Paladin Leveling - Talents and Tips - (1-80)
(4 votes)
(Firstly, I would like to thank Trollvink for his fantastic Shaman levelling guide which inspired me to create this guide. You my notice our guides are similar, thats because he's doing things well!)
Welcome!
For patch 3.0+, focus'd on PALADIN solo game play!
Table of content:
1. Foreword.
2. What's the best levelling spec?
3. Talents.
4. Abilities and Rotations.
5. Tips.
6. Stats.
7. Gear.
8. Class Quests.
9. Glyphs.
10. Addons.
1. Foreword
I intend to show you in this guide, the best talents for leveling and what spells to use when pewpewing. I want to give you some useful tips, so you know how to play your paladin to a better standard. I want to give you information about what you need to look for with your gear and to explain your class quests. As well as some useful enchants and glyphs; as well as any addons which will be useful to you.
Before you start I do recomend if you are new to the Paladin class you check out Harper1990's guide to starting a new paladin.
2. What's the best leveling spec?
The best leveling spec for the paladin is Retribution. This is because it has a high damage output, while having a minimal mana usage (you have less downtime.)
Many would argue that that protection is a good way to level, and I couldn't disagree with them, however it is only exceptional when you are leveling with a partner (Healer/Mage) as it allows you to take a large amount of mobs once.
For this reason I'm going to write this guide about Retribution as it is the best choice of spec for solo leveling, which is what this guide is about. I will however, give you a good choice of talents for leveling as protection so you have a good idea of what you are doing (I leveled my paladin from 40-65 as a protection paladin.) I will not however give you much more information above that, unless there is a call for it.
3. Talents
A - Retribution
Level 10-14:
5/5 Benediction
Level 15-16:
2/2 Improved Judgement
Level 17-19:
3/3 Heart of the Crusader
Level 20:
1/1 Seal of Command
Level 21-22:
2/2 Pursuit of Justice
Level 23-27:
5/5 Conviction
Level 28-30:
3/3 Crusade
Level 31-33:
3/3 Two-Handed Weapon Specialization
Level 34-36:
3/3 Sanctified Seals
Level 37-39:
3/3 Vengeance
Level 40:
1/1 Repentance
Level 41-43:
3/3 Judgements of the Wise
Level 44-45:
2/2 The Art of War
Level 46-49:
4/5 Fanaticism (Only 4)
Level 50:
1/1 Crusader Strike
Level 51:
5/5 Fanaticism
Level 52-54:
3/3 Sheath of Light
Level 55-59:
5/5 Righteous Vengeance
Level 60:
1/1 Divine Storm
Level 61-62:
2/2 Sanctified Wrath
Level 63-65:
3/3 Swift Retribution
Level 66-70:
5/5 Divine Strength
Level 71:
1/1 Sanctified Retribution
Level 72-73:
2/2 Improved Blessing of Might
Level 74-75:
2/2 Improved Retribution Aura
Level 76-80:
5/5 Spirtiual Focus
B - Protection
Level 10-14:
5/5 Divine Strength
Level 15-19:
5/5 Aticipation
Level 20-22:
3/3 Improved Righteous Fury
Level 22-27:
5/5 Toughness
Level 27-29:
2/2 Gaurdian's Favour
Level 30:
1/1 Blessing of Sanctuary
Level 31-35:
5/5 Reckoning
Level 36-37:
2/2 Sacred Duty
Level 37-39:
2/5 One-Handed Weapon Specialization (Only 2)
Level 40:
1/1 Holy Sheild
Level 41-43:
5/5 One-Handed Weapon Specialization
Level 44:
1/5 Ardent Defender (Only 1)
Level 45-47:
3/3 Redoubt
Level 47-50:
3/3 Combat Expertise
Level 51-53:
3/3 Touched by the Light
Level 54:
1/1 Avenger's Shield
Level 55-57:
3/3 Shield of the Templar
Level 58-59:
3/5 Ardent Defender (Only 3)
Level 60:
1/1 Hammmer of Righteous
Level 61-62:
5/5 Ardent Defender
Level 63-64:
2/2 Guarded by the Light
Level 65-69:
5/5 Benediction
Level 70-71:
2/2 Improved Judgements
Level 72-74:
3/3 Heart of the Crusade
I'll leave the last 6 points for you to choose. There is a few different directions you could go from here, such as going for Blessing of Kings for instances.
4. Abilities and Rotations
Always take the slowest 2 handed weapon available
1 - 9:
- Start by 'turning on' your first seal, Devotion Aura.
- When fighting keep up Seal of Righteousness.
- When you get Blessing of Might, once again keep it up at all times.
- When you get Judgement of Light, use when ever available.
- Take the best DPS weapon you can 1H with Shield or 2H. (A this stage the slow weapon is not too important.)
Rotation: Auto attack + JoL when possible. Make sure Devotion Aura is 'turned on.' Keep the Blessing of Might and Seal of Righteousness Buff on yourself.
10 - 19:
- Same as above but:
- When you get Judgement of Wisdom, start using instead of Light. (This helps keep your mana up)
- When you get Retribution Aura, 'turn it on' instead of Devotion Aura.
- Start looking for a slow 2 handed weapon, so you have one for level 20. (Remember you can train other weapon skills, so if you find a good 2H Axe, Mace or Sword you may not have the skill as base but you can train them in cities. You can also use Polearms when you hit level 20.)
Rotation: Auto attack + JoW when possible. Make sure Retribution Aura is 'turned on.' Keep the Blessing of Might and Seal of Righteousness Buff on yourself.
20 - 39
- Same as above but:
- When you get Seal of Command, keep it up when fighting.
- If fighting more that 2 mobs use Consecration.
- Make sure you are now using that slow 2H weapon.
Rotation: Auto attack + JoW when possible. When you are fighting more than 2 mobs use Consecration. Make sure Retribution Aura is 'turned on.' Keep the Blessing of Might and Seal of Command Buff on yourself.
40 - 49
- Same as above but:
- When you get Hammer of Wrath, use it when the mob has less than 20% HP. Your finishing move!
Rotation: Auto attack + JoW when possible. Use HoW when the mob has less than 20% HP. When you are fighting more than 2 mobs use Consecration. Make sure Retribution Aura is 'turned on.' Keep the Blessing of Might and Seal of Command Buff on yourself.
This may seem boring spending all these levels doing basically the same thing, but you've got a nice little surprise coming your way!
50 - 59.
- Same as above but:
- When you get Crusader Strike, use it when ever it is up! (This is an extra attack that also does slightly higher damage.)
Rotation: Auto attack; JoW and CS when possible. Use HoW when the mob has less than 20% HP. When you are fighting more than 2 mobs use Consecration. Make sure Retribution Aura is 'turned on.' Keep the Blessing of Might and Seal of Command Buff on yourself.
60 - 80.
- Same as above but:
- When you get Divine Storm, use it when ever it's up! (The same as Warrior's Whirlwind, but it also heals you.)
- When you get Divine Plea, use it when you are low on mana.
Rotation: Auto attack; JoW, DS and CS when possible. Use HoW when the mob has less than 20% HP. When you are fighting more than 2 mobs use Consecration. Make sure Retribution Aura is 'turned on.' Keep the Blessing of Might and Seal of Command Buff on yourself. Use Divine Plea, when low on mana.
5. Tips
Instances
- Learn your Resistance Auras. Some bosses do a hell of alot of damage from a school of magic you can protect against.
- Remember to buff other party members with your Blessings. Also give the approprite buff: don't give a Warlock BoM, like-wise don't give a Warrior BoW.
- When healing use BoW on your self. This way you will regain the mana quicker as heals cost a large amount.
Solo
- Just heal yourself with Flash of Light whenever you need to heal. (Helped with by the The Art of War talent, which will give you instant flash of light heals after doing Crits with your moves.)
- Bandages help as well, use this if you have the feeling you are using to much mana (to heal).
- There a few oh**** methods when you can use to protect your self when you are low on health. You could:
- Use Hammer of Justice and then use a Heal.
- Use Repentence (once gained through talents) and then use a Heal.
- Use Divine Protection and then use a heal; or quickly kill the target if it is on low health then heal up.
Professions
- The best options are Skinning/Mining, they make lots of money, skinning gives critical strike rating and mining gives health (this little bonus was added in patch 3.0). These bonuses are small and not needed at all, there just a good choice. (Well said Trollvink!)
6. Stats
In the following order: Strength > Stamina > Intellect > Agility > Mp5 .
( Strength > Stamina means Strength is greater than Stamina, sorry if this seems obvious but I always get confused. )
Strength: Needed for Attack Power.
Stamina: Needed for health.
Intellect: Needed for mana, also gives spell critical strike chance. Needed for the heals and other spells.
Agility: Needed for Critical strike chance, also gives armor.
Mana Per 5 Seconds: You won't see this alot until outland, and that is probabbly the only place you'll need it as in Notherend you'll be using divne plea for mana.
7. Gear.
Weapons & Shield's
I've chosen these weapons based on their DPS and Weapon Speed!
10 - 20:
Lvl 18 - 2H - Smite's Mighty Hammer
20 - 30:
Lvl 22 - 2H - Strike of the Hydra
Lvl 27 - 2H - Corpsemaker
30 - 40:
Lvl 37 - 2H - Ravager (I was reading throught the comments on Wowhead about this axe. You need to watch out if you are doing an instance that you don't break CC with this axes proc. Perhaps use a different axe in instances.)
40 - 50:
[Change to come]
50 - 60:
Lvl 51 - 2H - Ice Barbed Spear (Very hawt spear, all you have to do to get it is win an AV!)
60 - 80:
Your choices here are really linear, you will be given a really nice 2H all the way to 80.
8. Class Quests
You will gain a few quests specific to your own class, in your carrer as a paladin. I recomend you to do this, especially the level 12 quest for getting your resurection spell. I'm not going to give you much information about them however I will link you to Wowhead's page on paladin's quests. The comments and information over there will help you through!
Oh and remember you can now train your Charger mount, instead of having to do the long quest chain as long as you have 150 riding skill.
9. Glyph's
Glyph's...? Have a look here.
Click here for a list of Paladin glyphs.
The following glyph's are a good choice for retribution:
Major - Glyph of Judgement
Major - Glyph of Seal of Command
Major - Glyph of Crusader Strike
Major - Glyph of Hammer of Wrath
Minor - Glyph of Blessing of Might
Unfortuently there is nothing else currently worth speanding your hard earned gold on. Get on it Blizzard!
10. Addons
I currently can't think of any essential Paladin add-ons, if you have ideas please say!
Special Thanks to:
Trollvik for creating the guide which I have semi-based this one off. Your style and formatting is fantastic. You are 100% awesome!
Jame for his awesome leveling guides and guide creation guide! Also for creating an awesome website like WoW-Pro.com!
- Printer-friendly version
- Login or register to post comments
needs talent update
This guide needs update in the talents section, BoK is no longer a talent, the talent which took its place is needed for instance-prot (gives 1%/2%/3%/4%/5% increased healing)
Member
Nice guide
This is a great guide, though I have a few suggestions.
Firstly, JoW is quite unnecessary leveling from 10 - 19, and for the most part for 20 - 29, espescially if you strictly adhere to your rotation. I constantly had full mana, or close, unless I had recently healed.
I'd also like to add that in 3.2, Hand of Reckoning is fantastic for pulling mobs, and doing a very nice bit of preliminary damage.
Hand of Reckoning is also a good way of dealing with runners.
Thanks for taking the time to write this guide, I'm leveling a Paladin for the first time at the moment, and it has been a huge help, even with the Pally's pretty simple learning curve.
Moderator
Wait, does the taunt make
Wait, does the taunt make runners turn around and attack you? I never thought of trying that, that would really be a great way of handling them!
Member
No, unfortunately, that
No, unfortunately, that would be great! It just does a bit of damage, which for me is usually enough to kill them.
At level 24 my Hand of Reckoning does steadily about 180 damage non-crit, which is generally good enough if a stray runner is about to aggro a big group and I panic...
Moderator
Haha, okay. Still, good tip
Haha, okay. Still, good tip
Revered Member
At level 80 my taunt ability
At level 80 my taunt ability does anywhere from 4000 to 6000 damage non-crit. Just to make a comparison to the above post.
Talents?
This is a really nice guide for people leveling a paladin! Good job!
However, someone should've updated the talents for the current patch, at least the Retribution talents, for example Fanaticism is now only a 3-point talent.
Keep on the good work!
great guide, but I agree
great guide, but I agree with the talent aspect. Sanctified seals also no longer exists but I am assuming it is now sanctity of battle?
Honored Member
Great Guide, I
Great Guide, I have a level 80 Dwarf pally so i understand most of these concepts however one that has me a little confused in using JoW, imo JoW shouldn't be used as a ret pally because it doesn't do as much damage. Mana as a ret pally isnt exactly a problem especially with divine plea at higher levels I would suggest JoL because of it's higher damage, you can also just switch if your ever low an mana for a hit or two to get mana but overall ithink JoL is much better to be using
Some useful glyphs
Another useful glyph during raids would be Glyph of Avenging Wrath, Why? Well, along with Glyph of Hammer of Wrath, this is a must have in raids. It reduces your cooldown of HoW by 3 seconds when Avenging Wrath is active, which means that you will be casting a HoW every 3 seconds, with an increased 20% damage from the Avenging Wrath buff, imagine that on Thaddius 25 man, the dps you would be doing
I know this isn't intended for raids... but still! 
Your rotation would be something like HoW - CS - HoW - DS - HoW - Judge, etc
Member
Glyph of Divinity
Glyph of Divinity (Major glyph)
Glyph of Lay on Hands (Minor glyph)
having both of those is great. Since divinity grants double the mana gain, and lay on hands grants you as much as the target. (Target self = 4x mana back = full mana)
great glyphs for solo'ing. Really helps during elite boss mobs.
Just want 2 say for
Just want 2 say for rotations i find seal of wisdom is also a good way of cutting downtime 2 a minimum
Honored Member
weapons
The weapon i would recommend using until lvl 80 would be De-Raged Waraxe and this wep is gotten by doing the arena of anguish in Zul'Drak
Honored Member
A couple more weapon suggestions
Below are some craftable weapons that I think fit with your item suggestions above. While not as good as the blues you listed, they are BoE and good for those who are skippign instances.
Lvl 26 - 2H - Solid Iron Maul
Lvl 32 - 2H - Massive Iron Axe
Lvl 35 - 2H - Frost Tiger Blade
Lvl 47 - 2H - Truesilver Champion
Lvl 50 - 2H - Dark Iron Pulverizer
Lvl 51 - 2H - Huge Thorium Battleaxe
There are some others past this point, but the mat costs are so outrageous that I didn't think they should be included, since you'll replace them within 3 levels of going to outland. I also didn't include the BoP crafted items, but there are some really nice ones. I hope this helps.
Trusted Member
Was about to suggest
Was about to suggest something similar. Most levelers do little to no intances unless they are on a fresh server or have a handful of friends, or getting run throughs. I would suggest to anyone to look for some good BoE 2H, and to replace them every 5 lvls or so, that means don't spend more gold than you care to waste for 5 lvls.
A good Lvl 21 - 2H - Killmaim - http://www.wowhead.com/?item=13016#comments:id=678695
-----
all i want in life is to be happy!
great guide
Hi, this is a great guide. One question, which 3 of the 4 major glyphs do you recommend, and in what order?
Good guide
Very nice guide and tips. However, i disagree on you on a few points. Get Judgements of the Wise ASAP! It is much more usefull than Art of War. It gives you pretty much infinite mana as long as youre fighting 1 maybe 2 mobs at a time. Judgement of Wisdom isnt really needed, especially once you get Judgements of the Wise. Judgement of Light usually kept my health at full or near full anyway. The only time i was running out of mana were the few levels before judgements of the wise, and switching to blessing of wisdom for a while got my mana back up. I found Hammer of Wrath to be a waste of mana as it was usually overkill and cost a lot compared to using another judgement and getting back mana.
Overall a good set of tips.
Throw my 2 cents in
Throw my 2 cents in here..
I've just got done leveling a human Pally and am working on a BE Pally now. I've used JoL on both and never had any mana issues to speak of. Once you get replenishment, it's almost too easy. I normally finish fights with at or near 100% in both health and mana. So... throwing in my support for JoL over JoW usage. JoW is what you would normally use for prot AoE grinding though.
Trusted Member
I am going to have
I am going to have investigation into this. I belive you and the other guys are correct. Just want to check it out first.
Administrator
I agree with using Judgment
I agree with using Judgment of Light instead of JoW. I've just tried it while writing the leveling addon and it's true, JoL keeps my HP up and I'm almost always full mana, and it also is more DPS than JoW.
I can't comment on getting Judgements of the Wise before Art of War, as I'm not there yet with my new paladin. But it does sound like a good choice on paper.
Consider making a revision to your amazing guide, Irwezsh
Moderator
With my level 40 pally I
With my level 40 pally I just switched to Judgment of Light instead of JoW, and I have to say I agree with Jame and the above poster. I haven't played a lot yet this way but I seem to never loose either health OR mana. It's wonderful!
JoW > JoL
Hey, I know that this is a long time after this was posted, but I agree with the guide on which judgement to use. I have a paladin, at level 66, and I go "oom" a LOT! So I use judgement of wisdom, if I need healing, then I just use the instant Flash of Light thanks to the art of war effect
Administrator
You're probably right, JoW
You're probably right, JoW is most likely better at higher levels (like 60+). But in my experience JoL is better in the lower levels, at least it has been the case for me until level 30-40 so far.
Moderator
Agreed! I use JoL up until
Agreed! I use JoL up until around level 60, then switched to JoW and have been using that ever since.
Trusted Member
Already made the change.
Already made the change. Thanks for the feed back folks.
Member
Very nice guide but i was
Very nice guide but i was wondering how i get the Ice Barbed Spear
Revered Member
You have to win one Alterac
You have to win one Alterac Valley
It seems easy, but it is not easy... at least on my battelgroup! In the 50s there are no hordies, I tried to get that on my feral druid but every match was like 15 VS 40... Anyway.
If you are horde, fly to Tarren Mill, mount up and ride north. As soon as you enter Alterac Valley "the area", head to the AV champ (should be somewhere to the south-east). There you'll se some npc with quests, the one you have to take is the one already linked in the comments, so just search wowhead for the co-ords. The spear is very good for almost every calss that can use polearms, and I would suggest it to anyone on the alliance side ^^
Revered Member
Look at the comments here.
Look at the comments here. You basically get it by doing a quest right outside of Tarren Mill.
Revered Member
Verigan's Fist!
First of all, this is a very good guide. I find it helpful. I have anyway a question about weapons: isn't Verigan's Fist (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=6953) an obvious choicee as weapon? I don't know if there is still the quest to do (almost 2 years passed since I had an high-level paladin) but I remember that it was the best weapon until level 40 when I got Mograine's Might (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=7723)!
Honored Member
Yes, Verigan's Fist has
Yes, Verigan's Fist has the same quest and is just as overpowered as it always was. I had it for 15 levels and still managed to 3 or 4 shot mobs!
Also, I thought I'd add that you say to use JoW when you get it - however, I think this is a bad idea. First off, it procs very little, and secondly, JoL means that you gain enough health to hardly ever heal, offsetting the mana cost you would use healing with JoW up
"Wise is the man who knows he does not know"...
...Or who knows why my mother keeps calling me.
"Do you dream of madness as
"Do you dream of madness as you sleep or of me"
In the 2. What's the best leveling spec? there is an error in typing : would argue that that protection is a good way to level, and I couldn't disagree.
Just thought I'd point that out. Good stuff though.
Revered Member
Quote:Level 28-30: 3/3
Why not switch Crusade with Sanctified Seals? More crit is better in my opinion.
Revered Member
Thanks, haha.
Hai there,
I don't mind using my format style, haha. Had quite a laugh reading you used it
Anyway, nice guide, good formatting (Had to say that! xP) but you could add some more links, I know I have to do that too, but it's just a little thing you might want to add
~Tenadres
Revered Member
Few things I noticed
A few things I noticed though were:
You can cancel the whirwind-buff by right clicking it.
As a paladin, you might want to list blacksmithing here and show some armor and weapons you can make at level 80.
'That' should be 'then', I guess.
Also, you might want to change the text in '1. Foreword' and '2. What's the best leveling spec?' into more subparagraphs. Now it seems a bit of a 'Wall of text' (This is mainly because of the adds and other things of WoW-pro which makes it very small).
~Trollvink
Member
Weapon
For the Blood Elf Paladins you can pick up http://www.wowhead.com/?item=28164 from the Provisioner outside the inn in Tranquillien. You only have to be level 10 and it should last you for pretty much all of your leveling in Ghostlands. You don't even need that much rep with them to get it.
Exalted Member
Just a little typo:
Just a little typo:
You have a space after "[url=", which shouldn't be there
Except from that; great job!
Trusted Member
Great guide. If I'd read
Great guide. If I'd read this when I first started, it would've saved me a lot of grief.
For the missing minor Glyphs, I'd recommend Glyph of Lay on Hands and Glyph of Sense Undead. Out of all of the minors, they're the most useful for Retribution Palidins in my opinion.
Also, about your rotations. In my experience it's better to use Seal of Blood (I think the Alliance counterpart is called Seal of the Martyr) and Judgment of Light. I do more damage overall than with Seal of Command and Judgment of Wisdom and I haven't noticed a difference in downtime, although in instances, it's better to use Judgment of wisdom since it means less threat and more mana from Spiritual Attunement (athe damage healed by Judgment of Light doesn't count towards activate this).
P.S. Needs more cowbell.
Trusted Member
Just skimmed through you
Just skimmed through you guide. Great job.
Comment me on my blog. http://kostada.blogspot.com/
Moderator
At first I was like, "awww,
At first I was like, "awww, retribution...." - then I saw you included prot talents as well and I was very excited! I am currently leveling a prot pally (I'm leveling with another person) and I plan to have a more in-depth look at your guide and use it for that. Thanks very much for writing it!
One random note to add to your "oh crap" buttons - Lay on Hands is great if you need a big heal and are out of mana!
Edit: One extra note - your guide might be improved with a linking table of contents. See my Creating a Table of Contents guide to see how to do that!
Trusted Member
Yeah
I hope to eventually create a guide for protection and holy leveling. Eventually creating a really in-depth guide to playing all aspects of the paladin class.
For now I've created a list of feed back and I'm going to start making the changes that I think are relevant. Hopefully will get it finished tomorrow-ish...
Love the tiips on when to place talents
As a relatively new player, I've been frustrated so many times when someone posts a build to use while leveling but doesn't give advice on when to place the talents! Thanks for giving good advice.
Honored Member
Nice guide, this will help
Nice guide, this will help me level my palain.
I have a suggestion for an addon, but i guess it's more fore raiding. It's called Pallypower, makes buffing easier. I don't know if you really need it, but it's been alot of discussion in my guild, so i guess it's good for something.
Administrator
Really awesome work Irwezsh!
Really awesome work Irwezsh! Looks like we've got another great guide writer in our ranks now
I fixed a few typos, hope you don't mind.
Suggestions:
1. Add more wowhead tooltips when describing rotations.
2. In the Stats section, should probably add hit rating and crit rating somewhere.
Trusted Member
Just a little thing about
Just a little thing about the battle rotations, I find Judgement of Light better than Wisdom at least until you start getting your instant attacks (Hammer of Wrath, Crusader Strike, etc) because unless you go really hog wild with mana (using Consecration every time it's up, and so on) you shouldn't run into mana problems.
Also, (Major) Glyph of Hammer of Wrath is getting a nice change in the next patch (reduces mana cost of HoW by 100%) so it might be worth considering as well, at least after you get Seal of Blood/the Martyr to replace Command.
Lastly, Ravager only requires level 37, not 42, so it could fit nicely into that 30-40 gap you have. That does create a 40-50 gap, but Archaedas in Uldaman drops a nice sword and mace for that range. EDIT: If you can get ahold of a Demons Deck in the AH (either the deck itself or the cards to make it) the reward is a nice 2-handed axe.
Exalted Member
Lovely guide I've got an
Lovely guide
I've got an suggestion for the add-on section:
Tank Warnings
It shows when a taunt or anything similar is resisted or when a special mitigation ability is activated.