Paladin for New Players - Starting Build and Guide, Free to Play

axel15810

Well-known member
A lot of new players ask “what build should I play?” I think two handed fighting paladin is the best choice for starting out. Paladin offers very good DPS, very good survivability and good utility and self healing. All while being fairly easy to play. This video covers what I think is the best layout for someone just starting out in DDO. This is a build meant for new players but it’s very strong and will work very well in any difficulty for new players or vets.


See these timestamps for screenshots and discussion regarding starting stats, enhancements, feats, etc. Also the video goes more in depth on how to play the build and a lot of the what's and why's.

0:00 Intro
1:56 Starting Stats
3:21 Race
4:28 Feats and Levelups
6:28 Skills
7:36 Enhancements - Heroic
12:24 Epic Destinies
13:51 Spells
17:02 Gear to look out for

Starting Stats 1:56

STR is your main stat, it’s for attack and damage
CON gives you hitpoints, important for that
WIS you need a little of, in order to cast your spells
CHA power paladin abilities like Divine Grace (saves boost), Divine Might enhancement (extra attack/damage/tactics DCs), how strong your lay on hands (heals) are.

Race 3:21

Human because they get an extra feat, which really helps as it allows stunning blow to be taken.

Human also gives you a racial action boost, damage boost, which as a free to play player is important as you won’t own Vistani Enhancement tree to get access to haste boost.

Other races can work well for a free to play player such as dragonborn, dwarf and wood elf. So if you are really passionate about one of those races you can play them and it’s fine but you’ll have to drop Stunning Blow and you won’t get an action boost so I think Human is for sure the best as free to play.

Feats 4:28

Your feats are mostly all dedicated to better attack and damage so there’s not too much to say regarding most of them, they’re mostly passive and self explanatory as to what they do. But there’s a few I’ll mention.

Stunning blow you get at level 3. It is an active you need to put on your hotbar, it’s a really nice ability for when you’re leveling. It stuns enemies, which means they can’t attack you and when hit you do extra damage to them. You need to equip STR items and items with the stunning or combat mastery effect on them to increase your DC to make it work regularly though. Doing this increases the DC or difficulty check of the ability, making it harder for enemies to save against it. You also increase your DC by having your trance ability, Divine Might from the Knight of the Chalice enhancement tree on. The formula for Stunning Blow’s DC is 10 + Strength modifier + other modifiers.

Unyielding Sovereignty - Once you get to level6 you get this ability. Drag it to a hotbar and use it. It’s an ability you can use that removes most status condition and heals you to full. It also removes negative levels and death penalties. It has a long cooldown so you can’t use it too often. But it’s extremely powerful utility tool.

Alignment

Paladin’s have to be Lawful Good so nothing to pick here.

Enhancements 7:36

The Holy Combatant 2 enhancement in tier 3 KotC gives you greatswords as favored weapons. Take this as soon as you can, and once you do, only use greatswords. They’ll be the only two handed weapon that can benefit from all the favored weapon bonuses you get.

Exalted Smite is a key enhancement. It is amazing in the KotC tree and you should drag it to a convenient hotkey when you get high enough level to take it. It’s an area of effect smite evil which adds +2 to crit multiplier in addition to the normal benefits of smite evil, which are twice your CHA bonus to attack and a damage bonus equal to your paladin level. You want to be using all your charges every quest, take advantage of them.

You get damage boost through the human tree and the KotC tree. Use this to help with burst DPS. As a free to play player you don’t have access to the Vistani tree to get haste boost, which is better, but damage boost is pretty good too so it’s perfectly fine. I just want to point that should you eventually unlock Vistani on your server by buying the ravenloft expansion and completing all its quests on elite or higher (it’s not free to play) or by buying Vistani separately in the DDO store, I’d recommend spending some action points in the Vistani tree to get haste boost instead of damage boost. Note that the two damage boosts share a cooldown but not charges, so taking both gives you more uses for burst DPS.

Sacred Defender stance you need to drag to a hotbar and toggle on to benefit from. It is amazing but keep in mind does add threat, which makes monsters more likely to attack you instead of party members. As does the tier 1 enhancement Commanding Presence. If you get to end game and start raiding, just keep in mind you’ll want to turn sacred defender stance off during raids, and also reset your enhancements to remove Commanding Presence. That way, you don’t take aggro away from the raid tank. If you are solo’ing you are getting all the threat anyway so it doesn’t matter.

Lay on Hands is your main self heal. It doesn’t use positive spellpower, it’s instead based on Paladin level and CHA bonus. Be aware you can heal not just yourself with this but also your party members. It does have limited charges per rest though, unti you get into epic levels and can take Endless Vigil. When healing others it has a long range.

The damage boost from human you need to put on a hot bar and use up during quests. Especially during boss fights/tough encounters, hit it right before you get close to the mobs.

Divine Might enhancement is your trance and is very important. Gives you a big bonus to to hit, damage and tactics DCs (for your stunning blow). You need to put this on a hotbar and use it all the time. It should be up almost always.

Skills 6:28

UMD, Heal, Tumble

UMD lets you use a variety of scrolls, like teleport. Teleport scrolls are super helpful for getting around the overworld fast. Buy them and use them when you get to higher heroic levels. Experiment with other scrolls you see available at vendors.

1 rank of Tumble so you get a better tumble animation. Hold block and a direction to tumble, it gives defensive benefits.

Heal boosts your positive spell power, this doesn’t boost your lay on hands but it does make your cure spells heal for more.

Epic Destinies 12:24

Quick cutter from Fury is extremely important. It’s an incredible DPS AoE option. You should be using it as your primary attack in fights, it should always be on cooldown.

Primal Scream is an important buff, lots of extra STR/CON

Shadowdancer gives you a dimension door clicky in the 2nd core, which is very handy - use it.

Your primary destiny is Divine Crusader which complements paladin abilities well.

Law of the Divine gives you lots of extra damage die

Beckon Divinity is a mass raise, doesn’t matter where party members are on the map. It brings everyone up to full health. If you are a solo only player, there’s no need to take this. So spend those 2 points on something else.

Your Holy Mantle from Crusader you need to make sure you put on a hotbar and toggle on in order to get its benefits

Spells 13:51

Your spells are all healing and buffs and Paladin gets a lot of nice stuff.

Long Buffs - paladins get 4 special, very strong buffs

Holy Sword is vital. It gives you a ton of extra DPS because it increases both your weapon’s critical multiplier and crit range.

Zeal is also extremely important, gives 10% doublestrike, essentially 10% more DPS.

Angelskin also is very important, it’s a large defensive bonuses to PRR/MRR.

Righteous Command is also important, it’s a lot of extra melee power.

I’d also point out Prayer. Prayer is a nice luck bonus buff to attack, damage, saves and skill checks. You can use Divine Favor instead until you get high enough level to use Prayer. Divine Favor being the lesser version of prayer, essentially. After you get Prayer you no longer need to use Divine Favor since they’re both luck bonuses so don’t stack. Since Prayer boosts skills, you can also use Prayer to buff trappers to help them disable traps, or anyone else using any other skill check.

An important thing to note for spells is the minimum Wisdom score needed to cast a Paladin spell is 10 + the spell’s level. So 11 for level 1 paladin spells, 12 for level 2. This build starts out with 10 base Wisdom. This means that you need to have a Wisdom item equipped in order to cast your spells. Wisdom items are very common and easily obtainable throughout the game. Alternatively, you can even buy Owl’s Wisdom potions (sold in the middle of the marketplace) to temporarily increase your Wisdom if needed.

You don’t get any spells until level 4, so you have plenty of time to find one.

Gear - Here's a basic list of vital things to look out for as a new player. 17:02

Stat items


STR, CON, CHA items

WIS item for casting

Featherfall item (you get a clicky in Korthos)

Offensive

Stunning or Combat Mastery item

Deadly

Accuracy

Seeker

Doublestrike

Defensive

Fortification item

Concealment item (Blurry, Displaced)

Incorporeality item (ghostly)

Deathblock item

False Life (hitpoints)

PRR/MRR


Builder Summary

Character name: THFPaladin-FreetoPlay
Classes: 20 Paladin, 10 Epic, 4 Legendary
Race: Human
Alignment: Lawful Good

Starting Stats - 28 point build
Str: 16
Dex: 8
Con: 16
Int: 8
Wis: 10
Cha: 14 (if 32 point build go 16 CHA instead)

Class and Feat Selection


LevelClassFeats
1Paladin(1)Human Bonus Feat: Power Attack
Standard: Two Handed Fighting
Follower Of: Follower of the Sovereign Host
Class Skills: Heal(2)
Cross Class Skills: Tumble(2), Use Magic Device(4)
2Paladin(2)Class Skills: Heal(1)
Cross Class Skills: Use Magic Device(1)
3Paladin(3)Standard: Stunning Blow
Class Skills: Heal(1)
Cross Class Skills: Use Magic Device(1)
4Paladin(4)Strength: +1 Level up
Class Skills: Heal(1)
Cross Class Skills: Use Magic Device(1)
5Paladin(5)Class Skills: Heal(1)
Cross Class Skills: Use Magic Device(1)
6Paladin(6)Standard: Improved Two Handed Fighting
Deity: Unyielding Sovereignty
Class Skills: Heal(1)
Cross Class Skills: Use Magic Device(1)
7Paladin(7)Class Skills: Heal(1)
Cross Class Skills: Use Magic Device(1)
8Paladin(8)Strength: +1 Level up
Class Skills: Heal(1)
Cross Class Skills: Use Magic Device(1)
9Paladin(9)Standard: Improved Critical: Slashing Weapons
Class Skills: Heal(1)
Cross Class Skills: Use Magic Device(1)
10Paladin(10)Class Skills: Heal(1)
Cross Class Skills: Use Magic Device(1)
11Paladin(11)Class Skills: Heal(1)
Cross Class Skills: Use Magic Device(1)
12Paladin(12)Standard: Greater Two Handed Fighting
Strength: +1 Level up
Class Skills: Heal(1)
Cross Class Skills: Use Magic Device(1)
13Paladin(13)Class Skills: Heal(1)
Cross Class Skills: Use Magic Device(1)
14Paladin(14)Class Skills: Heal(1)
Cross Class Skills: Use Magic Device(1)
15Paladin(15)Standard: Child of Faith
Class Skills: Heal(1)
Cross Class Skills: Use Magic Device(1)
16Paladin(16)Strength: +1 Level up
Class Skills: Heal(1)
Cross Class Skills: Use Magic Device(1)
17Paladin(17)Class Skills: Heal(1)
Cross Class Skills: Use Magic Device(1)
18Paladin(18)Standard: Beloved of the Divine
Class Skills: Heal(1)
Cross Class Skills: Use Magic Device(1)
19Paladin(19)Class Skills: Heal(1)
Cross Class Skills: Use Magic Device(1)
20Paladin(20)Strength: +1 Level up
Class Skills: Heal(1)
Cross Class Skills: Use Magic Device(1)
21Epic(1)Epic Feat: Overwhelming Critical
22Epic(2)Epic Destiny Feat: Perfect Two Handed Fighting
23Epic(3)
24Epic(4)Epic Feat: Eerie Aim
Strength: +1 Level up
25Epic(5)Epic Destiny Feat: Doublestrike
26Epic(6)
27Epic(7)Epic Feat: Epic Damage Reduction
28Epic(8)Epic Destiny Feat: Deific Warding
Strength: +1 Level up
29Epic(9)
30Epic(10)Epic Feat: Patience
Legendary Feat: Scion of Arborea
31Legendary(1)Epic Destiny Feat: Embodiment of Law
32Legendary(2)Strength: +1 Level up
33Legendary(3)Epic Feat: Epic Reflexes
34Legendary(4)Epic Destiny Feat: Titan's Blood

Enhancements: 80 APs
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Human - Points spent: 5
Core1 Versatility I: Melee and Ranged Power
Core2 Adaptability: +1 Strength
Tier1 Improved Recovery I
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Knight of the Chalice - Points spent: 44
Core1 Slayer of Evil I
Tier1 Holy Combatant I
Tier1 Improved Second Strikes - 3 Ranks
Tier1 Extra Smite - 2 Ranks
Core2 Courage of Heaven
Tier2 Divine Might - 3 Ranks
Tier2 Adept Combatant
Tier2 Action Boost: Melee/Ranged Power - 3 Ranks
Tier3 Exalted Smite: Exalted Smite - 3 Ranks
Tier3 Holy Combatant II
Core3 Slayer of Evil II
Tier3 Ability I: +1 Strength
Core4 Improved Courage of Heaven
Tier4 Vigor of Life I
Tier4 Knight's Training
Tier4 Censure Demons
Tier4 Ability II: +1 Strength
Tier5 Vigor of Life II
Tier5 Censure Outsiders
Tier5 Ascendancy
Tier5 Holy Retribution: Holy Retribution
Core5 Slayer of Evil III
Core6 Champion of Good
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Sacred Defender - Points spent: 31
Core1 Holy Bastion
Tier1 Extra Lay on Hands - 3 Ranks
Tier1 Improved Sacred Defense I: Durable Defense - 3 Ranks
Tier1 Commanding Presence - 3 Ranks
Tier1 Sacred Armor Mastery - 3 Ranks
Core2 Sacred Defense
Tier2 Improved Sacred Defense II: Resilient Defense - 3 Ranks
Core3 Divine Righteousness
Tier3 Greater Sacred Defense I: Strong Defense - 3 Ranks
Tier3 Ability I: +1 Constitution
Core4 Redemption
Tier4 Greater Sacred Defense II: Hardy Defense - 3 Ranks
Tier4 Swift Defense
Tier4 Ability II: +1 Constitution
Core5 Glorious Stand
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Epic Destinies: 68 Destiny Points
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Shadowdancer - Points spent: 7
Core1 The Darkest Luck I
Tier1 Cover of Darkness - 3 Ranks
Tier1 Stealthy - 1 Ranks
Core2 Step Through Shadows
Tier2 Dance in the Dark - 1 Ranks
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Divine Crusader - Points spent: 37
Core1 Just Cause
Tier1 Spear of Light - 3 Ranks
Tier1 Divine Smite
Tier2 Endless Smiting - 3 Ranks
Tier2 Holy Mantle
Core2 Confront any Foe
Tier2 Bulk Up - 3 Ranks
Tier2 Divine Deflection - 3 Ranks
Tier2 Shield of Light - 3 Ranks
Tier3 Strike with Poise - 3 Ranks
Core3 Weather any Blow
Core4 Sunder Evil
Tier4 Blessed Strikes - 3 Ranks
Tier4 Heavenly Presence
Tier5 Law of the Divine
Tier5 Blessed Blades
Tier5 Mighty Crusade
Tier5 Bring Down Wrath
Tier5 Beckon Divinity
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Fury of the Wild - Points spent: 24
Core1 Die Hard
Tier1 Strength or Swiftness: Quick Cutter - 3 Ranks
Tier1 Enduring - 3 Ranks
Tier1 Acute Senses - 1 Ranks
Core2 Die Harder
Tier2 Gird against Demons
Tier2 Primal Scream
Core3 Die Harderest
Tier3 Fury Selector: Spirit of the Beast - 3 Ranks
Tier3 Wild Weapons: Doublestrike - 3 Ranks
Core4 Be the Whirlwind
Tier4 Wilder Weapons: Wilder Weapons - Doublestrike - 3 Ranks
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Last edited:

Hammatimes

Well-known member
Really glad you made this, there's been a lack of updated F2P resources to point new players to and your recent content has been filling that gap.

Just a few small details I noticed.

Power attack scales based on BAB. So it's a +1 bonus at level 1 then you get the full +5(+10 for THF) at level 5. So for non-humans I would suggest taking THF at 1, then power attack at 3.

For spells it gets very subjective based on the player's experience at managing uptimes and how fast they can move through a quest. Many players even struggle to maintain a 2 minute trance so I typically don't suggest divine favor until later levels since at early levels a new player playing a paladin usually doesn't have much SP to maintain it with a starting duration of 48s. Bless provides a smaller bonus to to-hit which helps counter power attack but with a much longer duration though if they have the plat to chug heroism pots it won't stack with that.

Personally I think that cure light wounds is too small of a heal to rely on to stay topped up since it's only 1d6+2, +1/CL and new players may have a small amount of devotion and SP. For topping up I like suggesting using wands since they're relatively cheap compared to pots and a paladin can use a CSW wand at level 5 which is 3d6+11 but with no bonus from devotion. They're harder to use mid-combat but virtue can be prebuffed if they're struggling with surviving fights and LOH/pots used mid-combat. If players do choose to use cure light wounds then I'd add devotion as an enhancement in your gear list.

Divine favor is +1 atk/dam at level 4, 2 at 6, 3 at 9 with a duration of 24+6/CL and a very fast cast.
Prayer is +3 atk/dam/save/skill at 11, 4 at 15, 5 at 20 with a duration of 6/CL and a long cast so it only beats out divine favor at 15 although the aoe, saves and skills bonus is nice.

A paladin doesn't get any specific bonuses to stunning so the only difference in the DC of their stunning blow and trip would be from their gear. They target different saves so it's not exactly the same thing but I think it's worth keeping on the hotbar in early levels while there's a lack of active abilities and saves are low.

What made exalted smite such a strong ability for such a long time was that it actually scaled with your character's power while many abilities only had the +W bonuses along with the 3s cooldown, speed and aoe. Now that other active attacks are % bonuses, it doesn't stand out as much as it used to especially for how AP expensive it is. It's still worth grabbing but I usually wait until the later levels when there's enough AP to spare and you can get enough charges and regeneration through retribution. The normal smite will still provide the bonuses to to-hit and damage vs evil.
With a greatsword, the 2ap is an average +9.5%, 4ap is +19%, 6ap is +47%
With IC it's 2ap +17%, 4ap +26%, 6ap +60%
With Holy Sword it's +17%, 4ap +28%, 6ap +62%
This would additionally scale the damage vs evil and doesn't factor in seeker, the to-hit bonus or ability to hit a 3rd target which THF won't reliably do until epics but it's unreliable and limited by charges and fortification.

Divine sacrifice with 1 ap starts at an average +31%, then 41% with IC and still +41% with holy sword plus the additional 5d6 light damage. It isn't limited by charges but the 5hp cost is something to watch for especially in early levels.
Exalted cleave is only a +20% and has a 5s cooldown but has 0 cost and the extra AOE is nice when strikethrough is at lower values.
Even lead the charge can get up to a +50% but I believe it's single target and has a 12s cooldown.

We're used to giving enhancement breakdowns with the full 80AP but leveling through heroics can take a long time for a new player and what's optimal at 20+ might not be optimal for heroics so I think a rough AP leveling path is helpful. For example I usually hold off on exalted smite and race to holy combatant to get greatsword as a favored weapon so you can benefit from the imbue damage which you didn't have in the video. I know you mentioned wanting to do a 1-20 video but it'd be too time intensive, there's an old post where a player did that and while it's not pure and uses quarterstaves it's still a good resource for new players.

Same thing goes for epics, I usually stop at endless smiting in DC or strike with poise if I'm not grabbing GMOF/LD mantle, get quick cutter in FOTW and try to aim for unquenchable rage when t4s are available/affordable. A new player may even need to supplement their healing with renewal, cocoon or the fatesinger mantle until the scream heal is available. Level 30 is when I respec to go T5 in DC.
In DC, improved sunder is nice to get since it doubles the duration of the sunder debuff, adds trauma and you'll be wanting to use sunder anyways to benefit from the sunder evil C4. Divine sundering is also nice to bump up retribution and sunder DCs.
 
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