Lets build a PvP Paladin

[Lowlife]

Underrated and underrepresented on both blue and red servers, the Paladin has sparked my interest as of late having discovered Stinktum's awesome post "In Defense of the Paladin" ( http://www.project1999.org/forums/sh...d.php?t=108428 ).

With the teams server coming following Velious, I figured there would be no better time to discuss a infrequently played class on what was historically, the lowest populated team. The Good team.

So, Paladins of Blue and Red, people who've gone head to head with Paladins in combat, and min maxers and number crunchers, lets discuss the PvP paladin

What races and deitys and stat allocations would you personally suggest on an item loot pvp server?

what are some hallmark paladin clickies, weapons, and quests?

what are the essential paladin tactics, spells, and techniques particular to Paladin pvp?

How moot is the Paladins root and stun line of spells rendered in an environment where your opponents stack resists?

And anything else you want to bring to the table.

[Nytch]

Someone find Gink Pink epic froglok paladin of SZ to reply to this please.

[myxomatosii]

Originally Posted by Nytch [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Someone find Gink Pink epic froglok paladin of SZ to reply to this please.

[arsenalpow]

You need to get your AGI over that magical threshold (75 I think?) before you start dumping points into STA/STR

Dwarves have the best starting stats and they can wear the good cultural shit. Epic is BIS due to the fact that you can still bash with it. Just use blind for pvp. It's cheap to cast and more likely to land than a mana hungry stun.

[kaev]

Originally Posted by arsenalpow [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

You need to get your AGI over that magical threshold (75 I think?) before you start dumping points into STA/STR

Dwarves have the best starting stats and they can wear the good cultural shit. Epic is BIS due to the fact that you can still bash with it. Just use blind for pvp. It's cheap to cast and more likely to land than a mana hungry stun.

FoL & Stun are both MR, and neither has a resist mod that I know of, how can one be more likely to land than the other? (The mana hungry bit is so true tho.)

[dethbringre]

Originally Posted by arsenalpow [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

You need to get your AGI over that magical threshold (75 I think?) before you start dumping points into STA/STR

Dwarves have the best starting stats and they can wear the good cultural shit. Epic is BIS due to the fact that you can still bash with it. Just use blind for pvp. It's cheap to cast and more likely to land than a mana hungry stun.

Dont waste your time on silly AGI at the start. Cat O Nine Tails from Eruds Crossing is +18 AGI proc at lvl 20, puts you well above the 75 threshold and last for 36 mins. Only downside is it procs a bit slow and weighs 8lbs.

Alot of suggestions I see here say go 2hander only, but I wouldnt ignore 1hs+shield, Bash can be VERY handy when fighting casters in pvp and pve.

Also, I alot of talk about Root for pvp being handy and yes it is, however, with the current resist changes on Red, Root will rarely land. My focus in pvp is usually Stuns, Blind, Dispells, and if I have the mana and seem to be landing most of my stuns, I'll try a Root, but its generally gonna resist. The key for me so far has been Stuns + Dispells.

For casters go Sword and Board and watch the caster messages and be ready for a Stun or Bash.

For melee, as a pally your pretty hard to kill to begin with so just back into a corner and start swing that big hitting 2hander, if things go south hit LoH. When fighting an SK he is gonna try to whittle down your HP enough to one shot you with HT. So its a gamble when to use your LoH.

For shamans, necros and the occasional SK who DoTs. Keep up your cures that can really save you.

Sorry I went on a rant, I'm sleepy and a bit high.

[Yumyums Inmahtumtums]

Originally Posted by dethbringre [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Dont waste your time on silly AGI at the start. Cat O Nine Tails from Eruds Crossing is +18 AGI proc at lvl 20, puts you well above the 75 threshold and last for 36 mins. Only downside is it procs a bit slow and weighs 8lbs.

Alot of suggestions I see here say go 2hander only, but I wouldnt ignore 1hs+shield, Bash can be VERY handy when fighting casters in pvp and pve.

Also, I alot of talk about Root for pvp being handy and yes it is, however, with the current resist changes on Red, Root will rarely land. My focus in pvp is usually Stuns, Blind, Dispells, and if I have the mana and seem to be landing most of my stuns, I'll try a Root, but its generally gonna resist. The key for me so far has been Stuns + Dispells.

For casters go Sword and Board and watch the caster messages and be ready for a Stun or Bash.

For melee, as a pally your pretty hard to kill to begin with so just back into a corner and start swing that big hitting 2hander, if things go south hit LoH. When fighting an SK he is gonna try to whittle down your HP enough to one shot you with HT. So its a gamble when to use your LoH.

For shamans, necros and the occasional SK who DoTs. Keep up your cures that can really save you.

Sorry I went on a rant, I'm sleepy and a bit high.

Great rant, great sig, great post.

[pharmakos]

Deity shouldn't matter too much.... dump all your points into stamina

the Deepwater Helm has a clicky that allows you to infinitely heal yourself, mana-free. the Deepwater Boots has an Endure Magic clicky, a buff that Paladins don't get innately. the other Deepwater clickies aren't all that useful supposedly, but i haven't gotten any of them yet myself.

the Paladin Armor of Ro quests are the classic armor quests for Paladins.... equivalent to, say Warrior's Crafted or Bard's Lambent. they are the toughest of the old world armor quests, though... lots of running around for each piece, and they're expensive (each piece requires two 100p platinum bars).

the Bracers of Ro from those quests are probably the best piece for a PVP Paladin... 5MR each bracer... two less MR than the 7MR JC'd bracers, but these pally bracers have 9AC too. all of the pieces from this set other than the Helm and the Boots have a resist of some kind... only the bracers are MR though.

then of course, there's also Soulfire / Fiery Avenger / Fiery Defender.... Fiery Defender is considered by some to be the easiest of the epic quests.

the best paladin tactic, for both PVE and PVP, is jousting. get a nice big slow two handed weapon. I use an Argent Defender, which swings only about once every 5 seconds. so what I do in PVE is root whatever i'm fighting, and only step into melee range for a swing every 5 seconds. turn off auto attack between swings, if you leave it on and accidentally get a "your target is too far away" or "you cannot see your target" message then you have to wait another 5 seconds for another chance to swing. if you're good enough with your timing you can even sit down for meditate ticks between swings. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] the timing can be tricky though.... leave your Inventory window open and watch your mana number to make sure its working.

the same general jousting tactic is also the go to tactic for PVP... its just harder to keep players rooted since they're usually decked out in MR gear.

paladins don't really get that many spells.... i've been deleting all the lower level spells i'm replacing in each spell line as i level up, and i only have 13 spells in my level 46 paladin's spell book. paladins only get 3 stuns (the second one is at level 49). they also, though, get Root and the Lull line, making them more suited for dungeon crawling than the other two tank classes.

and Paladin heals are almost as good as Druid or Shaman heals.... through many level ranges, Paladins use the same healing spell as Druids and Shamans... currently my 46 Paladin is using 270HP Greater Healing, the same that Druids and Shamans will be using until their low 50s. they're still not as good at healing as Druids or Shamans, though, even with the same heal spell.... due to the fact that Druids and Shamans can sit during fights and have a higher Meditate skill cap, and can pump out more Greater Heals more often.

Paladin's two main spells that you would like to use during PVP -- Stun and Root -- both do their save checks vs. Magic Resist, so during PVP combat Paladins basically become slightly weaker warriors that make up for it by being able to heal themselves. i've almost never been able to land either spell during PVP combat.

[Smedy]

Originally Posted by pharmakos [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Deity shouldn't matter too much.... dump all your points into stamina

instantly stop reading here, pharmakos obviously does not play pvp

a paladin should always pump all points into mana, as paladin is one of the few classes that may almost always spend all mana before they die (especially in velious with pally torpor)

more mana = more hp and to cap out wisdom is harder then stamina with wisdom paladin gear.

i'd go dwarf paladin for the pros of being small in pvp (less visisble target) and also getting the barrelroll on that, pump everything in wisdom, make sure you have 75 agi tho, might have to spend 5 points in agi to get that stupid ac bonus

[Versch]

Erudites get a natural boost to MR and look badass in plate.