Guide to the Paladin Class

[Black_Mist(KoP)]

Table of Contents

0) Addons
1) Statistics and you: What do paladins need?
2) Talent Guide: Holy
3) Talent Guide: Protection
4) Talent Guide: Retribution
5) Paladin talent specs with Pros and Cons
6) Etiquette in a group: playing a hybrid class.
a. A Paladin’s Role
b. Looting
7) Combating classes, one on one
a. Druid
b. Rogue
c. Priest
d. Hunter
e. Shaman
f. Warrior
g. Mage
h. Paladin
i. Warlock
8) Master of group PvP: Why do they want you?
9) From this point it will be "Paladin Guide Extended"
10) Tanking
11) Good Gear
12) Consumables
13) Summary on Tanking

I don’t claim to be the master of the paladin class, but I hope that these strategies won’t serve any of you wrong.

Lets get started!


Addons

These addons are ones that are good to have in general and ones that are good for pallys to have.

Decursive: ui.worldofwar.net/ui.php?id=2506
Must have for any paladin that needs to cleanse parties or raids (so every paladin). Bind it to a button and whenever a player is cursed/poisoned you can auto cleanse them without targeting them. You don’t even have to stop fighting!

HolyHope (the blue circle with smaller circle buttons around it): www.curse-gaming.com/en/wow/addons-3751-1-holyhope.html
A lot of people ask about this. This addon places your judgements in circle buttons surrounding a larger circle button that contains your Judgement spell. Provides the same for blessings. Self contained groupings for judgments and blessings.

Swinger: www.curse-gaming.com/en/wow/addons-2123-1-swinger.html
displays your 'swing cooldown' – helps with judgement timing

Scrolling Combat Text (SCT): www.wowinterface.com/downloads/fileinfo.php?id=3965
Just like it sounds, combat information (damage, criticals, healing, mana) will scroll across your screen.

PANZA (formerly Paladin Assistant): ui.worldofwar.net/ui.php?id=1042
This has it all for the average uber paladin. Heal players with the most efficient spell, bless by level, auto cast divine intervention with one button, bless different players in a party/raid based on stored settings. Full customizable!

ElliaIntervention: www.curse-gaming.com/en/wow/addons-2799-1-elliaintervention.html
Iterates through priests, paladins, and then druids, attempting to cast Divine Intervention on them until it succeeds. The PANZA addon has a similar function, so if you don’t want PANZA this is an alternative for instant cast DI.

ReckCounter: www.curse-gaming.com/en/wow/addons-1769-1-reckcounter.html
Creates a small movable rectangular frame near the minimap showing stored strikes from the Paladin Reckoning talent.

TheoryCraft: www.curse-gaming.com/en/wow/addons-3031-1-theorycraft.html
Very, very cool – will show dps/resist/crit percentages for any of your spells based on the +heal/+spell damage/+crit bonuses you have, and will display the number on a toolbar button. Great for comparing differences in the gear you’re wearing.

[Black_Mist(KoP)]

Statistics and you: What do paladins need?

The most gear dependant class in the game, or the class that is made or broken most by the gear it is wearing, is the Warrior. But we’re second on that list! Remembering that keeping your weapon, armor, and even your trinkets up-to-date is critical to having a powerful character. Don’t go into a gunfight with a stick, and don’t run into an epic battle with a green. But which stats, you may ask, are most critical to a paladin and what do they all do?

This should shed light on what each statistic does to improve the paladin class:

Statistics with an asterix (*) are based on a level 60 paladin. With these particular stats, it can be assumed that a lower-level character would gain MORE for the stat, not less.

1 strength = 2 attack power
20 strength = 1 more block value to shields (this means that it will increase the damage absorbed by your shield each block by 1. It doesn’t sound like much, but it adds up)

14 attack power = 1 damage per second.

20 agility = 1% chance to score a critical melee-based attack*
20 agility = 1% chance to dodge a melee attack*
1 agility = 2 armor class

1 intellect = 15 mana
28.5 intellect = 1% chance to score a critical strike with spells*

1 stamina = 10 health, plain and simple.

Spirit, as a statistic, is not something most paladins should really consider. There are some exceptions to this rule, and there have been stories of paladins using Darkmoon Card: Blue Dragon and heavy spirit builds to great effect, but even in these cases, it is my opinion that MP/5, Intellect, and +healing is a better route to take.

1 defense = +.04% chance to block, dodge, and parry and increases your enemy’s chance to score a critical strike and hit you by .04%.
5 levels of defense effectively makes you block, dodge, and parry as something a level above you would. Defense also reduces your chance have a crushing blow landed on you. (Note: Players cannot score crushing blows, this is a myth. Only mobs can.) This note about crushing blows is only true until your defense skill matches the enemy's weapon skill. I.E. 300 defense makes it impossible to have a crushing blow landed on you by a standard level 60 mob, +/- 5 defense for each level. Note that I said standard mob... certain boss mobs can behave quite differently. This is getting into advanced tanking though, and it should just be duly noted that +defense is good, even well past this "cap.")

The answer to which stats are best is not so simple. Difference in playstyles will always have the greatest effect on how a paladin wants to gear himself.

These is one point about playing a paladin though. There are only 3 statistics that improve all aspects of a paladin. These three statistics are Stamina, Intellect, and +Spell Damage. As such, I recommend all paladins try to keep a strong foundation in the first two statistics, and start looking for +Spell Damage gear the moment you turn 60 and it is more easily available to you.


Talent Guide: Holy

The holy tree focuses mostly on healing

Tier 1: Divine Strength, Divine Intellect

Divine Strength (5/5), increases strength by 2/4/6/8/10%
Completely straightforward ability here, increases your strength (and therefore your attack power) by a significant percent. This talent is useful mostly to 31 point retribution paladins, for other paladins building holy I recommend Divine Intellect. 31 point retribution paladins should get both.

Divine Intellect (5/5), increases intellect by 2/4/6/8/10%
Also completely straightforward ability, increases your intellect (and therefore mana and spell critical chance) by a significant percent. The best tier-1 holy talent.

Tier 2: Spiritual Focus, Improved Seal of Righteousness

Spiritual Focus (5/5), decreases chance to be interrupted by taking damage when casting Flash of Light and Holy Light by 14/28/42/56/70%
This talent is the bread-and-butter of PvP healing for a paladin, and certainly doesn’t hurt PvE. Combined with Concentration Aura (which is an additive bonus), a paladin will have a 100% chance to avoid interruption when casting their heals, so all you will have to worry about is the various counter spells in the game (Kick, Counterspell, Pummel, Shield Bash, Earth Shock, Feral Charge, etc…). The best tier-2 holy talent

Improved Seal of Righteousness (5/5), increases damage dealt by Seal of Righteousness by 3/6/9/12/15%
A very weak talent, possibly the weakest in the holy tree. Only get this if you’re a tank. It works exactly as advertised.

Tier 3: Healing Light, Consecration, Improved Lay on Hands, Unyielding Faith

Healing Light (3/3), increases the amount healed by Holy Light and Flash of Light by 4/8/12%
Very nice talent. Only increases the base healing of the heals, so it does not scale with +healing gear, but it increases the amount of healing the paladin deals by a great enough deal that it’s still very worth it even for a paladin with extraordinary healing gear. 3/3 it if you’re going higher then tier-3 in the holy tree

Consecration (1/1), consecrates the land beneath Paladin, doing 64 Holy damage over 8 sec to enemies who enter the area at Rank 1, 384 Holy damage over 8 sec at rank 5 (level 60).
Very nice talent. Free dps, a powerful AoE, and it receives a 33% spelldamage coefficient, which is totally admirable for any Area of Effect spell. Get it if you are going to tier-3 Holy

Improved Lay on Hands (2/2), gives the target of your Lay on Hands spell a 15/30% bonus to their armor value from items for 2 min. In addition, the cooldown for your Lay on Hands spell is reduced by 10/20 min.
As powerful a talent as this is, the cooldown of your Lay on Hands will still be 40 minutes. I recomment most paladins skip this talent, although certain endgame raid guilds use the armor bonus to protect warriors from various enraging bosses.

Unyielding Faith (2/2), increases your chance to resist Fear and Disorient effects by an additional 5/10%.
Basically this talent is used to help resist fear. This is where you should throw in a point to finish tier-3 holy if you intend on building to tier-4 and above, even though it’s not a hugely powerful talent.

Tier 4: Illumination (5/5), Improved Blessing of Wisdom (2/2)

Illumination, (5/5), After getting a critical effect from your Flash of Light, Holy Light, or Holy Shock heal spell, gives you a 20/40/60/80/100% chance to gain Mana equal to the base cost of the spell.
This talent is absolutely the most amazing thing a paladin can get for healing in raids. It allows a paladin to focus on spell crit gear to increase both the amount they heal and the time they can heal. If you’re speccing holy to heal, get this talent. Note that it only returns mana on Holy Shock heals, not Holy Shock critical damage.

Improved Blessing of Wisdom (2/2), Increases the effect of your Blessing of Wisdom spell by 10/20%.
Effectively gives you 6 more mana per 5 seconds with rank 5 Blessing of Wisdom, a must for all raids. Even better if you have rank 6 Blessing of Wisdom. Get it if you specced Holy for raid healing

Tier 5: Divine Favor, Lasting Judgement

Divine Favor (1/1), When activated, gives your next Flash of Light, Holy Light, or Holy Shock spell a 100% critical effect chance.
Effectively gives you a free critical heal every 2 minutes, since it requires 5 points in Illumination to receive. Yet again, if you have 21 points in Holy, you should have this talent. It is a full heal in most cases. As a note, Divine Favor is on its own cooldown from other abilities, and is not subject to the global cooldown, so you can place it in a macro that instantly uses it and starts to cast your heal or casts Holy Shock.

Lasting Judgement (3/3), Increases the duration of your Judgement of Light and Judgement of Wisdom by 10/20/30 sec.
Very useful for keeping your judgements active on a target mob, but hardly nessecary to put more then 1 point in except for rare occasions. Definitely put one point into this talent if you’re this high in holy, and chose between this, Unyielding Faith, and Improved Lay on Hands for the final point if you intend to build higher.

Tier 6: Holy Power

Holy Power (5/5), Increases the critical effect chance of your Holy spells by 1/2/3/4/5%.
Nothing about this talent is bad. Definitely get it if you have reached tier-6 of the holy tree. It increases the amount you heal, and thanks to illumination increases the time you can heal as well Also, Judgment of Righteousness and Holy Shock crit based on your chance to crit with spells, so it increases your damage as well.

Tier 7: Holy Shock

Holy Shock (1/1), Blasts the target with Holy energy, causing 204 to 220 Holy damage to an enemy, or 204 to 220 healing to an ally at rank 1. Deals and heals 365 to 395 damage at rank 3 (level 56)
The 31 point holy talent for paladins. This ability is best used for damage, since it rarely will save someone’s life, but it is the only direct heal in the game that is instant cast, which does have some powerful PvE and PvP effects. More so, it deals direct, controllable, and reliable damage, which is nice. Try it out, see if you like it.

[Black_Mist(KoP)]

Talent Guide: Protection

The protection tree focuses mainly on tanking, and also increases the survivability of the paladin and his party

Tier 1: Improved Devotion Aura, Redoubt

Improved Devotion Aura (5/5): it’s bad, that’s it, don’t get it.

Redoubt (5/5), Increases your chance to block attacks with your shield by 6/12/18/24/30% after being the victim of a critical strike. Lasts 10 sec or 5 blocks.
This talent is the only real option for tier-1 protection. It’s also quite nice for tanking with a shield, and damage return, since both require blocking to be effective for a paladin. Taking critical hits, on the other hand, is counterintuitive to a tank. As redoubt is the backbone of the protection tree, it’s kind of self-defeating.

Tier 2: Precision, Guardian’s Favor, Toughness

Precision (3/3), increases your chance to hit with melee weapons by 1/2/3%
Very nice talent for PvP and PvE, works exactly as advertised

Guardian’s Favor (2/2), Reduces the cooldown of your Blessing of Protection by 60/120 sec and increases the duration of your Blessing of Freedom by 3/6 sec.
One of the most powerful protection talents, both PvE and PvP. It brings the offtime on Blessing of Freedom to 4 seconds and almost doubles the amount you can cast Blessing of Protection. Definate gets this if you are going to use the protection tree

Toughness (5/5), Increases your armor value from items by 2/4/6/8/10%
A nice talent, great for tanking, but use it to build up higher in the protection tree. Grab the more important talents first

Tier 3: Blessing of Kings, Improved Righteous Fury, Shield Specialization, Anticipation

Blesing of Kings (1/1), Places a Blessing on the friendly target, increasing total stats by 10% for 5 min. Players may only have one Blessing on them per Paladin at any one time.
The second or third most important blessing for most classes in a raid, and a very powerful talent. Get it if your guild needs you to be a “kingsbot” in the raids, or if you like the way it feels. I don’t love it, but I won’t tell you I have any rational reasons for not liking it.

Improved Righteous Fury (3/3), Increases the amount of threat generated by your Righteous Fury spell by 16/33/50%.
The defiance of the paladin’s protection tree. It’s very useful to be able to generate threat and tank for any paladin, and this talent is absolutely vital for a tankadin. Righteous Fury will increase the threat generated by holy damage by 90% with this talent.

Shield Specilization (3/3), increases the damage absorbed by your shield by 10/20/30%
Underrated talent. Using good tanking gear and Shield Specialization, a paladin can have a higher block value then any other class. Since blocking is critical to paladin tanking, get this talent if you intend to tank, plain and simple.

Anticipation (5/5), increases your Defense skill by 2/4/6/8/10
I explained what defense did earlier, and this talent does exactly what it says. Not a very good talent, and I recommend skipping it. Anticipation has no gear scaling and costs too much for only 10 defense. Also, +defense reduces the effectiveness of Redoubt and Reckoning, since it reduces the amount you’re crit. Self-defeating

Tier 4: Improved Hammer of Justice, Improved Concentration Aura

Improved Hammer of Justice (3/3), reduces the cooldown of Hammer of Justice by 5/10/15 sec
Great PvP talent, works exactly as advertised. Don’t get it if you are speccing to be a PvE tank, as most endgame mobs are immune to stun

Improved Concentration Aura (3/3), Increases the effect of your Concentration Aura by an additional 5/10/15% and gives all group members affected by the aura an additional 5/10/15% chance to resist Silence and Interrupt effects.
Not a very good talent, in my opinion. You’re already uninterruptible if you have Spiritual Focus. It does protect you from Pummel/Kick/Cspell and other such spell locks, but 15% is such a low rate of protection that I had to have this fact confirmed to me (thanks Greg). Maybe I'm a little unfair on this talent because of how very much I hate spell lock and how little protection I felt this gave me, but I really don't like it. Play at your own risk here.

Tier 5: Blessing of Sanctuary, Reckoning
Blessing of Sanctuary (1/1), Places a Blessing on the friendly target, reducing damage dealt from all sources by up to 10 for 5 min. In addition, when the target blocks a melee attack the attacker will take 14 Holy damage. Players may only have one Blessing on them per Paladin at any one time. 24 Damage reduced, 35 damage returned at level 60
The least powerful of the 5/15 minute Blessings, but necessary to get to Holy Shield. Also, it does aid a paladin in dealing huge sums of holy damage whenever he blocks, which generate a great deal more threat. Taken into effect BEFORE damage reduction, making it less effective still.

Reckoning (5/5): Gives you a 20/40/60/80/100% chance to gain an extra attack after being the victim of a critical strike.
I’m not going in to reckoning here, it’s too complex. Look up a reckoning guide.

Tier 6: One-Handed Weapon Specialization

One-Handed Weapon Specialization (5/5), increases the damage dealt with one-handed weapons by 2/4/6/8/10%
This is a better talent then it appears, since it increases damage done by Seal of Righteousness when you have a one handed weapon equipped as well. Good for threat generation tanking.

Tier 7: Holy Shield

Holy Shield (1/1), increases chance to block by 30% for 10 sec, and deals 65 Holy damage for each attack blocked while active. Damage caused by Holy Shield causes 20% additional threat. Each block expends a charge. 4 charges. Returns 130 damage at level 60
The backbone of paladin tanking. Reduces the damage you take and generates hate. Get it if you’re a tankadin.

[Black_Mist(KoP)]

Talent Guide: Retribution

The retribution tree focuses on dealing damage

Tier 1: Improved Blessing of Might, Benediction

Improved Blessing of Might (5/5), increases the melee attack power bonus of your Blessing of Might by 4/8/12/16/20%.
Not a powerful talent, although it’s good to have a paladins somewhere in an endgame raid who has specced for it. Many believe it’s better then benediction for leveling, but I prefer the mana efficiency of Benediction

Benediction (5/5), Reduces the Mana cost of your Judgement and Seal spells by 3/6/9/12/15%.
Very nice talent. Paladins thrive on mana efficiency, and saving mana when dealing damage increases the mana you have left over to heal. Best tier-1 retribution talent, in my opinion.

Tier 2: Improved Judgment, Improved Seal of the Crusader, Deflection

Improved Judgement (2/2), Decreases the cooldown of your Judgement Spell by 1/2 sec
More judging is more damage. Great ret talent, get it if you intend to build higher in to this tree.

Improved Seal of the Crusader (3/3), Increases the melee attack power bonus of your Seal of the Crusader and the Holy damage increase of your Judgement of the Crusader by 5/10/15%.
This is a bad talent. It’s just bad. Don’t get it.

Deflection (5/5), increases your Parry chance by 1/2/3/4/5%
Great hybrid talent, and a good way to build to the next tier of retribution

Tier 3: Vindication, Conviction, Seal of Command, Pursuit of Justice

Vindication (3/3), Gives the Paladin's damaging melee attacks a chance to reduce the target's Strength and Agility by 5/10/15% for 10 sec.
Can’t be applied to any notable named boss in the game (not even the ogre in VC). Not a huge loss to your enemy PvP, but it has a very high proc rate, and if you like the idea of debuffing your enemies, go for it.

Conviction (5/5), increases your chance to get a critical strike with weapons by 1/2/3/4/5%
5 points in it if you’re specccing further then 11 points in the retribution tree. More crit is more damage

Seal of Command (1/1), Gives the Paladin a chance to deal additional Holy damage equal to 70% of normal weapon damage. Only one Seal can be active on the Paladin at any one time. Lasts 30 sec.

Unleashing this Seal's energy will judge an enemy, instantly causing 46.5 to 50.5 Holy damage, 93 to 101 if the target is stunned or incapacitated. Deals 169.5 to 186.5 Holy damage, 339 to 373 if the target is stunned or incapacitated at highest rank.
Long tooltip, core damage ability for a paladin. This ability procs 7 times per minute no matter what, so you’d best get the slowest weapon possible when using this seal. This deals more damage then Seal of Righteousness if you’re weapon has a slower then average speed (about 2.10). Can easily crit for more then 1000 with vengeance at level 60. I've seen some scary numbers there.

Pursuit of Justice (2/2), Increases movement and mounted movement speed by 4/8%. This does not stack with other movement speed increasing effects.
Saves you the effort of having to get run speed enchants, equipping a carrot on a stick, and getting riding gloves. I like putting 1 point here and then getting good enchants.

Tier 4: Eye for an Eye, Improved Retribution Aura

Eye for an Eye (2/2), All spell criticals against you cause 15/30% of the damage taken to the caster as well. The damage caused by Eye for an Eye will not exceed 50% of the Paladin's total health.
Very situational, but it can crit and proc Vengeance, and it’s damage is increased by Vengeance. Really nice for beating earth-shock spamming shaman and crit mages. I enjoy this talent, but it isn’t that amazing.

Improved Retribution Aura (2/2), Increases the damage done by your Retribution Aura by 25/50%
Very powerful talent when fighting Rogues and Warriors, and the highest dps aura a paladin can use PvE without very nice gear and spending a lot of mana. 10 more damage per Retribution Aura tick at level 60. I recommend this talent.

Tier 5: Two-Handed Weapon Specialization, Sanctity Aura

Two-Handed Weapon Specialization (3/3), Increases the damage you deal with two-handed melee weapons by 2/4/6%.
This is a great talent for paladin dps, particularly considering SoC favors slow, two-handed weapons. Get it if you intend to spec 30 or 31 points in Retribution.

Sanctity Aura (1/1), Increases Holy damage done by party members within 30 yards by 10%. Players may only have one Aura on them per Paladin at any one time.
The only nonreactive aura a paladin can use. Great PvP, but very selfish to use PvE most of the time. Get it for a PvP retribution spec without a doubt, use it most of the time.

Tier 6: Vengeance

Vengeance (5/5), Gives you a 3/6/9/12/15% bonus to Physical and Holy damage you deal for 8 sec after dealing a critical strike from a weapon swing, spell, or ability.
This is actually the core talent for a retribution specced paladin. It is a must-have for the tree, and is worth every talent point.

Tier 7: Repentance

Repentance (1/1), Puts the enemy target in a state of meditation, incapacitating them for up to 6 sec. Any damage caused will awaken the target. Only works against Humanoids.
This is a very powerful ability, and is the only instant cast ranged CC in the game. Definitely get it, unless you want to spec for Divine Favor in place if it. You can judge Seal of Command on a repenting target for bonus damage.

[Black_Mist(KoP)]

Common Paladin talent specs

The Retnoob (31 ret / 20 holy)
www.wowhead.com/talent/?sExuzZZVbItMcqo
This build is highly damage-oriented. It is frequently refered to as the PvP build for a paladin. It also offers enough from the holy tree to allow the paladin’s survivability to shine. Building 30 points in to retribution is also the preferred paladin leveling spec. The most common adjustment to this spec is to put 21 points into holy and 30 into ret, allowing the paladin to receive Divine Favor and use Illumination when raiding.

The Reckadin (25 prot, 15 ret, 11 holy) RECKONING IS BROKEN
www.wowhead.com/talent/?qVxZVGp0cbxZV0xt
This talent spec allows use of the ability “Reckoning” while maintaining the PvP power of the ability “spiritual focus,” “Consecration,” and the access to “Seal of Command.”
Reckoning is an extremely difficult build to start out with and understand, so don’t start out trying to play this way, and be very patient: the learning curve is steep. The basic idea of reckoning is to charge up reckoning “bombs” by being struck by critical strikes when you are unable to auto-attack or auto-attack is disabled, then unload huge sums of damage on a single target instantly. I’m not going to delve too deeply into this here.

The Healadin (31 holy / 20 prot)
www.wowhead.com/talent/?aVxudgotVGp0Mh
This is the single most durable combat healer in the game. It is extremely powerful, both PvE and PvP, for keeping its team alive and long-lasting healing. Nothing is more annoying then a paladin who knows how to heal and who wears a shield. The flaw? This build could hardly have lower damage output, so you had best find an ally to kill things for you.

The Holydin (31 holy / 20 ret)
www.wowhead.com/talent/?qVxuRgotZVbxtM
The Holydin is a holy-specced paladin with an eye turned towards damage output. The advantage of this build is that it gives you all the tools of a powerful healer as well as a source of extremely controllable damage. You need a good deal of +Spell Damage gear to make great use of this build.

The Tankadin (33 prot / 11 holy, 7 ret)
www.wowhead.com/talent/?aVVzZVGtG0zEoVb
The Tankadin is a paladin acting as a tank, plain and simple. There’s a huge argument always waged over how effective a tank a paladin can be, and the answer is simple: you can tank. How well / poorly you tank in relation to a warrior? Irrelevant, you tank in different ways that should not be compared. For instance, a paladin can AoE tank multiple trash mobs, something a warrior has a great deal of trouble doing. This build also allows for single-target damage return tanking (with Retribution Aura, Blessing of Sanctuary, Holy Shield, and a shield spike your holy damage return is pretty high). Holy damage is the threat generation source for a Tankadin, so moves like Consecration and Seal of Righteousness are extremely powerful for it. Improved Judgment and Benediction allow the Tankadin to fire out even more holy damage and still conserve as much mana as possible.



Etiquette in a Group: Playing a Hybrid Class

A Paladin’s Role
The paladin’s roll in a group has always been a difficult one to define, for both the paladin and his group. For instance, a paladin can act as a very viable tank in the five-man content before level 60, but many argue that at level 60 they become less and less viable. A paladin’s DPS is frequently argued to be the lowest in the game, making it unviable for raids, but people will also frequently argue that our heals are too small to have any serious effect on the raid. Don’t let yourself get belittled, rise above this. A paladin can easily be the longest-lasting healer in the game. A paladin is the lowest maintenance DPS supplement in the game (since we wear plate and no healer needs to show serious concern for us). A paladin is a very viable AoE tank, and can off tank and even main tank many endgame instances, based on gear, spec, and open mindedness of their group. In fact, a paladin can work at constantly morphing to fill the current needs of the raid every second. It’s even possible to achieve many of these goals all at once. If someone tries to tell you that you are playing in a poor fashion, take a second to reflect. Have you been using the full range and scope of your class? Could you be doing something better? Is something you’re doing detrimental? Just think about what you’re doing and make sure that you’re doing the best you can.

On the other hand, if you have been called into a group to fill a single roll (supplying a blessing, cleansing, healing, tanking, DPS, whatever it is), fill that role or leave the group. Just because you are a hybrid class does not mean you always get to do whatever you want. More often than not, a paladin is brought into the group with the group expecting it to act as a healer, and you should always be prepared for this eventuality. Remember that a paladin’s gear has more effect than a paladin’s spec when it comes to filling a role, so either use a very balanced set of gear, or bring several sets for multiple purposes.

Looting
So here you are, sitting in the heart of UBRS, looking Drakkasith in the face. The fight starts, Drakkasith chasing after a hunter, his two guards getting torn to shreds by 9 other people. Soon your hunter friend runs back towards you, an enraged Drakkasith still in pursuit. The warriors charge in, the rogue fly from all direction to have at him. The mages and warlocks channel powerful energies into destructive magics which are hurled at him, and he falls down. He drops his ring, Painweaver Band. Stamina, attack power, and crit, all the statistics your Retnoob heart wants. You bid 10 on it, roll the highest… and its looted to the Rogue.

Dealing with loot as a paladin can be tough business. A lot of people feel that since we are a hybrid class, pure classes should get a call to loot before us. A rogue, warrior, priest, mage, or whatever has more claim over gear that isn’t a two handed mace or plate with int on it than us. Whether or not this is true is irrelevant, this is how many groups behave, and if you ran the entire instance with them and they treat you like this with no warning, they are being unfair. I’m not going to say whether or not a paladin is entitled to loot which is arguably better on a rogue/hunter/priest/warrior/mage/warlock/druid, because my opinion on it is meaningless to your raid. Remember to ask, at the start of every run, if you are allowed to roll on the items that you want from the instance before they drop. If the Loot Master (you do have a loot master, right?) declares class priority, make sure that they are clear about what you can and cannot do as far as this priority. If you suspect that the group is going to treat you unfairly, do not join it. When the paladins start to go on strike, maybe the raids will start to be fairer…

Keep this in mind when choosing your guild as well. Keep in mind that two-handed DPS is, traditionally, the secondary role for both paladins and warriors, not the primary, so a two handed weapon going to a warrior rarely improves the raid group. This is just something to keep in mind.

Remember, World of Warcraft is, above all, a game. When you get angry or frustrated at a group, leave it. If you don’t want to leave (for whatever reason), finish the run then leave and make sure not to join a group with the offending parties in the future. It isn’t worth stressing yourself over.

[Black_Mist(KoP)]

Dueling and Battlegrounds

Welcome to the duel grounds at the gates of Ironforge.
One on one encounters on a totally level playing field are rare in this game, but when they happen, ask yourself: how do I win?

Druid
A druid has, effectively, 2 methods of defeating a paladin. They can either be feral or restoration build. Balance druids exist, and you’ll probably have to fight one some day, but this is an extremely mana inefficient playstyle, so it should be possible to just heal through their damage then defeat them once they are out of mana without much effort. A feral build druid will try to ambush you and kill you before you can save yourself. This is just shy of impossible. A cat form druid has minimal defense and deals very little damage against a plate wearing class. The real threat is a restoration built druid, and the only serious threat to the paladin is if he makes a mana-consumptive mistake. A restoration druid will attempt to outlast the paladin by using bear form and healing, waiting until the paladin goes out of mana. Against a druid, it’s wise to increase your mana regen as high as you can by using Blessing of Wisdom and placing Judgment of Wisdom on the druid, then just slowly wear down on it. Don’t use any major, mana-consumptive finishing moves on the druid until the druid’s mana has been fully drained via heals or you are certain you can finish him off before he reacts. Always cleanse off the Moonfire debuff, since it deals more damage then the instant portion of the spell, and do the same for any Entangling Roots or Insect Swarms. Stay melee with the druid at all times and you’ll out survive it and win. Use your most efficient spells possible to keep your health high enough that they can’t combo you to death.

Rogue
Against an equally geared rogue, a paladin usually has nothing to fear.. Consecrate (Rank 1) and Retribution Aura are both highly effective, particularly against dagger rogues. Sit through the stunlock sequence and fire off hammer of justice. Take this opportunity to heal once (if your health deficit is low enough) and proceed to beat down on the rogue. The rogue can and will run from you, and will likely restealth, so be prepared to activate consecrate again at any time. [If you look at the builds I posted earlier, nearly all of them contained the spell Consecration. It is an intrinsic part of the paladin class, along with Spiritual Focus.] The rogue should crumble after the first or second hammer of justice, just remember to spam rank 1 Consecrate and to keep the rogue in combat as often as possible. It will restealth, but the moment it does you can take the opportunity to heal to as full as possible, using Flash of Light to conserve mana. If you find yourself in need of a heal while getting attacked, you may be in trouble. All it takes is one kick while you’re healing to totally disable you for more then enough time to finish you off. You can use Divine Shield or Blessing of Protection to heal, if this is the case, but remember that the spell Blind can hit you and disable you through Blessing of Protection. Stoneform helps a lot here, if you’re a dwarf.

Priest
This is a rough fight. Defeating a priest, particularly a shadow priest, as a paladin is an extremely difficult task, and as such there is no certain strategy for coming out on top. Instead, I will tell you what to expect during the course of the fight.
1) Periodic Dispel Magics on you. Your combat system (a Seal and a Blessing) will go away completely at the touch of a key to the priest, so if you have Seal of Command, use rank 1 (which is cheap) and open with Blessing of Wisdom on, but don’t go overboard about resealing it.
2) Mana burn. The priest will burn your mana away, leaving you helpless. Once your mana is gone, the fight is basically over, they can damn-near wand you to death.
3) Lots of dots and debuffs. Particularly against a shadow priest, you can expect to get hit by Shadow Word: Pain and Shadow Weaving constantly, and when you cleanse yourself it’s not certain to hit the more powerful debuff, Shadow Word: Pain and instead remove Shadow Weaving.
4) Fear. Once an opportunity, the priest is going to fear you and start beating down on you (after healing to full).
A few strategies for dealing with this fight are: Shadow Resistance Aura, self-mana burning (spending most of, if not all, of your own mana as damage/healing BEFORE the priest manages to drain it all), Seal of Justice to interrupt casting, a prayer to the gods, and a good warrior buddy ambushing the priest out of no where. I have yet to defeat a competent 60 priest in a duel.

Hunter
You wear plate, you are unshakeable (due to Blessing of Freedom and Cleanse), so the hunter won’t deal unduly huge sums of damage do you and won’t be able to keep you at a range for long. Get in melee range, keep Viper Sting cleansed or purified, and run straight for the guy. You’ll hit his traps, but this is almost inevitable. You can bubble out of a trap if you feel it necessary, but for the most part it isn’t. Once you’re melee, do your best to stay there. Consecrate when you see him feign death and he might not drop out of combat and retrap you. Really good hunters can stay at a range from you for a considerable amount of time, and possibly even defeat you by staying far away, but it’s a hard fight for them.

Shaman
Although the shaman does have purge, it isn’t nearly as difficult a fight as a priest. The shaman’s mana pool tends to be much smaller, its regen smaller still, and the price of purge and all of the Shaman’s other spells are quite high, so you can safely reseal and maybe even rebless knowing that he’s going to go out of mana before you do. In fact, this is the best way to win, wait for his mana to drain away completely then beat him down. Shaman are the least efficient class in the game, mana wise, while paladins are the most mana efficient, and they are helpless without their mana. Kill the totems with either a melee hit or a rank one Seal’s Judgment. Killing them all never hurts. Remember that, if you try to heal, the shaman will more often than not use Earth Shock on you and interrupt you. You can try to fake them out by starting a heal and immediately canceling, and if you get hit by Frost Shock or (lol) Flame Shock you have a window of 6 seconds to heal uninterrupted. It frightens me how many times a shaman has cast Flame or Frost Shock on me. Earth Shock’s spell lockdown timer is very short, so for each time he successfully interrupts you, you should be able to pull off one large heal.

Warrior
Warriors are one of the easier classes for a paladin to kill. We want to stay melee, so hamstring is meaningless to us. We wear plate, reducing the damage the warrior deals by 40%-60%, and our damage is largely holy, which ignores armor. The fight against a warrior is slow and steady. Heal high (so that you never risk getting executed or combo’d) and be prepared to bubble if your health gets too low and Mortal Strike is on you, ruining your heals. Remember that the warrior has Pummel and Shield Bash to interrupt your casting, so be very careful about healing when melee. The interrupt costs rage, so if you see their rage bar is empty, go for it.

Mage
If you can survive their opening burst damage sequence of a mage, you can beat the mage. Just keep your health high and flying with Flash of Light and watch amusedly as their mana bar empties out on you. Counterspell is a threat to you, but if they don’t hit you with it as you cast, you can just bubble out of it. If you get spell locked, the fight is over, because the mage will have 10 solid seconds to do whatever he wants to you. The longer this fight takes, the more likely you are to win. Once the mage runs out of mana, the fight is over, but it’s not going to be easy for you.

Paladin
Do not fight another paladin if you are in a Battleground queue, it will take too long.
But if you have to, the winner is the paladin who’s mana lasts longer. Seal of Wisdom, Blessing of Wisdom, efficient heals and efficient damage, just be careful not to be wasteful. I don’t want to even think about these fights, I’ve seen them take 15 or more mintues.

Warlock
The second hardest fight for a paladin. Between Fear and Seduce, the warlock will get free reign over beating on you when it wants to, and if it has a Felhunter out you can expect to lose your blessings and get spell locked every time you try to cast. Similar to a priest, there is no very reliable method for downing a warlock, but if you can treat them as a mage and heal through the damage you can come out on top. If it starts relying on Life Tap to get mana back, you can kill it without resistance, but getting the fight to this point is very difficult. Expect to be feared often enough to make you want to throw your mouse through the wall. Cleanse the dots and keep melee with him if you can, and if you see s Succubus or Imp, you should cast Exorcise on it and finish it off with melee, as it will remove reasonable amount of the warlock’s fighting power

[Black_Mist(KoP)]

Master of Group PvP: Why do they want you?

A paladin is hugely powerful in group PvP due to its unpredictability and ability to combat heal. Remember that your presence in the group should be increasing everyone’s survivability, and not just your own. Your heals are slow, but powerful, and your Blessings are cheap and powerful. Save Blessing of Protection for a teammate and remember that a rogue or mage is going to deal more damage then you can, so keep them alive to increase your group’s overall DPS. When a paladin charges an enemy player, it’s difficult to predict what will happen. Is he going to dump a Reckoning bomb? Will he get a double-crit Seal of Command proc? Is his whack going to deal negligible damage? It’s never certain, but it is very disruptive. Heal until you get Horde agro then fight until they forget about you or you die and you’ll be a group PvP giant. If you can heal and melee at the same time, all the better.

Remember that the spell Blessing of Sacrifice actually deals damage to you, so any kind of crowd-control spell that breaks when you take damage will break when you take blessing of sacrifice damage. This is a hugely powerful pvp tool… it can effectively make you immune to seduce, sheep, sap, gouge, scattershot, hunter traps, intimidating shout cower, repentance (when the expansion comes out), blind, and any other kind of incapacitate. It also increases your ability to break out of spells like Fear and various roots.

[Black_Mist(KoP)]

Paladin Guide Extended

About this guide
The purpose of this post is to group together all suggestions in the Paladin Forum and in other guides into a complete guide to Paladin Talents. Please note that this guide is under heavy revision and isn't perfect at all, I'm willing to take any and all suggestions.

Any comments and changes and suggestions and notes of, "Actually this talent rocks because..." and, "I don't like this talent because..." are also welcome.

General Information Links

Blizzard's Web page on the Paladin:
www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/paladin.html

Talent Calculators:
www.wowhead.com/talent/
www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/paladin/talents.html

A simple Damage Reduction Calculator tool:
www.worldofwar.net/guides/damagereduction.php

The WoWWiki page about Paladins (pretty much all the information just condensed into one page):
www.wowwiki.com/Paladin

An excellent pair of websites for finding item stats:
www.thottbot.com
wow.allakhazam.com

FAQs

A. What are the Paladin Talent Trees, and what do they focus on?

Holy - The Holy tree is concerned with healing, Holy damage, and general spellcasting abilities.
Protection - The Protection tree is used to increase your survivability, help protect other players, and increase threat management.
Retribution - The Retribution tree mostly deals with damage and other offensive abilities.

(None of these are etched in stone; they merely describe the theme of the tree. That is, there are damage talents in Protection and defensive talents in Retribution. No class has a talent tree 100% focused on one particular goal.)

B. Which tree is the best tree?

All of them; there is no best tree. Each one offers very good abilities, all of which complement the paladin's play style. A better question to ask yourself would be, What kind of Paladin do I want to be?

C. I'm just starting out and am confused! Help!

If you are beginning a new Paladin, your first ten talent points should go into Divine Strength or Divine Intellect, and then Spiritual Focus. This will help you in every way in your quest to reach level 60, since it allows you to reliably heal in combat (especially so once you receive Concentration Aura). Most Paladin talent builds you encounter will include Spiritual Focus for that very reason. However, from there on your path is entirely your decision. If you plan to keep Spiritual Focus at 60, you probably want Divine Intellect, which is more valuable endgame. If you plan from the beginning to respec at or near 60, you probably want Divine Strength, which is more valuable for leveling.

Many paladins will rush into Retribution to get Seal of Command as soon as possible to enhance their damage generation or reduce their required Mana investment in battle, while others will invest another 11 points into Holy to get the free heal every two minutes from Illumination and Divine Favor. The Protection tree is rather weak for solo play until you have 25 or more points invested (level 39 minimum if you have Spiritual Focus). Thus, unless your major focus is being the main tank in a consistent partnership or group of friends, you would be better off investing your points in Retribution or Holy. An exception would be if you plan to have some Protection in your build, 7 points in for Guardian's Favor will improve your group support power dramatically. (Although, it can wait until after key abilities, while you're "filling out" post-40. That'll be when a good group starts to make a big difference.)

Although the classes are theoretically balanced at 60, the "power curve" for advancement is not the same between them. Our power is above average up until level 40 (where our abilities begin to plateau), so talent choices beyond the first ten points are not a major issue until then. At that point the 1 gold to redo your talents is easy to obtain, and you can build a paladin that best suits your play style.

D. Should I go with one-handed or two-handed weapons?

Both would be ideal. A smart paladin knows when its time to use a shield, and when its time to whip out their war hammer. I suggest picking up the Weapon Quick Swap UI mod found here:

www.capnbry.net/wow/

E. What Seal and Judgement combinations are best?

Well, there really is no best Seal combination, but there certainly are a number of combos you may find useful.

Judgement of the Crusader + Seal of Righteousness - The basic grinding combo also works well for tanking endgame. Certain talents will increase this combination's effectiveness substantially.

Judgement of Light or Wisdom + Seal of the Crusader - Judgement of Light and Wisdom have a flat chance to proc per swing, rather than most of our abilities that proc a certain number of times per minute. Increasing your swing speed will also increase the rate at which you regen, and make it easier to keep the Judgement refreshed, while still maintaining a tolerable DPS.

Judgement of Wisdom + Seal of Wisdom - The Mana regeneration provided by this combo is unsurpassed, especially when coupled with Blessing of Wisdom. This generally only gets use when you are trying to solo elites your level or greater, or are burning Mana exceptionally fast in a group. The downside is that you take a good five minutes to kill any single target, making it extremely inefficient for gaining experience or farming for cash. However, if you somehow end up as the last man standing against one target, this could mean the difference between five minutes of downtime and re-clearing an instance.

Judgement of Justice + Seal of Anything - Judgement of Justice prevents your target from fleeing, which can be invaluable in groups, or when soloing in tight quarters against Humanoids. Its not really a combo per se, but still exceptionally useful. Also, not really talent-related, but definitely a frequently-asked question: does JoJ do anything in PvP? Yes, it does the same thing in PvP as it does in PvE: makes the target immune to fear. That's it. Warlocks' Curse of Recklessness has the same effect. That's not to say it's useful in PvP -- it's not -- but to say it does nothing is inaccurate.

F. What does each of the five stats do?

Strength - Increases melee attack power and damage blocked with a shield.
1 Strength = 2 Attack Power = ~0.14 DPS
Shield Block Value + (Strength / 22) = damage prevented per shield block

Agility - Increases Critical Hit rate, Dodge rate, and Armor.
1 Agility = ~0.05% Critical Hit rate (at level 60)
1 Agility = ~0.05% Dodge rate (at level 60)
1 Agility = 2 Armor

Stamina - Increases Health
1 Stamina = 10 Health (Note: Stamina gained at level up does not increase Health)

Intellect - Increases Mana, and Spell Critical Hit rate.
1 Intellect = 15 Mana (Note: Intellect gained at level up does not increase Mana)
1 Intellect = ~0.04% spell critical rate.

Spirit - Increases Health and Mana regeneration rate.
4 Spirit = 1 mana every 2 seconds
9 Spirit = 1 health every 2 seconds

G. Which stat is the best stat?

Like talent trees, the best stat combination is one that defines the type of Paladin you want to be. All paladins need lots of mana (Intelligence) and hit points (Stamina), but for tertiary stats, a Holy paladin might favor Spirit to the Retribution paladin's Strength.

Thats not to say that you should neglect any given stat, but that your priorities will vary depending upon your talent build and play style.

H. What does Skill X do?

Thottbot and Allakhazam both have excellent information on what each skill does, as do several other World of Warcraft-related websites. However, this guide covers the math behind any skills that are affected by talents.

I. What does the "up to" mean, in "Increases damage and healing by
spells and effects by up to X? "

Different spells are affected in different amounts by +spellpower. It tends to be true that slower-casting spells receive closer to the full benefit, but it's set per spell; some spells receive a higher-than-normal +spellpower benefit, some spells receive none at all. The spellpower coefficients for Paladin spells are as follows:

10% Seal of Righteousness (1H)
12.5% Seal of Righteousness (2H)
50% Judgement of Righteousness
20% Seal of Command (with spell damage equipment)
29% Seal of Command (with Holy damage equipment)
43% Judgement of Command
33% Consecration
43% Holy Shock
43% Hammer of Wrath
43% Exorcism
19% Holy Wrath
20% Holy Shield

71% Holy Light
43% Flash of Light

That is, if you had +100 damage/healing, you'd get +10 damage to every proc of SoR, and +71 to every Holy Light. Unlisted spells have a coefficient of 0: no benefit from +spellpower. Note that JotC is equivalent to +140 Holy spellpower.

J. What professions should I learn?

The Profession question is unfortunately beyond the scope of this guide. Most Paladins choose Blacksmithing or Engineering as their Profession, although nothing is stopping you from being a Tailor, for example.

[Black_Mist(KoP)]

Tanking

Personal Setup

First off, you need to be sure you are wearing updated armor for your level. You may be able to get away with a piece of mail or two post level 40 if you cant find the right mixture of stats on a piece of plate, but the main emphasis here is on a high armor rating. The higher your armor rating, the greater the physical damage mitigation and the less stress you place upon your healers. Hopefully you can get yourself past the 50% less damage taken mark and, of course, the more the merrier. Once you get into gear at level 60, you can easily break past the 60% less damage taken barrier.

Equip yourself with a proper shield. What youre looking for is one that has a high block value, the higher this value, the less damage you will take with each successful block. A good shield will also add a large amount of armor to your rating as well. If you can, stick a shield spike on there for added damage or enchant it for greater chance at blocking.

As far as weapons go, you are best off with a one-hander with a speed around 2.20 or faster. This will make sure that your Seal of Righteousness is landing regularly and pushing out a steady stream of holy damage. Slower weapons run the risk of misses becoming long lapses of time where too little threat is generated. If you do choose a slower weapon, make sure that it has a compensating factor (such as exceedingly high stats or an armor bonus) that makes up for this trait.

Use Blessing of Sanctuary if you have it. This helps reduce damage taken and deals out additional holy damage to help you generate extra threat. If you chose not to invest in this talent, then either Blessing of Wisdom or Blessing of Might are fair second choices. But seriously consider respeccing and gaining access to the former.

Use Retribution Aura. Some may say that Devotion Aura is a better choice to help increase your armor rating, but with a good choice of equipment you should be safe in that area. Retribution Aura will deal 20 holy damage (30 if you spec for it) to any mob for each and every physical attack they make. Along with Seal of Righteousness, this is the most reliable method of constant threat you can generate and is extremely useful when fighting almost all mobs. Always keep Righteous Fury up and in your buff bar. With it, you are a more effective tank capable at holding aggro. Without it youre just another melee class dealing mediocre, if not downright pathetic, damage.

Party Setup

Your party can be of any standard setup with you as the Tank. As far as buffing them goes, you are safe giving them whatever blessings they wish. But if you are grouped with any class with a heavy, burst damage, crit build, you may want to toss them a Blessing of Salvation. Most intelligent players will also know when to back off when its necessary, after most crits, mages should refrain from casting for a few seconds before going again, Rogues and Warriors can take a step back for the same reasons. Some may say this is a weakness shared only by Paladins, but its true of all Tanks. If that Fire Mage crits that Pyroblast and immediately follows up with a critted Fire Blast, the mob is going to turn regardless.

One aspect that your party needs to be aware of though, and one of the most important things to remember as a Tankadin, is that the mob has to be actively attacking and successfully landing physical attacks to help you generate threat. If the mob is stunned, incapacitated, or otherwise hindered in its attacking routine, then it isnt stinging itself with holy damage against your shield and auras.

Any Rogues in the group need to understand that stun locking the mob hinders a Paladins ability to tank. They need to either join in on battle a few seconds later than the rest of the party or avoid stunning altogether. The same goes for Warriors that want to start off every battle with a Charge and spell casters with Impact, Blackout, and similar abilities.

This above most things is what gives Tankadins a bad reputation. Not being allowed to build aggro in the way we are able to and losing a mobs attention. Warrior tanks need a Sunder Armor or two, Druid Tanks need to cast that Faerie Fire a few times, Paladin tanks need to deal an opening amount of holy damage. Running with a regular group is the best way to rectify that problem, they get to know the flow of battle and how it can flow with differing tanks.

Battle: Single Targets

What I state here is the optimum course of action for a Tankadins to take to establish initial aggro and hold it. This is working under the assumption that you have chosen, at the very least, Redoubt, Improved Righteous Fury, Holy Shield, Consecration, and Blessing of Sanctuary as talents. I have found that the use of these abilities are our best tools to being the best Main Tanks we can be. Remember, all of our threat comes from holy damage. Generate a constant amount of this and the mob will always be with you.

As with Warriors, we need a chance to establish aggro on a mob before others can join in on the fray. Most of the time, the rest of the party will wait for a Sunder Armor or two before attacking with a Warrior at the helm; the same goes for Paladins.

Start off with a Judgment of Righteousness and then recast Seal of Righteousness, 200+ holy damage right off the bat is a nice burst of threat to make sure that the mob turns away from the puller and anyone that decides to start attacking a little early. As soon as you have aggro, let your Retribution Aura do its job and start your attack. Every hit you take and every swing you make is another surge of threat. It doesnt take long, just a few seconds, to make sure that the mob will stay on you for the whole battle. Have the party give you those few seconds and youre set.

Every 8-10 seconds (depending on your choice of talents) your Judgment of Righteousness spell will be ready to cast. When you first start tanking, you will want to use this whenever you can. But as you become more comfortable with your abilities and get to know the intricacies of your party better, you can save it for the dry times in between Redoubt procs. This spell is basically another cushion of holy damage to give you confidence that you have aggro. Always begin tanking a mob with Judgment of Righteousness and everything else is easier to follow.

Whenever you suffer from a critical strike and Redoubt procs, cast Holy Shield to get the most out of both spells. Not only will the extra blocks greatly reduce the damage you take over the next 10 seconds, but you will gain a large threat advantage on your target. With the proper spec, your mob will take 35 holy damage from your Blessing of Sanctuary, at least 20 holy damage from your Retribution Aura, and 130 holy damage from your Holy Shield each time you block. With a 65% chance of this happening per attack at the very least (much more with the right equipment and enchantments), you can count on this combination typically proccing about 3 times in that 10 seconds with the average mob.

Or if youre fighting a mob that has either a fast attack speed or is wielding dual weapons, you can cast Holy Shield whenever you feel appropriate. If you find yourself suffering a bit too much damage, it can help cut down on health loss. If you think that Rogue is using Eviscerate a bit too liberally, it can add a bit more holy damage to give you more of a cushion.

[Black_Mist(KoP)]

Battle: Multiple Elite Targets

During instances, mobs generally come in packs. Any good group will have multiple methods of crowd control (e.g. Polymorph, Sap, Hibernate, etc.). If they can bring the number of active units down to one, just cast Judgment of Righteousness on that free mob and continue with your normal routine. In cases like these, you want refrain from any additional Judgment after the mob reaches around 50-60% health. Then, when it reaches around 15-20% health, hit it with a Hammer of Justice.

This will allow you to turn your attention to a crowd controlled mob and cast another Judgment of Righteousness on it to start the cycle anew. The mob you stunned with your hammer will stay in place while the melee can finish it off and leaving you free to start building threat on the next target. If your group is missing Executes or other Paladins with Hammer of Wrath you can choose to stun the mob as late as 10% health, but generally stunning it at 20% will work fine.

If you have already used Hammer of Justice for whatever reason, you can simply stay in place and use Judgment of Righteousness on a sheeped or sapped mob. The increased distance of the spell allows for this in most cases. It may make the fight a bit chaotic for a few seconds, but it shouldnt be anything an experienced group cant easily handle.

For the short moments when you are fighting dual mobs, and for the parties that lack sufficient crowd control, a few extra steps are involved to make sure that both elites attack you and you alone.

Before fights such as this, make sure the party knows which mob you will be focusing your holy attacks. This is the one to be brought down first. The second mob, while suffering minimal holy damage from your Retribution Aura at the very least, has not been hit with a Judgment of Righteousness and should be allowed to continue beating on the Paladins shield in peace.

When fighting two elites mobs at once, its always a good idea to keep Holy Shield up whenever you can cast it. Not only does this put less of a strain on your healers, but it also builds aggro on the mob youre not currently facing. Remember, 130 holy damage from your Holy Shield, 35 holy damage from your Blessing of Sanctuary, and at least 20 holy damage from your Retribution Aura are all hitting each mob with every successful block; even without Redoubt proccing, you should see full use or close to full use out of each casting against dual mobs. WIth your Improved Righteous Fury in effect, this will keep both mobs attacking you.

Consecration is also a good tool to use. If you feel you need a bit more threat generated because a couple of critical strikes have hit you in a row, causing a sudden surge in healing, a Consecration is in order. Discretion must be used with this spell however, it has a high mana cost and will hit any other crowd controlled mobs that happen to be nearby. Overuse will tax your mana reserves and could possibly put your party in danger from a third elite mob. Because of this, Consecration is best saved for the next scenario.

Battle: Multiple Non-Elite Targets

Theyre out there. Clusters of trash mobs in Dire Maul, Maraudon, and Stratholme. They can be bugs, plants, or undead, but theyre there and theyre meant for the Mages and Warlocks to AoE. This is where Consecration shines.

Have all of your defenses ready and simply charge into the groups center with Consecration, Retribution Aura, Holy Shield, and Blessing of Sanctuary. Not only will you see the holy damage fly, but damage will be surprisingly light. Typically if the Mage waits about 4 seconds before nuking, he can throw off 2-3 spells before the mobs even notice hes there. And by this time, its already too late.

If there happens to be an elite hiding in that group of non-elites, just hit it with a Judgment of Righteousness as you enter the fray and treat it just like any other fight. Cast Consecration and Holy Shield whenever they are up and you should have no problem keeping the entire bunch.

Battle: Undead Targets

What needs to be said about cases like these? Paladins excel in attacks on the undead. Exorcism and Holy Wrath are massive threat generators and will make sure that you are the only one taking damage in the party.

Stratholme is the best example of where to use these abilities. Single elite targets hit with Exorcism and Judgment of Righteousness at the start wont waver in their hatred for the Paladin. With groups of undead mobs, have the Priest start you off with a Power Word: Shield and you will be able to cast a Holy Wrath without interruption; follow this with a Consecration and even critted Flame Strikes followed by Flame Waves shouldnt turn the undeads ire.

Battle: Losing Aggro and Other Problems

Yes, it happens. The Rogue has to prove hes the top damage dealer. The Mages Talisman of Ephemeral Power is ready to use. The Warrior flat out doesnt like you and wants to prove youre a terrible tank. Whatever the reason, someone else has pulled aggro and the mob is running around chewing on others instead of trying to kill you.

Paladins do not have a taunt. We do not have an ability specifically designed to pull snap aggro and it can be a major hindrance. If you have Judgment of Righteousness or Holy Shock up, cast it and hope thats enough threat to regain aggro. If its not, then we use Blessing of Protection.

Blessing of Protection is a fantastic ability that serves two purposes. First, it grants whoever you cast it upon full immunity to physical damage. Second, and more importantly, it acts as a temporary aggro wipe for the target. Yes, the Fire Mage pulled aggro, but after having Blessing of Protection cast on them, they are now ignored by the mob and it will return its attention back upon the Paladin.

In essence, Blessing of Protection is a player-targeted taunt ability that lasts 10 seconds.

But remember, while the party member may be safe for those 10 seconds, they still retain their current level of threat, do whatever holy damage you can in that time to climb back on top. Most intelligent players will back off when they are hit with Blessing of Protection, understanding what has happened and not casting to allow the tank to regain aggro. Those that dont will most likely be killed after it wears off and while they blame the healers and tanks for their demise, the blame rests squarely on them.

Still, the biggest obstacle we have, as Paladins, to being main tanks is prejudice. Most players are used to having a Warrior in this role and will be adverse to giving Paladins or Druids a chance. When you find yourself playing with these types of players, problems can easily arise.

Some of the time, these players will do what they can to sabotage the group. Its generally best to always keep Blessing of Salvation on them at all times and calmly point out that the Warrior is doing more damage than they are and not causing any problems. Still, the best thing to do, as I have noted before, is to run with a regular group of friends and guild members and avoid pickup groups altogether.

MMORPGs generally work on teamwork and supporting your party. In Final Fantasy and Everquest parties had to be highly coordinated to function. World of Warcraft should work under the same principles, but doesnt always seem to hold up to the same standard. Youll find many players that just constantly attack, doing whatever damage they can despite mana for the casters or aggro concerns in combat. Yes it may be difficult to get around them in your group, but know that those that cant grasp the concept of the party dynamic, wont be able to function in 40-man raid instances and will most likely be kicked from your guild.

[Black_Mist(KoP)]

Good Gear

Last we come to armor and weaponry. What Plate should you seek out? Should you use a sword or a mace? Arcanite Reaper or Arcanite Champion?

All of this comes down to personal preference. Some Paladins choose to go for maximum armor and stamina with a hint of added defense in the style of a Warrior. Others want to get as many bonuses to blocking or to hit along with their stats. And then there those that choose aesthetics over function, loving the look of a menacing axe in one hand and a giant spiked shield in the other.

Regardless of your style, there are numerous pieces of gear that suit it. To save time and space, I shall only list the near endgame gear you would find in the higher level instances such as Dire Maul and Stratholme. In earlier levels, just seek out gear with a fair amount of stamina and intellect and you shall do fine. If you are lucky enough to be fighting in Blackwing Lair, then any piece of our Judgment Set will do you proud. Lets start at the top.

Helms:

Whitesoul Helm: www.thottbot.com/?i=24516
629 Armor / +15 Intellect / +15 Spirit / +35 Healing Spells

High armor and great intellect on this crafted item make it an excellent piece of gear. Mixed with a relatively cheap material cost makes this a helm that all Paladins should have in their inventories.

Helm of the Holy Avenger: www.thottbot.com/?i=53086
574 Armor / +17 Stamina / +18 Intellect / +20 All Spells / +1% Attack Crit

Outstanding gear out of AQ. You will probably never see this ... ever. But for the unique occasion it pops up on the Auction House and you happen to have a few hundred gold to spare, buy it.

Shoulders:

Bile-etched Spaulders: www.thottbot.com/?i=35747
485 Armor / +17 Strength / +6 Stamina / +6 Intellect / +7 defense

Theres not much in the way of plate shoulders for us to choose from out there. This is probably the best you can find as it adds all 3 of the main stats we require to tank. The added defense, while not completely beneficial, is not completely unwanted either. These drop off of Immolthar in Dire Maul West.

Abyssal Plate Spaulders: www.thottbot.com/?i=52242
530 Armor / +1% to hit / <random enchantment>

Gear that drops off of the quest mobs for AQ are difficult to come by, so dont hold your breath trying to farm one yourself. But, you may get lucky and find a set of these in the AH with just the right enchantment on them to make your Tankadin dreams come true.

Chest Armor:

Energized Chestplate: www.thottbot.com/?i=35671
617 Armor / +13 Strength / +20 Stamina / +12 Intellect / +5 mana per tic

Great all around gear that drops off of Alzzin the Wildshaper, the final boss in Dire Maul East. Its only downside is that on females it looks like that golden bikini that Princess Leia wears in Return of the Jedi. I suggest wearing a red swashbuckler shirt along with it to make it seem less tacky.

Plate of the Shaman King: www.thottbot.com/?i=5324
627 Armor / +12 Strength / +15 Stamina / +15 Intellect / +18 All Spells

After 1.10, this piece was upgraded considerably with added stats and a bonus to spell damage. For those of you who prefer an added punch to your holy based spells as opposed to increased mana. You can find this on Highlord Omokk in Lower Blackrock Spire.

Bracers:

Arena Vambraces: www.thottbot.com/?i=37261
371 Armor / +6 Stamina

Exceptional armor rating and stamina that can be worn at lower levels, a good all around piece of gear. If youre lucky, you can grab a pair of these from the arena treasure chest in Stranglethorn Vale.

Fel Hardened Bracers: www.thottbot.com/?i=37376
283 Armor / +12 Strength / +12 Stamina / +3 Defense

High armor, a healthy chunk of 2 of our 3 needed stats, and only a little bit of +defense make these a wanted item for Tankadins. Theyre only real downside is having to claim them from the rarely spawned Dreadlord boss for the Warlock epic steed quest, Lord Helnurath in Dire Maul North.

Gauntlets:

Darkrune Gauntlets: www.thottbot.com/?i=52179
410 Armor / +8 Stamina / +20 Shadow Resistance / +2% chance to block

Crafted gauntlets with good armor, below average stats, but an increased chance to block that makes up for it. The one material that may be difficult to obtain to make them are Dark Runes, only found in Scholomance.

Razor Gauntlets: www.thottbot.com/?i=35698
386 Armor / +8 Strength / Deals 3 arcane damage when attacked

Not really much in the way of gauntlets to choose from for us Paladins, youre best off looking for Lightforge Gauntlets. But if youre trying for an Energized Chestplate off of Alzzin the Wildshaper, you may get these as a fair replacement. The added damage goes well with the Paladins defensive capabilities.

Belts:

Belt of the Ordained: www.thottbot.com/?i=37571
353 Armor / +9 Stamina / +8 Intellect / +42 healing spells

For those lucky enough to find this off of random mobs in Scholomance would be wise to pick it up for themselves. Our two most important stats and a huge boost in healing spells, its almost everything we need in a piece of gear.

Handcrafted Mastersmith Girdle: www.thottbot.com/?i=9158
519 Armor / +11 Strength / +10 Agility / +10 Stamina

Agility and lack of intellect not withstanding, the high armor on this item make it exceptional. 150 better than other belts its level, if you have difficulty picking up a Belt of the Ordained, then definitely look into this one on your next upper Blackrock Spire run as it can be found on Goraluk Anvilcrack.

Lightforge Belt: www.thottbot.com/?i=23553
341 Armor / +10 Strength / +9 Stamina / +15 Intellect / +6 Spirit

One of the few pieces of our basic set that I would recommend for Tankadins. It has a fair armor rating, but great stats across the board. Its a random drop off of mobs found in Stratholme.

Leggings:

Chitinous Plate Legguards: www.thottbot.com/?i=37189
557 Armor / +20 Stamina / +20 Intellect / +5 mana per tic

Another great selection of stats and abilities on gear thats relatively easy to obtain. These drop off of Nerubenkan, the spider boss in the dead side of Stratholme.

Darksoul Leggings: www.thottbot.com/?i=51358
722 Armor / +22 Stamina / +2% chance to hit

While it has no intellect to entice us, these leggings do have an incredible amount of armor for blue gear and the added chance to hit is a tanking boon. From a ZulGurub reputation Blacksmithing recipe and while you dont need to go there yourself to get a pair, you do need someone on your server to have access to it.

Boots:

Master Cannoneer Boots: www.thottbot.com/?i=20122
438 Armor / +10 Strength / +21 Stamina

A high amount of stamina make these a very desirable item for a tank with the strength being a good secondary trait. They can be found off of Cannon Master Willey in the live side of Stratholme.

Death Knight Sabatons: www.thottbot.com/?i=37631
424 Armor / +11 Strength / +11 Stamina / +11 Intellect / +9 Spirit

Good armor and a fantastic blend of stats for Tankadins. Marduk Blackpool in Scholomance drops these.

Weapons:

Mind Carver: www.thottbot.com/?i=35828
2.00 Speed / 40.8 DPS / +8 Intellect / +12 spell damage

While not the prettiest of weapons, the Mind Carver has a good speed, decent damage, and excellent abilities for a Paladin. This weapon can be found on Prince Tortheldrin in Dire Maul West.

Serathil: www.thottbot.com/?i=21229
1.90 Speed / 40.0 DPS / 100 Armor / +9 Strength

A quicker weapon with added armor, a great steppingstone weapon until you can find a Mind Carver or Lord Blackwood's Blade. Serathil is a random world drop and can typically be found on the Auction House if you can spare the gold.

Lord Blackwood's Blade: www.thottbot.com/?i=53582
1.50 Speed / 40.7 DPS / 60 Armor / +14 Stamina

A fantastic new weapon that drops off of the new boss, Lord Blackwood, in Scholomance. A very fast speed, a great increase in stamina, and a nice armor bonus all aid in a Tankadin's defense.

Arcanite Champion: www.thottbot.com/?i=26058
3.00 Speed / 53.8 DPS / Chance on hit: Heal for 270-450 and +120 strength for 30 sec.

If you insist on trying to tank with a 2-handed weapon, this is probably one of your best bets. A fair speed, and the periodic healing can help give your healers some breathing room. This is a crafted item you can pickup from your local swordsmith.

Arcanite Reaper: www.thottbot.com/?i=14268
3.80 Speed / 53.8 DPS / +13 Stamina / +62 Attack Power

For those looking for a bit more in the damage department, the Arcanite Reaper will hit a bit harder with your Seal of Command. The added stamina is also a bonus if you can actually hold aggro with this equipped. Ask your local axesmith and be ready to pay a hefty sum to have this made for you.

[Black_Mist(KoP)]

Shields:

Crest of Retribution: www.thottbot.com/?i=23345
2057 Armor / 38 Block / Deals 5-35 damage when blocking

No stats, but high armor and block value along with a fantastic ability make this an exceptional shield that looks exceedingly menacing. Add a Thorium Shield Spike and your regular tanking abilities and your enemies will be taking well over 230 damage each time you block. This can be found off of Ramstein the Gorger in the dead side of Stratholme.

Barrier Shield: www.thottbot.com/?i=36187
2121 Armor / 39 Block / +2% chance to block / Increases block value by 18

Again, no stats, but the added bonuses on it are outstanding. The effective 57 block value mixed with a high strength and Shield Specialization can bring the amount of damage blocked into the 80s. This shield is one of the items that can be found in the Gordok Tribute chest in Dire Maul North.

Argent Defender: www.thottbot.com/?i=21010
2121 Armor / 39 Block / 1% chance when hit to increase blocking chance by 50% for 10 sec.

Yet another shield with no stats, but the bonus proc synergizes extremely well with our Protection talents. This shield can be procured through a series of Argent Dawn quests involving the bosses of both live and dead side of Stratholme.

Sets:

Deathbone Guardian: www.thottbot.com/?set=124
2438 Armor / +70 Stamina / +62 Defense / +24 mana per tic

After 1.10, this set became impressive gear for off-tanking in The Molten Core. Good armor, high stamina, needed defense for end-game raiding, and a mana regen rate that helps overcome it's lack of added intellect. All pieces of this set can be collected in Scholomance.

Consumables[/u]

Crystal Ward: www.thottbot.com/?i=9372
Increases the target's Armor by 200 for 30 min.

It may not seem like much, but every little bit helps and it also stacks with Mark of the Wild. Picked up in the Un'Goro Crater from the pylon quests.

Of lesser note are Crystal Spires from the same quest line. These reflect 12 nature damage in the same style as our Retibution Aura. While it doesn't do much to help hold aggro, they are fantastic when dealing with melee oriented players in duels and PvP.

Night Dragon's Breath: www.thottbot.com/?i=6414
Restores 394 to 456 mana and 394 to 456 health.

A quick boost in health and enough mana to cast another Holy Shield and Seal and Judgment of Righteousness. The best part of these are the fact that they only have a one minute cooldown that isn't shared with potions. Found in the wilds of Feralas from the Cenarion Hold quests therein.

Whipper Root Tubers: www.thottbot.com/?i=2959
Restores 700 to 900 health.

Even the best of healers need a little help and these can supplement them very nicely. Like Night Dragon's Breath above, they don't share a cooldown with potions, can be used once a minute, and are collected in Feralas.

Lung Juice carrottail: www.thottbot.com/?i=6228
Increases Stamina by 50 when consumed. Effect lasts for 60 minutes.

Fantastic, but this incredible item comes with three major problems. First, it's unique so you can't stockpile them. Second, they are an extreme pain to create as doing so means completing a legthy quest in The Blasted Lands. This further complicates the third problem, the effects don't last through death. So if you go through the trouble of making and using these, make sure your healers won't have you waste it.

Cerebral Cortex Compound: www.thottbot.com/?i=6267
Increases Intellect by 50 when consumed. Effect lasts for 60 minutes.

From the same line of quests as the Lung Juice carrottail above comes this item. But this also comes with the same three problems, so be sure of your party before using it.

Flask of Distilled Wisdom: www.thottbot.com/?i=25118
Increases the player's maximum mana by 2000 for 2 hrs. You can only have the effect of one flask at a time. This effect persists though death.

A huge increase in mana to help keep a Tanakdin's abilites ready to use and, unlike the consumables above, the effects last through death. Making or buying them is the catch here as all flasks require hefty materials and a trip through Scholomance to manufacture.

Flask of the Titans: www.thottbot.com/?i=26327
Increases the player's maximum health by 1200 for 2 hrs. You can only have the effect of one flask at a time. This effect persists though death.

On the flip side of Distilled Wisdom is this flask that gives a straight increase or health. Also lasting two hours through death, but requiring the same level of materials and time to make.

Summary[/u]

So, in final conclusion, Paladins are fully capable of main tanking.

Maximize your damage mitigation. High armor, a good shield, a healthy amount of stamina, Redoubt, Shield Specialization, Blessing of Sanctuary, and Holy Shield are all ways of achieving this requirement and helping you to survive.

Produce a constant stream of holy based damage to generate threat and hold aggro on the mobs you are tanking. Improved Righteous Fury, Seal of Righteousness, Judgment of Righteousness, Blessing of Sanctuary, Holy Shield, Retribution Aura, and Consecration are key to doing this right.

Learn to use your abilities, understand yourself, and you can become a great tank.

Good luck and have fun!