Warder and Spells Strategy (level 54-59)
Level 54 brings you a new warder (Spirit of Omakin), Ice Shard, Furious Strength, Resist Poision, and for the lucky (and wealthy) few, Spirit of Snow (a cold based pet proc). I couldn't ever find Spirit of Snow for sale, so I have no comment to make on it, except that people fortunate enough to find it say that they found it worthwhile. At this point you have the ability to efficiently stack damage with three PoP nukes during the course of a fight - this is worth doing, if you have sufficient mana, anywhere that mobs aren't cold resistant. So not for use in Velious. The new warder does a little more damage, but isn't as big an upgrade as any of the last two warders, who had to span much larger gaps in levels.
Level 55 is a much bigger upgrade. You get Chloroplast (hit points regen), Sha's Restoration (pet heal), and Omakin's Alacrity. At this point I replaced the level 39 pet heal with Sha's, which is far more capable of healing the warder, by about 45%, although not any more mana efficient. Omakin's is slightly better stats and haste for the warder, but not enough of an upgrade from Bond of the Wild, being much shorter lasting. Chloroplast cast on both yourself and your warder makes a big difference, however.
At level 56 there is a new warder, Spirit of Zehkes, as well as Incapacitate (debuff), Shifting Shield (armor class), and Spirit of Flame. Like Spirit of Snow, this is only available as a rare drop, and I haven't seen it for sale since I hit 56 - or for a long time before. Incapacitate has some use on tough mobs, but I find that I don't use it at all.
The next level, 57, is another big jump and change in strategy. At this level, you get Dexterity, Stamina and Greater Healing. Chloroplast meant that I didn't need to stop to bind wounds very often; GHeal meant that I no longer used bind wounds at all, it being now more efficient to heal and meditate rather than to bandage.
Level 58 is another small change; you get Nullify Magic, Talisman of Altuna, and Spirit of Khurenz (another new warder). Each of these warder upgrades through the 50s from 54 at 2 level intervals is both well worth while and needed, as mob toughness is increasing considerably through these levels. At 58, I stopped using Bond of the Wild, and instead buffed both myself and my warder with Talisman of Altuna, and used Omakin's Alacrity on the warder.
At level 59, new spells are Blizzard Blast, Sha's Ferocity, and Spiritual Purity. With Spiritual Purity replacing Spiritual Radiance (and without KEI) and with Chloroplast and regen 3 AAs, while sitting my hit points seem to recover about as fast as my mana does. Sha's Ferocity replaces Omakin's Alacrity in my dual buff system started last level with Talisman of Altuna. Blizzard Blast is interesting; it's shared with shamans, so isn't one of the PoP nukes for beastlords with long (30 seconds) recast times. It is slight less mana efficient, but can more or less be chain cast. This means that you can burn mana to nuke down a mob, if you need to do so, and not worry about timing the casts of PoP nukes to save them up.
Level 60 will bring new resources, and I'll save that for a later update. The 50s bring regular updates to the spell line up, which is a big improvement over the long gaps from 30 to 39 and 39 to 49. You also gain considerably in your ability to tank through about level 51/52 onwards; before, I could barely tank alongside my warder for about 50% of the mobs health, whereas afterwards, I gained a noticeable ability to tank for the full fight if I wanted to. From 51, there is also the possibility of alternate advancement, which can make a big difference if you want it take advantage of it. For example, I used six AAs for regen 3 and run speed 3 at level 55/56, then a further two for spell casting reinforcement 1. I can't say how much difference regen really makes, because I never levelled without it. However, with run speed 3 I don't notice any obvious difference between that and Spirit of Wolf speed, although I appreciate that there is, and so I don't keep myself buffed with SoW any more. Unfortunately, run speeds doesn't affect your warder, so I keep him sow'ed for faster response in combat at all times.