Class Guide

PALADIN

Paladin Lore

Paladins are the virtuous defenders of the weak and tireless enemies of the undead. The original Paladin order, "The Silver Hand" was formed in the Second War and lasted until the time of the Plague. As Paladins were immune to the Plague (and indeed all diseases), many members of the order survived the initial push of the Scourge. Unfortunately, the corrupted Arthas killed many paladins upon his return leaving only a scattered few. Following the invasion of the Scourge, many of the order's paladins joined a zealous group of followers of the Light known as the Scarlet Crusade . After leaving the Crusade, some paladins decided to join the Argent Dawn .

Others fled south, to the Kingdom of Stormwind. The Paladin Order, still referring to themselves as the Order of the Silver Hand, now thrives under their new leadership at the Cathedral of Light in Stormwind City . Over time, the followers of the Holy Light spread their philosophy to the Dwarves of Ironforge who soon adopted the tenets of the order as well.

The Blood Elves learned the powers of the Light by performing experiments on a Naaru (a powerful being of Light) they had captured in Tempest Keep. Lady Liadrin, a former priestess, had recently renounced her vows, for she felt the Light had abandoned her people. She volunteered to be the first to bend the stolen powers to her will. With her decision a new order was born: the Blood Knights. These renegade paladins are able to harness the sacred powers of the Alliance's noblest heroes.

Gameplay

The Paladin is a hybrid melee fighter. Paladins use an assortment of spells, auras, blessings and seals to aid themselves and/or others. Paladins also have powerful offensive spells against undead and demons, as well as several defensive abilities including a shield that makes the Paladin immune to damage for a given amount of time, also known as a bubble.

The Paladin was previously only available to the Human and the Dwarf races of the Alliance. However, the newly released expansion, The Burning Crusade , have brought some significant changes to the paladin class composition. Paladins are now available to both the Draenei and Blood Elf races. Horde players are now able to create paladin for the first time with the introduction of the Blood Elves. The paladin will also be introduced to many new spells to master after the release of the Burning Crusade.

While paladins have offensive abilities against Undead characters, these abilities do not affect the "undead" Horde race (rather they are "The Forsaken" and are thus considered humanoid in the context of gameplay mechanics).

The paladin is able to heal others, magically augment themselves and their allies, and sustain large amounts of damage from enemies. Like the Warlock, paladins have a quest in order to obtain a free mount at level 40.

The paladin talent trees are: Holy (which focuses on spell casting, especially healing), Protection (survivability and tanking) and Retribution (which focuses on melee oriented combat).

The weapons that a paladin can learn how to use are: Swords (one-hand and two-hand), Maces (one-hand and two-hand), Axes (one-hand and two-hand), and Polearms.

Paladins do not have ranged-weapon abilities and cannot use guns, bows, or crossbows. However, the paladin can use talent points to learn magical range attack powers. In the Holy tree, Holy Shock can be learned with 31 talent points. (Used on a friendly target, Holy Shock can also be used to cast a small instant heal). Recent patches to the game also introduced the protection talent Avenger's Shield, which functions like a Holy version of the Shaman's Chain Lightning spell with an added dazing effect.

Paladins can wear cloth, leather and mail armor. They can also use plate armor after reaching level 40.

Paladins also have an additional slot on their Paper-Doll menu. The "Relic" slot holds special items called "Librams". This additional item provides a passive bonus to already existing abilities that the Paladin has. For instance, the "Libram of Fervor" increases the attack power bonus of Seal of the Crusader by 48, and the Holy Damage bonus of Judgment of the Crusader by 33.