Deepwater Breastplate  

 

I've seen alot of people arguing over the relative merits of different BPs for Paladins. Not considering velious quest armor this BP is about as good as it get for a paladin. The only thing that compares is Righteous and its marginally better. This kicks the Valorium BP by a mile - 10 ac more on the deepwater translates to more like 15 ac when you put it on. Deepwater BP is so much better than a guardian BP (ac 22) they aren't even worth mentioning in the same breath. (While some other guardian pieces are more comparable to deepwater due to their stats, the BP is NOT comparable)

Mana free symbol is a huge bonus too if you don't have a cleric in your party, or many times a cleric won't symbol the party anyway. Paladin's don't get a better symbol until level 58 and I'd like to see the Paladin that has enough mana to symbol the whole party without having to med either during or right after. Even if you own righteous or a better velious BP its worth acquiring and carrying at all times just for the symbol. By the way, free symbol also equals mana free heals in between fights just like the helm does, only the heal is alot bigger.

Sure its hard to get, but you dont need to be in an uber guild to get on a Trak raid, and it is occasionally sold if you have the cash.