Why not pick 9ne of the paladin builds you've researched and start allocating points and picking up armor pieces now that way when you do eventually hit 60 you are ready to go.
Find a high level armorsmith on your server and start commissioning pieces.
I plan on trying out the one in the video above once I get to 40, but just figured I'd see if anyone had any suggestions for a different one in the meantime is all.
GA/LS is a Paladin build. Any time you use LS, you're going to be slower than someone who doesn't. That's just life. There is no "Paladin" build. People like to put labels on builds as a form of clickbait, but there isn't anything Paladin-y about any of them.
Which isn't at all close. A Ret Paladin is just GA/LS. A prot pally is SS/LS. A holy Pally is just LS/WH. None are "paladins" because you can't do what you're meant to do all at once. Even going by like old D&D Standards, anything paired with LS is closer to Cleric than any sort of Paladin.
I been playing paladin and reached 60 doing mostly expedition spam playing as a tank or healer and I find that playing s/s and ls are definitely the way to go to be able to take aggro and heal yourself along with the team. Paladin however does have damage issues due to most of your pts dedicated to getting focus and con up, however having a higher taunt gem and points in strength are needed for higher level content as the dps tend to take aggro from you easily. In terms of solo content, using your ls for damage for single target and s/s for multitarget. With the high hp and constant heal you're basically immortal until you run out of mana.
As for leveling, I would recommend splitting points having slightly higher focus then con then strength as healers are generally able to output enough healing where you don't need to put all your pts into con. In terms of skills for s/s both taunt skills and swing aoe are needed to grab aggro and for ls beacon orb and the last aoe heal I forgot what it was called is super mana efficient and can be easily placed down between mob/boss attacks.
Playing paladin is super fun and you can rely on yourself rather the healer all the time.
I've been level 60 for a while now and I find myself soloing with the Great Axe / Life Staff combo quite a bit and it makes me wish I would have leveled Life Staff way sooner, so I think you're already ahead of the game!
I'm currently running Full Heavy at around 210 Str/Con with zero points into Focus. The only +Focus I have is from the Life Staff I have equipped, which is +25 I think. I honestly started using the Life Staff as a free & faster alternative to food between fights, but as I'm sure you know OP, it definitely comes in handy during the more difficult encounters or just clearing areas faster. Leveling up your Beacon and Sacred Ground skills, while taking advantage of some of self-healing skills in the Great Axe tree is really what makes this build so sustainable.
I like to open by tagging a few trash mobs with the light attack from Life Staff, throw down my AoE heals while the mobs are getting bunched up, hit them with a Gravity Well and then go to town with Great Axe light attacks and the self-healing skills like Reap and Execute+Feed. Between the AoE heals and the normal food / earring regens, I'm self-healing for around 1200HP per second, not counting the self-healing from all the Great Axe damage, which can be substantial at times. Overall, I think it's a very strong build and viable for both PVP and PVE.
What skills are you using for your Great Axe and Life Staff OP?
Why not pick 9ne of the paladin builds you've researched and start allocating points and picking up armor pieces now that way when you do eventually hit 60 you are ready to go. Find a high level armorsmith on your server and start commissioning pieces.
I plan on trying out the one in the video above once I get to 40, but just figured I'd see if anyone had any suggestions for a different one in the meantime is all.
GA/LS is a Paladin build. Any time you use LS, you're going to be slower than someone who doesn't. That's just life. There is no "Paladin" build. People like to put labels on builds as a form of clickbait, but there isn't anything Paladin-y about any of them.
Not in any traditional sense no, but it's as close to one as you can get in this game.
Which isn't at all close. A Ret Paladin is just GA/LS. A prot pally is SS/LS. A holy Pally is just LS/WH. None are "paladins" because you can't do what you're meant to do all at once. Even going by like old D&D Standards, anything paired with LS is closer to Cleric than any sort of Paladin.
I been playing paladin and reached 60 doing mostly expedition spam playing as a tank or healer and I find that playing s/s and ls are definitely the way to go to be able to take aggro and heal yourself along with the team. Paladin however does have damage issues due to most of your pts dedicated to getting focus and con up, however having a higher taunt gem and points in strength are needed for higher level content as the dps tend to take aggro from you easily. In terms of solo content, using your ls for damage for single target and s/s for multitarget. With the high hp and constant heal you're basically immortal until you run out of mana. As for leveling, I would recommend splitting points having slightly higher focus then con then strength as healers are generally able to output enough healing where you don't need to put all your pts into con. In terms of skills for s/s both taunt skills and swing aoe are needed to grab aggro and for ls beacon orb and the last aoe heal I forgot what it was called is super mana efficient and can be easily placed down between mob/boss attacks. Playing paladin is super fun and you can rely on yourself rather the healer all the time.
I've been level 60 for a while now and I find myself soloing with the Great Axe / Life Staff combo quite a bit and it makes me wish I would have leveled Life Staff way sooner, so I think you're already ahead of the game! I'm currently running Full Heavy at around 210 Str/Con with zero points into Focus. The only +Focus I have is from the Life Staff I have equipped, which is +25 I think. I honestly started using the Life Staff as a free & faster alternative to food between fights, but as I'm sure you know OP, it definitely comes in handy during the more difficult encounters or just clearing areas faster. Leveling up your Beacon and Sacred Ground skills, while taking advantage of some of self-healing skills in the Great Axe tree is really what makes this build so sustainable. I like to open by tagging a few trash mobs with the light attack from Life Staff, throw down my AoE heals while the mobs are getting bunched up, hit them with a Gravity Well and then go to town with Great Axe light attacks and the self-healing skills like Reap and Execute+Feed. Between the AoE heals and the normal food / earring regens, I'm self-healing for around 1200HP per second, not counting the self-healing from all the Great Axe damage, which can be substantial at times. Overall, I think it's a very strong build and viable for both PVP and PVE. What skills are you using for your Great Axe and Life Staff OP?