20+ AOE farming

[misterman1116]

I'm looking for some good advice on paladin leveling for 20+. I have just talented Consecration and am starting to research good areas to farm. I believe some of the undead, cemetary areas in Duskwood would probably be a good start for early 20s. I'm shooting for mostly undead camps but that is obviously not going to be always plausible. Is there a guide for 1.12 paladin AOE farming out there, somewhere?

[JCarrill0]

I haven't written any Paladin AoE grinding guides in a long time!

At level 20 it's good to have 11 into holy for the Consecration ability. 5 into divine str, 5 into divine int for if you plan Ret, or 5 into imp SoR if you plan to go prot.
If you plan to go holy fully, you want 5 div int, 5 spi focus.

Now for AoE Grinding, a Paladin wants to be Prot. I've seen people go full holy to also heal dungeons, but TBH, you can tank better as AoE plus dungeon you can TANK the dungeon.

I don't have a lot of time today, but I will give you a run down of a few place at the top of my head, plus a overall Talent Build to play with as you level.

• 1-10 - obvious choice is your starting area, then spread out to your starting zone. The yellow mobs will always yeild the most exp. Wolves give the best in both zones, followed by the boars later on. When you get right down to the last bit before level 10, Trolls for Dwarven area, and the Defias/Gnolls for the Humans makes the best place to grind till level 10. Since I plan a human I would recommend the Stone Cairne Lake.
  
• 10-20 - No brainer here but westfall hands down has the best places to grind mobs. the Harvest Workers are the best exp, but already heavily farmed. Try the boars once again but Gnolls will be your best bet.
  If you want to try Loch Modan, go for it, but you wont find good exp, but the Kobalds make great AoE mobs as well.
  
• 20-30 - This starts to expand all over. Wetlands is always a great place killing Murlocs (so long as your smart and don't overwhelm yourself. (this is the reason i don't recommend then in Elwynn because you have no AOE). Gnolls are also great in wetlands but normally AoE farmed by frost mages so watch out for the competition.
  If wetlands doesn't work out, Try Duskwood. Raven Hill is awesome for paladin AoE, but they can overwhelm you fast with the worms. Make sure you ret aura is up for them and you should be ok, Watch your mana too, killing the undead mobs and then having no mana to AoE the worms could kill you.
  If Wetlands prove to be too busy, and Duskwood too challenging my last place I would try is Ashenvale, its a HUGE and plenty of places to AoE, Naga make great AoE, but... lil exp. you can try the demon area but they are pretty tough as is, but should be open, Watch out for horde though. They is plenty of places to AoE, but you gotta keep your guard up at all times, and you don't get as much exp in that zone as the others per kill.
  
• 30-40 If you dont first thing of STV then your not going to find a great place for AoE, much like Ashenvale, STV is a major PvP zone. Aoe and exp is the best place hands down but it's just making sure you dont get ganked. Tiger, raptors, and Trolls all make good exp for AoE, but again horde gankers.. GG
  If you want to avoid STV like other who hate PvP when leveling, Try Alteric, it has some elite which isn't good for AoE, but the syndicate can give good exp if you can gather them up. The Animals are ok but are too spread out for AoE, plus they give ok EXP, just not for an AoE Grinder.
  Other places you can try is Desolace but for me everything is too spread out. I do remember doing Shimmering flats as well, but again for me they are too spread out. if all else fails, Try Swamp of Sarrows.
  
• 40-50 - Badlands is great, Searing gorge is you dare higher level mobs, Ferlas as well as Hinderlands, both equal places for AoE grinding. Horde will be everywhere but that is to be considered. Tanaris is easier then the rest that I mentioned but not as much exp. Spread out to zone, find a great AoE spot, and grind away.
  (TBH, I did most of my AoE grinding in dungeons at this point)
  
• 50-60, Pretty simple. WPL/EPL - Paladin vs undead GG.
  Wintersping/Silithus also make great areas, but not as easy for a paladin. You can try burning Steps and Seaging Gorge but again I recommend WPL/EPL
  Last but not least - At this point I would start to gear up in BRD till you have every single item you want from there, either ret gear, Healing gear, or tanking gear. BRD is a great palce to find groups, Nice EXP, Pre-raid quests, you name it!

I know this was a rough Guide, and I apologize, I'm sure there is PLENTY of other people that can offer more Advise then I can, but since no one has replied, I figured I'd toss a few coins into this wishing well for ya.

I leave you with a nice Prot Paladin AoE/Tanking Talent Build to look over as you Level up. Enjoy!

Subject: Tankadin - Dungeon Tanking gear guide.

Talent Spec:

• Base - 31 Points to start with, play with the rest
  
• 11/31/9 - The Talent spec I have chosen to use
  (HERE is a picture of the talent build, credit goes to Cysthlen)
  
• 13/38/0 - Alternate build to use

PS - The alternative build (13/38/0) is what I used to AoE grind mobs. Putting 11 into holy, the rest into prot and my last 2 points back into Holy for Imp Lay on hands when 58+ got rough.

[Karnus]

I am also wondering this. I am currently level 31 and will be respeccing to prot shortly to try out some AOE and dungeon tanking.

however I am unsure whether to go for consecration straight away or skip it and head for blessing of sanctuary, or whether I should be stacking intellect and take divine intellect over divine strength in favour of improved seal of righteousness OOORRRR take divine strength and divine intellect.

I'm a little confused

[JCarrill0]

I am also wondering this. I am currently level 31 and will be respeccing to prot shortly to try out some AOE and dungeon tanking.

however I am unsure whether to go for consecration straight away or skip it and head for blessing of sanctuary, or whether I should be stacking intellect and take divine intellect over divine strength in favour of improved seal of righteousness OOORRRR take divine strength and divine intellect.

I'm a little confused

read my post above yours

[Karnus]

Ah sorry I misread your post, you say go divine str, imp sor and consecration.

I would be concerned about running into mana issues, as your guide focuses on strength, defence and stamina as primary stats. Or is that a non issue as blocking does most of the damage rather than spells etc?

[JCarrill0]

Ah sorry I misread your post, you say go divine str, imp sor and consecration.

I would be concerned about running into mana issues, as your guide focuses on strength, defence and stamina as primary stats. Or is that a non issue as blocking does most of the damage rather than spells etc?

Depends... Did you want to go prot? Str gives extra block which helps with your spell later on (BoSanc/HolyShield etc), My talent builds are what with benefit you the most, I also posted if you go ret to go both Div int/Div Str since ret doesnt use the SoR when they have SoC. If mana issues are a problem for you, consider going that route. SoR is only extra for threat, If that's not an issue, go with both Div Str/Int

Edit: I will also add, If you still having mana issues, down rank your AoE spell. Also Benediction from Ret talents will help when judging spells. Prot Tanks use it later on, but I don't think its needed untill prot/Holy trees are used first.

I'd also mention, on this server I am leveling up. I am not prot, I'm holy. I heal dungeons for the most part (lack of healers), but I have also tank them as holy since I have the gear for it (when tanks can't be found). My wife and I level and she is a shadow priest, when we run dungeons, I tank while she heals (easier to find 3 dps instead of finding a tank). With my spec, I can tank the dungeon, heal it (which is what I go for) or just DPS is since I can AoE (and under 40 I normally top the dmg meters just cuz of my aoe). Mana isn't an issue for me. I just drink when the casters/healers do.

[Theloras]

Benediction is bugged here on Nostalrius I'm afraid:

3. Benediction talent is not affecting mana cost
https://forum.nostalrius.org/viewtopic. ... ion#p71751

Paladin talent Benediction doesn't affect Seal of Crusader and Seal of Command. By tooltip it has to affect.
Benediction http://db.vanillagaming.org/?spell=20105
Seal of Crusader http://db.vanillagaming.org/?spell=20308
Seal of Command http://db.vanillagaming.org/?spell=20920
https://report.nostalrius.org/plugins/tracker/?aid=1307

[JCarrill0]

Benediction is bugged here on Nostalrius I'm afraid:

3. Benediction talent is not affecting mana cost
https://forum.nostalrius.org/viewtopic. ... ion#p71751

Paladin talent Benediction doesn't affect Seal of Crusader and Seal of Command. By tooltip it has to affect.
Benediction http://db.vanillagaming.org/?spell=20105
Seal of Crusader http://db.vanillagaming.org/?spell=20308
Seal of Command http://db.vanillagaming.org/?spell=20920
https://report.nostalrius.org/plugins/tracker/?aid=1307

Ah, thanks for the update Theo!

[Karnus]

I went consecration first, but I get the feeling I might have been better off going straight for blessing of sanctuary as the mana cost of consecration isn't worth the damage.

Although it is essential for tanking dungeons and grabbing aggro as dps don't seem to understand "let me build aggro". Blessing of salvation helps.

As for AOE grinding I can take 3 mobs of my level at a time which isn't bad, come 40 with plate, things will get better

[Evoblade]

Is this viable prior to LV 40 and Holy shield? I levelled my pally in TBC (didn't start a pally until TBC) with AOE grinding. I remember it was pretty frustrating at lower levels (not sure when I started but probably lv30, but I might have started at 20). Are shield spikes in Vanilla? I couldn't find them in db.vanillagaming site. They make it a bit easier.

EDIT: according to WH, spikes were added in 1.11.1, so I'm not 100% sure we have it since the server is a lower version.
EDIT2: I guess I can't search very well: http://db.vanillagaming.org/?item=6042#wh-comments