Holy Paladin pre-raid BiS list and guide

[Elessa]

This is by no means an in depth guide about the Holy paladin. If you are looking for that please read elitist jerks, or another guide.
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This guide is focusing on Holy light speced paladins.

This is a list of gear, gems, talents and enchants for any Holy paladin that wants to get the very best gear before starting raiding, or that just wants to get some tips on easy to get gear. This list will not list ilvl 264 craftables.


1. The four piece tier nine gearlist
2. The offset gearlist
3. Enchants
4. Gemming
5. Talents


There is nothing wrong with using mail/leather/cloth items, even if it's not your main type of armor. In a raid your armor value should not matter since you won't ever be getting melee'd unless something goes terribly wrong, and if it does it is most likely a wipe anyway.

Some slots will have more than one option if you do not wish to spend money on crafted items, and prefer to get something with emblems or from a boss.


1. The 4pc T9 gearlist LINK TO PROFILE http://www.wowhead.com/?profile=20994281
Use this list if you want to go with the 4pc T9. Personally I would go with the offset list because this bonus is pretty mediocre. Some may argue that it's a strong bonus, but for the stats you need to give up, imo it is not worth it.

HEAD: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=48597
Bought for 50 Emblems of Triumph

NECK: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50196
Drop from Bronjahm in Heroic: The Forge of Souls

SHOULDERS: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=48595
Bought for 30 Emblem of Triumph

CAPE: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40724
Bought for 25 Emblem of Valor

CHEST: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=48599 (you may chose between the chest and the legs to activate 4pc T9)
Bought for 50 Emblem of Triumph
OR http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47598
Crafted with leatherworking.
OR http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50294
Drops from Falric in Heroic: Halls of Reflection

BRACERS: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47575
Crafted with Blacksmithing
OR http://www.wowhead.com/?item=49797
Drops from Devourer of Souls in The Forge of Souls (normal)

GLOVES: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=48598
Bought for 30 Emblem of Triumph

BELT: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45552
Crafted with Blacksmithing
OR http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45828
Bought for 28 Emblem of Conquest
OR http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50314
Drops from Lich King event in Heroic: Halls of Reflection

LEGS: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=48596 (if you did not get the chest, get these)
Bought with 50 Emblem of Triumph
OR http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50229
Drops from Forgemaster Garfrost in Heroic: Pit of Saron

FEET: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45561
Crafted with Blacksmithing
OR http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40745
Bought for 40 Emblem of Valor
OR http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50283
Drops from Scourgelord Tyrannus in Heroic: Pit of Saron

RING 1: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47733
Bought for 35 Emblem of Triumph

RING 2: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50313
Drops from Lich King event in Heroic: The Halls of Reflection
OR http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47732
Bought for 35 Emblem of Triumph

TRINKET 1: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=48724
Bought for 50 Emblem of Triumph

TRINKET 2: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47215
Drops from The Black Knight in Trial of the Champion (normal)

WEAPON: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50210
Drops from Devourer of Souls in Heroic: The Forge of Souls

OFFHAND: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50309
Drops from Lich King event in Heroic: The Halls of Reflection

SHIELD: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=49821
Drops from Scourgelord Tyrannus in Pit of Saron (normal)

LIBRAM: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40705 (use this for raids)
Bought for 15 Emblem of Heroism
OR http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47662 (use this for fights where mana is not an issue)
Bought for 25 Emblem of Triumph.


2. The offset gearlist PROFILE LINK http://www.wowhead.com/?profile=20994287
I personally prefer this set over the other because it has better stats. You lose the T9 bonuses, but it is worth it imo.

HEAD: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47687
Bought for 75 Emblems of Triumph

NECK: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50196
Drop from Bronjahm in Heroic: The Forge of Souls

SHOULDERS: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47702
Bought for 45 Emblem of Triumph

CAPE: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40724
Bought for 25 Emblem of Valor

CHEST: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47598
Crafted with leatherworking.
OR http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50294
Drops from Falric in Heroic: Halls of Reflection

BRACERS: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47575
Crafted with Blacksmithing
OR http://www.wowhead.com/?item=49797
Drops from Devourer of Souls in The Forge of Souls (normal)

GLOVES: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=48598
Bought for 30 Emblem of Triumph

BELT: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45552
Crafted with Blacksmithing
OR http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45828
Bought for 28 Emblem of Conquest
OR http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50314
Drops from Lich King event in Heroic: Halls of Reflection

LEGS: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50229
Drops from Forgemaster Garfrost in Heroic: Pit of Saron

FEET: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45561
Crafted with Blacksmithing
OR http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40745
Bought for 40 Emblem of Valor
OR http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50283
Drops from Scourgelord Tyrannus in Heroic: Pit of Saron

RING 1: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47733
Bought for 35 Emblem of Triumph

RING 2: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50313
Drops from Lich King event in Heroic: The Halls of Reflection
OR http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47732
Bought for 35 Emblem of Triumph

TRINKET 1: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=48724
Bought for 50 Emblem of Triumph

TRINKET 2: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47215
Drops from The Black Knight in Trial of the Champion (normal)

WEAPON: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50210
Drops from Devourer of Souls in Heroic: The Forge of Souls

OFFHAND: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50309
Drops from Lich King event in Heroic: The Halls of Reflection

SHIELD: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=49821
Drops from Scourgelord Tyrannus in Pit of Saron (normal)

LIBRAM: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40705 (use this for raids)
Bought for 15 Emblem of Heroism
OR http://www.wowhead.com/?item=47662 (use this for fights where mana is not an issue)
Bought for 25 Emblem of Triumph.


3. Enchants

Head: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50370
Shoulders: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50336
Cloak: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=39003
Chest: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=44465 or http://www.wowhead.com/?item=38962
Bracers: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=44470 or http://www.wowhead.com/?item=38968
Hands: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=38979
Belt: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=41611 (not an actual enchant, this one adds a gemslot to your belt)
Legs: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=41604 (again, not an actual enchant, but a sort of enchant, made by tailors)
Feet: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=39006 or http://www.wowhead.com/?item=38974
Rings: http://www.wowhead.com/?spell=44636 (only works if you are an enchanter)
Weapon: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=44487 or http://www.wowhead.com/?item=38918
Shield: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=44455

4. Gemming

You want to gem as many http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40123 as possible while keeping your meta activated!

Meta: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=41401
There are three ways to meet the requirement.

1. One http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40175 and one http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40151 in the slots that would give you the best socket bonuses.
2. One http://www.wowhead.com/?item=49110 in the slot that would give you the best socket bonus.
3. One http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40134 in the slot that would give you the best socket bonus.

Once your meta gem requirements are met, just put http://www.wowhead.com/?item=40123 everywhere.

5. Talents
I would recommend you to get dual spec and have one set for when you farm this gear in the heroics, and one set for when you actually raid.

The heroic farming tree: http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?pala...PpaT,RJk,11685
I go into ret for this one as crit is really useful for running heroics, crit is also more mp5, which means less downtime and that you can keep pulling for longer. I also picked up 15% increased movement speed because it really useful as you run alot in dungeons.

The raiding tree: http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?pala...6cxv,RJk,11685
I went into prot because of Divine Sacrifice and Divine Guardian. 20% raidwide sheildwall is awesome for raids, and the 30sec inscrease on Sacred Shield saves some mana.
The points in Improved Lay on Hands, Improved Blessing of wisdom and Blessed Hands are moveable, just move them to whichever talent suits your playstyle/raid setup the best.

[Riek]

There is no such thing as heroic farming tree. I'd take holy/prot any day over holy/ret. 5 lousy % crit isn't worth all the bonuses you can get from prot tree. As for movement speed, as long as you run around front of tank after the tank gets agrro, you wont have any runningissues. Besidse why would youo wanna run faster than everyone else in the group?

[Elessa]

There is no such thing as heroic farming tree. I'd take holy/prot any day over holy/ret. 5 lousy % crit isn't worth all the bonuses you can get from prot tree. As for movement speed, as long as you run around front of tank after the tank gets agrro, you wont have any runningissues. Besidse why would youo wanna run faster than everyone else in the group?

If the group has been damaged and the tnak is running towards another pack, you're going to br left behind if you stop to heal. If you stop to drink you will be left behind.

Also, I don't see the need of Divine Sacrifice in heroics, which is why I went with ret.

[Gorgane]

Hi all. Can someone please tell me what BiS stands for?

[Copain]

Hi all. Can someone please tell me what BiS stands for?

I like how you created an account to Res this topic that didn't need it.

[Pokemaster]

Hi all. Can someone please tell me what BiS stands for?

Best in Slot

[shockpally]

Thank you for taking the time to do this list.

I still prefer a Holy/ret build since i am still running heroics for emblems I PUG as much as possible. A Holy/Ret build still offers several good talents over Holy/Prot since you will usually end up running with people who are still gearing up as well and can use every buff they can get. PoJ is a nice talent since you can use another enchant on your boots and run speed enchants are only 8%. Crusade is a great party buff as well as Imp BoM. Ya ya i know.. so and so class brings such and such but redundancy is never a bad thing and you have those talents built in for when those classes dont show up in your group.

Holy/Prot is fine for raiding. You just dont need it for Heroics or the early Raids.

[Firecrest]

Thank you for taking the time to do this list.

I still prefer a Holy/ret build since i am still running heroics for emblems I PUG as much as possible. A Holy/Ret build still offers several good talents over Holy/Prot since you will usually end up running with people who are still gearing up as well and can use every buff they can get. PoJ is a nice talent since you can use another enchant on your boots and run speed enchants are only 8%. Crusade is a great party buff as well as Imp BoM. Ya ya i know.. so and so class brings such and such but redundancy is never a bad thing and you have those talents built in for when those classes dont show up in your group.

Holy/Prot is fine for raiding. You just dont need it for Heroics or the early Raids.

Seems to me that Holy/Prot would be better. Since you could use Bubble Wall.

[Ryme]

To be honest, the amount of times you need that bubble wall in heroics at this stage is almost zero. I suppose you could make a case for Loken, but even then you're pushing it.

On several bosses I put up judgement of light and end up shocking the boss down.


DISCLAIMER: You absolutely should spec into holy/prot for any kind of semi-serious content

[Calypsà]

Id say go Holy/prot cuz even if you're mainly in heroics, you'll still be doing the occasional raid and being able to bubble wall in a pug will come in handy. Otherwise heroics are at the point where bubble wall shouldnt be necessary, but that doesnt mean someone wont screw up. I dont think speccing one or the other will make or break a heroic run, after all its a heroic.

[Suppaman]

Aren't Leggings of Woven Death BiS?

[Firecrest]

To be honest, the amount of times you need that bubble wall in heroics at this stage is almost zero. I suppose you could make a case for Loken, but even then you're pushing it.

If it's so easy as to not matter, you might as well do it right.

Aren't Leggings of Woven Death BiS?

Yes. However the OP specifically says he's not listing 264 craftables.

[shockpally]

If it's so easy as to not matter, you might as well do it right.

Yes. However the OP specifically says he's not listing 264 craftables.

Lets leave ego out of this.

As far as running Heroics and some of the first 10/25 mans at the general gear level of the common players goes you could make a case for either spec. There is no difference in specing Holy/prot or Holy/Ret when all that matters is your main tree for running those instances.

Holy/Ret offers some better dps support and mana savings in smaller groups where there just isnt any significant amount of party wide damage to even justify use of raid/party wall. What point is there in specing into prot for some talents you just wont use and in raids you will have another healer along to heal the raid specifically.

All paladin still have Hand of Sanc. I would make an argument that raid wall is better suited for the paladin tank or ret to take the workload off of the healer who has to watch everyones health, cleanse, beacon and SS when needed. In raid situations Holy works harder than prot or ret and one less thing to worry about is still one less thing.

When you start running raids that have a large amount of aoe damage then it makes sense to go into prot. Otherwise you are just wasting talent points on things you wont use.

[Lark]

Seems to me that Holy/Prot would be better. Since you could use Bubble Wall.

ya to be totally honest bubble wall, longer duration SS (which is worth a massive amount of mp5 in chain pulling heroics) and a couple other possibilities really help doing heroics; imp devo and divinity are both way better in heroics than they are in early/late game raiding

I enjoyed holy/ret back when illumination was as good as it was, but nowadays its a weird transitional point spec that just doesn't fit into most people's raiding curve.


btw if you're gonna make the argument 'you don't need bubble wall cuz no one takes any damage' then you're downplaying the optimization of all specs. if shit never happens you might as well spec 14/22/18 and talk about how it doesn't matter where your points are.

[Riek]

Lets leave ego out of this.

As far as running Heroics and some of the first 10/25 mans at the general gear level of the common players goes you could make a case for either spec. There is no difference in specing Holy/prot or Holy/Ret when all that matters is your main tree for running those instances.

Holy/Ret offers some better dps support and mana savings in smaller groups where there just isnt any significant amount of party wide damage to even justify use of raid/party wall. What point is there in specing into prot for some talents you just wont use and in raids you will have another healer along to heal the raid specifically.

All paladin still have Hand of Sanc. I would make an argument that raid wall is better suited for the paladin tank or ret to take the workload off of the healer who has to watch everyones health, cleanse, beacon and SS when needed. In raid situations Holy works harder than prot or ret and one less thing to worry about is still one less thing.

When you start running raids that have a large amount of aoe damage then it makes sense to go into prot. Otherwise you are just wasting talent points on things you wont use.

the benefit you get from retribution tree is probably almost useless even in heroics. I'd rather take longer SS duration and more absorption with bubble wall + 5% healing over 5~8% crit u get from retribution tree. For any pve situations.

[Suppaman]

A bit off topic but if the gold is not an issue, should I buy http://www.wowhead.com/item=49891 and http://www.wowhead.com/item=49896 straight away for my just dinged 80 pala?

[tjanson]

If the group has been damaged and the tnak is running towards another pack, you're going to br left behind if you stop to heal. If you stop to drink you will be left behind.

Also, I don't see the need of Divine Sacrifice in heroics, which is why I went with ret.

You could, in that gearset, run around with zero talent points spent and still successfully heal most heroics. Obviously you don't NEED Divine Sacrifice/Divine Guardian. But it's still quite useful.

Aside from the fact that you'll be refreshing Sacred shield twice as much as ret, Divine Guardian is amazingly nice for any of the new heroics. Whether it's idiots standing too close to Ick on a Poison Nova, or the incredible amount of damage an undergeared tank can take during Tyrannus's enrage, or just about any time in Halls of Reflection, Divine Guardian saves groups from wiping.

[Firecrest]

A bit off topic but if the gold is not an issue, should I buy http://www.wowhead.com/item=49891 and http://www.wowhead.com/item=49896 straight away for my just dinged 80 pala?

Both are very solid (Legs are BiS even). It just comes down to whether or not your character is worth the investment. Will you be playing it often or is it a fad? What kind of content do you expect to be running? How much gold do you have and how difficult was it for you to get what you've got? Do you have any lines on cheap mats?

Really it's a personal question no one here can answer.