ATM, Paladin vs Rogue is a semi-broken matchup. Holy/Retribution paladins are complete pushovers and as a result became extinct on my server as far as PVP is concerned. Those that read the "Guide to Reckoning" sticky at Paladin forum and specced their paladin for protection on the other hand can be a serious pain in the neck to deal with. 2 hand + seal of command, a fully charged reckoning bomb is very, very damaging with end game weapons. I sincerely hope in 1.9, Paladin reckoning bomb can no longer be stacked 4 times, in return the class gets some serious buffs in holy and retribution trees. A class should not be built around a broken talent.



Welcome to Grand Marshal vs High Warlord 3, where you see "The Golden Boy" Berethor, a rank 14 protection paladin in action. Rogue vs Paladin fights are largely dependent on the size and crit of reckoning bombs. I personally find dual instant (against 2 hand) and dual deadly (against 1H + Shield) best poisons against protection paladins. Cripple poison are easily dispelled by any decent paladin, I can step in and out of the melee range of a paladin very easily without cripple poison. The extra damage from poison is needed to force the Paladin blow his divine shield as fast as possible, from there you can simply blind him when he tries to blessing of protection, bandage up and rush it down.



You can also see in the final match of the video. he tried to play turtling with 1 hand + shield. PVP armor and PVP weapon doesn't really promote that style of play. To play turtling properly, you really need lawbringer/judgement/mana gear, and you probably have to ditch seal of command for divine favor since seal of righteousness is just better than seal of command for fast 1 handers. In future videos, I will probably include showcase of how a rogue can crack turtles like protection warrior + thunderfury, protection/holy paladins with aurastone + lawbringer. 1 hand + shield protection paladins with divine favor are great in group PVP as a support healer and can drag a match into a long stalemate, but without the burst damage of reckoning bomb they are definitely easier to beat as a rogue.



Note 1: The music from this video comes from classic SNK fighting games, King of Fighters 94, 98, Samurai Shodown and Fatal Fury Special.



Note 2: You can see my experimentation with dual crusader and quite honestly, so far I don't really like it. 30 AP + 1 Crit all the times seems to be a better investment than 100 AP half the times, considering just because crusader procced doesn't necessarily mean I am in melee range for the full 15 seconds. Sword Proc, Hand of Justice proc, and Maelstrom proc are very powerful because they are all instant and you never waste those procs. Of course, the burst damage potential of crusader proc, should it happen at the start of a stunlock, is very, very damaging. And chain heals from crusader has won me close fights before. And it is definitely the best PVE enchant in MC/BWL where you don't waste crusader procs in long sustained fights nearly as much as you do in PVP..