Paladin Leveling Guide

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So your Paladin just hit level 10, and you’re faced with a whole new problem… Where do you put your talent points? Well, I couldn’t call this a Paladin Leveling Guide if I didn’t tell you how to best place your talent points to create a solid leveling build. My preference for leveling a Paladin is Retribution, for reasons that will soon become obvious, but if you’re planning on leveling with a group Protection or Holy both make decent choices as well. For the purpose of this guide we’ll stick with Retribution though. We’ll go in 5 point chunks to make things nice and easy.

10-14: Benediction. Less mana spent = less time drinking, and less time drinking = more time killing, which means faster experience. I like math!

15-19: Heart of the Crusader and Improved Judgments. More Judgments and more crits means BIGGER NUMBERS, and everyone loves big numbers!

20-24: Seal of Command and 4/5 Conviction. Remember that whole numbers thing we talked about last time around? Yeah, still applies. Smashy smashy!

25-29: Sanctity of Battle and Vindication. By now I think you probably get that more crits = VERY YES, so no need for details there. Vindication, well, when is weakening your enemy ever a bad thing?

30-34: Two-Handed Weapon Specialization, Sanctified Retribution, and finish out Conviction. With these talents, your DPS should be starting to get pretty decent.

35-39: Vengeance and Eye for an Eye. Bigger numbers, plus a bit of a counterattack when enemies crit you. Between that and Retribution Aura, mobs should know better than to take a swing at you.

40-44: Judgements of the Wise and The Art of War. This is where we start getting past vanilla damage and move into the cool stuff. Mana refunds plus instant heals after specials crit means your longevity and ability to deal with "uh-oh" situations gets even better.

45-49: Repentance, Fanaticism, and a point in Sanctified Wrath. Woohoo! Crowd control! And of course more crits! Lots to be happy with, and it gets even better in 1 level…

50-54: CRUSADER STRIKE!!! Oh, and Sheath of Light, and finish off Sanctified Wrath while you’re there. Go Crusader Strike a few things. Feel like a righteous force of justice and face-smashing yet? Welcome to Retribution, enjoy your stay.

55-59: Righteous Vengeance. Why? Because you are an instrument of it. Oh, and also for the nice little DoT effect. Grab Improved Blessing of Might too, more attack power is nothing to turn your nose up at, especially leveling as Retribution.

60 and up: Divine Storm, of course. Why wouldn’t you want the Paladin equivalent of Whirlwind? After that it really comes down to a matter of choice. I’m partial to taking 5 Divine Strength, and then putting 15 points in Holy, but your mileage may vary. Depending on your playstyle, you may want to respec Protection or Holy for tanking or healing through instances. If you’re a solo player though, you’ll definitely want to stick with Retribution all the way.

Once I hit 80, I ended up swapping over to Holy for a bit just for a change, and I went through a bit of a Protection phase too. Maybe I should have rolled a Warrior though, because I just can’t get enough of running in and causing havoc with a big 2-hander. Retribution is definitely my style. Holy may actually be a stronger spec over all, but I have way more fun as Ret. Respec fees are cheap, try them out and see which one you like best.

If there’s anything specific you’d like to see in the Paladin Leveling Guide, feel free to let me know in a comment. Until next time, happy crusading!