WotLK Classic Paladin Guide

Welcome to the Wrath of the Lich King Classic Paladin’s guide! This guide will help you learn about what’s new in the class since the last expansion, and improve your knowledge of the various specialization of this class, so you can take on some of the toughest dungeon and raid bosses in Wrath of the Lich King Classic.

In this guide, you’ll learn the different sides of the class to enhance your Paladin experience, and break down concepts such as talents and talent builds, BiS gear selection, stat priorities, consumables, gems, enchantments, various tips, macros, and addons.

WotLK Classic Paladin Overview

The gameplay of the Paladin class is based on changing seals, auras, blessings, and the unique abilities and mechanics that each seal, aura, or blessing grants you depending on the specialization. You will need to change them depending on the tactics of the battle and the situation in which you are. Also, by choosing the Paladin class, you have the opportunity to play for any of the three roles (Tank, Heal, DPS).

Retribution

In Wrath of the Lich King, Retribution Paladin is a very dynamic melee class for the entire game. Although he is not the absolute leader in the DPS line, he is still firmly in his place in the ranking. He deals almost as good single target damage as a TBC Paladin and at the same time can deal massive cleave damage that rivals a Fury Warrior. Retri Paladin has the best resilience for solo play, as well as a huge amount of co-op abilities in PVP.

Strengths	Weaknesses
Gives Replenishment for the raid, providing insane mana regen;  Gives you excellent cleave through Seal of Command, Divine Storm, and Consecration;  High DPS burst cooldowns for zerg tactics.	The weak buff from the main stats of the add-on over a long span from the stat for haste or armor penetration; Has a buildup time for Seal of Vengeance which must be stacked up to 5 times before the damage is significant; Retri Paladin’s mobility is very weak, with only a passive talent for running speed and no active ability to move faster.

Holy

In Wrath of the Lich King, the Holy Paladin class received significant changes aimed at making the game easier to play and expanding useful features in some missing areas. Despite the Illumination nerf, Holy Paladin is one of those specializations that are the least affected by mana issues during combat, as it has a lot of new ways to manage it. Also, thanks to the new ability Beacon of Light, Holy Paladins now have a lot of flexibility to perform different tactics in raid zones.

Strengths	Weaknesses
Extremely strong tank healer with an added area of effect healing through Beacon of Light and Glyph of Holy Light;  A large number of buffs and unique defensive cooldowns, like Divine Guardian and Hand of Salvation;  High demand class which will be sought after for the entire expansion.	As stated above lack of mobility;  Healing variance comes down mostly to one ability Holy Light;  Big competition for getting gear tokens in raids due to the increasing popularity of the class.

Protection

In Wrath of the Lich King, the Protection Paladin has all the same popularity as in the TBC as a tank. Although it has a lower ability to build threat on a single target, it remains competitive no matter how it affects it. Having lower health and armor compared to the Tank Druid, it still remains at the top due to the reworked Ardent Defender talent, which makes us an incredibly safe tank

Strengths

Weaknesses

Divine Protection and Ardent Defender make Protection Paladins great at surviving versus crushing damage; Excellent mitigation against sustained damage when geared through Holy Shield; Paladins have the unique ability to clear almost every debuff in the game through Divine Shield which allows you to turn interesting tactics on many bosses; Have very excellent support abilities such as Hand of Protection and Hand of Freedom.

Dependence on mana and taking damage to restore it so that the Divine Plea proc works; High dependence on good equipment. Without great raiding gear, many of our advantages disappear completely, Holy Shield’s reliability depends on the ability to provide a high enough block chance; Problems with combat mobility. It is advisable to avoid running with a pack of monsters when Consecration has already been used. We have directional mitigation through lockdown, which also limits our ability to be mobile.

WotLK Classic Paladin Changes

Of course, the new expansion brings to us a lot of novelties, not only new levels and talents. You can find the lists of key changes below.

Retribution	Holy	Protection
Judgments are no longer refreshed on Auto Attacks or Crusader Strike; Seal of Blood has been removed; Seal twisting mechanic has been removed; A new powerful cleave spell Divine Storm added; Hammer of Wrath now had no cast time. It means we have a strong DPS increase on execute phase; Exorcism now can be used on any creature.	Beacon of Light is a new ability that duplicates all targeted healing on the target on which this ability buffed; Divine Plea new mana regeneration ability and the main thing you’ll be playing around with to manage mana, instead of downranking ability mechanic; Sacred Shield new ability which gives tanks a constant Power Word: Shield-style effect for a whole minute; Divine Sacrifice/Divine Guardian a couple more very useful abilities in the Holy spec, which allows you to turn interesting tactics into reality in battles with strong bosses in raids; Aura Mastery now you can press it and it gives a double increase in the effect of the aura that you currently have turned on.	Hand of Reckoning new single target taunt, not on the GCD, does damage if the target didn’t attack you before using this ability, and has 30yd range; Hammer of the Righteous a new ability. It deals damage based on your weapon DPS value and caps at 3 targets; Shield of Righteousness new single-target nuke that deals damage based on our block value at a 1:1.

WotLK Classic Leveling!

Get any level you want!

WotLK Classic Paladin Leveling

For leveling, you can adopt two builds. The first build uses Retribution talents as much as possible, and the second use together Protection and Retribution talent trees.

Retribution Paladin Leveling

Retribution build [0/13/58]: you should start from the Retribution tree and switch to the Protection after 60 level.

Best talent choice for 61-70	Best talents choice for 71-80
61-65: Full 5 in Divine Strength  66 & 67: 2 in Guardian’s Favor  68: last point in Improved Blessing of Might  69 & 70: 2 points in Sanctified Wrath	71-73: Full 3 in Swift Retribution  74 & 75: 2 in Vindication  76-78: 3 in Anticipation  79 & 80: 2 points in Improved Righteous Fury

At level 80 respec to your actual PvE spec.

Leveling tips:

• Always use it at the start of fighting Hand of Reckoning damage is only dealt if the monster hasn’t targeted you yet;
• Seal of Command best seal you have available while leveling, which gives you cleave function (max 3 unit dmg);
• Blessing of Wisdom is your main blessing until around level 42 when you can get 3/3 points of Judgements of the Wise talent. After this point your main blessing will be Blessing of Might;
• Divine Protection helps to lower damage taken by 50% when you pulled multiple mobs, which you can definitely start doing around level 20 with Seal of Command. 

Protection-Retribution Paladin Leveling

Prot/Retry build for the first 60 levels [0/40/11]: this spec focuses on getting the Seal of Command keystone as soon as possible, which is an important cleave spell so you can keep the threat from large groups of enemies solid and also gives us the opportunity to start dealing some serious damage.

Prot/Retry build for 60+ levels [0/53/18]: from this moment on, you can already start leveling in dungeons in solo or in a group, this is what a Protection Paladin can boast of, unlike a Retribution Paladin.

WotLK Classic Paladin Talents and Glyphs

Below are the most popular talent builds that you can use to raid in WotLK Classic. We will also present you with a list of the best WotLK glyphs for your specialization that are best suited for raiding.

Retribution talents build [11/5/55]: this is one of the 3 existing builds that is based on the Aura Mastery talent and will suit you if your raid group is not focused on performing improved tactics to killing bosses.

If you are not capped with expertise stat, highly recommended choosing Glyph of Seal Of Vengeance instead of Glyph of Exorcism.

Holy talents build [51/20/0]: this build is suitable for you if you are the only Holy Paladin in the raid group and aims to buff the Devotion Aura to increase the incoming healing of all targets affected by this aura. Having two Holy Paladins in the raid group, it is worth replacing part of the talents with one of them so that there are no senselessly spent talent points.

The third large glyph has a choice depending on whether you can use the Lay of Hands on yourself or not. If the raid leader allows you to use it on yourself, then you can replace Glyph of Beacon of Light with Glyph of Divinity.

Protection talents build [0/51/20]: this build shows a balanced type of talents, but also you can change it on the build where you chose more talents in Holy spec to get Aura Mastery talent.

The recommended glyphs shown here, such as Glyph of Judgment, can be replaced with Glyph of Avenger’s Shield. Survival is your primary duty, though Glyph of Divine Plea can be turned into a threat glyph if your resistance in fights allows you, such as Glyph of the Hammer of the Righteous or Glyph of Judgment. In general, you can be very flexible in your choice of glyphs.

WotLK Classic Paladin Stats Priority

It is worth paying great attention to those characteristics that will increase your usefulness to a greater extent.

Retribution	Holy
Hit Rating (you need a 263 Hit rating to get the 8% Hit required for the cap) Expertise (you need a 215 Expertise rating for the 6.5 % dodge reduction) Strength Agility Critical Strike Rating Attack Power Haste Rating Armor Penetration	Intellect Haste Rating Mana per 5 Sec Spell Power Critical Strike Rating

Protection (Survivability)	Protection (Threat)
Crit cap – 540 Defense Stamina & Armor Block Value – when closer to block cap (102.4% avoidance) Expertise Soft Cap – 26 Hit Cap – 8% Dodge Parry	Crit cap – 540 Defense Block Value – under 2400 Shield Block Value Stamina & Armor Expertise Soft Cap – 26 Strength Hit Cap – 8% Expertise Hard Cap – 56

WotLK Classic Paladin Best Race

Every WoW race has features, that can be good combinate with a class to make your character more powerful. So let’s learn Paladen options.

Horde

In this expansion, the horde doesn’t have Paladin race variety, so your only option is the Blood Elves with Arcane Torrent.

Alliance

Things are much more interesting with the Alliance, so let’s show you which racial bonuses are most suitable for your main specialization:

• Retribution best races for PVE/PVP are Humans with Sword Specialization/Will to Survive/Mace Specialization and Dwarves with Mace Specialization /Frost Resistance;
• For Holy and Protection spec all 3 races are viable, but in the raid group considered more useful is Draenei with group aura Heroic Presence and decent heal ability Gift of the Naaru. 
  

WotLK Classic Paladin Consumables, Chants & Gems

In the first phase of this expansion, we will not have all the top consumables, enchantments, and gems at our disposal. So the lists will change in the future.

Retribution

Gems	Chants	Consumables
Meta – Relentless Earthsiege Diamond Red – Precise Scarlet Ruby or Bold Scarlet Ruby Orange – Etched Monarch Topaz or Accurate Monarch Topaz    Yellow – Rigid Autumn’s Glow Purple – Nightmare Tear or Sovereign Twilight Opal	Head – Arcanum of Torment Shoulders – Greater Inscription of the Axe or Master’s Inscription of the Axe Cloak – Enchant Cloak – Major Agility or Flexweave Underlay Chest – Enchant Chest – Powerful Stats Bracer – Enchant Bracers – Greater Assault, Enchant Bracers – Expertise, Fur Lining – Attack Power Gloves – Enchant Gloves – Crusher, Enchant Gloves – Expertise, Hyperspeed Accelerators Waist – Frag Belt and Eternal Belt Buckle Legs – Icescale Leg Armor Boots – Enchant Boots – Icewalker, Enchant Boots – Greater, Assault Nitro Boosts Ring – Enchant Ring – Assault Weapon – Enchant Weapon – Berserking, Enchant 2H Weapon – Massacre	Flask – Flask of Endless Rage Elixirs – Elixir of Mighty Strength + Elixir of Mighty Thoughts Food – Fish Feast or Dragonfin Filet Potions – Potion of Speed / Runic Healing Potion / Heavy Frostweave Bandage Extra – Dark Rune If your profession is Engineer, also you can use Global Thermal Sapper Charge, Super Sapper Charge, Saronite Bomb

Holy

Gems	Chants	Consumables
Meta – Insightful Earthsiege Diamond Yellow – Brilliant Autumn’s Glow or Quick Autumn’s Glow Red – Royal Twilight Opal or Enchanted Tear Blue – Dazzling Forest Emerald	Head – Arcanum of Blissful Mending or Arcanum of Burning Mysteries Shoulders – Greater Inscription of the Crag = Greater Inscription of the Storm, inscription option Master’s Inscription of the Crag or Master’s Inscription of the Storm Cloak – Enchant Cloak – Speed or Darkglow Embroidery Chest – Enchant Chest – Powerful Stats Bracer – Enchant Bracers – Exceptional Intellect or Fur Lining – Spell Power and Socket Bracer Gloves – Enchant Gloves – Exceptional Spellpower or Hyperspeed Accelerators and Socket Gloves Waist – Frag Belt and Eternal Belt Buckle Legs – Sapphire Spellthread Boots – Enchant Boots – Tuskarr’s Vitality or Nitro Boosts Ring – Enchant Ring – Greater Spellpower Weapon – Enchant Weapon – Major Intellect Shield – Enchant Shield – Greater Intellect	Flask – Flask of Distilled Wisdom Elixirs – Guru’s Elixir or Elixir of Lightning Speed + Elixir of Mighty Food – Imperial Manta Steak or Very Burnt Worg Potions – Runic Mana Injector and Potion of Speed Rune – Dark Rune

Protection

Gems	Chants	Consumables
Meta – Austere Earthsiege Diamond Green – Enduring Forest Emerald or Turbid Forest Emerald or Vivid Forest Emerald Yellow – Thick Autumn’s Glow or Rigid Autumn’s Glow Purple – Regal Twilight Opal or Shifting Twilight Opal	Head – Arcanum of the Stalwart Protector or Mind Amplification Dish Shoulders –  Greater Inscription of the Gladiator or Master’s Inscription of the Pinnacle or Greater Inscription of the Pinnacle or Greater Inscription of the Axe Cloak – Flexweave Underlay or Enchant Cloak – Major Agility or Enchant Cloak – Mighty Armor or Enchant Cloak – Titanweave Chest – Enchant Chest – Super Health or Heavy Borean Armor Kit or Enchant Chest – Powerful Stats or Enchant Chest – Greater Defense Bracer – Enchant Bracers – Major Stamina or Fur Lining – Stamina Gloves – Enchant Gloves – Major Agility or Enchant Gloves – Armsman > Enchant Gloves – Precision or Enchant Gloves – Expertise or Reticulated Armor Webbing Waist – Frag Belt and Eternal Belt Buckle Legs – Frosthide Leg Armor or Jormungar Leg Reinforcements Boots – Enchant Boots – Greater Fortitude or Heavy Borean Armor Kit or Enchant Boots – Tuskarr’s Vitality or Enchant Boots – Superior Agility Ring – Enchant Ring – Stamina   Weapon – Enchant Weapon – Mongoose Shield – Titanium Plating	Flask – Flask of Stoneblood Elixirs – Guru’s Elixir and Elixir of Protection Food – Blackened Dragonfin, Dragonfin Filet Potions – Indestructible Potion Extra – Fel Healthstone or Nightmare Seed, for engineers Global Thermal Sapper Charge and Cobalt Frag Bomb

WotLK Classic Paladin Best Professions

For a Retribution Paladin, the best choice for professions will be 3 to choose from listed: Jewelcrafting, Engineering, and Blacksmithing. The differences between them are so tiny that you will not feel them, so choose 2 professions from those offered to your taste. 

Holy and Protection Paladins are a little different and have only 2 BiS professions for them, these are: Engineering and Jewelcrafting.

WotLK Classic Paladin Rotation

Of course, the sequence of your actions and decisions in the fight will depend on many details. But brief summary for all specs and types of encounters will be useful, we hope.

Retribution

Single-target rotation	AoE rotation
Crusader Strike Judgement of Wisdom Divine Storm Consecration Exorcism Holy Wrath (for demons and undead)On execute phase №1 ability to spam is Hammer of Wrath and then other abilities. Main seal for solo target rotation Seal of Vengeance / Seal of Corruption.	Consecration Divine Storm Judgement of Wisdom Holy Wrath (for demons and undead) Crusader Strike Exorcism

Holy

Before fight:

1. Beacon of Light – use on an ideal target, most often buffs on the tank and always keep this up during the fight;
2. Sacred Shield – use Sacred Shield on an ideal target, most often you use it on the assigned tank, and always keep this up during fight.

Then:

1. Judgement of Light – when tank pulled boss you must keep Judgment debuff on boss and also manage your buff from using Judgment which called Judgements of the Pure;
2. Main healer button is Holy Light;
3. You can get  Light’s Grace buff up before your group starts fighting, useful just for fights where you need to output big healing;
4. Divine Plea – use when your mana getting low or on special phases on the boss fight when you need just need to move anywhere, also on movement, you’ll use Holy Shock and/or Flash of Light on instant proc, or refresh your maint buffs if Holy Shock is on cooldown.

Protection

Single-target rotation	AoE rotation
Keep Seal of Vengeance active. Apply Holy Shield. Use combat potion: Indestructible Potion. Exorcism and  Avenger’s Shield  Hammer of the Righteous Judgement of Wisdom Shield of Righteousness Consecration Hammer of the Righteous Holy Shield Shield of Righteousness	Before combat starts keep Seal of Command active. Apply Holy Shield. Use combat potion: Indestructible Potion. Exorcism and Avenger’s Shield  Holy Wrath Hammer of the Righteous Consecration Shield of Righteousness Judgement of Wisdom Hammer of the Righteous Holy Shield

WotLK Classic Paladin Phase 1 BiS List

Last but not least – BiS gear for you Paladin, including pre-raid BiS with the best items for Phase 1.

WotLK Paladin Pre-Raid BiS

Retribution	Holy	Protection
Spiked Titansteel Helm Pendant of the Outcast Hero Pauldrons of Berserking Cloak of Bloodied Waters Heroes’ Redemption Chestpiece Vengeance Bindings Heroes’ Redemption Gauntlets Jorach’s Crocolisk Skin Belt Staggering Legplates Boots of the Neverending Path Ring of the Kirin Tor Mobius Band Darkmoon Card: Greatness Mirror of Truth Colossal Skull-Clad Cleaver Libram of Furious Blows	Unbreakable Healing Amplifiers Titanium Spellshock Necklace Dark Runic Mantle Wispcloak Heroes’ Redemption Tunic Limb Regeneration Bracers Heroes’ Redemption Gloves Magroth’s Meditative Cincture Leggings of Protective Auras Sandals of Crimson Fury Signet of Hopeful Light Band of Guile Darkmoon Card: Greatness Soul Preserver War Mace of Unrequited Love Protective Barricade of the Light Libram of Renewal	Tempered Titansteel Helm Chained Military Gorget Pauldrons of the Colossus Cloak of the Enemy Breastplate of the Solemn Council Bracers of the Herald Fireproven Gauntlets Waistguard of Living Iron Bolstered Legplates Sabatons of Draconic Vigor Titanium Earthguard Ring Keystone Great-Ring Figurine – Monarch Crab Figurine – Ruby Hare Red Sword of Courage Crygil’s Discarded Plate Panel Libram of Obstruction

WotLK Paladin Raid BiS

Retribution	Holy	Protection
Valorous Redemption Helm Favor of the Dragon Queen Valorous Redemption Shoulderplates Drape of the Deadly Foe Valorous Redemption Chestpiece Thrusting Bands Frosted Adroit Handguards Belt of the Tortured Valorous Redemption Legplates Melancholy Sabatons Ruthlessness Surge Needle Ring Darkmoon Card: Greatness Fury of the Five Flights Betrayer of Humanity Deadly Gladiator’s Libram of Fortitude	Faceguard of the Succumbed Life-Binder’s Locket Valorous Redemption Spaulders Pennant Cloak Valorous Redemption Tunic Abetment Bracers Valorous Redemption Gloves Waistguard of Divine Grace Valorous Redemption Greaves Boots of Healing Energies Signet of Manifested Pain Ring of Decaying Beauty Darkmoon Card: Greatness Soul Preserver Torch of Holy Fire Voice of Reason Libram of Renewal	Valorous Redemption Faceguard Nexus War Champion Beads Valorous Redemption Shoulderguards Platinum Mesh Cloak Valorous Redemption Breastplate Bindings of the Hapless Prey Valorous Redemption Handguards Ablative Chitin Girdle Legplates of Sovereignty Inexorable Sabatons Sand-Worn Band Signet of the Impregnable Fortress Figurine – Monarch Crab Figurine – Ruby Hare Broken Promise Wall of Terror Libram of Obstruction

WotLK Classic Paladin PvP

The best Paladin specs to play PvP in WotLK classic are Retribution and Holy. The Holy Paladin can boast of its extremely high survivability and save abilities, due to the fact that it has the main type of armor “Plate”, and the Retri Paladin, in addition to the same high survivability as Holy, also has extremely strong burst damage that allows you to remove the target literally for one stun. 
 
Let’s consider the most popular and effective setups.

Retribution

2v2 comps	3v3 comps
Paladin/ Hunter  Paladin/ Mage  Paladin / Rogue	Paladin/ Hunter/ Disc Priest  Paladin/ Unholy Death Knight/ Disc Priest  Paladin/ Rogue/ Disc Priest

Holy

2v2 comps	3v3 comps
Paladin/ Warrior  Paladin/ Death Knight	Paladin/ Warrior/ Death Knight  Paladin/ Elem Shaman/ Affli Warlock  Paladin/ Death Knight/ Hunter

WotLK Classic Paladin Macros and Addons

Let’s consider the most needed macros and addons for all three specializations that will make your class more comfortable and enjoyable to play.

Macros

Hand of Protection cast/cancel:

#showtooltip Hand of Protection 
/cancelaura Hand of Protection 
/cast Hand of Protection 
 
Cleanse mouseover cast:

 #showtooltip Cleanse 
/use [@mouseover,help,nodead][help,nodead][@player] Cleanse 
 
Mouseover Flash light:

#showtooltip 
/startattack 
/cast [@mouseover] Flash Light 
/startattack

Divine Shield cast/cancel:

#showtooltip 
/cancelaura Divine Shield 
/cast Divine Shield

Addons

• Pally Power – helps you and the rest of the paladins in the party or raid distribute your buffs;
• Weak Auras – helps you to manage your talent procs if you insert Weak Aura which depends on your specialization.

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That was everything you need to know about new features and changes in all 3 Paladin’s specializations in Wrath of the Lich King Classic. If our WotLK Classic Paladin guide was useful to you, please let us know with feedback, and good luck in your raiding or PvP adventures!