ADVERTISEMENT
Paladin
From WoW: IncGamers World of Warcraft Wiki
Contents |
Background
Holders of the Holy Light and defenders of the Alliance, the Paladins have been the strength of the Alliance for the last two decades, and made the victory over the Horde, a few years ago, possible. They have lately had problems, disbanded by Arthas, and many Paladins joined the Scarlet Crusade, unknowingly of it's corrupt leaders. The Paladins that exist still call themselves Knights of the Silver Hand, despite lack of proper leadership, fighting the Scourge and the Burning Legion wherever it can be found with a Holy frevor.
Recently, the Elves, now calling themselves Blood Elves, managed to capture a member of the Naaru, and twisted it into learning them the secrets of The Holy Light. They now wield The Holy Light against it's will, and fight against the Scourge, Burning Legion or the Alliance as Blood Knights, allied to the Horde. Some say this could just be a way for the Naaru to bring the Blood Elves back to the Light. Time will tell...
As Arthas is gathering his strength, and both the Horde and the Alliance have dealt with the worst threats of Outland, everyone's eyes turn to Northrend, where Tirion Fordring, a friend of both Alliance and Horde, have started to create the New Order of the Silver Hand regaining it's former power. If this is enough to face the danger that Arthas brings to all living (and free thinking undead) is yet to be seen.
Introduction
The Paladin is a Holy warrior. A fierce opponent on the battlefield. He jumps into the heat of battle bolstered by his courage and divine abilities. He fights for The Light and for all that is good, where his primary focus is against the undead Scourge, and their original creators, The Bruning Legion. He heightens the abilities of his friends with a powerful aura and divine blessings. When all seems lost and hopeless the Paladin will touch those that are falling with the Holy Light to again make them healthy and strong. Together they crush and drive back their evil enemies.
One of the roles a Paladin can fill is "tanking", to make sure to keep whatever creep that might try to harm his party from doing so, and focusing his energy on the Paladin, while the others do short work of the danger. The Paladins great strength in Tanking is to appear threatening, and making the enemy hit only him, and no-one else. Another is to act as a cleric, giving aid where needed and Healing his friends if they get hurt. Well equipped and well prepared, a Paladin can heal as good as a Priest, especially if only one party member takes the damage. Lastly, the Paladin has some battle skills, and are capable of dealing some Damage to his foe, while not as good as a Rogue or Mage, he can also make up for it with Judgements on the enemy to buff his friends, as well as his aura for the others in melee combat range.
Regardless of what role the Paladin takes in a party, he can always help with his Blessings and Auras, and is at his best as a part of a group. He has stronger survival skills than many other classes, but also have a bit less capability to deliver damage.
Which Races Can Be a Paladin?
Alliance
Humans
Perception - active
Activate to dramatically increase stealth detection - Lasts 20 sec - 3 min cooldown
The Human Spirit - passive
Increase Spirit by 5%
Diplomacy - passive
10% bonus to faction point gain
Sword Specialization - passive
Humans get +5 to Sword and Two-Handed Sword Expertise
Mace Specialization - passive
Humans get +5 to Maces and Two-Handed Maces Expertise
Dwarves
Stoneform - active
While active, grants immunity to Bleed, Poison, and Disease effects. In addition, Armor increases by 10%. Lasts 8 sec. - 3 min cooldown
Gun Specialization - passive
Dwarves get +5 to Gun Skill
Frost Resistance - passive
All Dwarves get +10 Frost Resistance
Treasure Finding - passive
Activate to see treasure chests on mini map - lasts until canceled - no cooldown
Draenei
Gemcutting - passive
Jewelcrafting skill increased by 5.
Gift of the Naaru - active
Heals the target 50 + 15/Level over 15 sec - 40 yd range - 1.5 sec cast - 3 min cooldown
Inspiring Presence - passive (Mages/Priests/Shaman only)
Increases the chance to hit with spells by 1% for you and all party members within 30 yards.
Heroic Presence - passive (Hunters/Paladins/Warriors only)
Increases chance to hit by 1% for you and all party members within 30 yards.
Shadow Resistance - passive
Shadow Resistance increased by 10.
Horde
Blood Elves
Arcane Affinity - passive
Enchanting skill increased by 10.
Arcane Torrent - active - (Hunters/Paladins/Mages/Priests/Warlocks only)
Silences all enemies within 8 yards for 2 sec. In addition, you gain 5 + 1/Level Mana restored per Mana Tap charge currently affecting you - Instant - 2 min cooldown.
Arcane Torrent - active - (Rogue only)
Silences all enemies within 8 yards for 2 sec. In addition, you gain 10 Energy for each Mana Tap charge currently affecting you - Instant - 2 min cooldown.
Magic Resistance - passive
All resistances increased by 5.
Mana Tap - active
Reduces target's mana by 51 and charges you with Arcane energy for 10 min. This effect stacks up to 3 times. Amount of mana reduced is 50 + 1/Level - 30 yd range - Instant - 30 sec cooldown.
Resources
List of all the resources that Paladins can use (some training at a Weapon Master might be required) and their primary stats.
| Category | Usability | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Resources | ||
| Health | Yes | Paladins that focus on melee combat need most health, but even healers have use for a buffert to stay alive. |
| Energy | No | N/A |
| Mana | Yes | Paladins uses Mana for Healing, Tanking and Damage. Most important for healers, but needed for melee too. |
| Rage | No | N/A |
| Primary statistics | ||
| Strength | Important | Important for melee Paladins. Used for damage in general and absorbing damage as a tank. Not important for a pure healer. |
| Agility | Important | Important for melee Paladins. Used for increased Crit Chance and Dodge. Not important for a pure healer. A damage Paladin might want to replace Agility with "Crit Rating". |
| Stamina | Important | Important for melee Paladins. Used for increased Health. Healers also need some Stamina. |
| Intellect | Important | Important for healing Paladins. Used to increase Mana. Melee Paladins also need some Intellect. |
| Spirit | Not Important | Spirit is not used by Paladins in general. |
| Other Bonuses | For Healing | Healing, MP5, Spell Crit Rating |
| Other Bonuses | For Tanking | Armor, Defense, Dodge, Block Rating, Parry Rating, Spell Damage |
| Other Bonuses | For Damage | Crit Rating, Attack Power, Spell Damage, Spell Crit |
| Armor Types | ||
| Cloth | Yes | Melee Paladins don't use Cloth. Healing Paladins might. |
| Leather | Yes | Melee Paladins don't use Leather. Healing Paladins might. |
| Yes | Paladins use Mail up to lvl 40. Rarely after lvl 40, mostly healing Paladins. | |
| Plate | Yes | Paladins use Plate from lvl 40. |
| 1-Handed Melee Weapons | ||
| 1-Handed Axes | Yes | N/A |
| Daggers | No | N/A |
| Fist Weapons | No | N/A |
| 1-Handed Maces | Yes | N/A |
| 1-Handed Swords | Yes | N/A |
| 2-Handed Melee Weapons | ||
| 2-Handed Axes | Yes | N/A |
| 2-Handed Maces | Yes | Very common Human Paladin weapon. |
| Polearms | Yes | N/A |
| Staves | No | N/A |
| 2-Handed Swords | Yes | N/A |
| Offhand Equipment | ||
| Shields | Yes | A must for tanking. |
| Weapons | No | N/A |
| Ranged Weapons | ||
| Bows | No | N/A |
| Crossbows | No | N/A |
| Guns | No | N/A |
| Thrown | No | N/A |
| Wands | No | N/A |
| Class Specific | ||
| Idol | No | N/A |
| Libram | Yes | Used in "Ranged" slot. Found after lvl 50. |
| Totem | No | N/A |
Abilities
Hand to hand combat
General
The Paladin is a class that is part warrior, meaning that he can use heavy armour and most of the weapons. It seems that Paladins in WoW favour hammers in their quest for glory. After all, a big hammer is better against the bony undead then let's say a sword or a spear (although, it has no such effect in the game world). They can use blunt weapons, swords and also learn to use polearms and axes. If a two handed sword or mace is better than a one handed and a shield is up to the player to decide. Do you want to trade the extra damage for less protection or the other way around? Some people claim that it is better to use a shield that will give you an extra slot to gain bonuses on items from, especially whan playing alone. But what really is the best is probably decided by the situation at that time. Keep a good choice of weapons in your backpacks along with shields and armour with different statistics. You never know if you will be needed to tank, heal or bring the wrath of your two handed hammer.
A slow two-hander will deal more damage, but a fast one-hander could be good to interrupt a casters spellcasting, or you could take more of a beating with a shield. It is advised to train all the weapon skills since you never know what mighty weapon you might find in your travels.
Tanking
The Paladin has plenty of "tanking" abilities that he can use in battle, where his Holy damage will make him appear much more threatening than the rest of his party. He is excellent att tanking more than one monster at a time, and can easily pull several foes from the fragile healer with a Holy spell. His tanking capabilities matching the ones of a Warrior or a Druid in bear form. One of the important things of Paladin tanking is their ability to absorb a small portion of the healing they recive as mana, enabling them to continue casting their tanking spells.
Damage Dealer
The damage a Paladin can deal is not up to par with the "DPS Classes" such as a Rogue, Mage or Warlock, but with his aura and group buffs against the monster, he can boost his fellow close combat fighters to make the entrie party's damage output better. The general damage a Paladin does is often augumented by his Seal of Command, and together with other skills that "proc", or are required to critically hit, he can be a virtual "one armed bandit" of damage. Dealing low damage for a while, and hitting the jackpot and finishing his foe off. Due to this, melee paladins that are not tanking should be very careful not to steal the attention of the monster from the tank (be it fellow Paladin tank, a Druid bear or a classic Warrior tank). The Retribution Paladin will also gain from being healed, and reciving mana, just like a tanking Paladin, but if he is doing damage, he really should not get hit at all.
Defences
Especially in close quarter combat, a Paladin is very hard to kill with his defensive capabilities. The Divine Shield makes a Paladin immune to all damage and spells for a short time, he can use Blessing of Freedom to get rid of any movement impairing effects, heal and in worst case use the Lay on Hands spell to heal to full health. The Divine Shield gives a "Forbearance" debuff, which disables use of another shield for a while, but when that has run it's course, the Paladin can also use the Blessing of Protection to shield him from all physical damage (spells and skills like the Rouge's Blind still works though, and can easily be dispelled by any clas who can dispell or steal buffs) for another short duration.
Spell casting
Casting Holy spells is a part of the Paladin's every day life. He has many different spells that buff other people's abilities. As an example, can cast a spell that increases the fighting and shooting capabilities of his fellow party members, increase their mana regeneration or make them appear less threatening to the monster (making it less likely the monster would hit your healer or casters). The Paladin can also heal his friends with Holy healing spells, and have the most efficient heals of all the healing classes. He pays this by not being able to heal more than one target at a time, and not being able to cast spells that heals it's target by itself (Healing over Time, HoT). The divine ability "Lay on Hands" will use up all of the Paladins mana and in return heal a friend to full hit points, but will drain the Paladin so he can not cast it again for a very long time.
When the Paladin casts a spell he uses up his mana. When the Paladin is resting or drinking he will regain mana. So don't forget to bring something to drink if you are going to hunt alone and plan to cast a lot of spells. Early in the Paladins training, he also learns how to bring his friends back to life after they have died through Redemption. This is something that is not possible to do while engaged in combat, so must be done after the heat of battle is over.
Auras
Enhance abilities of him and his party within a certain radius of the Paladin. Only one aura can be active at a time. However, different auras from different paladins can stack. For example three Paladins in a party with Devotion Aura (an Aura that boosts armor) active will not stack on top of each other, only the Paladin with the highest learned rank of Devotion Aura will add to the party's armor. However, three Paladins with Devotion Aura, Retribution Aura and Concentration Aura will stack, applying all effects to everyone in the party within range. Paladins cooperating within a party is a must for effective grouping.
Seals
Offensive and defensive short term buffs that are non-stackable onto the Paladin. Only one Seal can be active on him at the time. This is basically the Paladins only battle enhancement, and can be used for many different things:
- Reliable Holy damage with Seal of Righteousness - Best on a fast one-hander.
- Regaining health on hits with Seal of Light - Best on a medium speed one handed weapon.
- Regaining mana on hits with Seal of Wisdom - Best on a medium speed one handed weapon.
- Stunning targets with Seal of Justice - Best on a medium speed one handed weapon, very good against casters.
- Increasing attack speed and Attack Power with Seal of the Crusader - Goes with any weapon, good when gettign skill in a weapon, otherwise not very useful.
- Damage over time debuff added to target with Seal of Vengance - Best on a fast/medium speed one handed weapon. Only available to Paladins of the Alliance.
- Extra damage from sacrificing health with Seal of Blood - Good with any weapon. Only available to Paladins of the Horde.
- Random bursts of Holy damage with Seal of Command - Best with a very slow two handed weapon. Only available to Paladins who put talents in it (Retribution Talent Tree).
The Seals have an extra power though. While the Seal can improve your combat effectiveness, and you should always have a seal up in combat, you can also Judge these seals unto your foe, giving him another disadvantage in combat. The different Seals have different effects if Judged:
- Judgement of Righteousness gives you a one-time extra boost in Holy damage to your target.
- Judgement of Light will set a debuff on your target so everyone who hits it have a chance to regain health (but less than from the Seal).
- Judgement of Wisdom will set a debuff on your target so everyone who hits it, shoots at it, or casts a spell at it have a chance to regain mana (but less than from the Seal).
- Judgement of Justice will make sure that the monster you are hitting won't run away and get his friends to hit you, but cast with a high level Seal, it will also prevent Players to travel faster than normal run speed. It will make a player on a Mount run in the same speed as you, and make a sprinting Rogue run at normal speed!
- Judgement of the Crusader gives anyone who deals Holy damage to the target a boost of damage. With talents, it can also improve the Holy damage more, and add a higher chance of any hit, shot or spell against the target to crit.
- Judgement of Vengance gives a one-time extra boost in Holy damage to your target, depending on how many stacks of the Vengance debuff is on the target.
- Judgement of Blood gives you a one-time extra boost in Holy damage to your target, but 33% of that damage will also be taken from your own health.
Blessings
Blessings are a little like Seals but can be applied to friendly players, it is a short time buff that is meant to be easy to replace depending on the situation. Each Paladin can apply a different Blessing to other players. One Paladin can't apply multiple Blessings to an individual player, and the same player can not recive many Blessings of the same type from different Paladins.
List of All Paladin Skills
Unconfirmed Spells and Talents in Wrath of the Lich King
Here is a list of spells and talents that are completely unconfirmed, but quoted from various sources on the net:
- Martyr - "Redirect all harmful spells directed at friendly targets to yourself for $d."
- Shout of Crusader - The Paladin lets out a mighty shout, causing all targets within 15 yards to become afflicted by Judgment of the Crusader, increasing all holy damage taken by $47960d.
Specialisation
The Paladin is the most flexible character Class, after the Druid when it comes to flexibility and ability to perform widely different tasks. If the Paladin has the right Talents and the right gear, he can be an excellent healer, tank or a damage dealer. Naturally, he can not perform all of these roles at the same time, but by visiting his Class Trainer and resetting his Talents, he can change to another role for his Guild or party.
Healer - Holy
A Paladin healer have strengths and weaknesses:
Strengths
- The most mana efficient heals in the game (Flash of Light).
- Very time efficient heals (Holy Light).
- Fast heals over all.
- Lowest amount of threat generated from healing in the game.
- Can take some damage in plate.
- Strong in a situation where few targets needs healing.
Weaknesses
- Can only heal one target at a time.
- All standard spells are easily interruptable (except the Holy Shock talent).
- No healing over time spells (HoTs) at all.
- No Area of Effect (AoE) or multiple target healing spells.
- Not a very flexible healer compared to the others.
- Weak in any situation where circumstances change quickly.
Important Healing Talents
In order for the Paladin to become a good healer, he primarily needs the talents Healing Light, Illumination and Divine Favor. In order to obtain these three, he naturally needs to also take several other Holy Talents. Good Additions to these are Holy Shock for an instant heal spell and Holy Guidance for the extra "free" healing.
- Insert link to Talents page when available.
Important Healing Stats
The stats a healing Paladin would like in general is stats with much +Healing, MP5, Intellect and a little bit of Stamina. All Paladins, regardless of Talent specialisation benefits from these stats as a Healer. However, a Paladin with the Holy Illumination talent will also greatly benefit from Spell Crit Rating, which both gives bigger heals with little overhealing, as well as a portion of the spent mana back.
The main stats that are not important are Strength, Agility, Spirit, and all modifiers for melee combat like Dodge and Crit Rating.
- Insert link to Talents page when available.
Tank - Protection
A paladin can tank well, but he have to remember to have his Righteous Fury buff up at all time.
A Paladin tank have strengths and weaknesses:
Strengths
- Deals a lot of damage for a tank.
- Generates much threat against the target.
- Good at tanking many mobs at the same time.
- Can pull up to 3 targets at once with his "taunt" skill Righteous Defense.
Weaknesses
- Requires that target is hitting the Paladin to generat threat (bad against caster targets).
- Generally less health than Druids and Warriors.
- Currently bad itemisation for Paladin tanks (hopefully changed soon).
- Itemisation leaves less "useful stats" to the Paladin than for Druids or Warriors.
Important Tanking Talents
Required talents for a tanking Paladin is Improved Righteous Fury for threat and damage mitigation, Blessing of Sanctuary for damage reduction and Holy damage (threat), Reckoning for additional hits (threat), One-Handed Weapon Specialization for extra damage (physical and Holy damage for the extra threat), Holy Shield for damage reduction and extra threat (Holy Shield does extra threat), Ardent Defender for survivability and Avenger's Shield for being able to pull targets as well as extra Holy damage (thread).
- Insert link to Talents page when available.
Important Tanking Stats
Tanking Paladins need vary many stats in order to tank efficiently, and is a drawback when it comes to gear, as this is often lacking, and Paladin gear simply don't have enough stats to match same quality gear for Druid and Warrior tanks. However, any Paladin that wishes to tank need much Stamina, Defense Rating, Block Rating, Dodge Rating as well as some Strength, Agility, Spell Damage, Intellect and MP5.
It is important to point out that a Paladin tank gets mana from Spiritual Attunement, and therefore doesn't need more than just a little Intellect and MP5 for his mana pool and mana regeneration to work at tanking. Spell Damage and Strength is only needed after he has enough Defense to be uncrittable, and Dodge/Block makes him highly resistant to Crushing Blows.
- Insert link to Talents page when available.
Damage - Retribution
A Paladin damage dealer have strengths and weaknesses:
Strengths
- Decent damage output.
- Brings utility to other damage dealers in his party.
- Adds utility to all damage dealers in a raid.
- Can still cast a heal or two in damage talent specc and gear.
- High burst damage for PvP.
Weaknesses
- Generally the lowest damage of damage specialisations between classes.
- Comparatively lacking when it comes to damage+utility compared to pure damage dealers.
- Itemisation for Retribution Paladins is non-existent.
- Need to use much Warrior gear, and by that recives lack of stats points comparatively.
- To be a good damage Paladin, you have to be a very good player.
- No way to "dump" thread accumulated from foes.
- High burst damage with crits is bad for PvE, and can give you aggro.
Important Damage Talents
A Retribution damage Paladin specialises very much in critical hits, where much of his power derives from. The disadvantage of this is Good talents for any Retribution specialised Paladin includes Benediction as damage paladins don't have all that many ways to conserve or regain mana, Improved Judgement for additional DPS and flexibility with seals, Deflection for damage reduction (not needed for PvE, as you should not be hit), Conviction for damage and crit synergy, Seal of Command as it is the main damaging skill for a Retribution Paladin, Two-Handed Weapon Specialization for damage, Sanctity Aura+Improved Sanctity Aura for damage and group damage, Vengance to harvest crits into even more damage, Sanctified Judgement for mana efficiency, Sanctified Crusader for raid damage utility, Repentance for PvP and to get Fanaticism, Fanaticism for damage and crit utility, Crusader Strike for damage and Paladin utility. An addition to this is also the Divine Strength talent in the Holy tree.
- Insert link to Talents page when available.
Important Damage Stats
As with a tanking Paladin, it is very hard to find fitting equipment for a damage Paladin. The stats are also mostly located in a way so that the average Paladin will have less useful stats than the average other Class. It requires much skill to be a good damage Paladin. In general, "real" stats like Strengths are often better for a Paladin than "Rating" stats like "Attack Power" or Crit Rating. If you just start to get gear at lvl 70, you might want to have Crit Rating instead of Agility just to reach the point where Vengance is active all the time you fight. If you have the Divine strength talent from the Holy tree, Strength is always better than Attack Power.
The main stats you will use as a damage Paladin is Crit Rating, Agility, Stamina, Hit Rating and Strength. You will also need Intellect, MP5 "Spell Damage & Healing" and Armor. If you are interested in PvP you also need Dodge, Parry and Resilience.
- Insert link to Talents page when available.
Essential Quests
All Paladin Quests
Gaining Redemption (ressurection spell, lvl 12)
- First Quest for Humans and Dwarves (The Tome of Divinity).
- First Quest for Draenei (Redemption).
- First Quest for Blood Elves (Redeeming the Dead).
Gaining Arms (Paladin lvl 20 weapon)
- First Quest for Alliance - Verigan's Fist.
- First Quest for Horde - Blood-Tempered Ranseur.
Gaining Warsteed (lvl 40)
Both Alliance and Horde Paladins can just talk to their class master upon turning lvl 40 to get their Warsteed.
Gaining Charger (lvl 60)
- First Quest for Alliance - Judgment and Redemption.
- First Quest for Horde - True Masters of the Light.
Endgame Roles
If you are interested in playing a Paladin, and continue to play after you reach the maximum experience level of 70, it can be good to know a bit about what you can expect for the huge part of the game that takes place after the leveling is completed. There is unfortunately also some anemity between Paladins of different talent specialisations, mainly due to that the "new" Paladins of the Blood Elves wanted to play the class mainly to heal, and as that works fine, they rather just all other Paladins stopped whining that they were not viable as Blizzard first envisioned them, and start healing.
2.1.3
The Paladin class is far from balanced, but the Paladin community have been promised a lookover on their Retribution talent specialisation when it comes to end-game material, especially raiding in bigger groups.
Mainly Holy Specc
Paladin healers are among the highest ranked healers for utility, survivability, mana efficiency and ability to stay alive. Most of the Paladins that see end-game raiding are Holy, about 90% or so. This is in many people's opinion the most use a Paladin can make, and it is a "bit of a waste" to put a Paladin on any other job in a raid.
Mainly Protection Specc
Paladin tanks are good as it is now, but due to lack of good itemisation (as Paladin tanks need a lot more stats to be as viable as a Druid or Warrior tank), as well as problems with Crushing Blows, are not all that common as tanks in the end-game. They still have about the best threat generation of the three tanking classes (Paladins, Druids & Warriors) and capability to tank several monsters at once. About 8% or so of the end-gaming Paladins act as tanks in the endgame.
Mainly Retribution Specc
Paladin damage dealers are currently a bit sub-par, and are very rare in end-game dungeons. This is mainly due to lack of DPS and/or utility from abilities/talents and the fact that it is very hard to find gear for a Retribution Paladin that uses very many different stats. If there was armor that was better suited for damage dealing Paladins, the built-in system for multiple stats on armour and weapons would solve a great deal of the troubles. About 2% or so of the end-gaming Paladins act as damage dealers in the end-game.
Starting Statistics
Below are the starting stats and attributes of the Paladin. Paladins can learn to use other weapons at a Weapon Master.
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Further Paladin Reading & Resources
- Forum to talk with other Paladins
- Paladin Skills
- Paladin Talents
- List of Paladin Trainers
- Quests for Paladin
- Paladin Item Sets
- Paladin Guides
- Paladin UIs/Mods
- Paladin Patch History
