done. 10 second cooldown.
Edited, Oct 5th 2009 1:44pm by toolofjesus
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. It is not necessary to be prot spec to be able to tank regular instances anymore. 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 Seal + Judgement + your spec's special attacks for single mobs. Use consecration, Divine Storm, or Hammer of the Righteous 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.
As you level higher, it becomes more and more helpful to at least have Holy Shield in the protection tree. 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, Shield Specialization, Toughness, Anticipation. (Discussed more in the talents section). Past about 60, if you plan on tanking often, it is a very good idea to have at least 10-15 points in prot even if you don't go all the way in prot.
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 and Hammer of Righteous (or Crusader Strike or Holy Shock if off-spec tanking)
4. Use Exorcism.
5. Cast Hand 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.
Since Wrath of the Lich King, both Protection and Retribution have got talents designed to help them make better use of their heals when needed. In Protection you have Touched by the Light which will increase your Spellpower by 30% of your stamina and increase your critical heals by 60%. In Retribution you have Sheath of Light which will give you 30% of your Attack Power as Spellpower and on critical heals will heal the target for 60% of the amount of the heal over 15 seconds.
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 has 3 baseline healing spells (unless you are a Draenei, in which case you have your HoT). Holy Light is our large heal, Flash of Light is our quick, mana-efficient heal, and Sacred Shield is our reactive passive heal we can put on one target at a time. As Holy you have 2 additional Healing tools. These are Holy Shock, which is now a very useful instant heal, and Beacon of Light which can potentially double the healing you do and is somewhat of an answer to aoe healing. 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..) until Divine Plea at lvl 71.
A good strategy when healing is to put Sacred Shield (and Beacon of Light if you have specc'd into that) on the tank and then cast 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.
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. Off tanking is not desired in end game raids typically, a full tank really needs to handle those mobs, and cc (i.e. Repentence) 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. Dps Mob
2. Off-heal/Off-tank if necessary. Art of War proc instant cast Flash of Lights are especially helpful for this.
3. Cleanse Poisons/Diseases/Magic effects.
4. Keep up blessings.
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.
Following this guideline you will find that in good groups there will be little to no off-healing/off-tanking needed and blessings are kept up outside of combat. This leaves Cleanse and DPS as your primary role in most groups. Also, once you've reached Judgements of the Wise it will be important to keep the Repelnishment buff up for your party.
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 speccing heavily into the Ret tree. The key talents to grab are Benediction, Seal of Command and Conviction and eventually Judgements of the Wise for endless mana while grinding. SoC is the best seal to use until you get Seal of Blood or Seal of the Martyr depending on which faction you are. 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 power gear, so stacking that up, using a shield and one-hander, and using SoR & JoR or SoB/tM & JoB/tM and Holy Shock to kill can be another viable option. With the boosts to healing in the Ret tree many Holy Paladins will be going into the Ret tree anyway. Killing a typical mob as Holy will take about 1.5 times as long as ret, but if you choose to levels as Holy it can be done.
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 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, Heart of the Crusader, and then SoC. After this there are several options. You can go into holy for better ability to heal yourself, Protection for better survivability, or my preference, continue down Retribution for faster killing.
For AOE grinding, just get talents that you would get if you were tanking. Get BoK, Anticipation, Imp. RF, Toughness, Improved Devotion Aura, Reckoning, BoSanc, HS, Sacred Duty, One-Handed Weap Specialization, Ardent Defender, Combat Expertise, Redoubt, Avenger's Shield, Touched by the Light and Hammer of the Righteous.
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 because 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 Holy Wrath, 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 often most effective when they are healing allies. A Paladin doing damage can do massive amounts of damage, but with the common lack of healers, keeping those around you alive longer than the enemy can will be more effective. If you can find another healer to partner up with, Ret pallies in BG's are a force to be reckoned with now.
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, and killing anyone who trys to get 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.
The following is a general guide to stats you should look for as a Paladin, but for each of these there is a sticky with much more in depth information on what gear to get at end game.
2.4.2 What kind of gear does an end-game Tanking paladin look for?
An end game tanking Paladin will of course get all plate gear. The stats you should be looking for are:
2.4.3 What kind of gear does an end-game Healing Paladin look for?
An end game healing Paladin should be looking for gear with the following:
2.4.4 What kind of gear does an end-game DPSing Paladin look for?
An end game DPS'ing paladin should be looking for gear with the following stats:
2.4.5 Is there any difference between maces, swords, axes, and polearms?
This depends on your race. In general, Holy pallies will look for a 1h mace or sword which will be the 2 types typically with large amounts of spell power. Tanking pallies will look for 1h swords, maces and even axes which all can have the tanking stats needed. For a Retribution pally 2h maces swords and axes are typically equal. Often Polearms are faster, but if you find a slow Polearm that would be fine too.
As a Human you get extra expertise if you use a mace or sword, so typically these will be the better choices for tanking and dps'ing paladins. As a Dwarf you get extra expertise for using an axe, so this would usually be the better choice for tanking and dps'ing. The amount of expertise these give is very minimal though and only should come in to play for equal weapons.
2.4.6 So do Paladins get any kind of ranged attack?
Finally we have been given a baseline ranged attack. Exorcism, long known as the reason we did more damage against undead, has now been opened up to be used on any target. This means we have a ranged attack every 15 seconds no matter what spec we choose.
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).
Paladins have a few talent based ranged attacks. The earliest ranged attack you can get is Holy Shock in Holy. This ability can be used offensively and has a 20 yard range. The other main ranged attack you can get is Avenger's Shield in Protection. This ability will hit up to 3 targets. The other ranged attack we have is Hammer of Wrath which is only useable on targets with less than 20% health.
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:
Holy/Ret(51/2/18) or (51/5/15)
This spec goes 15/18 points into the Retribution tree for the extra crit and 10% mana cost reduction for instant cast spells and picks up improved Blessing of Might and Hearts of the Crusader for additional Raid flexibility. Some of the points in Holy can be moved around a little. For instance, the 2 points in Impoved Lay on Hands can be put in Improved Concentration Aura. You will most likely be expected to be using Concentration Aura, and will be using Lay on Hands much more now that it has only a 20 minute cooldown, so adding silence/interrupt reduction to your aura or armor and a 16 minute cooldown for Lay on Hands are both very useful. The main difference between these 2 specs is 3% healing done vs 3% crit. 3% crit will help with slight increased mana returns and 3% healing (mostly considered the better choice) will provide a straightforward healing boost.
Holy/Prot(28/0/43)
This spec chooses to pass on the crit in the Ret tree to get an extra raid damage reduction CD, 20% stronger Sacred Shield, double the duration of Sacred Shield, and 6% increased healing done for everyone in range of your auras. This spec is mostly considered the better spec as of Patch 3.2.
2.5.2 What does an end-game tanking spec look like?
(5/54/12):
This or a slight variation on it is a fairly standard tanking spec for a Paladin.
2.5.3 What does an end-game damage-dealing spec look like?
(5/5/57):
This is the basic version of the standard Ret spec. 4 points are left over for "flavor" talents.
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. 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.
Note on dual specs and hybrids: The dual spec system introduced in patch 3.1 removes the last reason to choose any hybrid spec. Now with the push of a button you can changed between two specs you have previously set up for maximum flexibility.
Edited, Oct 5th 2009 2:06pm by toolofjesus
Edited, Oct 5th 2009 2:07pm by toolofjesus
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. It is not necessary to be prot spec to be able to tank regular instances anymore. 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 Seal + Judgement + your spec's special attacks for single mobs. Use consecration, Divine Storm, or Hammer of the Righteous 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.
As you level higher, it becomes more and more helpful to at least have Holy Shield in the protection tree. 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, Shield Specialization, Toughness, Anticipation. (Discussed more in the talents section). Past about 60, if you plan on tanking often, it is a very good idea to have at least 10-15 points in prot even if you don't go all the way in prot.
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 and Hammer of Righteous (or Crusader Strike or Holy Shock if off-spec tanking)
4. Use Exorcism.
5. Cast Hand 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.
Since Wrath of the Lich King, both Protection and Retribution have got talents designed to help them make better use of their heals when needed. In Protection you have Touched by the Light which will increase your Spellpower by 30% of your stamina and increase your critical heals by 60%. In Retribution you have Sheath of Light which will give you 30% of your Attack Power as Spellpower and on critical heals will heal the target for 60% of the amount of the heal over 15 seconds.
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 has 3 baseline healing spells (unless you are a Draenei, in which case you have your HoT). Holy Light is our large heal, Flash of Light is our quick, mana-efficient heal, and Sacred Shield is our reactive passive heal we can put on one target at a time. As Holy you have 2 additional Healing tools. These are Holy Shock, which is now a very useful instant heal, and Beacon of Light which can potentially double the healing you do and is somewhat of an answer to aoe healing. 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..) until Divine Plea at lvl 71.
A good strategy when healing is to put Sacred Shield (and Beacon of Light if you have specc'd into that) on the tank and then cast 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.
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. Off tanking is not desired in end game raids typically, a full tank really needs to handle those mobs, and cc (i.e. Repentence) 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. Dps Mob
2. Off-heal/Off-tank if necessary. Art of War proc instant cast Flash of Lights are especially helpful for this.
3. Cleanse Poisons/Diseases/Magic effects.
4. Keep up blessings.
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.
Following this guideline you will find that in good groups there will be little to no off-healing/off-tanking needed and blessings are kept up outside of combat. This leaves Cleanse and DPS as your primary role in most groups. Also, once you've reached Judgements of the Wise it will be important to keep the Repelnishment buff up for your party.
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 speccing heavily into the Ret tree. The key talents to grab are Benediction, Seal of Command and Conviction and eventually Judgements of the Wise for endless mana while grinding. SoC is the best seal to use until you get Seal of Blood or Seal of the Martyr depending on which faction you are. 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 power gear, so stacking that up, using a shield and one-hander, and using SoR & JoR or SoB/tM & JoB/tM and Holy Shock to kill can be another viable option. With the boosts to healing in the Ret tree many Holy Paladins will be going into the Ret tree anyway. Killing a typical mob as Holy will take about 1.5 times as long as ret, but if you choose to levels as Holy it can be done.
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 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, Heart of the Crusader, and then SoC. After this there are several options. You can go into holy for better ability to heal yourself, Protection for better survivability, or my preference, continue down Retribution for faster killing.
For AOE grinding, just get talents that you would get if you were tanking. Get BoK, Anticipation, Imp. RF, Toughness, Improved Devotion Aura, Reckoning, BoSanc, HS, Sacred Duty, One-Handed Weap Specialization, Ardent Defender, Combat Expertise, Redoubt, Avenger's Shield, Touched by the Light and Hammer of the Righteous.
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 because 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 Holy Wrath, 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 often most effective when they are healing allies. A Paladin doing damage can do massive amounts of damage, but with the common lack of healers, keeping those around you alive longer than the enemy can will be more effective. If you can find another healer to partner up with, Ret pallies in BG's are a force to be reckoned with now.
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, and killing anyone who trys to get 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.
The following is a general guide to stats you should look for as a Paladin, but for each of these there is a sticky with much more in depth information on what gear to get at end game.
2.4.2 What kind of gear does an end-game Tanking paladin look for?
An end game tanking Paladin will of course get all plate gear. The stats you should be looking for are:
- Defense - 540 def is needed to not be critically hit at 80
- Stamina - increases maximum health and spellpower
- Avoidance (block rating, dodge, parry) - decreases chance to get hit
- Strength - increases block value and attack power which most of your threat abilities scale based on
- Block Value - increase the ammount of damage absorbed when you block
- Armor - decreases the amount of damage you take on any hit that deals damage by a percentage
2.4.3 What kind of gear does an end-game Healing Paladin look for?
An end game healing Paladin should be looking for gear with the following:
- +spellpower - increases the effectiveness of his heals
- crit rating - further increases the effectiveness of heals and helps with mana regeneration and IoL or SoL procs depending on your spec.
- Mana per 5 seconds - direct source of mana regeneration
- Intellect - increases mana pool, spell crit, +spellpower and mana regen from replenishment, JoW, and Divine Plea
- Haste - increases heal speed (less mana efficient than crit or spellpower, but has some limited use)
2.4.4 What kind of gear does an end-game DPSing Paladin look for?
An end game DPS'ing paladin should be looking for gear with the following stats:
- Strength - increases attack power which all of your damaging abilities scale with and scales with Divine Strength, Blessing of Kings and Trueshot Aura
- crit rating - increases critical strike rating
- Attack Power - increases the power of your melee attacks and all seals and judgements and most other abilities; scales with Trueshot Aura
- Agility - increases critical strike chance and armor
- Hit rating - decreases chance to miss your target
- Expertise - decreases your targets chance to dodge or parry your attacks
- Haste - increases your melee attack speed
- armor ignore - reduces the effectiveness of your enemies armor against your physical attacks. this only effects melee hits, crusader strike and divine storm
2.4.5 Is there any difference between maces, swords, axes, and polearms?
This depends on your race. In general, Holy pallies will look for a 1h mace or sword which will be the 2 types typically with large amounts of spell power. Tanking pallies will look for 1h swords, maces and even axes which all can have the tanking stats needed. For a Retribution pally 2h maces swords and axes are typically equal. Often Polearms are faster, but if you find a slow Polearm that would be fine too.
As a Human you get extra expertise if you use a mace or sword, so typically these will be the better choices for tanking and dps'ing paladins. As a Dwarf you get extra expertise for using an axe, so this would usually be the better choice for tanking and dps'ing. The amount of expertise these give is very minimal though and only should come in to play for equal weapons.
2.4.6 So do Paladins get any kind of ranged attack?
Finally we have been given a baseline ranged attack. Exorcism, long known as the reason we did more damage against undead, has now been opened up to be used on any target. This means we have a ranged attack every 15 seconds no matter what spec we choose.
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).
Paladins have a few talent based ranged attacks. The earliest ranged attack you can get is Holy Shock in Holy. This ability can be used offensively and has a 20 yard range. The other main ranged attack you can get is Avenger's Shield in Protection. This ability will hit up to 3 targets. The other ranged attack we have is Hammer of Wrath which is only useable on targets with less than 20% health.
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:
Holy/Ret(51/2/18) or (51/5/15)
This spec goes 15/18 points into the Retribution tree for the extra crit and 10% mana cost reduction for instant cast spells and picks up improved Blessing of Might and Hearts of the Crusader for additional Raid flexibility. Some of the points in Holy can be moved around a little. For instance, the 2 points in Impoved Lay on Hands can be put in Improved Concentration Aura. You will most likely be expected to be using Concentration Aura, and will be using Lay on Hands much more now that it has only a 20 minute cooldown, so adding silence/interrupt reduction to your aura or armor and a 16 minute cooldown for Lay on Hands are both very useful. The main difference between these 2 specs is 3% healing done vs 3% crit. 3% crit will help with slight increased mana returns and 3% healing (mostly considered the better choice) will provide a straightforward healing boost.
Holy/Prot(28/0/43)
This spec chooses to pass on the crit in the Ret tree to get an extra raid damage reduction CD, 20% stronger Sacred Shield, double the duration of Sacred Shield, and 6% increased healing done for everyone in range of your auras. This spec is mostly considered the better spec as of Patch 3.2.
2.5.2 What does an end-game tanking spec look like?
(5/54/12):
This or a slight variation on it is a fairly standard tanking spec for a Paladin.
2.5.3 What does an end-game damage-dealing spec look like?
(5/5/57):
This is the basic version of the standard Ret spec. 4 points are left over for "flavor" talents.
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. 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.
Note on dual specs and hybrids: The dual spec system introduced in patch 3.1 removes the last reason to choose any hybrid spec. Now with the push of a button you can changed between two specs you have previously set up for maximum flexibility.
Edited, Oct 5th 2009 2:06pm by toolofjesus
Edited, Oct 5th 2009 2:07pm by toolofjesus
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Page 4: Miscellaneous
4.1 Formulas/Theorycraft
4.1.1 What are the spell coefficients for Paladin spells?
Spell coeffiecients are the amount of percentage of your spell damage that applies to the spells that you cast. According to WoWWiki, here are the current spellpower and attack power coefficients for Paladin Spell Damage.
Judgement spells - 14% of Attack Power + 22% of Spell power
Judgement of Command - 8% AP + 13% SP + 19% Weapon Damage
Seal of Command - 36% Weapon Damage
Seal of Righteousness - weapon speed x (2.2% of attack power + 4.4% of spell power)
Seal of Vengeance/Corruption - 15% of attack Power + 8.8% of spell power over 15 seconds + 33% Weapon Damage after 5 stacks
Seal of Wisdom - 2% max mana
Seal of Light - 15% of Attack Power + 15% of spellpwer returned as health
Retribution Aura - 6.66% of spellpower
Avenger's Shield (per target) - 7% of Attack power + 7% of spellpower + 440 - 536
Consecration - 4% of Attack power + 4% of spellpower per tick
Exorcism - 15% of Attack power + 15% of spellower
Flash of Light - 100% of spellpower
Hammer of Wrath - 15% of Attack power + 15% of spellpower
Holy Light - 166% of spellpower
Holy Shield - 5.6% of Attack power + 9% of spellpower
Holy Shock - 43% of spellpower offensively; 81% of spellpower as heal
Holy Wrath - 7% of Attack power + 7% of spellpower
Sacred Shield - 75% of spellpower
4.1.2 How much of X stat will provide Y bonus to Z other stat?
At all Levels:
1 STR = 2 AP, .5 Blocked damage from a shield
1 AGI = 2 Armor
1 STA = 10 health
1 INT = 15 mana
1 SPI = 0.2 Mp5 While not casting.
1 Defense = +0.04% Change to be missed, to not be critted, to block, to dodge, and to parry.
At Level 60:
54 INT = 1% Spell Crit Chance
20 AGI = 1% Dodge
20 AGI = 1% Melee Crit chance
5 Block Rating = 1% block
15 Parry Rating = 1% Parry
1.5 Defense Rating = 1 Defense
10 Hit Rating = 1% Chance to hit
14 Crit rating = 1% Crit chance
At level 70:
80.05 INT = 1% Spell Crit Chance
25 AGI = 1% Dodge
40 AGI = 1% Melee Crit chance
7.8 Block Rating = 1% Block
18.9 Dodge Rating = 1% Dodge
2.36 Defense Rating = 1 Defense
23.6 Parry Rating = 1% Parry
15.8 Hit Rating = 1% Chance to hit
22.1 Crit Rating = 1% Crit chance
At level 80:
150 INT = 1% Spell Crit Chance
83 AGI = 1% Dodge
83.33 AGI = 1% Melee Crit chance
16.39 Block Rating = 1% Block
45.24 Dodge Rating = 1% Dodge
4.92 Defense Rating = 1 Defense
45.25 Parry Rating = 1% Parry
32.78 Hit Rating = 1% Chance to hit
45.91 Crit Rating = 1% Crit chance
4.1.3 What is the Paladin proc per minute system?
"Proc" refers to any effect that has a chance to happen. For example, Seal of Light has a chance to heal you on any weapon hit; if you swing your weapon and the Seal actually does heal you, you say that Seal of Light procced.
The chance for a paladin seal to proc on a weapon swing depends on the speed of the weapon. Slower weapons will have a higher chance to proc the seal on each swing than faster weapons. However, faster weapons will give more swings in the same amount of time, so the overall effect is that you can expect the same number of procs over a one-minute period from any weapon.
4.1.4 Why don't anti-undead spells like Holy Wrath work against undead PC's?
Lore answer: Undead PCs are Forsaken, which are different from regular undead.
Game answer: Because Blizzard says so, that's why.
Full answer: In the Beta test of WoW, Undead PCs were actual undead. This meant that they were vulnerable to all of the Paladin anti-undead abilities as well as the Priest's Shackle Undead spell, but they were immune to abilities that work on humanoids only, such as sap and polymorph. This made it very difficult to balance PvP, because Alliance mages and rogues were substantially weaker against Undead than against the other Horde races, while Priests and Paladins were stronger. In the end, Blizzard decided that it was easier to simply treat Undead PCs as Humanoids.
4.2 Paladin Mods
Grid
-A great healing/cleansing mod which shows all of the members in your raid in a sizable rectangle with icons, showing removable debuffs, and indicating who has aggro, who's getting a heal, and much more. More info here.
PallyPower
-A mod for helping with Paladin buffing. This will coordinate your buffs with other Paladins who have the mod. This really should be a requirement for every pally that plans on raiding. Even in 5 mans if you have a prot pally or a ret pally this is very helpful for making sure the right buffs are always up.
Healbot
-Another healing/cleansing mod. It allows heals to be assigned to mouse buttons, and displays a customizable window, allowing you to click and heal players off the window.
Omen Threat Meter(Scroll down to the end to grab the Omen.zip file)
-A mod for displaying threat on the mobs you are fighting, a must for any tank. Requires Ace2 which should be easy enough to find.
Outfitter
-A mod that allows you to change clothes at the touch of a button.
4.3 Links
ThelsDeKwant's Defense and Mitigation guide
High Level Tankadin Forum
WoWWiki's Paladin Page
Jame's Alliance Leveling Guide
Jame's Horde Leveling Guide
Edited, Apr 14th 2009 6:20pm by toolofjesus
Edited, Oct 5th 2009 2:21pm by toolofjesus
4.1 Formulas/Theorycraft
4.1.1 What are the spell coefficients for Paladin spells?
Spell coeffiecients are the amount of percentage of your spell damage that applies to the spells that you cast. According to WoWWiki, here are the current spellpower and attack power coefficients for Paladin Spell Damage.
Judgement spells - 14% of Attack Power + 22% of Spell power
Judgement of Command - 8% AP + 13% SP + 19% Weapon Damage
Seal of Command - 36% Weapon Damage
Seal of Righteousness - weapon speed x (2.2% of attack power + 4.4% of spell power)
Seal of Vengeance/Corruption - 15% of attack Power + 8.8% of spell power over 15 seconds + 33% Weapon Damage after 5 stacks
Seal of Wisdom - 2% max mana
Seal of Light - 15% of Attack Power + 15% of spellpwer returned as health
Retribution Aura - 6.66% of spellpower
Avenger's Shield (per target) - 7% of Attack power + 7% of spellpower + 440 - 536
Consecration - 4% of Attack power + 4% of spellpower per tick
Exorcism - 15% of Attack power + 15% of spellower
Flash of Light - 100% of spellpower
Hammer of Wrath - 15% of Attack power + 15% of spellpower
Holy Light - 166% of spellpower
Holy Shield - 5.6% of Attack power + 9% of spellpower
Holy Shock - 43% of spellpower offensively; 81% of spellpower as heal
Holy Wrath - 7% of Attack power + 7% of spellpower
Sacred Shield - 75% of spellpower
4.1.2 How much of X stat will provide Y bonus to Z other stat?
At all Levels:
1 STR = 2 AP, .5 Blocked damage from a shield
1 AGI = 2 Armor
1 STA = 10 health
1 INT = 15 mana
1 SPI = 0.2 Mp5 While not casting.
1 Defense = +0.04% Change to be missed, to not be critted, to block, to dodge, and to parry.
At Level 60:
54 INT = 1% Spell Crit Chance
20 AGI = 1% Dodge
20 AGI = 1% Melee Crit chance
5 Block Rating = 1% block
15 Parry Rating = 1% Parry
1.5 Defense Rating = 1 Defense
10 Hit Rating = 1% Chance to hit
14 Crit rating = 1% Crit chance
At level 70:
80.05 INT = 1% Spell Crit Chance
25 AGI = 1% Dodge
40 AGI = 1% Melee Crit chance
7.8 Block Rating = 1% Block
18.9 Dodge Rating = 1% Dodge
2.36 Defense Rating = 1 Defense
23.6 Parry Rating = 1% Parry
15.8 Hit Rating = 1% Chance to hit
22.1 Crit Rating = 1% Crit chance
At level 80:
150 INT = 1% Spell Crit Chance
83 AGI = 1% Dodge
83.33 AGI = 1% Melee Crit chance
16.39 Block Rating = 1% Block
45.24 Dodge Rating = 1% Dodge
4.92 Defense Rating = 1 Defense
45.25 Parry Rating = 1% Parry
32.78 Hit Rating = 1% Chance to hit
45.91 Crit Rating = 1% Crit chance
4.1.3 What is the Paladin proc per minute system?
"Proc" refers to any effect that has a chance to happen. For example, Seal of Light has a chance to heal you on any weapon hit; if you swing your weapon and the Seal actually does heal you, you say that Seal of Light procced.
The chance for a paladin seal to proc on a weapon swing depends on the speed of the weapon. Slower weapons will have a higher chance to proc the seal on each swing than faster weapons. However, faster weapons will give more swings in the same amount of time, so the overall effect is that you can expect the same number of procs over a one-minute period from any weapon.
4.1.4 Why don't anti-undead spells like Holy Wrath work against undead PC's?
Lore answer: Undead PCs are Forsaken, which are different from regular undead.
Game answer: Because Blizzard says so, that's why.
Full answer: In the Beta test of WoW, Undead PCs were actual undead. This meant that they were vulnerable to all of the Paladin anti-undead abilities as well as the Priest's Shackle Undead spell, but they were immune to abilities that work on humanoids only, such as sap and polymorph. This made it very difficult to balance PvP, because Alliance mages and rogues were substantially weaker against Undead than against the other Horde races, while Priests and Paladins were stronger. In the end, Blizzard decided that it was easier to simply treat Undead PCs as Humanoids.
4.2 Paladin Mods
Grid
-A great healing/cleansing mod which shows all of the members in your raid in a sizable rectangle with icons, showing removable debuffs, and indicating who has aggro, who's getting a heal, and much more. More info here.
PallyPower
-A mod for helping with Paladin buffing. This will coordinate your buffs with other Paladins who have the mod. This really should be a requirement for every pally that plans on raiding. Even in 5 mans if you have a prot pally or a ret pally this is very helpful for making sure the right buffs are always up.
Healbot
-Another healing/cleansing mod. It allows heals to be assigned to mouse buttons, and displays a customizable window, allowing you to click and heal players off the window.
Omen Threat Meter(Scroll down to the end to grab the Omen.zip file)
-A mod for displaying threat on the mobs you are fighting, a must for any tank. Requires Ace2 which should be easy enough to find.
Outfitter
-A mod that allows you to change clothes at the touch of a button.
4.3 Links
ThelsDeKwant's Defense and Mitigation guide
High Level Tankadin Forum
WoWWiki's Paladin Page
Jame's Alliance Leveling Guide
Jame's Horde Leveling Guide
Edited, Apr 14th 2009 6:20pm by toolofjesus
Edited, Oct 5th 2009 2:21pm by toolofjesus
RATE MAH BUILD!!! ; ;
No not really. I do have a few questions about retribution talents though(and this is to spec for raiding/dungeon group purposes, mainly):
1) Does 'Improved Retribution Aura' increase damage dealt from 'Sanctified Retribution'? My hunch is that no, its only the reflect damage, but I thought I'd ask.
2) I've always thought vindication was a pretty nasty debuff: is it useful in raids? Does it work on bosses? or is it sort of wasted there.
3)Improved Blessing of Might? Y/N? The main thing, is I'm setting up a spec, and I get down around the 6th tier and have 2 points to spend. I could put them in 'improved ret. aura' , but I'm assuming from 1) that isn't very good, or vindication, pending the answer to 2). It seems like we don't really need to BoW ourselves anymore, with our nifty mana regen, would IBoM be a useful alternative to get me down the tiers? Stuff like divine purpose and pursuit of justice seem sort of a waste of 2 points. Also, not taking BoK opens me up to some of the tasty other top-tier talents.
4) I'm not including seal of command, it seems like the other options are better, is that still true? Also, if I'm using SoV, Seals of the Pure seems really good, a straight 15% damage bonus from SoV for 5 talent points. But is it better or worse than Divine Strength? Its going to be one or the other at level 70. From tier 8 down it seems like we should take *everything*, they're so good.
5) How much do you love retribution spec now? :D
Edited, Oct 14th 2008 2:31pm by digitalcraft
No not really. I do have a few questions about retribution talents though(and this is to spec for raiding/dungeon group purposes, mainly):
1) Does 'Improved Retribution Aura' increase damage dealt from 'Sanctified Retribution'? My hunch is that no, its only the reflect damage, but I thought I'd ask.
2) I've always thought vindication was a pretty nasty debuff: is it useful in raids? Does it work on bosses? or is it sort of wasted there.
3)Improved Blessing of Might? Y/N? The main thing, is I'm setting up a spec, and I get down around the 6th tier and have 2 points to spend. I could put them in 'improved ret. aura' , but I'm assuming from 1) that isn't very good, or vindication, pending the answer to 2). It seems like we don't really need to BoW ourselves anymore, with our nifty mana regen, would IBoM be a useful alternative to get me down the tiers? Stuff like divine purpose and pursuit of justice seem sort of a waste of 2 points. Also, not taking BoK opens me up to some of the tasty other top-tier talents.
4) I'm not including seal of command, it seems like the other options are better, is that still true? Also, if I'm using SoV, Seals of the Pure seems really good, a straight 15% damage bonus from SoV for 5 talent points. But is it better or worse than Divine Strength? Its going to be one or the other at level 70. From tier 8 down it seems like we should take *everything*, they're so good.
5) How much do you love retribution spec now? :D
Edited, Oct 14th 2008 2:31pm by digitalcraft
Nice, toolofjesus, but I hope you're going to fix the format on all that. I'm guessing you're writing it elsewhere and copy-pasting it, because there's a space between each line, making it one big wall of text.
Looking forward to it, though.
Looking forward to it, though.
Please "talk up" if your comprehension white-shifts. I will use simple-happy language-words to help you understand.
Nice work :)
As a side note tho, perhaps unsticky the uncrushability FAQ, as it's obsolete now? Or rework into uncritable FAQ?
As a side note tho, perhaps unsticky the uncrushability FAQ, as it's obsolete now? Or rework into uncritable FAQ?
Just some inputs:
Sanctuary is a Hand spell, so you can remove it from this section. edited out - I completely got this mixed up. Sorry.
Also, you may want to mention that the reagents stack up to 100. For 5-mans, you should have 100 on you (in case you wipe a few times). For 10-man or 25-man raids, you should have 200 on you (more if it is a progression run). These numbers are more than you'll probably use, but that is the point. You don't want to run out EVER. There is nothing more embarassing than running out of Symbols. Especially if you are the only Paladin in the group/raid.
Personally, I think this seal is phenomenal for soloing as Holy now. Since Righteousness is nearly useless for damage (relative to other abilities), this seal is awesome.
Don't forget this is also a great way to drop aggro instantly. If a mob is coming at you, pop this, and the mob should go back to the tank. The short CD makes it very useful for many situations.
LoH is no longer a panic only button. It's now part of your healing ******** and should be used as often as needed. With the shortened CD, you can pretty much use it on every boss, and multiple trash pulls. It costs 0 mana, so it can, and should be used often now.
This is now godly for Holy Paladins. The healing is pretty huge, and doesn't cost much mana anymore. It can proc IoL. For soloing, the damage is huge. I can't state enough how awesome this spell is now.
Also, don't forget Hammer of Wrath. It is an awesome closing ranged attack. Now that it hits at 35% health, it can be used earlier. Plus, it's now instant. Yea!!!!
Edited, Oct 15th 2008 9:12am by YJMark
Edited, Oct 15th 2008 11:50am by YJMark
Quote:
Greater Blessings have the same effect as normal blessings, except when cast they buff everyone with the same class as your target in the raid. They also last for 30 minutes. They also require a reagent: Symbol of Kings which sell in stacks of 20 for pretty cheap from reagent vendors. These dont become available until the 50s and are only available for Might,Wisdom, Kings, and Sanctuary.
Also, you may want to mention that the reagents stack up to 100. For 5-mans, you should have 100 on you (in case you wipe a few times). For 10-man or 25-man raids, you should have 200 on you (more if it is a progression run). These numbers are more than you'll probably use, but that is the point. You don't want to run out EVER. There is nothing more embarassing than running out of Symbols. Especially if you are the only Paladin in the group/raid.
Quote:
Seal of Wisdom (SoW)
-Gives every damaging attack a chance to restore 4% of the Paladin's mana.
-Judgement: Deals base Judgement Damage
-This is a very good judgement for keeping your mana up. Very useful in long grinding sessions, as the less time you spend drinking your mana up, the more experience you are getting by killing mobs.
-Gives every damaging attack a chance to restore 4% of the Paladin's mana.
-Judgement: Deals base Judgement Damage
-This is a very good judgement for keeping your mana up. Very useful in long grinding sessions, as the less time you spend drinking your mana up, the more experience you are getting by killing mobs.
Personally, I think this seal is phenomenal for soloing as Holy now. Since Righteousness is nearly useless for damage (relative to other abilities), this seal is awesome.
Quote:
Divine Shield (Bubble)
-Makes the Paladin immune to all melee and magical attacks and removes (almost) all detrimental effects on the Paladin for 12 seconds. 5 minute cooldown (can be decreased to 4 minutes with talents).
-This is the spell that every other class hates about us. This can allow us to heal ourselves back to full, hearth back to our homepoint in pointless or unwinable fights, and sometimes can be used offensively if you know what you are doing. This is the Paladin's main panic button, and will save your life more time than you can count.
-Makes the Paladin immune to all melee and magical attacks and removes (almost) all detrimental effects on the Paladin for 12 seconds. 5 minute cooldown (can be decreased to 4 minutes with talents).
-This is the spell that every other class hates about us. This can allow us to heal ourselves back to full, hearth back to our homepoint in pointless or unwinable fights, and sometimes can be used offensively if you know what you are doing. This is the Paladin's main panic button, and will save your life more time than you can count.
Don't forget this is also a great way to drop aggro instantly. If a mob is coming at you, pop this, and the mob should go back to the tank. The short CD makes it very useful for many situations.
Quote:
Lay on Hands
-Heals the target for the full amount of the Paladins maximum health. Later ranks also restore X amount of mana to the target. 20 minute cooldown (can be decreased to 16 minutes and increase armor for a period of time with talents).
-This is panic button number two. The long cooldown may make you apprehensive to use it, but it is far less effective if you never do. Use this when it would be extremely inconvenient for you to die, and you would much rather live through whatever encounter.
-Heals the target for the full amount of the Paladins maximum health. Later ranks also restore X amount of mana to the target. 20 minute cooldown (can be decreased to 16 minutes and increase armor for a period of time with talents).
-This is panic button number two. The long cooldown may make you apprehensive to use it, but it is far less effective if you never do. Use this when it would be extremely inconvenient for you to die, and you would much rather live through whatever encounter.
LoH is no longer a panic only button. It's now part of your healing ******** and should be used as often as needed. With the shortened CD, you can pretty much use it on every boss, and multiple trash pulls. It costs 0 mana, so it can, and should be used often now.
Quote:
Holy Shock (requires 31 points in Holy)
-Heals the target for x if they are friendly and deals x damage to the target if it is not friendly. This is the Holy Pally's main Instant cast heal and with only a 6 second cooldown it is now very useful for adding mobility and flexibility to a Holy Pally.
-Heals the target for x if they are friendly and deals x damage to the target if it is not friendly. This is the Holy Pally's main Instant cast heal and with only a 6 second cooldown it is now very useful for adding mobility and flexibility to a Holy Pally.
This is now godly for Holy Paladins. The healing is pretty huge, and doesn't cost much mana anymore. It can proc IoL. For soloing, the damage is huge. I can't state enough how awesome this spell is now.
Also, don't forget Hammer of Wrath. It is an awesome closing ranged attack. Now that it hits at 35% health, it can be used earlier. Plus, it's now instant. Yea!!!!
Edited, Oct 15th 2008 9:12am by YJMark
Edited, Oct 15th 2008 11:50am by YJMark
Sanc is still a blessing, 21 point prot talent. Salv is now a hand.
YJMark, talking about Bubble wrote:
Don't forget this is also a great way to drop aggro instantly. If a mob is coming at you, pop this, and the mob should go back to the tank. The short CD makes it very useful for many situations.
Though it shouldn't be as big of a factor with increased tank threat, I'm 99% sure that the mob will go to whoever is #1 on the threat list. #1 may be the tank, or it may be someone else.
Also, just for clarification, Bubble temporarily removes you from the aggro list ... once you drop it, you still have the same amount of threat you did before, right? (Sorry, haven't played my pally in a while.)
tabstopper wrote:
Also, just for clarification, Bubble temporarily removes you from the aggro list ... once you drop it, you still have the same amount of threat you did before, right? (Sorry, haven't played my pally in a while.)
Divine Shield yes. Divine Protection now only reduces incoming damage by 50% so it does not drop aggro anymore.
Quote:
Sanc is still a blessing, 21 point prot talent. Salv is now a hand
I'm an idiot. I fixed my post. Sorry.
Quote:
Also, just for clarification, Bubble temporarily removes you from the aggro list ... once you drop it, you still have the same amount of threat you did before, right? (Sorry, haven't played my pally in a while.)
Like Maulgak said - yes. You drop aggro, but your threat level remains the same. However, 12 seconds is plenty of time for a tank to get aggro back, and threat level, and more.
Quote:
Though it shouldn't be as big of a factor with increased tank threat, I'm 99% sure that the mob will go to whoever is #1 on the threat list. #1 may be the tank, or it may be someone else.
It shouldn't, but you never know. There are mobs that drop aggro/reset aggro. There are also times where tanks might ***** up and lose aggro. If you never need it - then great. I was just suggesting it so that anyone reading the FAQ would know to use it in that situation.
I'd include Divine Protection in the list of notable spells/abilities as well, since it now has applications at max level, wheras before it didn't.
YJMark wrote:
Also, you may want to mention that the reagents stack up to 100. For 5-mans, you should have 100 on you (in case you wipe a few times). For 10-man or 25-man raids, you should have 200 on you (more if it is a progression run). These numbers are more than you'll probably use, but that is the point. You don't want to run out EVER. There is nothing more embarassing than running out of Symbols. Especially if you are the only Paladin in the group/raid.
Don't forget the Divine Intervention, and the reagent it uses. It's on a long CD, but it can make wipe recoveries that much quicker. I always keep a stack (stacks of 5) when running. It won't stop a wipe, but it WILL speed recovery most of the times.
It's also fun in BGs when you DI someone getting hit from everywhere and you're oom ;)
A. Other key spells:
Divine Favor (DF)
-This spell, a 21-point talent in the Holy tree, guarantees your next Flash of Light, Holy Light, or Holy Shock a critical effect. The talent is a pre-req for Holy Shock, further increasing the likelihood that a Holy paladin will take this.
-Since DF requires 5 talent points in Illumination, you are guaranteed to be refunded 60% of your next FoL, Holy Light, or Holy Shock's mana cost.
-You can cast DF and Holy Shock to force Infusion of Light to proc, cutting 1 second off of your next Holy Light's cast time.
B. I tend to find that when I use Divine Shield to "lose aggro" from a mob, nine times out of ten it's the result of a mis-pull, not excessive heal-threat. In those cases, the mob will head immediately to the #2 healer (usually squishier than me!) or a trigger-happy DPS, rather than back to the tank. I would recommend NOT including YJ's comment about aggro-dropping since bubbling in these circumstances tends to hose everything up more than it helps, at least in my experience.
C. Was "The Fall of Humanity" actually implemented for humans? I have the "Every Man for Himself" racial as of last night, which dispels all movement-impairing effects like the PVP trinket. I only did a few BGs last night, but, ahem, I see this getting Nerfed sooner rather than later. As OP as Perception was, its replacement is crazy good in its own right. Racial, trinket, bubble, or trinket, racial, bubble, so many decisions.... Sprinkle in a pinch of BoF and a handful of Cleanses to taste.
D. As for the FAQ format, I like how the Hunter FAQ assigns a letter-grade to each talent in each tree. I know traditionally the paladin builds have been less flexible than hunters', but that seems less true with the new trees. Something like Mulgrin's Hunter FAQ might work for us as well:
http://wow.allakhazam.com/db/class.html?wclass=5;mid=119399640888197052;num=77;page=1
Divine Favor (DF)
-This spell, a 21-point talent in the Holy tree, guarantees your next Flash of Light, Holy Light, or Holy Shock a critical effect. The talent is a pre-req for Holy Shock, further increasing the likelihood that a Holy paladin will take this.
-Since DF requires 5 talent points in Illumination, you are guaranteed to be refunded 60% of your next FoL, Holy Light, or Holy Shock's mana cost.
-You can cast DF and Holy Shock to force Infusion of Light to proc, cutting 1 second off of your next Holy Light's cast time.
B. I tend to find that when I use Divine Shield to "lose aggro" from a mob, nine times out of ten it's the result of a mis-pull, not excessive heal-threat. In those cases, the mob will head immediately to the #2 healer (usually squishier than me!) or a trigger-happy DPS, rather than back to the tank. I would recommend NOT including YJ's comment about aggro-dropping since bubbling in these circumstances tends to hose everything up more than it helps, at least in my experience.
C. Was "The Fall of Humanity" actually implemented for humans? I have the "Every Man for Himself" racial as of last night, which dispels all movement-impairing effects like the PVP trinket. I only did a few BGs last night, but, ahem, I see this getting Nerfed sooner rather than later. As OP as Perception was, its replacement is crazy good in its own right. Racial, trinket, bubble, or trinket, racial, bubble, so many decisions.... Sprinkle in a pinch of BoF and a handful of Cleanses to taste.
D. As for the FAQ format, I like how the Hunter FAQ assigns a letter-grade to each talent in each tree. I know traditionally the paladin builds have been less flexible than hunters', but that seems less true with the new trees. Something like Mulgrin's Hunter FAQ might work for us as well:
http://wow.allakhazam.com/db/class.html?wclass=5;mid=119399640888197052;num=77;page=1
Quote:
B. I tend to find that when I use Divine Shield to "lose aggro" from a mob, nine times out of ten it's the result of a mis-pull, not excessive heal-threat. In those cases, the mob will head immediately to the #2 healer (usually squishier than me!) or a trigger-happy DPS, rather than back to the tank. I would recommend NOT including YJ's comment about aggro-dropping since bubbling in these circumstances tends to hose everything up more than it helps, at least in my experience.
You just said that you use it in that situation, then recommend you don't include the comment to use it in that situation. I'm not following your thought process. Are you claiming that you're using it wrong? Please explain further so I understand what you're trying to say.
If you se a mob coming at you (regardless of why) - do you just take the beating?
For example: ZA - Hexlord fight. I'm healing MT. One of the sub-bosses breaks CC, and heads straight for me. I bubbled up. It gave the OT that extra second they needed to grab aggro. Clean and done :) No deaths, no issues, etc...
edit - I guess I should re-work my original statement to be "bubble to give a tank a little extra time to grab aggro". /shrug.
Edited, Oct 16th 2008 12:12pm by YJMark
YJMark wrote:
Quote:
B. I tend to find that when I use Divine Shield to "lose aggro" from a mob, nine times out of ten it's the result of a mis-pull, not excessive heal-threat. In those cases, the mob will head immediately to the #2 healer (usually squishier than me!) or a trigger-happy DPS, rather than back to the tank. I would recommend NOT including YJ's comment about aggro-dropping since bubbling in these circumstances tends to hose everything up more than it helps, at least in my experience.
You just said that you use it in that situation, then recommend you don't include the comment to use it in that situation. I'm not following your thought process. Are you claiming that you're using it wrong? Please explain further so I understand what you're trying to say.
If you se a mob coming at you (regardless of why) - do you just take the beating?
I wasn't criticizing you at all. I'm in fact claiming that I'm using it "wrong" a fairly good amount of the time. In your Hexlord example, it's great that your OT was able to save you in a timely fashion (though I'm not thinking real clearly on what he was OTing if the sub-boss was CC'ed), but in my experience in that situation, I bubble and the Holy Priest standing toe-to-toe with me gets one-shotted two seconds later. We're talking split-second decision-making by your OT to intervene. Mine might be worse than yours, but they normally take 2-3 seconds minimum in order to pick up broken CC, to pick on a common example.
Since I'm wearing plate and carrying a shield (preferably with Redoubt procced), I can normally stand my ground for a couple of hits from most raid instance mobs and even a few bosses without flinching. With Spiritual Focus, the spell knockback even under the old system normally wouldn't impact my MT-healing responsibilities either. I'm definitely not going to fight this, since it's purely a matter of opinion/personal taste, but I honestly don't remember the last time I bubbled simply because of a mob/boss charging at me, before taking the first hit. /shrug
I didn't mean it as an arguement. Sorry if it came off that way.
I was really just curious as to what you would do. I'm always open to new ideas on how to handle situations. I wasn't sure what a better way to handle it would be.
You did mention the fact that we can take a beating to prevent the mob from aggroing a squishy. I never really thought of that. It makes perfect sense, and I'll try that next time the situation comes up.
My gut reaction was always to protect myself so that I can keep healing. And hoping the others do the same. However, as you pointed out, that may not always be the best way. Thanks for the idea.
As for the Hexlord example - there are 4 adds (I called them "sub-bosses", but that may not be the right terminology). The OT was on another one. He dragged that mob over, and ended up tanking 2 adds. Yes, he is very good (i.e. quick to react to situations).
Edited, Oct 16th 2008 1:38pm by YJMark
I was really just curious as to what you would do. I'm always open to new ideas on how to handle situations. I wasn't sure what a better way to handle it would be.
You did mention the fact that we can take a beating to prevent the mob from aggroing a squishy. I never really thought of that. It makes perfect sense, and I'll try that next time the situation comes up.
My gut reaction was always to protect myself so that I can keep healing. And hoping the others do the same. However, as you pointed out, that may not always be the best way. Thanks for the idea.
As for the Hexlord example - there are 4 adds (I called them "sub-bosses", but that may not be the right terminology). The OT was on another one. He dragged that mob over, and ended up tanking 2 adds. Yes, he is very good (i.e. quick to react to situations).
Edited, Oct 16th 2008 1:38pm by YJMark
ok, edited several parts of my second post and added the remainder of the FAQ. still need to do some formatting, and i'm sure there something i've left out. if you notice anything i've left out pls let me know :) oh, and what were the colors you used capjack? lol
Edited, Nov 11th 2008 11:15am by toolofjesus
Edited, Nov 11th 2008 11:15am by toolofjesus
Quote:
Healing Paladins are the best single-target healer in the game and now even have some group healing ability, although this is still not our area of strength. Their mana efficiency is much better than any other class, allowing for constant healing over long periods of time. These types of Paladins are wanted for raiding and arena fighting.
A lot of people may want to know a little more about what a Paladin can really bring to healing, when compared to other classes. Maybe a little re-spin on what you put in there could help. Something like:
"Healing Paladins are the best choice for keeping a single person alive (i.e. your tank). They have the best survivability relative to all other healing classes, and can throw out the largest heals when needed. Properly spec'd, a Holy Paladin the only class/spec that can keep 2 tanks alive through large amounts of damage without issue. On the flip side, the biggest weakness of a healing Paladin is against AoE damage. Priests, Shamans, and Druids can all heal large amounts of people much better than a Paladin. However, none of them can match the raw healing power and longevity of a Holy Paladin for keeping a tank alive for an entire fight."
Yes, I'm completely biased :)
Quote:
Concentration Aura
-Reduces spell pushback while casting or channeling spells by 35%.
(Can be increased by talents as well as reduce the duration of silence
and interrupt effects while it is active and increase the effect of the aura by 15%)
-This is a great aura, which when combined with other talents can make
your heals uninterruptable by damage.
-Reduces spell pushback while casting or channeling spells by 35%.
(Can be increased by talents as well as reduce the duration of silence
and interrupt effects while it is active and increase the effect of the aura by 15%)
-This is a great aura, which when combined with other talents can make
your heals uninterruptable by damage.
With the new spell pushback mechanics, this aura is really only useful for the 30% silence/interrupt effect reduction. If the raid/instance you are going into doesn't have a lot of silence/interrupts, then this aura is fairly useless (as are the talent points you put into it).
Quote:
Lay on Hands
-Heals the target for the full amount of the Paladins maximum health. Later ranks also restore X amount of mana to the target. 20 minute cooldown (can be decreased to 16 minutes and increase armor for a period of time with talents).
-This is panic button number two. The long cooldown may make you apprehensive to use it, but it is far less effective if you never do. Use this when it would be extremely inconvenient for you to die, and you would much rather live through whatever encounter.
-Heals the target for the full amount of the Paladins maximum health. Later ranks also restore X amount of mana to the target. 20 minute cooldown (can be decreased to 16 minutes and increase armor for a period of time with talents).
-This is panic button number two. The long cooldown may make you apprehensive to use it, but it is far less effective if you never do. Use this when it would be extremely inconvenient for you to die, and you would much rather live through whatever encounter.
This is no longer a panic button. It is now a solid healing spell. In a group/raid, I have never used this on myself. It is a big instant free heal. It can, and should, be used on every boss fight by every Paladin.
Quote:
A good strategy when healing is to put Sacred Shield (and Beacon of Light if you have specc'd into that) on the tank and then cast 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.
I don't know if this is really true. Are you trying to focus on 5-mans, 10-mans, 25-mans, MT-healing, OT-healing, multi-tank fights, etc...
Also, Beacon is very expensive. I wouldn't recommend you cast it on the tank, and then start directly healing the tank. It's a waste at that point. Maybe something like:
Keep Sacred Shield up on tank at all times.
Keep Judgement of Light on mob on at all times.
Cast Flash of Light to keep targets topped off.
If any target drops to around 60% health, give them a Holy Light.
If you need to move and heal, use Holy Shock. It may proc IoL, and give you a nice instant FoL. Very useful for mobile fights.
If you need to spam Holy Light, make sure to use Divine Illumination first.
If you see any poisons/disease/or magic effects, Cleanse them.
If you need to pump out an immediate HUGE heal, use Lay on Hands.
If you need to pump out a HUGE heal in the next 2.5 seconds, then case Divine Favor/Holy Light.
Beacon of Light is its own animal. It is one of the most useful spells, but you need to know how, and when to use it. Here are some suggestions:
In a 5-man, it generally gets used on the tank. If you are about to take AoE damage, cast it on the tank. Then, you can heal everyone else, and Beacon will take care of keeping the tank up. However, if you are not in an AoE situation, Beacon should not be used. It's very expensive.
In a raid where multiple tanks are taking damage, put Beacon on your off-tank (not your main tank). Then, you heal your main tank, and your off-tank gets the additional healing.
The most important thing about Beacon in raiding is that you do NOT put it on your main target. The reason is that Beacon heals are not 100% reliable. For example, if your job is to heal the MT. You put Beacon on the MT, then go around healing other people. If your heal gets sniped (i.e. someone else gets a heal in before you), then the MT gets 0 healing from that heal. This is very very bad. Obviously, this only applies to raids where there are multiple healers. The only time you would even approach this situation is if you have a very organized raid, and no one is going to snipe any of your heals.
Quote:
PallyPower
-A mod for helping with Paladin buffing. This will coordinate your buffs with other Paladins who have the mod.
-A mod for helping with Paladin buffing. This will coordinate your buffs with other Paladins who have the mod.
Please stress the importance of this mod. It is so annoying when you have 4 Paladins in a raid, and only one has Pally Power. Now that we have less blessings, it's not as bad. But, it's still annoying. I think this is a critical "Must Have" for any Paladin who is interested in grouping.
Edited, Nov 11th 2008 2:02pm by YJMark
Edited, Nov 11th 2008 2:47pm by YJMark
Under the Human racial abilities, Every Man for Himself needs to be corrected. It works just like a PvP trinket (removes all movement impairing effects and loss of character control) with a 2min cooldown.
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