Paladin

Race choice after the 26 October changes

Blizzard's 26 October notes set Human Ruthless to 1% crit and replace Dwarf Earth Fury with 1% hit. Hit helps attacks and harmful spells, not healing spells landing on friendly targets. Older critical-damage/healing or weapon-specialisation comparisons are obsolete. Undead remains the Horde option; a simulated Alliance race is not a requirement for the class to work.

How Forever changed the class

Blizzard's Paladin deep dive keeps Seals and Judgements at the centre and gives each spec a clearer job. Blizzard sums up the result as effective tanks, competitive damage and "the strongest single-target healers in the game". The main baseline changes:

• Judgement leaves your Seal active. It has a 10 sec cooldown and 10 yard range, and doesn't trigger the global cooldown, so you Judge every time it is ready (ForeverDB macros).
• Holy Strike is an instant strike for part of your weapon damage plus Holy damage, on a 10 sec cooldown. Every spec has a talent built around it.
• Seal of Fury adds the same Holy damage to every swing whatever your weapon speed, which favours fast weapons. With a shield it also gives small absorbs. Its Judgement taunts from 10 yards, against 5 for a Warrior's Taunt.
• Consecration hits the first four enemies properly and everything else lightly, to match Thunder Clap.
• Lay on Hands is on a 20 min cooldown instead of an hour. Blessings last an hour.
• Salvation is no longer a Blessing. Since the 15 October build it is a separate spell, with Revoke to remove it.
• Seal twisting is gone as a baseline trick and returns as the Retribution capstone Twist of Light.
• Righteous Fury went from 90% to 60% Holy threat on 24 September and back to 90% on 15 October (ForeverDB). Some ForeverDB guide pages still say 60%.

Most of a Paladin's damage now scales with spell power: Seals, Judgement, Holy Strike, Consecration and Retribution Aura. Wowhead says spell power gear competes with Strength even on Retribution, and calls this a divisive change among players. ForeverDB notes that melee and spell hit are a single stat in Forever.

The talent tree is one tree with three sections (ForeverDB). It has 18 new talents. Holy Shock moved to the 21-point slot (level 30), with a 10 sec cooldown. Blizzard says Dual Specialization opens at 40. The client also lists Hammer of the Righteous, a Season of Discovery rune, as a trainer spell at 40.

Choosing a spec

Which spec for levelling

The guides lean towards Retribution. ForeverDB calls it the fastest-killing levelling build and the only one that reaches row 5 by 30. Icy Veins praises its damage, self-healing and escape tools. Even Icy Veins' Holy and Protection levelling plans spend their first 10 or so points in Retribution, for Benediction, Holy Conduit and Pursuit of Justice (cheaper spells and faster movement).

Protection is the safe alternative. ForeverDB says it rarely has to stop, and Wowhead's Level 30 Protection page argues sword and board handles the open world better than Retribution between 20 and 30. Holy levels slowest but can heal dungeons along the way.

Shared advice:

• Use a slow two-hander for Retribution and a shield for Protection.
• Heal yourself with spare Mana instead of eating.
• Mining with Blacksmithing suits the class; Blacksmithing's crafted mail sets rank well at 20 and 30.

Class quests

Wowhead finds no Paladin class quest at 30. The Alliance chain that starts with Return to Delgren (from 22) ends in Cloak of the Divine Storm, a strong cloak for the level. Icy Veins points Alliance players to Verigan's Fist and Horde players to Wolfsbane, weapon quest chains that start at 20. Blizzard says Undead Paladins get their own epic mount quest at 60.

How mixing works

The Paladin talent window is a single tree with Holy, Protection and Retribution sections (ForeverDB). Each row opens with 5 more points in that section. Blizzard's deep dive puts one-point milestone talents at 11, 16, 21 and 31 points. Several first-row and second-row talents are strong for any spec, which is why points drift between sections. The Legacy perk Talented adds up to five points early, but both Wowhead and Icy Veins note it needs Well Rested in the Legacy tree first.

Levelling hybrids the guides suggest

The level 60 plans (projections) all mix sections:

The Shockadin

Blizzard calls Holy Shock (21 points, level 30) a deliberate alternative to Twist of Light. Players who don't want to seal-twist can take a hybrid Holy build instead. Blizzard says two more talents support the playstyle: Divine Precision gives Holy spell hit, and Light's Vigil lets a second Holy Shock follow without a cooldown. Blizzard also cut Champion of the Light's Intellect-to-spell-damage bonus so Holy Paladins going deep into Retribution don't become too strong.

How the guides rate it:

• Wowhead at 20 rated an all-Holy build (Divine Strength, Divine Intellect, Improved Seals) stronger in PvE than the Retribution build, if you stack spell power.
• Wowhead at 30 skips it because Mana runs out, preferring the standard Retribution talents.
• Icy Veins offers an all-Holy level 30 build with Holy Shock as an alternative tab.
• WoWSims keeps a level 60 Holy Shock preset with 23 Holy and 28 Retribution, and picks its rotation automatically from your talents.

The hybrid tax

Blizzard's developers said on episode 2 of the WoW: Forever Podcast that hybrid damage specs should deal about 5% less than Hunters, Mages, Rogues and Warlocks. Paladins are hybrids because they can heal and tank (ForeverDB's write-up). The figure is an average target, not a cap. It can't be checked in the client, and no patch notes mention it. The same episode explains why Retribution didn't get strong self-healing talents: Blizzard is deliberately keeping hybrids from healing well in their damage specs, so groups still need a healer. Every hybrid buff is meant to be balanced by a cut elsewhere.

Dual-role play

Blizzard says Dual Specialization opens at level 40. Before then:

• Retribution can off-tank. Instrument of Law cuts your threat only while Righteous Fury is off, so Blizzard designed it to let a Retribution Paladin switch Righteous Fury on and help tank.
• Levelling builds can fill a second role. ForeverDB says its Protection levelling build can tank a dungeon without a respec, and its Holy melee build can heal one.
• Seal of Fury follows the shield. ForeverDB's macros page has a Seal key that casts Seal of Fury with a shield on and Seal of Righteousness without (see the macros page).
• Holy Shock and Light's Vigil work both ways, damaging an enemy or healing a friend.

Wowhead's Retribution overview is the counterweight. It says tanking or healing well means changing your talents, so a damage build only fills in for short spells.

Healing and cleansing

Holy Light, Shift for Flash of Light (ForeverDB): heals your mouseover, friendly target or yourself with Holy Light, or with Flash of Light while Shift is held. Flash of Light comes at 20.

#showtooltip
/cast [mod:shift,@mouseover,help,nodead][mod:shift,help,nodead][mod:shift,@player] Flash of Light; [@mouseover,help,nodead][help,nodead][@player] Holy Light

Mouseover Purify (Wowhead): removes poisons and diseases from the friend under your cursor, or your target.

/cast [@mouseover, help,nodead] [] purify

Mouseover Cleanse (Kami Labs): the same pattern for Cleanse, which replaces Purify at 42 and also removes magic.

#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover,help,nodead][help,nodead][@player] Cleanse

Lay on Hands, Alt for yourself (ForeverDB): puts Lay on Hands on your mouseover or target, or always on you with Alt. It drains your Mana, so keep it for emergencies.

#showtooltip Lay on Hands
/cast [mod:alt,@player][@mouseover,help,nodead][help,nodead][@player] Lay on Hands

Holy Shock on friend or foe, Shift for Light's Vigil (ForeverDB): Holy Shock heals or hurts whoever you point at. Shift places Light's Vigil (level 40) first. Holy Shock is a level 30 talent.

#showtooltip
/cast [mod:shift,@mouseover,exists,nodead][mod:shift] Light's Vigil; [@mouseover,help,nodead][@mouseover,harm,nodead][] Holy Shock

Mouseover Redemption (Kami Labs): resurrects the dead player under your cursor without clicking the body.

#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover,dead][target=targettarget,dead] Redemption

Blessings

Might, Wisdom or Kings on one key (ForeverDB): Might by default, Wisdom with Shift and Kings with Ctrl, on your mouseover or yourself. Kings comes at 20.

#showtooltip
/cast [mod:shift,@mouseover,help,nodead][mod:shift,@player] Blessing of Wisdom; [mod:ctrl,@mouseover,help,nodead][mod:ctrl,@player] Blessing of Kings; [@mouseover,help,nodead][@player] Blessing of Might

Mouseover Blessing of Freedom (Kami Labs): frees the friend under your cursor, your target or you from slows and roots.

#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover,help,nodead][help,nodead][@player] Blessing of Freedom

Seals, Judgement and damage

Seal that follows your shield (ForeverDB): casts Seal of Fury with a shield equipped and Seal of Righteousness without one.

#showtooltip
/cast [equipped:Shields] Seal of Fury; Seal of Righteousness

Holy Strike with Judgement (ForeverDB): starts swinging, Judges if ready, and Holy Strikes. Hold Shift to save Judgement.

#showtooltip Holy Strike
/startattack
/cast [nomod:shift] Judgement
/cast Holy Strike

Tank taunt: mouseover Judgement, Shift for Swift Judgement (ForeverDB): with Seal of Fury up, Judges the enemy under your cursor to taunt it. Shift resets the cooldown first for a second taunt (Swift Judgement is a level 25 talent).

#showtooltip Judgement
/cast [mod:shift] Swift Judgement
/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][] Judgement

Repentance and Judgement (Icy Veins): incapacitates the target and Judges it in the same press. Icy Veins says the Judgement doesn't break the incapacitate and gains Seal of Command's bonus against incapacitated targets.

#showtooltip
/cast Repentance
/cast Judgement

Exorcism (Kami Labs): Exorcism on your hostile target. It only works on Undead and Demons.

#showtooltip
/cast [harm][@target] Exorcism

Hammer of Wrath (Kami Labs): the execute spell for low-health enemies, trained at 44.

#showtooltip
/cast [harm][@target] Hammer of Wrath

Stuns and cooldowns

Hammer of Justice on focus, mouseover or target (ForeverDB): stops your own cast, then stuns your focus, mouseover or target. The stun stops a cast only when the enemy is susceptible; it is not a conventional interrupt against stun-immune bosses.

#showtooltip Hammer of Justice
/stopcasting
/cast [@focus,harm,nodead][@mouseover,harm,nodead][] Hammer of Justice

Both trinkets (Kami Labs): fires both trinkets' on-use effects on one key.

/use 13
/use 14

Where the guides differ

• Healing ranks: Kami Labs and Wowhead recommend leaving ranks off so bars stay current. ForeverDB adds a deliberately ranked Holy Light key, because rank 2 costs a fraction of your top rank for small top-ups. Both can be right: unranked for damage, a ranked key for cheap heals.
• Lay on Hands: Kami Labs describes a full heal. ForeverDB's client tooltip heals for your maximum health and drains all your Mana. In practice that is a full heal on most targets, but plan to drink afterwards.
• Repentance and Judgement: Icy Veins' claim that the Judgement doesn't break Repentance comes from beta play and is worth checking at launch.