Paladin Class Overview

Protectors of allies and devote followers of the faith, the Paladin can be played as either a melee or caster-based class in World of Warcraft. With all of these options in playstyle come three specializations that Paladins can spec into; Holy is played as a healer, Protection is played as a Tank, Retribution is played as a DPS. Regardless of Specialization or playstyle, all Paladins use Mana as a resource.

Looking to dive right into the content? Head over to the Paladin Leveling Guide to start your adventure in Azeroth!

• Holy — This specialization focuses on healing your allies with the power of the Light.
• Protection — This specialization seeks to buff your survivability so that you can tank damage for your party.
• Retribution — This specialization weaponizes the Light, using it to deal as much damage as possible.

Due to the differences between Classic and modern World of Warcraft, players won't spec completely into a specific Specialization. For Paladin, you will still hard focus the Specialization tree that coincides with your chosen role, however other Talents will be selected to help round the class out. For a more in depth look at what this looks like, head over to our detailed Paladin Guides linked below.

If you are still deciding if the Paladin class is the proper choice for you, feel free to check out the video below from WillE, an avid player and long time content creator for World of Warcraft! This video will give you a solid overview of what Paladin is like to level and what it excels at in endgame content and PvP.

Paladins can be played as Humans and Dwarves for the Alliance. In Classic, you cannot play Paladin on the Horde.

Paladins are able to wear Cloth, Leather, and Mail armour, as well as Plate after reaching Level 40, and are able to use Axes (One-handed and Two-handed), Maces (One-handed and Two-handed), Polearms, and Swords (One-handed and Two-handed). For best-in-slot lists, please head over to our Paladin Gearing Page, linked below.

For information on how best to play your Paladin in Classic, you can check out the following guides.

• Paladin PvP Guide
• Paladin Leveling Guide
• Addons and Macros Guide for Paladins
• Making Gold as a Paladin

Find our new guides for Paladin in WoW Classic Season of Discovery below! The new game mode will have players find and utilize Runes that can then be engraved onto their gear to provide them special bonuses that augment already existing abilities or allow the class to use entirely new spells.

While Paladin was already incredibly flexible in WoW Classic, the Season of Discovery will make new builds possible, and increase the power of already existing builds.