Howdy Super Friends!
Pootie here! You may well have noticed that competent guides for our aging game have become difficult to find! I'm here to help.
First, I want to offer background on my experience:
- I have raided with the paladin class in retail from release in 2005 through the wrath of the lich king expansion.
- I have been playing on this vanilla server since 2011.
- I have been a successful guild master, raid leader and paladin/warlock class leader.
- My healing stats on realm players in Nax often rank me among the top 10 healers in those boss fights.
- I have progressed with my awesome guild Equilibrium from zg to nax and have cleared all content.
I have made a lot of mistakes and learned a lot. I feel that I can offer some guidance on how to play this class! However, if I got something wrong or left something out, please comment below and I'll update the guide.
If you find this guide helpful, please reply and ask for a pin! Please also chat me up in game if you have any questions I can assist with.
-Pootie
A Paladin's Role in PVE=============================
What about DPS?A paladin in "best in slot" nax/aq 40 dps gear can put out about the same DPS as a well played warrior or rogue in ZG/AQ epics and blues. Why would a raid want to bring a pally when they can gear a warrior or rogue instead?
Additionally, there really isn't a point in adding a
Nightfall pally to your raid to boost the magic user DPS as it severly gimps the paladin's already mediocre DPS and, since every fight does not require a full complement of tanks, there is usually a protection warrior who is already sitting out for the fight who can just as well swing a
Nightfall.
What about Tanking?The paladins lack of taunt, emergency talents like "last stand", gearing options and mana problems make the paladin an inferior tank to a warrior. Some fights cannot be tanked without taunt as the fight mechanics require it. Paladins do excel in AOE tanking trash mobs, however, this is not a great enough justification to devote a raid slot to one.
Now, it isn't all bad news. I have put together an admirable tank and dps set by grabbing items from AQ 40 and Nax when no one else wants them. I enjoy tanking and dps'ing pre-raid content and even ZG and AQ 20. It is possible to be successful in these roles, but you must realize that it is not optimal and if your raid is struggling to clear progression content then there are better class options for DPS and Tanking.
Holy is the only optimal spec in this release of the game. If you want to dps or tank in raid content, you should suck it up and reroll now to save yourself the long term suffering and frustration.
What do paladin healers excel at over other classes? Paladins excel at mana efficiency. Paladins can continue delivering heals long after priests and druids are starting to complain and the innervates are all used up. For this reason, it is my opinion that they are most valuable when your raid is learning new content and don't have the fight quite figured out yet. Progression fights often carry on for much longer than they need to.
The Stats to Prioritize==============================
Core Stats: Intellect and +healing
Secondary Stats: Spell Crit and Mp5 (Mana per 5 seconds)
I'm not into running spread sheets. Here is my rule of thumb for prioritizing stats. Depending on your play style, the tank's gear and your overall raid dps, you are either running out of mana during boss fights or you aren't.
Your most important priority is to never run out of mana because then you are useless.If you are running out of mana, then you need more Int, Spell Crit and Mp5. If you aren't having trouble with mana, then gather more +healing.
I like to keep a 9k+ mana pool with full buffs. I found that after I finished Molten Core, I started looking for more +heal items.
Plain old intellect is great because it gives you more mana AND more spell crit.
I often see paladins prioritizing Spirit like a priest or druid. The stat is nearly useless for us. Don't make the same mistake.
Healing Playstyle================================
Spam
Flash of Light rank 4 or 6 over and over and over. You will wear this key out on your laptop.
Holy Light rank 6 or 9 is used when people are taking big bursts of damage and smaller heals can't keep up.
Holy Shock is used when I need to cast a (crit) heal while moving.
If it isn't too much trouble and you won't die, then judge
light or
wisdom on anything that will take more than a few seconds to kill.
In an emergency, blow your
Lay on Hands spell on the tank and then drink a mana pot.
Keep an eye on the mages and warlocks. They will need your
blessing of protection when they AOE.
Remove magic, poison and disease debuffs using
cleanse.
If you are in the tank group, be careful to stand close enough to the tank so that they are in range for your
Devotion Aura.
Don't forget not to stand in the fire! WTF man. I'm sick of your shit Dave!
Buffing Strategy================================
The buffs that everyone should receive are situational. Some people, depending on the fight or their gear level or play style prefer different buffs. That is fine! I try to accommodate people within the limits of reason.
With multiple paladins in the raid, you will need to coordinate buffs. Here is some guidance on which ones to give.
Greater Blessing of Kings is usually the most important buff as it increases all stats. All classes benefit from this. Due to a bug on this server, all paladins can train this greater blessing and you don't have to spec into it.
Greater Blessing of Salvation is the second most important buff. It reduces DPS and Healing threat and makes it easier for the tank to hold aggro. If you have a highly geared tank and a low DPS raid, then you might not need it. Classes with aggro reducing abilities like rogues and hunters don't need it so much. High DPS warlocks especially need it, sometimes over all other buffs.
If you have been assigned to buff salvation, you will have to be careful as some fights require you to skip buffing it on certain classes or people. Are your hunters kiting on this fight? Don't buff hunters. Do you have a single warlock AOE tanking mobs or even a boss? Buff all the warlocks and then remove it from the tank warlock using blessing of sacrifice.
The DPS warriors will want salvation, but how do you buff them without also hitting the tanks? Buff the entire class with greater salvation and then remove it from each tank using blessing of sacrifice. There is an addon called "Block Salvation" that will automatically remove it. Encourage your tanks to use this add on. I included it in my add on pack below.
If you are assigned as the salvation buffer AND you are running
Concentration Aura, you are in the unique position of also being able to help your tank out with blessing of sacrifice. So, hit your tank with it as often as possible.
Greater Blessing of Wisdom and
Greater Blessing of Might are usually assigned to one paladin as a class usually needs one or the other. Warriors and Rogues get might and everyone else gets wisdom. Warlocks don't need it as much as they lifetap to regain mana. Sometimes, you have a feral druid who wants might. If you have an extra paladin, then also buff druids with might, however it is more important that your healing druids have wisdom. Try to assign these buffs to a paladin who has put the talent points into improved wisdom and improved might.
Blessing of wisdom also has the unique curse (or benefit!) of generating significant aggro in this version of wow. I recall that it did this in retail too. So, if you are buffing this, be prepared for all loose mobs to head straight to you. If you are kiting mobs, then you will want to be assigned this buff.
In this release of the game, might does not benefit hunters as it only boosts melee attack power. So, give hunters wisdom instead.
Greater Blessing of Light This buff significantly increases your healing output. If you have enough paladins, then this should be on everyone. If you are low on paladins, at least try to get this on your tanks.
Greater Blessing of Sanctuary This buff decreases damage taken and increases tank threat by a little bit. This buff is helpful, but it is the least important. Due to a bug on this server, all paladins can train this greater blessing and you don't have to spec into it.
Blessing of Sacrifice If your tank is being hit by lots of mobs very quickly (for example, jindo's trash mobs) then this buff is very helpful. You will want to run concentration aura while using it to avoid spell pushback.
Blessing of Freedom If your tank is rooted, it can be helpful to use this, however, practically I don't find much use for it in PVE raiding. There are more opportunities to use it in 5 man dungeons.
Talents================================
This is the classic pure healing spec. Drop the last 6 points anywhere you want.
http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#sVxubgstxMZx
I personally like running this holy/prot spec so I can tank in pre-raid content:
http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#sVxubgstVMxI
Pre-Raid Gear================================
If you put together this gear set, no raiding guild will refuse you.
Sash of Mercy Hide of The WildHammer of Grace Mantle of Lost Hope Gallant's Wristguards Insightfull Hood Harmonius Gauntlets Padre's Trousers Boots of the Full Moon Mindtap Talisman x2
Band of Piety Robes of The Exalted Tooth of Gnarr Rosewine Circle Tome of Divine Right Libram of Divinity Enchants================================
Head and Legs
Syncretist's Sigil Lesser Arcanum of Voracity - use this until you can pickup the ZG enchant
Shoulders
Zandalar Signet of Serenity - requires exalted with ZG
Cape
Enchant Cloak - SubtletyChest
Enchant Chest - Greater Stats Bracer
Enchant Bracer - Greater IntellectEnchant Bracer - HealingWeapon
Enchant Weapon - Healing PowerEnchant Weapon - Mighty IntellectShield
Nothing great for healing is available. I put stamina in this slot
Enchant Shield - Greater StaminaGloves
Enchant Gloves - Healing PowerFeet
Enchant Boots - Minor SpeedConsumables================================
These are the consumables I bring to every raid. There are even more consumables out there that you might think to bring, but these seem to give me the most reward for my effort and nearly fill a bag up on their own anyway. These all stack unless specifically noted below.
2
Flask of Distilled Wisdom 2
Flask of the Titans Flasks do not stack, so use wisdom most of the time and then switch to titans if you are having trouble staying alive.
5
Mageblood Potion 10
Greater Dreamless Sleep Potion I always use these over mana pots if I can take a 12 second break during the fight
10
Major Mana Potion 1
Brilliant Mana Oil 5
Dark Rune These are expensive to buy.
Demonic Runes could also be substituted. The best thing about them is that they do not share a cool down with mana/dreamless pots.
10
Runn Tum Tuber Surprise does NOT stack with Dirge's Kickin' Chimaerok Chops, so use this one or the chops situationally
10
Dirge's Kickin' Chimaerok Chops 10
Rumsey Rum Black Label 5
Greater Fire Protection Potion 5
Greater Nature Protection Potion 5
Greater Frost Protection Potion 5
Greater Shadow Protection Potion 5
Greater Arcane Protection Potion 5
Major Troll's Blood Potion 5
Elixir of Fortitude
Nature Resist Gear for AQ 40================================
This is what I specifically did to achieve 200 NR. The majority of this stuff can be done solo, but you will need some help with the pants and clearing to the npc in ZG for the head and leg enchants.
The advantage of these items is everything (except one of the boe rings) does not depend on random drops, so you can complete the set more predictably.
If you are working with a "fresh" 60, then you may not have the Cenarion Circle, Argent Dawn or ZG rep required for some of these items and will need to look at alternatives.
Sylvan CrownSylvan ShouldersSylvan VestGaea's EmbraceEnchant Cloak - Greater Nature ResistanceNature Mantle of the DawnPetrified Band (world drop, boe, check the auction house)
Band of Cenarius (the quest turn in is BOE, so I spammed world chat and bought one, expect to pay a lot)
Cenarion Reservist's Legguards (this is a long quest chain where you need to kill a raid boss to complete it, sometimes the guild will do this on raid nights before AQ40 just so people can get the pants)
Nature's Whisper (quest reward)
Savage Guard Head/Leg Enchants
Core Add Ons================================
Here is a link to the add ons I use and which work with vanilla gaming:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/saltrt01kzok8bg/PootieVanillaGamingAddOns.zip?dl=1Pally Power - makes buffing easy and helps coordinate buffing between multiple paladins (auto target, range finding, error recovery) IMPORTANT: turn off auto-self cast or this add on won't work
Decursive 1.9.7 - remove debuffs quickly (auto targets, priority list and alerts)
X-Perl by Zek - raid frames for healing
Bear Cast Bar - when you have a little lag, this helps you time your chain casting for faster heals
Big Wigs -Ace2- automatic timers and warnings for boss fights
Wardrobe -AL 1.8.1 - for managing multiple sets of armor, create gear sets and then rapidly switch between them with one click.
Quickheal - useful for raid healing. Configure it to only use "flash of light" in combat.
Cthun Warner - use this to avoid killing other people on the Cthun fight.
Useful Macros================================
Announce your resurrection target
/say rezing %t
/cast redemption
Cast your biggest holy shock
/cast Divine Favor
/script SpellStopCasting()
/cast Holy Shock
Once you pick up the mana saving
Libram of Grace from AQ 40, you will want to use these macros: You will need the "Super Macro" addon. I'm using Super Macro version 3.14
Decursive Macro
/equip Libram of Grace
/decursive
Flash of Light Macro
/equip Libram of Divinity
/cast Flash of Light
Quick Heal Macro
/equip Libram of Divinity
/qh
