Paladin Guide

See also: Tank Guide and Guides

Single-target rotations

• Your Basic combo is   Fast Blade -   Riot Blade -   Rage of Halone (Lv. 26) (upgraded to   Royal Authority at Lv. 60). This is all you need to do at level 50.
• (lv. 54) - Your damage-over-time (DoT) combo is   Fast Blade -   Riot Blade -   Goring Blade (Lv. 54). Goring Blade is incredibly powerful. Apply Goring Blade right as it is about to fall off your target.
  • Use   Fight or Flight (FoF) right before Goring Blade, possibly before Riot Blade if your skill speed is good enough - this will allow it to last long enough to buff two Goring Blades.
• (Lv. 54) - Your single-target rotation is:

1. DoT combo (FoF) -> Basic combo -> Basic combo
2. DoT combo -> Basic combo -> Basic combo
3. DoT combo -> Basic combo -> Basic combo

• (Lv. 68) - Your Spell combo is   Requiescat (Lv. 68) -   Holy Spirit -   Holy Spirit -   Holy Spirit -   Holy Spirit -   Confiteor (Lv. 80). Before Lv. 80, replace the last Confiteor with another Holy Spirit.
• (Lv. 68) - Your single-target rotation is:

1. DoT combo (FoF) -> Basic combo -> Basic combo
2. DoT combo -> Spell combo
3. DoT combo -> Basic combo -> Basic combo

• At Lv. 76, replace each second Basic combo with three uses of   Atonement.

AoE rotations

• During mob pulls, you should always spam your AoE combos as they do more damage with 3 or more enemies.
•   Total Eclipse -   Prominence (Lv. 40) is your basic physical AoE combo for use with   Fight or Flight. If you don't have Prominence, just spam Total Eclipse.
• Spam   Holy Circle (Lv. 72) under   Requiescat (Lv. 68). If you have Requiescat but not Holy Circle, use Requiescat but return to spamming your physical AoE.

Offensive

• Always Be Casting (ABC) - minimize downtime and keep triggering GCD abilities without pause. Use oGCD abilities between GCD abilities without having their animation delay your GCDs ("clipping").
• Learn your rotations as above. They're built on the basic premise that you want   Goring Blade to keep ticking and maximize   Fight or Flight (FoF) on it.
• The PLD rotation is not situational and quite strict, which also means it's easy once you've mastered it.
• Never trigger Requiescat and FoF together.
• Use your oGCDs   Spirits Within and   Circle of Scorn as much as possible. Time Spirits Within to trigger during your FoF buff.
•   Intervene is your oGCD gap closer and free damage whenever you don't need gap closers.

Defensive

• Keep   Iron Will on to generate enmity unless you are not the main tank.
• Because of your shield, you are naturally slightly more bulky than other tanks, as you are the only tank smart enough to enter the field of battle with a tool to defend yourself.
• Your unique life-saving cooldown,   Hallowed Ground, is great for cancelling large amounts of damage from boss mechanics and large mob pulls.
• Your large defensive cooldown is   Sentinel. Use it frequently to reduce damage taken.
• Don't forget to keep using   Sheltron, which effectively reduces physical damage by around 20%. It's great for tankbusters and mob pulls.
• Self-healing with   Clemency can severely disrupt your rotation. Use it only if absolutely necessary (/slap a healer).
• You have a lot of situational party savers:
  •   Cover (Lv. 45) can save a party member, but only if they're really close.
  •   Divine Veil (Lv. 56) turns into an AoE shield once you're healed, so it has to be used ahead of time (as you don't want to heal yourself).
  •   Intervention (Lv. 62) can help the main tank against a tankbuster.
  •   Passage of Arms (Lv. 70) protects your entire party behind you if you stay still, so it is mainly useful when the boss is away launching a big attack.