Pally lvling....prot or ret?

[schrodel]

so hear is my questions. i have a lvl 32 pally with the boa shoulders and 2h axe. I am specd ret right now just because of my 2h, is this the right call or should i level prot? i cant really find a good spot that says what lvling spec is the fastest.

thanks for the help

[ZG Support 1]

Yes, because you have a 2 handed weapon you need to be spec'd retribution. The Zygor Talent Advisor includes a retribution build just so you know.

[mallez]

so hear is my questions. i have a lvl 32 pally with the boa shoulders and 2h axe. I am specd ret right now just because of my 2h, is this the right call or should i level prot? i cant really find a good spot that says what lvling spec is the fastest.

thanks for the help

I'm working on a Ret Pali and I dabbled with Protection (no boa gear). Now almost 75, and Ret is great with 2 hander for the guide... the guide focuses on killing 1-3 at a time (at most), I've taken up to multiple waves of 3-5 being lazy and just running to the main mob area in the most direct route .

I'd stick with Ret, and as you get higher, you'll use the last skill in Ret for more AoE damage anyways... the skills guide (which has you go Ret, with a dabbling in the others), works well when followed.

[crownedwithgrace]

I also have a ret pally. I use the ret talent build that comes with the zygor guides. I use a 2h weapon as well and my pally is a killing machine. I can easily kill even up to 7+ mobs at a time! So if you're not using the zygor guide ret leveling talent build, I encourage you to use that one.

I went duel spec with her and, I have to say, I feel like I wasted 1000g because there's really not much difference between the leveling build and the pvp build. I think there's only 2 points difference and it's (to me) nothing that even matters. (Not at lvl 75 anyway). I'm very unhappy about that. I could've put that money toward getting my epic. I know I don't have to stay with the build zygor suggested but I've learned to really trust zygor's talent builds. I've done some on my own and also zygor's and have always found to have the most success with zygor's. I've wondered why they made them not have much difference. Maybe at 80 there's more of a difference, I don't know.

Now, glyphs, on the other hand, I usually pick my own. I think I have 1 toon that has all the glyphs that the guide suggests.

[cabby]

Yeah, if you're solo leveling and following the guide use the ret spec that's included with the Talent Advisor. The only time you'd really want to consider the prot route would be if you planned on doing a whole lot of grouping as the tank.

[mallez]

I picked up the 2nd spec planning to go protection second spec for grouping (seems like there are way too many DPS and getting groups is easier as a tank), but I haven't tried gearing for it as I'm pushing to 80 (though considering starting horde with a work guild now. LOL)

[Jerro]

A common misstake is that people thinkyou should go ret from the start just because you have a 2H equipped. Sure you have Improved Judgement, Seal of Command and 2H Weapon Specialisation in that tree. But at low levels you are not going to see the extra damage.

But until level ~51-54 I would recomend go prot, with 5 points in Reckoning. And at your level that is really good for PvP as well and this is with a 2H weapon equipped. You have less downtime, better survalibility and the really good part is that if you have a 1H and a shield you can do some ocassional tanking in low level dungeons to.

Best regards
Jerro

[schrodel]

thanks for all of the input. I am very tempted to try the prot spec with my 2h for a couple lvls just to see how it is. My toon is bank rolled by my 80 so gold really isnt an issue. I plan to heal when i get up to 80 so i think it would be fun to be able to pop into a few dungons an be able to tank, especially since tanks get instant ques on my server. I am gonna switch tonight and i will post up what i find out.

[Kamchak]

Im lvling a pally that I will dual spec for tanking and healing once I hit 80 with him.

If you plan to tank, make sure you grab yourself a good single hand sword and work on that skill, as you will want to have a shield equiped as well. Most wont run with a tank unless they equip a shield.

[wachuwamekil]

Just throwing my two cents in there, I started as a ret pally, and went with a prot build that was posted on the forums.

I have to say while I may not be doing near as much damage, I was able to get into tanking at an early level. While this is not required, I felt the need to get an early start on tanking because I was so used to ranged DPS.

I have not seen a slowdown in leveling, and almost no down time due to mana, or health. That combined with no wait on instances it its awesome.

I do have both pieces of the heirloom gear and that has helped I think with leveling speed. But a low level character is a great way to learn how to tank without having your name be mud

Thx,

- Wachu

[Kamchak]

Did you need to know the dungeons well, or did others lend you a hand with that?

[Jerro]

Did you need to know the dungeons well, or did others lend you a hand with that?

Well as a tank it is kind of your responsibilty to know the dungeons, and know the classes in your group. But that is a much later concern, the vanilla dungeons are so nerfed today so you just rush thru them. At level 45 i farmed Uldaman (solo) wich was a level 39-47 level dungeon.

But it is good the learn the basics of tanking and trying things out. But often if you are honest and tell the grp that you are still learning, they probably help you. If they are rude to you, just wish them the best of luck, leave and find a new group One of many advantages as a tank

[cabby]

If you're a dwarf instead of getting a one hand sword grab a one hand mace for the racial bonus.

I agree that learning to tank early is very helpful. I've been doing it with my pally since level 15, altho at 15 it's much harder to hold agro than when you get your taunt at 16. I've found that most people don't really care if you know the dungeon or not as long as you can pull the agro off the person leading the way and keep everyone else alive by doing your main tanking job.

One thing I've done to help in my tanking is I use HealBot to keep track of who has agro and have the saving taunt (can't remember the name) bound to my left click so if someone gets agro I can just click their name in HealBot and grab the agro off them without having to fuss with trying to target a mob.

[koshea69]

I'm leveling my paladin to be a tank at the end game, and I do have dual spec with a prot setup for getting that satchel every day but if your going to follow a questing guide you definitely want to go ret.

Prot pallies do have the ability to pull large groups of mobs and kill them easily with barely any downtime when doing so but you won't find yourself in that situation often enough to make it a better spec for any kind of questing build.

Still prot isn't really slow at killing so you can't really go all that wrong either way you go.

Enjoy!

[Kamchak]

If you're a dwarf instead of getting a one hand sword grab a one hand mace for the racial bonus.

I agree that learning to tank early is very helpful. I've been doing it with my pally since level 15, altho at 15 it's much harder to hold agro than when you get your taunt at 16. I've found that most people don't really care if you know the dungeon or not as long as you can pull the agro off the person leading the way and keep everyone else alive by doing your main tanking job.

One thing I've done to help in my tanking is I use HealBot to keep track of who has agro and have the saving taunt (can't remember the name) bound to my left click so if someone gets agro I can just click their name in HealBot and grab the agro off them without having to fuss with trying to target a mob.

I had wondered if Healbot was good for a pally, as pally power seems to be a bit of a waist if you know your toon. Going to set it up tonight and give it a go.

Thanks Cabby