Paladin PvP Guides for TBC Classic

Paladins are one of the most versatile classes in TBC Classic. While they lack one specific area where they are dominant, they excel in many different niche situations and always complement a team extremely well whether that is inside the Arena, a Battleground, or out in the worlds of Azeroth or Outland. Spells like Blessing of Freedom, Blessing of Protection, and many other short-cooldown utility spells are what make Paladins unique in what they can offer to a group.

Holy and Retribution are the two specializations that are able to be played in a competitive environment; while you can technically play Protection in PvP there is no real situation where a Protection Paladin is the specialization to bring so we will only be covering Holy and Retribution.

1. Holy Is the healing specialization for Paladin. Holy is the king of burst healing in PvP thanks to Holy Shock and offers some of the strongest buffs in the game in the form of Blessings. If you are not familiar with what Blessings Paladins possess, feel free to check out our Holy Paladin intro for a more in-depth breakdown of the spells available to you as a Holy Paladin. The one major downfall for Holy Paladin in Arena, Battlegrounds, and open-world PvP is their dependence on hard-casting spells and their lack of mobility. Paladin only has one school of magic so if you get interrupted trying to cast a Flash of Light or Holy Light you will not be able to use any of your other abilities for the duration of the interrupt. Mobility is another major concern as Paladin does not have any kind of speed increase or gap-closing ability. While Blessing of Freedom is a useful tool to deal with slows you have to be very focused on your positioning to take full advantage of line-of-sight or you can find yourself getting crowd controlled quite easily and quite frequently.
2. Retribution is the melee damage dealing specialization for Paladin. Retribution has some of the strongest burst in game, offers the most utility, and has the highest support potential of any melee damage dealer. In addition to powerful blessings that they are able to bestow upon their allies Retribution Paladin are capable of healing in emergency situations, though only for short periods of time as their Mana pool is very small. Retribution Paladin thrives in a situation where they are grouped with other classes that can control the target they are trying to attack because Paladin lacks any kind of move speed increase or gap-closing. Once in melee range, however, they are able to deal large amounts of damage in a short period of time using abilities like Judgement and Crusader Strike. Utilizing your crowd-controlling abilities, Repentance and Hammer of Justice, is crucial as well and, thanks to the bonus Seal of Command grants against targets that are stunned or incapacitated, you are able to do massive damage during these windows of crowd control. Similar to Holy, Retribution is extremely vulnerable to crowd-controlling effects and your largest damage increase, Avenging Wrath, will render you unable to cast Divine Shield or other immunity effects for a short period of time after using it.

Macros and Addons can greatly benefit your gameplay, especially in a high-paced environment like PvP where no two encounters are the exact same. Macros specifically can lessen the time it takes you to perform an action by combining two commands into a single button. Addons can increase the amount of information you are receiving in order to be able to better make a decision as to what your next move should be. Listed below are our guides for Paladin-specific Addons and Macros; most of these are targeted towards PvE but can also be quite useful for PvP.

Consumables are considerably less relevant for PvP in TBC Classic as many of them either do not work in instanced PvP or their effects are considerably lessened. Star's Tears is the only water you are able to use in Arena other than food conjured by Mages.

Listed below are links to our guides made specifically for Holy and Retribution paladin PvP. Inside these guides we will go over the optimal specialization, best gear, and some tips and tricks on how to get the most out of your character in PvP scenarios.

If you are interested in learning more about a variety of Arena compositions featuring a Paladin and its relative strength in PvP, please consult our guides on them below: