Changes: Paladin

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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 a description of the character class Paladin.

For a description of the role of paladins within the lore of Warcraft, see Paladin lore.

For related articles, see Category:Paladins

Paladin Tips

File:Palatier2.jpg

Paladin in full Judgement set.

People will expect you to heal if you don't have a priest or druid in your party (see Healadin)
When buffing start by buffing yourself and then the rest of the party, that way you will know that when your blessing runs out it's time to buff everyone again.
In instances, give casters [Blessing of Salvation], unless they explicitly request something else. It saves them from attracting aggro which could otherwise cause a wipe.
[Flash of Light] is mana efficient. Holy Light is time efficient (despite the 2.5 second cast). While [Flash of Light] may constitute the majority of your heals, consider using Holy Light in emergency situations like in PvP.
If there are two or more paladins in your group, decide on who will do what auras.
In larger raids, one paladin should be doing [Blessing of Might]/ [Blessing of Wisdom], another [Blessing of Light]/ [Blessing of Salvation], a third [Blessing of Kings] on everyone, and the fourth paladin [Blessing of Sanctuary]/ [Blessing of Light]. As far as blessings goes, four paladins should suffice for 40 man raids.
Do not cast [Blessing of Protection] on tanks - even if it seems like they will die (unless some strategy requires it). It is generally ok to cast protection on a melee DPS class, however, make sure to give them a different blessing (to erase the effect) once they are healed. It is almost always ok to cast [Blessing of Protection] on a caster.

Talents

Paladin Talents are split into 3 categories:

Holy
Protection
Retribution

Talent builders can be found at:

Some good info at the official WoW forums:

End-Game Expectations

Raiding: Pre-expansion patch 2.01)

A Paladin is valued in raids for the buffs they bring, their ability to cleanse, and almost always be used as a healer. Paladin healing is valued in that it is very mana efficient, if not the most powerful; the quick, smaller, low-threat heal of Flash of Light filling a niche in healing. Utility from judgements is also valued, albeit somewhat situationally.

Paladins as tanks or damage-dealers are rare, due to several factors: It is significantly harder to acquire gear for damage or for tanking as a paladin, as Tier 1, 2, and 3 support healing and support over melee, paladins have had little ability to specialize as their talent trees were jumbled, and a stereotype that Paladins simply cannot fulfill these roles.

Raiding: Post patch 2.01

The changes have effectively rounded out the paladin class, allowing for specialization that was sorely needed. Deeper trees have enhanced all three roles that the paladin can choose to fulfill.

Tanking is made more viable by increased aggro and mitigation talents, the introduction of [Spiritual Attunement] for longevity, [Consecration] made trainable and a taunt in the form of [Righteous Defense]. The Paladin is now almost as good (if not on par depending on gear) as a Warrior at main tanking, and the best off-tank due to their multi-target tanking abilities.

Changes to the Retribution tree, primarily [Sanctified Crusader] and [Crusader Strike], have increased the value of at least one Paladin per raid spec'ing deep into the tree, with increased utility and damage.

Please keep in mind that, until the expansion pack is released, most gear itemization that exists for the paladin class focuses mainly on the defensive healing aspect of the class. This will change drastically after 1.16.07 as itemization will cater to and reflect on the more diverse nature of the paladin class abilities of tanking and alternate dps trees. Paladins and Druids are currently set up to be the most readily accessible tanks for 5-10man groups while Warriors, for the most part, will still maintain their role as large raid boss tanks.

The Death of Decursive and Emergency Monitor Targeting

With the introduction of the 2.0.1 patch, Blizzard changed a lot of the source code that allowed for macros and mods to do 'smart' things, such as run basic 'if then' searches for casting cleanse or allowing you to cast heals based on emergency monitor list populations. There are several attempts to revive the Decursive mod, but so far, none have come close.

As it is, your best bet for quick and easy cleansing in raids is to use programs such as CTRA or ORA, which allow you to have player raid tiles highlighted when they are afflicted by a status ailment that you can cleanse.

There is also an addon called SmartBuff that has been updated for patch 2.0.1, which contains a sub-addon called SmartDebuff. SmartDebuff creates a small window your UI that highlights party members when they obtain a debuff that your character class can remove. What makes this especially useful, is that you simply click that highlighted name and the appropriate cleansing spell will be cast, without losing you current target.

In addition, several paladins have had success using modifications called "Grid" and "Clique" in conjunction. Grid puts an overlay of the raid on your screen with visual updates for certain types debuffs (Magic, Curse, Poison, Disease) in addition to status indicators (Death, Aggro, Incoming Heals, Low Mana, Health Deficit). Clique allows you to bind your mouseclicks and keyboard & mouse click functions to certain spells; for instance, Shift+Left Click will automatically cast "Flash of Light" at the max rank. This will help the paladin react quicker to healing situations as you do not have to select the target you are trying to heal first, then cast the spell. Similarly, those not using SmartDebuff due to its rather bland graphical interface may want to look into Grid & Clique to bind cleanse to Right Click, or another convenient spell. Grid distinguishes between the different types of cleansable debuffs.

Once you have that, you have two different options to choose from, both of which require you to learn how to play 'wack-a-mole'. Either bind cleanse to a specific keyset (shift+left click) and simply click on the afflicted players, or use the mouseover function in the mod Bigwigs which allows you to simply move your mouse over the raid-player tile and press your cleanse hotkey without having to target them with a mouse click.

Some folks have come up with brute-force cleansing macros that simply cycle through the entire raid, one player at a time, checking for status ailments, but this takes far too long and requires too many button pushes. It is simply more time effective to learn how to play Blizzard's wack-a-mole cleansing encounters the way they designed them to be played.

Healing in Instances

Tanks will almost always get Blessing of Light. The only exception of this is the rare occurrence that the Paladin will not be the primary healer, as Blessing of Light only benefits Paladin healing. As an alternative, use Blessing of Kings to increase the tank's health and other stats, or use Blessing of Might for more attack power.

The paladin is a combat healer. They spam [Flash of Light] (FoL), raid/group wide, in an effort to keep their teammates alive. With that in mind, be intelligent about how you heal and what various levels of FoL one can use to get the job done.

Example:

A player near full health, who has suffered minimum damage, can either live without a heal or can be easily capped off by a rank 3 or 4 FoL (thus saving you mana).

A player who has taken considerable damage (the MT/OT for example) should have max rank FoL cast on him. THIS TECHNIQUE WILL SAVE YOU MANA. And we all know that for any serious, prolonged fight, you damn well need it.

With some talents, such as Sanctified Light, Improved Blessing of Wisdom, Illumination, and Divine Favor, Paladins running out of mana within a fight should be a rarity. Illumination returns the mana cost of any spell when you get a critical heal. Divine Favor guarantees a critical heal, Sanctified Light gives you 6% more critical chance to Holy Light, Holy Power gives you 5% more critical chance, and Divine Intellect further increases your critical spell chance. All the while, Improved Blessing of Wisdom will be regenerating your mana as well.

Paladins usually give themselves Blessing of Wisdom in instances to keep their mana regeneration up. In the event there are two paladins, the second blessing should be something that fits the role both are playing. Many paladins prefer not to have Blessing of Salvation, as the heals from paladins already generate a low amount of threat. Choose Blessing of Kings to increase your mana and critical chance, or you can cast Blessing of Light if the paladins are tanking or you anticipate a battle where you will be damaged.

Healing in PvP

The paladin's role as a combat buffer and healer is especially well-suited for battlegrounds. Your short duration buffs are ideal in these situations, as they cost very little mana and their short duration isn't drawback when players are sure to die or get dispelled within 5 minutes. Compared to the costly 30 minute buffs of other classes, the efficiency of the paladin blessings truly shines here.

Your toughness makes you an ideal healer as well. Unlike priests, you will often not be the first priority for your opponents as you're too tough to take out quickly. This leaves you more freedom to heal. Be wary though, as some well structured pvp groups will specifically kill ALL healing targets first.

The infamous "bubble" is what makes paladins such great healers, giving them 12 seconds of totally uninterrupted healing.

Spam -max rank- FoL and keep allies targets alive.

For anyone nearing death, Divine Favor+HL will heal them near full unless they're a well equipped warrior or druid in bearform.

Be savvy about how you go about positioning yourself in pvp healing situations. Normally, most pvp'ers will experience tunnel vision and only focus on their immediate surroundings. Stay back. Stay under cover if possible, and keep your team alive. You will cause more aggravation to your opponents keeping your team alive than you will sitting in the middle of the action dumping a consecrate and bubble healing.

Healing in PvP post 2.01

The holy tree has been vastly improved since the introduction of the 41point talent trees. The three key talents for any serious PvP healer are Light's Grace, Blessed Life, and Holy Guidance. This allows you to last much longer than before while saturating your surrounding allies with heals.

Light's Grace allows you to quick-fire Holy Light heals for larger burst healing effectiveness.

Blessed life will mitigate 10% of all incoming attacks to 50% of their normal damage. Taking into account that we wear plate and use shields, this is a much aggravating talent to all melee classes that cross our paths.

Holy Guidance will increase your overall spell damage and healing based upon your current int scores.

Solo healing

When you find yourself in solo combat, use your best judgement as to when to use FoL vs HL. Divine Favor while in the "bubble" and max rank HL is a common tactic. FoL a few times after a stun is also another common tactic, seeing as how you're in solo combat, mana conservation will be important. (Although, for truly mana efficient healing, bandaging while bubbled is better, using the Divine Favor + HL after stunning the opponent.)

Quests

Paladins have several class-specific quests which allow the character to learn valuable spells. See the Paladin Quests page for an outline of these quests.

@@ Line 30: / Line 30: @@
-== Other Abilities ==
-[[Image:DwarfPaladin.JPG|right|thumb|A Dwarf Paladin is ready to defend the Holy Light.]]
-Aside from Auras, blessings and seals, paladins have a few other spells that complete the class' arsenal.
-* '''[[Redemption]]''': Redemption is the paladin resurrection-like ability that will restore a player character from their corpse with partial health and mana. The spell cannot be cast in combat and is interrupted when attacked. <br>(First acquired at level 12; 4 ranks; type: Holy)
-* '''[[Righteous Fury]]''': Buffs the caster, increasing threat caused by holy damage by 60%. <br>(First acquired at level 16; 1 rank; type: Protection) ''This spell's threat generation, as well as allow the paladin to reduce damage taken by a percentage via talent''
-* '''[[Divine Protection]]/[[Divine Shield]]''': The Paladin becomes immune to all attacks for a few seconds. <br>(First acquired at level 6; 4 ranks; type: Protection. Name changes from protection to shield at level 34. Divine Shield allows you continue attacking while shielded at 50% attack speed.) ''Divine Shield's attack speed reduction may be removed down to 0%, as well as increasing the paladin's stamina by a given percent via talent''
-* '''[[Divine Intervention]]''': Sacrifices the Paladin to remove the selected friendly target from combat for 3 minutes being immune to all damage. The Paladin does not take any durability loss. <br>(first acquired at level 30; 1 ranks; type: Protection)
-* '''[[Righteous Defense]]''': Come to the defense of a friendly target, commanding up to 3 enemies attacking the target to attack the Paladin instead. <br>(first acquired at level 14; 1 ranks; type: Protection)
-* '''[[Spiritual Attunement]]''': A passive ability that gives the Paladin mana when healed by other friendly targets. The amount of mana gained is equal to 8% of the amount healed. <br>(first acquired at level 18; 2 ranks; type: Protection)
-* '''[[Lay On Hands]]''': Sacrifices all of the Paladin's mana to heal your target of an amount equal to your maximum HP. Restores mana as well at higher ranks. <br>(first acquired at level 10; 3 ranks; type: Holy) ''Cooldown can be reduced, as well as an increase of armor with a given percentage via talents and/or via a bonus when you wear 4 pieces of T3''
-* '''[[Hammer of Wrath]]''': Hurls a hammer at the target enemy, causing high(holy) damage. Only usable on targets lower than 20% HP. Works like an Execute for a Paladin, and usually seeing this being cast at you means you've lost the fight. If the target goes above 20% HP when this is being cast, the spell cancels.<br>(first acquired at level 44; 3 ranks; type: Holy, physical)
 == Paladin Tips ==

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