World of Warcraft Paladin Guide

Disclaimer: Keep in mind I haven't played WoW since November, and I haven't played my Paladin since I think last summer which is basically a year. Furthermore I never played Wrath of The Lich King so I don't know much about Paladin's new abilities and what was added to their talent trees. This is advice from a rather seasoned Burning Crusade Level 70 Tier 5 wearing PvE Paladin. Don't ask me about Paladin PvP because I was terrible at PvP with this class. My Mage was my PvPer my Paladin was my PvEer.

Anyhoo time to give you the 411 on Paladin's. Just in case you missed what i was saying in the chat.

Now a lot of this will sound Greek at first but by the time your are ready for Outlands you'll have a good enough grasp on the game to understand what's what.

Paladins have been known to deceive many newbies because they can use a one handed swords, and maces along with shields. They can also use two handed Swords, Maces, and Polearms. This gives many newbies to WoW the impression Paladin's are like Warriors who can cast magic. Ehhh wrong! This phenomenon is extremely prevalent Alliance side since little kids usually play Paladins. Most Alliance Paladin's I've met are terrible players. Older players who understand the class however can make wonderful use of Paladins however. Horde based on my experience tend to consist of more mature players. The only race Hordeside that can be a Paladin are Blood Elves. Not a bad deal since Blood Elves are smexy after all, both the males and the females!

So yes off that bat Paladin's are not Warriors! A Warriors thing is the fact they can wear plate, have huge health bars, and dish out lots of Damage really fast. Paladin's in comparison DPS wise are just pitiful. Pallies are NOT a DPS class by any stretch of the word. What Paladins have working for them with a gusto however is survivability. Like Warriors they can wear plate, they also can get reasonably high health bars, but you'll want to balance Stamina and Intelligence carefully because without mana a Paladin is useless. So health and magic balance is important. The biggest thing Paladins have going for them is they can heal. Last time I played they were on par with Priests in terms of their healing abilities if you specced Holy, which I did. Non-Holy Pallies aren't the best healers, they're kinda meh but one area they rival Warriors in is Tanking. Paladins can make for amazing Tanks due to their ability to hold aggro via Consecrate. Throw a few of those down have your Ret Aura up along with Righteous Fury and you're going to ensure others don't pull aggro off you during battle.

So overall Paladins make for great healers with a mana regeneration rate if specced and geared correctly will ensure you rarely run out of mana. Plus since they can take such a pounding if you by chance make a mistake and draw some aggro, you have a much higher chance of survival than a priest because your tank will be able to get the mob or mobs off you before you even come close to death. As tanks Paladin's I say are the best tanks for 5 man instances. However for certain raid instances, you may need the finesse of a Warrior's inherent tanking ability to get through the instance. Though this varies depending on how well you're geared.

Overall Paladin's are a support class. Their aura's can compensate for a multitude of situations. They have a hefty load of buffs that are specific for certain situations and classes. For example you want Magical DPS, Mages, Warlocks, Shadow Priest, to have blessing of Wisdom. You want your primary healer to have Blessing of Salvation (I'm pretty sure that's it) which negates aggro. You want you're melee DPS Rogue's, Warriors, Feral Druids, to have Blessing of Might. If you're not sure just throw Blessing of Kings on someone.

If you're a tank you're going tank you're going to want either of the following 3 Blessing Might, Blessing of Wisdom if your mana regen is lacking, or Blessing of Light if you need your heals to pack an extra punch. As a tank I find myself opting for Wisdom for trash mobs, an Light for boss fights personally. If you're a healer, it's either Wisdom, or Salvation. I opt for Wisdom typically because I'm good at aggro management. However if you find yourself pulling aggro often immediately switch to Salvtion.

As per aura's they can be circumstantial, but pretty easy to figure out with some common sense. If you have two Paladins in your group, you're more than set! One Tankadin, and one Healiden can make for an insanely strong group so long as you don't get stupid DPS that can't handle their aggro if their life depended on it to team with. I say this because my Big Sis and I actually leveled our Pallies together. We both started as Ret Paladins, then she respecced Holy, and I respecced Protection when we hit Outland. I was a pretty good tank, and she... well she is just a WoW Grandmaster. She will play any class you give her perfectly. However she got bored of healing and wanted to tank, and I actually was up for the idea of healing since I was our healer in earlier instance experiences and she was our tank even though we were both Ret at the time. But in early instances you can wing it with Ret if you're a competent player, like Scarlet Monastary was a hotspot for us for a while since there was some good gear to be getting there for our lowbies, and nice exp grinding while getting it. Once we switched we were the dynamic duo. I was a great healer, and she was an amazing tank! A much better tank than I was, and we both enjoyed our new roles.

I should also mention Big Sis and I began leveling these Paladins pre-BC. Right before it came out actually. When I leveled with her though it was fast. We were level 50 when BC came out, so it was great timing overall because we made it into Outland in no time at the rate we were going. For her the Paladin was a side thing between leveling her Druid and Raiding with her Hunter. I tell you my Big Sis was just like a natural at WoW! When we finally dinged 70 I was already working on my Blood Elf PvP Mage, and she already had her brand new Draenei Warrior to 50, her Druid, Rogue, Hunter at 70 PvPing and Raiding with all her 70's, grant you her Warrior wound up being her main. She wound up also playing her Paladin without me since for me leveling one character was tough enough. How she did it I don't know? Because she worked a fulltime job, was very responsible and hung out with me all the time. I remember playing with her though she just knew how to get things done in WoW. Probably because she was in the Beta for the original, and for BC. So yeah while I was leveling my Mage she had already gotten Tier 4 with her Paladin by the time I hit level 50 with my Mage, and last I heard her Paladin was decked out in Season 5 as she found an effective way to PvP with them. All her characters had the best gear, PvP, and PvE before she finally quit WoW a few months back. I digress...

In late game you're going to want to go either Protection, or Holy since Retribution is only good for leveling until you make it to Outlands. Once in Outlands I say there are a few quests you should definitely do especially one right at the Outland Starting area, which will get you a great trinket. It's part of questline that alludes me, but believe me you'll be using that trinket for a long time. There's one built for DPS, one built for Spellpower, and I forget what the other is built for. Still for both my 70's even with all their epics kept those trinkets handy. For my Paladin the spell power Trinket was perfect when I needed a sudden burst to my heals. For my mage the increase in spell power gave a nice extra bit of damage when the trinket was active so could shoot someone's health down real fast and kill them if they were already at like 50% in a snap with some quick thinking and pulling out just the right spell combo as needed. So even when I had like all epics I still used that one blue trinket from time to time for both my 70's.

But for the most part you're going to want to instance for the best gear. Slave Pens has an incredible healing mace and that lightsaber with some nice spellpower I'd opt for the mace personally. Since the lightsaber is better for Locks, and Mages. Underbog has some nice Tanking Shoulders, which are part of the unofficial Warior Tier set, I also think it has the Unofficial Tier Pally Shoulders too? The Warrior ones are better for Pally tanks though, while the Pally Ones are best suited for Holy Paladins. The unofficial Tier sets are scattered in the instance dungeons in Outlands. Like Pally Breastplate you'll will find off the first boss in Ramparts, there's also nice spellpower ring you can get from the final boss, and a Two Handed Pally Hammer from the second to last boss, but it's Ret-Junk. You will definitely the Breastplate for your Pally this no matter what your spec though. Ramparts will be your first Dungeon in Outlands then... Ohhh I forgot the name of the place on the other side of the temple. But the other instance has either the Pally Belt or pants. The Pants might be in Mana Tombs? Or is that the gloves? Uhhh wait no pants are in Slave Pens Last boss. Gloves Mana Tombs. The belt might be in Underbog as well? The first boss maybe? Sorry trying to remember valuable Pally drops. It's been like years since I did Outland with my Pally.

Prior to Outland however you're going to want to be a pain and go for good DPS gear, which usually means gipping a warrior from time to time for some high quality DPS stuff. But Seal of Command will work in your favor in those lower levels with strong DPS gear, and a nice slow two handed weapon. The reasoning behind Ret in early levels is Protection, and Holy aren't malleable builds until you hit about level 50 at the very least. The fastest way to level prior to that is Retribution spec, which believe me will seem great at first but slowly deteriorate into something to laugh at. So many Paladin's stick with the spec too even after they hit mid 60's, which goes to show their inexperience, because no one wants to instance with a Ret Paladin or Retnewb as they were often called.

So yes you should level to at the very least 50 with Ret as it's good for grinding at that point. I also recommend sticking with Ret until you hit level 58 because at 58 you can go to Outland and the gear there really compliments Holy and Protection builds. That's when you'll want to respec either Holy or Protection. Maybe people stick with Ret after Outland because they think it's good for soloing... Trust me when I say It isn't. Ret is terrible at that point compared to a Protection Paladin, or even a skilled Holy Paladin which can AoE grind, by training a bunch of mobs rounding them up. Throwing down a consecrate and bring them down as fast as possible, while throwing a heal on yourself every so often. Now AoE Grinding is not something I recommend until you gear up a bit in Outland. You'll want some spellpower, okay strength, decent stamina, intelligence, and mana regen.

With all that said let me see if I can build you a 1-58 Retribution Build. Mind you I may need to look deeper into this since there are new abilties to be had now between 70-80 and obviously new talents I am unfamiliar with, and I'm not sure how they might have changed the trees around. I'll try to throw up builds tomorrow. One for Ret 1-58. Then one for Protection and Holy respectively all the way up to level 80. I'll try to use my best judgment making those builds, and research the new abilities Paladin's get between 70-80.

This is all I can do now I'm exhausted... Need sleep... ~_~ Mind any typos...

Thanks for the awesome guide Strange Angel.

I tried to install World of Warcraft today and to play a game with Mayu on a private server.

Unfortunately the installation and patching process was such a nightmare I gave up. I've spent an entire day trying to download and install the game and I guess this is nothing compared to the countless hours that people spend addicted to the game.

This game ruins families, friendships and was designed to be addictive.

I'll keep my Dragon Age thanks, it maybe single player but at least it has no lag.

All MMO's are designed to have addictive qualities. WoW just does it the best because compared to some other MMO's it's like babies first MMO therefore anyone can pick it up and play it. Sure they may not be the best, but WoW is easy overall unless you're shooting for epic gear, or PvP.

However I think you've watched one too many documentaries on MMO addiction, because that is hyperbole. WoW or any MMO for that matter doesn't ruin your life. The player playing the game does. Sometimes you need to know when to walk away. It's like any other genre of gaming. Gaming in and of its self can be addictive.

I was never addicted to WoW in retrospect but I played it quite a bit when I had the time. I just got tired of it, because it lacked any variation to hold my interest, the playerbase were rude little brats. So I gave up on WoW entirely over a year and half ago.

So that little guide of sorts may be very, very outdated. But as a side note Ret Paladins can be very powerful if you gear them just so, but gearing them perfectly is no small task. At least that's how it used to be. Plus my Human Pally was for PvE while my BelF Mage was for PvP.

I have no intention of ever returning to WoW the game doesn't have enough variety for me. SWG on the other hand is the best MMO I ever played, much more complex than WoW. You need to use your brain to play this one, and it isn't all kill Mob A, and such. Oh no I was working on a club to open up. I was also working on a Tailoring shop. However I realized that the game was becoming to personal. Once that happens once I feel pressured by a game and do it not for fun, but out of some sense of obligation. That's when it ceases to be a game, and becomes an addiction. That's why I have decided to take a break from the game for about a month maybe longer deepening on whether or not I go to the hospital again this month. Yes, yes I am very ill.

In a nutshell if you find yourself playing a game, any game singly player, multiplayer, MMO, FPS, RPG, Action, Fighting whatever. If you're not having fun with that game you're addicted.

So it's not WoW it's that people don't know when to walk away, but this can go for any game, any genre. I intend on playing SWG again but my life comes first, and most of all my health and my health is very, very poor and declining. I won't worry the board with what I just heard about my blood tests. Then again it is no secret that I can die at any time. The thing is I am so young, and ummm yeah it looks like my life will be a short one. I just want to prolong it, and enjoy it.