Here is my answer to the question that gets asked ten times a week. This build in my opinion will give you the fastest levelling from 1 to 60 and still allow you to tank, heal or dps in instances, sometimes all three at once.

When you get Seal of Command at level 20, you need a big slow two hander with as high a damage as possible to gain the most benefit.

Get a fast one hander and shield as soon as you can, and I recommend levelling all your weapon skills as you level, switching weapon types once you have maxed one out for your level. This will give the advantage of being able to choose between meatier and better weapons without having to worry about your skill level. Don't neglect unarmed it can be very handy against disarming mobs.

From Level 10 - Level 20

http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/paladin/talents.html?000000000000000000000000000000000000000000520300100000000000000

From Level 21 - 30

http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/paladin/talents.html?055000000000000000000000000000000000000000520300100000000000000

From Level 31 - 37

http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/paladin/talents.html?055000000000000000000000000000000000000000520505100000000000000

From Level 38 - 60

http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/paladin/talents.html?055000000000000000000000000000000000000000520505120003125001351

And finally to level to 70 take whichever 10 points you feel is best, speccing 10 into protection and taking redoubt will give you enough to be able to tank most of the outland 5 mans without much trouble.

At level 70 you will have a better idea of what style you prefer and what you want to do with the class. If you know that already at level 60 then respec to your prefered choices and you will have 10 levels to get used to your new build.

Good luck, have fun and remember, the words "For the good of the guild" = /gquit! :)

So you are going for that sticky post...good for you...very helpful guide


/sticky

all i have to say is...retribution lol

Reckoning goese faster then retri with 2h'er and aoe grinding goese faster then both.

---

Q u o t e:
So you are going for that sticky post...good for you...very helpful guide


/sticky

---

Thank you.

I've never actually done a serious post for a sticky. My last sticky attempt was an effort to get all the forum trolls to post in one thread between patches 2.01 and 2.03 when ret paladins were unstoppable monsters of destruction in PvP, Blue tagged it but wouldnt sticky. :)

---

Q u o t e:
all i have to say is...retribution lol

Reckoning goese faster then retri with 2h'er and aoe grinding goese faster then both.

---

Unfortuantely 50% of WoW mobs are casters, and a Ret burst damage build limits down time while maximising killing speed making it a better choice for levelling in my opinion.

While a reck build holds nice burst damage potential it doenst give the same survivability against casters, and at lower levels a reck build only gives slighlty better survivability against melee.

1. Would you recommend going for a purely ret build instead of a reckoning/retribution one for grinding?

2. What gear to focus on for maxing pve damage with the build you suggest

3. I am fairly new to being a pala, but is spiritual focus really necessary for a grinding/lvling build? I would rate it as more of a pvp talent tbh

---

Q u o t e:


Unfortuantely 50% of WoW mobs are casters, and a Ret burst damage build limits down time while maximising killing speed making it a better choice for levelling in my opinion. .

---

UHM a) If you know what grind spots to take, you can avoid caster ones
b) Reckoning procs off of ANY DAMAGING attacks, so i don't see the problem with casters, only problem would be if you we're to aoe grind in wich case you will avoid certain spots


Retribution is nice for pvp due to burst but that's it...

---

Q u o t e:
1. Would you recommend going for a purely ret build instead of a reckoning/retribution one for grinding?

2. What gear to focus on for maxing pve damage with the build you suggest

3. I am fairly new to being a pala, but is spiritual focus really necessary for a grinding/lvling build? I would rate it as more of a pvp talent tbh

---

1. Answered in post above.

2. Itemisation for paladins is still horrible at lower levels, your basically looking for a mix of warrior, shaman, paladin gear. Stamina, Strength, Intellect, Crit %, +spell damage. In that order for levelling.

3. SF plus Conc Aura is uniteruptable healing, its a life saver. Your down to 5% health and 3 mobs are beating on you, unless they got a counter spell effect you will be able to heal to full if you have the mana.

---

Q u o t e:
UHM a) If you know what grind spots to take, you can avoid caster ones
b) Reckoning procs off of ANY DAMAGING attacks, so i don't see the problem with casters, only problem would be if you we're to aoe grind in wich case you will avoid certain spots

---

a) And thats fine, but leaves you with problems in instances

b) Crusader Strike does about the same damage as Reckoing plus a SoR proc. With a 10% chance to proc you would need to take 10 hits every 10 seconds to get the same damage.

For AoE melee mob grinding prot is best. For normal levelling, which includes instance runs my build will give you a reasonable levelling speed, nice damage, great versatility in instances and you dont need to go out of the way to find certain grind spots.

for retri, this is great. However, who wants to be retribution?

It's got no diversity, no edge, and the gains in retribution are passive, minimal and built around mana-efficiency.

This is just, my opinion, though.

As far as retribution goes, this goes a long way.
even though it's a build-thread, you could give advise on spots where retribution outshines other specializations to give better justification.
Or spots where the mindless "one-button" press (as Retri) shines at all.
Also, about utilizing it more than just switch weapon now and then.

I see your point about SF. Personally, I have never felt I had any need of it while lvling though, if you make good use of stuff like BoProt, bubble, lay on hands or even SoLight you're fine. In my eyes its just not worth investing in it untill you get all the other usefull talents - its more a matter of convenience than necessity. Like I said, however, you made a valid point wich I respect. I guess its a matter of taste and personal playstyle in the end.

SF *really* makes a difference if you plan on PvP'ing a bit while levelling though - back in the day I did a *lot* of BGs in the 40-49 bracket, and it really did make a difference in terms of actually getting my heals off when I respecced at 49 for it (was 10/0/30 then).

---

Q u o t e:

a) And thats fine, but leaves you with problems in instances

b) Crusader Strike does about the same damage as Reckoing plus a SoR proc. With a 10% chance to proc you would need to take 10 hits every 10 seconds to get the same damage.

For AoE melee mob grinding prot is best. For normal levelling, which includes instance runs my build will give you a reasonable levelling speed, nice damage, great versatility in instances and you dont need to go out of the way to find certain grind spots.

---

a) If you're healing or tanking you don't have problems in instances, wich is actually quite better then try and loldps as retri, no offence, i don't have anything against that tree but it just isn't that good outside pvp

b)to get CS you need to spend 41 tps in a tree, it uses mana, and it's very weapon dependant, also reckoning doesen't really limit your weapon choices as much and it has 4 charges not 1, and it doesen't cost mana

If you want good leveling speed you will avoid instances except an odd run here and there, and there, prot has no problems AT ALL, infact just a few minutes ago me and another 41 prot pally 2maned RFD.

And last, you don't need to go out of your way to find grind spots, it takes 5mins of searching on either google or the official forums.

---

Q u o t e:
for retri, this is great. However, who wants to be retribution?

It's got no diversity, no edge, and the gains in retribution are passive, minimal and built around mana-efficiency.

This is just, my opinion, though.

As far as retribution goes, this goes a long way.
even though it's a build-thread, you could give advise on spots where retribution outshines other specializations to give better justification.
Or spots where the mindless "one-button" press (as Retri) shines at all.
Also, about utilizing it more than just switch weapon now and then.

---

Its a question of logistics and itemisation. Protection isnt needed to tank any 5 mans at all pre outlands, yes it makes the best melee mob AoE grind but thats it. Most of the outland 5 mans can be easily tanked without the need to spec protection. Basically aside from AoE grind its an end game tree.

Holy is notoriously slow for levelling, for the simple reason that its burst damage is high in the tree and requires a lot of +spell damage to come even come close to Ret's burst. Getting that gear pre level 60 is not going to happen. Holy doesnt so much kill mobs, it bores them to death. And as a healing spec pre level 60 its no better or worse than the other two for the same gear issues. BoL is all you need to main heal pre outland 5 mans.

---

Q u o t e:
I see your point about SF. Personally, I have never felt I had any need of it while lvling though, if you make good use of stuff like BoProt, bubble, lay on hands or even SoLight you're fine. In my eyes its just not worth investing in it untill you get all the other usefull talents - its more a matter of convenience than necessity. Like I said, however, you made a valid point wich I respect. I guess its a matter of taste and personal playstyle in the end.

---

I have always seen SF as the paladin version of Tactical Mastery, while not essential it does make life a lot easier. :)

---

Q u o t e:
a) If you're healing or tanking you don't have problems in instances, wich is actually quite better then try and loldps as retri, no offence, i don't have anything against that tree but it just isn't that good outside pvp

b)to get CS you need to spend 41 tps in a tree, it uses mana, and it's very weapon dependant, also reckoning doesen't really limit your weapon choices as much and it has 4 charges not 1, and it doesen't cost mana

If you want good leveling speed you will avoid instances except an odd run here and there, and there, prot has no problems AT ALL, infact just a few minutes ago me and another 41 prot pally 2maned RFD.

And last, you don't need to go out of your way to find grind spots, it takes 5mins of searching on either google or the official forums.

---

a) Pre level 45 - 50 Ret is actually one of the highest dps specs in the game. So not so much lol, as pew pew. Ret lets you either dps, heal or tank or even all three at the same time in an instance.

b) Oops forgot about the charges, in that case it would be taking 5 hits every 10 seconds.

Err if you want to level fast you run instances and group quests, they have more XP and better gear.

Grind Speed goese like this :

Aoe Prot > Reck Builds > Ret > Holy

In instances it doesen't matter, your gear doese.

New paladins will come to this topic and read that retri is the way to go, it's not, it's a gimp specc outside pvp.

There is NO scenario where prot build( reck or aoe) doese not do JUST AS GOOD as retri AND BETTER in other situations.

Personal choice I guess, but I'd much rather move the three points from Divine Purpose to Sanctified Judgement or Crusade. Also, the improved Sanctity Aura is only really useful in a group environment. If you're soloing most of the way you're mainly going to be healing yourself after a fight. You'll have to drink anyway so can top yourself up to full and then drink; the extra 6% healing is a bit pointless if you're only ever healing yourself after you've killed something and are out of combat.

---

Q u o t e:
Here is my answer to the question that gets asked ten times a week. This build in my opinion will give you the fastest levelling from 1 to 60 and still allow you to tank, heal or dps in instances, sometimes all three at once.

---

Odd, as you've put zero points in any talents that improve your healing or tanking abilities ;)

You can heal/tank most instances up to level 60 without putting many points in holy/prot, but at level 55 or later, unless you have a very good healing set, you'd certainly struggle. Without illumination at least you're going to be out of mana very quickly, even with the extra 10% mana.

With no points in protection you'd put a big strain on your healer in most groups. All your shield is providing you with is some extra armor and a (very poor) chance to block.

You'd certainly not be able to tank and heal yourself with 41 points in ret.

---

Q u o t e:
And finally to level to 70 take whichever 10 points you feel is best, speccing 10 into protection and taking redoubt will give you enough to be able to tank most of the outland 5 mans without much trouble.

---

To be blunt, this is wrong. You'd really need to put more points into prot to be able to tank most of the level 70 instances. I tanked Botanica as ret spec but with only 10 points in prot (full Redoubt, 2 in Precision, 3 in Toughness) my HP was all over the place. Healers didn't feel comfortable and I couldn't confidently tank more than one mob at a time due to poor mitigation. I went off and respecced up to Ardent Defender and the difference was massive. With Holy Shield I could reliably block 50% or more attacks (more when I got lucky and redoubt procced), more HP from Sacred Duty, life-saving ability when things go wrong and your HP drops below 20%. 6% reduction in damage taken from improved Righteous Fury, much better ability to hold aggro.

No offense intended, but are you 70 yet and have you tanked any of the 5 mans?

---

Q u o t e:
Good luck, have fun and remember, the words "For the good of the guild" = /gquit! :)

---

I couldn't disagree with this comment more.

Your guide is a bit misleading. As far as rertib build and Seal of Command is a great DPS but its a burst and you loose a lot of mana. So you have to drink much more often ( even with our awesome BoW ).
The fastest grinding build from lvl 35 up to 50 is reckoning, with some holy aoe. Retrib doesn't even come close to efficiency of reckoning. You must have leveled your paladin long time ago, While i was leveling I did respeced every 2 levels to see what is good and whats not. Checked all builds from retrib , reckoning, deep protection, deep retrib, and mix of reckoning and holy shock etc. Now above lvl 60 retrib with CS is 2xmore DPS for sure. You kill mobs faster and such. But i tried full protection ( 41 ), and rest in holy. I could take 7 mobs of my level at the same time. I was oom after that fight but this thing is good too. Its a matter of what you like.

There is another thing to consider. With CS build you sacrifice you survivability, a lot of it. While in reckoning build you dont have to fear mele classes at all.

---

Q u o t e:
Grind Speed goese like this :

Aoe Prot > Reck Builds > Ret > Holy

In instances it doesen't matter, your gear doese.

New paladins will come to this topic and read that retri is the way to go, it's not, it's a gimp specc outside pvp.

There is NO scenario where prot build( reck or aoe) doese not do JUST AS GOOD as retri AND BETTER in other situations.

---

Why must people continually argue with me. Im not saying Ret is better at AoE grinding, in fact I think i've said prot is a better AoE grind spec.

And sorry but if you think ret has no use ouitside of PvP then you are just showing yourself to be a troll in what was a nice simple build recommendation thread. If you think you need Holy to heal or Prot to tank anything pre level 60 then you dont have a single clue what you are talking about.

Ret is better against 50% of the mobs in WoW than any prot build, Ret is just as good as tanking anything pre level 60 as prot because prot is overkill for low level content. Ret is more versatile than prot it allows you dps, tanking and healing. Prot gives you low dps, overkill on tanking and healing.

Im not quite sure what the anti ret thing is about, its just a simple truth its a better build for levelling in general. If you disagree go and make your own recommendation thread.

---

Q u o t e:
The fastest grinding build from lvl 35 up to 50 is reckoning, with some holy aoe. Retrib doesn't even come close to efficiency of reckoning.

---

At level 38 you get SoW/JoW. BoW yourslef, JoW the mob, Rank 1 SoC (mana efficency), go to work.

And again Reck is an AoE grinding build, in instances its overkill for tanking, and low dps.

You are right, reckoning is bad for instances if your not tanking, you need to get hit a lot to get it working. Well, your build idea is a good description of one path for sure. I know im gona be 41 retrib till 70 for sure. Then well - full raid healer spec for starters.

---

Q u o t e:


Why must people continually argue with me. Im not saying Ret is better at AoE grinding, in fact I think i've said prot is a better AoE grind spec.

And sorry but if you think ret has no use ouitside of PvP then you are just showing yourself to be a troll in what was a nice simple build recommendation thread. If you think you need Holy to heal or Prot to tank anything pre level 60 then you dont have a single clue what you are talking about.

Ret is better against 50% of the mobs in WoW than any prot build, Ret is just as good as tanking anything pre level 60 as prot because prot is overkill for low level content. Ret is more versatile than prot it allows you dps, tanking and healing. Prot gives you low dps, overkill on tanking and healing.

Im not quite sure what the anti ret thing is about, its just a simple truth its a better build for levelling in general. If you disagree go and make your own recommendation thread.



At level 38 you get SoW/JoW. BoW yourslef, JoW the mob, Rank 1 SoC (mana efficency), go to work.

And again Reck is an AoE grinding build, in instances its overkill for tanking, and low dps.

---

Ignorance is bliss;
And lol prot low dps with reck, you are pwning yourself more and more.
Also where did i say you HAVE to have points in prot or holy to heal or tank anything up to 60?Oh right i didn't, learn to read.
Ret allows you to dps, heal and tank as much as any other specc doese;

Ending, i'd like to say that your suggestion fails, retri isn't the way to go for leveling(except till you get reck) and it won't be unless they are goin to rework the trees massivly.

kkthxbye

EDIT: Healing tanking or dpsing depends more ON GEAR at low lvls then specc, also you say use bow and jow and down-rank soc to rank1 i mean wtf, get a clue, if you are retri BoM is the way to go.

---

Q u o t e:
Personal choice I guess, but I'd much rather move the three points from Divine Purpose to Sanctified Judgement or Crusade. Also, the improved Sanctity Aura is only really useful in a group environment. If you're soloing most of the way you're mainly going to be healing yourself after a fight. You'll have to drink anyway so can top yourself up to full and then drink; the extra 6% healing is a bit pointless if you're only ever healing yourself after you've killed something and are out of combat.

---

Read the second sentance: "This build in my opinion will give you the fastest levelling from 1 to 60 and still allow you to tank, heal or dps in instances, sometimes all three at once. " See the bit that says about instances, you know where you are grouped with people, what gave you the idea it was a solo build.

---

Q u o t e:
Odd, as you've put zero points in any talents that improve your healing or tanking abilities ;)

You can heal/tank most instances up to level 60 without putting many points in holy/prot, but at level 55 or later, unless you have a very good healing set, you'd certainly struggle. Without illumination at least you're going to be out of mana very quickly, even with the extra 10% mana.

With no points in protection you'd put a big strain on your healer in most groups. All your shield is providing you with is some extra armor and a (very poor) chance to block.

You'd certainly not be able to tank and heal yourself with 41 points in ret.

---

Was never a problem for me, I have healed, tanked and dpsed in every 5 man up to level 60. Did Start Dire Maul and Scholo post 2.01/pre 2.03 as the tank with 0 points in prot and no defense on gear, went smooth as silk. I have main healed some of the outland 5 mans with my dps gear on and 0 point in holy without issue. And of course have tanked most of the pre 70 instances as well.

---

Q u o t e:
To be blunt, this is wrong. You'd really need to put more points into prot to be able to tank most of the level 70 instances. I tanked Botanica as ret spec but with only 10 points in prot (full Redoubt, 2 in Precision, 3 in Toughness) my HP was all over the place. Healers didn't feel comfortable and I couldn't confidently tank more than one mob at a time due to poor mitigation. I went off and respecced up to Ardent Defender and the difference was massive. With Holy Shield I could reliably block 50% or more attacks (more when I got lucky and redoubt procced), more HP from Sacred Duty, life-saving ability when things go wrong and your HP drops below 20%. 6% reduction in damage taken from improved Righteous Fury, much better ability to hold aggro.

No offense intended, but are you 70 yet and have you tanked any of the 5 mans?

---

I have tanked the pre level 70 content just fine with my ret spec. And you will note I said most of the outland 5 mans in my original post.

---

Q u o t e:


Ignorance is bliss;
And lol prot low dps with reck, you are pwning yourself more and more.
Also where did i say you HAVE to have points in prot or holy to heal or tank anything up to 60?Oh right i didn't, learn to read.
Ret allows you to dps, heal and tank as much as any other specc doese;

---

Your getting a lot of reck procs dpsing in an instance? Tell your tanks to sort out their aggro would you.

Ok so let me see you are saying a ret spec allows you to dps, tank and heal everything pre 60, finally your making sense. Now what does Ret give you over prot/holy, well it allows you to kill mobs faster 1 v 1, has better burst damage so casters are not as much of a problem, and uses the available itemisation better. i.e. what I said in the first place.

The advantage holy has over ret for levelling is well not much really, the advantage prot has over ret better melee mob AoE grinding. Therefore the better levelling build for dpsing, tanking, healing instances and a nice smooth levelling speed: The one I suggested.

---

Q u o t e:
Healing tanking or dpsing depends more ON GEAR at low lvls then specc,

---

Rofl, yeah look at all that great paladin tanking/healing mail/plate pre outlands. Pre level 60 paladin healing depends on BoL and some Int on your gear, paladin tanking depends on RF and a one hander and shield.

---

Q u o t e:
also you say use bow and jow and down-rank soc to rank1 i mean wtf, get a clue, if you are retri BoM is the way to go.

---

Rofl, oh dear, I have said it before and I will say it again, "A retnoob is a state of mind, not a state of spec." Why use BoM when its not needed, BoW lessens your down time, SoC is not as reliant on spell damage as other things, so JoW over JotC gives less down time while sacrificing a small amount of kill speed. Of course sometimes you have to chnage and adapt the situation and change your blessing and judgements accordingly but thats a discussion for another thread.