Greetings fellow Paladin, and welcome to my guide! If you are reading this, you are a Light wielder on your way to becoming a level 19 Holy Twink. Or you want to make a Hardcore Paladin and make your experience much less frustrating. Or maybe you're just into theorycrafting and gear aesthetics like myself.
So whether you want to twink in the PvP bracket for level 10-19 players or just progress your character with the best gear available, this guide is precisely what you need! And with the advent of the Classic Hardcore realms and the change to the PvP honor system coming to the Era realms you might be enticed to level a Paladin again. Say no more!
In this guide (and its follow-ups for the 20-29, 30-39, and so on) you will get to explore what are the most desirable items you can pursue. In this article, we will look at the Holy spec in case you want to be a dedicated healer in WoW Classic. I will have a variant of this tutorial for the Protection and Retribution specs too, published sometime soon.
Now, before I start the list I will just want to add that this guide tries to stand the test of time as a thoroughly detailed one. This is why I went to extreme lengths over the last years while documenting the information for all of the articles in this series to make this the most complete and accurate Paladin guide out there.
So please let me know if you catch any errors of any kind and make sure you save this link for future reference. Share it with your friends too (if they play a Paladin). I've put much effort into this so a share or comment is highly appreciated.
How To Navigate This Guide
What takes my guide apart from all of the other ones you can find online is that I took the time to investigate and document the 4 best items for each of the item slots. So not just one item per slot. No! I will give you four options and also state my opinion on which is best for what scenario.
How to choose which item to go for? Pick the item based on your use case. If you PvP choose the items that are mail because you will get attacked very often by the opposing team. Having a big armor rating will mitigate that damage and keep you alive more and by extension your teammates. Also, go for "of the Eagle" items for PvP. Go for "of Intellect" or "of Healing" for PvE regardless of armor type.
Alright, let’s, get, started.
Race
For healing in PvP scenarios, the Dwarf race is the better choice because of the added Stoneform spell that can remove from your Paladin bleeds, poisons, and diseases. Incredibly useful against the Rogue's Blind spell which counts as a poison.
The Human race can also be useful via the Perception racial that can snipe out of stealth a Rogue or Druid.
For PvE, there is no major difference. However, an edge can be given to Humans because of their Human Spirit trait which helps with mana recovery and their faster reputation gain via Diplomacy.
At the end of the day, I always choose the sex and race based on what I want to look at for countless hours. So it's females most of the time and Dwarves more often because I like their awesome spell-casting and combat animations.
Headpiece
Three of our options are Engineering-made goggles so getting this Profession is a must. The shadow version is the only useful one in PvE scenarios but in PvP getting the Lucky Fishing Hat is true dedication.
Neck
Neck items are very limited at this level and, the best one, the Sentinel's Medallion, takes a while to farm as you have to get your Warsong rep to Honored. The other option is very expensive on the other hand and quite rarely seen. It takes 2 Arcanite bars to craft among other stuff but it’s super useful. And your 3rd option is quite useless but makes that slot not look empty so, there’s that. You can find it in Zul'Farrak’s graves. For my twink, I went for the Voice Amplification Modulator as it’s too cool not to.
Shoulder
Shoulder items are very limited as well but, Talbar Mantle, the quest reward from the Wailing Caverns chain is an absolute must.
Back
Cloak items aren’t very impressive apart from Caretaker's Cape which will take a while to get as it's another Warsong reputation reward.
Scouting Cloak of the Eagle, of Healing
Fortified Cloak of the Eagle, of Healing
Chest
Your best option here is a Blackfathom Deeps bind-on-equip drop that is quite fancy-looking.
Defender Tunic of the Eagle
Ritual Tunic of the Owl, of the Eagle, of Intellect
Outrunner's Chestguard of the Eagle
Wrist
Your highest intellect item here is quite the weird and unique one as it takes away 5 stamina from your toon. I suggest you do not take this one up in PvP, though with a +5 stamina enchant you can negate that.
Fortified Bracers of the Eagle, of Healing
Wrangler's Wristbands of the Owl, of the Eagle, of Intellect, of Healing
Scouting Bracers of the Owl, of the Eagle, of Intellect, of Healing
Hands
The best gloves for this spec are the Magefist Gloves. The name is a nod to Diablo 2 where every excellent sorceress needed a pair of "Magefist" gloves, and both of the icons depict black leather gloves, making them comparable.
Defender Gauntlets of the Eagle, of Healing
Scouting Gloves of the Eagle, of the Owl, of Healing
Pagan Mitts of the Owl, of the Eagle, of Healing
Waist
Your best-in-slot waist item is another world drop but for PvP I'd check the Fortified Belt for the added armor since it's mail type.
Fortified Belt of the Eagle, of Healing
Scouting Belt of the Owl, of the Eagle, of Intellect, of Healing
Legs
The Darkweave Breeches look mighty nice but don't underestimate the 120 extra armor you can get with the mail option.
Defender Leggings of the Eagle, of Healing
Rigid Leggings of the Eagle, of the Owl, of Healing
Shimmering Trousers of the Owl, of the Eagle, of Healing
Feet
Very few good options for your shoes but they're attainable nonetheless.
Defender Boots of the Whale, of the Eagle
Grunt's AnkleWraps of the Whale, of the Eagle
Rigid Moccasins of the Owl, of the Eagle
Scouting Boots of the Owl, of the Eagle
Ring Slot 1
Seal of Wrynn should be a top priority and you should start that quest chain as soon as possible as it nets you a lot of experience. I was already level 19 when I got around to doing this so I had to settle with something straight out of the novelty basket The 1 Ring.
Viridian Band of the Owl, of the Eagle, of the Whale, of Intellect
Ring Slot 2
Your options for your second ring aren’t amazing until you get your Warsong rep to Honored for the Lorekeeper's Ring. Since I managed to find a second The 1 Ring for just 9 gold I took it on because I just love it when an item increases all my stats. You could say I now have... The 2 Ring! I'll let myself out. PS: There actually is one such item in the Burning Crusade expansion aptly named The 2 Ring.
Trinket Slot 1
There's not much to talk about on the trinket side of things apart from the fact that one of them is very hard to get: the Arena Grand Master trinket requires you to loot the Gurubashi Arena chest 12 times. I did manage to do this on my Pally but boy was it difficult getting it on the peak of Classic's release.
Trinket Slot 2
You should also fill your bags with Minor Recombobulators as they are limited to 10 charges. And, yes, you can have two of them equipped! Once you get to Rank 2 in PvP the Insignia of the Alliance becomes available but while that is on cooldown you should always swap to a Recombobulator.
Main Hand
These were tough to find. Blizzard has no love for low-level healers who cannot use staves. Anyway, these are your main hand options.
Jagged Star of Healing
Barbed Club of Healing
Stout Battlehammer of Healing
Forester's Axe of the Eagle, of the Whale
Shield
And, lastly, for your off-hand, you should get a shield if you PvP.
Off Hand
Otherwise, in PvE, it makes sense to benefit from these items' extra healing.
Ritual Stein of the Owl, of the Eagle, of Intellect, of Healing
Buccaneer's Orb of the Owl, of the Eagle, of Intellect, of Healing
Aboriginal Rod of the Owl, of the Eagle, of Intellect, of Healing
Dressing Room
So if your focus is Player versus Player and if we choose from the items above the most useful in PvP (those that give stamina, intellect, armor, healing) then your toon should look like this: Holy Paladin BiS 10-19 PvP.
If you’re PvE orientated then with my chosen recommended best items you would look like this: Holy Paladin BiS 10-19 PvE.
In my Classic journey, I built my Holy gear as a mishmash of both worlds centered around an aesthetic I enjoy looking at: Holy Paladin 10-19 BiS Alternative Design.
And I think going for fewer colors paid off. Focusing on the green motifs looks very nice in my opinion and I very much enjoyed healing Deadmines in this gear.
Final Notes
As a side note, if you’re watching this in the (Classic) Burning Crusade or later, keep in mind there's an NPC you can talk to, to stop getting XP which, makes loot grinding a whole lot easier. Horde players might also want to do a little research on some horde-specific items for the Blood Elf race.
Lastly, make sure you get that defense and weapon skill up. Unarmed too if your focus is on PvP but this isn't quite such a big deal as a healer.
And that is going to do it. Hopefully, you enjoyed this guide and I will see you in the next one. Until then, stay holy my fellow paladins.
