Paladins have it pretty good class wise, as they can fill almost any role in the game. As a Paladin you can be a Tank, Healer, or Melee DPS, which means the only this we can not provide is ranged DPS. How to best fill those roles though is always an issue. We however are here to the rescue with a guide to all the best Paladin Builds!

Best Holy Paladin Builds

Let’s start with Healing builds as healers are one of the most in demand specs that exist in the game. Better yet, Holy Paladin Healers are some of the best healers in the game with large mana pools, good mana regeneration, and huge heals. Which is the best build though, currently the best is:

A 33/5/3 Holy Paladin Build

33/5/3 Holy Paladin Build -This build focuses on all the big healing abilities and grabs pretty much all the abilities in the Holy tree other than those that increase damage output. It also goes into Protection and Retribution for the talents that provide extra healing or buffs.

Another build related very closely to the above one is the 32/5/4 Holy Paladin Build that takes points out of Blessed Life which grants a point of Holy Power if you take direct damage and out of Protector of the Innocent as well. Enlightened Judgements grants hit based on spirit which is much more important in a raid than gaining holy power from direct hits, as you will not be hit directly very often. Also a point is shifted across to Improved Judgement to increase the range of you judgement abilities which can really boost your mana recovery while still being able to stay at range.

Another build that I really like for PVE and raiding is the 31/3/7 Holy Paladin Build that goes further into the Retribution talent tree to get improved movement speed so that you can reposition quicker in fights.

For PvP as a Holy Paladin it can be benifitial to move points over to talents such as Denounce that prevents targets hit with exorcism from criting for 8 seconds. This can greatly reduce incoming damage in PvP. Then in the Retribution tree moving points to Guardian's Favor to reduce the cooldown on your Hand abilities. This means using a 32/2/7 Holy Paladin PvP Build. The other option is a 32/2/7 Holy Paladin PvP build that gets improved movement speed.

Best Retribution Paladin Builds

Next up on our list to deal with are Retribution Paladin Builds. These are the builds that really let you lay the smack down on the enemy, or other players in PvP. These builds are all about damage output and focus single mindedly on that for all but the PvP builds listed.

A fairly standard build is the 5/2/34 Retribution Paladin Build meant for PVE damage output. This build focuses on the ability to damage your oppenent quickly with lots of damage improving abilities and boosts to crit. However it also adds talents that help keep you alive and mobile while providing some group utility such as Repentance, Acts of Sacrifice, and Guardians Favor.

A 5/2/34 Retribution Paladin Build

Another solid build is a 7/2/31 Retribution Paladin Build for PvE content. It is a little less utilitarion as it drops Acts of Sacrifice and Guardians Favor, but does pick up an Eye for an Eye and Blazing Light. Blazing light is the bigger differance as it incerease the damage from your exorcisms which can add up quickly.

For Paladins looking to tear it up in PvP a good starting point is a 2/7/32 Retribution Paladin PvP Build. It focuses on DPS while also ensuring you can protect yourself, remove movement slowing abilities, have increasesed speed, and stun your opponents as often as possible.

Best Protection Paladin Builds

Lastly, but far from least are what many consider the most important Paladin builds the Paladin Tank builds that focus on the protection tree. While all builds are viable in the game, many players view the tanking builds as the most important since there is usually a drought of tanks in the game of any class. Making it important to have any class possible tank.

The build that is seeing the most use right now is a 0/32/9 Protection Paladin Build that focuses heavily on all the key talents in the Protection tree and then jumps into the Retribution tree to get talents that increase damage/threat and movement speed. Just a few of the key Protection talents are: Divinity which grants 6% bonus healing, Toughness for 10% extra armour, Sanctuary to prevent critical hits against you, and to suffer 10% less damage, and Holy Shield which blocks an additional 20% of damage for 10 seconds.

A 0/31/9 Protection Paladin Build

A very minor variant on the build is a 0/31/10 Protection Paladin Build. This build shifts a point from Guarded from the Light over to Pursuit of Justice for the increased movement speed. While this makes you lose the shielding ability of Guarded from the Light, it often doesn't make a huge difference anyway, and the movement speed plays a factor in many fights.

Yet another option is to vary the build slightly to a 0/34/7 Protection Paladin Build and focus a bit more on AOE threat. This build gets some of that extra AOE threat by getting Improved Consecration and Eye for an Eye. Consecration helps hold things near you when needed, and Eye for an Eye reflects some magic damage which helps keep aggro on casters.

If you want to try PVP while still playing as a tank, there are a few builds out there that have had some success. The most common has been a modified 0/31/10 PvP Protection Paladin Build. This build is similar to the PVE tanking builds but makes sure to grab some additional healing abilities such as Eternal Glory, decreases stun cooldowns with Improved Hammer of Justice, and improved speed from Pursuit of Justice. Another minor build change would be this 0/31/10 PvP Protection Paladin Build that drops some crit chance to gain Eye for an Eye to reflect some magic damage.

Paladin Class Guide | Cataclysm Guides | Patch 4.2 Portal | Class Guides