Paladin tactics
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Contents |
Paladin Strengths
- Can be the tank, healer or damage dealer in group with the right gear and/or spec.
- Strong survivability in both PvE and PvP because they can wear plate armor, self heal, and have various self protection skills.
- Can buff themselves and others in a variety of ways.
- Ability to cleanse poison, disease, and magic debuffs from themselves and others.
- They have some of the best soloing capabilities of all the classes
Paladin Weaknesses
- No universally useful base skill ranged attack. There are ways around this, however.
- The talent Avenger's Shield has a range of 30 yards and is the preferred way of pulling mobs for Protection Paladins. It deals a fair share of damage affecting up to two additional nearby targets. Also, the talent Holy Shock is a 20 yard ranged ability with a 15 second timer and targets a single mob.
- Exorcism can also be used as a ranged/pulling attack, although only against undead and demon targets. For PvPers, remember that Horde "undead" are Forsaken and classified as humanoids, so this doesn't work on them. But don't forget that if you face a Warlock in PvP, ALL of their pets are demons and thus affected by either of these abilities.
- Hammer of Wrath is also a ranged attack, though it is only usable when your opponent is at 20% health or lower.
- Blood Elf paladins have a ranged ability unique to them, as the racial ability Mana Tap has a 30 yard range. It can be used to pull mob classes that use mana, but does not cause damage. However, it breaks crowd control spells such as Sap or Seduction. It should be noted that this ability does not "tag" the enemy to give the user its experience or honor.
- Items: Trinkets such as [Linken's Boomerang] (a reward for quest series in Un'Goro), the engineering profession (for grenades and other ranged trinkets), by getting [Ez-Thro Dynamite] from an engineer, or items such as [Magic Candle]s. [The Decapitator] is a one-hand axe that dropped off Prince Malchezaar.
- Due to their incapability to dish out ranged damage, if a PvP enemy wants to get away the Paladin will have to do something about it before the target gets too far.
- Hammer of Wrath can only be used at 20% or less health. Judgement of Justice limits movement speed of players, so this should be used frequently in PvP. One may think that Avenger's Shield can help. Unfortunately it has a long cooldown timer, and it requires 41 points in Protection tree but it is well known that Protection paladins are not good for PvP.
- A paladin's ability to stay alive is directly based on mana.
- Fortunately, paladins have great tools for gaining mana: Spiritual Attunement, Blessing of Wisdom, Seal of Wisdom, and Judgement of Wisdom.
- The paladin is very susceptible to anything that counters spells and being killed as a result of a Holy Light cast being interrupted is common.
- Switching to Concentration Aura reduces your chance of being interrupted by 35%. For Paladins with Spiritual Focus this chance is eliminated all together.
Basic Leveling/soloing Strategies
During the early level, you should spec retribution for higher melee damage. Use a 2-hand weapon with good dps, and wear mail armor (plate after level 40) with strength and stamina. You should also keep a shield and a fast 1-hand weapon in the bag for special situation. When fighting, always remember to keep your aura, blessings and seal up all the time! At this stage it is preferable for you to deal with one mob a time with your 2-hand weapon.
After level 30 to 40, leveling up by AOE grinding is another option. However, you need to respec to protection for this. You also need to find a fast 1-hand weapon (preferably with spell damage) and a shield and wear plate armor with intellect and stamina. Try to find an area with mainly melee mobs of similar or lower level to you. This will make the grinding much easier. See also: Paladin AoE Grinding - Where to Grind.
Use Holy Light early and often. Even if you have Spiritual Focus and can heal fairly fast in combat, make sure you still heal early so as not to get caught in a situation where you simply can't heal fast enough. If you get caught in that situation, there are several ways out of it. If you are fighting just one target, you can use Hammer of Justice to stun it. It allows you to get at least one heal off. If you are fighting multiple targets, then you can use Divine Shield/Divine Protection/Blessing of Protection. You should be able to bandage yourself or get at least one heal off with it. You do know First Aid, right? Also, by the time the shield wears off, if you had Blessing of Wisdom on yourself, you should now have enough mana to heal yourself again. The last thing to be mentioned here is Lay on Hands, which of course, is a full heal that drains all your mana. This is always best used as a last resort.
If you're running low on health and mana and are in trouble, it's almost always better to use a mana potion than a health potion, especially if you have points in Spiritual Focus. At all levels a mana potion will allow you to cast a heal and still have plenty of mana left. A health potion can be a better choice if the mob is very close to death, if your health is so low that you'll be killed before you can get a heal off, or if your heal is likely to be interrupted.
Don't worry so much about dealing damage as how long you can stay alive. If you get into a sticky situation, and keep hitting something for 4 dps over the course of 3-4 minutes it will die. The counter to this is that if you cannot keep yourself healed, you better run.
What stats affect my damage the most?
As a Retribution Paladin there several stats that are important to your dps. These are hit rating, strength, melee critical strike rating and attack power (AP). Spell damage no longer plays a major part in a Retribution Paladin's damage since patch 2.4.
An Alliance Retribution Paladin's main seal is Seal of Command. Its holy damage scales with melee weapon damage. Judgement of Command benefits from spell power. For Horde Retribution Paladin's, Seal of Blood is as useful or even better in PvE and requires similar stats as Seal of Command.
There is one basic stat for Holy and Protection Paladins that is important for a paladin's dps: Spell Damage. DPS Holy Paladins, or shockadins (not recommended for leveling) also benefit from spell critical strike rating and intellect.
Spell damage coefficients and ability crit types are listed here.
Weapon Choice
When using a two handed weapon with Seal of Command or Seal of Blood, a weapon with high melee damage is preferred. In addition, a slower speed weapon is more preferred when using Seal of Command because it has a limited number of proc per minutes. When using a one handed weapon with Seal of Righteousness, a weapon with high spell damage is preferred. Attack speed of the weapon does not affect the overall damage as the holy damage of the seal for each swing is inversely proportional to the attack speed. However, a faster weapon does give more proc when using Seal/Judgement of Wisdom/Light. For paladin healers, any one handed weapon with good healing stats can be used.
Basic Partying Strategies
| Partying Help |
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| Tactics |
| Group Role |
| Primary Function |
| Secondary Function |
| Related |
As a hybrid class you can have three roles in a party: dps, tank, or healer. Which one you play at any given time will depend on your talent spec, the gear you bring with you, and the composition of the rest of the party. Make sure you (and others) are aware of your role from the outset to avoid problems later.
See Paladin instance grouping guide for further tips. For details of different roles of paladins in group, please refer to Paladins as healers, Paladins as tanks, and Paladins as DPS.
Strategies in Details
Auras
Always make sure you activate an aura appropriate to your situation. Change as the situation calls for because it's instant and cost no mana.
- Devotion Aura
- Early on this is all you have. Mostly useful in groups after other auras become available.
- Retribution Aura
- While soloing this will be the primary aura to maintain, it works especially well on fast hitting mobs.
- Available at 16th level.
- Concentration Aura
- Switch to this aura when you need to heal. This is especially important if you do not have the talent Spiritual Focus. Combine it with the talent and there will be very few effects that will interrupt your healing.
- Available at 22nd level.
- Sanctity Aura
- Only available for retribution paladins through talent. If you have it, it should be your primary aura most of the time.
Blessings
Make sure you always have a blessing active. As of Patch 2.2 all lesser Paladin buffs have had their timers increased to 10 minutes. At higher levels you can use Greater Blessings for 30 minute buffs but they have a components cost. The Greater Blessings also buff all the group members of the same class as the target at the same time. Remember that it is an instant cast, so even if you're in combat you can go ahead and bless yourself or others as necessary.
- Blessing of Wisdom
- A Paladin lives and dies by his mana pool so it is wise to regenerate mana however possible. Maintaining your mana will allow moving on from fight to fight with little to no downtime.
- Blessing of Might
- This will increase your DPS. While nice it may not reduce the length of the combat significantly.
- Blessing of Salvation
- Not useful whening soloing but usually the best blessing for damage dealers in group, except hunters, or some rogues during boss fights.
- Blessing of Kings
- Available only by talent purchase. Increases all your stats by 10%. This will not significantly reduce the time of your combats.
- Blessing of Sanctuary
- Available only by talent purchase. When you're taking a pounding from multiple targets this may increase your survivability. Note that this blessing is a key component to the protection paladin's ability to AoE Grind.
Seals & Judgements
Seals are self-buffs which boost the Paladin's power temporarily. Effectively, they add a weapon proc to their melee strikes. Additionally, Paladins can judge these seals upon an enemy which either deals damage or provides a judgement effect as long as the Paladin continues to hit the target. The judgement effects can benefit the paladin as well as others who are hitting the mobs. For more detailed information see Paladin#Seals.
- Seal of Righteousness
- By itself it provides X amount of additional Holy damage per hit based on weapon speed.
- When judged it does instant X holy damage to the target.
- It is the primary seal for protection paladin tanks.
- Your first seal.
- Seal of the Crusader
- By itself it increases weapon speed and attack power, but lowers the damage of each hit. It raises DPS slightly.
- Very useful for raising proficiency with a new weapon.
- When judged it increases the amount of Holy damage the mob takes from any source.
- It is the primary judgement for protection paladin tanks during boss fights and retribution paladins. Only one application of the judgement at the beginning is needed.
- Available at level 6.
- Seal of Command
- By itself it provides a chance to deal additional Holy damage equal to 70% of the damage of the attack.
- When judged does X to Y damage, more if the target is stunned or incapacitated.
- It is the primary seal for Alliance retribution paladins.
- Available through a talent in the Retribution tree beginning at level 20.
- Seal of Justice
- By itself it provides a chance of stunning the target. There is a maximum number of times this will happen.
- When judged it prevents the mob from fleeing when it has low health. This is best used to prevent humanoid mobs from running back to aggro more mobs.
- Available at level 22.
- Seal of Light
- By itself it provides a chance of returning X health per hit.
- When judged it provides a smaller amount of health per hit, but to any party member doing melee damage to the judged target.
- Available at level 30.
- Seal of Wisdom
- By itself it provides a chance of returning X amount mana per hit.
- When judged it provides a smaller amount of mana per hit, but to any party member doing damage to the judged target.
- Available at level 38.
- Seal of Vengeance (Alliance only)
- By itself it provides a chance to deal additional Holy damage over 15 seconds (Holy Vengeance). Stacks up to five times.
- When judged does X to Y damage, according to number of charges of Holy Vengeance on the target.
- Available to all alliance paladins at level 64.
- Seal of Blood (Horde only)
- By itself it deals additional Holy damage equal to 35% of the damage of the attack on every hit but also backfire 10% of the damage to the paladin.
- When judged does X to Y damage but also backfire 33% of the damage to the paladin.
- Its overall damage is better than Seal of Command. It is the primary seal for Horde retribution paladins, except during situations that the backfire damage would be dangerous.
- Available to all horde paladins at level 64.
Seal and Blessing Sequencing
Some of these sequences are talent independent (Mana and Health Conservation), while others are designed for Retribution or Protection paladins. There are a few quality addons that can aid in sequencing, "Supercast" being one of them.
Generic 2 hand damage dealing
This sequence is for low level paladins or Holy/Protection paladins when dealing with single target.
- Devotion Aura or Retribution Aura + Blessing of Might (or Blessing of Wisdom), Judgement of Righteousness > Seal of Righteousness > repeat Seal and Judgement of Rightenousness
- Horde with Seal of Blood: Devotion Aura or Retribution Aura + Blessing of Might (or Blessing of Wisdom or Blessing of Sanctuary), Judgement of Blood > Seal of Blood > repeat Seal and Judgement of Blood
Retribution paladin 2 hand damage dealing
This sequence is truly for a Retribution paladin, due to the use of Sanctity Aura and Seal of Command.
- Alliance: Sanctity Aura + Blessing of Might (Blessing of Salvation if in group), Judgement of the Crusader > Seal of Command > Crusader Strike > (Hammer of Justice whenever available) > Judgement of Command > repeat Seal and Judgement of Command
- Horde: Sanctity Aura + Blessing of Might (Blessing of Salvation if in group), Judgement of the Crusader > Seal of Blood > Crusader Strike > Judgement of Blood > repeat Seal and Judgement of Blood
Protection paladin tanking
This sequence is used for a Protection paladin when tanking in group.
- Tanking trash: Retribution Aura + Blessing of Kings or Blessing of Sanctuary, (precast Seal of Righteousness for the Judgement) > Avenger's Shield > (Consecration if no risk of breaking CC and the extra threat is needed) > Holy Shield > Judgement of Righteousness > Seal of Righteousness > repeat from Consecration to Seal of Righteousness
- Tanking boss: Retribution Aura + Blessing of Kings / Blessing of Sanctuary, (precast Seal of the Crusader for the Judgement) > Avenger's Shield > (Consecration if no risk of breaking CC and the extra threat is needed) > Holy Shield > Judgement of the Crusader > Seal of Righteousness > (Consecration if no risk of breaking CC and the extra threat is needed) > Holy Shield > Judgement of Righteousness > Seal of Righteousness > repeat from Consecration to Seal of Righteousness
Protection paladin AoE grinding
This sequence is used for a Protection paladin when AoE grinding.
- Tanking trash: Retribution Aura + Blessing of Sanctuary, (get on a horse and) aggro multiple melee mobs > Seal of Righteousness > Consecration > Holy Shield > Judgement of Righteousness > Seal of Righteousness > repeat from Consecration to Seal of Righteousness; when the mana/health is low, change to Mana Conservation/Health Conservation below.
Besides the sequences above, you can change to the following sequences whenever your mana or health is low:
Mana Conservation
- Any Aura (+/- Blessing of Wisdom), Judgement of Wisdom > Seal of Wisdom > refresh Seal of Wisdom when it runs out
Mana Conservation 2
- Any Aura (+/- Blessing of Wisdom), Judgement of Wisdom > Seal of the Crusader > refresh Seal of Crusader when it runs out
Health Conservation
- Devotion Aura + Blessing of Light (or Blessing of Sanctuary), Judgement of Light > Seal of Light > refresh Seal of Light when it runs out
Health Conservation 2
- Devotion Aura + Blessing of Light (or Blessing of Sanctuary), Judgement of Light > Seal of the Crusader > refresh Seal of Crusader when it runs out
PvP
Holy paladins are good healers in PvP because of their good survivability and various abilities to help other group members. Retribution paladins also perform very well in PvP because of their high burst damage and survivability.
On the other hand, there is no good protection spec for PvP. The reason is most of the damage of protection paladins depends on reflective damage, which means you are not going to do much damage in PvP except against very stupid rogues, fury warriors or enhancement shamans. Also, the healing is not as good as Holy paladins. Protection paladins still have use for (multi-)tanking bosses in Alterac Valley, holding flag in Warsong Gulch or Eye of the Storm, or defending bases in Arathi Basin (until help arrives or the offenders kill you eventually).
For details of PvP as paladins, please see Paladin PvP guide.
Gear
See Paladin Gear Sets for info about building the different sets of gear that are essential to being an effective paladin in a group.
See also:
- Paladin Loot (Post-BC)
- Paladins as tanks: Gear Mechanics (Post-BC, for paladin tanks)
- Paladin tactics/Gearing up (Pre-BC)
See also
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