Guide to Paladin class by Shine aka Tryon

[Tryon]

Guide to playing paladin
by Shine aka Tryon



Introduction:

I decided to make a guide for all paladins that are a bit lost, this is hand written based upon my own paladin experiences so don’t say ‘already posted’ or something like that. Post your comments and leave your flames and trolling out of this post. I have been playing paladin for quite a bit and experienced all the specs so I know paladin pretty good but I know a lot people will be like ‘You suck you don’t know paladin etc.’ Well, if you don’t agree, get out and write your own guide, as this is no place to flame, I am not getting any reward from that so please at least don’t start flaming. This is for helping, it is NOT the holy truth. This also is not a good guide to read if you have never ever looked at a paladin, as I will not explain in details every spells so if you never played paladin, you might not know some spells, if this is the case, please refer to thottbot or if you have a paladin and still do not know about it, skip it as it might not apply to you, at that level.


1. Table of content


1. Table of content

2. Talents walkthrough
2.1 Holy tree
2.2 Protection tree
2.3 Retribution tree

3. Spells walkthrough

4. Common and recommended specs

5. Common and recommended strategies

6. Gearing and building tips

7. Race choosing

8. Common Questions

9. End word and thanks


2. Talents :

Take note that I take into count the high spot it is in the tree, making high trees very low in points for the other specs that are from other trees mainly, when ranking the usefulness of the talent.


2.1 HOLY:


Divine Strength : (5 points, adds strength equal to 10% of your total strength)
Used for: Mostly Ret paladins, good but you can always skip it for more useful things.
Bad for: Healadin, Shockadin
Ok for: Protection Paladin
Very good for: Retribution Paladin



Divine Intellect:
(5 points, adds intellect equal to 10% of your total intellect)
Used for: Very good for protection paladins that have threat problems due to mana, also useful for Holy paladin. Pretty good and useful to get into higher tree for a holy paladin. Bad for: Retribution Paladin
Ok for: Protection Paladin
Good for: Healadin
Very good for: Shockadin



Spiritual Focus:
(5 points, Flash of Light and Holy Light have 70% chance not to lose casting time when taking damage)
Used for: A ‘You can’t ‘’not’’ take it’ that for any spec that you plan to do a minimum PvP with, and for PvE (5mans) healadin. My personal favourite PvP talent.
Bad for: Protection Paladin
Ok for: Retribution Paladin
Must have for: Shockadin and Healadin



Improved Seal of Righteousness:
(5 points, increase the damage done but your seal and judgement of righteousness by 15%)
Used for: Shockadin and Tanking paladin, very useful for both and a ‘must have’ for both these specs.
Bad for: Healadin and Retribution paladin
Very good for: Shockadin and Protection paladin


Healing Light:
(3 points, increase the amount healed by flash of light and holy light)
Used for: Healadins, you cant miss that one, its uber… Basically the two heals you will be using 99% of the time does now 12% more healing.
Bad for: Protection paladin
Ok for: Retribution paladin
Very good for: Shockadin
Must have for: Healadin


Aura Mastery:
(1 point, Increase your auras radius to 40 yards)
Used for: Useful for anyone at a very lower extend, mostly useful for those who have an extra point and don’t know where to put it. Being higher in holy tree, it is not recommended for a protection or retribution paladin.
Bad for: Protection and Retribution paladin
Ok for: Healadin and Shockadin


Improved Lay on Hands:
(2 points, Gives +30% armor bonus for 2 min on the target you used Lay on Hands on, Also reduces the cooldown by 20mins.
Used for: Not too bad, but a waste of points, what, bonus for a spell you use every 40min? Personally I don’t even use Lay on Hands for other things that replenishing myself 900 mana when I am OOM… Normally you shouldn’t really need to use it and when you really need it (mostly in PvP and suicide quest missions or semi-wipes) the 30% armor bonus isn’t that good anyway.
Bad for: Shockadin, Protection paladin and Retribution paladin
So-so for: Healadin



Unyielding Faith:
(2 points, Increase your chance of resisting fear and disorient effects by 10%)
Used for: Ok that one is really hot for PvP, although its use is lowered in PvE since you don’t get actively Disoriented/Feared while in PvP you are. So its more PvP wise.
Bad for: Protection and Retribution paladin
Good for: Healadin
Very good for: Shockadin


Illumination:
(5 points, 100% chance when you critical with flash of light, holy light or holy shock and it to gain 60% mana back off the base mana cost of the spell.)
Used for: That is the spell that makes paladin be rarely ever out of mana, it is simply amazing to see your flash of light never cost you much mana and so you can get well over 200000 healing in AV with crappy gear without ever running out of mana.
Bad for: Protection and Retribution paladin
Very good for: Shockadin
Must have for: Healadin


Improved Blessing of Wisdom:
(2 points, increase the effect of your blessing/greater blessing of wisdom by 20%)
Used for: People that have problems with mana and are always out of it should NEVER leave this one to 0, however the two points can be put at a better use should you not have mana problems (It is however normal that you go out of mana if you spam Holy Light, only use holy light when you need big heals, use flash of light the rest of the time)
Bad for: Protection and Retribution paladin
Good for: Healadin and Shockadin


Pure of Heart:
(3 points, increases your resistance to curse and disease effects by 15%)
Used for: Very useful in PvP against warlocks or things like that, only problem here is the cost in points, three points can be put at a much better use, but if you get yourself with three extra points, feel free to take it.
Bad for: Protection and Retribution paladin
Ok for: Healadin and Shockadin



Divine Favor:
(1 point, Next holy shock, flash of light or holy light has a 100% critical chance when cast)
Used for: No comments, it’s a life saver if you or your target is low on health, you can just click this and you automatically have a better heal. To use with caution but I recommend always using it when its up, else you’ll have wasted one point. Please note that it also increase holy shock OFFENSIVE critical chance.
Bad for: Protection and Retribution paladin
Good for: Healadin
Very good for: Shockadin


Sanctified Light:
(3 points, Increase your critical strike chance with holy light by 6%)
Used for: Mostly for healadins, it is a lot useful, however you should not be using Holy Light THAT much, but when you do, it means your target is getting hit hard and you NEED the 6% critical.
Bad for: Protection and Retribution paladin
Very good for: Shockadin
Must have for: Healadin


Holy Power:
(5 points, increases your holy spells critical hit chance by 5%)
Used for: Healadins and Shockadins, this is another of your best talents, increases both your offensive and healing spells critical chance, and with Illumination (for healers) this is even more amazing, a must have.
Bad for: Protection and Retribution paladin
Must have for: Healadin and Shockadin


Purifying Power:
(2 points, Reduce your cleanse and consecration spells mana cost by 10% and increase the critical strike chance of exorcism and holy wrath spells by 20%)
Used for: Totally a waste of points in my opinion, no one uses consecration and cleanse that much apart from protection paladins, and they do not go that far into holy tree anyway. As for the critical chance, these spells are only useable against undead monsters anyway.
Bad for: Healadin, Shockadin, protection paladin and retribution paladin


Light’s Grace:
(3 points, Your holy light also reduces the cast time of your next holy light spell by 0.5 second)
Used for: Very good when your target starts to get low on health, combined with Sanctified Light, this makes your holy light almost godlike, 2 second cast holy light and +6% chance of critical on it, in addition to Holy Power? Any time!
Bad for: Protection and Retribution paladin
Very good for: Shockadin
Must have for: Healadin


Holy Shock:
(1 point, Deals damage or healing, instant cast, 15 seconds cooldown)
Used for: It is the main spell for a shockadin, the ‘shock’ in shockadin, needless to say you can’t miss it. And for healadins, this give you some chance to do a few points for damage when soloing, and its still instant so when youre in trouble you can heal real fast.
Bad for: Protection and Retribution paladin
Very good for: Healadin
MUST MUST MUST HAVE for: Shockadin


Blessed Life:
(3 points, All attacks have a 10% chance to cause 50% of the damage it would do)
Used for: This is mainly a PvP skill, and a great one, however it is high in the tree and cost three points. I personally use it but it is at your discretion.
Bad for: Protection and Retribution paladin
Good for: Healadin and Shockadin


Holy Guidance:
(5 points, Increases your spell damage and healing by 35% of your intellect)
Used for: Let me put it that way, a poorly/normal geared heal/shockadin at 70 has about 400 intellect, wich does about 140 spell damage, do I need to say more?
Bad for: Protection and Retribution paladin
Must have for: Healadin and Shockadin


Divine Illumination:
(1 point, Instant 3 minutes cooldown, all your spells cost half the mana cost for 15 seconds)
Used for: This is the paladin’s innervate, but instead of giving you mana, it reduces the mana you use. Very useful but never forget to use it every three minutes, as I know people that like, never use it… Now that would be useless no?
Bad for: Protection and Retribution paladin
Good for: Shockadin
Must have for: Healadin



2.2 PROTECTION:


Improved Devotion Aura:
(5 points, increase the armor bonus of your devotion aura by 40%)
Used for: Good for protection paladins as it decreases even further theyr damage ‘absorption’, however It is not something you will die if you miss it, good as it is.
Bad for: Retribution Paladin and Shockadin
Ok for: Healadin
Good for: Protection paladin


Redoubt:
(5 points, physical attacks have a 10% chance to increase your block chance bu 30% for 10 seconds or 5 blocks)
Used for: Awesome for protection, should be up about 50% of the time on single monsters, just wow! Also good for the PvP healadins that want to increase further they’re survivability.
Bad for: Retribution paladin and shockadin
Good for: Healadin
Must have for: Protection paladin


Precision:
(3 points, +3% chance to hit in melee)
Used for: Good for protection but three points is a lot and would be more efficient when put somewhere else, you are not a warrior, you tank differently, and not as much of your threat comes from melee.
Bad for: Shockadin and healadin
Ok for: Protection paladin
Good for: Retribution paladin


Guardian’s Favor:
(2 points, reduces the cooldown of blessing of protection to 3 minutes and increases the duration of blessing of freedom by 6 seconds)
Used for: You will not be using this PvE I tell you, Blessing of Protection is good but it is not of any use against casters and if you are really a tank, you will not have someone else than you on aggro, as for freedom, again this is a mostly PvP used ability. This gains its usefulness in 2v2 PvP mostly, and protection warriors does not really arena seriously, do they? Again this is mostly something for healadin.
Bad for: Shockadin
Ok for: Protection paladin
Good for: Retribution paladin
Very good for: Healadin


Toughness:
(5 points, increases your armor value by 10%)
Used for: This is great for protection paladins as a lot of your damage reduction comes from armor and this one is in direct link with your current armor, upgrading as your armor upgrades, unlike improved devotion aura that effects an unchangeable armor efficient.
Bad for: Retribution paladin and shockadin
Ok for: Healadin
Very good for: Protection paladin


Blessing of Kings:
(1 points, Bless the target with a 10% increase on all stats for 5/15mins, increased to 10/30 next patch as you can figure on test servers)
Used for: This is simply awesome, for ANY spec, ANY class, this is the blessing I am the most asked for. Word, it is awesome.
Ok for: Retribution paladin and shockadin
Must have for: Healadin and protection paladin


Improved Righteous Fury:
(3 points, reduce damage taken by 6% and increase the amount of additional threat generated by righteous fury to 90% while it is active)
Used for: This is great for protection paladins, 6% damage taken of less and you will hold aggro way better. Also awesome for PvP healadins for the 6% aggro but it is also a dangerous tool, don’t forget to keep it off when you’re at the end of AV and spam healing while your team is killing the general or in anything but Solo PvE and PvP (AV isn’t really PvP, sorry to burst your bubble)
Bad for: Retribution paladin and shockadin
Good for: Healadin
Must have for: Protection paladin


Shield Specialisation:
(3 points, increase the amount of damage absorbed by your shield by 20%)
Used for: Protection paladins, with holy shield and redoubt, you block more than you breathe, so you are better off blocking more damage, no? Perfect
Bad for: Retribution paladin and shockadin
Ok for: Healadin
Very good for: Protection paladin


Anticipation:
(5 points, increases your defense skill by 20)
Used for: This is definitively ONLY useful for protection paladins, as defense helps increasing your avoidance, making monsters very unlikely to critical strike you or land a crushing blow on you. Great talent.
Bad for: Retribution paladin, shockadin and healadin
Must have for: Protection paladin


Stoicism:
(2 points, increases your chance to stun by 10% and reduce the chance your spells will be dispelled by an additional 30%)
Used for: The stun part is great but you could put your two points in better places, and for the dispel, I personally do not know a lot monsters that actively dispel, and you do not really think about doing PvP in protection spec, right?
Bad for: Retribution paladin and shockadin
Ok for: Protection paladin and healadin


Improved Hammer of Justice:
(3 points, reduce the cooldown of hammer of justice by 15 seconds)
Used for: This is a healadin and protection paladin talent, great for both as the healadin will stay alive longer and the protection paladin will be able to stun its enemy, but take into count that if you do not get hit, you will gain less threat, and also that almost all bosses are NOT stunnable.
Bad for: Retribution paladin and shockadin
Ok for: Protection paladin
Good for: Healadin


Improved Concentration Aura:
(3 points, increases the effect of your concentration aura by 15% and reduce the duration of silence and interrupt effects against affected people by 30%, does not stack with other effects)
Used for: …. What the **** is this doing into the protection tree, really… It’s a GODLY PvP healadin talent, you MUST NOT miss it if you plan on healing in PvP, yet is is pretty far into the protection tree… But rather die than not getting it for PvP. It is also great for gruul’s lair I heard, but we have so much paladins that I never did it without improved concentration aura so I really don’t know.
Bad for: Retribution paladin and protection paladin
Good for: Shockadin
Must have for: Healadin


Spell Warding:
(2 points, all spell damage taken reduced by 4%)
Used for: Protection paladins have not much any other protection against spell casters, so this spell is really important. However it is really too deep into protection for any other spec for my opinion, although I know some 2v2 arena specced healadins that go easily that far into protection for increased survivability.
Bad for: Retribution paladin and shockadin
Ok for: Healadin
Very good for: Protection paladin


Blessing of Sanctuary:
(1 points, reduce damage received from all sources by X and does X damage to the attacker when you block one of its attacks.)
Used for: This is basically the blessing that should always be up on your paladin when you are tanking, also not bad to have on a healadin in PvP.
Bad for: Retribution paladin and shockadin
Ok for: Healadin
Must have for: Protection paladin


Reckoning:
(5 points, 10% when hit to do a ‘double strike’ on your next 4 attacks within 8 seconds)
Used for: This is why paladins don’t dual weild, point. Its your little dual wield with a shield, never underestimate the damage it does or the threat it generates.
Bad for: Retribution paladin, shockadin and healadin
Very good for: Protection paladin


Sacred Duty:
(2 points, +6% stamina and reduce the cooldown of divine shield by 1 minute and remove its attack speed penalty)
Used for: The stamina is a great tool, it is also the highest into protection that a healadin should ever go, 2v2 survivability specced or not. However the other stats are really jokes… No protection paladins use shields because it removes you from threat list for 12 seconds, leaving your fellow group members to death. But acknowledging the big problem of the protection paladin is its lack of health, this is really great.
Bad for: Retribution paladin and shockadin
Ok for: Healadin
Very good for: Protection paladin


One-Handed Weapon Specialisation:
(5 points, increase the damage you deal with a one-handed weapon by 5%)
Used for: Nothing, since any protection paladin with any idea how threat works will get a spell damage weapon with a very low damage, this is not good in any way.
Bad for: Retribution paladin, shockadin, healadin and protection paladin


Holy shield / Improved Holy shield:
(3 points, Increases your chance to block by 30% for 10seconds and deals X damage, each block expending one of the 8 charges, at a maximum use of 10 seconds, with also 10 second cooldown)
Used for: A must have for protection paladin, without this you are simply a target dummy, this gives great threat, deals damage back AND block 30% more, if you do not keep this up 100% of the time, you really have a problem, with the same reason that I put it with improved, both cant be missed at any cost.
Bad for: Retribution paladin, shockadin and healadin
Must have for: Protection paladin


Ardent Defender:
(5 points, When you have less than 35% health left, all damage you take is reduced by 30%)
Used for: This is really something to save yourself from fishy situations, this will give your healer some time to get a heal off, but normally you should never be under 50% health left.
Bad for: Retribution paladin, shockadin and healadin
Very good for: Protection paladin


Weapon Expertise:
(5 points, increases your weapons skills by 10)
Used for: This is basically the same as Precision, but cost a lot points for low good, very so-so.
Bad for: Retribution paladin, shockadin and healadin
Ok for: Protection paladin


Avenger’s Shield:
(1 point, deals damage to three targets, and dazes them)
Used for: This is really for pulling, if you pull with this you should get straight aggro and it is easier for your damage dealers in your group to go full damage on the targets, as it builds a lot of aggro at the straight beginning of the pull.
Bad for: Retribution paladin, shockadin and healadin
Must have for: Protection paladin



2.3 RETRIBUTION:


Improved Blessing of Might:
(5 points, increases the attack power bonus of blessing of might by 20%)
Used for: This is retribution, and is relatively crap as it is not exponential nor of a great use for it cost 5 points for 44 attack power at 70.
Bad for: Protection paladin, healadin and shockadin
Ok for: Retribution paladin


Benediction:
(5 points, reduce the cost of your judgement and seals by 15%)
Used for: Now you talk, for all you judgement spammers retribution paladins, shockadins and protection paladins, this is the skill for you!
Bad for: Healadin
Very good for: Shockadin, protection paladin and retribution paladin



Improved Judgement:
(2 points, reduce the cooldown of your judgement spell by 2 seconds)
Used for: A lot of the damage from a shockadin and a protection paladin comes from judgements, so it is really important to get, and it gives an extra burst for retribution paladins.
Bad for: Healadin
Good for: Retribution paladin
Must have for: Shockadin and protection paladin



Improved Seal of the Crusader:
(3 points, increase the attack power bonus of seal of the crusader and the holy damage bonus from judgement of the crusader)
Used for: You might all be thinking ‘zomg this is crap, who uses seal of the crusader’ and on that point I have to agree, noone uses it past level 10, but the holy damage bonus is a cruise control to increase your shockadin judgements damage, a big threat bonus from all your holy damage as a protection paladin and increases the judgements damage but also the holy damage of seal of command and crusader strike for a retribution paladin.
Bad for: Healadin
Very good for: Shockadin and protection paladin
Must have for: Retribution paladin


Deflection:
(5 points, increases your parry chance by 5%)
Used for: This isn’t the most useful spell out there and I do not have much to say about it apart that it is great for protection paladin.
Bad for: Healadin, retribution paladin and shockadin
Very good for: Protection paladin


Vindication:
(3 points, reduce the target’s strength and agility by 15% for 10 seconds, as a chance on hit, which is pretty high chance as a notice)
Used for: Gratz, you retribution or protection paladin, you just lowered your target’s attack power by a great deal.
Bad for: Healadin, shockadin
Ok for: Protection paladin
Good for: Retribution paladin


Conviction:
(5 points, increases your critical strike chance by 5%)
Used for: This is real retribution talent, others do not melee (well, protection’s melee is all about spell damage and not weapon damage), it is just incredible.
Bad for: Healadin, protection paladin and shockadin
Must have for: Retribution paladin


Seal of Command:
(7 proc per minute, deals 70% of your normal weapon damage, judges for X to X or X*2 to X*2 if the target is stunned or incapacitated (Hammer of justice and repentance, anyone?)
Used for: This is the main attack for a retribution paladin, however I would personally take seal of blood but it all depends on the occasion since seal of blood can do a big damage back if you critical judge It, its mostly personnal choice but since I am alliance, I take Seal of command.
Bad for: Healadin, protection paladin and shockadin
Must have for: Retribution paladin


Pursuit of Justice:
(2 points increase your mounted and foot movement speed by 8%)
Used for: This is for extra points, it is useful but not awesome, rather keep your points and pay a boots enchant.
Bad for: Healadin and protection paladin
Ok for: Retribution paladin and shockadin



Eye for an Eye:
(2 points, all spell criticals hit back for 30% of the spell damage)
Used for: This is well invested points to help against casters, it is the sole use and is actually quite good in PvP against PvP damage dealers as they tend to have a high critical strike chance.
Bad for: Healadin and protection paladin
Good for: Retribution paladin and shockadin



Improved Retribution Aura:
(2 points, increase the damage done by your retribution aura by 50%)
Used for:

is it go… *gets shot*

this suck, anyone saying otherwise is a real noob, end of the note, go check retribution aura if you’re still not sure.
Bad for: Healadin, protection paladin, shockadin and retribution paladin


Crusade:
(3 points, increases ALL damage caused against *humanoids*, demons, undeads and elementals *pst, players are humanoids* by 3%)
Used for: Shockadins and Retribution paladins now got an 3% damage upgrade, thanks.
Bad for: Healadin and protection paladin
Very good for: Shockadin and retribution paladin


Two-Handed Weapon Specialization:
(3 points, increases the damage you deal with two-handed weapons by 6%)
Used for: No real paladins use a two-handed other than retribution paladins, now this upgrades they’re damage by a good load, Seal of command, hits, etc.
Bad for: Healadin, protection paladin and shockadin
Very good for: Retribution paladin


Sanctity Aura/Improved Sanctity Aura:
(3 points, Increases the holy damage done by 10% and all damage done by 2%)
Used for: This is great for Shockadins and Retribution paladins, as holy damage is a good part of they’re damage, but shockadins should restrain from putting points into improved sanctity aura and put those two points at a better use. Sanctity aura is another defining talent of shockadins, although.
Bad for: Healadin and protection paladin
Very good for: Retribution paladin
Must have for: Shockadin


Vengeance:
(5 points, increase the damage you deal by 5% for 15 seconds after dealing a critical strike, stacks up to 15% increased damage)
Used for: This is an all around great talent, as retribution paladins rely A LOT on they’re weapon damage, this is really a MUST have.
Bad for: Healadin, protection paladin and shockadin
Must have for: Retribution paladin


Sanctified Judgement:
(3 points, your Judgement returns 50% of the mana cost of the judged seal)
Used for: Well, a lot of the retribution paladins have a problems with managing they’re mana as they must focus on more ‘melee like’ stats, so this is good.
Bad for: Healadin, protection paladin and shockadin
Good for: Retribution paladin


Sanctified Crusader:
(3 points, +3% critical strike chance against a target affected by judgement of the crusader)
Used for: Since your target should always have Judgement of the crusader on him, this is a permanent +3% critical strike chance.
Bad for: Healadin, protection paladin and shockadin
Must have for: Retribution paladin


Repentance:
(1 point, puts the target into sleep for 6 seconds)
Used for: This is nearly useless for PvE but it is awesome for PvP because of the range it helps you get into melee range or just sleep a target to flee or finish his friend.
Bad for: Healadin, protection paladin and shockadin
Very good for: Retribution paladin


Divine Purpose:
(3 points, physical critical strikes against you deals 12% less damage)
Used for: This is good, and not, at the same time. You should not be getting hit much in PvE but in PvP it does not apply to spells so it is like a weakened resilience, but I say that any PvP retribution paladin should take it.
Bad for: Healadin, protection paladin and shockadin
Good for: Retribution paladin


Fanaticism:
(5 points, increases the critical strike chance of your judgements by 15%)
Used for: Since retribution paladins do not have a big spell critical strike chance, this is cool, nothing else to say.
Bad for: Healadin, protection paladin and shockadin
Good for: Retribution paladin


Crusader Strike:
(1 point, 10 seconds cooldown, refresh all judgements on your target and deals weapon damage + 40% of your holy spell damage)
Used for: Mini mortal strike for paladins? That’s my guess, use it for extra damage basically. Must have in my opinion as it offers another good burst when you want it.
Bad for: Healadin, protection paladin and shockadin
Must have for: Retribution paladin





3. Spells

Ok now that we covered talents, lets get to the spells, for talented spells, refer to the talent section.

Note on Forbearance: Avenging Wrath, Divine Shield, Divine protection and Blessing of protection shares a different cooldown but a single target can only be casted one of these spells every 1 minute.

Blessing of Light: Used mostly in dungeons, this spell basically makes your heals more efficient, at the difference of other blessings, this helps the healer and not the target of the seal.

Blessing of Wisdom: When you are healing PvE, you should have this blessing on as it increases incredibly your mana regeneration.

Cleanse: This is used into certain dungeons to remove debuffs, but you will find a great use of it when fighting rogues and warlocks in PvP as it removes poisons and magic effects (Corruption IS a magic effect, Curse of Agony is a CURSE effect)

Consecration: This spell is used for three things, for PvP you will look forward using its lowest rank to detect rogues stealthing near you, in PvE you will look forward using it offensively to deal damage (Which is not the case for PvP because the players will just move away from it) and a protection paladin should normally keep it up at ANY time as it deals A LOT threat but also does threat to all enemies near you, this being a BIG difference with warrior and druid tanks that are mostly single target tanks.

Exorcism: This is great when you are levelling into Western/Eastern Plaguelands and Outlands but apart from that…. It is quite useless

Flash of Light: Main healing spell, does a moderate amount of healing at a jokingly low amount of mana, With spamming this, I can do a full AV/Instance without ever drinking.

Hammer of Wrath: This is a weakened execute but take note, this can be used in range, which is really good for finishing runners. But take note that next patch it is nerfed/buffed (depending on the opinion) from 1 second cast to 0.5 second cast. For a shockadin is it quite a nerf because it will receive less from the + spell damage and healing, while for others that are not stacking spell damage, it is a great buff.

Holy Light: With both talents, this is awesome for big heals but warning, it is a dangerous tool to use as it BURNS mana quick as hell, only use in desperate occasions or really quick fights (However, its health per second is incredible)

Holy Wrath: Like Exorcism, this is situational and of lesser use, but unlike Exorcism, this has a cast time but hits many targets.

Lay on Hands: This Heals a friend for your (the paladin’s) maximum health but cost all the paladin’s mana, the trick is using it when you are close to 0% mana so you do not lose anything, also, later on, it will regenerate a certain amount of mana (900 at 70) so if you have no mana and are close to die, using it on yourself with replenish both your health and your mana.

Purify: Weakened Cleanse, nothing else to say about it.

Redemption: Only useable out of combat, this will resurrect a friendly target. This basically just prevent your lazy friend from doing a corpse run.

Seal of Light: Will heal you on each melee attack, when judged will heal any attacker on the target for a lower amount than the seal. Rather judge it as you can seal a better seal and still gain health from it.

Seal of Righteousness: This deals a moderate amount of damage and judges for a relatively good amount of damage. This seal is of common use by protection paladins to gain threat and by shockadins for dealing damage.

Seal of Wisdom: This is like seal of light but gives back mana, so when judged it applies to all attackers attacking that target for a lower mana amount that if you only use seal of wisdom yourself. It is a better use if you just judge it and choose another seal while hitting.

Sense Undead: Reveals the location of all nearby undeads on the minimap

Turn Undead: Makes the target undead flee, use with caution, might aggro and it has a 30 seconds cooldown and a 1.5 seconds cast. Not useable against undead FACTION players.

Blessing of Freedom: Removes and immunise the target against all movement impairing effect for X seconds. Warning: Some effects will prevent you from using it when affected, for these, you must use blessing of freedom BEFORE it is cast.

Blessing of Protection: This is used for protection your friends against physical attacks. Useful but not so great because spell attacks still get through the shield.

Blessing of Sacrifice: Used on some occasions, reduce the damage taken by the target by X while transferring that damage to the caster. This also has a ‘hidden’ use, for PvP. If you get crowd controlled while your friend has Blessing of Sacrifice on him, if he gets hit you will receive damage and the crowd controlling effect will be broken.

Blessing of Salvation: Used in PvE to reduce threat done by damaging class

Concentration Aura: Helps healers in PvP that are continuously getting hit and must heal.

Devotion Aura: Increases armor, reducing the physical damage you receive

Divine Intervention: Used like a soulstone, prevents a total wipe. Kills the paladin and make a target invulnerable for three minutes, removing it from combat.

Divine Protection / Divine Shield: Makes you immune to all incoming damage for a certain amount of time, in addition, Divine shield makes you immune longer AND still lets you attack the target, but you will hit 100% slower, both are on shared cooldown so do not bother using Divine Protection, use Divine Shield.

Resistance Aura: Do I need to say something about it? It just increases your resistance, increasing you chance to resist a spell and decreasing the damage done by that school of spells against you.

Hammer of Justice: Used to stun/incapacitate the target while you hit it, flee, or heal yourself.

Righteous Defense: This is a paladin’s taunt, instead of taunting a certain monster, you use it to taunt ALL the monsters on a certain target. (Up to three enemies)

Righteous Fury: Used to hold threat easier when tanking.

Seal of Justice: Gives a small chance to stun the target for 2 seconds on each hit, judging it prevents the monster from fleeing.

Spiritual Attunement: Very useful for protection paladins, each heal received gives you a good chunk of mana back. Note, Overhealing and self healing will not proc this ability.

Avenging Wrath: Increases the damage you deal by 30% but will prevent you from shielding yourself with Divine Shields.

Blessing of Might: Used on physical damage classes to increase they’re attack power, which increases they’re damage done.

Judgement: As the tooltip says…. Refer to individual seals.

Retribution Aura: Used for NOTHING it is just crap as it does mini damage, and will just make your friends get more threat, and there is a lot more useful auras.

Seal of the Crusader: This spell is rarely used as is, it is mostly judged for a good amount of increased spell damage that will help your offensive spells and judgements.

Seal of Vengeance: Mostly used to tank, this puts a DoT on your target while unleashing for a good amount of damage. There are different opinions whether this or Seal of Righteousness is better, there is no drawn line. I like more Righteousness, some like more Vengeance, it is really personnal. Note, only alliance players can get this seal.

Seal of Blood: A good damage seal, deals less damage than Seal of Command but will proc on every hit. The downside of this is mostly PvP sided as it takes away some health from you and as you all know, health is important in PvP, so use with caution. Like seal of vengeance, there are different opinions on which of Seal of Command and Seal of Blood is better, but in difference, for PvE there is a drawn line and Seal of Blood is definitively better for PvE, but for PvP it comes down to preference.





4. Common and Recommended specs:


Healadin Spec:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/...00000000000000 – Common Healadin Spec, Also the spec I am using right now, Great for PvE healing while good survivability for PvP. Good all around healer spec, and the best in my opinion.

Arena 2v2 healadin spec:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/...00000000000000 – Really 2v2 arena PvP oriented Healadin spec, Good survivability but maybe will lack some for PvE, I do not particularly like this spec but it can be viable.

Shockadin spec:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/...22030100000000 – Most viable Shockadin spec, I personally do not know any other real shockadin spec that are really viable as shock AND as healing.

Raid protection spec:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/...00000000000000 – Raiding Protection Paladin built, more oriented for raiding and threat generation counting on big heals to keep your mana high. Not the best if you are planning to do 5 mans.

5mans protection spec:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/...00000000000000 – Variation for Protection paladin, more 5 mans oriented, focusing on mana and spell damage.

Retribution spec:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/...02033125331351 – Common Retribution Paladin built and only real one that I know of, does good amount of damage and owns in PvP as well, really recommended for all you retribution paladins.

Reckoning damage spec:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/...02030105001000 – Simple Reckoning/Retribution Hybrid, isn’t the best and I really do not recommend it, but I feel like I have to post it as it used to be fairly common, but it is not really viable anymore.


These are the most common builds, feel free to post your own builds and I will most likely add it if it has any potential.



5. Strategies

Shock DPS strategy:
Pull your enemy with a judgement of the crusader quickly followed by your first holy shock. As the fight continues, just consecrate moderately not to burn your mana and keep doing holy shock and judgement of righteousness whenever its up, while keeping seal of righteousness always on and auto attacking. For PvP do this with a few heals off and off and hammer of justice and some melee hits but try not to melee too much, you’re not a rogue. Try keeping Blessing of Wisdom on yourself and managing your mana as possible.

Healing strategy:
Healing is actually pretty simple. In PvE you will want to spam flash of light on your tank that will have Blessing of Light. If you are not healing for enough, get a few holy lights off while watching your mana, also put Divine Favor and Divine Illumination on as much as possible to save mana. (That is, if you are healadin, else you just don’t have them and its not that much worse), cleanse a bit and that’s about it. Try keeping a Blessing of Wisdom on yourself. In PvP its same but you will want to cleanse, hammer of justice, blessing of freedom like a beast, it is not as much healing as utility. On PvP keep Blessing of Kings on yourself and a damage boosting blessing on your friend, unless it is a caster then you will want to put Blessing of Light as they are going to die fairly quickly.

Tanking:
Pull your enemy(s) with Avenger’s Shield and put consecration down right away, judgement of the crusader than start auto attacking with seal of righteousness while judging it whenever its on and putting it back on, also try keeping consecration and Holy Shield up at all times, else you will have problems. Do not bother crowd control under four monsters, however if there are actually four monsters, get a rogue sap the left one and use avenger’s shield on the most right one. If you use a mage, have him wait for you to pull and then sheep as quickly as possible so the sheep does not wander in your consecration. If the shield is in your consecration, continue doing the same, it is the mage’s job to get it off you, sorry mages but that is how it works. You will also get mana back when you get healed.

Retribution damaging:
Pull your target with Seal of the Crusader then put Seal of Command/Blood right away then start cycling between Crusader Strike and judgement of command/blood while still keeping seal of command/blood on at all times. And for PvP just do a few hammer of justice, repentance, cleanse etc. of more, but rest is same. And for consecration, only use rank 1 for rogues, it is mana waste in other cases.


6. Gearing tips:

Ill make my tips very simple, but always note PvP always take more stamina so take it into consideration



Shockadin:

Shockadin is a healer that specced to have a certain damage utility for soloing and maybe off-damaging support in instance and raids. It is a healer that can DPS, not a DPSer that can heal, take a good note of that.

You are looking for, in order, spell damage, spell critical, intellect, stamina. Simple enough? PvP gear is the best all round shockadin gear, and one of the rare plate gears that are made for shockadin so don’t start looking for real shockadin gear in instances, it does not exist, you will be taking shaman/druid/clothies gear and some ret paladin gear with a lot of spell damage if you do not go for the PvP gear. Take a one hander with good spell damage and a shield and invest on spell damage and spell critical gems.

Spell Damage = Damage
Spell Critical = Damage
Intellect = Mana + Damage
Stamina = Life



Retribution Paladin:

A retribution paladin is a paladin specced for doing great melee damage as well as supporting/buffing its team, unlike shockadin, it is not made to heal, but rather to damage.

As a retribution paladin, you will want a critical rating between 20 and 25% to be viable, after that you are looking for a good slow two-hander for bigger Seal of Blood/Command proc. Afterwards you will search certain stats in this order: Strength/Attack Power, Critical Strike rating/Agility, Spell damage, Stamina, Intellect. Also try meeting the maximum hit rating but do not over-stack it neither. Again, the arena PvP items are incredibly good for this spec. Invest on some strength and critical strike chance gems. And get your 20-25% critical for Vengeance without which you will loose ALOT damage.

Strength/Attack Power = Damage
Critical chance = Damage
Spell Damage = Seal of Command/Blood, Judgement and Crusader strike damage
Stamina = Health
Intellect = Some mana for your spells



Healadin:

A healadin is a paladin specced into doing great healing while maintaining a certain survivability, it is what people call a ‘healbot’. You just sit there and do awesome heal and laugh at your opponent that is having a hell of a time killing you because your mana regeneration and healing done is higher than the damage he deals to you. Never forget you are a plate wearer, making you incredibly more hard to kill than any other healer, use this at your advantage.

As a healadin you are looking for the most healing done by balancing your mana regeneration and your healing done, because a healer without mana cannot heal. Try getting a good spell critical strike chance as well as good healing. Take a one-hander with a lot healing on it and a good shield. Get the most plate items as possible for more survivability. Search these stats in order: +Healing, Spell Critical, Intellect, mp5, stamina.
Healing = Healing done
Spell Critical = Healing done + Mana saved
Intellect = More healing to be done and spell damage and healing
MP5 = Mana regeneration
Stamina = A dead cannot heal, sorry.



Protection Paladin:

A protection paladin is a paladin that uses his abilities to grab threat on monsters and keep the aggro while others can damage the monster and heal you. You are basically the monster’s punching bag. Unlike protection warrior, you are not a single target tank, a tankadin is extremely good at taking more than one target at once and keeping the aggro on every one of those, making it an incredible 5mans tank and a very good offtank in raids, that can also be a great main tank with a little ability.

If you are protection paladin, your gear will be much different if you are tanking a 5man than if you are tanking a raid. But you are looking for a lot armor, only take plate items, take dodge rating, parry rating, block rating, defense, armor, stamina, all those things that keeps you alive. You want a good fast one handed weapon with a good spell damage. As a paladin your main problem will be getting items with alot stamina to make up for your lack of health. Also try getting some spell damage for more threat and get some intellect and mp5 for 5mans. For 5mans you are looking for these stats in order: Stamina, Armor, Spell Damage, Block/Parry/Dodge rating, Intellect, Defense, mp5. But for raid tanking you are looking for: Stamina, Defense, Block/Parry/Dodge rating, Armor, Spell damage, intellect, mp5

Defense = Block/Parry/Dodge rating and prevention of crushing blow
Block/Parry/Dodge rating = Damage avoidance
Armor = Damage Reduction
Stamina = Health
Intellect = Mana to do more threat
Spell damage = Threat
Mp5 = Mana regen to do more threat



7. Race choosing

This one can be tricky and there is no ‘best race’ but there is a ‘best faction’ however, all depending what you want to do.

Take note that horde paladins get seal of blood which is considered the best PvE retribution damage seal, and a good PvP one, while alliance paladins get seal of vengeance that is considered a very good tanking seal and is favored more than seal of righteousness by many paladins, although it is not my case. Take that into consideration.

Now lets see how racials are:

Blood Elf: Killer for PvP, steals mana and AoE silence in melee, great for retribution, less for the other specs

Dwarf: Gets stoneform which makes you immune to poison and increases your armor, good for PvP or tanking. Also find treasure is pretty useful when levelling if you do not have a gathering profession that requires you to track.

Human: Sword and Mace spec makes you less likely to miss, which is good for retribution and protection. Perception is also good PvP and I LOVE the Diplomacy reputation bonus.

Draenei:Gets a Heal over Time that is pretty poor as you already have better heals, and gives 1% chance to hit. Draenei is just not as good as other races for alliance but racials are minor, look I rarely even use mines on any char I make, but well, some people like Daenei’s look, although I find them really ugly.


9. End Word

I hope you liked my guide and I am looking forward your feedback on it, If you want any thing added in it, post about it and if I find the information useful, I will add it with a thanks to you.

Will update if I get any other idea for reliable information.

Also i would appreciate any comment, suggestion or anything that you think i should add to my guide. I will also be constantly upgrading and adding information and will work on making it more user friendly.

Also feel free to post questions about paladin class and if I get a high demand, I might create a guide for another class

Also, please, if you see any grammar problem or fault, please tell me, I do not speak english as first language so even with all my good intentions, grammatical faults and typos may occur, I would like a notice should you find some.



PLEASE NOTE THERE WAS NOT ENOUGHT ROOM FOR THE FAQ PART SO IT WAS MOVED TO A POST LOWER, THANKS

[ggqqhaha]

mm long good guide i suppose i give you + rep, looks very organized, but im sure there is 10 milion guides out there for palys, anywho +rep for effort

[sineater213]

did you rlly write this all by yourself? O.o

[Chrono]

Very good and accurate information on the protection spec. The hint on spaming consecrate and holy shield is right on. My 61 pally was able to mostly hold aggro on multiple trash mobs and a boss with a well geared 70 mage and 70 hunter. The hunter's crit rating was a little insane. I don't care how good a tank is, he'd pull aggro eventually. I just set a macro to cast righteous defense on him. If righteous defense timer was still going, it would cast blessing of protection.

Definately +rep for a concise guide.

[Tanax]

Heh, took a while to figure out the talent thing with the 1-1 2-3 3-5 4-1

xDD

But great guide! Will definitely follow it when I start lvling my healadin
Thanks!

[NeonMonkeys]

Great guide, I just started my first pally yesterday so this was really helpful +rep

[Tryon]

I did write this all by myself, actually i did it while i was semi-afk in AV :P wanted to make things clear, will be upgrading it greatly and reworking and all to make it more user friendly, also any questions about paladins, tips on what i should add, comments or anything would be appreciated

if i get alot asking for other classes i might consider doing a class guide for another class since i played many different class and learned to use them and all

[Brochkids]

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/...00003103331051
This is the spec for my lvl 56 pally (ret) i do lots of damage

[Tenni-T]

Playing a pala myself as an alt I must say that Im impressed by your guide. I like it very much and its very correct and well written. Thanks for contributing and for the work. Oh, and +rep ofc.

Peace, Tenned.

[Mame]

Brochkids all I have to say is .. L2Pally you went with increased BoM over Benediction? that makes me doubt your ability, benediction is very important to retadins because their mana is already lower than other specs (Generally) and saved mana is mana earned. GL Respecing man =D
What's more you'd have to be a moron to use these specs.. on the "Healadin" spec there's 3 points into imp Righteous Fury.. are you kidding me? why would you want aggro as a healer? >_< A lot of this stuff seems like common sense and bullshit but +rep on spending all that time to compose this post.

[Apple]

Tyron I've got something which I think would be a very nice addition to your guide, hit my msn up, [email protected]

Thanks

[Tryon]

Mame, im as much a PvP healer as a PvE healer, and the 6% damage reduction from imp righteous fury is simply godly in PvP, but i would never put it when healing PvE dat would be really stupid and suicidal

also he might like more BoM, i do not agree with the choice but its not because he does not have the same oppnions that he sucks or such

@ Brochkids, take benedition over Blessing of might improved, do not put points into divine intellect and max your vengeance, it is very important, and then take the 70%
well just spec like my spec if you want good efiency, there is not 2000 retribution specs, there's one and some variations

[Tryon]

updated with esthetical look, changed the 1-1 2-1 3-1 4-1 code to words and added a part on Frequently asked questions

edit: Too long post, will post FAQ on another reply

HERE IS THE FAQ:

8. Frequently asked questions

Retribution vs Shockadin for damage dealing:
Lets make this clear, Shockadin is mainly a HEALER, and for that reason he will not do as much damage as a retribution paladin, and it is normal. But you can self heal very good and do awesome support in the same gear, while retribution paladin will have a certain lack on the side of healing, in addition of not being able to heal for crap in retribution gear.

Why choose a protection paladin:
Protection paladin is completely different in many ways compared to warriors and druid while tanking. One of the main attributes of a protection paladin is the fact that it deals magic damage. All monsters have armor, which reduces greatly the threat generated by your attacks since they hit for less damage. When you are a protection paladin, almost all your threat comes from magic abilities therefore making your threat exponentially better than the two other tanking classes. There is also the point of Area of Effect threat. A druid and a warrior will both have a very hard time grabbing the aggro on every monsters, and to support that lack, you must do a big use of crowd control in groups as well as only damage the main target of the tank. The paladin does not suffer these problems, with consecration as a threat building ability and all the damage and threat generated by blocking attacks, crowd control is unnecessary most of the times, and most damage dealers will be able to pick the target of their choice without caring about who the tank is targeting. Now the only problem will be your health pool, which is the only reason you could possibly deny a protection paladin in my opinion.

Seal of Blood vs Seal of Command:
This is actually quite simple. Seal of Blood will take effect on every single hit, while Seal of Command will hit only at a rate of seven effects per minutes, meaning if your attack is faster than an attack every 8.57 seconds, seal of blood will do more damage at the end line. Now there is the problem of the damage back. Lets just say this: The damage back is minor, however if you start doing big judgement critical hits, you may end with maybe 1000 damage done back to you at the end of a PvP fight, so take this into consideration. It also does less burst damage, making it a little less good in PvP. But if your health pool is already far high enough, seal of blood is more recommendable.

Seal of Righteousness vs Seal of Vengeance:
This is more tricky, there is no drawn line, personally I get more off seal of righteousness for many reasons. Seal of Vengeance deals damage for X every 3 seconds, increasing at every stack. While testing in my shockadin gear, I ended with these conclusions: Seal of vengeance does about 1.6 more damage per second, however my judgement of vengeance does 200 more damage, but hitting at 1.8 speed and saying I get a seal of vengeance a stack of seal of vengeance, this takes minimum 9 seconds to get a full stack, while the cooldown is only 8 seconds. Testing how many stacks I get usually, I ended with 2 or 3 stacks of vengeance on the target when the cooldown was down, making seal of righteousness do more damage, so more threat. At the end, seal of righteousness deals more threat but there is not a lot difference so it mostly comes down to personal choice. You can also play on choosing about how many stack you will get before using judgement, which also can play on the talent choose of improved judgement. So it really comes down to you.

[Tanax]

Great update!! Much more understandable

Awesome tutorial!

[Tryon]

any moderator/admin (if it is possible) can make a reply from myself under my own first post for continuing so peeps dont have to go down 4-5 posts to see the rest?