Leveling a Paladin in Burning Crusade Classic
Which race should you make your Paladin?
Honors, you are a rare combination of brains and good looks, what race should I make my Paladin
Well, I'm glad you asked. Race isn't going to make or break your character, and you're going to be looking at that toon for hours on end.
If you roll Horde, you're a Blood Elf. Next Question! Oh, wait, you're Alliance, excellent choice, my lad.
Of the 3 Alliance races, I would say Draenei.
The Draenei starting area is cool, and tons of fun. Shadow Resistance and a free Heal over Time both work well with Paladins.
Humans are the best aesthetically, and the rep bonus is a wonder bonus in Burning Crusade. Perception is okay, but I’d rather have Stoneform for fighting Rogues.
I adore Dwarves. Stoneform is overpowered on certain fight, but the other dwarf racial bonuses don’t help a Paladin much (can you say Gun Specialization, yes, I thought you would). In the end, go with the one you like the best.
Boosts
I imagine if you're looking at this guide, you're probably either rolling a Draenei or a Blood Elf as they cannot be boosted in Burning Crusade Classic and must leveled from Level 1. If you're coming to Burning Crusade Classic and you want to roll a Human or Dwarf, I'd recommend boosting instead and using my "Leveling a boosted Paladin in Burning Crusade Classic" (coming soon!), but if you'd rather level those races from Level 1 as well, this guide will work.
What professions are best for your Paladin?
An honest hard working guy like yourself, do you have anything to say about Professions?
Good question. Gather. Gather. Gather. Mine/Skin or Mine/Herb (annoying but doable). Once you get to level 40 or 50 and have some cash, you can start thinking about a Production profession. Any of the productions profession will serve you well.
- Engineering (sweet helms and the best mount in Burning Crusade)
- Blacksmithing (nice BoP stuff)
- Jewelcrafting (make your own gems)
- Leatherworking (drums)
- Alchemy (everybody needs pots)
- Enchanting (and they need enchants)
Levels 1-10
Zones: You are going to be in your starting area for your race. Do all your quests.
Combat: Here is the great secret to Classic leveling. If it's red, it's dead. Quests are a thin narrative cover to hide the fact that it's basically a huge grind from 1 to 60. Yes, do your quests, but don't bypass any green or yellow mob because you don't have a quest for it. Kill it an reap that juicy XP. Green mobs are the best to engage. You'll end the fights with more health which means less healing and less downtime to regain mana.
*Alternatively, you can Seal and Judge Righteousness as your opener, then Seal Crusader for the attack speed bonus while waiting for your Judgement to cooldown. Then Judge Crusader and continue with the Seal/Judge Righteousness pattern. This will actually produce higher DPS but it is less mana efficient.* (submitted by reader Krasagrado of Warsong)
Keep an aura and a blessing up at all times. Your Aura will be Devotion at first, but switch to Retribution when you get it. Your Blessing can stay Might throughout this level range. Purify any poison you get. At level 6 you get your first taste of the bubble.
Gearing: Look for gear with Strength, Stamina, and Intellect. If you find a piece or two with Spell Damage, that's bonus. You'll mostly be wearing quest rewards.
Levels 10-20
Zones: You'll move from your races starting area into a secondary area (Westfall, Loch Modan, Bloodmyst Isles, or Ghostlands). Do the quest from your trainer to learn your resurrection spell. Continue to quest through your starting area. I actually recommend staying in these secondary areas as long as you can on a PVP server. Having an extra level or two is nice when you start venturing into the contested zones which come in the next level range.
Talents: Honors, you are wise beyond expectations, but I have these talent points now. What should I do with them?Well, I'm glad you asked, lad. The tree you seek is Retribution. First 5 points in Benediction, next 2 in Improved Judgements, then 3 in Deflection.
Combat: Combat sequence is essentially the same. Bubble and bandage, or bubble and heal if you get into trouble. Stun and heal works well too. You may want to buff with Blessing of Wisdom instead of Might if you run into mana issues. If you encounter multiple mobs, it's time to Consecrate.
Gearing: Continue looking for Strength, Stamina, and Intellect. A little Agility on your gear is nice as well. In this range you'll run DeadMines which has a couple of decent blue drops (Cookie's mace). Hordeside, you'll be running Ragefire Chasm and Wailing Caverns. Not much of note there.
Levels 20-30
Zones: Redridge and Duskwood. Duskwood is fantastic. You'll have trained Exorcism and Duskwood has a ton of Undead to use it on. For Blood Knights, it's either Ashenvale or Tarren Mill. I always go Ashenvale/StoneTalon/Thousand Needles on my Horde characters. Stockades, Shadowfang Keep, BlackFathom Deeps, and Razorfen Kraul are all options in this range. For Alliance Paladins, your level 20 quest requires a run of Deadmines. For Horde, it requires a run through Ragefire.
Talents: You've just dinged level 20! Congratulations! Put that talent point in Seal of Command. In this range your talent points go into Conviction, Crusade, and either Eye for Eye, or Vindication. I prefer Vindication as it procs more than Eye for Eye.Combat: Combat is the same as before, except that your Seal of choice is Command. Throw an Exorcism on anything that's undead, and Judgement of Justice on any humanoids that like to run at low health. Since you picked up Crusade, try to fight mobs that it affects (Humanoids, Undead, Demons, and Elementals). Be sure to stun your target as often as the cooldown allows and then immediately follow up with a Judgement of Command. Command does double damage to stunned targets. It's also a great time to drop a Consecrate as your enemy (mob or player) is sort stuck there eating tick after tick of Consecrate, and there is nothing they can do about it.
By level 20, you've gotten all the baseline tools you need to heal, DPS or tank an instance. I recommend you try out each "job" several times in this range and the next. It will help you decide what path you which to follow later in your Paladin playing days.
Gearing: Alliance Paladins should stop whatever they are doing and get back to the trainer and pickup the level 20 Paladin quest. Start the quest and make it your top priority to finish it. This quest will yield you your Verigan's Fist (or Blood Tempered Ramsuer for Blood Knights). Verigan's is quite overpowered for its level. Slap a Fiery enchant on that and you're set well into your 30s. You will have this weapon for a while and Fiery is a good bang for buck type of enchant. Most steps are labeled as group quests and require you to kill Elites, but you're a Paladin! All can be done solo save for the Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep steps. Deadmines groups are plentiful, but Shadowfang gropus may pose a bit of a challenge.
Blood Knights don't have quite the sense of urgency to finishing their quest as the 2 hander they get from completing main Ghostlands Quest (Warblade of the Sin'dorei) is comparable to the Blood Tempereed Ramsuer.
Often, a high level Paladin will be willing to aid you with these quests. I've helped quite a few Paladins get their Fist in my playing days, but back when I was leveling, I teamed up with another Paladin. We were both about level 24 and able to duo the Shadowfang Keep part of the quest. Save your long cooldowns like Lay on Hands for when you reach the courtyard.
Levels 30-40
Zones: Start yourself with the quests in eastern Thousand Needles around the Mirage Raceway, then move in Stranglethorn Vale.
If you're on a PVP server, you are perma PVP flagged from here on out. Yes, you will get ganked in Stranglethron. You'll get ganked in nearly any zone you level in on a PVP server. It happens.
If you have a high level main, park them in the zone and get a little revenge. Try to travel in groups to discourage attacks from equal level characters. The level 70s who just want to one shot you, well nothing much to be done about it. If that's how they want to spend their playtime, okay. I've never found it much fun, myself.
The new Quest Hub of Mudsprocket in Dustwallow Marsh is an excellent way to make your way through this range. Ganking still happens but it seems like there is less of it because the area is not well known (at least it wasn't). In addition, its content that was added in Burning Crusade and not in WoW Classic.
In this range you should spend some time in the Scarlet Monastery. There is a mail set that drops in there. Don't go out of your way to collect the whole set, you'll level out of it quickly enough, but if you find a piece or two, pick it up. Herod has his shoulders and there is a nice Axe that drops from him that finally replaced my Verigan's Fist. (Note, my Fist still rests proudly in my Void Storage on Retail.) Remind any warrior that wants Herod's axe that they can get an even better one from their Warrior only quest.
Talents: For talents you are picking up Two Handed Weapon Specialization, and Sanctity Aura. At level 35, you pick up one of the more important talents, Vengeance. Fill that bad boy out.
Combat: Combat remains pretty much the same, expect that you are running Sanctity instead of Retribution Aura.
Gearing: Continue to look for gear with Stamina, Intellect, and Strength. For weapons, you want the highest possible top end damage. DPS is nice but look for the damage range and find the one with the biggest top end number. If you think you might like to go sword and board in next level range look for some pieces with defense. Firey is a good choice on your weapon as every time it crits, you will get a Vengence proc.
Level 40-50
Ding 40. Go to Stormwind, walk out with Mount. Sure beats walking!
Zones: You can wear plate now, but mail will be okay for a couple of levels. Start picking up Plate where you can. You will be in Stranglethorn Vale, Hinterlands, Tanaris, and Feralas.
Run Razorfen Downs. You can pickup a Carapace of Tuten'kash and an Ice Metal Barbute.
In Marauadon, there is a very nice Paladin Shield off the goblin boss. He also drops a nice sword (Inventors Focal Sword), especially if you are Holy. Landslide drops a mace called The Fist of Stone which is great for grinding, and tanking. It has a chance on hit that returns mana and procs fairly often. There is a quest out in Desolace that takes you into the pre-instance part of Maraudon that nets you a pretty nice trinket called Mark of the Chosen. I know it only says a 2% chance, but I found it was up very often.
In Zul'Farrak, Antu'zul drops Sang'thraze the Deflector, and Chief Ukorz Sandscalp drops Big Bad Pauldrons.
Decide your path
Okay, Squire! Decision time. You've picked up some skills and the ability to pick up some talents that make a Sword and Board (Protection) approach just as viable as a 2 hander (Retribution) for leveling. The lack of spell crit, intellect and plus spell damage plate makes Holy a bit of a tough choice in this range. So let's talk about your choices, lad.
Path of the Crusader
This is an extension of what you've been doing. Your main focus is on damage and taking down mobs while adding great utility to a group through your Auras, Blessings, and other buffs.
Talents: You can stick with Ret and 2 hander. Continue filling out the Ret tree. Sanctified Seals, Repentance, Fanaticism make good fill on your way to Crusader Strike at level 50
Combat: This can be very fast or very slow. Your fights depend on if Seal of Command procs, if you crit, etc. Try to fight caster mobs when you can, as their low armor allows you to tear through them quickly.
Gearing: Keep looking for slow two handers with high top end damage. There is a nice one that drops in Uldaman, and the Auction House will sometimes have an Executioner's Cleaver. Nice weapon. Firey remains a good choice for a cheap enchants. Continue looking for Strength, Attack Power, Critical Strike Rating, and Stamina on your gear.
Path of the Avenger
This is a full on switch from Retribution to Protection. This is the path of the Tank, the one who sacrifices his hit points and gear to save his friends.
Talents: Your talents change to Redoubt, Toughness, Kings, Shield Spec, Improved Righteous Fury, Anticipation, Reckoning, Blessing of Sanctuary, Sacred Duty, Holy Shield. From 40 to 50, you pick up Improved Holy Shield, Spell warding, Ardent Defender, and Captain America (Avenger's Shield).
Combat: For combat, you want to look to AoE grind. Make sure you have Blessing of Sanctuary up, Retribution Aura up, and Righteous Fury up (for the 6% damage reduction). Pull at least two or three mobs (preferable melee types if you can). Judge the first one with Wisdom and Seal Righteousness. Judge and reseal every time the cooldown is up. When Redoubt procs (and with multiple beasties hitting on you it will be often) activate Holy Shield. Reckoning will proc often as well giving you 2x the Judgement of Wisdom procs and 2x the Seal of Righteousness procs. Consecrate as your mana regen allows. Start slow with only 2 or 3 of your same level. When you really get it down you can take larger packs. Every time you get an add, you'll be saying "oh, yeah!".
Your DPS is proportional with the number of mobs hitting you. If you are only fighting one mob, you aren't doing much DPS, but 3 or 4, and now you are talking. Watch out for slow hitters too, you want mobs that hit fairly often. And your tanking will be better than it was before, so get out there and lay down the aggro.
Gearing: Look for gear with Stamina, Defense, Parry, Block, and Dodge, and a fast 1 handed weapon. You need as many Seal of Righteousness procs as you can get in this range. Solid white DPS is important as well on your weapon. Something like Hanzo's Sword is recommended. Also, I strongly recommend you put a Shield Spike on your main shield as soon as you can. Mithril Shield spikes are fairly cheap. A Shield Spike can be helpful with threat in this range and it gets you into the mindset of Block = Threat which will serve you well especially with Holy Shield.
I will mention this final path here, but in my opinion it's in the next range that this path becomes more workable.
Path of the Cleric
This is the path of the Priest in Plate, the Healer, the glue that holds every group together. He champions his friends, not by taking the blows, but by curing them, enabling his allies to defeat foes that they never could without his blessing.
Talents: The talent choices are fairly straightforward at the beginning. Divine Intellect, Spiritual Focus, Healing Light, Improved Lay on Hands, Illumination, Divine Favor, Sanctified Light, Improved Blessing of Wisdom, Holy Power, Holy Shock, Light's Grace, and then Holy Guidance, and Divine Illumination.
Combat: Pull with Holy Shock; use Blessing of Wisdom for your blessing. Judge Crusader and go to town. Use a sword and board for melee types and bust you’re two-hander for the clothies. Your lifeline is no longer the green one, but the blue. As long as you have mana, you are nigh unkillable.
Gearing: You want to look for gear with Intellect, Stamina, Spell Damage, Mana per 5 seconds, and Spell Crit Rating. This is why I say that this path doesn’t really open up to you just yet. This gear basically doesn’t exist in this range.
Level 50-58
You’re in the home stretch now. This can be a rough stretch, but Outland is just around the corner.
All Paths:
There are some good drops for all paths from these instances. Earthslag Shoulders, Spiderfang Carapace, Foreman's Head Protector, Entrenching Boots all come from BRD. Plate of the Shaman King drops in LBRS.
Combat: Combat for all Paths stays pretty much the same as in previous ranges. You pickup some new ranks of what should by now be familiar tools. You start to pickup your Greater Blessings in this range. These are 15 minutes rather than 5 minutes. They require a relatively cheap reagent called Symbol of Kings. They stack to 100. Always have 1-2 stacks on you at all times.
Gear: Look for BoE pieces of Lightforge armor and the Aegis of Stormwind on the AH.
Crusader
Talents: Here we are going to pickup Sanctified Judgement, then Improved Devotion Aura. We won't be running Devotion often, but it's a better option than Redoubt. We're just trying to get to the second row.
Gearing: Same stats as before (Melee crit, stamina, Attack Power, Strength and Agility). Green "Of the Beast" may be on the AH.
Avenger
Talents: Talents here are 1 handed spec, and Benediction. You will finish filling out Benediction at level 60.
Cleric
Talents: In this range, we are picking up Blessed Life, and Redobut.
Gearing: +healing, spell crit, some mana per 5, intellect and stamina. You actually start seeing a bit of gear in this range that has those on plate. Green "Of the Physician" "Of Healing" gear may show up on your auction house. Don't be afraid of wearing Shaman healing Mail or Druid healing Leather at this stage. If you have a good tank, you shouldn't be getting hit. As always, be considerate of those classes as they are more limited in the gear they can wear.Level 58-70
Zones: Hellfire Peninsula, Zangarmarsh, Terrorkar Forest, Blade’s Edge Mountains, Shadowmoon Valley, Netherstorm
Crusader
Talents: For talents, we pickup Precision and Guardian’s Favor from Protection, and Improved Sanctity Aura from Ret, and Divine Intellect form Holy.
Combat: At 70, you'll get Avenger's Wrath. It's a nice damage boost on a long cooldown, and makes it so you can't bubble for 1 minute. Use it when you need a big burst. Seal of Blood will replace Seal of Command as your Seal of choice.
Gearing: Melee Crit and AP, Strength, Stamina, and some spell power. You will find drops and quest rewards more in abundance here than in any other range. PVP gear also has a specific Ret set.
Avenger
Talents: Now you pickup Deflection, Improved Judgement, and Precision.
Combat: Combat doesn't change a whole bunch. Seal of Vengence is a decent alternative to Seal of Righteousness for soloing. Really work on your tanking skills, especially holding more than 2 or 3 mobs at a time off your healers and DPS. Tank every instance you can.
Gearing: Work towards 485 defense. In this range you will find abundant Quest Rewards and drops tailored for Paladin tanking.
For end game raiding: 490 def, at least 13k armor, 10k hp, 200 spell damage. It's a little harder for a paladin to get uncrushable in comparison to a warrior, but it's far from impossible (doable in pre-raid blues). Our biggest problem is stamina. We start with a pretty significant health pool deficit. There is a fair bit of warrior/paladin gear crossover in terms of tanking items. Honestly though, you don't really have to worry about building an uber tanking set until you reach 70 and start doing heroics & raids.
Cleric
Talents: Finishing out our tree with Purifying power, then back to Protection for Guardian’s Favor, Precision, Blessing of Kings, Improved Righteous Fury
Combat: Combat remains pretty much the same. You have Avengers Wrath for some additional damage. With the new Healing to Spell Damage conversion, you can solo decently in a full Healing set. Get really well practiced at healing your groups. You will have no trouble finding groups and will even get random tells to heal whatever instance you may want to see.
Gearing: Don't bother with spirit, the 5-second casting rule makes it completely useless for paladins (we don't have a spirit talent like priests do). Focus on stacking +healing and Spell Crit with some mana/5. Int, as always is important too.
Thank you for reading this guide. I hope you find the Paladin class as enjoyable and exciting as I have.
About the author
Ted Atchley is a freelance writer and professional computer programmer. Whether it’s words or code, he’s always writing. Ted’s love for speculative fiction started early on with Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, and the Star Wars movies. This led to reading Marvel comics and eventually losing himself in Asimov’s Apprentice Adept and the world of Krynn (Dragonlance Chronicles).
After blogging on his own for several years, Blizzard Watch (blizzardwatch.com) hired Ted to be a regular columnist in 2016. When the site dropped many of its columns two years later, they retained Ted as a staff writer.
He lives in beautiful Charleston, SC with his wife and children. When not writing, you’ll find him spending time with his family, and cheering on his beloved Carolina Panthers. He’s currently revising his work-in-progress portal fantasy novel before preparing to query.
Ted as a montly newsletter which you can join here. It’s a roundup of links about writing, Star Wars, Marvel, and/or the Panthers with brief commentary from him. Think of it as a kind of ICYMI (In Case You Missed It). Eventually, you’ll see info about his books, and even receive free short stories.
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