What Is A Good World of Warcraft Paladin PvP Build?
November 2, 2007 by Apadwe
Filed under WoW Classes, WoW PvP
I just hit level 70 on my WoW Paladin alt and I want to be able to PvP with it. What is a good PvP build for my Paladin?
This is a difficult question to answer because PvP is a very general category. The best build is going to depend on what situation you are encountering PvP.
If you play on a PvP server and are concerned about surviving ganking attempts while out in the world, the best build is going to be part protection part retribution. If you are in an arena the best build is going to be a mix of holy and protection.
If you are in a battleground, well, everyone is going to WANT you to heal but you may be able to do a little damage with a protection/retribution mix. Lets break it down a little bit further.
Arena Specs
The generally accepted “best spec” for arena Paladins is 41 holy, 20 protection. Key talents included in this build are 2/2 Stoicism, 5/5 Spiritual Focus, 5/5 Illumination, 3/3 healing light, Blessing of Kings, 3/3 Impoved Righteous Fury, as many points into Toughness as possible, and 3/3 Improved Concentration Aura.
Soloing Specs
If you are a paladin and want to be able to kill most people in a 1v1 situation, your best bet is to go with a protection/retribution mix. This will also be the preferred spec for soloing in most PvE situations as well, so it works out.
Battlegrounds
Usually the key to whether a team wins in a battleground or not is dependant on their healing. Because of this most people are going to want you to heal in battlegrounds. If that really isn’t your style, go for a heavy damage and survivability build, much like a soloing spec.
41/20/0 is the way to go for sure.
As far as 2v2 and BG’s go you might want to stack up a little spl dmg as well.
But the key in arena is survivalability (hince the 20 in prot)Usually the oposing teams objective is usually to make you blow your bubble or for the longer fights, drain your mana.
For Battlegrounds you can go 40/0/21 (The “Shockidan”) but your survivalibility decreases dramatically; and without the gear, you’ll probably find yourself healing more than DPS. Having that said, you are still a healer as shockidan, but you are able to deliver a nice amount of DPS.
Yes! I totally agree with you Sanshi. The shockadin is the way to go for a pvp paladin. you can heal and deal some pretty nice damage. But in arena your ganna be a healadin. ret is nice and all but you cant dps like a warrior and you cant heal like priest so a happy medium is the way to go. you can heal and burst some nice hits
Retri pala > holy
I prefer 21/0/40 for pvp Battlegrounds becasue the DPS. I can also heal for about 2-3k so it isnt great. Any pointers on a good paladin build?
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-talents.xml?r=Caelestrasz&n=Damonii
I have a Preference for Protection Pallys. But I am currently 0/52/5 with most emphasis on Stun Resistance, Protection Spells, Defences, and armour. I use gear to beef up Armour, Stamina, Strength & Intelect. Shiled & Fast Sword help. Makes mince meat out of Melee opponents. Casters prove my biggest problems and with right combo of spells, hunters with pets fall easy. Let me know what you think.
Honestly you can be a good ret pally for Arena/Bg’s. The key is using the right seals and judgments in the right situations. If your going up on a rogue/feral druid you want to keep them stunned as much as possible. So you would use Seal of Justice/ Judge of Justice also… With the proper gear they might hit you twice or three times during a encounter. Of course keeping sacred shield up at all times and using your flash heal when its a instant cast. They will never get your hp below 75% Also this tactic works extremly well on affliction warlocks. SOJ/JOJ for peeps who stun or fear spam is key. Other than that, Seal of Righteous/Judgment of Wisdom/Light depending on how much mana or hp you have, and keeping Sacred shield up while using your flash heal when its instant. Once you have the gear you are most definatly a force to be messed with. How ever you cant go wrong 1 on 1 using SOJ/JOJ on any class if you dont take dmg you don’t die! Also there are some great PVP RET macros if your in need of keeping it simple.. However you will suffer from Killing Blows using them certian situations you would do things different to kill.. Here is a link to some of them…
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#showtooltip
/castsequence reset=10/ctrl Sacred Shield, Divine Storm, Judgement of Light, Crusader Strike, Consecration, Crusader Strike, Judgement of Wisdom, Divine Storm, Crusader Strike, flash of light, Consecration, Judgement of Light, Crusader Strike
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Notice Exorcism is not in it.. Your gonna want to use your instant cast with flash of light not Exorcism unless Exorcism will get them to where Hammer of Wrath is usable. You will also want to start the macro right b4 an encounter because the first cast is Sacred Shield you want that up at all times before you start taking damage! This macro will do pretty well. I have noticed it does not work as well as me.. But It will definatly show you what is needed in pvp encounters..
I have been toying with the different suggested Ret pvp specs online that people have been talking about and have spawned my own for my game play. The pvp spec I use is 7(holy)8(Protection)(56 Ret) Mind you this my toon is fully pvp geared with a little over 1200 ressillence. No enchants or gems with res on it.. You cannot stack res chants/gems and be competitve.. Most of your encounters in arena they are gonna have atleast decent gear so your crits are difficult to land.
* More Macros can be found here
http://www.wowwiki.com/Useful_macros_for_paladins
Just because they are posted dont mean you cant tweek them a tad and make them better…
Until you get to the 1100 mark of ressillence you will need to spec down in the prot tree to pick up Improved Righteous Fury, Toughness 5/5. It will help your survivabilty alot! I cant stress enough Once you dont need those as much you should up your dmg talents asap. It can be the difference in getting that tree down during a stun and winning a arena match. The only classes your gonna have trouble with is a holy pally and a Frost Mage (But they must be pro and know there class and be able to perform)
** Most important:
Bubble,Lay on Hands and Pvp trink usage….
Bubble only if your below 20% and DO NOT continue to fight during your bubble unless your opp is below 20% hp, HEAL YOUR SELF completly for round 2. If your dotted up and feared thats also a good time to pop your bubble but you cant waste time you should do it before the dots take there toll on your hp.. You must also get back to the target and do a better job of staying behind #1 and dps-n#2.
**Use your pvp trink for fears primarly and if nobody can fear you stuns. If someone has you stunned and you pop your pvp trink be spamming Hammer of Justice on them right after you come out of stun! ALWAYS stay behind the attacked! most classes have zero attacks for targets behind them! So why take damage when you don’t have to.. Another words DON’T BE A NOOB!
*Lay on Hands
Honestly I never use this on my self in arena, always my partners in crime if my 2 min cd isnt still ticking.. The only time i use it on myself is if I have already popped my bubble and my 2 min cd from that is over and im less than half health or im taking on 2 at a time and im at 50% hp
* One last thing….
Takes some practice, but keep poking you learn, the more times you get owned the more you learn… Oh and the Specs others have discussed are good ones as well, they just aren’t my playing style.. I like to do the damage not heal threw it…
Your specs will change with your gear… Once you grab some decent pvp gear you can consentrait more on your damage instead of survivabilty. You have to give to get right? And if your a Blood Elf Pally your OP! Hammer of Justice followed by Arcane Torrent once Hammer times out is 5 Seconds a caster has to take it like a man. Thats not even counting SOJ/JOJ and a rogue thought they could stun. BAH!
I hope my knowledge of PVP Ret has been helpfull. I still learn new little tricks everyday for certian classes. But a ret pally spells are so situational once you get good at making instant decisions you will be unstopable! And also represent the most OP class in WOTLK atm!