Monday, June 25, 2007

Paladin Instance Guide







As a Paladin

* At the beginning of the Raid/Group, set a macro to use Divine Intervention:

/target [Party Member Name]
/s <<< Casting Divine Intervention on %t >>>
/cast Divine Intervention


If the leader announces a wipe is going to occur, cast Divine Intervention. You must weigh whether or not the spell is worth the effort into the instance thus far, as the cool down is 1 hour on the spell. Discuss at the start of the raid who you have targeted and what Divine Intervention does. Target someone who can resurrect, and who will be safe from mobs (they are out of combat and cannot be attacked until the spell wears off, but cannot move either). The targeted person can begin to res people after the mobs have dropped aggro.
MAKE SURE you bring reagents for the spell!

* Watch the healer's life bar. Casting a Holy Light on them can be an effective way to draw aggro away from them, especially if the Main Tank has fallen or can't make it to the healer in time, but Blessing of Protection is a better choice when available.
* Use your healing if the main healer(s) can't keep up with all the healing required. It's helpful to set a macro to notify when you're healing someone. Keep an eye on the main healer's mana bar so you know when they're running short.

* Cleanse disease, poison, and magic debuffs. Some fear affects are magic and can be Cleansed.

* Buff Party Members. Blessings can be a pain to manage because of their limited timer, but they are beneficial. Be sure to coordinate with other Paladins for strengths of buffs (buffs don't stack) and to give multiple types of buffs to party members.
o Recast your Blessings often - do not wait for them to expire. However, casting them in combat can draw aggro, so be careful.
o Buffs for Party Members:
There are fairly standard buffs for different classes, depending on their roles in the group. However, everyone knows their own character best, so if someone asks for a particular buff, it's probably best to be accommodating (within reason).
+ By role
# Tank or Offtank: Blessing of Light, Blessing of Sanctuary. They need healing and damage mitigation.
# Healers, DPSers: Blessing of Salvation. This helps keep aggro off them.
+ By class
# Warriors/Rogues/feral Druids: Blessing of Might
# Paladins: Blessing of Wisdom, Blessing of Might
# Everyone else: Blessing of Wisdom
+ Blessing of Salvation is the most effective blessing currently in game and unless your group manages aggro spectacularly (ie a non-PUG) then everyone in the group except the tanks and (most) paladins should expect to have this blessing cast on them.
+ Blessing of Kings is useful on anyone, but when you're limited to only one or two blessings in a group, there are often better choices.
+ If you've got spare paladins, Blessing of Light is marginally useful on anyone, since they might need healing.
+ As of Patch 2.0.3 Blessing of Might affects ranged attack power, so it is useful for hunters.

* Use auras effectively. If the primary source of damage is physical, use Devotion Aura. If the instance is fiery, use Fire Resistance. If there are more than one paladin in the party, coordinate auras and ask who has improved talents. They don't stack.

* In AoE Nuke sessions, it's effective to combo Righteous Fury with Consecration while the Nuker takes out the group. The holy damage from Consecration can draw aggro away from the mage and to you. A Sanctity Aura can assist with this.

* Know how to use your seals and judgements.
o Judgement of Justice is one of the best root spells in all of WoW, it will stop any target from running when they get low on health, and when they have already started running, they will come back. However, it will not stop them from running for other reasons, such as after getting off a Frost Nova. Also, it's function is scheduled to change with the expansion. It is useful in PvP as it now prevents moving faster than 100% on player characters.
o Judgement of Wisdom is extremely useful during long fights, as it will help the casters regain mana.
o Judgement of Light is a useful way to heal the tank without drawing aggro. It can also be used to heal otherwise non-healable NPCs, if they're in melee combat.
o Judgement of the Crusader increases holy damage and is stackable with the Sanctity Aura (also stackable with the Draenei's racial ability as well when expansion comes out).

Working with a Paladin

* Ask for Blessings if the paladin is not diligent in giving them out. They require very little mana, and while they last only 5 minutes, they do benefit. Remind the Paladin between battles to reapply blessings, if they don't remember on their own. Please however do not demand blessings or changes to applied blessings.

* If the paladin has recently been resurrected, ask him to put up his aura if he has failed to do so. And if you want a specific aura, request that.

* Ask for Cleanse if you need one. It's hard to keep track of lots of people's buffs/debuffs.

Tips

* If you are going to resurrect someone resurrect another rezzing class if one is in your group. This is will speed up the process, and less people will be left waiting.

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