[MOP] Earl's F2P Paladin Guide

Earlwing

Earlwing

Sheriff Earl
Earl's F2P Paladin Guide:

First and foremost, thank you for referring to this guide. I hope it can provide the answers you're looking for. I've spent the entirety of F2P as we know it playing Protection and Holy Paladin. I was never very into ret, so I'm going to leave it to someone else to go deeper into it. From my experiences in the F2P bracket, I have learned (and hopefully demonstrated) that Paladins, specifically Prot, are not just a faceroll class, contrary to popular belief. I've played every gearing style, and build for Prot and Holy, and would like to pass on what I know to anyone interested. Again, thank you for reading. Please enjoy!


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Contents:

I: Introduction

II: Race Selection

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  • [*=1]Alliance
    [*=1]Horde

III: Spells and Specialization

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  • [*=1]Protection
    [*=1]Holy

IV: Talents

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  • [*=1]Speed of Light
    [*=1]Long Arm of the Law
    [*=1]Pursuit of Justice


V: Gear and Builds

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  • [*=1]DPS Prot
    [*=1]FC Prot
    [*=1]Spell Power Holy
    [*=1]Mitigation Holy
    [*=1]Holy FC

VI: PvP Tactics

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  • [*=1]Healing
    [*=1]FCing

VII: Addons, Macros.

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  • [*=1]Addons
    [*=1]Macros

VIII: Conclusion

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I: Introduction:

The Paladin used to be the strongest hybrid class in the bracket. A protection Paladin could attain enough spell power to off heal quite deftly, while maintaining offensive burst and CC. MoP changed that with the new default mana pools for non-caster specializations. Protection is now purely a DPS spec with expensive off healing. Holy still maintained it's DPS, and gained mobility in exchange for passive self healing. They are both very powerful in battlegrounds and arenas, however Holy has a distinct edge over Prot, due to the mana issues. In the right hands a Prot can still put out a very significant amount of DPS, and utilize it's durability, mobility and CC to be a highly effective flag carrier in WSG. Holy is an extremely diverse healer, capable of high offensive burst, massive healing output, powerful CC, defensive dispelling, high mobility, and is quite durable.


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Re: Earl's F2P Paladin Guide

II: Races:

Alliance Prot: Human>Draenei>Dwarf
Alliance Holy: Human>Dwarf>Draenei

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  • [*=1]Human: Human is hands down the best race to choose, regardless of spec or build. 2 minute trinket, and an additional Arena Grand Master are far superior to any other racial ability. I cannot comfortably suggest rolling any other race. The mace/sword expertise is also useful.

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  • [*=1]Draenei: Draenei can be argued, due to the 1% extra hit. It helps Prot get to spell hit cap for Hammer of Justice, and other crucial spells. It also offers a Heal Over Time, which can be extremely useful, due to the low base mana provided for the Prot Specialization. For holy however, these racials are practically useless. Holy has 15% base hit, and the healing output is so high, that Gift of the Naaru is almost a waste of a global cooldown.

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  • [*=1]Dwarf: Dwarves have a defensive cooldown that reduces damage taken, and dispels. Paladins have a defensive dispel on an 8 second cooldown now, making it less useful than it was before. Dwarves also have mace expertise. There is little justification for rolling dwarf, and I wouldn't suggest it.

Horde Prot: Blood Elf = Tauren
Horde Holy: Blood Elf > Tauren

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  • [*=1]Blood Elf: Arcane torrent restores mana, and AoE blanket silences for 3 seconds. This is a fantastic racial for any Paladin specialization. They have a higher base intellect, but lower strength. Arcane Torrent DR's with avenger's shield, but is still superior to Tauren's War Stomp which DR's with HoJ. I would suggest Blood Elf, but it's no such a clear decision as the Alliance races.

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  • [*=1]Tauren: Tauren have an AoE stun and a very high base strength, along with a small passive health increase. War Stomp has a cast time and shares a DR with HoJ however, which is more of a drawback than Arcane Torrent, in my opinion. Tauren is still extremely effective at CCing a kill target, or using War Stomp defensively, specifically for flag carrying. A dedicated flag carrier should probably play Tauren, however the mana gained from Blood Elves Arcane Torrent is also very useful to an FCs survival.



III: Spells and Specializations:


General:

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  • [*=1]Crusader Strike: A basic physical attack, based on weapon damage that deals decent damage and grants one holy power.

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  • [*=1]Judgement: A ranged damaging ability, affected by spell or attack power, respective to spec. Seal must be active to use.

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  • [*=1]Hammer of Justice: A ranged stun, lasting 6 seconds. Does not break on damage.

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  • [*=1]Divine Shield: Makes you immune to damage, reduced damage done, acts as second trinket. Causes you to drop the flag in WSG.

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  • [*=1]Cleanse: Removes poisons and diseases from a friendly unit. Also removes magic effect for those who spec holy.

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  • [*=1]Flash of Light: Fast, expensive and powerful healing spell. Use sparingly, if possible.

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  • [*=1]Reckoning: Taunts a target to attack you. Keeps PvP target in combat to prevent stealth.

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  • [*=1]Word of Glory: Consumes all Holy Power in an instant cast heal.

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  • [*=1] Lay on Hands: Instant heal that restores you maximum health on a ten minute cooldown. Essentially the "Oh Shit" button.

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  • [*=1]Seal of Command: Causes your spells to do a small amount of additional damage, and allows use of judgment. Keep active at all times.

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  • [*=1]Redemption: Revive a dead ally. Can't be used in combat. Has situational uses in PvP.


Protection:

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  • [*=1]Hammer of the Righteous: AoE attack, that shares a cooldown with Crusader Strike, grants one holy power, and applies the debuff Weakened Blows. Use in the beginning of a long fight to apply debuff, and reapply as necessary.

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  • [*=1]Avenger's Shield: A ranged AoE silence that hits up to three targets for high damage and silences them for 3 seconds. This is the signature ability for Prot . Can be used with HoJ for locking down healers, or as a ranged interrupt. Save it for moments when a silence would help set up a kill.

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  • [*=1]Holy Wrath: An AoE spell damaging spell, that spreads damage between multiple targets. Hits hard on single target. Can be used to potentially pull a nearby rogue from stealth.


Holy:

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  • [*=1]Holy Shock: An instant cast spell that heals friendlies or damages foes. Grants a charge of holy power. This is Holy's signature ability.

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  • [*=1]Sacred Cleansing: A passive ability that causes your Cleanse to also remove magic effects, such as snares, fears, roots and stuns. Use generously.

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  • [*=1]Denounce: An offensive spell that does decent damage and applies a four second debuff preventing the target from causing critical strikes.



Specializations:


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  • [*=1]Holy: Holy is the healing spec. Its main abilities, as seen above, are holy shock and denounce. It is a fast paced, aggressive healer, with a very diverse skillset. It's easy to get the hang of healing, but its main utility comes from squeezing in DPS, debuffing, and most of all, defensive dispelling. Being able to cleanse a stun or fear from a friendly target is the most underestimated aspect of the Holy Paladin. Two skilled Hpaladins can neutralize an entire opposing teams CC, without sacrificing any healing or dps.

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  • [*=1]Protection: Protection has two main roles; DPSing and flag carrying. A Prot should always carry a gear set for each of these tasks. The damage output it surprisingly high, and time on target is rarely an issue. Properly lining up HoJ and Avenger's Shield can be a surefire kill. Making proper use of your small mana pool to provide a crucial off heal can be the difference between winning or losing a match. Prot also fills the roll of FC very well, with its high durability, CC and mobility. Being able to adapt to your teams composition to fill the more needed role is essential to succeeding as Prot.




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Re: Earl's F2P Paladin Guide

IV: Talents:

Speed of Light: An eight second sprint on a 45 second cooldown. Used for dedicated Prot FCing. I wouldn't advise this talent for anyone who isn't a pure FC character. However, I find it to be very situational, and more often than not, long arm of the law plays out better when FCing anyways.

Long Arm of the Law: A short sprint, that procs from Judgment. This is the optimal talent for playing DPS. Can also be effective for FCing, but mainly for maintaining ToT on offense. Fantastic gap closer, and helpful for kiting.


Pursuit of Justice: A passive 15% movement speed buff that increases by 5% with each charge of holy power. Useful for any role, but most effective for Holy, due to the ability to maintain full holy power. Holy FC's can stay at 30% movement speed at all times, due to Word of Glory not being very effective of a heal. Prot also benefits, but WoG is more crucial for off healing, and they cannot generate holy power outside of combat.



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V: Gear:

A quick note regarding trinkets: I don't believe there is a definitive BiS trinket setup. AGM has a much stronger on use effect, but MoT can be used much more often. If you so desire, you can switch to MoT whenever AGM/Insignia is on cooldown. Now that there are 3 potential trinkets, trinket swapping can be a bit confusing. When everything is off cooldown, priority should be Insignia > AGM > MoT. When CD's are down, I would swap to Insignia/MoT. Dual AGM may still very tempting, but with the effective health you gain from resil, the choice is clear. Also, the Blessed Hammer of Grace does NOT give you spell power. The resil, however, is better than the STR and parry on BSR. Remember, BE have access to the +1stamina to shield enchant.


Note: The hit gear in these sets is obsolete in BG's. I have not updated the armories for hit capping in when scaled to 24. Will get on that asap.

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  • [*=1]Prot DPS Alliance: You can exchange the second ring for Silverlaines. You could also exchange the Gorewalkers for Savage Trodders if you switch to either the Demon Band, or Bravo Company Signet.

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  • [*=1]Prot DPS Horde: Not sure about BoA ring, I'm too lazy to run numbers. Sorry.

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  • [*=1]Prot FC Alliance: The Strengthened Stockade Spaulders are superior to the Burnished Pauldrons of Might. You can farm silver linked Footguards, or use Gorewalker and switch the Bravo Signet for a Blood Ring or Silverlaines.

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  • [*=1]Prot FC Horde: The Strengthened Stockade Spaulders are better than the Burnished Pauldrons of Might.

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  • [*=1]Holy Mitigation Horde: Horde is not as black and white as alliance when it comes to mitigation/spell power, but I still recommend this build.

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Re: Earl's F2P Paladin Guide

VI: Tactics and Strategies:

Healing: I do my healing with mouseover macros and the default Raid Frames. I display health lost by number. There are over 1k discrepancies in peoples health pools, and using percent cannot properly provide for that variable. Some people use addons like Grid, Clique or Healbot, but I prefer the default setup. My main goal when healing is to keep people alive. I'm sure you feel the same way. However, this doesn't mean that I should just sit back and wait for people to take damage. To maximize potential, you need to make use of Denounce, Crusader Strike, Cleanse, and HoJ. This means positioning yourself properly, and staying mobile. With heals as large as we're seeing, we have more wiggle room for DPSing and CCing. People aren't getting globalled anymore, which makes our job a lot easier as healers. Denouncing a 24 spriest can make a big difference if you see him running around with full shadow orbs.

You need to be able to make the call between healing a friendly or going on the offensive, because sometimes it's ok to let the scrub prot warrior in white gear die, if it means getting a kill on an enemy healer. Just don't get carried away. Nobody likes dying when the healer is spamming denounce. The most indicative aspect of a skilled Hpal is their use of Cleanse. Cleansing a fear or HoJ makes a massive difference. Being able to dispel every 8 seconds is huge, and should be utilized as frequently as possible. Priorities for cleansing should be remembered though. You don't want to cleanse a Shadow Word: Pain, only to have someone get HoJ'd right after. All in all, be mindful of more than just health bars.

Stole this one from Veinte's guide. Many people may find this helpful.
WoW PvP Commentary | How To Fake Cast in PvP by Skill Capped - YouTube

FCing: FCing is the most fun part of WSG for many people. I particularly enjoy it on a Paladin. It requires more than just gear and general combat skill. You need to be fully aware of a game objective at all times, and utilize terrain and surroundings to their full extent. When you pick up a flag, you need to look at your teams positioning and make a quick decision on where you're going. The sooner you head out, the later the enemy sees you on the map. Sometimes this means getting to a defensive position until help arrives, or sometimes you have to grab them boots and get the heck outta dodge. When crossing mid, it is essential to try and keep moving at all times, without isolating yourself from the team. Be sure to backstrafe while crossing mid or kiting to maximize dodge, block and parry.

When you're stuck in a stalemate, waiting for your team to down an EFC, you're going to want to maintain a position where you have a wide view of incoming enemies, such as the top of the ramp that leads to roof, or the second level in base. In these situations you may want to set the EFC as your focus if you don't think your team is going to let you know when the EFC is going down. Having macros to announce when you're going to die is also essential to getting repicks. Before the debuff applies 4 stacks, you should make full use of your mobility and start kiting before the enemy can engage you in combat. With a little practice, you can avoid an entire team just by working with the terrain in your base. Learning how to maneuver around the tunnel entrances is a must. It will save your life over and over again. And there's not much funnier than watching people jump against the wrong walls, or falling off trying to follow you. All in all, the main aspects of successful FCing are being aware of your surroundings, and being able to work with the terrain around you.

Ownaque 19 twink vid 2 - YouTube

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VII: Addons and Macros:


Addons: I use quite a few addons, some that I really couldn't live without. I'm only going to mention the ones I find essential or extremely beneficial.


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  • [*=1]Interruptbar: Displays when enemy interrupts are on cooldown.
    [*=1]Omnicc: Displays timers for your spells on cooldown and announces when they're ready again.
    [*=1]Battlegroundtargets: Shows a small raid frame of the enemy team with class/spec/lvl etc.
    [*=1]Capping: Timers for events in battlegrounds.
    [*=1]Tidyplates: Cleaner nameplates that display buffs/debuffs of your choice.


Macros: These are the macros I use in PvP. The healing and dispell macros are mouseover, with selfcast mod set to alt. The Avenger's Shield is a mouseover as well, with a focus mod set to shift.

Code: 
#showtooltip cleanse
/cast [mod:alt,@player][target=mouseover, help, exists] Cleanse; Cleanse


Code: 
#showtooltip Flash of Light
/cast [mod:alt,@player][@mouseover, help] Flash of Light; Flash of Light
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Code: 
#showtooltip Holy Shock
/cast [mod:alt,@player][@mouseover, help][@target, harm] Holy Shock; Holy Shock


Code: 
#showtooltip Word of Glory
/cast [mod:alt,@player][@mouseover,exists] Word of Glory; Word of Glory

Code: 
#showtooltip Avenger's Shield
/cast [mod:shift,@focus][@mouseover,harm,exists] Avenger's Shield; Avenger's Shield

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VIII: Conclusion:

Thanks again for reading. I hope you found what you needed. If you have any questions or comments, I encourage you to post! Now, get out there and roll your face across the keyboard, because you're officially an F2P Paladin!

Love, Your Friendly Neighborhood Paladin, Earl.​
 
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Re: Earl's F2P Paladin Guide

I love my Friendly Neighbourhood Paladin Earl. :)

An extraordinary guide, amazing work on the gear sets and stat priorities!

And I hope new paladins take your advice to heart and start cleansing. :)
 
Re: Earl's F2P Paladin Guide

For the Holy Spell Power Horde gear you can't have both the Uninsured Bracers and the Conspirator's Slippers, because they are reward from the same quest. Great guide though! The second video also made me explore the battlegrounds more! :)
Edit: Merger Boots have the exact same stats though!
 
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Re: Earl's F2P Paladin Guide

Druid said:
For the Holy Spell Power Horde gear you can't have both the Uninsured Bracers and the Conspirator's Slippers, because they are reward from the same quest. Great guide though! The second video also made me explore the battlegrounds more! :)
Edit: Merger Boots have the exact same stats though!
Click to expand...


Oops. I knew one of them was from the same quest, simple mix up. Thanks for that!
 
Re: Earl's F2P Paladin Guide

Earlwing said:
Being able to cleanse a stun or fear from a friendly target is the most underestimated aspect of the Holy Paladin.
Click to expand...

This is the sad reality. I usually feel like, I'm the only one cleansing stuns and fears from healers instead of healing them to provide them the chance to heal themselves and giving me the time to heal others... same does apply to shamans btw!
 
Re: Earl's F2P Paladin Guide

If I put in a ret section, this wouldn't be a guide. Guides offer useful information. Everything ret can do, prot does significantly better. A single avenger's shield hit's harder than a 3 point TV, and your shield has the potential to hit 3 targets. Prot also has holy wrath, which hits just as hard as TV, single target. Prot has superior survivability, an interrupt, better mana regen, and infinitely better DPS. If I added a ret section, I might as well tell people to roll with agility gear, or to keyturn and backpeddle. If you really care about ret, switch the weapons to the BaR. It's really that simple.
 
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