Retribution Paladin PVE Guide for WOTLK: Pew Pew and Beyond!

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aceman611
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Retribution Paladin PVE Guide for WOTLK: Pew Pew and Beyond!

#1 » Post by aceman611 » 27 Jan 2015 08:06

Greetings young padawans.

So you've decided to take up arms and exorcise the undead and demonic forces that wish to consume this world. Well done!

Now I (Smeldor) would like to share with you all the knowledge I've amassed over my 3+ years as a paladin, from 0 to 80. I'll admit that I began my paladin after first trying mage on a former server, and as such didn't know much about melee. I quickly learned what most have said at one point or another - paladins are unstoppable, in an almost unfair way. They are insanely easy to level, being able to pull a dozen mobs while stunning, fearing, and destroying everything in their path.

While they appear to be very easy to use at level 80, like any utility class, they require a certain finesse to be truly overpowered.

Ultimately, it's up to the player what play style he chooses, but if you'll allow me, I'd like to show you all that you are capable of with this class. I apologize in advance for any mistakes, typos, formatting issues, and the ridiculous length. :shock:

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Overview
  • Introduction
  • Spec Build
  • Glyphs
  • Rotation
  • Gear
  • Gems, Enchants & Professions
  • Helpful macros
  • Leveling and Race Guide
  • ICC Encounter Tips
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Introduction

To truly excel as a retribution paladin, you need to realize that you're in a raid for a lot more than just your 20k dps faceroll. Check any paladin guide and the first thing you'll read is that we are a utility class - we're here to fill the gaps in heals, dps, tanking, hell even rdps. No other class can effectively perform all these roles at the same time, outside of maybe a Moonkin.

(Un)fortunately for you, while most guides mention our raid-saving abilities because they know our dps should be relatively average, on Truewow, our dps is equal to or greater than any other class, except possibly fire mages. I say "unfortunately" because for many, this bugged damage means a free license to slam their keyboard in tunnel vision mode staring at the big numbers flashing on their screens.

Not to sound arrogant, but when you get beyond the "wonder" that is your bugged damage, you see that you're able to both put up massive numbers and help the raid at the same time, with little-to-no dps loss.

So how can you help your raid while being a beast?

[hide]
  • Cleanse can be used to remove the disease at Rotface, to dispel silenced tanks at LK, to dispel yourself of plague at LK, and more. This is not just a healer ability, so use it. Note: Having Healbot, Grid, or some other healer UI is very helpful for this.
  • Hand of Freedom should be used to free tanks from slows mostly, or to free yourself. This is very useful at Sindragosa for DK tanks, and also for people who get stuck in slowing goo at Rotface. Sadly doesn't work for the frost patches that Rimefang sets on the ground when he flies up.
  • Hand of Salvation should be used to protect raid members doing massive threat from pulling aggro (also useful on yourself with endgame gear).
  • Hand of Protection can be used to keep raid members from over-aggroing a boss (best used on casters or trigger happy AOE melee). This ability literally saves raids, and is a must-use at Professor Putricide (see macros below).
  • Hand of Sacrifice can be used to save a dying raid member who can't get heals. Note: use this ability VERY carefully, as it can kill you if you're low on health. This is nice in Frostmourne heroic mode, as you can place it on a healer and either bubble yourself or use Divine Protection for 50% damage reduction.
  • Divine Intervention is basically just useful for when the raid is wiping. Place it on a non-shaman healer without a soulstone if possible. You'll take no equipment damage and the target will survive out of combat, enabling him to quickly resurrect the raid after the boss resets.
  • Lay on Hands can also save a raid. Use it when you see your tanks/healers at low health, or when you're at close to zero health and have incoming damage. This ability can crit, and combined with this mandatory talent, can give your target a nifty 6k heal over time. This ability also grants mana to the target, so it can be useful on yourself when you're out.
  • Aura Mastery may seem useless to some, but it provides a raid-wide buff that no other class can, in the form of increased armor, resistance, and immunity to silences for 6 seconds, not to mention a cool speed burst with Crusader Aura. Great for fights with recurring magical damage spikes, you can switch your aura and pop this spell based on your present need.
  • Divine Shield in theory should be your second life (with Lay on Hands your third), but due to some bugs on TrueWow, this spell doesn't always work. I've used it and died at Sindragosa, the Blood Prince Council and the Blood Queen, so don't count on it saving your life. This ability, like Ice Block for mages, also resets any debuff you have on you, so it can be used to reset Unchained Magic at Sindy for some healing assistance. This ability also lets you tank a boss temporarily, when combined with a taunt and some kiting, which can be useful when an OT dies.
  • Flash of Light combined with Art of War is a reliable and instant 3-6k heal that can crit and add a heal over time on your target. I routinely use this to heal myself, not to mention healing others, just be careful with your mana.
  • Sacred Shield is NOT just for PVP. As a hybrid melee caster, you will have roughly 2500-3000 spell power in raid, depending on your gear. That means SS can protect you or others from a nice amount of damage. Note that this shield also increases your chance to crit with flash of light, giving your flash effectively a 90% crit chance when SS procs.
  • Judgement of Light is an overpowered heal in some situations, providing steady healing over time for most of the raid. I have literally topped both dps and healing at the same time at Festergut thanks to this spell. If you have a holy paladin or protection paladin specced into Divinty, allow them to use this judgement while you use Judgement of Wisdom. If you are the only paladin in the raid, start with JoW, see how the healing and mana replenishment is, and if needed switch to JoL. If you find yourself constantly low on mana, don't use JoL.
  • Holy Wrath can both harm and help a raid, depending on how it's used. This low damage ability should only be used as the LAST priority spell in your dps rotation (more on that below). This ability is useful when stunning a massive amount of undead mobs in ICC (think the Dogs, just after Decimate), saving your dps and heals from being eaten alive. It is also great for the spirits on the LK (just make sure they're facing away from the raid). This spell should never, and I repeat NEVER be used while dpsing the LK in P1, as it will stun all the adds around the LK, preventing the OT from taunting them to himself. The only reason to use it then, if at all, is if all your other abilities are on cooldown and no mobs are near you.
  • Repentance is useful mostly for doing the Darnavan weekly quest at Lady Deathwhisper, with its long range and 1 min CD/uptime. That being said, this ability is also very useful for interrupting some spells, particularly at Valithria Dreamwalker and at the LK.
  • Hammer of Justice should be used like Repentance, but more freely, as its stun will not break with damage. This can often be used to save trigger happy dps or unlucky healers from being one-shot.
  • Turn Evil, aside from being a neat ability, is currently mandatory for our LK25hc raids, as we use it on the last Raging Spirit before entering Frostmourne. Make sure to cast it once just before your run back inside, and then spam cast it on the spirit before entering Frostmourne to ensure it does not damage/silence the entire raid.
  • Hand of Reckoning, like many of our abilities, needs to be used VERY carefully. If used correctly, this can be a nice dps boost on some fights (Marrowgar spikes, Sindy ice tombs, LK wicked spirits, or even as a ranged killshot on low level mobs. I've seen this crit for 15k, so don't underestimate its power. Also useful for tanking temporarily (see above regarding Divine Shield).
  • Exorcism should be your second to last priority in your dps rotation, but due to its range and instant cast ability, is also great for dpsing ranged targets.
[/hide]

A retribution paladin also provides the raid with many buffs, some casted, which help all.

[hide]
  • Improved Blessing of Might, better than the warrior battleshout as it stays up for more than 5 minutes without refreshing, while providing a nice AP boost.
  • Other blessings: Not gonna link BoK or BoW, but I'm writing this because it's important. Too many raids get slowed down by paladins failing to buff on time, or at all. Don't be a failadin and buff people fast. If you really have a problem with buffing, get the PallyPower addon (I find it stupid personally, but it is nice for rebuffing resurrected people during a fight). If you don't have this addon, be ready to buff manually.
  • Auras: Mentioned a bit above, these provide some buffs that no other classes provide, combined with Aura Mastery for an even more powerful effect. Don't be afraid to switch auras mid-fight to help the raid. If you are the only paladin in the raid, use Concentration aura. Otherwise, it's best to be on a resistance aura or retribution aura for non-magic fights.
  • Heart of the Crusader gives a raidwide 3% crit boost (like some other classes).
  • Sanctified Retribution gives a raidwide 3% damage boost (like Arcane mages).
  • Swift Retribution gives a raidwide 3% haste boost (like other classes).
  • Judgements of the Wise gives mana replenishment to up to 10 people.
[/hide]

In the end, what you should take from this very long list of abilities is not "omg so many spells, how will I have room for my mounts?", but rather that you can and should do anything and everything you're capable of to help your raid, whether that's providing great melee dps, supporting healers, assisting with rdps tasks, saving lives, and worse-comes-to-worst tanking. If you don't have every single one of the abilities mentioned above on your bars or in your spec, you're doing something wrong (with the possible exception of Aura Mastery, see Talents below).

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Spec Build & Talent Points

The basic retribution spec has a majority of the points in the ret tree, 5 in protection, and 11 in holy. Like many classes, we have some "floater" points that can be placed into a variety of talents without affecting our dps. These optional talents are either PVP-related, or raid-buff related.

I use the following spec at the moment: Smeldor. It gives me dps flexibility with Seal of Command for nice AOE damage when needed, in addition to superb single target dps. It also gives me Aura Mastery for raid protection and 12% more healing on flash/holy light. Technically speaking, Divine Intellect is better than Healing Light for dps because it increases your spell crit chance, but with my spec you only lose something like 0.02% crit, so it's not a big loss.

I generally recommend this setup at endgame gear if you're focusing on full PVE. If you want to PVP, you can take more of those talents, but the following raid utility talents are still a must have for PVE: If you find yourself having mana issues, take Divine Intellect instead of the fear reduction and healing increase. Mana shouldn't be an issue if you use your Judgement often at endgame gear with full raid buffs, but at 2pc T10 mana may become an issue due to Divine Storm spamming (more on that below).

Seal of Command, while nice to have for AOEing mobs, is honestly not needed in most PVE encounters aside from grinding. I currently only use it at Anub in ToC during his ground phase, and that's it. This seal should NEVER be used at Lady Deathwhisper, because if you're mind controlled, you will AOE the raid. With Shadowmourne, you can literally one-shot 5 people like this, including the tank, so don't use it.

An alternative to my setup for more raid buffs is this with Divine Sacrifice instead of Aura Mastery. I personally find this a bit reckless. While Divine Sacrifice can help your raid more than Aura Mastery on occasion, the fact that it can kill you makes it less useful in my opinion, so I'll stick to Aura Mastery. Don't forget, Aura Mastery also gives you a mounted speed burst, which is something I use dozens of times a day.

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Glyphs

This one is pretty easy, but you have an option depending on your gear.

MAJOR GLYPHS: If you have 23 or more expertise without glyph of SoV, use glyph of exorcism until you change your gear. Endgame, use the first three glyphs. Technically speaking, you want 26 expertise, but on TrueWow you don't actually need that much. You won't get dodged with 23 expertise!

MINOR GLYPHS:
  • Glyph of Lay on Hands a free 5 minute reduction on a lifesaving heal? Yes please.
  • Glyph of Sense Undead Free 1% damage against all of ICC? Yes please.
  • Glyph of Blessing of Might for those times when you're buffing your fellow paladins wisdom, but wish to retain might on yourself for more than 10 minutes. Nice for leveling/grinding without using symbols.
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The Rotation and Paladin Mindset

The rotation for ret paladins, unlike most other classes, is a priority-based "First Come First Serve" (FCFS) system that isn't quite a rotation, and more of a series of "clash scenarios" used to decide between different damaging abilities that are available to you at the same time. The point is to always use the highest dps spell you have available to you at a given time, while maintaining 5 stacks of SoV and 5 stacks of your Libram of Three Truths.

This FCFS system uses the following spells: Your priorities in this FCFS system will vary depending on your gear and on the situation.

[hide]For less than 2 parts of the T10 set:
  • Judgement*
  • Hammer of Wrath**
  • Divine Storm
  • Crusader Strike
  • Consecration
  • Exorcism
2 or 3 parts of T10:
  • Judgement*
  • Divine Storm
  • Hammer of Wrath**
  • Crusader Strike
  • Consecration
  • Exorcism
With two parts of T10, you get the following set bonus:
(2) Set: Your melee attacks have a 40% chance to reset the cooldown on your Divine Storm ability.

The above means that using your Divine Storm cooldown as soon as possible will increase your DPS, as it can always reset with your next Auto Attack (TaJ can also proc this - synergy FTW. Not using it in time can potentially waste a reset and thus reduce your DPS. As such, your Divine Storm´s priority increases and surpasses your Hammer of Wrath, even when the boss is below 20% health, just be sure to keep it lower priority than your Judgement, as that's a dps loss and makes for an easy way to go out of mana.

4 or more parts of T10:
  • Judgement*
  • Divine Storm
  • Crusader Strike
  • Hammer of Wrath**
  • Consecration
  • Exorcism
* Judgement (Always on top because it is your source of mana and hits hardest.)
** Hammer of Wrath (Only when a boss is under 20% hp)


These priorities are for AFTER you have stacked Seal of Vengeance to 5 and your librarm to 5. Personally, I like starting fights with Crusader Strike because it both ramps up the strength on my libram, and it adds a stack of SoV.

Once you have 5 stacks of SoV and at least 3 or so stacks of your librarm, use Avenging Wrath, just be certain that you won't pull aggro.

While this is the basic rotation, you can also increase your dps by taunting some adds (see above Introduction) and occasionally by using Holy Wrath.[/hide]

Some general tips:
As many of you know, paladin dps is severely bugged (in a positive way), as our SoV ticks hit significantly harder than they should, and will hit even harder under any circumstances where a damage multiplier buff is in effect. This means that in ICC, at the "Twins" in ToC, when Ice Howl is stunned, and...coming soon to a theater near you...Ruby Sanctum (you will see just how bugged ret dps is there under this effect), you will do great dps. In ICC, we even have the opportunity for a double multiplier thanks to the Blood Queen's bite.

All of this means that we live and die, as far as dps is concerned, by our DoTs. In any fight where you are not able to have 5 stacks of SoV on a target, you are losing A SHITLOAD of dps. As a result, ret paladins are the worst dps (and best utility - see HoP) at Professor Putricide. Whenever you have to chase something, or alternate targets, or dps something that will not be alive after 3 minutes or less, your dps suffers...A LOT. This is where using CDs effectively, switching seals, switching your libram to this or this, and watching your stacks of SoV come into play. Sadly, Blizz screwed ret paladins more than most (all?) classes with their libram, as it takes insanely long to stack 5x without haste buffs, and can easily be lost during movement fights (PP mostly).

I almost never use SoV in RDF anymore because I do more dps with SoC while clearing and SoR while dpsing bosses. In ICC, I use SoV on all bosses except for Lady Deathwhisper in P1 and Professor Putricide in P2. At Lady, I use SoR on the adds (SoC will kill the raid) and I cycle between adds to avoid aggro if possible, as SoR + Judgement = Taunt for most adds. At PP, I only dps with SoV in P1, then in P2 I'm on SoR mostly for the oozes. If you're really skilled, you can switch to a 1H weapon and shield to stack SoV fast and then switch back, but I personally don't find this to be a dps increase in any situation.

Whenever you have more than one target up, Divine Storm should be prioritized, possibly over Judgement, as the AOE is just massive (assuming there's no AOE damage reduction). Aside from that, don't underestimate Crusader Strike. While its damage isn't spectacular, it procs SoV and keeps your Libram up, so it should be prioritized whenever that buff is about to fall off. Letting your Libram buff drop is a big dps loss, because you both lose strength and need to reprioritize Crusader Strike ahead of Divine Storm until you restack the buff.

HELPFUL ADDONS - I don't personally use any Paladin-specific addons, but if anyone has suggestions feel free to post them. Grid, Healbot or other healer UIs are good for supporting the raid with heals and dispels, while Omen is great for helping trigger happy dps with Hand of Salvation. PallyPower is also okay for buffing. I use none of them because I fear they'll reduce my PC responsiveness even further (and I think PallyPower is stupid).

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Gear

Frankly, I don't know whether to thank or curse Blizzard with its itemization, but I will say this - ret paladins have more gear options than any other class. I currently use plate, mail and leather gear. Why do we have so many options?

Three reasons - we can wear anything, we have an insane conversion rating of agility to crit (roughly 51 agility to 1% crit), and we can work with almost any stats, adjusting gear as needed with haste/hit/expertise.

My personal preference is to go for crit (in the form of agility items) over strength when it comes to non-set items, but only where I receive other useful stats like hit or haste. I don't really like armor penetration, and don't see it worthwhile going after in any way unless you plan on using DBWhc, which in my opinion is also best left to those who truly benefit from arp, but is still viable for paladins. When Ruby Sanctum 25 heroic comes, arp will have a higher value, but still minimal compared to other melee classes.

[hide]Priority in stats
  • Hit Rating: You want between 7 and 8%, depending on your race (1% hit for Draenei).
  • Expertise: Generally speaking, like most melee classes, you want 26 expertise for the soft cap. Due to TrueWow bugs (I think), you'll need only 23 expertise. With heroic set legs and glyph of SoV, this requires only 10-20 expertise in gems/enchants.
  • Strength: Like warriors, strength is our basic stat to raise, as it increases all of our damaging abilities. Also like warriors, we don't want to over rely on this in place of other stats.
  • Crit: With endgame gear, you'll need to worry less about strength (and AP) and more about crit. The best way to get crit is with some well-itemized agility gear. You'll want around 62% crit fully buffed in endgame ICC gear (without RS). Some say more, and I've seen Paladins with 68% in raids, but I haven't tried this and still out-dps equally-geared players.
  • Haste: Haste is very useful for ret, but in moderation. You want roughly 500 haste to take full advantage of your T10 2-piece set bonus, as this will make your Divine Storm reset its cooldown more often. According to Rawr (a dps simulator), Engineering is best for rets because of the hand enchant. I love this personally. Combined with a potion of speed, it allows me to start a fight at nearly 1400 haste, and stack my SoV super fast.
  • Armor Penetration: Armor penetration, generally speaking, is not a paladin stat. Over 55% (higher, depending on the fight) of your damage is spell-based, meaning it benefits solely from strength being converted to AP and SP (yes, our spells rely on spell power). Given that this server also amplifies the damage that SoV does, devaluing strength, or any of the other stats above in favor of arp is nuts. Once Ruby Sanctum 25 heroic comes, arp will be unavoidable, but until then avoid it like the plague.
Best In Slot - end game gear (ICC 25 heroic + RS25 normal) Note: This setup will require roughly 20 more expertise to reach the minimum cap. An alternative setup, if you don't like adding expertise enchants/gems, is to use Seal of Many Mouths as your 2nd ring.[/hide]

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Gems, Enchants & Professions

Keeping in mind the stat priorities listed above, below you'll see the way to go about using gems, enchants and professions to maximize your output. One general note - if you lack a certain stat like hit or expertise, try to increase that first through enchants, only after through gems. Enchants tend to give you AP, whereas gems give you strength, which for paladins, is far more useful.

Gems Enchants Professions
The best professions for a ret paladin are Jewelcrafting and Engineering. Together, they'll provide you with more strength, an amazing haste enchant for your gloves that will help you stack SoV faster and proc your Divine Storm more often, and more crit for your boots. I personally use Blacksmithing instead of JC, but that's just because I leveled it before knowing what was ideal for my class.

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Useful Macros


I don't have a ton of PVE-related macros, but here are a few I routinely use.

Divine Shield: Sometimes it's useful to pop bubble just to clear a debuff or save your life for a second, but then you want to continue dps. To continue without bubble reducing your dps by 50%, use this macro to cancel it.

#showtooltip Divine Shield
/cast Divine Shield
/cancelaura Divine Shield

Crusader Strike + Hand Accelerators: I macro'd my haste proc from engineering to my Crusader Strike, so I open fights with CS and then the haste makes me ramp up my SoV stacks faster.

#showtooltip Crusader Strike
/cast Crusader Strike
/use 10

Hand of Protection: This macro is basically just for the Professor Putricide fight, and can be used by all paladins. It's used to place HoP on the target of the orange ooze when it isn't slowed.

#showtooltip Hand of Protection
/tar Gas Cloud
/cast [target=targettarget, exists] Hand of Protection

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Race Guide


Generally speaking, your race won't really affect your performance in any significant way in PVE, although technically, some races have more strength than others (due to the amount they start with at level 1). The difference in strength is minimal though (+/- 5). From a pure PVE perspective, Draenei is the most useful due to the 1% hit rating you gain, but with endgame gear, hit won't be a problem, so this isn't a must-have. Human is a good choice if you plan on PVPing, and Dwarf is mostly for the looks, which is why I chose it, although Stoneform can be incredible in PVP (and PVE if you tank) as well.

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ICC Encounter Tips


Some of this is already sprinkled throughout, but for easier reading I'll write it in one place. For most bosses in ICC, dpsing is easy and you'll be able to top most classes aside from mages with endgame gear. Some fights are an absolute nightmare - Professor Putricide, due to movement - and some fall in between, depending on your skill.

There are several fights where you can do excellent dps but have to watch your stacks of SoV. These include Lord Marrowgar, the Blood Prince Council, the Blood Queen, Sindragosa, and the Lich King. On all of these fights, you'll have to deal with obstacles that will prevent you from grinding your face into the boss's ass for max dps.

[hide]Lord Marrowgar: Spikes, cold flames and bonestorm will keep you moving in this fight, so be sure to keep up SoV on the boss at all times, even during bonestorm (while avoiding fire), and use your ranged abilities to dps spikes before you get to them (taunt, exorcism). Make sure you aren't out of range of a target before your Libram falls off, and prioritize CS when in melee range of spikes. If there are multiple spikes, prioritize divine storm. I like to use Aura Mastery with Frost Aura during the bonestorm, as that's when people usually get caught in flames.

Lady Deathwhisper: Depending on the mode you're in, this ranges from a simple boss dps fight with occasional adds, to a fight where your final recount should show less than 60% damage on the boss with the other 40% or so on adds. You will be dpsing either on the left or right side of the room. When adds spawn, dps them using SoR, slowly ramping up your damage and cycling targets to prevent aggro. Prioritize Divine Storm here and Judgements, while keeping your Libram buff up. NEVER use SoC, as you'll either get Mind Controlled and kill the raid, or you will overaggro adds and kill yourself. Be ready to stun Dark Martyrdom with Hammer or Repentance. If on cooldown, back away. Be VERY careful with your AOE on this fight, and do none when Mind Controlled people are in your range. Try to time the usage of Consecration on the boss in P2, as it can also kill the MC'd. Aura Mastery should be used with Frost aura towards the end of Lady's frost bolt casts in P2. If the cast is interrupted, another one will come in heroic immediately after. If it isn't interrupted, you just save the raid. Be ready with Hand of Salvation and Hand of Protection, particularly in P2, for those dps who get aggro on the boss.

The Gunship: Not much to write here. Basically just Pew Pew!

Deathbringer Saurfang: Since it's not really working, basically just Pew Pew again. You can help dps the adds a bit with some burst single target damage (Taunt + Exorcism + Judgement = Dead), but that's only when needed. Since this fight has no magic damage, and you are almost guaranteed to be hit by adds, using Retribution Aura is a great idea here. Pop Aura Mastery with your wings and the damage will be even greater.

Festergut: Basically just stay on the boss, move to healers/rdps if you're targeted with a spore and another is already at the boss, and keep SoV up. Most of the damage here is shadow damage, so Aura Mastery is nice for Pungent Blight and the spore damage itself. JoL is great here, as most people will be in range of it to get healed, but don't use it if others are specced into Divinity or the raid could use more mana replenishment. And most importantly, avoid the green ooze thrown at the raid, as its debuff will reduce your melee speed by 250% (huge dps loss).

Rotface: This fight is mostly a faceroll for us because we do insane damage to the boss while occasionally AOEing adds that spawn. Depending on the setup, you can get 1-shotted here from a bad Vile Gas/Slime Spray combo, so you still need to be careful and watch your CDs. The disease here can also be tricky, so be ready to dispel yourself or others as needed. Generally, I pop wings earlier than normal on this fight due to Heroism, so I like to SS myself and heal with JoL in case I get Vile Gas. Once wings are up, you have a 30 second window before you can cast bubble or Lay on Hands or Divine Protection to save yourself, so you're most vulnerable at the beginning of this fight. Be ready to throw a Hand of Freedom to a tank or someone who gets stuck in puddles, as this will free them.

Professor Putricide: This fight is pure torture for ret paladins. While you can burst the boss very nicely before the first ooze, once that ooze is down your dps will be cut IN HALF, maybe even less. On oozes, be sure to keep SS on yourself an don't even bother wasting CDs - you're there mostly to soak up the damage. While you should dps the adds, remember that this is secondary to positioning and stacking. Thanks to our talents, we can move very fast to chase stuff in this raid, but that doesn't mean you can face anything the wrong way - whether it's the boss or the adds. Always dps the boss from the front and adds with your back to the raid. When dpsing adds, consider switching to SoR, and prioritize Judgement and Divine Storm. The best Libram for this fight, in my opinion, is the Wrathful PVP one, because it does not require stacking and doesn't make you use SoV. If you don't have that, I suppose the EoT one is best combined with SoV. The standard Libram is useless for this fight. Your main role here is protective/supportive, with heals on people when needed, and Hand of Protection on Orange Oooze targets. This should be used whenever the ooze recasts, and an HoP order should be made before the fight. See Macros for the HoP macro I use. In heroic mode's P3 transition, you may want to taunt the boss to steal a stack of the debuff the tanks get. To do so, pop Righteous Fury before taunting. Once in P3, you'll get a stack and then a tank will taunt back from you. At this point, you'll go back to nuke mode, while avoiding orange gas, puddles, and Maleable Goo (haste reduction = zero dps). Since you'll have used wings relatively early after Heroism, you'll be able to tank the boss if the tanks have too many stacks later. Just be sure to taunt with Divine Protection, switch to Devotion Aura, pop Aura Mastery (with Stoneform - dwarf racial - even better), pop SS, switch to SoL and heal like mad.

The Blood Prince Council: Here, you'll deal with knockback, moving to a 2nd boss, and a movement debuff in heroic (not always working). Be sure to get your SoV stacked fast on bosses (without aggroing) and burst while you can, as your dps will be very spiky for this fight. Since you're only dpsing 2 bosses here, try to help the raid by dpsing kinetic bombs, switching auras, helping with heals, and dispelling people from the fire DoT, but be sure your stacks are on the correct boss before he reactivates and don't lose your Libram buff. Pro tip - position yourself away from Valanar's Empowered Shock Vortex (while spread) in such a way that you get thrown to Taldaram when he activates. Also, use your bubble to remove the movement debuff if you get tossed across the room and must run back. Bubble is only good for that here - it won't save your life when you actually need it to (fire orbs). Use Aura Mastery with Fire Aura on flame orbs to prevent people getting 1 shot, or if in Keleseth's range, with Shadow Aura (once he is active) to help the tank. Do not use Retribution Aura, it will help to kill the shadow orbs needed by the tank.

The Blood Queen: Here we find ourselves with a double-edged sword. Due to the nature of our DoTs, it is theoretically possible to do 45k dps over the course of the fight (with a 50k burst). I've seen a paladin do 40k for the whole fight by keeping SoV on the boss during her airphase, which is dangerous to do in heroic, but in normal mode could be done with some skills and a fear ward (my personal record is 38k). This is all assuming you don't get flames, or connected with other people, or have to chase someone to bite. All of these things lower our dps in this fight significantly, and even a BiS-geared player can do fail dps with bad luck. Concentration aura is a must for this fight, but if another can provide it, use Shadow Aura and time the use of Aura Mastery for the air phase when people are likely to run into flames. You can also use it during the air phase when she rains down shadowbolts on us. Helping with heals is easy to do on this fight, so don't hesitate if people are dying. If you're going to wipe here, use Divine Intervention on someone close to the back, hopefully on the steps, to prevent aggro of the boss when DI is removed.

Valithria Dreamwalker: Not much to do here. Use either SoC or SoR. You can taunt adds here freely, except for the Abominations, so keep it in your rotation. Throwing a Lay on Hands on the boss (you can heal her for 50k + another 30-40k from the HoT if it crits) is nice. Prioritize mages, as you have 4 abilities that can prevent them from casting a frostbolt: Hammer of Justice, Repentance, Holy Wrath and Turn Evil.

Sindragosa: This is where a paladin truly shines in my opinion. Like UH DKs, we have a relatively slow attack speed, so we don't build up the melee debuff a lot. Even if you get stacks, you can easily time your abilities and prioritize spells to prevent the next stack from coming (while waiting for the last one to drop off). Also like UH DKs, our DoTs make us very powerful in P2. Just keep 5 stacks on the boss, run to a tomb, taunt it on the way, reset/dps, and run back to refresh your stack. I like to keep my Crusader Strike up on tombs mostly, and prioritize other spells for the boss at this phase. Even better than DKs, we can do MASSIVE AOE on tombs (great for 25hc air phase) without putting DoTs on them thanks to SoC. Feel free to taunt tombs here as well. While we are a mana class, Unchained Magic doesn't really affect us much here, outside of the random exorcism, which is lowest on our priority list anyway. Aura Mastery with Frost Aura can be helpful here, but that's mostly for the tank, and he'll likely be out of your range anyway. If possible, time it on the breaths when you're in his range, and use it in P2 when healers have the debuff. If you get Unchained Magic in P2 and you're dying, use bubble - not to save your life (because it won't), but to remove the debuff, allowing you to heal yourself. Another ability to use here is Hand of Freedom on the tanks (usually DKs), as Sindy's frost breaths will slow them.

The Lich King: Paladins can also be fantastic dps here, but they need to be smart and be aware of their surroundings. In P1, it's a faceroll, and you can easily top most dps, even UH DKs, but you need to watch your aggro and your AOE (particularly Holy Wrath). In the transition, unfortunately, we're handicapped. If you dps the raging spirits with SoV, you'll do mostly lame dps, but if you dps them with SoR or SoC, you'll likely pull aggro from a tank. You need to find the right balance for your gear/playing style. The rest of the fight is trickier due to the Val'kyrs grabbing players, and even harder on heroic where you have to deal with the interruption of Frostmourne. While DPSing the Valks, try to AOE them if they're close together with SoC, or else use SoR and tab through them until they're all down to 50%. Switching targets and having to re-ramp up SoV on the LK will lower your overall dps, but that's the fight. Aside from dps, there are many things you can and should do during this fight. You should be on the lookout for the plague to dispel it from yourself or others when needed. You should time the usage of Aura Mastery - switch to Frost on P1 transition and pop it to help the raid exiting the AOE frost damage, switch to Shadow inside FM and wait to use it when a bomb drops. You can also pop it as a Raging Spirit is casting its silence to help the tank. You should use Turn Evil on the remaining Raging Spirits in 25hc before entering FM, and Holy Wrath on Wicked/Vile Spirits approaching the raid. If you're in FM in normal mode, obviously stun the cast (Hammer works perfectly) while dpsing the spirit down. If you're in it in heroic, help dps Wicked Spirits with taunts, exorcism, and even Judgements, Consecration, Divine Storm and Holy Wrath if they get close. You can also help heal by putting SS on low HP raid members, throwing in flash of light or Lay on Hands as needed. Additionally, you can place Hand of Sacrifice on a healer, just be sure to combine it with bubble or Divine Protection so you don't die. If people die in FM, be ready to taunt the LK outside if needed to "ping-pong" him between yourself and other tanks, just be careful and don't do this unless it's called for. The LK will kill you if he hits you and is still enraged, so don't be stupid and bubble before that happens.[/hide]
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thanks for reading,
Smeldor
Last edited by aceman611 on 27 Jan 2015 08:27, edited 1 time in total.
Smeldor - Ret/Holy Paladin - The Original Dorf
Ivanka - DW Frost DPS/Blood Tank - Suffers from Dorf envy.
Dumboldorf - Dorf fire mage (Yes they exist!)
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Re: Retribution Paladin PVE Guide for WOTLK: Pew Pew and Bey

#2 » Post by aceman611 » 27 Jan 2015 08:11

*Reserved space for updates.
Smeldor - Ret/Holy Paladin - The Original Dorf
Ivanka - DW Frost DPS/Blood Tank - Suffers from Dorf envy.
Dumboldorf - Dorf fire mage (Yes they exist!)
Smellycat - What are they feeding you? Currently lots of smelly scourge minions.

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Re: Retribution Paladin PVE Guide for WOTLK: Pew Pew and Bey

#3 » Post by aceman611 » 27 Jan 2015 08:11

**More reserved space for updates.
Smeldor - Ret/Holy Paladin - The Original Dorf
Ivanka - DW Frost DPS/Blood Tank - Suffers from Dorf envy.
Dumboldorf - Dorf fire mage (Yes they exist!)
Smellycat - What are they feeding you? Currently lots of smelly scourge minions.

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Re: Retribution Paladin PVE Guide for WOTLK: Pew Pew and Bey

#4 » Post by Justicelight » 27 Jan 2015 08:27

Awww cute guide :D

[hide="Tip for starting rotation"]As starting rotation I use 1hand shield for stacking seal + libram fast.

I`m using http://wotlk.openwow.com/item=50708 and http://wotlk.openwow.com/item=38873 on it.

If both proc, which they mostly do within 2 seconds, you gain a strength bonus, around same amount shadowmourne basic strength.
These two buffs will fade after 10-15 seconds, time in which you already stacked the libram through Crusader Strike.
So you basicly gain 115 strength + 100 strength (atm bugged enchant, but even without bug is great) which is around same amount of strength as libram x5 has, your paladin starting with stacking libram even from begining, by the time these two buffs wears off your libram already get stacked and you keep the same amount of strength as before.[/hide]
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Re: Retribution Paladin PVE Guide for WOTLK: Pew Pew and Bey

#5 » Post by aceman611 » 27 Jan 2015 08:34

Thanks for adding that Justice. I personally don't like the 1h + shield approach, although I know many people have used it successfully. Elitist Jerks claimed that it's a dps loss overall due to the GCD loss of switching your weapons, not to mention the fact that all of your melee abilities are scaling off of weapon damage, which is WAY lower with a 1h than with a 2h.

Perhaps on Truewow, with bugged Crusader proc, it's worthwhile, but I'll stick to what has worked well for me. That, and I've never had the chance to roll for Last Word hc, as I don't really tank on pally.
Smeldor - Ret/Holy Paladin - The Original Dorf
Ivanka - DW Frost DPS/Blood Tank - Suffers from Dorf envy.
Dumboldorf - Dorf fire mage (Yes they exist!)
Smellycat - What are they feeding you? Currently lots of smelly scourge minions.

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Re: Retribution Paladin PVE Guide for WOTLK: Pew Pew and Bey

#6 » Post by Darchrow » 27 Jan 2015 11:14

you don't really need last word
i do it with flurry axe :p
divine storm will most likely refresh due to the attack speed, and crusader strike is just 4 sec cd, so by the time you get 5 stacks of SoV ( 3-4 sec ) you'll have all your abilities ready for use
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Re: Retribution Paladin PVE Guide for WOTLK: Pew Pew and Bey

#7 » Post by Corba » 27 Jan 2015 13:05

good guide to new retries, but justice said good thing that all should use :)

1 hande axe from marrow for fast stack + sheald gives u gr8 dmg boost at start
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Re: Retribution Paladin PVE Guide for WOTLK: Pew Pew and Bey

#9 » Post by Vaen » 27 Jan 2015 19:40

I just want to add that Astrylian's Sutured Cynch should be bis for ret paladins due to how negligible spell crit from intellect is, something you said yourself.
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Re: Retribution Paladin PVE Guide for WOTLK: Pew Pew and Bey

#10 » Post by aceman611 » 27 Jan 2015 20:59

You're right about Astrylian, but the difference between the two pieces is negligible (16 crit), and I would not want to give Astrylian to any paladin over a rogue, feral druid or warrior. But you're right. I suppose I should edit that BiS gear list a bit and give some options.
Smeldor - Ret/Holy Paladin - The Original Dorf
Ivanka - DW Frost DPS/Blood Tank - Suffers from Dorf envy.
Dumboldorf - Dorf fire mage (Yes they exist!)
Smellycat - What are they feeding you? Currently lots of smelly scourge minions.

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Re: Retribution Paladin PVE Guide for WOTLK: Pew Pew and Bey

#11 » Post by Justicelight » 28 Jan 2015 07:34

There is no need to chase that belt forever. I like and dislike some of the bis items you linked but I want to say about this belt issue.

By using non plate hands and plate belt you have the same stats as using plate hands and non plate belt. In the case you will be using http://wotlk.openwow.com/item=50619 then you can freely use the strength belt. You can juggle between same ilvl items by using its plate version and non plate version in diferent slots.

So to conclude, either way is fine, you don't have to chase that belt.

I am curently using this setup: http://www.truewow.org/armory/character ... sticelight and our stats are quite the same <3 ( /love smelly) :D
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