Paladin

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For a description of the role of paladins within the lore of Warcraft, see Paladin lore. For related articles, see Category:Paladins

The Paladin is a hybrid melee fighter and secondary spell healing class. Paladins have the ability to play a variety of different roles, but are currently best suited for either Tanking and/or Healing until the Retribution Tree patch is released. At that time, Paladins will also be formidable DPS fighters. They can cast auras and blessings that provide useful buffs for other players while withstanding heavy physical damage with their plate armor. Paladins are a defensive class designed to outlast their opponents.

Paladins also have several Undead specific abilities such as Exorcism, Holy Wrath and Turn Undead which make them very effective when fighting Demon and Undead targets (not including Forsaken players).

In PvP the paladin's most well-known strength is his ability to outlast his opponent(s). With plate armor, their ability to heal themselves and a near-complete invulnerability every few minutes, he's a hard target to take down. They can also do a surprising amount of burst-damage and have good access to stun abilities. They also make great supporting characters, buffing and healing team-mates while being able to survive the enemy's attention.

On the downside, most of their abilities are buffs that can be dispelled. Their plate does not help them against spellcasters and their DPS is currently lower than that of other classes until the Retribution Tree patch is released. They are also quite vulnerable to spells and abilities that shut down a magic school, since all their magic is of the Holy school.

The Paladin's current greatest strengths in PvE are healing and tanking. The Paladin has some of the most mana-efficient and low-threat healing spells in the game, allowing them to be the main healers of a group. Their healing efficiency makes them great endurance healers, though they are somewhat lacking in the group-healing area (healing several group members at the same time).

Paladins also make good tanks. One strength of paladin tanks in raids is that they can become virtually immune to crushing blows with the right talents and skill use. They also excel at tanking multiple mobs at the same time. This is compensated by a somewhat lower durability compared to warrior tanks.

The Paladin's offensive abilities are currently limited (until the patch) as Blizzard had previously defined the Paladin's role as defensive and supportive. Paladins are still able to do a decent (not excellent, and not especially poor) amount of damage, especially when they focus their gear and talent choices accordingly. However, when the Retribution Tree patch is released, Paladin's will have increased sustained DPS and more raid utility making them very viable in raids as DPS fighters.

Races

The Paladin class can be played by the following races:

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Dwarves
Humans
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Blood elf paladins typically belong to the Order of Blood Knights, while human and dwarven paladins are usually Knights of the Silver Hand. Draenei paladins are probably not members of the Silver Hand, although this could change in time. Most of, if not all of them are members of an organization called the Hand of Argus.

Weapons and Armor

From the start, paladins can wear cloth, leather, or mail armor, and can train to wear plate armor at level 40. They may use a shield. They can summon their own Warhorse at level 40 (which they can obtain for 90 silver from a trainer), which can be quested to an epic Charger at level 60. They can use the following melee weapons (either innately or via a Weapon master trainer):

Paladins cannot dual wield.

Paladins cannot use ranged weapons. This includes:

For ranged damage, a paladin has several limited options:

Taking the Engineering profession in order to obtain limited ranged capabilities such as dynamite, bombs, and trinkets.
One notable option for a paladin who specializes in Gnomish Engineering is the Gnomish Death Ray, since a paladin's invulnerability shield prevents the player from taking the damage normally associated with using this item. (Note: Blizzard has mentioned that this will no longer work in past patch notes, although it has not been changed yet. Actually, they noted that while in blessing of protection if the trinket fails and backfires, you will still take damage, however you do not take damage while casting it, and nothing official has been stated on this topic.)
A ranged trinket such as [Linken's Boomerang]; it has a 3 minute cooldown, or [Six Demon Bag] which has a 30 minute cooldown
Non-Engineering explosives such as EZ-Thro Dynamite or EZ-Thro Dynamite II
Using Judgement in combination with a seal (see below) allows for a limited range attack similar to (but more limited than) a Druid's Moonfire
Spending Talent Points in the Holy tree to acquire the spell Holy Shock
Spending talent points in the Protection tree to acquire Avenger's Shield
Using Hammer of Wrath on an enemy with less than 20% of their health left
Blood Elf paladins can also use their racial ability, Mana Tap, to have some limited pulling of mana-based mobs

See also:: Formula:Mana regen & Shields; Compendium of the best Paladin's weapons

Auras

Template:AurasNavBarPaladin Main article: Paladin AoE Auras

In addition to spell buffs, a paladin can also boost their group's abilities through the use of auras. 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).

The auras themselves cost no mana to operate, have no innate cooldown, and may be switched between at will.

Blessings

Template:Paladin Blessings

BEPallyfemale2 — Blood Elves have forcefully taken the Light to become Blood Knights.

Blessings are spell buffs that can be used on the paladin or other characters. Most can be cast on any friendly target but some are limited to the paladin's party. Blessings last 5 minutes unless noted.

The different Blessings are as follows:

Blessing of Might increases melee attack power by 25/35/55/85/115/155/185/220
(type: Retribution; first acquired at level 4; 8 ranks) attack power can be increased via talents
Blessing of Protection grants immunity to physical damage for 6/8/10 seconds (party member only)
(type: Protection; first acquired at level 10; 3 ranks) cooldown can be reduced via talents
Blessing of Wisdom grants 10/15/20/25/30/33/41 mana each 5 seconds
(type: Holy; first acquired at level 14; 7 ranks) mana gain can be increased via talents
Blessing of Freedom grants immunity to movement impairing effects for 10 seconds and frees target from said effects
(type: Protection; first acquired at level 18; 1 rank) duration can be increased via talents
Blessing of Salvation grants a 30% reduction in threat generation
(type: Protection; first acquired at level 26; 1 rank)
Blessing of Sanctuary reduces damage taken from all sources by 10/14/19/24/80 and inflicts 14/21/28/35/46 holy damage to the attacker if the attack is blocked by a shield
(type: Protection; first acquired at level 21; 5 ranks) This is gained through a talent.
Blessing of Light increased heal made by Holy Light by 210/300/400/580 and Flash of Light by 60/85/115/185
(type: Holy; first acquired at level 40; 4 ranks)
Blessing of Sacrifice transfers 45/55/81/104 damage per hit taken to paladin for 30 seconds (party member only)
(type: Protection; first acquired at level 46; 4 ranks)
Blessing of Kings grants +10% to all attributes
(type: Protection; first acquired at level 20; 1 rank) This is gained through a talent.

Greater Blessings

Greater blessings are longer-lasting versions of normal blessings. Greater blessings last for 15 minutes and will buff members of the group of the same class as your target. Requires 1 [Symbol of Kings] per each blessing cast and requires the highest rank of corresponding normal blessing in order to be trained.

Seals

Template:PaladinSealNav Main article: Seal (ability)

Seals are short-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 Judgement. Each type of seal will have a different effect when unleashed.

Other Abilities

File:ArtDwarfPaladin.jpg

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

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.
(First acquired at level 12; 4 ranks; type: Holy)

Righteous Fury: Buffs the caster, increasing threat caused by holy damage by 60%.
(First acquired at level 16; 1 rank; type: Protection) This spell increases threat generation, and also allows the paladin to reduce damage taken by a percentage when improved by a talent

Divine Protection/Divine Shield: The Paladin becomes immune to all attacks for a few seconds.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(first acquired at level 18; 2 ranks; type: Protection)

Lay On Hands: Sacrifices all of the Paladin's existing mana (usually when the paladin is already out of mana) to heal the paladin's target of an amount equal to the paladin's maximum HP. Restores mana as well at higher ranks. This ability is capable of the critical effect of restoring double the paladin's maximum health.
(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 Tier 3

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.
(first acquired at level 44; 3 ranks; type: Holy, physical)

Paladin's primary stats

This is a list of the paladin's primary stats, not necessarily in order of importance; that is left up to the player based upon his goal and play style.

Healing and all non-Retribution dps	Protection	Retribution dps
Intellect Stamina Mana per 5 seconds Spell damage or healing Spell crit rating^*	Defense Stamina Spell damage Intellect Mana per 5 seconds Spell hit rating^*	Agility Strength Melee Critical Strike Rating Attack Power Intellect Stamina Hit Rating

See Paladins: Tips and Advice for further information.

Talents

Paladin Talents are split into 3 categories:

Holy
Protection
Retribution

Talent builders can be found at:

End-Game Expectations

General Paladin Tips

People will expect you to heal if you don't have a priest or druid in your party. After all, you will be the only class that can heal. (Non-resto shaman do not have the healing viability that non-holy paladins have.) If you are unwilling to heal in such a case, bow out.
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 cause a wipe.
Flash of Light is mana efficient. Holy Light is time efficient (despite the 2.5 second cast) when considering it heals four times the amount of Flash of Light. While Flash of Light may constitute the majority of your heals, Holy Light is frequently a necessity such as on a tank during a boss fight, or to heal anyone who is being attacked in PvP.
If there are two or more paladins in your group, decide on who will do what auras. Consider that Improved Concentration Aura reduces the duration of counterspells and of other silence effects.
Three paladins should suffice for raids of any size (for blessing purposes), assuming that two of the blessings are castable by two of the paladins. In groups (raid or not) with more than one paladin, consider this buffing scheme:
1. Blessing of Sanctuary on tanks; Blessing of Might on melee dps; Blessing of Wisdom on casters
2. Blessing of Light on tanks; Blessing of Salvation on dps and any casters
3. Blessing of Kings on everyone
Do not cast Blessing of Protection on a tank unless there is another tank ready to pick up the aggro that the first tank drops. Blessing of Protection and Divine Shield drop all aggro to 0 from the recipient of the bubble for the duration. However, the threat value will return when the bubble goes away (from user cancellation or the duration was finished). But with Blessing of Protection, you cannot make any melee attacks through the bubble, which is the only way a warrior can develop aggro; and for a paladin tank, we need the enemy attacking us to develop aggro. You can still cast through Blessing of Protection however, so it is acceptable to cast it on AoE casters.

Tanking

Main article: Paladins as tanks

Tanking is made viable by increased aggro and mitigation talents, the use of Spiritual Attunement for longevity, Consecration and a taunt in the form of Righteous Defense. The Paladin is almost as good (if not on par depending on gear) as a Warrior at main tanking and is the best multi-mob tank, as a great deal of their threat is based on reflective and AoE damage.

DPS

File:Palatier2.jpg

Paladin in full Judgement set.

The Retribution tree, primarily Sanctified Crusader and Crusader Strike, allows for increased damage. Utility from judgements is also valued, albeit somewhat situationally. Currently, this is the least used role for paladins in the raid environment due to lack of itemization. However, in an upcoming patch Blizzard will be improving the Retribution tree to make it more raid viable. They will be greatly increasing sustained DPS and giving Retribution Paladin's more raid utility. Expect to see Retribution Paladin's to be invited into more raids after this patch is released.

Healing

Main article: Paladins as healers

A Paladin is valued in raids for the buffs they bring, their ability to cleanse. In raids, when not specced or geared to rival other dps classes, or not specced and geared well enough to tank, we are usually 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, which is often spammed group-wide, fills a niche in healing.

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.

External links

WoW Paladin Leveling Guide - A brief review on World of Warcraft Paladin Leveling Guides available.
Paladin Talent Guide - Helps new Paladins choose their talents at early levels.
Paladin DPS Calculator - Simulates long term paladin DPS based on selected Seal and stats. Still in Beta.
The Light and How to Swing It - weekly paladin feature at WoW Insider

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