Newb Pally Question

[Aegwedar]

Hey y'all! I just started playing this week and decide to make a half-elf pally. I have managed to sell enough bone chips and bear sins to get about half a set of banded armor and an ebonwood cudgel. I am lvl 5 now, slowly working my way through these levels.

As I save up more pp, should I be looking for a 2 hander? I played a delf SK in live way back when. I never played a pally, so I don't know much about the class. So basically sword n board or 2handers? thanks!

[Daldaen]

General rule of thumb is 1hander to level 20, then 20+ 2handers are good cause damage cap is removed.

1-20... Sword of The Morning is fabulous but about 1k, so likely out of range for a new player. Look for a Sword of Skyfire (happens to drop off the same mob, it's just very common). It's cheap and a great weapon 1-20.

20+... Baton of Faith is tough to beat for the price (can snag for 100 plat sometimes)... 30 DMG / 40 Delay is fabulous. Not many things beat this weapon IMO. The ones that do are sort of expensive and you are probably just better off saving up to buy Book of Scales to then get your epic.

Having a shield+sword is useful 20+ if you need a tiny AC boost (and likely stats), and more importantly, against caster mobs like festering hags, you can use bash to prevent huge damage nukes.

[kaev]

Both are useful. A 2hander will be your best damage output from L20 to the end, a 1hander w/ shield will be needed to bash interrupt casters until/unless you get your epic.

Relatively early on you should be able to scrape up enough for a Baton of Faith which you'll want at L20. It's a 30/40 2hb for paladin or monk, and it's heavy for a monk weapon so undesired by them. It's incredibly cheap, loot saturation plus small paladin population have it around 100pp these days.

[Estu]

As a paladin your damage output will be pathetic compared to an actual DPS class (rogue/monk), so prioritize what you are actually supposed to do: tank. For this reason I'd focus more on 1H + shield; even if AC is not a huge factor (although, with the recent patch, it's supposed to matter more), shields often have nice defensive stats on them as well like HP and stamina. But it's not a bad idea to have a 2H as backup if for some reason you're in a group with two tanks or are soloing.

[Aegwedar]

Thanks for the advice! I'll keep an eye out for a baton of faith in EC.

Any suggestions for some cheap shields?

[kaev]

I would say http://wiki.project1999.com/Cracked_Darkwood_Shield but prices seem stupidly high considering only low budget paladins and shadowknights ought to be seriously interested in it.

Also, unless you're fighting caster mobs and need the bash for interrupt, the difference between unmentionably terrible DPS of a cheap 1h + shield vs the semi-decent DPS of a baton of faith is very noticeable in any group not dominated by grotesquely overgeared twinks. It isn't really until L40+ that paladin DPS disappears into the rear-view window due to low skill caps.

And solo can be viable (not good, but not a complete waste of time) even with budget gear up to ~ L40 or so.

[Tuljin]

The Crested Mistmoore Shield is a good bet - its cheap and has very decent stats for the money. You can pop over to Mistmoore, cry nub, and see if someone will give it to you, its mostly considered a trash drop.

When you're in groups you should switch between sword and board for casters and Baton of Faith for melee mobs. Make sure you use and train your bash from a low level because it takes a while for it to skill up and its an extremely important skill for a paladin.

[williestargell]

1hb - smoldering brand
1h slash - wurmslayer
2h slash - Nathsar greatsword
2h blunt - Baton of Faith

Pre-20 use the wurmslayer except when going for skill-ups. Post 20 Use Baton of Faith for DPS and other stuff for skill-ups or if you need a shield to tank.

[Daldaen]

Using Wurmslayer pre 20 is some terrible advise.

Damage caps make it useless pre-20. You want a faster weapon, that won't hit damage cap so that you're not wasting the damage/speed.

levels 1-9 - damage cap is 20
levels 10-19 - damage cap is 28
Levels 20-29 - damage cap is 60
30+ - lifted, can do 2x weapon damage or more based on class

So you want a fast 10-14 damage weapon. Sword of Morning is the best option but expensive, as stated earlier.

Smoldering Brand or Sword of Skyfire are great options and relatively cheap.

[Durothil Skyreaver]

Another option for a cheap 2hander is an Arbitors Combine Greatsword - 30/43 15 wis