Holy paladin is a class that tops 2v2 charts due to the survivability potential as a plate wearer. Also, Hpala is the best solo target healer in the game but if you want to heal larger groups like in Alterac Valley, you won’t be that effective.
Hpalas mostly depend on resilience in 2v2 where it rarely goes under 1300 and when you add 23k+ armor, they could handle Shadowmourne classes the best, especially warriors which are painful.
Hpalas lack HoTs but they have Beacon of Light which heals themselves and their partners with every healing spell cast. They have the best Cleanse in game, Hand of Protection for critical situations and much more extremely useful spells which we will cover in the ‘spells’ portion of the video.
Overall, there is not much to say about this class that is in 50% of teams out of the first 20 in 2v2 rankings. For me, it’s not an interesting class to play. Let’s start now
GEAR & ENCHANTS
Holy paladins have pretty standard builds for both gear and talents. As we said earlier, the first stat we have to chase as Hpala is resilience so a full Wrathful set is a must.
Helm: Wrathful Gladiator’s Ornamented Headcover
Neck: Wrathful neck with mp5. I’ll list PVE items for every slot if you wish to be a more effective healer on BGs / Blood Queen’s Crimson Choker
Shoulders: Titan-forged Shoulderplates of Salvation gives you 32 mp5 while Wrathful gives you crit.
Cloak: Wrathful Gladiator’s Cloak of Salvation / Cloak of Burning Dusk
Chest: Wrathful Gladiator’s Ornamented Chestguard
Bracers: Wrathful Gladiator’s Bracers of Salvation / Bracers of Fiery Night
Weapon: Wrathful Gladiator’s Salvation / Bloodsurge, Kel’Thuzad’s Blade of Agony
Offhand: Wrathful shield with mp5. Bulwark of Smouldering Steel
Libram: Libram of Blinding Light / Wrathful Gladiator’s Libram of Justice
Gloves: Wrathful Gladiator’s Ornamented Gloves
Best: Wrathful Gladiator’s Girdle of Salvation / Split Shape Belt
Legs: Wrathful Gladiator’s Ornamented Legplates
Boots: Wrathful Gladiator’s Greaves of Salvation / Foreshadow Step
Ring 1: Ashend Band of Endless Wisdom
Ring 2: Ring of the Darkmender / Ring of Phased Regeneration / Wrathful Gladiator’s Band of Dominance
I took the Wrathful ring because of resilience. If I had Wrathful main pieces, I would go for the PVE one.
Trinket 1: Bauble of True Blood
Trinket 2: Solace of the Defeated
BIS for arenas is Bauble because of the instant heal which is so important for Hpalas. You can also go with Solace normal and heroic too. These are a great combo for mana regen.
TALENTS & GLYPHS
5/29/0 is the most common build for Hpala. We don’t need more than ⅗ of Divine Intellect. Also, we take it just to advance to the next talent tier.
Unyielding Faith is important for Hpalas because you will be the main CC target.
Aura Mastery makes you immune to silence or kicks for 6 seconds which can help you to pull out that important heal without being interrupted.
Blessed Hands is a talent not worth taking because you will lose Divine Sacrifice.
Divine Favor will make your next healing spell 100% crit. One of the spells for critical interventions.
Light’s Grace talent is for PVE because you won’t use Holy Light at all since it has a really long cast time.
Holy Shock is an instant healing spell with low CD. Palas without it wouldn’t be possible to play.
All changes you can make in the talent build is to go 5/5 on Holy Guidance if you wish to have more effective heals and go 0/3 on Sacred Cleansing.
Personally, I find Sacred Cleansing talent really great as wound poison can be really tough.
Judgement of the Pure is important to keep your haste boosted.
Infusion of Light gives you a free Flash of Light after Holy Shock crits. So that means you can combine Divine Favor + Holy Shock + Flash of Light for tough situations.
Improved Righteous Fury for 6% less damage taken.
Toughness talent is usele ss and we take ⅕ just to advance and take Hand of Justice and Divine Guardian.
Major Glyphs:
Glyph of Holy Shock
Glyph of Seal of Light
Glyph of Turn Evil / Flash of Light
As Holy Shock is your main healing spell, every second is important. Seal of Light is your main seal with this glyph.
Turn Evil is an important glyph so you can instantly fear warlock pets and DK’s gargoyle. You can also use Glyph of Flash of Light.
Minor Glyphs:
Glyph of Blessing of Kings
Glyph of Blessing of Wisdom
Glyph of the Wise
SPELL REVIEW
Judgements - Use them just to keep your haste buffed by Judgement of the Pure talent.
Holy Light - Your highest healing ability but long cast time. You can combine it with Aura Mastery to prevent yourself from being interrupted.
Flash of Light - Your main casting healing spell. Keep in mind that you will be using this spell a lot as instant cast when Holy Shock crits. Also, targets with Sacred Shield will be healed another 100% over time.
Holy Shock - You will spam this heal almost every time it becomes available. You can use it as a damage spell too.
Hammer of Justice - Stuns enemy for 6 seconds. Use this to prevent other healers from healing their partner or themselves, or to force someone’s trinket fast.
Sacred Shield - Has to always be on the main healing target. Divine Guardian gives it 20% more absorb power and as we said, Flash of Light heals another 100% to targets with Sacred Shield.
Cleanse - Removes 1 poison, disease and magic effect. Can remove paladin stuns or warlock silence, etc… But be careful with some spells like Vampiric Touch from priests as it deals huge damage when it is dispelled.
An even more painful spell to cleanse is Unstable Affliction from affliction warlocks. It deals even more damage and silences you for 5 seconds.
Aura Mastery - Makes you immune to interrupts or silence.
Purify - If you don’t want to risk dispelling Vampiric Touch, use Purify to remove Devouring Plague.
Exorcism - Damage spell
Divine Favor - Makes your next healing spell 100% crit. Make a macro with Holy Shock so you can use one more instant Flash of Light right after.
Holy Wrath - Deals damage and stuns undead and demon enemies. Can be used against warlock pets or DK in Lichborne.
Hand of Freedom - Makes you or your partner immune to movement impairing effects for 10 seconds. You can use it proactively when your DPS needs to score a kill to prevent him from getting slowed, rooted, etc.
Divine Sacrifice - Transfers 30% of your partner’s damage taken to you and he also takes 20% less damage for 6 seconds. Don’t hesitate to use it even at start against some double DPS comps.
Use it to prevent yourself from being Polymorphed or Blinded because it will cancel these effects.
Hammer of Wrath - Damage spell that’s usable on targets under 20% HP.
Avenging Wrath - Increases your damage and healing done by 20% for 20 seconds. You won’t use it much in arenas because if they see wings on you, they will instantly focus you because you cannot use Divine Shield or Hand of Protection.
Divine Plea - Refreshes 25% of your mana but your heals are reduced by 50% for that period. Use it wisely in arenas. Make a cancelaura macro too.
Divine Protection - Against melee classes, I’m always for HoP over Divine Protection but HoP does nothing against casters so DP can do a decent job.
Divine Shield - Makes you immune to everything for 12 seconds. Priests and warriors can dispel this.
Hand of Protection - Makes you immune to all physical attacks. Use it against melee classes and hunters in critical situations. Do not use it against casters!
Beacon of Light - Your target becomes a beacon and whenever you heal someone in a 60 yard radius, Beacon will also be healed for the same amount. In 2v2s, you will use yourself as a beacon.
Turn Evil - Fears demon and undead targets. It has a cast time but with a glyph, it doesn’t. Warlock pets can be tough with charm so this glyph can help you a lot.
Hand of Sacrifice - Also transfers 30% of damage from your partner to you. Use it against Poly, Charm, Blind and when expecting some burst from 2 DPS comps.
Your main seal is Seal of Light but you can also switch to Seal of Wisdom when someone is burning your mana.
Your main aura is Concentration Aura thanks to Improved Concentration Aura talent.
MACROS
#showtooltip Aura Mastery
/cast Aura Mastery
/cast Divine Favor
/cast [nomod] Holy Light
/cast [mod:shift] Flash of Light
I made this Aura Mastery macro for really critical situations. It is combined with Divine Favor. So when you click it, you will activate both AM and DF. You will be immune to silence effects so you can cast Holy Light or Flash of Light(with shift) which will be a critical strike.
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/castsequence Seal of Light, Righteous Fury, Concentration Aura, Greater Blessing of Kings
Just a buff macro whenever you die in a BG, so you don’t have to press each spell again and again.
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#showtooltip
/cast [nomod] Cleanse
/cast [mod:shift, @party1] Cleanse
Cleanse macro for 2v2s. When you press this macro, you will cleanse yourself. Clicking shift + keybind will cleanse your partner without targeting him. You can use [target=mouseover] for BGs.
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#showtooltip
/cast Divine Shield
/cancelaura Divine Shield
Divine Shield and Divine Shield cancelaura macro.
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#showtooltip
/cast Divine Plea
/cancelaura Divine Plea
Divine Plea and its cancelaura macro because of 50% reduced healing when under this effect which can be self-destructing.
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#showtooltip Flash of Light
/cast [nomod] Flash of Light
/cast [mod:shift, @party1] Flash of Light
Same macro as Cleanse, Holy Light, Holy Shock, Sacred Shield so you will switch all these spells with this macro when playing in arenas.
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#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover] Hand of Freedom
Hand of Freedom mouseover macro for BGs/2v2/3v3. You can make your macro the same way I made earlier. The only reason I split this macro is because my keybinds are messed up.
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#showtooltip
/cast [nomod] Hammer of Justice
/cast [mod:shift, @focus] Hammer of Justice
Focus HoJ - You will stun for focus target with shift instead of targeting him.
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#showtooltip Hand of Protection
/cancelaura Hand of Protection
/cast [nomod] Hand of Protection
/cast [mod:shift, @party1] Hand of Protection
/cancelaura Hand of Protection
HoP - Clicking the macro keybind will HoP yourself. Shift + Button will HoP your partner. There is also a cancelaura.
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#showtooltip
/cast [nomod] Hand of Sacrifice
/cast [mod:shift, @party1] Hand of Sacrifice
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#showtooltip
/cast [nomod] Sacred Shield
/cast [mod:shift, @party1] Sacred Shield
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#showtooltip
/cast Divine Favor
/cast [nomod] Holy Shock
/cast [mod:shift, @party1] Divine Favor
This macro is Divine Favor + Holy Shock, so I can get that crucial crit and follow it with another instant Flash of Light.
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#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover] Turn Evil
Mouseover macro for Turn Evil so you don’t have to focus or target pets. Just move your cursor over the pet, click and fear him.
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#showtooltip
/cast [@party1] Bauble of True Blood
Bauble of True Blood macro
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#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover] Cleanse
Mouseover macro for Cleanse.
GAMEPLAY
ARENA 1
We will talk a little bit about arenas in this video since it’s useless to duel as a healing class. Some of these matches are skirmishes, some are at starter rating and some are at 1600 MMR. So I’m not showing how to play at 2k rating or something else because these videos have mistakes which I also see, but we will try to point them out.
First, set Beacon on yourself then you can see if it’s double DPS comp or DPS/heal.
Frost mage and balance druid. You can be Cycloned and Polymorphed so be careful and try to go around the boxes. I accidentally fell down. Don’t trinket either of these.
I used Divine Sacrifice here because next should be Poly on you because of diminishing returns on Cyclone. Dragon’s Breath got canceled by Divine Sacrifice. Fake cast for counters.
Try to always be behind some sort of object so you can heal and not get Polymorphed. Follow your DPS so you can Cleanse him.
I shouldn’t have trinketted this Poly because of Starfall. Use Hand of Sacrifice on your partner because he is at half HP. Also, I should have stunned the druid on his Starfall because his trinket is down.
Try to take a killing blow with Holy Shock and Hammer of Wrath. If this was a critical situation and your partner is low, you could Divine Shield before they Cyclone you. But the warrior was good and knew to pop defensive CDs and kite around.
ARENA 2
We have a holy pala and frost mage here. Try to move out of his Poly range all the time. Just start spamming Cleanse and spam it all the time on your partner.
I also used Hand of Freedom here so my warrior cannot be snared and can pressure the mage. Never trinket pala stun over Poly. Wait for the stun to expire and quickly Divine Sacrifice on your partner to prevent Poly.
Mage is getting low. Go to his healer and stun him.
ARENA 3
Resto druid and arms warrior.
Walk behind the walls and try to avoid Cyclones. Use ‘Red’ Judgement to prevent the druid from running in cat form.
If you have more experience, you can estimate how the fight is going and use HoP to remove Disarm from your warrior.
Cleanse your partner from roots or use HoF to prevent him from getting rooted by Nature’s Grasp.
This was my bad because I went too soft on healing where one Cyclone can end the fight. Use Divine Shield to prevent yourself from being Cyclone and then heal hard.
Nature’s Grasp is up and the druid is half HP, go for HoF on your partner. I stunned him now but he somehow survived that too
ARENA 4
Double melee DPS.
Don’t hesitate to instantly use your Hand of Protection because they went all in. Bloodlust + wolves. Follow it with Divine Sacrifice.
ARENA 5
Instantly Divine Sacrifice because they are 2 DPS and rogue can blind you. Use Holy Shocks and keep dispelling poisons while Sacred Shield must always be up.
Trinket the Blind if needed and put Hand of Freedom on your DPS.
ARENA 6
Holy paladin and hunter.
Use Sacred Shield and start spamming dispel at start. You can dispel Repentance, Hand of Justice, hunter stings, poisons, etc…
Keep moving so that the hunter can’t hit you with a trap.