Cataclysm Classic Holy Paladin Leveling
On this page, you will find our level-by-level Holy Paladin leveling guide for WoW Cataclysm Classic.
Level by Level Rotation and Talents
Move the slider below to make the guide update to your level!
While you can level as Holy it is typically going to be considerably slower than leveling as Retribution or even Protection unless you find yourself consistently inside of Dungeons. While leveling in the world it is rare that you will need as much healing as a Holy Paladin is capable of and the majority of the talents found in the Holy tree are focused on maximizing healing output as opposed to damage or survivability.
Leveling Talent Tree & Build
Your first talent unlocks at Level 10.
Judgements of the Pure increases our Haste by 9% allowing us to attack more often and reduce our time spent casting. It also increases the mana regenerated by Spirit by 30% which will help greatly in limiting our down time.
Judgements of the Pure increases our Haste by 9% allowing us to attack more often and reduce our time spent casting. It also increases the mana regenerated by Spirit by 30% which will help greatly in limiting our down time. Blazing Light increases the damage done by our Holy Shock and Exorcism abilities, while leveling as Holy we have a very limited amount of damaging abilities so it is crucial to maximize the amount of done by those abilities.
Judgements of the Pure increases our Haste by 9% allowing us to attack more often and reduce our time spent casting. It also increases the mana regenerated by Spirit by 30% which will help greatly in limiting our down time. Blazing Light increases the damage done by our Holy Shock and Exorcism abilities, while leveling as Holy we have a very limited amount of damaging abilities so it is crucial to maximize the amount of done by those abilities. Divine Favor increases our Critical Strike and Haste rating by 20% for twenty seconds.
Judgements of the Pure increases our Haste by 9% allowing us to attack more often and reduce our time spent casting. It also increases the mana regenerated by Spirit by 30% which will help greatly in limiting our down time. Blazing Light increases the damage done by our Holy Shock and Exorcism abilities, while leveling as Holy we have a very limited amount of damaging abilities so it is crucial to maximize the amount of done by those abilities. Divine Favor increases our Critical Strike and Haste rating by 20% for twenty seconds. Denounce reduces the mana cost of our Exorcism ability and prevents the target from being able to Critically Strike for six seconds.
Judgements of the Pure increases our Haste by 9% allowing us to attack more often and reduce our time spent casting. It also increases the mana regenerated by Spirit by 30% which will help greatly in limiting our down time. Blazing Light increases the damage done by our Holy Shock and Exorcism abilities, while leveling as Holy we have a very limited amount of damaging abilities so it is crucial to maximize the amount of done by those abilities. Divine Favor increases our Critical Strike and Haste rating by 20% for twenty seconds. Denounce reduces the mana cost of our Exorcism ability and prevents the target from being able to Critically Strike for six seconds. Enlightened Judgements grants 50% of your Spirit rating as Hit, there is not much Hit on gear while leveling so any we can get is incredibly valuable.
Judgements of the Pure increases our Haste by 9% allowing us to attack more often and reduce our time spent casting. It also increases the mana regenerated by Spirit by 30% which will help greatly in limiting our down time. Blazing Light increases the damage done by our Holy Shock and Exorcism abilities, while leveling as Holy we have a very limited amount of damaging abilities so it is crucial to maximize the amount of done by those abilities. Divine Favor increases our Critical Strike and Haste rating by 20% for twenty seconds. Denounce reduces the mana cost of our Exorcism ability and prevents the target from being able to Critically Strike for six seconds. Enlightened Judgements grants 50% of your Spirit rating as Hit, there is not much Hit on gear while leveling so any we can get is incredibly valuable. Beacon of Light replicates your heals onto the target with the Beacon active on them, while solo leveling this can still be quite useful as it will allow you to generate Holy Power while keeping it active on yourself thanks to Tower of Radiance.
Judgements of the Pure increases our Haste by 9% allowing us to attack more often and reduce our time spent casting. It also increases the mana regenerated by Spirit by 30% which will help greatly in limiting our down time. Blazing Light increases the damage done by our Holy Shock and Exorcism abilities, while leveling as Holy we have a very limited amount of damaging abilities so it is crucial to maximize the amount of done by those abilities. Divine Favor increases our Critical Strike and Haste rating by 20% for twenty seconds. Denounce reduces the mana cost of our Exorcism ability and prevents the target from being able to Critically Strike for six seconds. Enlightened Judgements grants 50% of your Spirit rating as Hit, there is not much Hit on gear while leveling so any we can get is incredibly valuable. Beacon of Light replicates your heals onto the target with the Beacon active on them, while solo leveling this can still be quite useful as it will allow you to generate Holy Power while keeping it active on yourself thanks to Tower of Radiance. Tower of Radiance grants us Holy Power any time we cast Flash of Light and Divine Light on a target with Beacon active.
Light of Dawn is a largely situational button but when utilized properly is a great tool to heal multiple targets at once, the positioning requirement for this can be quite strict so do not hesitate to move preemptively to use this optimally.
Light of Dawn is a largely situational button but when utilized properly is a great tool to heal multiple targets at once, the positioning requirement for this can be quite strict so do not hesitate to move preemptively to use this optimally. We will head to the Retribution tree for Crusade which increases the Damage and Healing done by our Holy Shock and Crusader Strike abilities.
Light of Dawn is a largely situational button but when utilized properly is a great tool to heal multiple targets at once, the positioning requirement for this can be quite strict so do not hesitate to move preemptively to use this optimally. We will head to the Retribution tree for Crusade which increases the Damage and Healing done by our Holy Shock and Crusader Strike abilities. Pursuit of Justice is incredibly powerful as a Paladin we struggle greatly with mobility so any added movement speed will greatly increase your leveling speed.
Leveling Glyphs
In your Prime Glyphs we recommend Glyph of Holy Shock which increases the Critical Strike chance of what is our main source of Damage and Healing while leveling. Glyph of Exorcism which adds a damage-over-time component to one of our core damaging abilities and lastly Glyph of Divine Favor which adds ten more seconds to one of our most powerful cooldowns.
For your Major Glyph slots we recommend Glyph of the Ascetic Crusader for your first glyph slot. While leveling you will be casting Crusader Strike quite often so the mana reduction will allow you to spend more time fighting and less time drinking. Glyph of Beacon of Light is recommended for your second Glyph slot as the mana reduction allows us to move your beacon much more freely while in a group but while solo leveling it enables you to keep it active to generate additional Holy Power when healing yourself due to our Tower of Radiance talent. Lastly we recommend Glyph of Light of Dawn, if you are purely soloing this Glyph can be moved into another choice like Glyph of Cleansing but this glyph greatly increases the healing done by your Light of Dawn ability when hitting 2 or fewer targets, it is rare even in a dungeon you will be able to get the full effect of Light of Dawn so making it more effective on the targets you are able to hit is a great benefit.
For your Minor Glyphs we recommend Glyph of Righteousness, Glyph of Blessing of Kings, and Glyph of Blessing of Might these three Glyphs all reduce the Mana cost of abilities we will be using allowing you more mana to minimize the amount of time you will spend out of combat regenerating.
Leveling Rotation
- Melee.
- Use Crusader Strike on cooldown to deal damage and maximize our Holy Power gained.
- Keep Seal of Righteousness active.
- Use Judgement on cooldown to deal damage.
- Keep Devotion Aura active.
- If you need to be healed or heal an ally in danger use Holy Light when not being attacked or out of combat to maximize uptime.
- If you or a party member are at risk of dying use Word of Glory to heal, ideally with three Holy Power.
- Use Holy Shock to deal damage, pull distant enemies or for a quick burst of healing on you or an ally, try to use this ability as close to on cooldown as possible to maximize your Holy Power generation.
- Use Flash of Light if you need to heal yourself or an ally who would otherwise die. This heal is quick but incredibly inefficient.
- Use Lay on Hands in an emergency to heal yourself or an ally that would otherwise die.
- Keep Blessing of Kings active.
- Use Consecration when fighting three or more enemies or you do not have any other DPS ability available.
- Use Holy Wrath to deal damage if Crusader Strike and Judgement are on cooldown.
- Use Divine Favor on cooldown maximize your damage dealt when solo leveling but inside of a dungeon or with other players use this cooldown to deal with large sources of incoming damage.
- If solo leveling, keep Beacon of Light active on yourself, in a group keep it active on the target at is taking the most consistently incoming damage.
- Use Divine Plea early and often to maximize your Mana and Holy Power available to minimize downtime.
- Keep Seal of Truth active.
- Use Hammer of Wrath any time the enemy is below 20% or you have Avenging Wrath active.
- Use Rebuke to interrupt any spell casting to mitigate incoming damage.
- Keep Blessing of Might active.
- Use Avenging Wrath early and often to maximize your damage and healing. The quicker you are able to kill enemies the less damage they are able to deal to you.
- Keep Inquisition active as Holy Power allows.
Continue Improving at Level 85
Congratulations on hitting Level 85 in Cataclysm! Now that your leveling process is over, you can learn more about Level-85 Holy Paladin gameplay by reading our fully detailed guide below.
More Cataclysm Paladin Guides
More Cataclysm Spec Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Mytholxgy, who plays healer in Liquid. He is a Templar in the Paladin class discord. You can reach him on Twitter and watch him stream on Twitch.
- Season of Discovery Hotfixes: December 2nd
- The Best Moments of Fresh Classic Hardcore
- Dual Spec Has Arrived to Classic Anniversary Realms!
- Sole Survivor World First Level 60 on Classic Hardcore Anniversary Realms
- Nostalgia Revived: Game Masters Return to WoW Classic, Rekindling Memories from 20 Years Ago
- Long Forgotten Memories Quest Fixed in Season of Discovery
- Season of Discovery, Classic Era and Cataclysm Classic Hotfixes: November 22nd
- DragonflightUI Brings Modern WoW Interface to Classic Players