2. Talents & Glyphs
3. Stat Priority
4. Rotation
5. Sockets, Enchants, Buff Food, Flasks, & Pots
6. BIS Gear List
7. Special Notes
Hello all you beautiful people! My name is Braehgo and this is my Retribution Paladin (PvE) Guide. It is meant to be a quick reference guide to outline the most important information needed to effectively raid in end-game content WOTLK. This guide is optimized for the Rising Gods private server.
1. Raid support
Refreshment: Every 3 seconds for 15 seconds long 1% max Mana regeneration.
Heart of the Crusader: 3% increased critical chance on the target which is Judged.
Sanctified Retribution: 3% increased damage done by all raid members in range of your auras.
Swift Retribution: Increase casting, ranged and melee attack speed by 3% by all in range of your auras.
2.Talents and Glyphs
Here is the standard Talent build for all Ret Paladins, regardless of gear. (Note: you may swap out minor glyph of blessing of Kings with any other blessing you want).
3.Stat priority, Caps
Hit: 8%.
Expertise: 26 (it's still possible to play 1-2 points under cap)
Strength: Most important stat for Ret Palas (1 Str = 2 AP)
Crit: 2nd most important stat for Ret Pala; after Str you should try to get as much of this as possible.
Agility: Agi give paladins more Crit than any other class in WOTLK so it’s important. In full BIS gear you should have approx. 740 Agility without raid buff.
Haste: This will speed up your auto attacks; get as much of this as you can!
4.Rotation/Priority List/Play style
Before I get into details, I need to make something very clear...IF you want to be a selfish dmg whore please don't play Paladin...EVER! Paladins can deal very good dmg (with some luck from procs), however, Paladins really shine in their raid support. So if you like playing your role in raid AND helping others survive or fix mistakes that all the dmg whores like to do (Fury's, Mages, Rogues...) then play a Paladin.
The reason for that little rant is to play Ret paladin effectively it is very important to have ALL of your helpful spells (Hands) on hotkeys and you need to MEMORIZE which key to press at a moments notice without having to think about it...thinking = time wasted = death! So do this and be a good Ret Paladin. Another thing to pay attention to is which aura you are buffing the raid with and to know when to use Aura Mastery. (some examples are during the LK fight, Festergut and Vali). To help optimize things I recommend using mouseover macros or addons like Vuhdo.
In raids you play with Seal of Vengence. (During trash, Gunship, Valithria Dreamwalker and the Valk phase in the LK fight feel free to switch to Seal of Command for extra AOE dmg).
As a Ret you play on a first come first serve basis and your priority changes depending on your gear. This means...
When you have 2 pc T 9 the priority is:
Judgment > Hammer of Wrath > Crusader Strike > Divine Storm > Consecration > Exorcism > Holy Wrath
When you have 2 pc T 9 AND 2 pc T 10 the priority is:
Judgment > Divine Storm > Hammer of Wrath > Crusader Strike > Consecration > Exorcism > Holy Wrath
When you have 4 pc T 10 the priority is:
Judgment > Divine Storm > Crusader Strike > Hammer of Wrath > Consecration > Exorcism > Holy wrath
Note: 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.
(this is based upon the elitist Jerks Retribution Paladin guide so don't argue with me about it, instead research it for yourself at this link...
https://web.archive.org/web/20130208170300/http://elitistjerks.com/f47/t49865-paladin_retribution_pve/
Keep in mind the fight when using Divine Storm (ex. Saurfang, Lord Marrowgar, LK HC, Ruby HC) and ensure you have it ready to dump massive AOE on adds in those fights.
5.Sockets/Enchants/Bufffood/Flasks/Pots
Sockets:
Meta: Relentless Earthsiege Diamond [+21 Agility/3% Increase Crit Dmg] (activate this with a Nightmare Tear [+10 all Stats] (optimally in the Chest of your T10 gear).
Rest: Bold Cardinal Ruby [+20 Str]. (Note: even with full BIS gear you will need a Precise Cardinal Ruby [+20 Expertise]
Enchants:
Head: Arcanum of Torment (Ebon Blade, exalted)
Shoulders: Greater Inscription of the Axe (Sons of Hodir, exalted)
Back: +22 Agility / +23 Haste (both from Enchanting)
Chest: +10 all stats (Enchanting)
Bracers: Assault (Enchanting)
Gloves: Crusher (Enchanting)
Belt: Eternal Belt Buckle (Blacksmith)
Legs: Icescale Leg Armor (Leatherworking)
Boots: +32 AP (Enchanting)
Weapons: Berserking (Enchanting)
Buff Food: Dragonfin Fillet (+40 Str/+40 Stam)
Flask: Flask of Endless Rage (+180 AP)
Pots: Potion of Speed (+500 Haste for 15 sec.)
6.BIS-Gear (Ruby-HC-Stand)
Head: T 10 (HC)
Neck: Penumbra Pendant (Ruby 25man) (HC)
Shoulders: T 10 (HC)
Back: Shadowvault Slayer's Cloak (Gunship Battle ICC 25man) (HC)
Chest: T 10 (HC)
Wrists: Umbrage Armbands (Ruby 25man) (HC)
Hands: Fleshrending Gauntlets (Festergut ICC 25man) (HC)
Belt: Nerub'ar Stalkers Chord (Proffesor Putricide ICC 25man) (HC)
Pants: T 10 (HC)
Boots: Returning Footfalls (Ruby 25man) (HC)
Ring 1: Ashen Verdict Rep. (Agility)
Ring 2: Signet of Twilight (Ruby 25man) (HC)
Trinket 1: Tiny Abo in a Glass (Professor Putricide Icc 25man) (HC)
Trinket 2: Sharpened Twilight Scale (Ruby 25man) (HC) (here the NH version is too weak to justify, but the HC version beats everything else in pure dmg.)
Weapon: Shadow Mourne
Sigil: Frostmarks (single target and little movment/time away from target) Triumph Marks (movement/much time away from target)
General Trinket ranking while gearing up:
Tiny Abomination in a Jar (Hc) > Tiny Abomination in a Jar > Sharpened Twilight Scale (Hc) > Death's Choice (Hc) > Whispering Fanged Skull (Hc) > Death's Choice > Sharpened Twilight Scale > Whispering Fanged Skull > Herkuml War Token > Deathbringer's Will (Hc) > Deathbringer's Will > DMC:Greatness (Strength) > Needle-Encrusted Scorpion > Banner of Victory
7.Special Notes:
Retribution Paladin is one of the only classes where I suggest you to take Engineering as a profession. They benefit soooo damn much from the Haste boost tinker on gloves it's really insane! Please take Engineering, you will not regret it.
I know I said Rets should not be dmg whores, buuuuut...if you wanted to “help the raid” by increasing your personal dps this is how you would do it:
1) prepot Potion of Speed and use Hyperspeed Accelerators on gloves
2) stack Seal of Vengance to 5 (you can do this before you use your second Judgment) ***start off your attack with Crusader Strike on stationary bosses (Saurfang, LK, BQ) and Judgment on bosses you need to run up to (all others)***
3) Use Avenging Wrath (bc Redbull Gives you WINGS!!!)
4) smash your face into the keyboard and roflstomp the rest of the dps competition (except those OP Fury's XD)
A useful macro (when you have Shadow Mourne) to cancel Chaos Bane is...
/cancelaura Chaos Bane
Just add this onto every damaging ability you have in the macro interface. Retribution Paladin is the only class which uses this macro causing an INCREASE in overall DPS. This is due to the fact that with the Tiny Abo in Glass trinket (and stacking Haste) you auto attack more often and therefore build stacks faster than other SM classes so the shadow explosion happens more often.
Below is an example of a typical macro setup I use on my Ret:
/startattack
/cast Crusader Strike
/Cancelaura Chaos Bane
One more useful macro for giving out HoP during the Professor Putricide fight:
#showtooltip Hand of Protection
/tar Volatile Ooze
/cast [target=targettarget, exists] Hand of Protection
That does it for this guide all you beautiful people, enjoy!