Paladin

Classes
Class races	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	Ev	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Quests	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	Evuid	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Abilities	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	Evuid	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Trainers	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	-	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Armor sets	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	Evuid	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Useful macros	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	-	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Class Halls	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	-	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior

This article is about the general class description. For the Warcraft III hero unit, see Paladin (Warcraft III).

The paladin is a holy knight,^[1] a hybrid class with the ability to play a variety of different roles — healing (holy), tanking (protection), and DPS (retribution). They have auras, blessings and seals that provide useful buffs for other players while withstanding heavy physical damage with plate armor and strong defensive abilities.

Through the holy tree, Paladins are able to empower their healing even further. The holy tree's most important talent, [Beacon of Light], allows 50% of a Paladin's direct heals to be mirrored to the affected friendly target.

Protection paladins are excellent tanks. Through the use of a shield, and the wearing of plate armor, they can mitigate quite a bit of physical damage. They also excel at tanking multiple mobs at the same time through the use of [Hammer of the Righteous], [Holy Wrath], and [Consecration]. Paladin tanks have gained widespread acceptance in the community.

Retribution paladins specialize in melee DPS and are able to increase their DPS by a considerable margin and fight several targets at a time with a good efficiency.

Background

As "warriors of the Holy Light", paladins uphold all that is good and true in the world and revile all that is evil and sinister — especially undead and the Burning Legion. They offer assistance to the beleaguered and smite their enemies with holy fervor. Found in almost every corner of Azeroth fighting the forces of evil and barbarism, these stalwart warriors of faith ceaselessly uphold their vigil against demonic forces. Paladins are the embodiment of good and selfless dedication to the protection of their peoples. They help the innocent and punish the wicked. There are however, also evil paladins such as those in the Scarlet Crusade.^[2]

Humans, draenei, and Ironforge dwarves are the most likely to become paladins, as these races revere the Holy Light. Blood elves known as Blood Knights used to bend the powers of the Light to their will, using a captured Naaru. After events at the Sunwell, they have begun using the Light legitimately. The paladin order, also called the Knights of the Silver Hand, grew out of humanity's culture, and its greatest heroes and fiercest proponents are humans. Ironforge dwarves possess the toughness needed to withstand the onslaught of the paladins' many enemies. High elves rarely become paladins, though this has changed somewhat, as their blood elf brothers and sisters expand the Blood Knight order. The Blood Knights are commonly mistaken as the enemy of the Knights of the Silver Hand by outsiders unfamiliar with the ways of the Light, but this is a false presumption. Recently, tauren paladins, known as Sunwalkers, have learned to use the power of the sun, much as druids use the power of the moon.

File:RetributionAura.jpg

A dwarf paladin fighting, with the retribution aura, against undead skeletons.

Second War

By the time of the Second War, Archbishop Alonsus Faol had perceived that the pious Clerics of Northshire, who suffered such terrible attrition in the First War, were ill-suited for the dangers of combat. Along with many of the surviving Clerics of Northshire, he sought those of only the greatest virtue among the knighthood of Lordaeron and tutored them in the ways of magic. Led by the crusading Uther the Lightbringer, it now rested upon the new paladins — christened the Knights of the Silver Hand — to heal the wounds sustained in combat and to restore faith in the promise of freedom from Orcish tyranny.^[3]

Third War

Although the paladins were once loved and revered throughout the lands of Lordaeron, by the time of the Third War, they had since fallen into hard times. The entire Order of the Silver Hand was disbanded for refusing to kill innocent townsfolk who were believed to be contaminated by the dreaded Undead plague of the Scourge. Disenfranchised and driven from their former homes, the paladins still worked selflessly to protect humanity from the gnawing jaws of evil.^[4]

World of Warcraft

File:Paladin-character.gif

Human paladin

Following the invasion of the Scourge, many of the order's paladins joined a zealous group of followers of the Light known as the Scarlet Crusade. However, many of these paladins have become fanatical towards their ambition of destroying the Scourge, to the point that those not wearing their colors are deemed corrupted. After leaving the Crusade, some paladins decided to join the Argent Dawn. Some paladins have also turned from the light and joined Arthas Menethil as death knights.

Others fled south, to the Kingdom of Stormwind. The paladin order, still referring to themselves as the Order of the Silver Hand, now thrives under new leadership at the Cathedral of Light in Stormwind City. Over time, the followers of the Holy Light spread their philosophy to the dwarves of Ironforge, who soon adopted the tenets of the order as well. Though decimated, the Knights of the Silver Hand eventually bounced back.^[5]

In a World of Warcraft questline, Tirion Fordring vows to restore the original order, which later merges with the Argent Dawn to form the Argent Crusade.

The Blood Knights are a paladin order within the blood elves. The Hand of Argus is a paladin order within the draenei. The Sunwalkers is a paladin order with the tauren.

Code of conduct

A paladin must be good and will lose all Light-given abilities if he ever willingly commits an evil act. Additionally, the paladin's code requires that he respect legitimate authority, act with honor (not lying, not cheating, not using poison and so forth), help those in need (provided they do not use their help for evil or chaotic ends), and punish those who harm or threaten innocents. While he may adventure with others from different organizations, a paladin will never knowingly associate with evil persons, nor will he continue an association with someone who consistently offends his moral code. A paladin may accept only henchmen, followers or cohorts whose intentions are good. A paladin who violates this code, becomes an ex-paladin, and loses all Light-given abilities until he atones for his violations.^[6]^[7]

Paladins don't always have to work within good or neutral organizations as seen by the Scarlet Crusade and others — however, they do have to believe they are working for good organizations or have faith that their cause is good and just. A paladin can be evil (as illustrated by Renault Mograine and Arthas before he took up Frostmourne, but his holy powers did start to weaken after he culled Stratholme; the further down the dark path he went, the more they faded until eventually left him), but as long as they believe their cause to be just, the Light will continue to serve them.^{[citation needed]}

Similarly, the Light cannot be forcibly stripped from a paladin that personally conducts himself in an honorable manner. When Tirion Fordring defended the orc Eitrigg from his fellow humans, he was banished from the Order of the Silver Hand, and a ceremony was performed by Uther the Lightbringer to strip him of his power. However, the ceremony failed, and while Tirion accepted his sentence of exile, he retained his paladin powers.

Notable paladins

Uther the Lightbringer
Arthas Menethil (formerly, later a death knight and then became The Lich King, now dead)
Tirion Fordring
Bolvar Fordragon (formerly, now the current Lich King)
Alexandros Mograine (formerly, later a death knight, redeemed by his son)
Saidan Dathrohan
Terenas Menethil II
Lady Liadrin
Turalyon
Daelin Proudmoore

Races

Main article: Paladin races

The paladin class can be played by the following races:

	Strength	Agility	Stamina	Intellect	Spirit	Armor	Health	Mana
Draenei	23	17	22	20	23	34	58	80
Dwarf	27	16	23	19	20	32	68	79
Human	22	20	22	20	21	40	58	80
Blood elf	19	22	22	23	19	44	58	125
Tauren	27	15	24	15	23	?	?	?

Blood elf paladins belong to the Order of Blood Knights, while human and dwarven paladins are usually from the Knights of the Silver Hand. Currently, draenei paladins are members of an organization called the Hand of Argus, but this may change with time as the draenei are now part of the Alliance and some may consider joining the Silver Hand.

In Cataclysm

File:VindicatorKaldel.jpg

Vindicator Kaldel, a draenei paladin.

This section concerns content related to Cataclysm.

As of the Cataclysm expansion, Tauren are the second race of the Horde to be able to take on the role of paladin.^[8] Tauren paladins are called Sunwalkers.

Aponi Brightmane, an NPC on The Elder Rise in Thunderbluff, is believed to have been the first in-game Tauren paladin. She has a conversation with Tahu Sagewind about drawing powers from the sun as the Druid can draw power from the moon.

Racial mounts

Each paladin order has a different mount.

Gear

File:Paladin silver hand.jpg

Human paladin

See also: Paladin sets

Paladins can wear cloth, leather, mail or plate armor and may use a shield. They can use polearms and one or two handed swords, axes and maces.

Paladins cannot dual wield, or wield daggers, fist weapons or staves. They also cannot use ranged weapons. In lieu of a ranged weapon slot, paladins receive a relic (formerly a Libram) slot. They have no spammable ranged attacks, but can use [Hand of Reckoning], [Exorcism], and [Avenger's Shield] (if Protection) or (if holy), [Holy Shock] to pull, as needed. [Righteous Defense] can also be used as a ranged pull, albeit its mechanics are a tad different.

They can summon their own Warhorse at level 20 after learning it from the trainer. The epic Charger is trainable at level 40.

Abilities

WrathOfTuralyon — A human paladin blasting some orcs with the power of the Light.

Main article: Paladin abilities

Paladins play a key role by buffing their allies. However, they also have a few other handy spells and abilities in their arsenal.

Auras

Main article: Paladin auras

In addition to spell buffs (see Blessings below) paladins have the ability to use auras, area-of-effect buffs that boost the abilities of all party members within a certain radius. Only one aura may be active per paladin, but multiple paladins can use different auras within a group (although two paladins using the same aura gain no additional effect instead defaulting to the aura cast by the higher level paladin). The auras themselves cost no mana to operate, have no innate cooldown (other than the Global Cooldown), and may be switched between at will.

Blessings

Main article: Blessing

As of patch 4.01 Blessings have been consolidated into 2 buffs, [Blessing of Might] and [Blessing of Kings], with both having a 60 minute duration. Unlike their previous incarnations, these blessings are no longer single target and are raid wide casts.

Hands

Main article: Hand (spell)

Hands are spell buffs that can be cast on party and raid members. Hands are derived from previous blessings, and includes [Hand of Freedom], [Hand of Protection], [Hand of Sacrifice], and [Hand of Salvation].

Holy Power

Paladins have received a new resource system, similar to Rogue's combo points called Holy Power. It is gained by using various spells, such as [Holy Shock], [Crusader Strike], and [Hammer of the Righteous], while being consumed by spells such as [Word of Glory], [Light of Dawn], [Shield of Righteousness], and [Templar's Verdict]. Up to three stacks of Holy Power is applied, and it will stay available for 30-seconds in and out of combat.

Seals

File:BEPallyfemale2.JPG

Blood elf paladins used to receive their holy power from the naaru M'uru. After the revitalization of the Sunwell, the blood elves now channel their powers directly through the renewed font of power.

Main article: Seal (ability)

Seals are long term self-buffs which boost the paladin's power temporarily. Effectively, they add a weapon proc to their melee strikes. Additionally, paladins can unleash these seals upon an enemy with the Judgment ability, causing holy damage and causing an effect depending on which seal is used.

Stats

Main article: Tips and advice for paladins

Paladin stats vary by role. Secondary stats can be optionally obtained after primary stats have been met.

Holy (healing)	Protection	Retribution
Primary Stats
Critical strike rating Haste rating 676 Intellect	Mastery Stamina Expertise rating 26 Hit rating 8%	Expertise rating 26% 781 Hit rating 8% 961 (841 Draenei) Mastery Strength (for Attack power + scales with BoK)
Secondary Stats
Mastery Spirit	Dodge rating Parry rating Armor Strength Agility	Agility (for extra Critical strike rating) Critical strike rating Haste rating
Stats to Avoid
Hit rating Strength	Critical strike rating Haste rating	Intellect

Talents and end-game expectations

Main article: Paladin talents

Paladins are a very unique class that have the ability to perform all three major functions required in group or raid play depending on their spec.

Healing

Main article: Paladins as healers

Holy paladins have devoted themselves to spellcasting. The most common use of the holy tree is healing; they take points in improving their healing spells allowing them to easily fill the position of a healer in a party or raid situation. Important talents such as [Beacon of Light], [Light of Dawn] and [Aura Mastery] are found in the Holy tree. With the introduction of Holy Power as a second resource system, Paladins gained [Word of Glory] which has no mana costs, instead it uses Holy Power. You can build up Holy Power with [Holy Shock] and then unleash it with [Word of Glory] or [Light of Dawn].

A less known utility of the Holy tree is the spellcaster dps role. Instead of healing, the paladin attacks enemies with spells such as [Holy Shock] and [Exorcism], for which [Denounce] is crucial: Holy dps can't be found under level 31.

Tanking

Main article: Paladins as tanks

Through the protection tree, paladins gain an increased ability to tank enemies. Paladins are especially well known for their ability to tank many enemies at once with rapid threat production. Paladin tanking was once largely reliant on reflective damage, but can now effectively generate multi-target threat through the AoE spell [Consecration] and the multi-target attack [Hammer of the Righteous] to hold aggro on multiple targets. Strong stamina scaling, simple and very high threat generation and the superb [Ardent Defender] talent make paladins perhaps the best tanks in the game.

Damage

File:JazminBloodlove.jpg

Jazmin Bloodlove, a blood elf paladin.

Main article: Paladins as DPS

Retribution damage favors slow two handed weapons and cause sudden damage spikes through both melee and spell crits. Through the now baseline retribution talent [Crusader Strike] and tier 3 talent [Divine Storm] they can deal considerable weapon based burst damage for AoE damage or for single target damage [Templar's Verdict] is a new melee range attack that deals additional weapon damage base on Holy Power consumption. Additionally, retribution paladins bring a large amount of raid utility, making them valuable in endgame instances. Retribution paladins are popular for their increased damage abilities for groups with the talent [Communion], increasing the damage of the paladin's group by 3%.

Paladins have several anti-undead and demon abilities such as [Exorcism], [Holy Wrath], and [Turn Evil] which make them very effective when fighting Demon and Undead targets (not including Forsaken players, who are considered Humanoids for balance reasons). [Exorcism] and [Holy Wrath] work against all targets, but have additional mechanics when dealing with undead and demon.

The retribution tree was once considered a joke until it was redesigned to use the same gear as warriors with damaged based off physical rather than spell power. It has remained a very strong tree since that time and often considered "OP" hence Ghostcrawler's line about one of his hobbies being "nerfing paladins".

PvP

Main article: Paladin PvP guide

In PvP, the paladin's most well-known strength is his/her ability to outlast his opponent(s). With plate armor, their ability to heal themselves and allies, and a near-complete invulnerability every few minutes, they are a hard target to take down. Paladins can also do a surprising amount of burst-damage and have good access to stun abilities. Paladins also make great supporting characters, buffing and healing team-mates while being able to survive the enemy's attention. Paladins are particularly vulnerable to [Silence] and Interrupt effects, as all of a paladin's abilities are part of a single magic school (holy). In addition, dispel effects are powerful against paladins.