I know it’s been awhile since my last post, but I’m back on track again! Before I get started, let’s quickly recap the previous articles of this three part series. Paladins like any other class, despite popular belief, are easy to initially play but rather difficult to master. This class has a variety of tools and weapons it can utilize in the arena that no other can provide, such as Blessing of Freedom (immunity to movement impairment), Divine Shield (god-mode), powerful heals (Holy Light and Flash of Light), and Blessing of Protection (Immune to Physical Damage). With perks like those, it’s easy to see why Paladins are a widely represented class in the arena scene. Although Paladins do get the shaft in 2v2 arena for the most part, mainly because the Druid class dominates with its CC, HoTs, and survivability, they are viable when paired with certain classes such as a Warrior or Warlock (SL/SL). Because of these two classes survivability, the Paladin can pair perfectly with them in 2v2 and success for the most part follows.

So what about 5v5, how do Paladins fare? If you’re new to the Arena scene, or just haven’t bothered to look, Paladins are extremely well represented in the 5v5 arena. Unlike the 2v2 scene where you are, obviously, limited to a Paladin and X (for your partner), in 5v5, you can almost never go wrong with bringing a Paladin on board. In 2v2, the main reason why Paladins may not be used is due to their lack of offensive abilities, lack off CC, and/or vulnerability to being interrupted while casting. However, this situation differs very much in the 5v5 arena. As stated before, the Paladin class can provide to a team: steady, effective heals, clutch Blessing of Protections, Blessing of Freedom, a 5 second stun, occasional cleanses (pending on a team’s makeup) and Divine Shield. And if one adds another healer to the team, you’re looking at a very solid team already. Even if the Paladin is the only healer while running a 4-dps team, with the precise execution of CC from the team, the paladin will be able to provide reliable healing.

Let’s take a look at two common team compositions consisting of a Paladin in the 5v5 arena, and the raw potential the Paladin has for each team. Although I want to say that a Paladin in all of these teams will fair equally, that would be just lying. So, I will discuss what most likely will be expected of the Paladin in each team, and if teams had an alternative option (instead of using a Paladin):

Warrior/Mage/Shaman/Priest/Paladin

This team composition is your standard cookie-cutter lineup (2345). This team functions on the 1 form of CC they have from the Mage, the heavy burst, totems, and Purges from the Shaman, the constant pressure by the Warrior, the offensive/defensive Dispels from the Priest, and the constant healing from the Paladin.

If you play in this makeup, then you know that your Priest will be your best friend, and that your Priest should be always be alive unless certain situations hinder you from doing this. The Priest will provide you with Dispels from Polymorphs, and other forms of CC. If the Priest isn’t kiting, he/she is Mana Burning, and vice versa. So the majority of the healing will be done by you, the Paladin. Your job is to keep your team alive (main priority), provide Blessing of Freedom (BoF) to team members who need it (recall that BoF has slightly longer CD now, so it would be wise to choose when to use BoF), and keep yourself from getting Mana Burned or CC’d when possible (using Line of Sight - LoS). If you see a party member getting heavily beaten on, you can HoJ an opposing player who would be effectively contributing to your teammate’s demise. A well placed HoJ can make or break games in some cases. Take for example, your team feels that they have an opportunity to kill someone right now, if you can HoJ a healer, you would be greatly contributing to your team’s success. Or even if you HoJ a Warrior who’s chasing your Priest, it provides your teammate with time to gain some distance from the opposing team’s Warrior.

Paladins in similar team compositions to this standard lineup will utilize the same strategies as stated above in general.

Team lineup fit for Paladin? Yes. Although a Druid can substitute for a Paladin, this team pairs well with a Paladin, especially with the second healer present. Paladins would be harder to CC because of the Priest’s ability to dispel the CC, for the most part. Another thing, is Paladins can give your team mobility and thus, increasing the survivability and offense of certain members on the team.

Shadow Priest/Warlock/Warlock/Rogue/Paladin

A relatively popular 4-dps team. In general, the Paladin would be a primary target of CC since the Paladin is the only healer. Locking down the Paladin would be detrimental to the team and can even cost the game for the most part. However, there is some potential in the team if the Paladin Divine Shield’s offensively, calling for a mass dispel from the opposing team, however, if the team fails to do so, this would mean your team would have to really knock out an opposing player quickly or harsh consequences could arise. Usually to prevent the Paladin from being shutdown, CC on your team would have to be at its best. An error could potentially cause the game, since your risking all your healing on a class which can be easily interrupted, however, if the Paladin is mindful of his/her situations, CC could be avoid—although, there are some cases where it would be truly impossible without facing some serious consequence. Luckily, the team has a Silence, Rogue-control, Fear, and 2 Spell Locks/Deathcoils.

Team lineup fit for Paladin? Yes. Now, note this is just my opinion, but I feel there might a better choice for this team composition. A Druid would be able to provide an additional form of CC (Cyclone, Entangling Roots), HoTs, and probably one of the hardest to CC in comparison to a Paladin. The Paladin can still work for this team, it just depends on how good your CC is for one thing, and the teams you play against. If you’re playing against a standard 2,3,4,5, then a Paladin would suffice.

These are just two common teams that you may have seen while playing in the 5v5 arena. Of course there are others:

• Warrior/Warlock/Mage/Priest/Paladin
• Rogue/Warlock/Mage/Priest/Paladin
• Rogue/Warlock/Shadow Priest/Shaman/Paladin
• Warrior/Warrior/Priest/Shaman/Paladin
• Warrior/Warlock/Shaman/Priest/Paladin
• Warrior/Hunter/Mage/Shaman/Paladin
• Warrior/Hunter/Mage/Priest/Paladin
• Warrior/Warlock/Mage/Druid/Paladin

The list goes on and on, but these are just some of the typical team lineups you may encounter higher up in the arena bracket. However, there are still some oddball teams which make it to the top such as a ‘Warlock/Mage/Shaman/Druid/Priest’ team I know of.

Paladins are great healers. They, like every other class, have there downsides but should not be overlooked as a potential asset because of the wide variety of skills this class has to offer. Because of this, Paladins have thrived in the 5v5 Arena as a key component to most teams’ success.

Tags: Paladin · 5v5 · Articles

19 Responses to “2v2 & 5v5: Viability of Paladins in Arena, Part 3”

1. velmyn Says:
   November 8th, 2007 at 4:50 pm

   I’d really love to see a few arena videos w/ commentary.. =) The second article especially gives some valuable tips on the popular warrior/paladin warlock/paladin setups and I’d very much like to see a bit more of this.

   Keep it up!

2. Fujindesu Says:
   November 8th, 2007 at 7:57 pm

   Paladins is the second worst healer in 2v2 next to shamans. putting a paladin in a gib 5v5 isn’t smart either, druids fits that role better. One curse of tongue will completely shutdown a pally, the only saving grace is Divine Shield and hope opponent doesn’t have a priest. Druids and Priests are also getting +15% more survivability in 5v5’s (if you focus fire them) making plate healers even more obsolete, don’t be surprised teams will start focus killing paladins now that druids and priests are harder to kill.

3. Anoximon Says:
   November 8th, 2007 at 8:42 pm

   Blizzard is slowly but surely phasing paladin out. I’ll admit that paladin are amazing in 5v5, but my only positive experience has been from dual paladin healer 5v5s. Two Holy paladin can keep their team - and each other - alive forever. Paladin that are on teams with a druid or a priest off-healer often find themselves the only healers while the priest or druid tries to stay alive under focused fire.

   Though, as Fujindesu has pointed out, druids and priests are getting a considerable amount more survivability, and while paladin will still be very welcome in 5v5, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a huge drop-off of paladin representation in 3v3 and especially 2v2.

   I also wouldn’t ever consider paladin heals to be “powerful heals”. Flash of Light is the weakest 1.5 second cast heal (and is weaker than 1 application of Lifebloom) and any paladin who has his head screwed on straight will never use Holy Light unless absolutely, completely, direly necessary. It takes too long to cast, screams for an interrupt and eats through a paladin’s mana like crazy.

   Add in how easily interrupted paladin are, and a complete lack of instant heals or HoTs, and all you have is a plate wearing target with a few nifty tricks that are easily (and often) dispelled before they’re even put to good use.

   So long as druids and priests keep getting buffed, paladin will find themselves closer and closer to the unemployment line.

4. Betazero Says:
   November 8th, 2007 at 9:54 pm

   On my pally i run with a UA warlock so I tell the warlock to put UA on every target and I stand there in front of the priest hoping that he would mass dispel it.

5. jaddboy Says:
   November 9th, 2007 at 7:48 am

   First off to Anoximon, you are an idiot. Yes, I’m sure Blizz is slowing doing away with Paladins. Please, get a life.

   The game is not balanced around 2v2 or 3v3!

   Paladins are still the staple of 5v5 healing, and even in 4dps teams they are a good choice, even against a team with a priest waiting to mass dispel. It’s often the choice a priest needs to make: help heal the teamate being focused or try and dispel a shield. Either way it can be good for the gib team.

   Good article and thanks!

6. TheJib Says:
   November 9th, 2007 at 10:24 am

   I agree, thanks for the article. Personally, I think that paladins need to get an instant cast heal that is better than Holy Shock. When I say “better”, I mean smaller cool down, and bigger, something that is more along the lines of FOL size. I play a paladin on a 4dps team, and It’s just too easy for other teams to Spell Lock, Counter Spell, etc. me when I’m trying to get a crucial heal off. Giving paladins a weak instant cast HOT would get the job done too. I was very excited when they announced Diminishing Returns on interrupt and silence effects. Then they got rid of it. In my opinion paladin vulnerability to interrupts is by far the biggest weakness of paladins in arena.

   The second biggest issue that confronts paladins (I have primarily noticed this in 2v2 and 3v3) is our inability to move and Kite. In 2v2 especially a druid healer can throw out a HOT then run around in bear form, being disruptive, and VERY difficult to kill by Melee classes. Paladins on the other hand, end up standing there and taking it, because they can’t cast on the run. I could be full of it, but those are just my observations.

7. TheJib Says:
   November 9th, 2007 at 10:25 am

   Also, Thanks for the Article, Keep the pally info coming. I would LOVE to see a vid with commentary from the paladin perspective.

8. NevaEvaStop Says:
   November 9th, 2007 at 11:38 am

   With the upcoming patch increasing an already overpowered healing class (druid) and making another healing class that can be considered balanced with there dangerous mana burns and there ability to HoT and mass dispel, it would only make sense and be fair to buff paladins so they have something beneficial to the arena since they are already considered the underdogs of the 2 vs 2 and 3 vs 3’s and now also debatable on the 5 vs 5 with the new patch. Paladins need to receive a HoT, another CC, perhaps a longer HoJ time, and shorter cooldown, (not to mention my HoJ is resisted 2 out of 5 times, basically giving paladins zero cc capablity) or an instant heal. I am a paladin with a 2vs2 of 1950 rating, 3vs3 2100 and 5 vs 5 1900, I wouldn’t be surprised that after this patch I can no longer achieve those ratings due to other healers that I am already struggling to keep up with, soon to completely destroy and diminish any chances of a win.

9. Orrah Says:
   November 9th, 2007 at 12:33 pm

   It’s pretty late in season 2 but If I make a video of PVE Clickers (Warrior/Hunter/Priest/Mage/Paladin) I guess I could post it here.

   But yea, paladins pretty much get shafted in 2s and prolly 3s unless ur running w/ another healer or 1.5 healer setup. (eleshaman/priest) and those makeups aren’t that great.

10. Zure Says:
    November 9th, 2007 at 12:40 pm

    Anyone looking for videos would be wise to check out Team Pandemic’s web site.

    http://www.teampandemic.net/features/73

    He gets spell locked exactly zero times in the video if I recall correctly.

    It’ worth noting that while paladins are certainly weaker now than they were in S1, the metagame still largely revolves around them. Teams benefit from running with two offensive dispelers due to BoP/BoF. 4 DPS teams are magic-centric for the same reason: a protected BoP is devastating. Mages and warlocks make their living in 5s from controlling paladins.

    Ironically, as paladins become objectively weaker, and the metagame shifts to building teams that deal well with other healers, paladins will see a few of their big problem classes in arenas become less numerous.

    And paladins are getting a few indirect buffs. For example, the removal of detect magic really only operates to help cleanse, as a priest’s dispel removes two buffs at a time. Blizzard has removed the DR on spell locks for the moment, but it’ clear that eventually something will be done about it. This well be a huge boon for the class.

    And paladins can still shine in the 2v2 bracket. Some of their abilities, notably JoJ, are dramatically stronger in the 2s than in the 5s. I see paladin as still being a very strong combination with warriors and warlocks and gaining the ability to partner well with hunters.

11. Breaky Says:
    November 9th, 2007 at 2:28 pm

    Ya, sck is a pretty damn good healer!

12. Orrah Says:
    November 10th, 2007 at 3:03 am

    Zure, did you even watch the video? He never got counterspelled / spellocked because the team they played (cutebabyelephants) was using a felguard warlock…not a felhunter, nor did they have a mage. /FACEPALM

13. Anoximon Says:
    November 10th, 2007 at 7:31 pm

    jaddboy, thank you for the kind words. You’re the first person I’ve ever seen unleash a personal attack on another poster. Congratulations! If I need to get a life, you certainly need to grow up.

    And yes, Paladin are being phased out as healers. Show me one buff that Holy paladin have gotten since BC has come out. They’ve gotten none. All that’s happened is that priests and druids have been getting more and more buffs to increase their survivability, and the removal of Detect Magic is only going to make it easier for paladin buffs to be negated.

    So please tell me how I’m being an idiot, because I’d really love to know. Seems to me that Blizzard hasn’t done a SINGLE thing to help Holy paladin, and ya know what? I’m right.

14. Naytball Says:
    November 12th, 2007 at 2:58 pm

    HAHA, all you guys who are doubting the standard Holy Pally are DEAD wrong. In 90% of all of the arena battles I run, I am the last man standing. Plate healers can take a hit or 10. A great strategy for our team, (whether it be 2v2, 3v3, or the 5v5) is to try to make me an attractive target (FF) to start the match. Besides the buffs I can offer, I have an arena trinket, BoF, Divine Shield, BoP, and Cleanse. My teams love me. My personal win ratio is much higher than if other players take my place.

    I do feel that the Ret Pally’s see the shaft IMO, but I am glad to see there is something else that is atleast being done about it.

    Unless the matches are poorly played or there is an idiot playing the Pally class, I think you guys need a reality check. What is the most important thing to have in any kind of PvE or PvP match? Survivability. Guess what guys, Pally’s have that down.

    Great combos for teams? Here is our usual line up

    2v2: Pally/Warlock
    3v3: Pally/Warlock/Hunter
    5v5: Pally/Mage/Hunter/Warlock/Warrior

    Very effective. I am not here to argue, but to dismiss that rumor of phasing Pally’s out. So you guys can go ahead then and keep thinking that the Pally’s are less and less important. See where it will get you! (!.!)

15. Fujindesu Says:
    November 14th, 2007 at 11:43 am

    to TheJib

    paladin isn’t nearly as good as druid in kiting, but if you find yourself in trouble in 2v2 with a warrior/rogue on you, you should try judgment of justice on them and run away in a straight line. (assuming they don’t have a dispeller, and you have run speed enchant)

16. NoCheese Says:
    November 15th, 2007 at 3:02 am

    Thanks for the nice post.
    I admit that I share the same feelings that paladin are having increasingly difficulties in keeping the pace with the buffs given to priest and druids.
    The main problem is that survivability of the paladins is overestimated. What is it worth to survive if your heals are constantly stopped (cyclo, fear, charge, kick…) or if you are steadily in spell lock? Furthermore, you can also be the last one standing but without any mana. In contrast to any other healing class, the paladins have great difficulties in getting their mana back once they have been drained/mana burned or even forced to powerful holy light from the healing debuffs. Also the Divine Shield is so overestimated. I agree that is a really powerful tool but do you know many matches that end within 12 sec? Imagine if the mage ice block would be available every 5 minutes…lol
    The first season was somehow better because people where trying to kill paladins which do have great survivability but now the best way is just to control them. As it is well posted above the paladins heals rely on the ability of your team to shield you from cc effects, but than why not just replace the paladin by druid or priest? They also need their team to shield them but they can play much better with LOS because they have the ability of immediate healing with time, they can also recover mana more easily and they can cc and mana burn the other team…
    I think that our heals are not powerful enough, especially when considering the healing debuffs… As it is so difficult for a paladin to cast an heal without interruption the power of this spell should be consequently increased (or the power of the healing dots should be strongly decreased…). But I think this is not going to happen to balance the PVE . Another more realistic possibility would be to have some talents points to reduce the chance of being interrupted during an heal…but in any case I do not think that blizz is going to do anything about that… Well gl to all  for the next season… I hope somebody will post some good ideas on how to avoid constant spell interruption here…

17. Naytball Says:
    November 15th, 2007 at 11:51 am

    about “NoCheese’s” comment…and to everyone else that reads it

    You are right, sometimes it is tough to heal when you are constantly the focus of stuns and kicks, cyclones, charge, fear,etc… However just a couple of thoughts that come to mind in those situations.
    1. If there is a person or 2 who are focusing on taking me (Holy Pally) out with those exact tactics, (most often) they have lost some of the focus of the other members of their team. I feel that the teams I run with are good enough with FF that the distraction is long enough for us to either take another person out, or most of the way. (At the same time if needed I can heal myself or bubble)
    2. I’m not sure what the term for it is exactly, but everytime I get sheeped, feared, cycloned, etc… each time the count gets lower and lower that I am cc’d. I have never seen my self sheeped more than 3 times in a single match. I can take care of the first 2 with my trinket and bubble. If I happen to get a 3rd it’s only for about 2 sec.
    3. There ARE a few talents (yes from the talent trees) that pally’s have that help with Stun resist, and if we get stunned, the amount of time stunned.
    4. Not super important, but nice… Dwarfs have stoneform which takes off all poison and movement restricing effects with a 2 min CD. It even has a chance to remove Mortal Strike believe it or not!
    True, is seems to be that Pally’s are somewhat falling behind, but they have always been a royal pain in the rear to take care of :p
    One thing that I am VERY happy to report is that there is now the +spell damage that is 1/3rd of the +heal you have on your items. When I am +1650 heal, and with some of the gear I have, it gives me +680 to damage. That may really help in PvE, but it could be the tide turner in PvP as well

18. NoCheese Says:
    November 21st, 2007 at 7:34 am

    Thx for the reply natyball. I agree with u that in general it is possible to somehow resist the first 30 - 40 seconds of the game using trinket and bubble. Nevertheless, our games are usually taking 2 - 3 minutes. That leaves me without any way of removing the CC for 2 minutes at least…or five considering the cd of the bubble…I think my team is ok but against 2 healers they have really hard time killing one target in less than a minute therefore I get continuosly cc the rest of the match. To do this the other team has just to use only 1 player either a frost mage (sheep/couterspell), a druid(cyclo/charge)or a rogue (kick/stunlock). I do try to play with the LOS and I have the talent in stoicism to reduce stun chance but it is just not possible. The mage can blink whereever I am, the druid and the rogue just steal and appear at my back at the right time…the only possibility is that my team kill one of them fast enough and takes care of the one controlling me thereafter. yesterday we had some matches and with the new pain suppresion and holy infusion it is really hard to nuke a target down really fast.

19. Kaitlin Ijams Says:
    August 31st, 2011 at 12:47 am

    Awesome, Thx!

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