Holy Paladin Guide — Class Guides · WoW Classic

The healing tree: more powerful Holy Light and Flash of Light, cheaper heals and the tools to keep a tank or a raid alive.

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. More about the paladin

Class: Paladin
Roles: Healer
Used for: Raids and dungeons
Top talent: Holy Shock
Popular builds: 2
Version: WoW Classic

How to play

Holy paladins are single-target healers. Flash of Light is cheap and quick, Holy Light is the big heal, and Illumination refunds the mana of every critical heal, so critical strike chance doubles as mana. In raids you heal the tanks and keep a Blessing and a Judgement up.

The skill is choosing the rank: lower ranks of Flash of Light and Holy Light let you heal for a long time, while Divine Favor and a top-rank Holy Light cover big hits. Paladins have no group heal in Classic, so you are placed on tanks or a single group.

Holy also brings Cleanse for the raid's poisons, diseases and magic, Blessing of Sacrifice and Blessing of Protection. In player-versus-player play the Holy paladin is the hardest healer to kill, though every heal but Holy Shock has to be cast.

At a glance

Single-target healing
Group healing
Survivability
Utility for the group
Solo play and leveling
Ease of play

Rated 1 to 5 against the other specs in WoW Classic.

Rotation and priorities

1Keep your Blessing and Aura up: Concentration Aura when you heal while taking damage, Devotion Aura otherwise.
2Judge the boss with Seal of Wisdom or Seal of Light if no other paladin does, then step back.
3Flash of Light for steady damage on tanks; lower ranks of Holy Light when damage is heavy.
4Divine Favor on a top-rank Holy Light when someone drops low.
5Cleanse poisons, diseases and magic between heals.
6Divine Shield if you are about to die; Blessing of Protection on a target the enemies are tearing apart.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

The most mana-efficient healing in Classic, with Flash of Light and Illumination.
Very hard to kill in player-versus-player fights.
Cleanse, Blessing of Sacrifice and Blessing of Protection help the whole raid.

Weaknesses

No group or area healing.
Almost every heal has to be cast: little to use on the move.
Weak damage, so solo play is slow.

Stats and gear

Stat priority

Most valuable first. Bars compare each stat with the best one; a cap in the note means the stat drops off once you reach it.

1
+Healing
2
Intellectmana, and spell crit for Illumination
3
Critical strikeIllumination refunds the mana
4
Mana per 5 sec
5
Stamina
6
Spiritlittle use while you keep casting

What to look for

+Healing gear of any armour type: cloth and leather healing pieces are often better than plate in Classic.
Intellect and spell crit once your +Healing is solid; Illumination turns crits into mana.
A one-handed mace or sword with +Healing, and an off-hand or shield.

Items worth chasing

Rejuvenating GemHealing and mana regeneration in a trinket.
Cauterizing BandA strong healing ring.
Malistar's DefenderA healing shield.
Hide of the WildCrafted cloak with healing and Intellect.

Builds

Each bar splits the build's talent points by tree.

Holy
Protection
Retribution

Illumination Lightbearer
HealerPvE
35115
35/11/5
Raid Holy: Illumination refunds mana on crits, Divine Favor and Holy Shock add emergency heals, and Protection supplies Blessing of Kings.
- Consecration 1/1
- Divine Favor 1/1
- Lasting Judgement 3/3
- Holy Power 5/5
- Holy Shock 1/1
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting Talent order by level
Kingsguard Healer
HealerPvE
3219
32/19/0
A Holy variant with deeper Protection: Blessing of Kings, Toughness and Improved Concentration Aura keep heals flowing through raid damage.
- Consecration 1/1
- Divine Favor 1/1
- Holy Power 5/5
- Holy Shock 1/1
- Blessing of Kings 1/1
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting Talent order by level

Key talents

Holy Shock · top talent, up to 1
Blasts the target with Holy energy, causing 204 to 220 Holy damage to an enemy, or 204 to 220 healing to an ally.
Healing Light · tier 3, up to 3
Increases the amount healed by your Holy Light and Flash of Light spells by 12%.
Consecration · tier 3, up to 1
Consecrates the land beneath Paladin, doing 64 Holy damage over 8 sec to enemies who enter the area.
Improved Lay on Hands · tier 3, up to 2
Gives the target of your Lay on Hands spell a 30% bonus to their armor value from items for 2 min. In addition, the cooldown for your Lay on Hands spell is reduced by 20 min.
Unyielding Faith · tier 3, up to 2
Increases your chance to resist Fear and Disorient effects by an additional 10%.
Illumination · tier 4, up to 5
After getting a critical effect from your Flash of Light, Holy Light, or Holy Shock heal spell, gives you a 100% chance to gain Mana equal to the base cost of the spell.
Improved Blessing of Wisdom · tier 4, up to 2
Increases the effect of your Blessing of Wisdom spell by 20%.
Divine Favor · tier 5, up to 1
When activated, gives your next Flash of Light, Holy Light, or Holy Shock spell a 100% critical effect chance.
Lasting Judgement · tier 5, up to 3
Increases the duration of your Judgement of Light and Judgement of Wisdom by 30 sec.
Holy Power · tier 6, up to 5
Increases the critical effect chance of your Holy spells by 5%.

Holy abilities by level

When each ability arrives: trained abilities at the level a trainer first teaches them, talent abilities (gold frame) at the first level the talent can be taken.