Paladin Builds 2.0
Table of Contents:
I. Introduction
II. 51 pts builds
III. 61 pts builds
IV. Paladin talent guide *** under construction ***
a., Holy Talents
b., Protection Talents
c., Retribution Talents
V. Common levelling talent guide *** under construction ***
VI. Common questions
last updated - 2006-12-16
I. Introduction
With the patch v2.0 we received the 41 pts talent trees from the upcoming expansion pack. This changed our gameplay quite much, since we've received new possibilities, and thus some of our jobs became easier, as we could spec up with more appropriate talents. In this thread I would like to gather up the common talent builds that paladins use, and include a small guide to each of the talent trees. I don't say that my words are the manifest of the unquestionable truth, mostly I will include my personal opinion.
The talent build section is divided into two part, the 51 pts part, and the 61 pts one. Currently we have access to only 51 pts, but with the Burning Crusade it will change. Thou I would like to keep the 51 pts part as well, since not all players will buy the expansion. In many builds you could find many options on different tiers, like Unyielding Faith vs. Lay of Hands in Holy. I think there is no "best" option, but you can choose the one that fit your personal playing style.
If you feel that you have a valid and unique talent build, that is not in this thread/list so far, please post it; and I will include it in a few days. But if you put 2 points elsewhere without any serious reason, its just a variant. :)
Also it would be nice to include a short or longer description sorting out the reasons, and some variable points (if any) here and there.
II. 51 pts builds section
40/11/0 - Holy Spelldamage with Kings build
http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/paladin/talents.html?055030025201305310500532010000000000000000000000000000000000000
This build focuses primary on spelldamage and support abilities.
Improved Blessing of Wisdom, Improved Protection Blessings, and Blessing of Kings makes this a well all around support build. If you have some spelldamage equipment you can dish out quite nice damage with a two hander, as
Seal and Judgement of Righteousness and benefit much from +spelldamage, and you can use
Holy Shock every fifteen seconds. (Thou for combat healing I would use a shield personally.)
The points in
Unyielding Faith are moveable, personally I like it better then the
Lay of Hands talent, and
Aura Mastery is currently obsolate with some Judgement Armor pieces. On later, when you may change your tier 2 set (or now, if you do not have three pieces), I would use 1/1
Aura Mastery & 1/2
Unyielding Faith on that row.
The healer aspect is unquestionable as you have
Sanctified Light, Healing Light and Light's Grace. You can throw out some really big manafree heals with it, as Holy Light receives +11% to crit, and you could be a very viable pvp healer with the help
Light's Grace.
This build suits damage/healing gear well.
40/0/11 - Holy Spelldamage with Seal of Command
http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/paladin/talents.html?055031205201325010500000000000000000000005023000100000000000000
This build focuses on healing for raid and BG usage, while it has SoC for some melee damage/grinding. It also has improved BoM and BoW which you will be buffing anyways.
The 2 points in
Impr. Lay on Hands is optional however, you can put them in
Unyielding Faith if you want too, its a matter of taste, I use LoH alot, in raids or in BG. And cheaper
Cleanse is nice to, but you can put those into
Light's Grace, again, a matter of taste.
I find myself doing allright in BGs with a good combination of + spelldamage/healing and + melee crit chance.
Holy Shock is really good every 15 sec, with crits over 1100. A very good alround build that gives you some fun between raids.
Based on the idea of Omegaman.
0/42/9 - Basic Protection/Tanking build
http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/paladin/talents.html?000000000000000000000532013350000152515010520200000000000000000
This would be the basic tanking build I would like to use. The protection tree is pretty straightforward, and from my PTR experiences I can say, you could use it for soloing quite well.
Reckoning with an one hander means moderate damage with virtually endless health, while useing a two hander means more damage but also makes you more opened to enemy attacks.
Improved Divine Shield is a very good talent, as you could use your bubble every 4 minutes from now, and with the new taunt ability that means some easy moments for the healers during tanking.
The nine point I've put into retribution is mainly because the mana efficiency of Benediction, and I think the eight second judgements could also help with aggro during the cooldown of
Righteous Defense. Since you do not need as much healing as other paladins without protection build, you could use the extra mana with
Improved Judgements for more damage in solo parts. In my opinion
Deflection is also important, as parry means full damage mitigation.
My gear of choice would be a mitigation/stamina one, as spelldamage and mana plays a smaller role in tanking atm.
0/20/31 - Oldschool Retribution build
http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/paladin/talents.html?000000000000000000005032410002300000000005520005102013105001000
Going into retribution and not taking
Crusader Strike? Aye! But getting as much stuns as you can, namely a
Hammer of Justice with 45(35) seconds and
Repentance. PvP armor is highly recommended for its hammer related bonus, so you can throw out as much
Judgements of Command damage as you could.
Based on the idea of Sterilizator.
5/0/43 (+3) - Basic Crusader Strike build
http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/paladin/talents.html?050000000000000000000000000000000000000005020505100033105331051
This is some basic like build I would use if I talent for retribution. It has every percentage based damage increasing talents,
Sanctity Aura, Repentance and of course
Crusader Strike. I still have 3 points remaining what gives me a tough time, since for pvp these would be ideal for
Eye for an Eye or Divine Purpose, or even
3/5 Spiritual Focus. For pve I think these points would make little to no difference, maybe if I put them into
Improved Sanctity Aura it would make the healing part a bit easier. Personally I feel
Improved Seal of the Crusader is a bit of waste, since the percentage is very small, and that amount goes through the coefficient percentage again before it is applied to the final damage.
I would use a crit gear with some spelldamage for this build, but you can get really nice results with pure spelldamage as well.
29/11/11 - Jack of All Trades build
http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/basics/talents/paladin/talents.html?055031015201222000000532010000000000000000520300100000000000000
This build i've designed gives you some nice
Seal of Command damage from retribution, some pretty stuff from protection including
Blessing of Kings and most of the healing talents from holy. When you level to 70 you can specialize more in the tree.
Based on the idea of Saberlight.
Old 51 pts builds
The pre patch v2.0 51pts builds became pretty obsolate now, as you have many new possible choices for healing, tanking and damage ways; and you are not limited to 31 pts talents anymore. I dont say every old build is bad, but in general you can make much better ones with the new system, so I havent included them.
Thus you can find the old paladin talent build guide here:
http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=43964730&sid=1&pageNo=1
Many WoWhead links do not work right now, but you can have an idea from the description of the various builds.
: : Anthracithe of Arathor .oOo.
