Paladin Class Guide

Holy Paladin PvE Guide (Created by Kaniget)

Paladins are one of the most versatile classes in WoW. They are also the most durable healers in WoW since they have the ability to wear plate armor, weild a shield and have Divine Shield. Aside from just healing they also make great Tanks and Melee DPS. Paladins make one of the best instance tanks due to their high survivability and ability to hold agro on multiple mobs at one time with concencration.

Retribution one of the paladins spec's used to be the laughing stock of WoW until WoTLK came around. WoTLK gave Ret paladins the damage they've been asking for, for years. The Paladin class used to be restricted to Alliance only until Burning Crusade, when Blizzard implemented and allowed Draenei's to be Shamans and Blood Elfs to be Paladins. As such Hordes racial choice for a Paladin is Blood Elfs, where Alliance can choose Humans, Dwarves and Draenei.

Paladins don't have many ranged abilities available to them (Aside from healing spells) and the only school of magic they have is holy. Since they only have one school of magic if a Mage lands a Counterspell on your it's gameover. Paladins do have one of the best defensive mechanism's available to them to counter this, Divine Shield. Divine Shield makes the Paladin immune to all attacks for 12 seconds. Many classes envy this ability.

If you enjoy being able to fill the roll of a Tank, Healer and DPS then you'll probably enjoy the Paladin.

Paladins Strengths:

- Best class for single target healing

- Best Survivability in the game since they can wear plate, shields and Divine Shield. This class can literally survive a nuclear bomb (As long as it only lasts 12 seconds! =D)

- Best AoE tanks in the game

- Best Support Class in the game, with the best buffs in the game. (More below)

- Currently top ranked arena healer

Paladins Weaknesses:

- No HoT's or Group heals, only single target instant heals.

- Must be in melee range to do any signifigant damage as ret. With no Slows or Intercepts this is somewhat challenging.

- Counterspell is the bane of your exsistance

Buffs & Auras

Paladins are known for having one of the best buffs in the game, Blessing of Kings. They also have many other useful buffs and Auras which all benefit the group in different ways. Below is a list of these buffs and auras, and a brief overview of what they do.

Blessing of Kings: Blessing of Kings increases all of your stats by 10%, unless you don't get all 5 talent points into it (Which I may add you mine as well not put any in if you can't afford all 5). Blessing of Kings is the best buff Paladins get.

Blessing of Might: Blessing of Might is the first blessing you'll get as a Paladin. Almost very Melee class will be begging for this buff in groups and raids. Blessing of Might increases your targets attack power by 550 at its maximum rank. You can further increase the attack power this buff grants by the Improved Blessing of Might talent in your retribution spec.

Blessing of Wisdom: Blessing of Wisdom grants your target increased mana regen. The maximum rank of Blessing of Wisdom grants you 91 mana every 5 seconds. This is one of the most popular spells among casters in groups and raids. There is an Improved Blessing of Wisdom talent in Holy that increases the mana it gives to 109.2 mana every 5 seconds.

Blessing of Sanctuary: Blessing of Sanctuary is deep within the protection tree, it is also the best blessing you can give a tank aside from Blessing of Kings. Blessing of Sanctuary decreases damage taken by 3%. In addition when you block, dodge or parry you'll gain 10 rage, 20 runic power or 2% of your maximum mana. Depending on which one you have of course!

Now for a list of all of the Aura's that Paladins have!

Concentration Aura: Concentration Aura decreases the time lost when you're damaged while channeling a spell by 35%. The Improved Concentration Aura talent further decreases it by another 15%, and in addition it also decreases the duration of Silences and Interrupts used against you and your group by 30%. This is one of the best Aura's to use as a Holy Paladin in Arena.

Devotion Aura: Devotion Aura increases your armor by 1205 at its maximum rank. If you have 3 points into the Improved Devotion Aura talent in protection it will grant you 1807 armor and increases healing done to you by 6%. Devotion Aura is a must for any tank that is tanking a boss that does melee damage.

Retribution Aura: Retribution Aura deals 112 damage to anyone who attacks you, or one of your group members. Retribution aura has 3 talents that effect it in the Retribution tree. One increases the damage it does by 50%, the other adds 3% spell and melee haste to it. The last talent increases damage caused by everyone under the effect of Retribution Aura by 3%.

Shadow Resistance Aura: Shadow Resistance Aura increases your resistance against Shadow attacks by 130. This aura is used during some raid encounters, and sometimes in arenas, depending on the situation.

Frost Resistance Aura: Frost Resistance Aura increases your resistance against Frost attacks by 130. This aura is used during some raid encounters, and sometimes in arenas, depending on the situation.

Fire Resistance Aura: Fire Resistance Aura increases your resistance against Fire attacks by 130. This aura is used during some raid encounters, and sometimes in arenas, depending on the situation.

Hand of Protection, Divine Shield and YOU!

So I feel as if this deserves another section because so many paladins still don't have it mastered. Please note what im about to say only applies in arena. Both of these abilities shouldn't be used as "OH SHIT IM GONNA DIE". Sometimes these abilities need to be deployed BEFORE you reach the state of "OH SHIT IM GONNA DIE".

What I mean by this is say you're in a 4 DPS team, and the opposing team has a Mage. You know that you will be able to take down at least 1 person on the enemies team within 12 seconds. Your best choice would be to use Holy Shock on the person taking the most damage, Bubble then spam Holy Lights on them.

The same goes for Hand of Protection, say you have a priest on your team and the opposing team Death Grips him. This causes the warrior and rogue to jump on him as well. Don't wait until he is at 10% to BoP him, BoP him immediatly to counter all of their initial burst damage.

Additional Arena Tip: Put Righteous Fury on yourself to take up a Dispell slot.

Recommended Specs:

Having Trouble picking the best spec for your Paladin? Take a look at the specs I recommend below!

Recommended PvP Specs

If you would like to know more about Paladins in the arena click here.