GideonHawke
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My Paladin Build Ideas - 2006/05/28 22:29
When it comes to the Paladin's role in an Instance Group we are generally the "Off-tank"/"Off-healer". The guy/gal on the link helping out but breaking off to catch anything the aggs on healers/mages/warlocks the moment the pass the line.
Sort of a Short Stop or Safety of WOW. 
What frustrates me with this role is that it is best filled by positioning yourself between the squishies and the bashers. However, if you do that you cannot do melee damage and of course you have no ranged weapon options.
So, two approaches here:
1) suit up in your finest +healing cloth gear and take the role of primary healer until your mana runs down, allowing the main healer to conserve.
2) Jump into the fray, weapon and shield slamming away at the enemy while keeping one eye on the squishies at all times, ready to intercept anything that aggs on them (usually while taking what you are fighting along with you)
Of course there is a third option. Just stand there in the middle and wait. It may be boring, but we all know those spell-slingers will agg at some point, and being there as a defensive wall will almost guarantee their protection. However, there will be some in the party that see this as inaction and might even take offense.
There is no easy answer for Paladins in Instances.
Of course, this is assuming that you have a main healer and a main tank in the group to begin with. When wandering the world, I find myself frequently in the role of the only available tank and the only available healer. This is of course true of soloing as well.
So, in a effort to take the role of "guy friday", and be available to fill whatever role is needed at the time, I have worked out a tri-spec build for myself that seems like it will work out, though I will not know for sure until I reach level 60 (I am level 37 now).
At level 37 the following build has been effective for me in that it gives me the best chance to tank and allows me the best chance to heal while doing so:
Gideon's build at level 37
The goal is to build on the benefits of mana efficiency and defense while adding a touch more offense so that when I reach level 60 my build will look like:
Gideon's Idea for a level 60 build
I have spent alot of time working the talent tree. In then end, when it comes to being that "guy in the middle" in instance runs and the like, or running solo, I find little use for the abilities at the top end of any of the trees when compared to the combination of lower talents I worked out. Of course that is just my opinion. 
Warriors will Tank better, Priests will Heal better, Rogues / Mages / Warlocks / Hunters will do more Damage, but no-one can fill the roll of "stop-gap", "short stop", "safety", "off-tank/healer" better then we can, (though Druids come darn close). 
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Atkins
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Re:My Paladin Build Ideas - 2006/06/01 12:13
I prefer the main healer role. It's nice to heal continuously and not run out of mana, and getting 5 Heal Per Mana and more with good gear means a great deal of healing gets done.
Whether healing as a main or backup, I find stuns a useful tool to control wayward mobs and also mitigate damage on the group.
You have some very solid thinking on this issue. I will say that Seal of Command is fine, but improved Seal of Righteousness is fairly effective as well and lets you get some nice Holy talents for healing. Holy gives you some nice controllable burst damage for PVP as well - Judge Crusader, SOR the enemy until getting a bit low, Judge Righteousness for extra damage, Divine Favor for Holy Shock crit,Hammer of Wrath if at 20% or less, stun, more SOR, Hammer of Wrath again/ Judge Righteousness again - this is what makes Holy Paladins so annoying to the Horde. Whether for healing, tanking (pull or snap aggro), or PVP, I would not want to give up Holy Shock. .
BTW what you say about healing early to let the other healers save mana makes sense, but you will find many Priests and Druids are eager to burn through their mana as quickly as possible so the logic of sharing he load and pacing the heals is not always relevant.
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