Gear a class: Episode 1 Paladins

Note: anything written in these guides is not to be taken as the end all truth of truths for the classes/specs. It is meant to merely act as a guide for people considering playing the class / spec, and as some information on where to find entry level gear.

What are paladins?
Paladins are a hybrid tank / healer / DpS class, that can be designed to fulfil almost any role. That said, paladins are also an 'overspecialised' class, meaning that while they excel in their active spec, they are significantly gimped trying to perform roles outside their spec. Paladins are a durable class, wearing plate and being able to wield almost any melee weapon. Paladins have access to a wide range of Damaging attacks as well as healing and defensive skills. This gives paladins plenty of options in combat, they are capable of incredible burst damage, and powerful healing.
Types of paladin:

Holy.
Holy is the paladin tree specialising in healing.
Holy Paladins favour spell power, critical strike rating and intellect over other stats. The reasoning for this is, Holy Paladins commonly spam a single large heal, Holy Light, which is mana intensive, especially if spammed over long periods of time. Having high intellect allows the paladin to heal for longer, and high crit increases the chance of triggering some of the paladins skills that activate on critical heals.

The most basic holy paladin build is:
Standard build (51/2/18)
This build collects the most important talents from the holy tree, and then receives an additional 8% crit from the retribution tree.

The following are less common builds, they are most notably used in PvP, however *may* still be viable in PvE, but are not recommended.
Shockadin (37/0/34)
Prot/Holy (22/49/0)

Gearing.
Here is a loose list of gear to aim for as a holy paladin. I havn't listed any reputation gear, because I can't be bothered at this time.

Helm: Helmet of the Constructor - 2nd boss, H Utegarde Keep
Neck: Amulet of the Spell Flinger - Heroic boss in H Old Kingdom
Shoulders: Ferocious Pauldrons of the Rhino - 2nd boss H Utegarde Pinnacle
Back: Wispcloak - Crafted, Tailoring
Chest: Ornamented Plate Regalia - last boss H Utegarde Keep
Braces: Flamebeard's Bracers - last boss H Azjol Nerub
Gloves: Grips of Sculptured Icicles - drops off the heroic only boss in H Nexus
Waist: Girdle of Ice - drops off 3rd boss(the ice giant thing) in H Nexus
Pants: Legs of Physical Regeneration - 1st boss H Drak Thannon Keep
Boots: Skywall Striders - 3rd boss H Halls of Lightening.
Weapon: War Mace of Unrequited Love - last boss H Nexus
Shield: Facade Shield of Glyphs - 1st boss H Azjol Nerub
Libram: Libram of Renewal - 15x Emblem of Heroism
Ring 1: Annhylde's Ring - last boss H Utegarde Keep
Ring 2: Ring of the traitor King - last boss H Azjol Nerub
Trinket 1: Forge Ember - last boss H Halls of Stone
Trinket 2: The Egg of Mortal Essence - 40x Emblem of Heroism

It should be noted that there are further crafted, quest, badge and reputation gear that are upgrades for the gear listed here. This list is only intended as a rough guide of where to begin looking for gear.
If you think something here sounds wrong, please PM me or post in this thread.
Comments and constructive criticism is welcome.

Note: anything written in these guides is not to be taken as the end all truth of truths for the classes/specs. It is meant to merely act as a guide for people considering playing the class / spec, and as some information on where to find entry level gear.

Protection.
Protection is the paladin tree specialising in tanking.
Protection paladins are a tanking class similar to warriors in that they use a shield, and similar to death knights in that they generate threat by casting spells. Protection paladins will gear almost identically to warriors, however their mechanics are slightly different. Paladins tank by spending mana to cast spells which generate threat, especially while under the effect of Righteous Fury. Paladins are often regarded as the best tank for holding threat on multiple enemies at once, this isn't necessarily true as it comes down to the player behind the paladin, however paladins come with a useful set of skills that make AoE tanking somewhat easier when compared to other tanks.
The optimal rotation for protection paladins is referred to as the 96969 rotation. This is because the paladin's tanking skills have cool downs of exactly, or close to 6 or 9 seconds.
A video of the 96969 rotation can be found here, and a massive database on everything prot paladin can be found here.

The core protection paladin build is:
Core build (?/5?/1?)
If your build has these talents, you should have no issues tanking.
Note: the 3/5 points in Divinity are there to progress down the tree only, they can be spent elsewhere.

My build of choice is :
Lanky's build (0/53/18)
I use this build as a variation of one of the highest TpS (threat per second) builds off maintankadin (see above)

Notes:
1/2 Improved judgement: This is done to bring judgement from a 10 second cool down to a 9 second cooldown, thus allowing it to fit in the rotation easier.
Glyph of Concecration: Never ever, ever use this glyph as it ruins the 96969 rotation.

Gearing.
Before going to deeply into gearing, I'll explain defence rating.

Defence rating:
Defence rating is a value, that you will see on gear from time to time.
Defence skill is a core stat that everyone has (you gain 5 defence skill per level, resulting in a maximum skill of 400 at level 80)
Tanks must reach a defence skill of at least 535 to become uncritable in heroics, and 540 defence skill to be uncritable in raids.
Now, Defence RATING, is used to increase your defence SKILL.
However, defence rating suffers a drastic diminishing return, meaning the more defence rating you get, the less it will improve your defence skill.
To become uncritable in heroics, you need 535 defence skill, which equates to about 665 defence rating
To become uncritable in raids, you need 540 defence skill, which equates to about 690 defence rating

For gearing, I point you to this thread, as it is written far better than what I could have done:
http://maintankadin.failsafedesign.com/viewtopic.php?p=300820#300820

Additionally, here is a complete list of all the tanking gear in WotlK
http://maintankadin.failsafedesign.com/viewtopic.php?t=20890

If you think something here sounds wrong, please PM me or post in this thread.
Comments and constructive criticism is welcome.

Note: anything written in these guides is not to be taken as the end all truth of truths for the classes/specs. It is meant to merely act as a guide for people considering playing the class / spec, and as some information on where to find entry level gear.

Retribution.
Retribution is the paladin tree specialising in damage dealing.
Unfortunately I'm largely unaware of the mechanics of retribution paladins.

So I ask anyone who has any tips, gearing or play style advice to come forward and contribute.
Please post anything about retribution spec (that isn't useless flamign) in this thread.
Thank you.

Love it lanky! Please continue with the other classes! I can help if you would like on druids, still learning priests so dont want to give the wrong info. But again, good stuff!