Hi Uthgard,

i want to roll a pala, im in trobule with the race/autotraining question.

From forum i see:
-Highlander more HP
-Saracen more Block

-Highlander autotrain chant and slash (can use slash)
-Saracen autotrain chant and slash (but can't use slash line cause the low strenght i think)

I want to exp with group, so im going to train the chants line.
What's the better choice for me? Highlander and then at lvl48 go for slash? Cause the saracen can't.

Ty for replies

most pallys go 44 thrust in RvR for the snare chain (2 styles), this makes sara slightly better for their high dex because thrust damage is based 50% dex + 50% strength

Ilerget wrote:most pallys go 44 thrust in RvR for the snare chain (2 styles), this makes sara slightly better for their high dex because thrust damage is based 50% dex + 50% strength

ok in this way u have the snare but cant use the at points from slash, and i dont want to at the chant line.
So if i decide a saracen im not going to at..

Depending on the spec you chose, you don't really have to at your paladin. If you want to go for 44 Thrust spec, then you don't need the extra at points from the chant spec line, because you can reach 44 thrust, 42 shield 45 chants anyways (lvl 46 just gives you red da chant which is wasted with a theurg in grp and you can spend the rest into parry).
As HL i wouldn't suggest pure slash spec, rather go for some kind of twohand spec and at slash. Then you can go for 39 th, 42 shield, 45 chants, 25 slash and you will be more than fine.
If you really want to at chants, then you'll have 2-3 points more in slash and that isnt worth it.
The xp groups will love the endu

dont forget, ur job in rvr is 1. endubot 2. either protecting your casters or 3. rupting enemys casters.

pala's dmg is way too low to follow al, so better get the thrust root style instead of trying some rubbish slash/2h-half-dmg-pala ^^

1) AT chants as far as you can stand to.
There is no real reason to spec chants below lvl 22 anyways, so you might as well AT chants until lvl 20 or 24. if you can hold out longer, you will obvously benefit more. grey endo does nothing as it doesnt stack with tireless. green endo is pathetic and will cost you more to twist than it gives. blue endo is the first really decent chant.

2) despite what the forums say, a ton of pallies are slash spec. there are benefits to both slash and thrust. and it comes down to playstyle. in general you will find that snaring for people is often a lost cause. they just want you to guard them while they stand still. the only time they will run off kiting is if you get slammed or cced yourself. I swear people do it just to troll the pally because nobody could be that clueless. and yet every pick up group you will ever get will do this.

3) dont spec for dmg. you could go 50 slash on a highlander and still hit like a wet noodle. hybrid weaponskill and zero rising str makes for worthless mellee dmg. spec for utility and rely on that to help your group win fights.

For a saracen thrust paladin..what would be best initial 30 point stat distribution? I was thinking 10 con, 10 quick, 10 dex? Or maybe 10str, 10 con, 10 dex? I was planning on AT'ing chants and slash as I was going to XP with crush since it's most endo efficient..

Also...does quickness effect slam speed? (shield styles)

shezzy wrote:For a saracen thrust paladin..what would be best initial 30 point stat distribution? I was thinking 10 con, 10 quick, 10 dex? Or maybe 10str, 10 con, 10 dex? I was planning on AT'ing chants and slash as I was going to XP with crush since it's most endo efficient..

Also...does quickness effect slam speed? (shield styles)

DEX is your most important stat on a paladin. blockrate is everything. imo put 15 into dex.

as for the other 10 pts youd get, its really a crapshoot as to whether you go for str, qui, or con.

STR will not increase your damage in any noticeable way (hybrid weaponskill is pathetic, and paladins dont get str as rising stat). with thrust spec you get hald the benefit in weaopnskill, making str close to useless. but a few points in STR will make carrying a ram easier on a saracen. that being said a saracen can carry a ram solo just fine if they use a str/con charge. so one mgiht forego the str entirely.

QUI will improve your swing speed with shield just as it will any weapon. tho odds are you can get a 2.8 speed weapon to cap even without the extra qui.

CON is about as useless as it gets in rvr (you will always be the last to die in a group, because you do no dmg and are easily cced), making you a nonthreat. plus your defense makes you impossible to tank train down). it can be handy in PvE, but only marginally as you will be getting healed. pts in con only matter in those few cases where you get reduced to 1% HP instead of 0 and dying. it happens, but not often enough to matter.

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imo 15 DEX 10 STR. but what you do with those last 10 pts is really insignificant.

Well I have a different view about the Waponspec.
Pala gets AT at Slash! So a Slash Pala has 77 Skillpoints more than a Thrust pala!

If you spec the same skilpoints into the Weaponline (Slash vs.Thrust) and the same points into Songs, you can put this 77 Skillpoints you save from Slash AT into your defense (Shield or Parry).

e.g.
If you spec 39 Slash, 42 Shield, 49 Songs then you can put 20 Lev into parry.
If you spec 39 Thrust, 42 Shield, 49 Songs then you only can put 16 Lev into parry.

You also could put the Slash AT points into shield for higher Block- and Guardrate:
With 39 Slash, 49 Songs you can go up with Shield up to 47 (2 Parry rest)
With 39 Thurst, 49 Songs you can go up with Shield up to 45 (5 Parry rest)

Or you put the AT Skillpoints into weapon.
With Slash AT you can reach 44 Slash / 42 Shield / 49 Song / 5 Parry
You can't get up to to such a spec without using the AT points.
(all specs with full Songs AT)

Even if you use a Saracen, your defense (AT points in Shield/Parry) or offense (AT points in Slash) benefits more from Slash than using Thrust!
And your Weaponskill with a RR1 Saracen is 1441 (39 Slash)/1487 (44 Slash with AT) to 1471 (39 Thrust).

Netchel wrote:[...]STR will not increase your damage in any noticeable way (hybrid weaponskill is pathetic, and paladins dont get str as rising stat). with thrust spec you get hald the benefit in weaopnskill, making str close to useless. but a few points in STR will make carrying a ram easier on a saracen. that being said a saracen can carry a ram solo just fine if they use a str/con charge. so one mgiht forego the str entirely.

STR does more. It increases your Weaponskill with 100% when using Slash, which increases your To-Hit chance as well as penetrating the enemys defence (evade, parry, block).
If you calculate in your "miss"-Rate while attacking an enemy with Evade/Parry/Block the +10 Str helps to increase your dmg per sec in a fight. Also you can hit high purple Mobs more often to get the aggro on your Pala.
It makes a difference if you lose/miss an attack in the enemys defence or getting through its defence and decrease its hitpoints and putting a Style effect like Snare, Attack speed debuff, dot or what else on him.

And a Paladin has Str as a rising stat (3rd stat rising), Con is primary rising and Piety is secondary rising.


15 Dex / 10 Str on a Saracen is the best way to go I think.

I ended up going 15 dex / 10 quick as quickness will help any weapon type I use as well as slam. Also , since thrust is only %50 str / dex I figured the 10 str isn't as effective. I plan on going 44 thrust , 42 shield, 45 chants rest parry ( i think it will be 10 with full AT ). The only reason I'd go slash is to get 50 shield but I think being Saracen with +15 dex yada yada I'll be at full block cap anyway.

Isn't Block capped at 80% on Uth?
Even with Saracen, +15 Start-Dex, 42+11 Shield + RR4 you only have a 57,05% Blockchance. (101 Temp Dex + Max Buffs included)

So you need MoB5 RA (+23%) to reach the Cap with RR4 (if its 80% here). The 60% Block nerf on live server was implemented with v1.96

please correct me, if i'm wrong with the cap.

shezzy wrote:The only reason I'd go slash is to get 50 shield but I think being Saracen with +15 dex yada yada I'll be at full block cap anyway.

You can't reach block cap without 50 shield+mob5 even if you are high RR. Dex doesn't increase your block rate that much. With +15 dex, cap template, comp cap enh cleri buffs ( yellow dex/qui since there is no 50 enh spec around) and 42 shield spec 4L4 saracen with mob5 has 68,9375 block rating. You need to be RR16 to have 74,94 which is quite close to cap. İt's possible at RR8 if you switch to 50 shield.

@ Lorgarius; it's 75% for block 50% for parry here. Pve has no cap.

Where do you get these numbers, what is the block formula?

block rate = 5 + (((dex*2) - 100) / 40) + (shield/2) + mob

shield is your spec + bonus in the formula. 42+14=56 for 42 shield spec and rr4 with cap temp etc.

Lorgarius wrote:STR does more. It increases your Weaponskill with 100% when using Slash, which increases your To-Hit chance as well as penetrating the enemys defence (evade, parry, block).

No defence penetration here