Which one should I be primarily using when solo leveling? I’m only level 14. I’m using a pretty slow (3.60) two handed axe and have so far put all 5 points into the retribution tree.
Your first Judge on the target should be with Crusader. Then immediately start using Righteousness for the rest of the fight. Crusader is just good for its debuff, and as long as you continually hit the mob? The debuff will never go away.
This applies to when you get Seal of Command as well. You just trade out Righteousness for Command.
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Thanks for the information. Should I invest the 3 points for improved SotC? I ask that because in this thread:
The majority thinks that SotC is pretty worthless.
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I’d say so yes. Because you will absolutely do more overall damage if the target has Crusader’s debuff on them. Once you start getting higher in level you will notice the significant difference. In my 40s it was like a 33% Holy dmg increase. Hammer of Wrath would hit for 400 instead of 300 if I had Crusader on him.
It’s just early on you don’t really have many Holy damaging abilities.
You’ll first start to notice the difference when you fight Undead and can Exorcism them.
The only time Crusader is overall bad is if the mob would have died quicker overall just using the Command/Righteousness Judge. As in, Crusader didn’t have the time to pay for itself. As, it takes a few Holy hits to equal out to the damage a Command/Righteousness Judge would’ve done. But after you pass that threshold, it’s all free, bonue damage.
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Crusader should only be use if you know that a fight is going to be long, if its just some mob in the world that isnt an elite or 1-2 lvl higher than u then its a waste to judge crusader. For dungeons dont judge crusader on trash mob and only on boss.
I dont recommend getting the talent since parry will be more useful in the open world since mobs will be attacking you.
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Thanks for the information, guys. Another quick question. Is Improved Judgement on tier 2 of the Ret tree worth taking or should I just go with Parry on that tier?
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just put the 3 points into parry, imp crusader is pretty useless until 60 for pvp for more dmg(tho 5% more parry is very useful against melee in pvp if you max it out). For leveling purpose, parry is more useful than the extra dmg from crusader judging.
what toushn said
Why would anyone take the parry talent? You have less than 10% parry even with 5 point in parry. Do you take benedictions over imp might as well …? Why play ret if you not taking dps talent
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So take improved judgement? I’m new to Classic Paladin.
If you don’t put point in benediction, parry, eye for eye and imp ret aura. You have exactly 31 point in ret tree
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So that’s a yes to improved judgement?
Do you realise judgement is your only attack beside auto attack? Classic class is 100% easy to play than play class on live. Not hard to figure out
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You know you could just come out and say yes or no. Regardless, thanks for the information.
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Yes. Take improved Judgment. It’s very good. 
And for the first row, Benediction > Improved Blessing or Might.
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https://classic.wowhead.com/talent-calc/paladin/550001225--052301512203151
This is the talent build I am using. Go all the way down the Ret tree first, before going into Holy.
It’s primarily a PvP build, but solid in PvE.
You will lack AoE until your 50s due to picking up Consecration so late. So what you wanna do is just farm Scarlet Monestary Armory when you get to the appropriate level, so that you can get Ravager. That’ll cover your AoE until you get to your 50s.
You don’t have to run my exact build. Just, this is a good representation of what some of the better talents are. Though there are other good talents too. Like increasing the effects of your buffs is also very useful for the entire group. Like Improved Blessing of Might, for example.
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Thanks. I already put 5 points in to Benediction. I’m using Blessing of Wisdom while leveling over Blessing of Might.
Yeah. That’s what I did. I almost never use Might. Only in 1v1 PvP, or if I have another Pally in my group. Wisdom is generally better for us. Just for PvP, it’s nice to have that immediate damage, over a long term mana regen. Unless the fight drags on, of course.
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you do take imp judgment you dont take imp sotc. When leveling you want a good mix of dps/survivability. And most mobs die to fast to use imp sotc. At max level youd spec differently. please dont post tips when you guys dont know anything about ret on retail or classic. also wisdom while leveling is ideal
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imp crusader is useless for leveling, its best to use the 3 points into parry because you are taking dmg when you solo and parry speeds up your auto attack as well as a dmg mitigation. Also imp Might is useless when since wisdom is more useful while you are leveling as well.
You only get imp might at max level if you need it, but if you are going to dps for dungeons wisdom>might unless you have another paladin in your group because consecration uses a ton of mana even when max rank is use only during vengeance