Paladin Leveling Guide

Paladin Guide

Paladins are awesome – that’s all there is to it. Those big, shiny suits of armor cutting through wave after wave of mob with the mighty light of Divine power – how much cooler can you get? But, here’s the problem with Paladins – they’re damn hard to level. At least, they used to be – up until a few recent developments that cut back on some of the requirements to hit 80 and to take advantage of the content that these guys have at their disposal. But, it’s still no cake walk to level a Paladin. You’d better have a good grip on what your character is supposed to be doing and how they’re supposed to be doing it. So, without further ado – here’s your Paladin leveling guide:

A Basic Introduction to Paladins

Paladins are one of the four hybrid classes in the game. They can do a little bit of everything and when it comes to leveling, they do it all very well. Killing a Paladin in PvE content is downright a pain – it takes a LOT of time to wear one down, with the healing, armor, and big heavy swings they can throw out there. Paladins have a ton of self-administered buffs, spells, and bubbles that you need to master if you even remotely plan on reaching the top tier of this class. Another big problem that sends so many people for a Paladin leveling guide is the mana issue. These guys are not casters by nature, but they use a lot of mana. So, as you can guess, they have woefully little in the way of Mana. If you don’t manage it well, it’s OOM for you.

To put it succinctly – a Paladin needs to be well played, across the board or it’s going to take FOREVER to reach level 80. With that in mind, let’s teach you how to play this class like a pro.

Choosing a Race

So, you want to be a Paladin. But whoever shall you level that Paladin as. It’s a fantastic question – one that won’t make a huge difference in the long run, but up front can have a nice impact on how you level. I’m a huge fan of Allie Paladins, but with the Blood Elf, you can go to the dark side of the light if it so suits you. Here are some thoughts:

Alliance

Alliance gets the choice between three classes for that big bad mace wielder – Humans, Dwarfs, or Draenei. The Humans and Dwarfs are the old school Paladins from the beginnings of the game – so they’re set up with the basic stats you may want for this class.

That said, the Human race doesn’t offer much that’s very useful. It’s a bit boring too – though the starting area for humans is a cakewalk and travel is minimal to get to the next area (Westfall is right there). Dwarfs have Stoneform, which is unspeakably cool for any class, but their racial boosts are for ranged stuff. Not exactly a Paladin’s strongsuit. That leaves the Draenei who are great for any class – as is the case with most expansion add-on classes. If you’re aiming for a good Draenei Paladin, you could do much worse. Having the Gift of the Naruu is going to be HUGE early on when your own healing efforts are so limited.

Horde

Only one choice here, so that’s that. If you’re a Horde player and want a Paladin – it’s the Blood Elf or nothing (at least until Cataclysm hits). What does that mean? Not a whole lot really, though your ability to load up on the mana centered talents of a Blood Elf is nice for the mana hogs that are Paladins. A good class for this all the way around.

The Early Levels

So, it’s time to start leveling that shiny new Paladin. Where shall you start? Great question and one that’s going to be tough to answer in more than one way. To start with, this class is going to be a race to get those AoE tanking capabilities up to the point where you can stand in the middle of a circle of mobs and lay waste to anything in sight (which never gets old). Of course, you won’t unlock all of those at first.

When you start out with your Paladin, you’ll have a few simple abilities that essentially turn you into a healing Warrior. It’s a fairly simple stretch to level 10 when you can start hitting a bit harder and not worry so much about all the other mobs out there that want to pummel you into the ground. When you get to Level 10, you start learning a few more powerful buffs and start stocking up on all those all powerful talents.

In time, you’re going to get abilities like Retribution Aura, Blessing of Sanctuary, Consecration, and Holy Shield. Get ready to start knocking down dozens of mobs at a time (I’m totally serious here – this class can do some BIG damage when played right).

As you approach level 20+, the key to success is almost entirely in setting those buffs properly and healing when necessary. A well played Paladin should never, ever die, even on the most obnoxious 2 and 3 player group quests and bosses. Get ready to kick some serious butt.

Gear and Weapons

Gear for a good Retribution Paladin can be a pain in the backside. There are a lot of different things you’ll need as you level to keep those stats nice and even. You could be working on getting some more mana to maintain your seals and judgments or you could be focused on increasing your strength enough so that you can land some bigger hits with that hefty sword of yours.

At first, you’ll work with some basic mail armor – the key stats to aim for when you get started is Strength, then Intellect, then Stamina for some much needed health, Agility to too boost your critical attack rate, and Crit rating. That should set you up pretty well as you level up – well enough to keep the mana pool flowing and your damage blowing over anyone in sight.

When you reach Level 40, make sure to have a nice stock of Plate armor on hand. It’s going to cost a LOT to do this with gold, so save your quest rewards from level 33 on so that you can just swap over your stats when needed. If that fails, make sure to keep the right stats on equally leveled mail armor. Sometimes, those nifty healing boosts are only available when you load up on mail gear.

For your weapon, you want to find a big, heavy 2 handed sword to knock some teeth out and show who’s boss. Get the slowest weapon with the biggest damage range. Trust me, this will be the way to go with almost any melee class.

Talent Specs

Next up we have talent specs. If you haven’t guessed yet, you need to be a Retribution spec with this class if you’re serious about making it work for you. Protection is also used on occasion for characters who want a heftier challenge, but it’s going to take FOREVER to kill much of anything with this spec. You’ll stay alive for a good long time, but that’s about it. Retribution is your leveling build; here are a few reasons why.

To start with, you’ll want to focus on getting that mana efficiency up which is going to be done with Benediction. Follow up with some improved Judgments and then load up on anything that is going to augment all that damage you’ll be dealing. Heart of the Crusader, Conviction, Seal of Command, Sanctity of Battle, and Crusade along with pretty much everything else up to Level 80. Around level 60 or so, you’ll switch over and start speccing some Protection stats to keep that survivability high. Here’s one of my favorite builds for leveling a good old fashioned Ret Paladin.

Paladin Leveling Guide Tips to Making Gold

There wouldn’t be a good Paladin leveling guide without a few good tips on how to make some gold from the game. And, as with any class, the Paladin has its own quirks and specialties when it comes to farming for gold. To start with, you should begin the game with some simple, easy to perform professions – that’s pretty much all there is when you get started (as much as you might wish otherwise).

Unless you like camping for hours in the Auction House, get used to farming on ore, herbs, and skins. Skinning is extra awesome for paladins though because you can use all that AoE tanking ability you develop pretty early on to take out whole swarms of mobs and then skin them all in one fell swoop. It’s an awesome, cash building process that will work for most Paladins after level 25 or so.

Top 10 Paladin Leveling Guide Tips and Tricks

1. Use Your Seals and Judgments Early and Often

Seals and judgments are how most of the game is won with a good Paladin. They should be used in every single fight you start. Unless you can one shot your enemy, slap on a seal – that’s what they’re there for.

1. 2H or Dual Wield

Two handers are big and heavy and do a ton of damage. On the flip side, you can pick up two hefty one handed swords and do all sorts of damage too. Just make sure that you get the one that will allow you to top out your damage. Don’t grab a shield.

1. Load Up on Consumables

Mana is your friend – so you need potions and waters on hand to keep the mana count nice and high. Forget to take care of this small issue and you’re going to be out of luck.

1. Manage that Mana

Don’t let yourself run out of mana any more often than necessary. No mana means no healing. No healing means lots more dying. And that’s a whole lot of time thrown out the door.

1. Judgment of Justice to Keep them in Place

This is an awesome judgment that will hold pretty much anyone in place if they’re trying to run off – comes in mighty handy when trying to lock down those humanoid mobs that tend to get flighty when about to die.

1. Get Your Mounts!

Level 20 and 40 let you get your class specific Warhorses – both of them very cool. They boost speed, cost less than other class’s mounts and are just plain cool. Make sure not to skip this option.

1. Gear Doesn’t Matter Much

Lucky for you, this is one of the least gear dependent classes in the game. You can get where you need to without needing to spend hours upon hours farming down the next best level of plate gear. Just take what you get with each quest reward and you should be fine.

1. Glyph it Up

Glyphs are good for any class early on. You can skip those enchants and gems for now, but glyphs will scale as you go. Judgment, Exorcism, Consecration, and Seal of Command are all good major glyphs to snag as you approach level 80.

1. Use AoE Early On

AoE tanking should be one of your favorite activities. Taking out a mountain of mobs in the middle of the field and then skinning them all for big gold rewards is what makes a Paladin so darn cool.

1. Don’t Get Tricky

Paladins are simple enough. Spec for big offensive damage and then hit everything in sight. Don’t try to load up on healing or protection talents – they’ll just slow you down, a lot.