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1. Difference from Wrath of the Lich King
2. Your Character
3. New Spells
4. Mastery
5. Addons
6. Strengths and Weaknesses
7. Compositions
8. Tips
9. Known Bugs
10. Resources
Glossary
- HoJ - Hammer of Justice
- DPS - Damage per Second
- HoW - Hammer of Wrath
- Max - Maximum
- Sac - Sacrifice
- Oom - Out of Mana
- Juke - To fake cast
- Spec - Specialization
- Blanket - Abilities that silence enemies without locking them out of their casted tree.
- Int - Intellect
- Comp - Composition
- Crit - Critical Strike Rating
- CC - Crowd Control
- AOE - Area of Effect
- Bubble - Divine Shield
- Freedom - Blessing of Freedom
- Wotlk - Wrath of the Lich King
The Paladin class had changed more than any other when 4.0.1 hit on October 12th. Holy Paladins now cannot spam a fast-cast, low-mana moderate heal like pre-4.0 flash of light. Blizzard revamped Paladin healing in cataclysm giving us five single target healing spells. These heals have huge benefits and a huge downsides to them which means there is a time and place to use each one (Will talk more about each later).
Intellect now also increases how hard each heal hits in addition to its previous benefits. Beacon of Light has been changed. The heal effectiveness has been cut by 50% but it now lasts 5 minutes. Divine Sacrifice has been removed from the game. Divine Illumination has been removed. Divine Favor has been revamped. It now increases spell casting haste and crit by 20% for 20 seconds. Exorcism now has no cooldown. "Sacred Cleansing" (of WotLK) has been removed. Holy Power is a new resource mechanic that paladins use. Mastery is a new talent that blizzard added. When a paladin chooses the Holy tree during a respec, he or she gain three different passive talents and an ability (Holy Shock). (More about this Later)Your Character
Races (in order of superiority)
Arcane Torrent 2 min cooldown Silence all enemies within 8 yards for 2 sec and increases your Rage/Energy/Focus/Runic Power by 15 or Mana by 6%. Non-player victim spellcasting is also interrupted for 3 sec.
Stoneform 2 min cooldown Removes all poison, disease and bleed effects and decreases damage taken by 10% for 8 sec.
Every Man for Himself 2 min cooldown Removes all movement impairing effects and all effects which cause loss of control of your character. This effect shares a cooldown with other similar effects.
War Stomp 2 min cooldown - 0.5 second cast Stuns up to 5 enemies within 8 yds for 2 sec.
Gift of the Naaru 3 min cooldown - 40 yard range Heals for 20% of the targets total health over 15 sec.Gemming
Red Socket
Yellow Socket
Blue Socket
Enchanting
Head
Shoulder
Cloak - Greater Intellect Chest - Mighty Resilience Wrist - Exceptional Spirit Glove - Greater Mastery Legs - Powerful Enchanted Spellthread Boots - Lavawalker Shield - Superior Intellect Weapon - Heartsong or Power TorrentReforging
All items should be reforged to spirit.Why?
More Spirit means more regeneration.
The less mana problems Holy Paladins have,
the more we can abuse Flash of Light.
Specialization and Builds
Do I need 2 points in Last Word? No, you don't. Most of the time when someone is under 35% health, a good Holy Paladin uses Divine Favor. Divine Favor grants 20% crit and most paladins will have between 15% and 25% crit. This plus buffs and procs means you will be overcapping crit. Take 1 point instead Do I need 2 points in Enlightened Judgements? This is another toss-up but with paladins reforging to a lot of spirit, you are usually hit capped with just 1 point. Take 1 point instead Do I need 2 points in Blessed Life? No, there is no reason to have 2 points since there is an internal cooldown and most of the time when you take direct damage you are taking it more than once in a span of eight seconds. Definitely only take 1 point Should I take Guardian's Favor Yes, you should but only if you go far enough into ret to get Pursuit of Justice. There is no reason to go two tiers into ret for the sole purpose of getting a talent on an ability that gets purged 7 times out of 10. You should take it if you play with melee, if not then it's a toss-up What's the deal on Light of Dawn? It sucks ass, don't take it. Generic Build for 3v3
Spoiler
Quote
/run t,p,a={1,23,33,43,51,81,92,102,111,121,133,141,153,161,172,183,191,2,13,32,3,23,32,}SetPreviewPrimaryTalentTree(t[1],GetActiveTalentGroup())for i=1,#t do a=tif a<9 then p=a else AddPreviewTalentPoints(p,floor(a/10),a%10)end end
Pursuit of Justice Build for 3v3
Spoiler
Quote
/run t,p,a={1,23,33,43,52,81,92,102,111,121,133,141,152,161,172,183,191,2,32,3,23,32,41,62,}SetPreviewPrimaryTalentTree(t[1],GetActiveTalentGroup())for i=1,#t do a=tif a<9 then p=a else AddPreviewTalentPoints(p,floor(a/10),a%10)end end
Offensive Build for 2v2
Spoiler
Quote
/run t,p,a={1,23,32,43,51,62,72,81,92,102,111,121,133,141,152,161,172,183,191,2,11,32,3,23,32,}SetPreviewPrimaryTalentTree(t[1],GetActiveTalentGroup())for i=1,#t do a=tif a<9 then p=a else AddPreviewTalentPoints(p,floor(a/10),a%10)end end
Glyphs
Prime
Major and Minor
Rebuke is baseline in 4.0.6.Beacon of Light is superior to cleanse because of the purge-happy teams and lack of buff protection.Professions
Leatherworking - Draconic Embossment - IntellectNet Gain: +130 Int, -1 Wrist Enchant
Jewelcrafting - Brilliant Chimera's Eye x3Net Gain: +81 Int with current gems
Alchemy - MixologyNet Gain: +80 Int
Blacksmithing - Socket Gloves/BracersNet Gain: +80 Int with current gems
Enchanting - Enchant Ring - IntellectNet Gain: +80 Int
Inscription - Felfire InscriptionNet Gain: +80 Int
Engineering - Tazik ShockerGain: 4320 to 5280 nature damage on use
or Synapse Springs
Gain: 480 intellect for 12 seconds. 1 minute cooldown
Tailoring - Lightweave EmbroideryNet Gain: +580 Int for 15s, -50 Int Enchant
Assuming a reasonable 1 PPM, this rival's engineering, but is even more situational due to the loss of a passive increase.
Herbalism - LifebloodNet Gain: +480 Haste for 20s / 2min
Skinning - Master of AnatomyNet Gain: +80 Crit
Mining - ToughnessNet Gain: +120 Stamina
Macros
Battlemasters + HealthstoneQuote
#showtooltip
/use 13
/use Healthstone
This is not gamebreaking but I've used it since the Burning Crusade and it frees up some keybinds.
Target of Target Hammer of WrathQuote
#showtooltip Hammer of Wrath
/cast [harm] Hammer of Wrath [target=targettarget,harm] Hammer of Wrath
This is not needed but will assist your target in killing something if they're under 20%. It is faster than hitting assist and casting HoW and keeps you from clicking gladius.
Focus Hammer of JusticeQuote
#showtooltip Hammer of Justice
/cast [target=focus] Hammer of Justice
This is pretty much a must have. Most good shaman will see when you target them to run over and HoJ. This allows you to hoj without targeting. Also good for keeping your healing target instead of clicking gladius to HoJ.
Focus RebukeQuote
#showtooltip Rebuke
/cast [target=focus, exists] Rebuke
This is nice to have. Most of the time I focus casters to see when they're trying to CC. Being able to stop the cast without changing targets is very helpful.
"Auto" JudgementQuote
#showtooltip Judgement
/assist
/cast Judgement
/targetlasttarget
Great for the many of us who are too lazy to use Judgement on cooldown.
Taunt MacroQuote
#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover, help, nodead] [help, nodead] Righteous Defense; [@mouseover, harm, nodead] [harm, nodead] [] Hand of Reckoning
Taunts either your target or taunts those focusing your target.
Easy ExorcismQuote
#showtooltip Exorcism
/cast [harm] Exorcism [target=targettarget,harm] Exorcism
This is great to use your free Exorcism procs without having to target something.
Turn EvilQuote
#showtooltip Turn Evil
/stopcasting
/targetexact Ebon Gargoyle
/cast Turn Evil
/targetlasttarget
This will automatically target a DK's gargoyle to fear it. If there is not a gargoyle up it will go about fearing your target.
Keybinds
First and foremost, do what feels comfortable. Tankspot released an amazing guide on keybinding. I'll show my keybinds once I get home to take a screenshot.
Tankspot Guide to Keybinding
New Spells
Learned at level 85
The Holy Guardian does the following:
This is best used when trying to pick multiple targets health back up. You'll most likely only get to use it once per fight so use it wisely. The guardian can be taunted but not CC'd
Learned at level 83
Holy Radiance is a decent AOE heal. Just be careful to not overextend while trying to use it. When talented, Holy Radiance turns into a 60% sprint for 4 seconds.
Ways to use Holy Radiance effectively
- To get a HoJ
- To avoid a psychic scream
- To outrange crowd control
- To get in range to heal
- To avoid bubble getting Mass Dispelled
- To get in range for a rebuke
- When targeted, Freedom + Holy Radiance is godlike.
Learned at level 81
Inquisition is not very useful since its max duration is only 12 seconds.
Learned at level 9
Word of Glory is the only useful ability that consumes holy power charges to heal a teammate. It is a strong heal that does not have a cast time nor does it cost any mana.
Talented
This ability is completely useless. The only reason anyone ever specced into it was because it used to be usable while blanket silenced and/or locked out of holy. Here are some numbers to laugh at.Spoiler
Learned at level 54
Rebuke is baseline come 4.0.6Mastery
Paladin Mastery as a whole is pretty diverse.These are the abilities that generate Holy Power.
These are the abilities that consume Holy Power.
Credit to WOWWIKI
Holy Paladin Mastery Benefits
Addons
Pharaunmizz of ArenaJunkies can help you with almost any problem you have with an addon. He's a genius. Hit him up.
Gladius by Proditor
Great Addon that displays diminishing returns, medallion usage, and targeting.Quartz
Helpful addon that lets you customize your own as well as your enemies castbars.OmniCC
Useful addon that shows how long an ability is on cooldownInterrupt Bar by Kollektiv
Useful addon that shows how long your opponents abilities are on cooldown for No longer is being updated How do I add spells to Interrupt Bar?SnowfallKeyPress
This addon uses the selected ability on key press rather than key release.Click to download Old Party Frames
Spoiler
Quote
/script HidePartyFrame();ShowPartyFrame();UpdatePartyMembe rBackground();
Strengths/Weaknesses
Strengths
Holy Paladins are almost entirely based on cooldown usage. We have many of them at our disposal to keep ourself and our partners alive.
Avenging Wrath also known as "Wings", increases our damage and healing by 20% Divine Favor increases our spell critical strike rating and spell haste rating by 20% Divine Protection is a paladin version of barkskin. Blizzard most likely gave this to us to compensate for our nerfed Divine Shield. Divine Shield also known as "bubble" grants the paladin complete immunity for 8 seconds. During the immunity, our damage is decreased by 50%. Divine Shield should not only be used when you're about to die but is normally used as an immunity from crowd control while you try to heal your partners. Aura Mastery makes the Paladin immune to silences for 6 seconds. Must have Concentration Aura activated. Hand of Sacrifice is a hand spell that transfers 30% of damage done to the paladin. Hand of Freedom is a hand spell that grants the target immunity to movement impairing effects for 6 seconds. Hand of Protection also known as "BOP", grants the target immunity to physical damage for 10 secondsIn addition to our plethora of cooldowns, Holy Paladins great healing output.
[i]Weaknesses
[i][I]Paladins are in a good place right now but there has always been a problem with our utility and offensive pressure. If you're a shaman or priest playing a paladin for your first time, you need to rely more on a pillar to avoid crowd control instead of grounding/tremor/shear/swd.
Compositions
It's Cataclysm which means pretty much anything is a viable comp but here are some popular team compositions with a Holy Paladin in them. Click for team.
:mage::priest::paladin:
:deathknight::mage::paladin:
:shaman::warrior::paladin:
:deathknight::warlock::paladin:
:deathknight::warrior::paladin:
:mage::warlock::paladin:
:warrior::mage::paladin:
:shaman::deathknight::paladin:
:deathknight::priest::paladin:
:warrior::warlock::paladin:
