Class Overview for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich King Wrath of the Lich King is when Holy Paladins really come into their own, becoming a meta-defining powerhouse of a spec that excels in both PvE and PvP. In original Wrath of the Lich King, Paladins underwent a major overhaul of their systems to add a little more complexity and depth to each of the specs, and Holy Paladin is one of the biggest recipients of a "buff" in that regard. Though a lot of the spells function similarly to the TBC counterparts, additions of some maintenance buffs and an overall increased skill ceiling means that skill expression is at the forefront of this spec in WotLK. As a result, it means Holy Paladins are a core staple of PvE healing rosters, and a meta-defining S-tier healer in PvP. It will be virtually impossible to find a raid roster without a Holy Paladin and in 25-mans, even 2 are not going to be an uncommon sight. Suffice it to say, Holy Paladins are in a great spot in Wrath Classic and truly do well whether it's in dungeons, raids, battlegrounds, and Arenas. Class Changes for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich King The Paladin class received a major overhaul in Wrath of the Lich King, mostly to streamline play and broaden its skill expression in some missing avenues. Despite the major removal of downranking and another nerf to Illumination, Holy Paladin in Wrath Classic is one of the specs that is affected the least from mana problems as it has a slew of powerful new ways to manage and regain it. Additionally, through Beacon of Light Holy Paladins now gain a tremendous amount of flexibility and additional throughput that was lacking in the past. Class Changes for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich King The Paladin class received a major overhaul in Wrath of the Lich King, mostly to streamline play and broaden its skill expression in some missing avenues. Despite the major removal of downranking and another nerf to Illumination, Holy Paladin in Wrath Classic is one of the specs that is affected the least from mana problems as it has a slew of powerful new ways to manage and regain it. Additionally, through Beacon of Light Holy Paladins now gain a tremendous amount of flexibility and additional throughput that was lacking in the past. Changes to existing abilities & talents Avenging Wrath—Now increases healing caused by 20% for 20 seconds. This is great for high damage phases or when playing catch-up. Forbearance—The duration has doubled to 120 seconds up from 60 seconds. Divine Protection—Now a 50% damage reduction cooldown. Seal of Wisdom—Changed from a fixed amount to a percentage. Holy Shock—Now a 6 second cooldown, down from 15. Illumination—Reduced to 30% mana return, down from 60%. Spiritual Attunement—Removed as a baseline passive and changed to a deep Protection talent. Blessing of Kings—No longer a Protection talent but a baseline spell for all Paladins. Lay on Hands—No longer costs mana. Certain utility Blessings have been changed into "Hand" spells, which means you will no longer have to re-Bless targets after you use them. The "new" Hand spells are Hand of Protection, Hand of Freedom, Hand of Sacrifice, and Hand of Salvation. Downranking spells is no longer a good idea as every spell costs a percentage of mana regardless of spell rank, rather than a fixed amount. Seals are no longer a 30 second temporary buff that get consumed by Judgement, and instead are 30 minute enhancements which give Judgements additional effects. Judgement has been broken up into three spells: Judgement of Wisdom, Judgement of Light, and Judgement of Justice. For PvE you will be primarily using Light and Wisdom. As you can see from this list, the Paladin class received a major overhaul in Wrath of the Lich King, generally in terms of quality of life buffs as well as direct buffs to specific abilities. Despite the major removal of downranking and another nerf to Illumination, Holy Paladin in Wrath Classic is one of the specs that is affected the least from mana problems as it has a slew of powerful new ways to manage and regain it. New abilities & talents Beacon of Light—As with most specs' WotLK capstone talents, this is a major play defining ability. You'll change your preferred heal target entirely on most fights to play around Beacon.. Divine Plea—This is THE mana regeneration ability for Holy Paladin in WotLK and the main thing you'll be playing around all the time to manage mana now, instead of downranking. Sacred Shield—By far your most efficient heal, this essentially gives tanks a constant Power Word: Shield-style effect for a whole minute. Divine Sacrifice/ Divine Guardian—One of the only true raid cooldowns available in WotLK, this is extremely flexible and a powerfully unique cooldown to Paladins. Aura Mastery—Increases your active aura's effect by 100%. For example, Frost Resistance Aura would give 260 Frost resistance for 6 seconds before going back down to the original 130. A little more niche, but still a good "free" raid cooldown at times. Infusion of Light—This significantly helps Holy Paladin mobility when healing and makes Holy Shock even nicer when you do have to use it. Judgements of the Pure—A major free 15% haste buff that you'll keep up at all times. The playstyle of Holy Paladin in Wrath Classic changes rather dramatically from TBC; the biggest change is that it essentially adds several buffs to manage, namely Beacon of Light, Sacred Shield, and Judgements of the Pure. After that, it's the same gameplay as always - but with an emphasis on active mana management via Divine Plea and Seal of Wisdom. While downranking may have been removed, this "active" decisionmaking component to Holy Paladin mana regeneration means that there's still a large skill ceiling to managing mana in WotLK. Class Viability for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich King It's no secret that Holy Paladins are the strongest healer in Wrath of the Lich King, and a variety of new Classic discoveries and optimized metas pushes it even more into the spotlight. The spec excels in both PvP and PvE, considered top tier and meta-defining in both avenues. In PvE, the spec brings the most consistent, powerful tank healing, while also bringing a bevy of unique raid cooldowns that other healers lack. In PvP, it's an extremely resilient healer that's nigh-impossible to kill, while also nearly impossible to make run OOM while they pump incredible healing output. Aside from their raw healing, Holy Paladins bring the usual utility they're known for. Blessings are mostly the same as they were in WotLK; there's three major changes made to the list. The first is that Blessing of Kings was made baseline to all Paladins and no longer as a talent, while the second is that Blessing of Salvation as you knew it is no more - instead, tanks all got a built-in increased threat modifier. This means that there are only three raid Blessings to worry about in practice, Blessing of Kings, Blessing of Wisdom, and Blessing of Might. Protection Paladins additionally spec into Blessing of Sanctuary, but its value is rather niche as the increased stats don't stack with Kings. Some of the utility Blessings were changed into a category of spells called "Hands", which no longer overwrite Blessings. These are Hand of Freedom, Hand of Protection, Hand of Sacrifice, and Hand of Salvation, which mostly all work the same as they did in the past but now you can cast them a lot more freely and no longer have to worry about re-Blessing targets. Due to this and the raid utility they bring with their other cooldowns, Holy Paladins will be extremely high in demand in Wrath of the Lich King Classic, and a good one will stand head and shoulders over an average one. Class Mechanics for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich King Healing The primary heals you'll be using throughout WotLK are still the same three you've known throughout TBC, of Holy Shock, Flash of Light, and Holy Light. However, there are a few buffs to manage that significantly increase the effectiveness of these heals. For those new to Holy Paladin, Holy Light is your main staple heal that casts somewhat slowly and heals for a lot, while also costing a fair bit of mana. Flash of Light is your cheap, fast heal that heals for very little but can be used during low damage phases or to conserve mana. Lastly, Holy Shock sees a major buff in WotLK in both cooldown and healing done, making it an excellent heal to use when you're on the move or need to heal someone instantly. Crits from Holy Shock give you the Infusion of Light effect, causing your next Flash of Light to become instant or your next Holy Light to have a 20% increased crit chance. While these are your main heals, you have two key buffs to maintain: Beacon of Light and Judgements of the Pure. At level 80, you will also gain Sacred Shield to maintain. All three of these buffs last 1 minute, so refreshing them is very lenient, though it's important to keep in mind the high mana cost of Beacon of Light. Beacon of Light allows you to heal other targets than your Beacon (who will generally be the tank), meaning Holy Paladin finally has some form of "AoE" healing. Judgements of the Pure gives you a whopping 15% Haste for free, and Sacred Shield is a very powerful heal that will constantly shield a tank it's on. When starting a fight, you will want to precast Beacon of Light and Sacred Shield on a target, ideally the main tank or a similar target who will be taking large amounts of consistent damage throughout the fight. On pull, you will want to cast one of your Judgements to gain the Judgements of the Pure buff. Afterwards, you will launch into your regular healing spells as normal; gauge the situation and your mana to see if Holy Light is good to cast. Lastly, at level 71, you will unlock Divine Plea, which adds another level of complexity as you'll need to constantly plan ahead and watch your mana and the cooldown to manage your throughput and mana consumption accordingly. Healing Effects and Useful Cooldowns One of the changes with Wrath Classic is that Avenging Wrath grants an increase to the Holy Paladins healing by 20% for 20 seconds on a 3 minute cooldown. This is a helpful cooldown to manage around high damage phases when extra healing needs to happen. Divine Illumination remains a strong cooldown to help with mana consumption, reducing the mana cost of all spells by 50% for 15 seconds with a 3 minute cooldown. Divine Plea is an amazing cooldown, returning 25% of your total mana over 15 seconds with the caveat of your healing output reduced by 50% while it is active. This is best saved during lower damage phases and will vary based on fights. Seal of Wisdom coupled with Glyph of Seal of Wisdom reduces the cost of your healing spells by 5% so long as your seal is active. Defensive Cooldowns Holy Paladins have always been known for strong buffs and defensive cooldowns. There is no shortage in Wrath Classic as this continues to be the trend. Divine Guardian (the improved version of Divine Sacrifice) is an amazing raid cooldown, reducing damage taken by 20% for all party and raid members within 30 yards. This is incredibly useful in high damage AoE phases or if the tank needs a little extra survivability help. This also augments your Sacred Shield, increasing its duration from 30 seconds to 1 minute and increasing the amount absorbed by 20%. Divine Shield, also known as bubble, is your immunity spell. Using this to survive a mechanic or ignore specific dangers to safely heal your raid is a great cooldown to have in your back pocket. Divine Protection is another handy damage reduction ability for the Holy Paladin, reducing all damage taken by 50% for 12 seconds, though it is important to note the limitations with Forbearance, being unable to have another immunity ability used for 2 minutes as well as being unable to use Avenging Wrath for 30 seconds either before or after these defensive cooldowns and vice versa. Aura Mastery is an amazing 6 second buff to your auras, increasing their effectiveness by 100%. For example, Frost Resistance Aura would give 260 Frost resistance for 6 seconds before going back down to the original 130. Hands Hands are helpful buffs that can be used for varying situations, but only one Hand per paladin per player may be active at a time. Hand of Freedom: replaces Blessing of Freedom. Grants immunity to movement impairing effects for 10 seconds (up to 14 seconds when talented with Guardian's Favor). Hand of Protection: replaces Blessing of Protection. Gives a targeted ally member immunity from physical attacks for 10 seconds with a 5 minute cooldown (reduced to a 3 minute cooldown when talented with Guardian's Favor). Hand of Sacrifice: replaces Blessing of Sacrifice. When placed on a party of raid member, this Hands transfers 30% damage taken to the Paladin, lasting either 12 seconds or until the caster has transferred 100% of their maximum health. Hand of Salvation replaces Blessing of Salvation. When placed on a party or raid member, reduces their total threat by 2% every 1 second for 10 seconds. Strengths & Weaknesses for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich King Strengths Extremely strong tank healer with added area of effect healing through Beacon of Light and Glyph of Holy Light A large amount of buffs and unique defensive cooldowns, like Divine Guardian and Hand of Salvation High demand class which will be sought after for the entire expansion Weaknesses Lack of mobility Not a very large healing kit, with Holy Light being the main focus Because of the strength of not just the Holy spec but the Paladin class a whole, there will be a lot of Paladins Human is the clear winner for PvP for Alliance, but for PvE, it's much fuzzier and all three options are viable; in general we advise picking whichever one you like the appearances of the most. Horde only has one option for Paladin, but its racial is quite powerful for Holy. The following section has a few things to consider if trying to decide on an Alliance race. Alliance For Alliance, the decision is between Human, Dwarf, and Draenei. Humans have Will to Survive which is a PvP trinket without taking up a slot; it is very useful having it as an option to get out of a potentially threatening situation. It's essentially considered PvP BiS, as this lets you wear a second, more powerful trinket instead of the PvP trinket in that slot. With Wrath of the Lich King, Perception becomes a passive rather than an active and provides a small edge against Rogues and Feral Druids, though this is fairly minor as neither of these specs are particularly worrying to Holy Paladin. Due to Paladins not having any talents to regenerate mana in combat, The Human Spirit effectively does nothing. Diplomacy can be helpful when first getting reputations up, but it will have a falling off naturally. Lastly, Sword Specialization and Mace Specialization are surprisingly useful as Holy Paladins want to melee in Wrath of the Lich King Classic. This slightly increases the chances to hit when in melee range to try and get Seal of Wisdom procs. The racials that Dwarves have that concern Holy Paladin in Wrath of the Lich King Classic are Frost Resistance, Stoneform, and Mace Specialization. Due to the frozen setting of WotLK, Frost Resistance is surprisingly relevant quite often, though a very minor benefit. Stoneform provides a unique Bleed removal that normally doesn't exist, as well as an armor buff, but this is of very little use to Holy Paladins. Mace Specialization is a slightly improved version of the Human racial, and as maces tend to be healing weapons, this is generally a slightly better version of the Human racials. The primary benefit of Draenei is Heroic Presence which is a great party-wide buff granting 1% melee and spell hit. This is fairly decent as a support class, though again quite minor. Unfortunately, Gift of the Naaru does not transfer through Beacon of Light as well as having a very weak healing coefficient; the only boon is that it's off the GCD, meaning that it's effectively free, but basically irrelevant healing. Gemcutting is a minor boon for those that decide to go Jewelcrafting, which will likely be a majority of Paladins. Horde For Horde, the only option is to be a Blood Elf. Arcane Torrent is your only real relevant extra ability, but an AoE silence is a utility that no other class shares and is a major boon to the Paladin class, which has no interrupts or silences otherwise. It also regenerates 6% of your MAXIMUM mana when used and is off the GCD, meaning it returns a surprisingly significant amount of mana for Holy Paladin especially in later tiers. Best Professions for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich King Engineering One of the Paladin class's biggest weaknesses in Wrath of the Lich King is a lack of on-demand mobility, and that's the biggest thing that Engineering shores up for every spec via the Nitro Boosts boot enchant. While on occasion you will prefer a consistent amount of movespeed instead, this enchant on your primary pair of boots is an invaluable option that can essentially be considered as gaining a wholly new ability, an effect that no other profession offers. That's not where the bonuses stop. Hyperspeed Accelerators is your go-to glove enchant and acts as a mini-healing cooldown that will come in handy constantly. Lastly, Engineering has its usual bevy of bombs, with Global Thermal Sapper Charge, Saronite Bomb, and Arcane Bomb. Jewelcrafting Jewelcrafting's boons are twofold: first, only a few professions offer bonuses to Intellect and/or Haste, and Jewelcrafting is one of them. You'll be able to replace three of your regular gems with Brilliant Dragon's Eye or Quick Dragon's Eye, which is a significant buff over the standard gems. Secondly, you will get a very cheap, very powerful trinket in Figurine - Sapphire Owl. Despite the low item level and rather unassuming stats of the item, this trinket is deceptively powerful and essentially makes it into your regular rotation of trinkets from hitting 80 all the way up to Trial of the Crusader in T9 (or even through T9 if you're unlucky with a trinket drop in T8). Without this trinket, you are significantly more hampered for options in the trinket slots in WotLK, especially if you do not have the gold to purchase Darkmoon Card: Greatness. In Wrath of the Lich King Classic, Holy Paladins gain a lot of power and utility from their talents but in return, the spec becomes a lot more inflexible as Divine Guardian requires a deep Prot subspec and nothing really compares to the power of this raid cooldown (which also simultaneously buffs your best heal!). Similarly, while all of the glyphs are very powerful, only one flex slot exists as two glyphs are just way stronger than everything else. That being said, having more than 1 Holy Paladin in your raid opens up some spec options that let you get more flexibility and utility, particularly through your Hands and Auras. This is the standard talent build that you'll generally run for all PvE content as a Holy Paladin. It offers the best supporting talents as well as major raid utility/DPS bonuses through Aura Mastery, Improved Blessing of Wisdom, Divine Sacrifice/Divine Guardian, and Improved Devotion Aura. However, do note that if you are running another two or more Holy Paladins in your raid, only one needs to be running Improved Blessing of Wisdom or Improved Devotion Aura as none of these benefits overlap. However, they should still all run Divine Guardian. The two points in Improved Blessing of Wisdom can be moved into any mix of 2/2 Improved Lay on Hands, Blessed Hands, or Improved Concentration Aura. The three points in Improved Devotion Aura can be moved into Benediction or any of the above. You will always want to run Glyph of Holy Light and Glyph of Seal of Wisdom. The third slot is flexible; Glyph of Beacon of Light and Glyph of Divinity are both okay, generally favoring Glyph of Beacon of Light as Glyph of Divinity's full value requires you to use Lay on Hands on yourself for mana (giving up an important clutch heal) and ideally have 2/2 Improved Lay on Hands. If you aren't making efficient use of either glyph, such as on a fight where you have to swap Beacon of Light a lot, you could use Glyph of Flash of Light. Holy Paladin has a strange exception with minor glyphs, which normally are meant to be QoL or noncombat additions. Glyph of Lay on Hands is so powerful that it is essentially mandatory, while Glyph of Sense Undead is a small but essentially completely free benefit against a significant portion of raid encounters in WotLK, particularly in Naxxramas, Trial of the Crusader, and Icecrown Citadel. Talents for Holy Paladin Healers in Wrath of the Lich King Holy Tree Talents Beacon of Light The defining WotLK talent for Holy Paladins. Note that it only transfers Holy Light, Flash of Light, and Holy Shock direct healing only; that is to say, healing from Glyph of Holy Light or the HoT healing from FoL Infusion of Light does not transfer. Improved Blessing of Wisdom This is one of your primary non-healing related utility talents that you need to progress down the tree, with priority over the other utility talents in the same area. The main reason it's the default is because it gives the highest raid DPS within the 3 other talents that compete with it. Improved Lay on Hands Just like in TBC, the damage reduction from this talent is extremely good on tanks. Due to the minor glyph affecting the cooldown as well, 2 points in this talent drops Lay on Hands's cooldown to 11 minutes. That being said, the long cooldown even after 2 points makes this talent a nice treat if you have it but not at all necessary to prioritize. Blessed Hands This talent affects Hand of Sacrifice ADDITIVELY (35/40%) and affects Hand of Salvation MULTIPLICATIVELY (3/4% per second). Hand of Sacrifice still turns off once it's transferred 100% of your hp, so it's possible for the talent to actually have 0 total additional damage reduction for Hand of Sacrifice. Improved Concentration Aura Most of the value of this talent is in increasing the effect of the aura, rather than the silence/interrupt portion. The vast majority of casters have full pushback resistance with regular Concentration Aura, so the real value of this talent is quite low. Protection Tree Talents Divine Sacrifice Divine Guardian This is an extremely powerful raid cooldown - particularly because raid damage reduction cooldowns don't really exist in WotLK, making Divine Guardian almost a class of its own. The fact that it additionally buffs Sacred Shield to a full minute duration makes these talents non-negotiable - you ALWAYS take them. Generally, it's advised to cancelaura the Divine Sacrifice buff as it can batch and leapfrog the 20% hp break to kill you, OR use Divine Shield to mitigate the Sacrifice damage. Improved Devotion Aura The standard Protection Paladin spec doesn't take this talent, so generally it is up to the Holy Paladin to take it. Despite the healing bonus not stacking with other healing bonuses of that type (Tree of Life), the increased armor is unique and also a minor raid DPS gain due to Armored to the Teeth and Bladed Armor. Improved Righteous Fury Righteous Fury counts as part of a unique “tank stance” mechanic, where it has an extra 43% threat modifier. In total, with Righteous Fury activated, you will generate 0.6435 threat per point of effective healing, slightly higher than the average healer (0.5 threat per healing). There is therefore a little bit of risk involved in using this at times, and you will have to deactivate it in certain scenarios (add spawns for instance). However, in general, as the expansion continues there are a lot of unavoidable raid AoE abilities that you are just getting 6% free DR for. In other words, this talent is a no-brainer - always take it, even if you are too afraid to use RF sometimes. Retribution Tree Talents Benediction This is the only talent you can access in Retribution, and only 3/5, if you do not need to take Improved Devotion Aura. It's a decent talent, but nothing special. Glyphs for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich King Major Glyphs Glyph of Holy Light Not only is Holy Light your strongest heal already, this glyph essentially multiplies its healing by up to 50%. Not only that, it's the main reason that trinkets like Soul Preserver and Eye of Gruul are THE MOST powerful for Holy Paladins, as it's a constant reliable heal on many targets at once that creates eligible heals for the trinket procs. However, the healing done from this glyph does NOT transfer through Beacon of Light, and its fairly limited range means that you won't always see good returns from it. Glyph of Seal of Wisdom It's well known that mana is the only constraint for a Holy Paladin, and this is a big part of reducing that strain. Due to the insane 4% maximum mana return that you get whenever you get a proc by meleeing, you'll always want to have Seal of Wisdom active anyway; this just makes it even better. Glyph of Beacon of Light Beacon of Light is of course the defining spell for Holy Paladins in Wrath of the Lich King, but it's also very expensive to refresh. This glyph effectively reduces the cost of Beacon of Light by up to 33%, but only in specific circumstances/fight lengths - therefore, while it's GENERALLY good, it's not always good or even useful. That being said, in an average scenario it saves you some GCDs and a lot of mana. Glyph of Divinity The main drawback of this glyph is that for maximum benefit, you'll want to cast Lay on Hands on yourself or another mana-limited healer. This gives up an important clutch heal and puts Forbearance on yourself, which can be very nasty in some scenarios. That being said, if you're in a very mana-tight fight where you really need to eke out all mana gains, and Glyph of Beacon of Light is not applicable, this is a very powerful option, returning 7800 mana in total if self-cast. Glyph of Flash of Light Just like in the Burning Crusade, Flash of Light is a weak spell that doesn't heal for a lot, though it's extremely cheap. This is a last resort glyph that you should only use if you somehow find yourself in a situation where neither Glyph of Beacon of Light nor Glyph of Divinity is of any use. Minor Glyphs Glyph of Lay on Hands Unlike most other classes' minor glyphs, this one is absolutely massive for Holy Paladins and is a must-have. Glyph of Sense Undead While Holy Paladin damage is so low as to be negligible, you will be Judging and meleeing occasionally so this has a minor, free benefit. Best Gems for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich King Meta Gem: Insightful Earthsiege Diamond Insightful Earthsiege Diamond is the best sustain option by far and is very easy to hit. There just isn't a better choice in WotLK. It'll have a rough value of 60-80 MP5, so you really want to make sure you have a meta gem socket available ASAP. For the meta gem requirement, it's highly advised to use 1 orange and 1 green gem for the meta requirements, as it's an overall higher stat value than using a Enchanted Tear. Yellow Sockets: Standard: Brilliant Autumn's Glow Throughput: Quick Autumn's Glow Jewelcrafter-only: Brilliant Dragon's Eye or Quick Dragon's Eye (requires Jewelcrafting, max of 3) Unique-Equipped: Brilliant Stormjewel These will be the vast majority of your gems, and you should ignore socket bonuses to gem yellows. The vast majority of Holy Paladins will be best served by using Intellect gems; however, if you're in a high-tier guild or speedrunning you may consider Haste gems as the throughput value is much higher than for Intellect. New to Phase 2, Brilliant Stormjewel is a Unique-Equipped gem that has epic-gem levels of stats. Put one in a piece of gear that you're least likely to replace, and will always have equipped. Red: Luminous Monarch Topaz Blue: Dazzling Forest Emerald You will want to use only one of each orange and green gem for the meta gem requirements, in your best possible socket bonuses; in all other cases, you will ignore socket bonuses and gem Brilliant Autumn's Glow everywhere. Enchanted Tear is not really a viable option for the meta gem requirement as using an orange and a green gem will lead to an overall higher total stat value. You'll want to look to fulfill good socket bonuses in non-yellow sockets when using these gems. In general, you will prefer Int or Haste bonuses, but if a spellpower bonus is very high (such as in helm) it is generally worth it over those two options. Best Enchants for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich King Having all the proper enchantments on your armor and weapons is very important to maximize your performance in raid. The additional raw intellect and haste that is gained from gear will make a significant difference. Head Enchant: Arcanum of Blissful Mending = Arcanum of Burning Mysteries The stat value for Crit and MP5 are extremely close here, to the point where they're both essentially equal with slight edges to both. Crit adds a small amount of variance and throughput, while MP5 is a very steady option that is independent of how much you're casting. Shoulder Enchant: Greater Inscription of the Crag = Greater Inscription of the Storm As with the Arcanums, the stat values are quite equal here. If you have Inscription, you can use Master's Inscription of the Crag or Master's Inscription of the Storm instead, which are profession-specific. This is the main reason why it's one of the worst professions for Holy Paladin; spellpower is a very weak stat, and this is the only thing you get out of it in terms of raiding stat bonuses. Cloak Enchant: Enchant Cloak - Greater Speed OR Darkglow Embroidery (requires Tailoring) Darkglow Embroidery is a surprisingly viable option that provides around to 40 to 42 mp5, but is a profession-only benefit. If you don't have Tailoring, you will go with Enchant Cloak - Greater Speed. Chest Enchant: Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats Intellect is great, and this ends up being your best sustain option as well. Belt Enchant: Eternal Belt Buckle and Frag Belt (requires Engineering) Eternal Belt Buckle is a BoE Blacksmithing item that lets you add an extra prismatic gem socket to your gear. If you have Engineering, you can additionally enchant Frag Belt, which stacks with the socket "enchant." However, the bomb it throws is worse than either Global Thermal Sapper Charge or Saronite Bomb, so you can consider this very optional. Bracer Enchant: Enchant Bracers - Exceptional Intellect and Socket Bracer (requires Blacksmithing) Enchant Bracers - Exceptional Intellect is your go-to option for this slot. If you have Leatherworking, a high-throughput option is Fur Lining - Spell Power, another profession-only enchant replacement for this slot. However, be aware that it's a lesser sustain option and overall the profession is highly discouraged as it doesn't give additional haste or intellect. Socket Bracer is one of the two Blacksmithing-only perks. Gloves Enchant: Hyperspeed Accelerators (requires Engineering) > Enchant Gloves - Exceptional Spellpower. Socket Gloves (requires Blacksmithing) You will want to have Hyperspeed Accelerators as it is a small throughput cooldown that competes with an otherwise very sub-par enchant. You will never haste cap Holy Light, so additional haste is always very powerful. If you don't have Engineering, you'll have to settle for the SP enchant. Socket Gloves is the other one of the two Blacksmithing-only perks. Legs Enchant: Sapphire Spellthread The other enchant option gives Spirit instead of Stamina, and Spirit does nothing for Holy Paladins in WotLK. Boots Enchant: Nitro Boosts (requires Engineering) or Enchant Boots - Tuskarr's Vitality One of Paladin's biggest weaknesses in WotLK is a lack of on-demand mobility, which Nitro Boosts helps significantly. On certain fights with lots of continuous movement, however, you may prefer to have the consistent movespeed increase of Enchant Boots - Tuskarr's Vitality. Primarily you'll want to use Nitro Boosts, but always keep an eye out for a second pair of uncontested boots that you can put Tuskarr's Vitality on for fights like Yogg-Saron, which have lots of continuous small movement. Weapon Enchant: Enchant Weapon - Major Intellect Since spellpower is just a fairly weak stat, the TBC Int enchant is just the winner here in all cases. Despite the stat values being very similar, Int pulls ahead on any fight with downtime between casts and in general, sustain is what you're concerned with as a Holy Paladin. Shield Enchant: Enchant Shield - Greater Intellect Generally, shields will be much higher value (as well as significantly less contested) than offhands, largely due to this enchant. Ring Enchant: Enchant Ring - Greater Spellpower (requires Enchanting) As in TBC, this requires Enchanting and is a self-only enchant. As with LW and Inscription, this is a discouraged profession option. Valuable Raid Buffs for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich King Ideal Raid Members Raid Members Cooldowns Shaman - Bloodlust & Mana Tide Totem Druid - Revitalize & Innervate Priest - Power Infusion, Rapture & Hymn of Hope Mage - Focus Magic Generally speaking, most raid groups will use Bloodlust to maximize DPS, which will often mean that it has very little effect on healing. Although we are not guaranteed to get one, Mana Tide Totem restores a fair bit more mana than a regular mana potion; close to 7k in T7 BiS. Innervate regenerates even more than that but as it's based on the base mana of the druid, the static 7866 mana gain will be surpassed by Mana Tide very quickly. As Hymn of Hope can change targets every tick, it's a very unreliable source of mana. However, whenever possible you will want to try and time Divine Plea with it as even getting a single tick of Hymn increases your maximum mana pool for a short period of time. Power Infusion and Focus Magic are typically used on DPS, so they're just listed for the sake of completion. Raid Buffs 144 Spell Power - Totem of Wrath, Flametongue Totem, Demonic Pact 5% Spell Haste - Wrath of Air Totem 3% Spell Haste - Swift Retribution, Improved Moonkin Form 5% Spell Crit Chance - Moonkin Aura, Elemental Oath 60 Intellect - Arcane Intellect, Fel Intelligence 80 Spirit - Divine Spirit, Fel Intelligence 215 Stamina - Power Word: Fortitude 52 to all Stats - Gift of the Wild +10% Stats - Blessing of Kings 2255 Maximum Health - Commanding Shout, Blood Pact 92 Mp5 - Blessing of Wisdom, Mana Spring Totem Replenishment - Hunting Party, Enduring Winter, Judgements of the Wise, Vampiric Touch, Improved Soul Leech Generally, the most valuable buffs for Holy Paladin will be Intellect and Replenishment, although the spec scales well with all of the stats, particularly the haste buffs. Best Consumables for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich King There are a lot of powerful consumables that can be used to enhance a Holy Paladin's throughput and sustain in Wrath of the Lich King Classic. Using all that you can and using the right ones will help make your Holy Paladin stand out from the others. Best Battle Elixirs for Paladin Healer: Guru's Elixir or Elixir of Lightning Speed You will use Guru's Elixir if you need sustain, or use Elixir of Lightning Speed if you need throughput. Generally, Elixir of Lightning Speed will pull fairly ahead just due to stat EPs. You should always try to use the elixir combo if possible, as it's much better than the flasks. Best Guardian Elixirs for Paladin Healer: Elixir of Mighty Thoughts or Swiftness of Zanza Generally, Elixir of Mighty Thoughts will be your go-to Guardian Elixir as it has an insane amount of value. Swiftness of Zanza has seen consistent use in speedrunning since its inclusion in the game, and WotLK is no different. Especially in WotLK, it's not possible for a Holy Paladin to have Pursuit of Justice and they often have Nitro Boosts enchanted on boots, so your natural runspeed will be quite low. That being said, for most players, it will not be very relevant, but it is a good option to keep in mind. You should always try to use the elixir combo if possible, as it's much better than the flasks. Best Flask for Paladin Healer: Flask of Distilled Wisdom Flask of Distilled Wisdom is still chugging along from Classic. In WotLK though, the elixir combo has finally unseated it. When using Guru's Elixir, there's an additional 20 stamina, while Elixir of Lightning Speed just completely outpaces it in terms of throughput. Best Food for Paladin Healer: Imperial Manta Steak = Very Burnt Worg Both of these foods give 40 haste and 40 stamina, so just get the one that is cheaper. Best Potion for Paladin Healer: Runic Mana Injector and Potion of Speed Runic Mana Injector is the best option most of the time, especially on particularly mana-intensive encounters and when speedrunning. It can only be used once per fight and provides an average of 4300 mana by default, or an average of 5375 mana as an engineer. You'll always want the option of a throughput potion if possible, and Potion of Speed is it. Shared Healthstone Cooldown: Fel Healthstone or Dark Rune While Dark Rune are technically still viable, they now have a 15 minute cooldown and with level 80 mana costs, it only gets you enough mana for a single Holy Light cast on average. Generally, you should favor saving your Healthstone cooldown for Fel Healthstone instead. Best Swappable Glyphs for Paladin Healer: Glyph of Beacon of Light, Glyph of Divinity, Glyph of Flash of Light Because the third Glyph slot is pretty open, it will be a good idea to keep around a stack or two each of Glyph of Beacon of Light and Glyph of Divinity to swap around as necessary. Glyph of Flash of Light is quite optional, as it's very unlikely that you run into a situation where neither of the other two glyphs are useful. Best Miscellaneous Consumables: Scroll of Intellect VIII, Drums of the Wild, Heavy Frostweave Bandage, Greater Rune of Warding, Greater Ward of Shielding You generally won't need Scroll of Intellect VIII or Drums of the Wild in 25-man raids, but they can be useful in 10 man comps where you're missing raid buffs. While they are not quite as useful as a healer, Heavy Frostweave Bandage are always handy to have. Additionally, just like in TBC, both Greater Rune of Warding and Greater Ward of Shielding are still great defensive consumables to use if you have the time to apply them. Best Profession Consumables for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich King Because the best professions for Holy Paladin are Engineering, Jewelcrafting, and Alchemy, the only relevant profession-specific consumes are the Engineering ones. Engineering Items: Arcane Bomb, Global Thermal Sapper Charge, Saronite Bomb, Runic Mana Injector Global Thermal Sapper Charge and Saronite Bomb are always good in a speedrun scenario or just any instance where you want to deal extra, free damage. Arcane Bomb provides a unique AoE silence ability, which can be very useful on some fights. The additional free 25% extra mana restoration from Runic Mana Injector makes it a no-brainer. Consumable Check List for Holy Paladin Healer in Wrath of the Lich King You'll want to be prepared with these every raid. Guru's Elixir, Elixir of Lightning Speed, and Elixir of Mighty Thoughts Imperial Manta Steak or Very Burnt Worg Runic Mana Injector and Potion of Speed Glyph of Beacon of Light, Glyph of Divinity, Glyph of Flash of Light Scroll of Intellect VIII, Drums of the Wild, Heavy Frostweave Bandage, Greater Rune of Warding, Greater Ward of Shielding Dark Rune (if Engineer) Global Thermal Sapper Charge, Saronite Bomb, Arcane Bomb #TheTwistedRepublic #TTR_Republic #TTRTheTwisted #TTRTheRepublic #TTR #TTRRepublic #TheTwistedRepublicEsports #TTREsports #InaccurateTilts #GoingGodlike #TTRTAKEOVERINC

Introduction The Chaos and Cube build heavily focuses on large Area of Effect (AoE) skills with low Cooldowns to clear the content as fast as possible. This content isn't difficult and can easily be completed by spamming skills. The Cube requires some additional teamwork and stage knowledge to complete. The Combat Stats are not as important as they are for PvP or Raid builds. Simply use the recommended Raid gear and Combat Stat distribution from the Lunar Voice Reaper Raid Guide and Hunger Reaper Raid Guide. Chaos & Cube Skill Build Shadow Vortex is used on both builds to reduce Swoop skills cooldown and help up keep their Identity resources. Spinning Dagger provides extra AoE Clearing for Hunger build. Distortion is a mobility skill that can phase through mobs and bosses to reposition if needed to burst elites/bosses down with Rage Spear. Shadow Storm is a gauge generator for both build and it also serves as an AoE clearing skill. Shadow Trap provides an AoE stun while grouping up mobs around you and also reduces other Shadow Skills cooldown for Lunar Voice build. Glowing Brand, Rage Spear and Dance of Fury are your main burst skills. Gameplay Chaos Dungeon and Cube content are fairly easy to complete. A simplified rotation is used: Use Distortion to speed yourself up to lure mobs around and it can be used to phase through bosses and elites to quickly burst them down with your Swoop Skills on their back. You can use Lunar Eclipse: Cadenza early to get your burst cycle ready for Lunar Voice build or charge up your Persona Gauge instantly to get into Chaos Gauge faster as Hunger build. Make sure to use Shadow Trap to reduce other Shadow Skills cooldowns while also gathering mobs together so you can burst down the tight pack together as Lunar Voice build. Glowing Brand and Rage Spear are really high damage skills that can be used to burst down bosses. Spam Shadow Vortex whenever to reduce Swoop Skills cooldown for both builds and it also serves as a gauge generator for Lunar Voice variant. You don't have to be conservative with Awakening skill usage since the 40-100% Cooldown refresh from killing Elites/Bosses and 40% Cooldown Reduction buff from Rift Cores work on them as well. The Cube is slightly more difficult than Chaos Dungeon and usually requires a party and stage knowledge to complete. Check out the Cube Guide and Chaos Dungeon Guide for more information. Combat Stats Sub-stat priority is not important, as the content is easy as long as the player is using matching Tier Gear and accessories. Runes Runes enhance Skills with extra bonuses. All Rune drops are account bound and have limited availability, so placement of Runes on the correct Skills is important. Below are the recommended pairings. Check the Rune Guide for more details. Quick Recharge is paired with Shadow Vortex since it has extremely low cooldown with Thirst build if you have really high Swiftness to proc the cooldown refresh more frequently. Rage is paired Distortion for Hunger build to get some attack speed increase if it procs to speed up your skill casting even faster. Bleed can be paired on Call of the Knife to finish off some left over low HP mobs. Wealth runes are very important for Lunar Voice build to get your Persona Gauge up quickly to cycle through your Swoop bursts. Galewind is used for speeding up your main damage skills animations. Summary Distortion gives a massive movement speed boost to help move across the map to lure mobs into a tight pack and can be used to phase through bosses to get to their back to burst them down quickly. Shadow Trap helps reduces all Shadow Skills cooldown for Lunar Voice variant after you used all the other Shadow Skills. Spam Shadow Vortex whenever you can to reduce Swoop Skills cooldowns. Glowing Brand and Rage Spear are your boss killing skills. Killing Elites/Bosses and breaking Rift Cores grant a Cooldown refresh or Cooldown Reduction buff. This works on Awakening Skills, so you can use them often. The Reaper arrives fast from the shadows with her agility and precision. The class has three distinct skill sets that allow her to have a plethora of playstyles. Dagger skills focus on skills revolving around her sharp blades. Shadow skills consist of her many clone abilities that come to her aid or for general mobility. Finally, her Swoop skills are her "red" skills, allowing her to impact the map with huge burst damage. There are two modes for Reaper, Chaos and Persona mode. Chaos mode revolves around her fast and agile form, focusing on a barrage of attacks. On the other hand, Persona mode focuses on landing big Swoop attacks during the duration. In this article, we will be covering Lunar Voice, a build revolving around her Persona Mode for big hits. If you're interested in big hits out of stealth, look no further than this Reaper build. Check out the Hunger Reaper Build Guide for an alternative Reaper playstyle. This build guide assumes you have a Character at Level 50 before transitioning to it. Check out the Reaper Leveling and 1-50 Leveling guides to reach Level 50. Check out the Guardian Raids and Abyssal Dungeons guides for an introduction to their content. Raid Skill Build Nightmare is your main Counter skill as the initial dagger toss counters as well as the teleport explosion from Back Attack allowing you to essentially counter while at the back of the boss. It also lets you teleport to the opposite direction of your current position if you marked the target with the initial dagger toss which makes the back chasing less annoying. Unfortunately Poison: Corrosion only stacks once with this skill even with 2 sequences of attacks. Shadow Vortex debuffs 12% defense reduction with Poison: Corrosion and it also reduces cooldowns of your Swoop Skills. Distortion serves as your mobility skill and it can phase through bosses which allows you to reposition at the back easier. Shadow Trap is also another Counter skill but it will take a little getting used to using it since it back dashes you on use, but it does generate a decent amount of Persona Gauge and also helps reduce Shadow Skills cooldowns. Shadow Storm is mainly used as a Persona Gauge generator in this build since it can generate a massive amount of gauge with high level Charge Shadow. Rage Spear, Dance of Fury, and Glowing Brand are your main damage skills scale with your Specialization stats. Alternatives Awakening Skill: Lunar Eclipse: Cadenza is used most of the time as it does more damage than the latter awakening and it generates a full bar of Persona Gauge for you to instantly set up the next burst. Solar Eclipse: Requiem deals way lesser damage but has a faster animation and it deals damage while dashing towards the target while in stealth, which doesn't have a lot of usage in PvE aside for Brelshaza Gate 3 during shapes phases to single out 3 targets among the clutters easily. Gameplay & Skill Rotation You should test out having "Cursor Aim" on or off on Gameplay > Combat Related Settings > Combat Settings for personal preference. This allows some skills (e.g. Shadow Storm and Glowing Brand) to be easier used at certain angles to phase through bosses. However, if you are used to Cursor Aim assist, you might miss some skills. It's up to you, try it out! Lunar Voice Reapers are gauge builders-burst DPS similar to Deathblow Strikers, where they have to charge up their Persona Gauge with a couple of gauge generators (Dagger and Shadow Skills) and then activate Persona Mode(Default Keybind: Z) to burst with any of your next Swoop Skills. Though keep in mind that performing any attacks will cancel out of Persona Mode but only Swoop Skills will get the damage increase while in Persona Mode, Shadow Step(Spacebar)won't cancel you out from the mode. Charging into Chaos Gauge does not bring its buffs into Persona Mode hence there is no reason to charge full bars of Chaos Gauge, you can immediately enter Persona Mode as soon as Persona Gauge is filled. General Tips: Using Persona Mode will make you do a backflip which will sometimes be inconvenient positioning-wise. Hence before you activate Persona Mode, you should point your cursor in the opposite direction of the target so you will backflip into the boss maintaining a close position to the boss. *A fair warning that the backflip can phase through some bosses/elites which might put you in a worst position. Lunar Eclipse: Cadenza and Shadow Trap move you backward on use as well, hence the tip above can be applied here as well. Nightmare can help you reposition to the back of bosses if you are in front of them since it teleports you to the opposite direction of where you're at after you marked them with the initial dagger toss. Prioritize sticking to the back of bosses than only using it for the purpose of rotations. Distortion can phases through bosses as long as they're not too big, which helps you to maintain your position at the back of the bosses. Hence use it for positioning priority than only for rotations. The Basic Rotation: Extra Note: If you are already at the back of the boss, you can do Nightmare > Distortion > Nightmare to maintain at the back while generating some gauge doing it. Cycle 1 Shadow Storm Shadow Vortex Persona Glowing Brand or Rage Spear or Dance of Fury Cycle 2 Shadow Vortex Nightmare Nightmare Distortion Shadow Trap or Shadow Vortex Persona Glowing Brand or Rage Spear or Dance of Fury Stats Priority Lunar Voice Reapers focus on Specialization to increase their Swoop Skills damage with some Crit from necklace or engraving to help cap 80-100% Crit Rate on those skills. Furthermore, the higher Specialization stats you have the faster you get to cycle out your burst as you get to fill out your Persona Gauge faster to activate Persona Mode. Standard: Get Specialization on every accessory with Crit coming from only your necklace. Alternative: Get Specialization on every accessory with Swiftness coming from only your necklace. This setup will require Adrenaline to help compensate for the lack of Crit Rate. Engravings Class Engravings provide powerful benefits that can significantly change play style. Battle Engravings are generally used to increase damage. Below are the recommended Engravings for this build. Check out the Engraving Guide for more details. Starter Engravings Lunar Voice makes your Persona mode give you an instant buff instead of having to wait 5 seconds for the full effect, hence allowing you to instantly attack right after using Persona mode for a massive damage increase for your Swoop Skills. Ambush Master is your best damage engraving as Reapers can easily reposition to back with many of her mobilities and all of her attacks have Back Attack modifiers. Add-On Endgame Engravings Keen Blunt Weapon* works really well for this build since all the main damage Swoop Skills have high Crit Rate Skill Tree node on them and more Crit Rate from Earth's Entropy Set to further increase its efficiency. Adrenaline is an alternative option of Cursed Doll to compensate some Crit Rate if you are using a Swiftness-Specialization necklace. though this setup is rarely used until bracelets exist in the future as it comes with the inconvenience of checking and maintaining stacks before bursting your skills. Advanced Engravings Note: The Advanced Engravings are the Best in Slot setup for Tier 3 content. The penalties attached to these can be hard to overcome for new players. Only use the following engravings if you are experienced with the boss fight! Grudge* increases damage done to bosses while also increasing damage received from bosses. The engraving is a highly effective damage increase that does not require specific positioning, making it worthwhile even with the penalty. Cursed Doll* provides a significant Attack Power increase at the cost of 25% healing penalty. The healing penalty can be punishing for inexperienced players not familiar with boss mechanics. (*)These Engravings should only be used at Engraving Level 3. Gear Sets These are the specific gear sets for each tier. Check out the Gear Set Guide for more details. Notes : If speedrunning your alts, you can skip Abyss Dungeon Gear up to 1370 gearscore by just honing Chaos Dungeon Gear. If you're close to 1445 gearscore and were already doing Valtan/Vykas Normal Mode, you can skip crafting the Legendary Legion Raid Gears. If you have already crafted Relic Gears, hold onto them because once you unlock the Gear Set Conversion feature, you will be able to freely swap between Relic Legion Raid Sets. "Play at your own pace" Route Tier 1 340 gearscore Seraphic Oath Set 460 gearscore Boisterous Elemental Set Tier 2 840 gearscore Marvelous Earth Set 960 gearscore Unyielding Will Set Early Tier 3 1302-1370 gearscore Twisted Dimensional Set Tier 3 Argos Set 1370 -1415 gearscore Preordained Diligence Set Tier 3 Legion Raid Set 1415 - 1444 gearscore Hold onto Preordained Diligence Set 1445+ gearscore Earth's Entropy Set unes Runes enhance Skills with extra bonuses. All Rune drops are account bound and have limited availability, so placement of Runes on the correct Skills is important. Below are the recommended pairings. Check the Rune Guide for more details. SkillsRunesNightmare WealthShadow Vortex Purify WealthDistortion Wealth Rage PurifyShadow Trap WealthShadow Storm WealthDance of Fury GalewindRage Spear GalewindGlowing Brand Galewind Overwhelm Galewind is ideal for speeding up your highest damage dealing skills. Purify is best used on a low cooldown skill during specific boss encounters that will benefit from cleansing debuffs/dots effects. Overwhelm can be pair with Glowing Brand if your party is struggling to clear certain Stagger Checks in contents. Wealth runes are the most important runes for this build particularly as you want to generate enough gauge fast to cycle through all your main damage skills as soon as possible. But depending on the amount of Specialization stats you have, you have to make some adjustments to the rune placement on the skills shown on the table. If you have 1200-1350 Specialization, it is best to use Legendary Grade Wealth on Shadow Storm. 1400-1600 you can use Epic grade and 1650 above you can switch it down to Rare grade which opens up the Epic and Legendary Grade runes for other skills.(this is also assuming you have Charge Shadow maxed out.) Gear Skill Tree While Gems add benefits to skills, you can also increase the effects of Skill Tree themselves. Skill Tree levels go up to 5 and each level can increase the damage, cooldown reduction or buff that they provide. For more information on how to add equipment Skill Tree and how to get them, please visit our Skill Tree System Guide. Glowing BrandVital Point Hit Enhanced Swoop TestamentRage SpearFatal Dagger Ambush Concentrated AttackDance of FuryPiercing Strike Fatal Dagger Suppressed MoveShadow StormCharge Shadow Quick Prep or Period Shadow Zone Gems Gems grant bonus damage and cooldown reduction to specific skills. You can only equip 11 of these Gems at a time so it is recommended that you prioritize the Gems for your most important skills. Please visit our Gem System Guide for more information like how to create higher tier Gems. Attack Gems Glowing Brand Rage Spear Dance of Fury Cooldown Gems Glowing Brand Rage Spear Dance of Fury Nightmare Shadow Vortex Shadow Trap Distortion Shadow Storm Card Sets Cards are an endgame system for maximizing your character. Below are the recommend sets for this class. Check out the Card Guide for more details on how to obtain them. Summary Lunar Voice Reapers are really mobile with a ton of skills moving her around while using them, which can be a good or bad thing depending on your awareness of positioning and this particular build focuses on more bursty damage gameplay than its counterpart. But be aware that reapers generally lack defense and general health compared to most other classes which make them take a substantial amount of damage even though it's just a few swipes from the bosses. Swoop Skills are your main damage skills that scale with your Specialization stats and their damage gets further increased when you are using them in Persona Mode. Performing any attacks will take you out of Persona Mode even if they are not Swoop Skills and they do not get damage increase from the mode, but using Shadow Step(Spacebar) does not take you out from the state. Lunar Voice focuses on stacking a ton of Specialization stats as mentioned above that it increases your Swoop Skills damage and it also increases the amount of Persona Gauge gain letting you cycle through your rotation faster without taking too many skills to charge up for a single burst. Wealth runes are very important for this build to further smoothen out your gauge gain to keep the burst cycles going. So make sure you have all the high grades and a couple of low grades runes prepared. Reapers have 1 of the best Counter in the game as Nightmare allows you to counter from the front with the initial dagger toss and the 2nd activation explosion from Back Attack also triggers counter when you teleport to the front of the boss when you are behind it. #TheTwistedRepublic #TTR_Republic #TTRTheTwisted #TTRTheRepublic #TTR #TTRRepublic #TheTwistedRepublicEsports #TTREsports #InaccurateTilts #GoingGodlike #TTRTAKEOVERINC

HOW TO CREATE A CHARACTER Creating a character in FFXIV is one of the most important decisions you’ll make because you’ll spend hundreds of hours with this hero. You’ll have several options: Race determines how you look, but it doesn’t have a large effect on your stats. Pick a race that looks interesting to you like the human-like Hyur, the adorable Lalafell, or the beast-like characters the Hrothgar and Viera. Clan offers slight differences between each race, but in the long run, these won’t matter much. Gender doesn’t offer any differences in how each race performs, but the Hrothgar are only male and Viera are only female. Once you’ve made those decisions, you can begin designing your character. If ever want to change how your character looks later, you have plenty of options. The last step to creating is choosing your birthday and patron deity. As far as our experience shows, these decision will have no effect on your game. Once your character is created, you’ll need to choose a data center. Unless you plan on playing with friends on specific servers, feel free to pick whatever server is available in your region. There are bonuses for choosing lesser populated servers, so keep that in mind if you don’t have a preference on what server you play on. HOW TO CHOOSE A CLASS Choosing your starting class is the biggest early decision you’ll make. Your class determines the play style you’ll experience for dozens, if not hundreds of hours of play time. The class you choose at the beginning of the game also dictates where your story begins. You can eventually switch classes later in the game. In fact, you can play every single type of class on a single character, but to start, you should pick one class archetype and stick to it while you get comfortable. UNDERSTANDING ROLES, CLASSES, AND JOBS You have a choice between classes that fall into Disciples of War and Disciplines of Magic. Those distinctions are helpful, but it’s more important to understand their combat roles. COMBAT ROLES Every character type in FFXIV fits one of three combat roles: tanks, healers, and damage dealers known as DPS. Knowing these three archetypes is important because multiplayer portions of the games, like dungeons, will rely on those roles when matching you with other players. Tanks lead the charge in battle and have blue character icons. They draw attention in combat away from their team and are able to withstand punishment. Most tanks have skills that allow them to support themselves and stand in the face of enemies without fear. Healers support their team with spells that keep their allies alive and have green character icons. Their abilities restore health in a large burst or over time, and they use shields to protect themselves. Healers can also dispel any negative status effects that enemies cast on the party. While healers can participate in combat, their main focus is keeping an eye on their party and supporting them. DPS characters come in three styles: melee, physical ranged, and magic ranged, all of which have red character icons. Damage dealers all excel in attacks that whittle away at their opponents’ life. Attacks might focus on a single target, a wide area, over time, or derive from a summoned companion. DPS characters may have some abilities that can support their party, but their main goal is attacking enemies. Close-range fighters have a unique quality to their combat: positionals. Some attacks are are more effective if they hit enemies from a certain angle, like their backs. So in addition to getting up close and personal to fight, melee DPS characters also need to be mindful of where they are hitting their enemies. There are nearly 20 different jobs to choose from in FFXIV. To help you decide on the best one to pick, check out our FFXIV job guide. UNDERSTANDING QUESTS AND ICONS As you adventure through FFXIV, you’ll meet dozens of characters with different icons over their heads. At first, it isn’t clear who you should be accepting quests from. When starting the game, always focus on the quests displayed in your main scenario guide, shown on the top left of your screen. This will always highlight your next main story quest in the tab next to the red meteor icon. If you have a class/job quest, it will be displayed below your main story quest with a red exclamation point. When all else fails, the quests listed here will always move your story forward. MAIN SCENARIO QUESTS As a beginner, focus on the main scenario quests (MSQ). Main scenario quest icons look like a gold and gray meteor with an exclamation point. These quests will move the story forward and are one of the fastest ways to level up, so complete them as soon as you can. NEW FEATURES, NEXT CLASS/JOB QUEST Another quest type to keep an eye on are quests that unlock new features or your next class/job quest. These will be a gold and blue icon with a plus and exclamation point. Unlocking new features isn’t required to beat the story. However certain quests, like the one that unlocks a mount, are worth keeping an eye out for. The character who gives you class/job quests will have a new one for you every five levels. You may need to level up in the main story quests or take on side quests to level up before your next class/job quest becomes available. HALL OF NOVICE QUESTS If you want to master FFXIV, then seek out the Hall of Novice quests, represented by a gold icon with a green sprout. These short tutorial missions train you to play the game and master the responsibilities of the role your class/job falls under. SIDE QUESTS You’ll also run across dozens of side quests that you can do for smaller amounts of experience, but you can mostly ignore them. Side quests are displayed with gold icons with exclamation points. You can find a full list of other icons you might see while adventuring on the official FFXIV guide. UNDERSTANDING DUNGEONS, TRIALS, RAIDS, AND ONLINE PLAY You can play large parts of the main story quests on your own, but you must complete dungeons, trials, and raids with other players. These cooperative events happen frequently throughout FFXIV and are mandatory to move the story forward. Dungeons, trials, and raids match players based on their role types. For instance, most dungeons that take place in the story require a team of one tank, one healer, and two DPS players. (Class and job don’t matter.) DUNGEONS Dungeons are story missions that take place in a specific area. Think of them like levels or maps in other video games. The party of matched players will navigate the maze-like dungeon defeating enemies, solving small environmental puzzles, fighting a few mini-bosses, and completing the adventure by defeating a boss at the end. As the game progresses, the dungeons get more complicated and the bosses will have unique mechanics that all players need to be aware of to survive. TRIALS Trials are difficult boss encounters that require a team to overcome. The enemies you fight in trials are large-scale adversaries that demand teamwork. The combat in trials will test your ability to pay attention to a boss character’s special attacks more than you would during dungeons. Trials might also have special mechanics that you need to juggle while fighting the boss. RAIDS Raids are combat encounters that require multiple parties to team up to overcome. You won’t take part in any of these early in the game, but they do become more common as you progress through the game. Normal raids requires eight players and are similar to trials, although they are far more difficult. Alliance raids are large-scale encounters similar to dungeons, but require 24 characters to participate. REPLAY ROULETTES Once you encounter several of the cooperative challenges, you can do roulettes and replay them whenever you like. These are a great way to level up fast. You can find your available roulettes in the Duty Finder from the main menu. FFXIV TIPS AND TRICKS To help you get the most out of the game, here are several FFXIV tips and tricks worth knowing. INTERACT WITH AETHERYTE FOR FAST TRAVEL Whenever you enter a new area, you’ll have to get everywhere by foot. At the beginning of FFXIV, you do a lot of running around. It’s annoying until you find Aetheryte — crystals that act as fast travel points between the game’s massive map. Whenever you find a new Aetheryte, interact with it, and you’ll become attuned to it, which means that it becomes a teleportation point. Once you do this, you can fast travel. Large Aetherytes are usually found in cities and settlements across the world. Using the Teleport command, you can travel to these for a distance-based fee. You’ll automatically learn this skill once you attune to your first Aetheryte out in the open world. When in a large city, like the ones your story starts in, you can travel between smaller Aetherytes, using them sort of like subway stops. To travel between Aetherytes in a city, you must first locate different crystals and attune to them. Then you can travel to those crystals for free within the city. ALWAYS EAT FIRST Before starting any quest or dungeon, be sure to eat some food. You can find food from various vendors all over each settlement and town. Eating food gives you the Well Fed buff for 30 minutes. This status effect increases all XP gained by 3%. It’s not a ton, but it’s a best practice to do before any adventuring to level up faster. LEARN WHAT YOUR SKILLS DO BEFORE USING THEM As you level up, you’ll unlock new skills. Whenever you get a prompt telling you that you’ve unlocked a new talent, read what it does. Newcomers sometimes miss out on key interactions between new skills, such as the first time they gain skills that combo into each other. Other classes have moves that can only be used alongside other talents. It’s not clear that these interactions exist until you read each skill descriptions. By default, new skills are automatically added to the next available slot in your skills menu. Highlight the skill and get an overlay that appears explaining what the skill does. You can also go to Main Menu > Character > Actions & Traits to look at your skills. You’ll find a full list of your current and future talents. Highlight the skill you want to check out and read the overlay that appears. #TheTwistedRepublic #TTR_Republic #TTRTheTwisted #TTRTheRepublic #TTR #TTRRepublic #TheTwistedRepublicEsports #TTREsports #InaccurateTilts #GoingGodlike #TTRTAKEOVERINC

#TheTwistedRepublic #TTR_Republic #TTRTheTwisted #TTRTheRepublic #TTR #TTRRepublic #TheTwistedRepublicEsports #TTREsports #InaccurateTilts #GoingGodlike #TTRTAKEOVERINC