Guys, I am a relatively new returning player to EQ and decided to check out the Paladin class on the FV server. I have just recently hit 105 and was looking for any pro-tips when it comes to raiding, group tanking, AA priority, AA use for dps and defensives, aggro, etc? Anything is helpful while I am still learning to really fulfill the class role gear up at 105. Thanks!
As someone who raids with but not as a paladin, what I look for from good paladins is constant casting. Agro things, HoTT things, and Force of Disruption basically on-cooldown if tanking. HoTT things, nukes, and Disruptive Persecution on-cooldown if not tanking. Smart (which sometimes is just the same as constant) use of twin splashes. Making a multibind for each of those basic modes is pretty recommended.
If you will be a group paladin (especially without a bard in the group) be aware of your mana. Group paladins really bleed mana.
If you search this section of the forums there's quite a plethora of solid posts, this is a multifaceted thing that is really playstyle/raid role based. What Francisco is saying is really true, however there's some corners you can cut in order to extend a mana bar. Tanking is really dynamic and situational, but the main important abilities are the defensive discs, shield flash, heal modifiers/boosts, and clickies. Take a good look at the spell data for every spell and aa, know what they do. Then experiment. Samanna.net has some old (but still quality) information too. Join the server wide paladin channel and ask whatever questions you got there's usually atleast one or two people in there that have an answer for any logical question.
AA group LoH becomes available at lvl 105 in EoK if the guides haven't yet been updated. It's bugged at the moment, though, so you need a hotkey for it. Usage is /alt activate 76
Mitigation wise, the best mitigation disc at lvl 105 for paladins are in order : 1) Skalber Mantle 2) Armor of Ardency 3) Holy Guardian Discipline If you chain them one by one, you have a solid mitigation base You would need imo too to chain Repel, fast reuse time. Aggro wise, the best spells to chain for max aggro are Crush of the Darkened Sea, Crush of Povar, Valiant Defense, Ardent Force, coupled with Force of Disruption AA to use each time it's up (don't tag a mob with FoD because it won't give you full hate bonus, unlike spells listed, but use it asap after first spell used). 4 spells of 12 to devote to aggro should be enough.
If Brilliant isn't a part of the aggro rotation the paladin is doing it wrong, outside of very specific parameters. There is a 7124 HHate mod specifically on the heal component of valiant, making sure to use twin heal counter on VD effectively doubles that hate every 3rd cast.
I recently returned to my Paladin (Paladad) and levelled him to 105. I absolutely love the class, and when a guildmate asked for some guidance I put the following together. I am definitely not the best person to give advice, and where my thoughts go against the comments in the postings above then those should be given more credence (and I'll be re-reading those myself to see where I can improve). However having said that, hopefully there's something here that may be of use: ... I focus on survival AA first, followed by the DPS/Utility ones. Having said that I wouldn't necessarily recommend grabbing every level of Combat Agility and Combat Stability straight away, the levels beyond the free autogranted ones are important eventually, but are such small gains per level that other skills are more useful to start with. Probably the absolute first AA to focus on is Blessing of Life - that heals you as you melee. Gift of Life (heals your target's target - typically you) and Marr's Gift (30k instant heal to yourself) are fantastic get out of jail free AA. I have yet to use lay on hands. I should really set up a hotkey to /target <myself> and /alt act it, but the two previous AA mentioned have been all I ever needed. I have two prominent hotkeys set for Oh Sh*t situations. The first, labelled Deflection switches me to my shield, and pops the deflection disc. it also unsets me from puller role since being out of range of merc healers is a very frustrating way to die the second Hotkey does the same, but activates the Shield Flash AA for a further six seconds of front facing invulnerability Hotkey: Deflection /pause 3, /bandolier activate 1H (or whatever title you have given to your sword & board setup) /disc Deflection Discipline /grouproles unset Paladad 3 Hotkey: 6 Sec BLOCK /pause 3, /bandolier activate 1H /alt act 1112 ; Shield Flash - 4 minute recast (<-- I tend to comment my hotkeys - makes remembering hwat they do much easier) /grouproles unset Paladad 3 The only other two hotkeys that I use regularly (apart from a hidecorpse one) are my melee one for yaulp (love that AA) and combat ability repel (mitigates the next 3 to 6 incoming melee strikes depending on your gear), and a hotkey for group heal/AoE aggro (basically when a groupmember is getting hammered this is my first action - heals the group and tries to aggro everything in the area). Currently I have this bound to CTRL-9 so that I don't have to hunt for the button to press, but you might also link it to a button within an index/thumb reach of where your hand normally lies on the keyboard (or mouse). Hotkey: Assist /pause 2, /attack on /pause 5, /disc repel /alt act 489 ; Yaulp Hotkey: GROUP HEAL (this should trigger all of them, but I tend to hammer the associated key(s) two or three times to to make sure) /pause 1, /alt act 2019 ; Group Armour - heal bonus /alt act 180 ; Hand of Piety Group Heal 16 mins refresh /alt act 10394 ; Beacon of the Righteous AoE Aggro 90 seconds refresh /disc Reflexive Righteousness ; Strikes target and grants large group heal Defence: For general gameplay I tend to stick to using CA: Repel when up/remembered and when needed (named/multiple trash) I pop CA: Devout Penitence (2 minutes of 20% damage reduction and heals to self and group when struck). I also use Third Spire AA to provide 90 seconds of modestly reduced incoming damage, which stacks with the previous. If Devout Penitence fades then I will pop Skalber Mantle for 35% melee mitigation for 1 minute. Class AA Armor of the Inquisitor both boosts incoming heals significantly, but also boosts your AC by over 2K. As a final fallback there is the 'Special'AA Armor of Experience for damage mitigation, but with a 20 hour recast that's probably one for raids. Knight's Sedulity - 4% melee damage reduction. I think this one is autogranted but if not then definitely grab it. Armor of Wisdom - bumps your armour class a little. No cap level modifier, so just a small benefit but one to get in the middle to late AA range Clickies: If you have a Blood Drinker's Coating (Vampiric Aura clicky - 3 mins (recast 10 mins) where 2% of your melee Damage is returned to you in health) then it should be in your emergency lineup. Likewise for Silken Trillium (Blessing of Tunare clicky) - 3 minutes of boosted incoming heals (750 HP). I don't know if it stacks with the above, but I tend to use them together. Decent Passive DPS AA (probably in this order) - mostly Archetype AA except where otherwise commented: Class: Slay Undead - ok, not univerally useful but it's a class defining AA so you have to invest General: Innate Holyblade - max level boosts your melee by 66% Knight's Weapon Mastery (decent DPS boost to the base damage of all weapons) Speed of the Knight (extra 2H hits) Class: Valiant Blade (increase your min damage for 2H by 1100 at level 3) Veteran's Wrath (Boost your melee crit damage) Knight's Return Strike (grant's chance to bash when riposting - couple this with Class: Overpowering Strikes, and Arch: Immobilizing Bash forDPS Boost/Stun-on--bash) Knight's Advantage (double-attack chance boost) Class: Blessing of the Faithful (chance to boost AC & DPS for 90 seconds after killing non-trivials) Flurry (lower DPS boost but it does help) Finishing blow. Max level allows you to hit low HP level 97 and lower mobs for 138k. Nice. Active DPS AA (Class): Vanquish the fallen - not too impressed with this one. I mention it only to say make your own mind up. Let me know if I'm missing something Inquisitor's Judgment - boosts your melee strikes Thunder of Karana - all around spell/melee dps boost, with a boost to incoming heals too. Setting up a 'Named'hotkley with this and some others might be a good move. Fundament: Second Spire - doesn't look like a huge boost, I have it but tend to save my 'spire' click for 'third' as a defensive. Yaulp - Can't use when mounted, but extra attack, weapon proc chance and 100 mana per tick are definitely worth having. Click at start of fight for 1 minute buff I'm sure I've missed some, but those are a solid start. You can add Class: Fundament: Second Spire for some extra DPS, but I've never parsed it. General/Utility: Well in amongst that lot you do need to invest in the various Archetype heal AA boosts (Healing Adept/Boon/Gift). These are essential if you want to solo without a merc. Class: Halt the Dead - undead snare Helix of the Undying - undead slow and debuff - very nice. Gift of Mana - I never look for it proccing, because when fighting I am usually chaining my spells so just benefit. Class: Shackles of Tunare - root spell for any mob type. Essential stuff that saves you a spell slot. Class: Divine Call - pretty much your only pulling AA - instant cast drive-by tagging. 2mins recast, just be aware that when the mob gets within 45 feet it will warp to you. Radiant Cure - group çure & single debuff remover. Great AA but situational. Seldom used but good to have in your bag, even if just for raids. Spell Casting Reinforcement - Last but definitely not least - your buff duration boosting AA. Spells: Buff lineup: Slot 1 - always memmed - Preservation of Iceclad (AC/ATK/STR boost, plus chance for heal when hit). I have a audio trigger set to alert me when it fades (lasts 4 mins). Slot 2 - Brells Stalwart Bulwark (HP Boost, this and the remaining buffs are long duration so memmed as a saved spell set) Slot 3 - Armor of Formidable Spirit (Self AC/HP boost, with Mana regen) Slot 4 - Ardent Fury (weapon proc buff - 2 hour duration) Slot 5 - Remorse for the Fallen (6 hour buff that provides a boost to next two heals after killing a challenging foe). Level 85 spell but still has a use if you solo. Not a game changer but with such a long duration I keep it up. Solo Lineup. This works for me but don't take it as 'the best lineup'. Yours may be better and I welcome any suggestions: Preservation of Iceclad Burst of Dayspring - 0.3 second cast (12 second recast) 12K heal. Very handy to target groupmate or self for a quick heal, even when meleeing. Grief - modest self-heal, 0.3 second cast, 150 second or so recast - main benefit is that it does not need to be targetted on you. Good when meleeing Ardent Cleansing - 5K/tick Heal over time for 7 to 8 ticks. Protective Proclemation - Gives Target's target a melee guard and heals for 6k Dulcify - lull/pacify for pulling. Dichotomic Force - Instant cast stun (60 secs recast) - much hate, and heals group. 8K mana cost so used sparingly. Crush of Povar - small DD, fast cast +Hate spell Admonish - small DD, heals target's target. Low hate. Force of Ardency - fast-cast stun, no knockback, heals self. Valiant Deflection - Fast Cast +Hate and heal on traget's target (7K hate, 5-6k base heal) Impose for Honor - Hate-over-time spell, with modest melee mitigation element. I tend to pull with this (cast time 0.6 secs with AA/gear) When soloing without a merc healer I chain spells 9 to 11 as needed for heals. If necessary I will use 2/3 and sometimes 4 for top-up heals. Group Lineup, the only change is to introduce a decent group heal spell to replace the modest self-heal: 3. Wave of Grief - this is a slower (2.1 secs) cast group heal Spells to consider: Mark of the Commander - Target 'debuff'- heal allies 135 HP each time they hit the target. This might provide a decent self heal boost, so I want to check it out.
...oh and Forsworn, a seasonal (Anniversary) pro tip would be to try for some of these augs/clickies before the anniversary period ends and you end up having to pay an arm and a leg for them. This is a another post I put together as a target list for myself: To help anyone interested here are a few links to general anniversary information and some quest/drop specific links. I'm going to be spending a little time each evening on helping anyone get what they need (sadly subject to my normal disrupted playtime due to offspring that insist on having a life and engaging in after-school activities), so grab me in game if you are having trouble getting a group for those. Allakhazam's excellent summary of the anniversary quests - http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/quest.html?quest=6782 Some highlights (there are more but these are the main ones that I have done or plan to do): Shimmering Black Pearl (Aug) - http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=123281 (45 AC 350HP/MANA/END - fits in charm slot) XXX Stone of Power (Aug) - http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/quest.html?quest=6788 (50% chance of one of five 40AC 250 H/M/E augs in end chest, plus some optional named dropped clickies, very quick quest - less than 30 mins) War Games (Aug) - http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/quest.html?quest=7521 (One of five 45AC 250 H/M/E aug, plus Gnoll illusion/AC clicky) Zueria Slide (charm) - http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/quest.html?quest=8481 (port clicky, click to convert to different old world port locations) Diplomatic Papers (mitigation clicky) - http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/quest.html?quest=7501 (25% damage mitigation for 30 seconds, up to 50,000 damage mitigated) Miniature Horn of Unity (DS/regen clicky) - http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=116716 (600 Damage Shield, 200 H/M/E regen clicky (again 30 seconds or so duration)) Necromantic Bone (lifetap/dd clicky) - http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=123277 (22k DD, heals you for 50% of damage) Cleansing Rod (cure clicky) - http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/quest.html?quest=7501 (decrease 2 x 10 poison, and 2 x 10 disease counters on target) Edit note 03/04/2017: The 'Delving into Frostcrypt' 18th anniversary event has now been fixed. Darkened Corrupted Orb of Living Ice (range slot item, 1 for each player in mission) - http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=128275 (4200 HP/Mana/End)
Third spire has less than 1% effect on tanking (not hyperbole). Your better suited to milking first spire. Thunder of Karana does not stack with VR making it a very poor trade off for giving up AOTI. Your spells makes me a sad panda Mark spells are less than 150 dps, you could literally cast a single Brilliant Vindication and do more damage. Ardent Cleansing and Force of Ardency are generally very poor choices for throughput of healing in today's game, unless you are trying to stun lock, which is about the only use for Force of Ardency. Cleansing I haven't memmed in like 10 years. A single cast is worth about a single boosted HOTT heal not figuring crits for either. Hand of Piety with group AOTI should be more than enough healing, having Reflexive in the same key wastes most if not all of it (outside of dps, which if that's your concern, should be hit during your primary burn) You completely neglected the primary burn as well. Which if you are not rotating in on cooldown you are leaving massive amounts of dps on the table (probably about 15 to 30k in your combine at the end of the night)
This is a pretty bad spell line up imo. I taking this as your solo line up (no clr merc; but a ton of agro... wiz merc on burn?) so I can look past a few of the spell choices. However, Dicho needs to be dropped from every spell lineup imo. There are only a few occasions where this spell could be considered useful and even within those times, it's very limited to a single phase of a raid event. Additionally, I suggest keeping your staunch stance up for all spell lineups. You really need to add in Brilliant Vindication and splash too. Yeah, I know splash while solo can be a bit of a waste if you don't need the cure, but considering you have dicho listed... you're far from efficient now. I personally don't use cleansing, PP, dulcify, (dicho), admonish, or impose; but I do box a bard which allows for a more constant line up. My basic line 1-12 is... Burst Grief Burst Splash BV -adjustable / undead nuke- Valiant deflection Crush -adjustable / heal proc- -adjustable / harmonious- Preservation Staunch A bit of how you set it up has to do with how you cast spells and interact with your UI too. I use alt+1/2/3 to cast heals often so I keep them at the top. Likewise, I keep my self buffs which can be cast pre-fight at the bottom. Spells 1-5 & 11,12 are all perma for my spell line while the middle part of the line (6-10) can all be adjusted depending on the situation
Why do you recommend having splash up in a group? Cures are not needed that often. Does it give huge agro?
No it doesn't it has a hate override of 100. I am not sure wtf his reasoning is. I can't think of a good one, maybe he will explain
Good feedback, thank you. I'll look at the suggestions. there are a couple of acronym's used that don't match any comments in the thread as far as i can tell, but I guess we should be able to work out the intended match from the class spell list. Oh and yes, my own spell lineups above are indeed based on soloing without a merc. I've used them in Chardok too, but am looking forwarding to using this info to see how much things improve with a few tweaks. Cheers
can paladins really solo? If so, where would I go at 105? I currently have cotf gear and a few pieces of tmb gear.
I've soloed a handful of EOK named. For decent XP though, we'll that's another story. I know I can run 3 Gribbles in about 45 minutes (15 each) w/ a bard box and mercs. Probably could shave time off that with a raid 2hander (if that's something you have access to)
His recommendation varies significantly, like by 4+spells which is pretty big, from those put forward in Mark Spells.
Nope, but in a group, it does give you a spell to heal the group along with a cure for the group. I would say those two reasons give splash enough value to keep in your spell bar... but some may disagree (chaosflux) and I would like to know why someone wouldn't want splash in their spell bar? As I mentioned, I play a box bard along with 2 mercs (clr/wiz) which allows me more freedom to use different spells. For me, as a paladin, I see one of our roles as a backup/spot healer. If there is one place I want to cover when using mercs, it's having enough healing to sustain a group if the merc clr dies from an AE or doesn't move with the group. I did say splash was not great for solo, but again.. if your solo (without mercs), then you don't have a need for agro spells other then stuns. In this scenario, I would be more likely to drop/trade Valiant defense, crush, & harmonious for stuns / admonish lines. Not everything is about huge agro. As long as you can get more agro and maintain agro over everyone else, then continually building agro is wasted. If your solo, the magic agro number is 1.
Half the range of Aurora/Wave/Dicho Very small heal compared to Aurora/Wave/Dicho Curing wants are 99%+ covered by Radiant Cure AA Frequently have 12 good spells to load before getting to a group heal at all. Your splash is a touch faster than Aurora/Wave, but check out your cast frequency on Splash? Dicho gets to be instant as a tradeoff for its 1 minute cooldown (which you can skip with Forceful Rejuv AA every 20minutes). If your cast frequency is actually close to Splash's cooldown, then Aurora may be the thing with no cooldown. Splash is amazing (borderline OP) in raid situations due to its AE-ness. That's not a frequently exploitable feature in group content.
