no nonsense guide for pallys

[48kilos]

Ok I'm runny a pally for the first time and could use some guidance because i have heard a lot of conflicting views on what is important to the pally

 

1. What are the most important stats for a pally?   
• Some say str and int because damage is how you keep agro,
• others say str and sta for the power and hp
• others still say sta and agi because armor and hp is what is important for a tank
2. How does a pally keep agro?
• Taunts and aoe?  DPS?  or do heals help keep agro?
3. What are the most important spells to upgrade and what ones can you get away with just apprentices?
4. What is the preferred AA line?
• Traditional AA, or is the new EoF AA options better for the pally?

[Sedi]

1. There isnt any none important stat for a paladin. but if you where to weight one against the other. STA would win against everything. then its basically str or wisdom w/e you want. i have like 3 sets of gear, for different things, it just depends on what your fighting, what your tanking, and your position in the group/raid. But to rap it up if your... Tanking: go STA, then str/wis... DPSing: Go STR and INT, keep track of your gear and you can accumulate decent pieces for tanking and dpsing, depending on what you are doing at the time.

2. all about taunts, aoes, and amends. your job as a tank isnt to just sit there and hold aggro, you have to help the group as well. you should always be using your 3 10sec recast CAs. its always handy to preward before you pull, but thats really not neccessary if you have a healer. and for the record: 1pt of damage = 1 pt of hate. 1pt of heals = is smaller then 1pt of hate.(dont remember the exact amount)

 

3 and 4 are really w/e man. all depends on what role you want to play in your group/raid. naturally for tanking you wanna upgrade your taunts and such.. etc.

[Seidhkona]

Paladins' power pool comes from both STR and WIS.  We need power to fuel heals and taunts. Most of our damage comes from spells/combat arts, therefore more INT means more spell crits and thus more damage.  STR contributes to how hard you hit when meleeing. Tanks of course need a lot of health, thus STA is important, and so is AGI for avoidance. The question to ask is what exactly do you envision your role as being?  If you will tank, especially main tanking for raids and such, you need emphasis on STR and STA.  If you will be DPS and assisting, then STR and INT. If you will be warding and buffing and healing, WIS and INT.  But all these stats are necessary - it's which ones you spend more points of AAs and equipment boosting. A while back, I wrote up a small guide which I'm reproducing here and updating...

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Paladin 101 A paladin tanking is not there to do damage.  He's there to be the poster child for Mob Hatred, and let the monsters break their teeth chewing on his armor and MIT while the rest of the group finishes them off! In a situation with a group, if the paladin is tanking, to start he should be using his defensive stance with a shield and one-hand weapon.  Not only does this make life easier for the healers, it adds a critical component of taunts to certain attacks.  In a paldin's hands, a shield IS an offensive weapon.

Stance: Knight's Defense (4, Increase WIS, Defense and MIT, Decreases Piercing, Slashing, Crushing) Stance: Knight's Stance (16, Increase WIS, Defense and MIT, Decreases Piercing, Slashing, Crushing)Stance: Shining Beacon (30, Increase WIS, Defense and MIT, Decreases Piercing, Slashing, Crushing)Stance: Benediction (43, Increase WIS, Defense and MIT, Decreases Piercing, Slashing, Crushing)

Next, before the fighting starts, buff up two of the paladin's group using:

Redemption (21, Transfer some of target's current threat to the caster, use on whoever is stealing aggro most often)Atonement (35, Transfer some of target's current threat to the caster, use on whoever is stealing aggro most often)Amends (49, Transfer some of target's current threat to the caster, use on whoever is stealing aggro most often)Ancient Pledge (18, Grants target extra chance of making additional attempt to avoid, Increases Defense of caster)Aegis of Hope (32, Grants target extra chance of making additional attempt to avoid, Increases Defense of caster)Unwavering Faith (46, Grants target extra chance of making additional attempt to avoid, Increases Defense of caster)

To start a fight, use whatever you can reach the MOB with at distance, usually a single-target damage spell. Or you can invest in some nice imbued hex dolls (search here for more info on the various ones, tailors make them). I like WIS (discord imbued) and INT (chaos imbued) but YMMV.  The imbued hex dolls have a spell you can activate from quite a distance away to hit and seriously debuff a single mob. It's slow to cast, which is why it makes a good opener to pull with (and they boost one stat as well, which is nice!).  Since EoF came out, paladins can now use bows -- I prefer an imbued rare-wood longbow, but any will work, and that gives you a nice 35m pull as well.  I worked my ranged skill up by going to the docks and shooting fish.  I do NOT recommend going AFK while doing this as that's against the EULA, but I filled up a big quiver with tin arrows and sat in front of the computer reading a book while monitoring the progress of the ranged skillup shooting. AS SOON AS THE MOB IS CLOSE ENOUGH, it needs to be taunted at least twice and usually three times. Start with:

Blinding Rays (8, Increase Threat, Decrease MIT of target encounter vs divine damage)Blinding Light (22, Increase Threat, Decrease MIT of target encounter vs divine damage)Smite Prayer (36, Increase Threat, Decrease MIT of target encounter vs divine damage)Zealous Preaching (50, Increase Threat, Decrease MIT of target encounter vs divine damage)Taunt (1, Increase Threat)Incite (9, Increase Threat and continue increasing threat every 3 seconds)Inflame (17, Increase Threat and continue increasing threat every 3 seconds)Goading Gesture (20, scales with level, Increase Threat)Noble Tone (31, Increase Threat and continue increasing threat every 3 seconds)Clarion Call (45, Increase Threat and continue increasing threat every 3 seconds)

Taunts are SO important!  If it takes more than two or three taunts, upgrade your taunts (or at least a couple) to Adept III. If you're on a budget, go to Apprentice IV until you can afford Adept III.  Talk to your alchemist about these spell upgrades! Once taunted, the paladin needs where possible to turn the mob. I just run through the pulled monsters and spin, some people leap over their heads, etc.  This has a number of benefits:

1. The paladin can see when he has aggro, because the mobs are facing him. If one turns away, he needs to redirect taunts onto it.
2. The armored paladin is between the party and unexplored territory, and thus most likely to intercept adds, and can see behind the party for any repops back there.
3. This turns any AOE attacks away from the more lightly armored party members.
4. Turning the mob puts the mob's back to the DPS types who need flank and rear attacks, as well as decreasing repostes and parries the MOB does vs. your group.

Where needed, use Rescue to grab back aggro... but remember it has a long recast time!:

Rescue (25, scales with level, Increase threat priority by 3 positions, Increase Threat)

As the fight progresses, the paladin can then start doing damage.  Using a shield is HIGHLY recommended, because it gets you a taunt for the same cost as an attack. I harvest metal like crazy in new tiers so I can have an imbued rare metal shield made, because then it will proc a fireball at your enemies when you get hit in addition to whatever else is happening in the fight:

Bash (13, Divine Damage + Increase Threat + Knockdown with Stun - REQUIRES SHIELD) Blinding Bash (27, Divine Damage + Increase Threat + Knockdown with Stun - REQUIRES SHIELD) Courageous Dash (41, Divine Damage + Increase Threat + Knockdown with Stun - REQUIRES SHIELD) Blessed Rush (47, Divine Damage + Increase Threat + Knockdown with Stun - REQUIRES SHIELD)

Another role the paladin plays is in preventing mobs from casting or healing by using stuns and interrupts:

Divine Vengeance (25, Damage + Stun) Shatter Will (39, Damage + Stun) Righteous Crusade (52, Damage + Stun) Omen of Battle (27, Damage + Interrupt) Divine Judgement (41, Damage + Interrupt) Kick (5, Crushing Damage + Interrupt), 5 power Charge (19, Crushing Damage + Knockdown + Stun) Vengeance (33, Crushing Damage + Knockdown + Stun) Blessed Rush (47, Crushing Damage + Knockdown + Stun)

This is my version of "Paladin 101", and I hope it's useful for you

Message Edited by Seidhkona on 12-02-2006 08:28 PM

[Lairdragna]

I'm not quite sure where you come up with stamina being most important.  I certainly don't feel it is.  I am a level 70 raid pally that does tank epic nameds.  My focus has always been on as even a distribution of stats as reasonably possible with priority going in the following order: Wisdom, Stamina, Agility, Intelligence.  I left out Strength because that seems to take care of itself between our self-buffs, group buffs and gear.  As stated strength and wisdom are our power pool, which is the lifeblood of a pally.  200 extra health is not even one hit, 200 extra power is a heal for 1,200 non-crit or a ward for 1,400 non-crit.  You do the math.  Strength also determines our attack rating and damage, wisdom our resists (more important now than ever).Stamina is important for raw hitpoints, and I won't diminish that.  BUT, they are more important to a warrior than a crusader because they do not have the ability to get those back as quickly as we do.  With two non-AA self-heals, wards, single target heal and a group heal we can stand long after a guardian with a 1,000 more hitpoints can on his own... I'm clearly talking about soloing here as that best defines in my mind the effect of stats.Agility is key for avoidance which means a lot now after the devaluation of mitigation beyond a fixed thresshold.  This was something I had neglected in the past and have been working on since the release of EoF.  Not taking a hit at all is definitely preferable to mitigating one.Intelligence is your spell and proc damage.  Don't underestimate it, even if you focus on it last.  Both earring slots can now be adorned with intelligence, at T7 you can get 14 on each.  My intelligence is still woefully lacking compared to the other stats, but I'm running around in defensive with about 275 intelligence, which is a heck of a lot more than the 90 or so I've seen on many other raid pallies.  Having gone down the intelligence AA line and maxed my crit heals and damage spells, I often nuke for 2600 against epic nameds, brimstone will often crit at around 1,000-1,200 against all mobs in a group.  I've had crit procs off certain weapons exceed 1,000.  It is worth investing in.And as mentioned, it really depends upon your playstyle and what you want the class to do.  For all the faults of the class, and there are many, I love the ability to diversify it in ways most classes could only dream on.  My best advice to you is to seek balance, focusing on one thing will limit you.

[Sedi]

if you honestly feal wisdom is more important then stamina. well i just done even know what to say. apparently you havnet raided in eof any.

Message Edited by Sedila on 12-03-2006 09:34 PM

[Lairdragna]

Well not everybody is raiding EoF, in fact a VERY small minority of the game is raiding EoF.I can boost Stamina or any other stat at any given time simply by swapping out gear.  I think most of us that raid have bags full of gear for whatever situation is at hand.  When not raiding, wisdom is indeed crucial.  I resist a hell of a lot more than most guardians and zerkers I know.  Our guilds two MTs drool over my resists.  Self buffed my lowest is around 4500 and my highest is around 6500.  Throw group buffs on me and I resist the hell out of most non physical attacks.  My mit and avoidance are also pretty [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn] good.  I have enough power to heal and ward through any fight while holding down aggro and ripping group heals and AOEs as well.  Focusing on Wisdon for grouping has paid in spades.  And honestly, hitpoints are rarely ever an issue for heroic instances or zones.  The couple times I died it was because I was duoing with a guild swashy in Mistmoore Catacombs and the pull went bad.  And honestly, a couple hundred hitpoints would have meant nothing in that situation.So it goes back to what I say, depends on what you are doing.  Are you raid MTing in EoF?  If the answer is yes, and honestly how many pallies here are answering yes to that question, your point is valid.  If you are running around soloing and grouping, I'm a firm believer that 300 more power will do you a lot better than 300 more health.In my normal gear I'm around 8600 health and 5600 power IIRC, my mitigation is still over 4k, all resists are 4.5-6.5k.  I can easily get my health to over 9k by swapping gear with different stats and different adornments.  I have optimized myself for the role I play in groups and raids, and that is a support paladin.  I off-tank, tank certain nameds and make a hell of a healer as well between my master 1/2 heals, AAs and miracles and blessings.I'll say it again in case you missed it, it all depends on context and what you are doing.  You go ahead and focus on stamina if that works for you and the role you play, but I guarantee you 95% and higher of pallies in the game are not raiding EoF... and if that is your rationale, well it likely does not apply for the OP who asked the following, "Ok I'm runny a pally for the first time and could use some guidance because i have heard a lot of conflicting views on what is important to the pally."  Does that sound like he is raiding EoF to you?  Should he be gearing his character accordingly?  I would say no, perhaps you disagree.

[loveybutt]

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48kilos wrote:

Ok I'm runny a pally for the first time and could use some guidance because i have heard a lot of conflicting views on what is important to the pally

 

1. What are the most important stats for a pally?   
• Some say str and int because damage is how you keep agro,
• others say str and sta for the power and hp
• others still say sta and agi because armor and hp is what is important for a tank
2. How does a pally keep agro?
• Taunts and aoe?  DPS?  or do heals help keep agro?
3. What are the most important spells to upgrade and what ones can you get away with just apprentices?
4. What is the preferred AA line?
• Traditional AA, or is the new EoF AA options better for the pally?

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Personally I pull with ranged bow attack (or body pull if needed), aoe taunt, single taunt, shield bash (increases hate), then i cycle through my aoe damage spells to help hold aggro if there's more then one mob (we have 3 or so quick reuse aoe's, doom judgement but its 5 minute recast, and if need we have a decent little lvl 55 aoe, but drains power). If i see adds coming, usually i dont even bother taungting if atelast one aoe damage spell is up (can't think of a time when i aoe to get incoming adds and it's gotten on someone else so..), or use our out of encounter aoe temporary spell.  My master crafted armor usually consits of a mix between vanguard, devout, and plate... So for stats i try and keep them balanced since we can use em all to some effectiveness. For AA's, so far I've gone 4,4,8,8 in kos str, and I'm starting to fill out the wrath line from eof since i sue our aoe's to help me hold aggro. That's how I play my pally anyway, only lvl 58 atm so still a ways to go; it's worked well for me so far... hope it helps some.