| Name | The Complete Guide to Paladins: Part 2 |
| Category | Class |
Hyacintha here and I am back to go over more of the Paladin-goodness that so many people are experiencing in World of Warcraft. In this particular segment, I will be going over the specs in detail as far as how to play them, gear them, and so on. We will start with the most undermined of all, the Retribution Paladin.
Hyacintha: So you want to somehow prove everyone out there that they are wrong about the Paladin class? Do you want to prove that Paladins can dish it out as well as they can take it? Well, you have your work cut out for you, I hate to say. However, in this segment, Sevirus and I will walk you through the basics of playing a Retribution specialized Paladin, since patch 2.3 gave a whole new spin to this type of Paladin. Retribution paladins have seen a huge buff in their abilities, however most players are still skeptical of their overall worth.
Sevirus: Indeed, lassie! Playing a Retribution based Paladin can be a lot of fun as long as you understand you will still not be at the top on any of the DPS charts, quite like a Balance Druid or any other specialization in a non-mainstreamed DPS class. You will nevertheless be able to do rather well and sustain yourself in PvP and level at a decent rate in PvE. Still you must come to recognize up front that most players view Paladins as healers and now sometimes tanks, so you will most likely be expected to heal regardless of your Retribution specialization. Discuss your options with a group before joining so that they know what you are beforehand. Avoid nasty miscommunications in group situations! In a PvP situation, there is no need to flaunt that you are Retribution, as you will do much more butt kicking if you do not.
To us Paladins, playing our class for DPS was always a dream. Before Patch 2.3 it was a bit of a far fetched one and players that did spec Retribution where commonly called out for it and completely disregarded in groups and raids. Conversely, patch 2.3 changed that and Paladins can now do decent DPS; even to the point where they do some of the biggest burst damage in the game. Note however that it is not always easy by any means and only some if it is under your control.
Hyacintha: Well lets jump right in here and talk about the first thing that most adventurers worry about; gear.
Sevirus: Well little missy, gear for a Retadin is a very tricky harmonizing act. You will need to create an equilibrium of Strength, Stamina, Agility, Intelligence, +Attack Power, +Crit Chance, +damage and +to hit. If you over accentuate any one of them you will lose your ability to be efficient as a retribution Paladin. For example, if you focus purely on strength and agility and leave your intelligence alone you will not have enough mana to do anything and will be unable to do serous damage as soon as your mana runs out. This causes many problems.
The most important stat is +attack power, followed closely by Strength, +Crit, +To Hit, +spell damage and Stamina. As you see, all of these are high on the priority list. As a Paladin, you want to be able to hit, cast and take hits equally as well. While +damage is important since all your main combat abilities cause additional holy damage it has been shown that +attack power generates more damage for overall. +Attack Power adds to your base damage and does it much quicker in most cases than strength does. Most new retribution gear completely ignores +spell damage and many Retribution Paladins will use it or warrior gear.
While still very important, you can view intelligence and agility as secondary. Intelligence helps you quite a bit and you need a good foundation of it for a respectably sized mana pool but beyond that it is not critical. Agility helps with your +crit and +to hit but you can generally get higher number by going for those bonuses on the item itself instead of getting it through agility. Thus you can see my reasoning.
As with any stat more is better, but for +critical strike, the sweet spot to hit is at least 25%. This way you can ensure that you Vengeance will almost always stay stacked 3 times against opponents.
For your weapon, you want the biggest, meanest two-handed weapon that you can find. As I have mentioned before, your abilities are based heavily off of your weapon damage so you are looking for the weapon with the highest base damage numbers preferably with a very slow speed. The slower the speed, the better! The slow speed allows your Seal of Command to proc on a greater percentage of your hits.
For a Recap, Stats by Priority:
° +Attack Power
° +Strength, +Crit, +To Hit, +Spell Damage, +Stamina
° +Intelligence, +Agility
Other Key Points:
° Big, slow, high-damage 2 handed weapon
° No shield
° 25% Crit is fantastic
Here are some gear suggestions if you are going to be a Retribution Paladin.
Two-Hand:
Quantum Blade
Singing Crystal Axe
The Oathkeeper
Firemaul of Destruction
Scepter of Sha'tar
Libram:
Libram of Righteous Power
Libram of Avengement
Libram of the Eternal Rest
Libram of Zeal
-- or --
Main-Hand:
Blinkstrike
Edge of the Cosmos
The Harvester of Souls
Bloodskull Destroyer
Shield:
Mazthoril Honor Shield
Crest of the Sha'tar
Blood Knight Defender
Stormshield of Renewal
Helm:
Ruby Helm of the Just
Exorcist's Scaled Helm
X-52 Technician's Helm
Helm of Natural Purity
Chest:
Leonine Breastplate
Chestguard of Illumination
Breastplate of Retribution
Nether Protector's Chest
Boots:
Ornate Boots of the Sanctified
Explorer's Boots
Boots of Zealotry
Expedition Footgear
Hands:
The Hands of Fate
Faith Bearer's Gauntlets
Gauntlets of Purification
Ragesteel Gloves
Legs:
Avenger's Legplates
Greaves of the Martyr
Ornate Leggings of the Venerated
Azureplate Greaves
Shoulders:
Pauldrons of Swift Retribution
Expedition Defender's Shoulders
Uvuros Plated Spaulders
Spaulders of Slaughter
Waist:
Avenger's Waistguard
Girdle of Gallantry
Goblin Girdle
Deathforge Girdle
Wrists:
Bracers of Just Rewards
Fairweather's Wristguards
Demolisher's Bracers
Bracers of the Battle Cleric
Back:
Netherfury Cape
Cloak of the Inciter
Capacitus' Cloak of Calibration
Auchenai Death Shroud
Rings:
Ring of Umbral Doom
Band of the Exorcist
Naliko's Revenge
Conquerer's Band
Ring of the Shadow Deeps
Band of Triumph
Neck:
Insignia of the Mag'hari Hero
Garrote-String Necklace
Skeletal Necklace of Battlerage
Bone Chain Necklace
Trinkets:
Abacus of Violent Odds
Hourglass of the Unraveller
Fetish of the Fallen
Core of Ar'kelos
Ogre Mauler's Badge
For Enchantments as a Retribution Paladin, here are some good ones:
HEAD:
° Glyph of Ferocity, +34 attack power, +16 hit rating. Price: 100.0g from Cenarion Expedition (Revered)
° Glyph of the Outcast, +17 strength, +16 intellect. Price: 100.0g from Lower City (Revered)
° Arcanum of Rapidity, +10 haste rating
° Heavy Knothide Armor Kit, +10 Stamina
LEGS:
° Nethercleft Leg Armor, +40 Stamina, +12 Agility
° Clefthide Leg Armor, +30 Stamina, +10 Agility
° Nethercobra Leg Armor, +50 Attack power, +12 Critical strike rating
° Cobrahide Leg Armor, +40 Attack power, +10 Critical strike rating
WRISTS/BRACERS:
° Enchant Bracer – Assault, +24 attack power
° Enchant Bracer – Stats, +4 all stats
° Enchant Bracer – Fortitude, +12 stamina
° Enchant Bracer – Brawn, +12 strength
FEET:
° Enchant Boots – Surefooted, +5% Snare/Root Resist, +10 Hit Rating
° Enchant Boots - Cat's Swiftness, +6 Agility, +8% Run Speed increase
° Enchant Boots - Boar's Speed, +9 Stamina, +8% Run Speed increase
° Enchant Boots – Vitality, +4 Health/5 sec, +4 Mana/5 sec
° Enchant Boots – Dexterity, +12 agility
° Enchant Boots – Fortitude, +12 stamina
BACK:
° Enchant Cloak – Subtlety, -2% Threat
° Enchant Cloak - Greater Agility, +12 agility
RING:
° Enchant Ring – Striking, +2 Weapon Damage
° Enchant Ring – Stats, +4 All Stats
CHEST:
° Enchant Chest - Major Resilience, +15 Resilience Rating
° Enchant Chest - Exceptional Health, +150 health
° Greater Inscription of Discipline, +30 Attack Power, +10 Crit rating
° Inscription of Vengeance, +26 attack power
° Greater Inscription of the Blade, +15 Crit rating, +20 attack power
° Inscription of the Blade, +13 crit rating
° Heavy Knothide Armor Kit, +10 Stamina
GLOVES:
° Enchant Gloves – Assault, +26 attack power
° Enchant Gloves - Minor Haste, +10 Haste Rating
° Enchant Gloves - Major Strength, +15 strength
WEAPON:
° Enchant Weapon – Executioner, Occasionally ignores 840 of your enemy's armor
° Enchant Weapon – Mongoose, +120 Agility, +2% Haste for 15 seconds
° Enchant Weapon – Battlemaster, Heal your party 180 to 300
° Enchant Weapon – Potency, +20 strength
° Enchant Weapon - Greater Agility, +20 agility
° Enchant 2H Weapon – Savagery, +70 Attack Power
° Enchant 2H Weapon - Major Agility, +35 agility
Hyacintha: So, let’s go over the Talents here. I always find that it is very important to have a good understanding of the talents behind the spec.
Sevirus: Sure lassie. Each talent has an intended purpose. I will talk about the highest rank of each.
Improved Blessing of Might – (Max 5 points) This talent increases the attack power of your blessing by up to 20%. Most Paladins use Blessing of Kings over Blessing of Might, so this will not get used much. It is better to get 10% to all stats than just additional damage. Thus, this is not highly recommended.
Benediction – (Max 5 points) This talent reduces the cost of all Seals and Judgements by up to 15% and greatly improves your mana pool. This talent is very useful for all paladin builds and thus, I highly recommend it for its sheer utility.
Improved Judgement – (Max 2 points) This decreases the cooldown of your Judgement by up to 2 seconds. By reducing the time between Judgements by 20%, it essentially allows you to do 20% more judging which in turn provides that much more damage. For a mere two points, this talent has a great overall effect for the low cost on investment. I recommend this one.
Improved Seal of the Crusader- (Max 3 points) Here, in addition to the normal judged effect, Seal of the Crusader also increases the critical strike chance of all attacks against the opponent by up to 3%. This is a great ability that increases all party members’ critical hit chance against the target. This is really a great buff and a reason to have a Retribution paladin in a raid situation. Stacked with Moonkin Aura and Curse of Tongues, this can get really nasty. It is a must have for Retribution Paladins, and still recommended for all others.
Deflection – (Max 5 points) Deflection increases your chance to parry by up to 5%. This one is kind of hard to say as it is potentially in the wrong tree as it is defensive, it is still a good talent. The 5% parry is hard to turn down as it reduces the damage you take overall. In a raid situation, if you are not tanking, this is not really useful. However, many Protection Paladins come to Retribution to get this talent. This is a must have for Paladin Tanks, otherwise it will only be useful to a Retribution Paladin in PvP situations.
Vindication – (Max 3 points) This three point talent provides a chance on all attacks to reduce all of the target’s attributes by up to 15% for 10 seconds. This is arguably a semi-useful ability as it will decrease the target’s effectiveness in combat and allow you to drop them faster. It is a nice talent, but not absolutely necessary.
Conviction – (Max 5 points) This increases your critical strike chance by up to 5%. To be honest, critical strike gear takes a while to add up. Therefore, 5% is a big bonus for 5 points and since you will be attacking non-stop as a DPSer, it is well worth the few points. I recommend this one for sure.
Seal of Command – (1 point skill) Here is the big Kahuna kids. This is a seal that provides a chance to inflict 70% of your weapons damage in holy damage and can be judged to inflict holy damage. In essence, this is the Retribution Paladin’s bread and butter seal. It is best used with a big two-handed weapon since it's damage is based off the weapons base damage. This is an absolute must have for Retribution Paladins
Pursuit of Justice – (Max 3 points) This increases all movement speed by up to 15%, but does not stack with other increases. In addition it lowers the chance you will be hit by spells by up to 3%. This is also handy in the PvP atmosphere since you have no snares, and very few stun abilities. It essentially grants you some hope of catching players as they flee away. While it does benefit mount speed, it does not stack with your mount speed aura and therefore has little benefit in that regard. If you are a PvP retribution Paladin, you may choose to take this talent. If you are a tanking Paladin, you may choose to take this for the spell negation effect.
Eye for an Eye – (Max 2 points) This will cause all spell critical hits against you to do up to 30% of the damage back to the caster, up to a max of 50% of your health. This particular talent is really focused towards PvP players since you tend to take huge spell criticals rather often. While it does not stop you from taking the damage in any aspect, at least you can take the other person out with you. It is exceedingly gratifying to be hit for 6,000 damage, to still be alive and have 2,000 reflected back at the caster and they die. It does not happen that often, but when it does, it can most assuredly make your day that much better! This is a must have for Retribution Paladins in PvP.
Improved Retribution Aura – (Max 2 points) This increases the damage your Retribution aura causes by up to 50%. While this talent does increase the damage significantly percentage wise, it does not add up to a lot for Retribution paladins, as you will mainly have Sanctity Aura active. You should just skip this one.
Crusade – (Max 3 points) This is a passive ability that increases all damage you cause against demons, humanoids, undead and elementals by up to 3%. This talent amplifies the damage significantly percentage wise, since it will effect most of your damage overall. Considering this fact, I strongly recommend this talent.
Two-Handed Weapon Specialization – (Max 3 points) You remember what I said about using a big honking two-hander? Well, this talent increases the damage you cause with two-handed weapons by up to 6%. As a Retribution paladin you will mainly be using two-handed weapons for their base damage to get higher holy damage from your ability procs. Furthermore, this talent allows you to produce even more damage. One plus one is two. This talent is strong recommended.
Sanctity Aura – (1 point skill) This is an aura that increases all holy damage dealt by party members by 10%. This immediately increases your damage output by almost 10% since much of your damage is holy based. While the fact that it assists other Paladins in your group or even Priests using Smite is an added bonus, it is not the focus of this talent. It is simply recommended for the increase in your own personal damage as a Retribution Paladin.
Improved Sanctity Aura – (Max 2 points) This talent increases the amount of damage done by all players effected by the Sanctity aura by up to 2%. In other words, this ability gives additional utility to an already good aura. It makes the aura useful to other players as well as yourself by providing a second useful ability. When put with a DPS group in a raid, between this and improved Seal of the Crusader, you provide almost a 5% boost in DPS. If you take Sanctity Aura, which you should at this depth into the tree, then you should take this ability as well.
Vengeance – (Max 5 points) This ability puts a debuff on your target after landing a critical strike that can stack up to 3 times and lasts 30 seconds. Each charge provides up to an additional 5% bonus to your physical and holy damage. Since you will be or at least should be critical hitting a lot anyway, you should have no issue keeping a full stack on your opponent, gaining 15% additional damage. This is strongly recommended overall.
Sanctified Judgement – (Max 3 point) This provides up to a 100% chance to get 50% of you mana back when you judge a seal. As a Retribution Paladin you will be using a lot of Seals and Judgements, so getting half of the mana back from each Judgement allows you to keep dishing out damage for a lot longer period of time. Three talent points this late in the tree though is sometimes hard to find and can be skipped, especially for PvP players where most fights are over long before you are out of mana. Use your own judgment on this one.
Repentance – (1 point skill) This puts the target into a state of meditation for 6 seconds. Any damage ends this effect. This ability basically gives you another short term stun. Seeing as how Paladins can truly utilize stuns, this ability is great for PvP as you can stun an opponent that is running away to give yourself and others a chance to get to them, or to interrupt a big spell cast. If you will be PvPing, I strongly recommend this.
Divine Purpose – (Max 3 points) With this ability, all melee and ranged critical hits against you cause up to 12% less damage. Since you will not be using a shield as a Retribution Paladin, damage against you can be an issue. This helps slightly. However, only 10% does not add up to a whole lot and furthermore is only really useful in PvP combat where critical strikes are more common. If you will be doing PvP a lot, you may arguably choose to take this ability.
Sanctified Seals – (Max 3 points) Sanctified Seals adds up to a 3% critical strike bonus to your spells and melee attacks and reduces the chance your seals can be dispelled by up to 100%. If you happen to already be this deep in the Retribution tree you need to find the points for it. An extra 3% critical is really a lot. It makes PvPing much better, your seals harder to remove, and will increase your damage in PvE situations. I recommend this one.
Fanaticism – (Max 5 points) This increases the critical strike chance on all of your Judgements by up to 15%, and reduces your threat by up to 30% (except while effected by Righteous Fury). This really adds to the burst damage ability that you require in PvP. It is also useful for an increase in damage for PvE as well. The 30% reduction in threat is the huge part of this talent for most players as it will keep you alive and not drawing threat away from the tank in groups. Considering all of these factors, this is a must have talent.
Crusader Strike – (1 point skill) Crusader Strike is a new ability which is essentially an instant strike attack that does 140% of weapon damage in holy damage and refreshes all Judgements on the target. This really provides for some solid controllable burst DPS on a target. Furthermore, it enables you to hit that big damage burst when you need it. I find this ability to be especially useful in PvP as well as PvE and strongly recommend it.
For your actual talent build, I recommend:
Holy (11 points) 5/5 Divine Intellect5/5 Spiritual Focus1/1 Aura Mastery Protection (0 points) None Retribution (50 points) 5/5 Benediction2/2 Improved Judgement5/5 Deflection3/3 Vindication5/5 Conviction1/1 Seal of Command2/2 Eye for an Eye3/3 Crusade3/3 Two-Handed Weapon Specialization1/1 Sanctity Aura2/2 Improved Sanctity Aura5/5 Vengeance3/3 Sanctified Judgement3/3 Sanctified Seals1/1 Repentance5/5 Fanaticism1/1 Crusader StrikeAs a Retribution Paladin, most of your points will be tied up in the Retribution tree, however you will have enough points left to pick up a few things from other trees. If you want to be able to fall back as a healer dump the remainder of your points in Holy. If you do not care to heal, may be worth putting the rest in protection for extra armor. Realistically however, in either PvP or PvE situations, it will be best to take the Holy points simply for the fact that it is ALWAYS good to be able to heal yourself.
The must have talents for a Retribution Paladin are Seal of Command and Crusader Strike. These two form the basis of your damage.
Seal of Command does its holy damage based on what your base weapon damage is. The calculation is as follows:
Seal of Command Damage = ((DPS + AP) * AS) * 0.70 * PPM) / 60) * (1+CH)
Where, DPS is Weapon DPS, AP is total attack power / 14 , AS is the weapon attack speed, PPM is the Proc Per Minute of Seal Of Command, equaling 7, CH is Crit % + Hit %, and SD is your + spell damage gear. Furthermore, your +holy damage gear or your bonus from Judgement of the Crusader should effect the
The other critical abilities are Two Handed Weapon Specialization, Vengeance, Conviction and Sanctity Aura. Many other Retribution talents are important as well, but these form the core of your arsenal.
Hyacintha: So, can you tell me about some basic combat techniques Sevirus? For the newcomer Retribution paladins what do you recommend?
Sevirus: I see what you are sayin’, lassie. Ok! You have got the gear, you have the Retribution spec, but now what? How do you go about doing damage?
Assuming you are using the build from above, I start all PvP and PvE single (1 on 1) fights prepared with Seal of Crusader and Sanctity Aura up. I also like to ensure I am using a Sharpening Stone or Weigh Stone. As a Paladin, you will need all the help you can get! Use the cheap stuff! Why not?
I then fight with the opponent using the following combination:
Repentance - Used from a distance so that you can close and get the first hit in.
Judgment of the Crusader - For extra holy damage.
Seal of Command - To cause additional Holy damage per hit.
Crusader Strike.
Add in Consecration (if you have lots of mana) and Exorcism (if fighting demons or undead).
Hammer of Justice.
Judge Seal of Command.
Repeat Crusader Strike and Judgment of Command until almost dead.
Hammer of Wrath if fleeing.
Remember after a certain point you just go through the Seal of Command - Crusader Strike - Hammer of Justice - judge Seal of Command combo until the enemy is dead or until you need healing at which point you have other options. You can bubble, use Repentance or stun then and then bandage or heal as required. Also you could bring Seal of Light or Wisdom into the fight to regain health or mana as required. If you are in a PvE situation against Undead or Demons, do not forget to bring in Exorcism as well for an added edge.
Hyacintha: What are some things that these Paladins should be looking out for, I guess to avoid, with this new play style?
Sevirus: Well lassie, I would recommend avoiding the following things!
Avoid multiple combatants of the same level or higher if you can. You have much lower armor than you do with a shield equipped and do not have any multiple target attacks. Unlike a Protection Paladin, or even a Healing Paladin in good gear, you do not quite have the longevity of your other spec counterparts. Be aware of this.
Also avoid using potions or bubbles to early. Save them and try to use Seal of Wisdom or Light instead. My favorite move is to judge Seal of Light and then use Seal of Wisdom, then when the Seal of Wisdom is almost expired, reverse them. Continue this mixed with heals until you are at full mana and health. That is a very handy little trick.
Avoid ignoring some of your stats. You should never focus on just one thing or you are cheating yourself out of a better character.
Avoid using fast low damage weapons! Even though they often display higher DPS rates, they do not factor in how your abilities work. Stick with the weapon that has the highest maximum damage. I have said it from the beginning and I will say it again! Use a slow, two-handed weapon!
Hyacintha: Thank you very much for all of your help with talking about Retribution Paladins Sevirus. I look forward to speaking with you about Protection Paladins in our next segment!
Sevirus: Thank ye’ fer havin’ me lassie!
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