Nairdin's paladin guide

Posted by GALADOS 27 May 2015

Ok, I've seen a lot of different posts about paladin hunting and I'm seeing the same thing over and over so I'm putting in my two cents because I'm sick of the "Glass Cannon" stereotype most paladins have because they have a 600+ AS but die in just a couple hits.

Keep in mind, we're referring to paladin training for pre cap to cap. (lvl 100)

Weapon Options

First off, let's discuss weapons.

Paladin can be good at any weapon skill because our spells help in so many different ways, you have to take in to consideration lore training carefully for the bonuses from spells, depending on weapon type.

Your weapon is your choice. A paladin can make anything from brawling (utilizing sancted gloves + knuckle-blade + 1618 a paladin can get 5 offensive flares on a single punch, and webbing your foe can tier you up automagically on your second punch! our spells that add DF from Arm of the Arkati (1605) and at least Heavy damage weighting from 1608 make this a viable hunting style), to using a maul or lance. I'll explain when we get to spells.

I was a capped paladin with mace/shield in order to control the variables involved with critter combat as much as I could for a long time, and this works out great! (crush only damage, best fatal crit percentage for head/neck shots) I have also used edged&shield/pole/brawl&shield and THW with katana, claid, mattock and maul. I prefer brawling as a personal preference and for my RP.

Training Dilemma

Growing up as a paladin, you have to choose. "Do I want extremely high AS, or massive DS and an average AS?" the answer is simple. If you kill stuff in 1-2 hits with a 300+ endroll, do you really need a 350+ endroll? or is survivability more important to you? Some prefer the method of training Religion lore for Zealot and adding massive AS, but so much is lost, DS loss from not having a shield and lower DS from having a lower Blessings lore is only a portion of it (see above "Glass cannon" reference). If you train 65 Blessings lore, you'll have at LEAST a 34% chance to outright block in offensive not considering the unknown stat bonus (assuming tower shield 5% and 2x shield training 10%, +19% chance from 1609 + stat bonus?). That's HUGE!!

Lore Training

Lores grow more and more important as you near cap and are getting diminishing returns from other skills. I recommend minimal lore training, maybe .5x, until you have 35 ranks paladin spells for Divine Intervention (Beseech) and 20 ranks of Minor Spirit for 120's nice DS/Spirit TD bonus. After that you can choose more lores or more paladin spells, but Wall of Force (140) is only really viable if you stay in chain hauberk. The casting RT from keeping Faith's Clarity (1603) up all the time for low spell hindrance in plate is just too dangerous in a swarm.

At cap 65 Blessings, 30 Religion and 15 Summoning is perfect. Train more lores post-cap.

Blessings Lore

Why 65 ranks of Blessings Lore?

• +15 DS through Mantle of Faith (1601).
• Adds +6 targets to open casting Pious Trial (1602).
• Extra 36% chance for a second flare though Consecrate (1604) or a bonded weapon that inherits the Consecrate flares at rank 2 bonding.
• Extra healing from Rejuvenation (1607) is useful sometimes. Mostly I use 1607 for the stamina gained and stamina regen when I need to mstrike 5x in a row on a swarm.)
• Beacon of Courage (1608) is one of my favorite new changes. If for nothing else, use this for swarms, invasions and warcamps. This does make everything you ward only attack you, so careful not to hit your warrior friend with it in a warcamp or you'll find his Berserk aimed right at you!! This spell also gives 60 seconds of ignoring Force on Force mechanics for +6 additional foes over your Multi Opponent Combat (MoC) training! WOW!
• Divine Shield (1609) adds +19% chance to block, which is enormous!
• You get +9 more phantom Cman ranks from Patron's Blessing (1611).
• A max effect of +20 DS from Guard the Meek (1613)
• +10 Health points from Vigor (1616)
• And best of all... an unknown addition to the Heavy Damage Weighting already given by Crusade (1618).

Religion Lore

Why 30 ranks of Religion Lore?

• 85% chance to make a target kneel with Divine Strike (1615)/Judgment (1630). Both are awesome, no doubt. I use 1615 when I need something (quickly fading enemies like spectral triton defenders in Nelemar) to stay in RT after I kill them to be able to search them with a 5-8 second RT from my mstrike. This strategy ONLY works if 1615 makes the target kneel. If the target is already down, it does not cause RT. This is important to remember because if you need something to not attack for 10 seconds or so, this is your best bet. I don't think 1630 causes RT or at least not as much RT, even when it makes the target kneel.
• Higher Vision (1610): +4 more DS (seed 5)
• Aura of the Arkati (1614): A PALADIN'S BEST FRIEND!! USE THIS SPELL OFTEN! 30 religion ranks will give you the max DS pushdown on this spell of 15%. There is a trick to 1614. This spell is most effective against critters/player characters in a defensive stance! The penalties for a failed warding on this spell are taken off by a percentage, but if a critter loses 75 DS due to 1614 in defensive, they keep that loss of 75 DS in offensive when they switch. If you catch them in offensive, the effect on DS won't be as much but the evade/block/parry penalties they take are what REALLY make this spell special. Wanna hit critters 90%+ of the time instead of getting evaded/blocked/parried? Use 1614.
• Zealot (1617): A great boost for post-cap paladins to work on. Not a NEEDED spell although most paladins (remember the term for these guys?) use it. WE'RE NOT REFERRING TO A 2X OR 3X CAPPED PALADIN. We're referring to someone newly capped or growing. Remember, it's a guide, not a manual.
• Crusade (1618): Religion lore adds an unknown chance of potential for flares.
• Faith Shield (1619): A novelty spell really useful in a few situations ... usually invasions or PvP against a pure/semi. +12 more TD over the base 50.
• Divine Word (1640): 2x per day with 30 ranks religion, 3x with 40. Have a cleric do it. you can't use Chrisms anyway and it doesn't fill your head.

Summoning Lore

Why 15 ranks of Summoning Lore?

Easy. Specifically, 15 ranks because I like to be able to cast Web (118) without having to stance down first. Once you get 20 ranks of summoning lore web becomes a bolt spell. Paladins don't bolt. (Editor's note: the Web spell has been updated since this guide was written and Paladins can cast the warding version from any stance.)

Having 15 ranks also gives bonuses to:

• 1602: adds +1 RT for a total +3 on a failed warding roll.
• 1603: max benefit.
• 1604: Increases damage done by plasma flares from 1604 or paladin bonding rank 2.
• 1605: +2% DF. The next DF bonus is 18 ranks. You can move here for the extra 1% DF but... meh.
• Sanctify (1625): Mana capacity of the bonded weapon is increased by +1 per rank, level of spell that can be infused is increased. Holds 20 charges of 1602 at 15 summoning ranks, which is what I use (gainst defenders to slow them down even more. Beseech weapon, attack, 1615, mstrike will usually take out a defender without given them a chance to attack more than once and give you plenty of time to search them (about 12-13 seconds).

Other Skills

Remember, just a guide, not a manual of how you MUST do it.

Combat Maneuvers

1x Combat Maneuvers (cman) to cap, then work on it as a post-cap goal when you can. You need the cman points. Don't listen to people that say it's a waste because you get "132 phantom cman that's capped at the 202 bonus for maneuver defense and open ambush." So what? You're not getting 162 ranks of paladin spells for that bonus ANY TIME SOON. Get the 101 cmans and eventually 202 post-cap. With the training suggested here you will have 42 phantom cman ranks from 1611 at cap.

Physical Fitness

1x Physical Fitness to cap, make it a first priority to 2x post-cap.

Armor Use

Armor Use. This is a big debate. Growing up, it's easier hunting if you use your set up spells like 118 and 1614. These are heavy on mana but SUPER effective and 1614 is area wide so works great in a swarm. 118 is better growing up 1 on 1. It lowers a critter DS enough that you can usually one-shot em.

My advice is this: If you use a shield, get to 80 ranks and stay in chain hauberk for a while until you have more TP's to spare after training spells/lores. If you use THW/pole, decide what you're going to sacrifice to get 150 ranks of armor use ASAP because if you're not in plate, you're probably dead. (Probably dead on a regular basis anyway, unless trained perfectly. What was that phrase again? "Glass cannon"?)

Multi Opponent Combat

60 ranks when you hit cap. 3x mstrike is plenty until post-cap for a paladin with our DF and Damage weighting bonuses. If you need more FoF you have spells for that.

Dodging and Shield Use

Train one or the other 2x, you can train the other post-cap.

Spiritual Mana Control

24 ranks, or 25 if you want to multicast

Perception

1x

Climbing and Swimming

1x to 60-65 depending on your preference.

Spells

• MnS: 20 ranks (at cap)
• Paladin Spells: 40 ranks (at cap)

Harness Power

1x

Ambush

40 ranks

Survival and First Aid

• Survival: .5x
• First aid: whatever you can spare.

Arcane Symbols

Arcane Symbols is a good idea to put ALL remaining TP's into because this will increase your spell burst for OTF/Nelemar and you can wear more outside spells. 101 is a good goal but hard to reach.

Magic Item Use

MIU: Same as arcane symbols.

If you know a good sorcerer who can unlock scrolls, (Insert free advertising for Allereli here) focus more on arcane symbols.

If you prefer mage rechargeables and imbeds, train more MIU.

Cmans, Shield Use and Armor Specializations

Really can vary on what type of weapon combination you use.

Do your research. Test different skills. Migrating cmans sucks but it's worth seeing for yourself what's effective and what's not.

Armor skills: Armored Fluidity.

Hunting

Paladin life is easy.

Growing up, you don't have much mana so make it count. You can ward almost anything your level or a little higher so use that to your advantage. Set up entire rooms with 1614 then open mstrike, use web if you are in hauberk (for low spell hindrance using web.) against single foes and lop off some heads with open ambush. If in plate just stick to 1614. Web is more expensive, but a little more effective.

At cap... Be in plate. 1614/open ambush works great, so does mstrike. I'm not gonna go into details for this because you're cap. If you don't know how to hunt well by now, you need more than a guide, you need a mentor. Post-cap you can train more armor use, but you're still going to want to use 1603 because MnS hindrance sucks. With 150 ranks armor use and rank 5 armor fluidity, MnS is 88% without 1603, 2% with it. Paladin hindrance is 8%. 0 with 1603 up (lasts 30 seconds).

Spells to Keep Up

Stackables:

101, 103, 107, 115, 120

1601, 1605, 1606, 1609, 1610, 1611, 1612, 1613, 1616.

Short duration spells:

• Spirit Strike (117) - +75 AS for 1 swing plus a chance to activate a second, third or even fourth swing because... you guessed it... Blessings lore!
• 1603 - greatly reduces spell hindrance for paladin and MnS spells.
• 1607 - this spell is overlooked often. Gives a bonus to stamina instantly gained AND stamina regen, as well as healing you a bit. this is good to use in situations like where you mstrike confirm a room full of grimswarm 3x in a row, cast 1607 and suddenly you have full stamina again and mstrike 5x more before running out of steam and having to rest your mstrike for 10 seconds or so between strikes.
• 1608 - Ignore FoF for extra opponents, make everything not grouped to you target only you. Let's see a warrior block do that! The FoF offset effect lasts 60 seconds.
• 1617 - Cannot be used if 1609 is up. Good for those hunts when you need more AS, but are good on DS
• 1618 - This one's tricky but if used right, gives at least HDW plus an unknown blessings lore bonus to the weighting. Lasts 1 minute, has a total 3 minute cooldown. 1 minute on, 2 off. If cast before the cooldown the mana cost increases by 9 for each subsequent cast (18, 27, 36, etc.)
• 1619: novelty/invasion/pvp against pures/semis

Please read through the section on lores for some more specific hunting tweaks and strategies using spells to your advantage.

Yes, I know I didn't cover everything. It's after midnight and I've gotta be at work in 2 hours!

This is my short little paladin training guide. Tear it apart, Take my advice, or... don't. Up to you.

I didn't spell check either so... haha.

Enjoy

~Nairdin