The Best Professions for a Holy Paladin to have
January 3, 2009
What are the best Professions to have?
#1. Jewelcrafting
#2. Blacksmithing
#3. Alchemy
Even with that, read below, as to why I’d take Blacksmithing and Alchemy instead.
We’re going to take this from the perspective from the level 80 Raiding Holy Paladin. We’re also going to take it from the improvements that each profession gives, not just what they do. It’s fine to mention the little extra items that you get from each profession, but since gear is easy to replace, we’re going to look at things that are more permanent in nature.
Alchemy:
Alchemy is probably the best profession for a Holy Paladin to take. It gives you the same +Spell Power boost that most professions take, but most importantly, if you don’t need that boost, you can switch over to another boost at a drop of a hat. The biggest reason to take Alchemy is Mixology:
Mixology - Passive
You receive an increased effect and duration when you drink any elixir or flask you are able to make.
This is a little hard to judge, because the effects are different on each Flask and Elixir. Here are the Major ones:
Flask of the Frost Wyrm: +37 Spell Power
Flask of Distilled Wisdom: +23 Intelligence
Flask of Pure Mojo: +13mp5
Battle Elixir’s:
Spellpower Elixir: +19 Spell Power
Elixir of Deadly Strikes: +16 Crit Strike Rating
Elixir of Lightning Speed: +16 Haste Rating
Guardian Elixir:
Elixir of Mighty Thoughts: +18 Intellegence
If you use two elixir’s, you can have one from the battle elixir’s and one from the guardian, which allows you to mix and match what you need for each battle.
This is good since early on, when you’re gearing up your Holy Paladin, you’re going to need Intelligence a lot more often, where later on, you’re going to want the extra hitting power that bonus Spell Power gives you.
There is also another benefit, although you should not take Alchemy for this reason alone. It will reduce your raiding costs, with flasks lasting twice as long. Not only that, you get to make your own Flasks and Elixir’s.
Downside to alchemy: You need to use consumables to have the benefit. If you go commando without your buffs into a pug, Mixology isn’t going to improve you.
Blacksmithing:
The main benefit that Blacksmithing gives to a raider is the two extra bonus Gem sockets that you can put on your own gear.
[Socket Bracer]
Permanently add a socket to your bracers.
[Socket Gloves]
Permanently add a socket to your gloves.
We don’t take into account the [Eternal Belt Buckle], since that item is not specific to any profession. We’re only taking into account any bonuses that you’d not normally have access to.
There is something else that’s exceptionally cool about these extra sockets. You can equip any gem to them. Well not quite any gem. Any gem except the Meta Gems. That means that the bonuses available to you are two of the following:
+19 Spell Power
+16 Haste
+16 Critical Strike Rating
+16 Intellect
+6 Mp5
Blacksmithing gives you quite a different range of options for a raider. These options can be changed on the fly simply by replacing the gems.
This makes Blacksmithing another extremely strong option for your profession. When epic gems are released, Blacksmithing will become even more powerful.
Jewelcrafting:
This is another solid option to the Holy Paladin. You are able to use up to three Jewelcrafter only gems.
Flexibility is also good with Jewelcrafting. Bump in a new gem when you need a different boost, and you’ve got flexibility. While the flexibility is more expensive than the Alchemy version, its still very important to have and makes Jewelcrafting better than Skinning for instance.
You receive three of any of the following bonuses:
+11 Crit Rating
+11 Haste Rating
+5 Mp5
+11 Intellect
+13 Spell Power
As an added bonus to Jewelcrafting, the gold making that it provides is very nice. A downside to Jewelcrafting comes when Epic gems are released. The gap will be reduced, thus making this profession not as attractive. This change will increase the benefits given by Blacksmithing.
Enchanting:
[Enchant Ring - Greater Spellpower]
Permanently enchant a ring to increase spell power by 19. Only the Enchanter's rings can be enchanted, and enchanting a ring will cause it to become soulbound.
This is a very, very nice profession to have. The bonus is comparable to the other Raiding Professions giving you a bonus +38 Spell Power to your raiding stats.
Enchanting becomes a critical option for to those who want the very most out of their character. If you drop enchanting, you keep the enchantment on your rings. Those who want a bonus +38 spell power, will drop their current profession, level up Enchanting to enchant the rings, drop enchanting and take up their old profession again. It is a very expensive exercise to do, but the benefits are nice.
Herbalism:
This is a very poor profession to take as a raider but the reasons you’d take it is:
[Lifeblood] - Rank 6
Instant 3 min cooldown
Uses your skill in Herbalism to absorb energy and nutrients from the earth, healing you for 2000 over 5 sec.
[Fire Seed]
Use: Makes you vulnerable to magic, but increases your spell power by 200 for 10 sec. (1 Min Cooldown)
[Fire Seed] averages to +33.3333 Spell Power. Is being eliminated in 3.0.8
[Lifeblood] averages out to 55.55 Hp5 (Health Per 5 Sec)
Although this looks ok on the outside, its just a bad deal for raiders.
Inscription:
The benefits that Inscription gives to a Holy Paladin are pretty poor. The reason to take it is:
[Master's Inscription of the Storm]
Permanently adds 61 spell power and 15 critical strike rating to shoulder armor.
This gives you +37 Spell Power on top of what you’d usually get.
While this would be good if it was the same as Enchanting, it is not. Inscription is not among the best options for a Holy Paladin. You’ll find better options in other professions.
Leatherworking:
The benefits that Leatherworking give to a Holy Paladin are the same as Inscription, pretty poor. The reason to take it is:
[Fur Lining] - Spell Power
Permanently enchant bracers to increase spell power by 67.
This gives a +37 Spell Power benefit over the best bracer enchantment available.
This means that Leatherworking is the same as Inscription for benefits. Skip it.
Skinning:
While it’s good that the gathering professions have a raid buff, they pretty much suck compared with the other options available. The reason to take Skinning:
[Master of Anatomy] - Rank 6
If you want Crit strike rating, take Blacksmithing or Jewelcrafting instead. Avoid Skinning.
Tailoring:
This is another profession that you’ll ultimately ignore since the benefits of Mp5 aren’t that great for a Holy Paladin. While it gives you the highest Mp5 gained of any other profession, the cost is your Clock Enchantment, thus reducing either your crit from your agility enchant or Haste.
Here is the item that’s special to Tailoring:
[Darkglow Embroidery]
Embroiders a magical pattern into your cloak, giving you a chance to restore 300 mana when you cast a spell.
Length of fight in minutes |
Mana Gained in the time peroid |
1 |
222 |
2 |
444 |
3 |
666 |
4 |
888 |
5 |
1110 |
6 |
1332 |
7 |
1554 |
8 |
1776 |
9 |
1998 |
10 |
2220 |
11 |
2442 |
12 |
2664 |
13 |
2886 |
14 |
3108 |
15 |
3330 |
Even if you have serious need to increase your Mp5, don’t do it. Take the Agility enchantment to your cloak instead, it’ll be better for you in the long run.
Mining:
[Toughness] - Rank 6
All your hard work spent mining has made you exceptionally tough, increasing your maximum health by 500.
It doesn’t scale with raid buffs. Jewelcrafting beats it for extra health. It’s bad. Nuff said.
In 3.0.8 this is being changes to 50 Stamina. Which means it does scale with raid buffs. Even with this change, Jewelcrafting still beats it.
Engineering:
The reason you’d take engineering is:
Yes its cool, everyone in your raid will be jealous. Maybe that’s enough of a reason for you to take it, but resist the urge. Don’t take it for the bike.
Actually, the real reason you’d take Engineering is:
[Hyperspeed Accelerators]
This is about +22.66 Haste Rating when you average it out, however, it’s at a cost to your Spell Power enchant to your gloves since it will replace it. Anyway, you’ll end up with heaps of haste on your gear anyway.
So in summary: The profession to take as a Holy Paladin:
|
Spell Power |
Intellect |
Mp5 |
Crit Rating |
Haste |
+Health |
Alchemy |
37 |
23 |
13 |
16 |
16 |
|
Blacksmithing |
38 |
32 |
12 |
32 |
32 |
480 |
Jewelcrafting |
39 |
33 |
15 |
33 |
33 |
510 |
Enchanting |
38 |
|
|
|
|
|
Herbalism |
33 |
|
|
|
|
|
Inscription |
37 |
|
|
|
|
|
Leatherworking |
37 |
|
|
|
|
|
Skinning |
|
|
|
25 |
|
|
Tailoring |
|
|
18.5 |
|
|
|
Mining |
|
|
|
|
|
500 |
Engineering |
-28 |
|
|
|
22.66 |
|
While you don’t get every benefit from each profession, it’s a good reference guide to which stats are important to you (umm.., Crit, Int, spell power) and maximize those.
Note that Alchemy looks not as strong with Crit, Haste. While this is true, when these are used, you also get a bonus +18 to Intellect as well making up for some of the difference
When epic gems come out, it will make Blacksmithing better and Jewelcrafting worse.
Clearly its all between Alchemy, Blacksmithing and Jewelcrafting.
Currently Jewelcrafting currently wins, but when Epic gems come out, Jewelcrafting will lose a lot of its appeal.
Stick with Alchemy and Blacksmithing. You’ll be happier in the end. If you do take Jewelcrafting, make sure you make lots of gold selling those [Dragon’s Eye] Gems in the mean time to cover what it’s going to take to level Alchemy.
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