Paladin Patch Notes for 4.0.6 on PTR

The following changes are currently up on the PTR server right now.  Most of the planned changes help the Paladin.  We will be watching closely to see if anything changes before going live.

• The mana costs of Blessing of Might and Blessing of Kings have been increased by approximately 217%, making them roughly equal to the cost of Mark of the Wild.


• Crusader Strike weapon damage percent has been increased to 135%, up from 115%.


• Divine Plea now lasts for 9 seconds, down from 15. It grants 4% mana per tick, instead of 2%, for a total of 12% mana, up from 10%.


• Forbearance
  
  
  
  • The duration has been lowered to 1 minute, down from 2.
  
  
  • Lay on Hands now causes Forbearance on the target. It used to only cause it when cast on the paladin. This was an old design from when Divine Protection caused Forbearance and the paladin didn't want to prevent a tank from using their defensive cooldown.
  
  
  • Lay on Hands cannot be a critical effect and will not be affected by most abilities which modify healing (such as Beacon of Light).
  
  
  • Since only Divine Shield, Lay on Hands and Hand of Protection cause Forbearance, the tooltips have been adjusted to better explain the mechanic.
  
  
  
  


• Holy Wrath no longer counts nearby critters when dividing damage among its targets.


• Inquisition is no longer dispellable.


• Rebuke can now be trained by all paladins at level 54. Existing characters will need to visit their trainer, even if they had talented Rebuke before.


• Seal of Truth: All single target attacks (including Judgement, Hammer of Wrath, Exorcism, and Templar's Verdict) can now trigger this seal.


• Talent Specializations
  
  
  
  • Holy
    
    
    
    • Denounce now has a spell overlay.
    
    
    • Protector of the Innocent heals for 30% less.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Protection
    
    
    
    • Vindication no longer allows Hammer of Justice to interrupt stun-immune targets. With Rebuke baseline, this functionality is no longer necessary.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Retribution
    
    
    
    • Act of Sacrifice will no longer cause Cleanse to remove movement impairing effects from vehicles the paladin is riding.
    
    
    • Divine Purpose: The chance for applicable abilities to generate Holy Power has been reduced to 7/15%, down from 20/40%, but instead of generating 1 Holy Power, the next applicable ability used consumes no Holy Power and acts as if the paladin has 3 Holy Power.
    
    
    • Divine Storm weapon damage percent increased from 80% to 100%.
    
    
    • Hand of Light (Mastery): A percentage of the damage done by Templar's Verdict, Crusader Strike, and Divine Storm is done as additional Holy damage. This Mastery now grants a 2.1% increase to Holy damage per mastery, down from 2.5%.
    
    
    • Repentance is no longer broken from damage done by Censure (Seal of Truth).
    
    
    • The Rebuke talent has been replaced with a new passive talent, Sacred Shield. Paladins who had Rebuke before will automatically have Sacred Shield. Sacred When reduced below 30% health, paladins gain the Sacred Shield effect. The Sacred Shield absorbs X damage and increases healing received by 20%. Lasts 15 seconds. This effect cannot occur more than once every 30 seconds. Undispellable.
    
    
    • Seals of Command will no longer trigger twice on each swing with Seal of Truth.
    
    
    • Zealotry is no longer dispellable.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• Glyphs
  
  
  
  • Glyph of Divine Plea now adds 6% mana, for a total of 18% over 9 seconds.
  
  
  
  


• Bug Fixes
  
  
  
  • Word of Glory will no longer reset the swing timer.
  
  
  
  

Holy Paladin Leveling Guide - Bright Hub

With the release of the World of Warcraft expansion Cataclysm, there have been numerous class changes. Holy Paladins have been affected by these changes in a positive way. The addition of the Holy Power system, along with a host of new spells and abilities can make the Holy Paladin a bit confusing. These changes also make the Holy Paladin one of the most powerful single target, tank healers in the game. The Holy Paladin is not a solo class. That said, this guide will center around maximizing your healing in a group setting. Whether you decide to join a party exploring a dungeon or one defending its borders, you will be ready to keep your teammates alive and well.

Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/video-games/pc/articles/103016.aspx#ixzz1BDP2nTK4

Leveling a Protection Paladin- Bright Hub

How to Spec your World of Warcraft Protection Paladin to best level in Cataclysm is an oft asked question with the recent release of the new expansion. The cookie cutter Protection Paladin spec has we had all grown to love has been changed by Cataclysm. The best spec to level your new WoW Protection Paladin relies on a few new abilities. These abilities revolve around building and using Holy Power. Fear not though...

Read more: Protection Paladin Leveling Guide

Cataclysm Protection Paladin Reforge Priority

With the removal of Defense on Cataclysm gear, the new goal for your Protection Paladin is to reach 102.4% combined avoidance and mitigation. Though I do not believe this has been attained by anyone yet, here are the basics to get you started.

You want to reach 102.4% avoidance and mitigation by combining

• 5% base chance to miss


• % chance to parry


• % chance to dodge


• % chance to block

Stack parry rating up to 21.21% and dodge rating up to 21.6% (931 rating for both stats).   Dodge and parry are our most effective ratings up to this point.  After this reforge excess parry and dodge into mastery rating until you reach 102.4% combined avoidance and mitigation.  You can check your character sheet and add these yourself or use this easy macro in game for a periodic one-click check:

/script DEFAULT_CHAT_FRAME:AddMessage("Need 102.4 combat table coverage. Currently at: "..string.format("%.2f", GetDodgeChance()+GetBlockChance()+GetParryChance() +5))

You want to reach your Expertise and Hit caps, which should come with gear (and by glyphing Seal of Truth).  Besides these you can follow 5 easy Reforging rules to start capping your Paladin avoidance and mitigation.

1. Mastery + Dodge/Parry = perfect, don't touch


2. Mastery + Hit/Exp = reforge Hit/Exp into Dodge/Parry, whichever is lower


3. Mastery + Haste/Crit = same as #2, but you'll piss off the DPS rolling on it.


4. Dodge + Parry = reforge more numerous stat into


5. MasteryDodge/Parry + Hit/Exp = reforge Hit/Exp into Mastery

This should help you start getting your gear ready for 5 man regular and heroics.  Good hunting!

Cataclysm Paladin Basics

How do I spec my new Protection Paladin in Cataclysm?  How do I spec my Protection Paladin for leveling? How do I tank low level instances in World of Warcraft?  Since these questions get asked on the official forums ten times a day, I figured I'd repost some of my answers here.

These are in response to the following:

1. Good leveling spec?


2. Most important stats while leveling?


3. What is the rotation I should be using while soloing quests?


4. What rotation should I use while tanking in dungeons in a group?


5. What glyphs should I take first?

My response was posted on my main Paladin Grymdal:

For a detailed article on leveling a Protection Paladin

1. For leveling I'd go with something like this Paladin Spec with a couple of comments. The 1 point in Hallowed Ground will give you a mana reduction and allow you to use Consecration more often. I've placed two points in it before, removing one from Sacred Duty while leveling, but really my mana is fine with just 1 point in it. Divine Guardian is a great raiding tool, but not needed for leveling. I put two points in Improved Judgements because that is where I think the majority use them, I actually place my 2 points in Eye for an Eye, but that's personal preference. This again is for leveling and will adjust slightly at 85.

2. Stamina and Strength while leveling. You'll get pieces with other stats on them (Dodge, parry, crit, hit, expertise, ect) which are all fine, but Stamina and Strength are the main ones you're looking for while leveling. Just use the best quest reward or dungeon drop you have at the time, don't ever buy anything from the Auction House. Honestly leveling is so fast right now you'll be burning through equipment.

3. While leveling your rotation will be pretty basic. You try to build 3 Holy Power and then use it through Word of Glory(WoG) or Shield of the Righteous(SotR). So a simple leveling rotation will be something like this:

Pull with Avenger Shield(AS), or body pull.
Crusader Strike(CS)>Judgement>CS>AS (if its up) or Consecration/Holy Wrath (whatever is off cooldown)>CS>WoG (you're low on health or healer is low on mana) if not then SotR.

When you get Hammer of the Righteous use it in place of Crusader Strike when you have more than one target. At very low levels you won't have some of the abilities listed, just use whatever filler you have off cooldown in between your Crusader Strikes.

4. The rotation in a LFD group is really no different. You just have to learn to control the aggro on mobs. Learn to use your first taunt (Hand of Reckoning), Judgements and Avenger's Shield to grab mobs if you start to lose aggro on them. Once you're in your 20's it gets much easier, you'll have Consecration, Holy Wrath and Hammer of the Righteous (at level 29 if you spec for it) to help hold AoE aggro. Most of the time you can keep Retribution Aura up when on trash mobs for a little extra aggro, just remember to pop Devotion Aura for bosses to make your healer happy. Remember to keep Righteous Fury buff up also.

5. For your first seals I would go for a survivability set up. Taking Word of Glory for Prime, Lay on Hands for Major and Blessing of Kings for Minor. Though in all reality seals aren't going to make or break your game while leveling.

Lastly, if you've never played a tank before don't get discouraged. There is a lot of responsibility on your shoulders when in a group. Much harder than DPS at low level, who can just sit back and mash buttons. Getting kicked from a group will happen if you're learning, though most people are more understanding than that. Think you just had a group of !%%!s personally. I can tell you though that I love tanks, Paladins the most, though I play all of them.

Most of all have fun.

Leveling as a Protection Paladin - The Basics

Though some of this information is still viable, Cataclysm changed much of it.  Please visit the updated article here.

Leveling as a Protection Paladin can provide good survivability while questing, as well as getting you used to the skills you will use as a tank throughout your career.  With the dungeon finder tab you now have the ability to queue as a Tank and get almost constant groups as you level.  Make sure you join the group near a repair merchant so you can sell and repair in between dungeons.  Many days that is all the time you have before you find another group.  I used a 51/20 build to level and tank.

The Build

Protection

10 - 14 Redoubt

15 - 17 Precision

18 - 19 Toughness (2/5)

20 - Blessing of Kings

21 - 23 Shield Specialization

24 - 26 Toughness (5/5)

27 - 29 Improved Righteous Fury

30 - 34 Reckoning

35 - Blessing of Sanctuary

36 - 39 One-handed Weapon Specialization (4/5)

40 - Holy Shield

41 - 42 Sacred Duty

43 - One-handed Weapon Specialization (5/5)

44 - Improved Holy Shield (1/2)

45 - 49 Combat Expertise

50 - Avenger's Shield











Retribution

51 - 55 Deflection

56 - 58 Heart of the Crusader

59 - 60 Improved Judgements

61 - Seal of Command

62 - 63 Pursuit fof Justice

64 - 68 Conviction

69 - 70 Sanctity of Battle

Stats

• Strength (str)
  
  
  
  • 1 strength = 2 attack power (AP) = 0.14 dps weapon (white) damage.
  
  
  • 2 strength = 1 block value before talents, 1.3 block value with the Redoubt talent
  
  
  • The Divine Strength talent increases total strength by 15%.
  
  
  
  


• Agility (agi)
  
  
  
  • 59.89 agility = +1% dodge chance. This is somewhat less efficient than Dodge Rating at increasing your dodge chance (45.25 dodge rating = +1% dodge chance), but with Blessing of Kings the number decreases to 54.45 agility, which makes it roughly 80% as good as dodge rating for dodge purposes.
  
  
  • 52.08 agility = +1% melee crit chance.
  
  
  • 1 agility = 2 armor.
  
  
  • Agility is often overlooked as a tanking stat, but it's actually an efficient way to get avoidance, mitigation, and threat from one stat.
  
  
  
  


• Stamina (sta)
  
  
  
  • 1 stamina = +10 total health (hp).
  
  
  • 10 stamina = +3 spell power (SP) from the Touched by the Light talent.
  
  
  • The Sacred Duty and Combat Expertise talents increase total stamina by 8% and 6% respectively, for a total increase of 14.48% with both talents. If you're buffed with Blessing of Kings or Blessing of Sanctuary as well, then each additional point of stamina increases your total health by approximately 12.6.
  
  
  
  


• Intellect (int)
  
  
  
  • 1 intellect = +15 total mana. This increases the size of your starting mana pool and the maximum amount of mana you can store at any point. It also increases the rate of mana regeneration from effects that restore a fraction of your mana pool, such as Replenishment, Blessing of Sanctuary, and Divine Plea. This is a nice effect, but it doesn't make intellect worthwhile as a stat for tanking gear.
  
  
  • 166.67 Intellect = +1% chance to crit with spells, but all Prot paladin offensive abilities except Exorcism use the melee crit rate.
  
  
  
  


• Spirit (spi)
  
  
  
  • Increases mana regeneration outside of the five-second rule. As a tank, this effect is negligible (and frankly it's negligible for all paladin specs).
  
  
  
  

(The Protection Paladin Field Manual, 2009)

Gear

A good/decent 1 handed weapon. (blue when possible, heirloom if you have a sugardaddy 80 on your account, equivalent to your level)

A good/decent Shield with a shield spike. (iron, mithril, etc)

All other gear can be greens/blues from AH and quest. You can also collect gear by tanking dungeons.  Lots of blue drops and completion rewards.

Buffs

Retribution Aura(RA): Reflects damage every time you are hit.

Blessing of Sanctuary(BoS): This not only reduces damage taken by blocking it increases Strength and Stamina as well as regens mana.

Righteous Fury(RF): With improved talent, this reduces incoming damage by 6% and increases threat for tanking.

Seal of Light(SoL): Chance to heal yourself every time you swing. (use when leveling)

Seal of Wisdom (SoW): Returns mana back to you with every swing. (use when leveling

Seal of Command/Corruption: Increased damage output while tanking

Cataclysm class changes

Sneaking in a midnight blue post, Bashiok details the upcoming schedule for release of Cataclysm class changes.  Here is a copy of the actual post.

Bashiok -- Cataclysm class change previews

Beginning Wednesday, April 7 we will begin releasing class previews containing an overview of some of the changes currently being planned for each of the 10 World of Warcraft classes. The type of information you can expect from these posts are a list of the new spells from 80-85, the new passive mastery bonuses for all talent trees, a brief outline of some of the talent changes we're currently planning, and in some cases new low level spells for select classes.

These changes will by no means be comprehensive, and are subject to change between now and the launch of the expansion. It's also important to understand that some classes are currently further along in the development process than others, and as a result the amount of information will vary from class to class. Please do not let this frustrate you should your class be amongst those which are on the "lighter" side of things, as all classes will receive the same level of design attention before the expansion is released. Additionally we'll be providing more information for all classes, especially as we move into the beta phase.

Below is the schedule for each class:

Shaman - April 7
Priest - April 7
Warlock - April 7

Warrior - April 8
Death Knight - April 8
Rogue - April 8

Hunter - April 9
Druid - April 9
Mage - April 9

Paladin - April 16*

These posts are being coordinated internationally so they'll be posted at different times throughout the day and night on the given dates to give players around the world the ability to see posts made at a convenient time. This thread will be updated with links directly to each class preview as they're posted.

*The paladin is still deep in development. Instead of giving a preview that would be potentially less comprehensive than the other classes we made the decision to post it when it's ready, in order to properly honor the paladin class and those that play them. The wait isn't too long however as we're expecting to be able to post it on April 16.

Sounds exciting, can't wait to hear what's in store!

New Pally Tank Blog - ByBaylor.com

ByBaylor.com tags itself as the blog for Pally tanking for random heroics.  There is a ton of useful information.  It covers boss and trash mob tips, gold farming instances, gearing your Pally, and general Pally info for all three trees (Prot, Ret and Holy).

He uses a good combination of articles and videos to show the strengths and how-to's of Pally tanking.  Here's a brief sample of how to use Judgements for chain pulling in Nexus.



So make sure you check out the site, you won't be disappointed.

Paladin Powerleveling with RAF

Here is a list of instances you can powerlevel guildies or Recruit-A-Friend accounts.  The 300% XP bonus from the RAF accounts will allow you to level from 1-60 in one (very long) day.  This is by no means set in stone, they are only recommendations.   A lot of the instances overlap, some are more PL friendly than others (SM Cath is heaven). There are others, but this should get you started.  These should work for any class that is able to lay down respectable AoE.

Levels	Alliance	Horde
1-10	Quest	Quest
8-14		Ragefire Chasm
10-15	Deadmines
14-19		Wailing Caverns
15-25	Stockades
19-25		Razorfen Kraul
25-42	Scarlet Monastery	Scarlet Monastery
40-50	Sunken Temple	Sunken Temple
42-52	Zul'Farrak	Zul'Farrak
50-55	Statholme	Statholme
52-56	Blackrock Depths	Blackrock Depths
55-60	Hellfire Ramparts	Hellfire Ramparts

If you have any others that work really well let us know!

How To Gear Your Level 80 Tank

The following is an excerpt from Maintankadin for  gearing with patch 3.3

You can read the full post by yappo with all the goodies here.

"Gearing fully according to this list should have the tank ready to run ToC 25 as well as ICC 10. However, I'll need input on ICC 10 and if a tank geared this way could possibly do ICC 25 as well.

The premise is to gear up a tank by farming heroics without relying on a single drop. However, I'll still assume that drops from normal mode instances have a 100% availability because they can be reset and reentered immediately.

For simplicity's sake we could assume the paladin runs the daily quests and the daily random heroic for a net value of 150 gold a day. After all we want to be exalted with Hodir, and if RNG hates us we need to run the AT dailies for a tanking weapon. The reason I have increased the amount by 50 gold daily compared with the 3.2 guide is that each random heroic awards gold for completion.

This way gemming, enchants and bought craftables can be weighed against the effort needed. For example, the craftable ilevel 245 chest would be out of the question as the first slot geared, but Titansteel Shieldwall should be considered an early buy.

The realistic approach, however, is probably to have your naked tank run the first 20 - 30 heroics as dps if you want to argue that a naked tank tanks nothing. This way we ensure that the perceived inability to get tanking gear without tanking remains a myth.

Assumptions:
Tank generates a surplus of 150 gold per day played by means of dailies done and vendor-trash.
Tank generates 22 emblems of triumph per day played (four random heroics).
Tank generates 2 emblems of frost per day played (first daily random heroic).

There is no inherent order between weeks a such. They're only there to visualize what you get for seven days worth of grinding following the schedule above. For each week I have summed up the cost in emblems out of of the 154 (7 X 22) available.

Week: 1
ilevel 245 [Headplate of the Honorbound] / [Faceplate of the Honorbound], 75 emblems
ilevel 232 [Liadrin's Breastplate of Conquest] / [Turalyon's Breastplate of Triumph], 50 emblems
ilevel 226 [Libram of the Sacred Shield], 19 emblems downgraded to Emblems of Conquest

144 emblems of 154 used

Week 2:
ilevel 226 [Shard of the Crystal Forest] (neck), 19 emblems downgraded to Emblems of Conquest
ilevel 232 [Liadrin's Legguards of Conquest] / [Turalyon's Legguards of Conquest], 50 emblems
ilevel 232 [Liadrin's Handguards of Conquest] / [Turalyon's Handguards of Conquest], 30 emblems
ilevel 226 [Shieldwarder Girdle], 28 emblems downgraded to Emblems of Conquest

127 emblems of 154 used

Week 3:
ilevel 213 [Bracers of Dalaran's Parapet], 60 emblems downgraded to Emblems of Valor
ilevel 200 [Axe of the Senjin Protector]/[Teldrassil Protector], 25 Champion's Seal from AT dailies
ilevel 245 [Shoulderguards of the Enduring Order]/[Shoulderplates of Enduring Order], 45 emblems
ilevel 213 [Signet of the Impregnable Fortress] (ring), 25 downgraded to Emblems of Valor
ilevel 245 [Glyph of Indomitability], 35 emblems

165 emblems of 154 used

Week 4:

ilevel 245 [Clutch of Fortification], 35 emblems
ilevel 213 [Kyzoc's Ground Stompers], 40 emblems downgraded to Emblems of Valor
ilevel 213 [Platinum Mesh Cloak], 25 emblems downgraded to Emblems of Valor

100 emblems of 154 used

After week four we're lacking a shield and a trinket.

Trial of the Champion on normal five man difficulty drops the following:
ilevel 200 [Boots of Heartfelt Repentance]
ilevel 200 [Mercy's Hold] (hands)
ilevel 200 [Legguards of Abandoned Fealty]
ilevel 200 [Girdle of the Pallid Knight]
ilevel 200 [The Black Heart] (trinket)

Forge of Souls, normal difficulty drops:
ilevel 219 [Lucky Old Sun]
ilevel 219 [Legplates of Frozen Granite]
ilevel 219 [Sollerets of Suffering]

Pits of Saron, normal difficulty drops:
ilevel 219 [Titanium Links of Lore]
ilevel 219 [Scourgelord's Frigid Chestplate]

Halls of Reflection, normal diffuculty drops:
ilevel 219 [Eerie Runeblade Polisher]
ilevel 219 [Splintered Door of the Citadel]
ilevel 219 [Crystalline Citadel Gauntlets]

These instances are included because you can clear it, exit, reset, enter, clear it...

Of the items in these instances we want The Black Heart (trinket), Splintered Door of the Citadel (shield), Eerie Runeblade Polisher (cloak) and Lucky Old Sun (weapon).
Black Heart and Door because we lack one shield and one trinket in the emblem list, and the cloak and weapon because they are arguably better than what's available from emblems."

Maintankadin, 2010

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