Holy Paladin Guide — Class Guides · WoW Burning Crusade

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, Player versus player
Top talent: Divine Illumination
Popular builds: 2
Version: WoW Burning Crusade

How to play

Holy is the tank healer of The Burning Crusade: Holy Light and Flash of Light heal one target at a time, Illumination refunds mana on crits, Light's Grace speeds up the next Holy Light, Holy Guidance turns Intellect into +Healing, and Divine Illumination halves your mana costs for a short time.

Most raids put paladins on the main tank with Holy Light, and on other tanks or melee with Flash of Light. Intellect and crit keep Illumination flowing and your mana pool deep.

In arenas Holy is very hard to kill and cleanses well, and Blessing of Freedom and Hammer of Justice help your partners.

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 Burning Crusade.

Rotation and priorities

1Holy Light on the tank, keeping Light's Grace's faster cast going.
2Flash of Light on lighter damage.
3Holy Shock as an instant heal when you need a fast top-up.
4Divine Illumination and Divine Favor for heavy damage phases.
5Judge the boss with Seal of Light or Seal of Wisdom when assigned.
6Cleanse poisons, diseases and magic.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

The best single-target tank healer in TBC.
Very mana-efficient with Illumination and Divine Illumination.
Plate and Divine Shield.

Weaknesses

No group healing.
Holy Light is a long cast you have to commit to.
Weak solo play.

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, crit and +Healing through Holy Guidance
3
Critical strikeIllumination
4
Mana per 5 sec
5
Spell haste
6
Stamina

What to look for

Plate healing gear with Intellect and crit is plentiful in TBC.
+Healing gems in red sockets, Intellect in yellow.
A healing mace or sword with a shield.

Items worth chasing

Eye of GruulCheaper heals from a healing trinket proc.
Essence of the Martyr+Healing on use.
Scarab of the Infinite CycleA spell haste proc for healers.

Builds

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

Holy
Protection
Retribution

Divine Illumination Lightbearer
HealerPvE
4511
45/11/5
Raid Holy: Divine Illumination halves mana costs during a burst, Illumination and Light's Grace make Holy Light efficient, and Protection supplies Blessing of Kings.
- Divine Favor 1/1
- Light's Grace 3/3
- Holy Shock 1/1
- Holy Guidance 5/5
- Divine Illumination 1/1
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting Talent order by level
Arena Lightbearer
HealerPvP
4120
41/20/0
Arena Holy: Holy Shock and Divine Favor for instant heals, Divine Illumination for mana, and Protection's Blessing of Kings, Stoicism and Improved Concentration Aura.
- Divine Favor 1/1
- Holy Shock 1/1
- Blessed Life 3/3
- Holy Guidance 5/5
- Divine Illumination 1/1
Open in the talent calculator Theorycrafting Talent order by level

Key talents

Divine Illumination · top talent, up to 1
Reduces the mana cost of all spells by 50% for 15 sec.
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 60% of the base cost of the spell.
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.
Sanctified Light · tier 5, up to 3
Increases the critical effect chance of your Holy Light spell by 6%.
Purifying Power · tier 6, up to 2
Reduces the mana cost of your Cleanse, Purify and Consecration spells by 10% and increases the critical strike chance of your Exorcism and Holy Wrath spells by 20%.
Holy Power · tier 6, up to 5
Increases the critical effect chance of your Holy spells by 5%.
Light's Grace · tier 7, up to 3
Gives your Holy Light spell a 100% chance to reduce the cast time of your next Holy Light spell by 0.5 sec. This effect lasts 15 sec.
Holy Shock · tier 7, up to 1
Blasts the target with Holy energy, causing 277 to 299 Holy damage to an enemy, or 351 to 379 healing to an ally.
Blessed Life · tier 7, up to 3
All attacks against you have a 10% chance to cause half damage.
Holy Guidance · tier 8, up to 5
Increases your spell damage and healing by 35% of your total Intellect.

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.