Paladin Class Guide — Class Guides · WoW Classic
A plate-wearing holy warrior who heals with the Light, protects with blessings, auras and seals, and fights in melee. Paladins heal, tank or deal damage with a two-handed weapon.
- Roles
- Healer, Tank, Damage
- Specializations
- 3
- Popular builds
- 7
- Version
- WoW Classic
How the paladin plays
Paladins are plate-wearing support: they heal, fight in melee or tank, and every group they join gets their Blessings and an Aura. In Classic Era only the Alliance has paladins; the Horde has shamans instead.
Most paladin play revolves around Seals and Judgement. A Seal adds an effect to your melee swings; Judgement releases it onto the target as damage or a debuff, after which you put the Seal back up. In raids, Judgement of Wisdom and Judgement of the Crusader on the boss help everyone attacking it.
Paladins are hard to kill, with Divine Shield, Blessing of Protection and Lay on Hands, but have little control and slow damage, so they level steadily rather than quickly. In Classic raids almost every paladin heals.
Strengths and weaknesses
Strengths
- Blessings and Auras make every group stronger: Kings, Might, Wisdom and Salvation are wanted in every raid.
- Very hard to kill: plate, Divine Shield, Lay on Hands and Blessing of Protection.
- Flash of Light is the most mana-efficient heal in the game.
- Cleanse removes poisons, diseases and magic.
Weaknesses
- Few ways to stop or catch an enemy: Hammer of Justice is the main one.
- Retribution and Protection are weak raid specs in Classic.
- Limited by mana and slow to kill while leveling.
- Buffing a raid with Blessings is a constant chore.
Specializations
The specs compared
Each spec rated from 1 to 5 at what it does in WoW Classic. Single and several targets mean damage for damage specs, healing for healers and threat for tanks; a spec's own guide names its ratings for its role.
| Rating |  Holy |  Protection |  Retribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single target | |||
| Several targets | |||
| Survivability | |||
| Utility | |||
| Solo and leveling | |||
| Ease of play |
- Holy
Healer · 2 builds
The healing tree: more powerful Holy Light and Flash of Light, cheaper heals and the tools to keep a tank or a raid alive.
Top talent:
Holy guide
Holy Shock - Protection
Tank · 2 builds
Tanking with a shield: Holy Shield, more block and armour, damage reduction and threat.
Top talent:
Protection guide
Holy Shield - Retribution
Damage · 3 builds
Two-handed melee damage from seals and judgements, with crits and utility for the group. The usual leveling tree.
Top talent:
Retribution guide
Repentance
Gear
- Mail until level 40, then plate.
- Two-handed weapons for Retribution; a one-hander with a shield or off-hand for healing and tanking.
- Healers want +Healing, Intellect and mana per 5 seconds. Plate with those stats is rare in Classic, so Holy paladins often wear cloth, leather or mail healing gear.
- Retribution wants Strength, crit and hit, plus a little Intellect for mana.
Each spec guide ranks its stats and says what to look for on its gear.
Paladin class quests
The quests that unlock class abilities, by the level each route starts at.