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[3.3] Ret PvE Guide - Leveling to Raiding
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Post by
kevinjohn3d
ToC:
Introduction
Leveling
Leveling Ret Builds
Seals List
Rotation
Stats
Builds and Glyphs
Librams
Gems
Enchants
Professions
Consumables
Pre-raid Gear Suggestions
Introduction:
This guide is written for players new to playing a ret paladin and for new 80's wanting to raid as a ret paladin. It covers leveling builds and abilities, raiding basics, and gear customization.
For those looking for more advanced information or theorycrafting, I highly recommend
http://elitistjerks.com/f76/t68951-retribution_updated_3_3_a/
as the most current and accurate source of ret info. Much of what is in this guide has come from there but has been slimmed down for ease of reading and for beginners.
For those of you who are new to the paladin class, the retribution tree is the dps tree of paladins. Here you will find the talents that will not only increase your dps but increase your raids dps as well, while also bringing some utility such as mana replenishment and crowd control.
Leveling:
Leveling a paladin as ret is not hard but some may find it 'boring' to start with due to the nature of our beginning abilities. To begin with, pallies do not have any strikes or offensive spells. We start with a seal and a heal and that's it. Later on though it gets much more interesting and you will find yourself mowing down mobs with ease.
A beginners guide to your main abilities until 20:
lv 1:
Seal of Righteousness
(SoR) - First seal. It lasts 30 minutes and adds damage to your auto attacks. Apply it and keep it refreshed.
lv 1:
Devotion Aura
(Dev aura) - First aura. Simply turn it on and forget about it (until you die then you need to turn it back on). Devotion will give you extra armor which will help you take less damage.
lv 4:
Blessing of Might
(BoM) - First blessing. This will increase your attack power for 10 minutes. Try to keep it refreshed and apply it to other melee classes that you see.
lv 4:
Judgement of Light
(JoL) - First judgement. Remember seal of righteousness? Whenever you have a seal active you will be able to judge enemies. Judging does a different effect depending on which seal you have active (usually holy damage, see seals list) and will also apply a debuff to the mob based off of which judgement you use. For example, using Judgement of Light with Seal of Righteousness active will do extra holy damage to the mob and give it a debuff that will give a chance to heal you a little for each of your melee attacks. You will want to be judging every time that it is off it's cooldown.
lv 8:
Hammer of Justice
(HoJ) - First and only stun. This is useful for interrupting casters or keeping mobs from fleeing.
lv 12:
Judgement of Wisdom
(JoW) - Similar to JoL but the debuff returns mana instead of health.
lv 16:
Retribution Aura
(Ret aura) - This aura will deal damage back to the attackers as they attack you. Use this instead of Dev aura once you get it.
lv 16:
Hand of Reckoning
- It's a taunt for prot pallies, but for ret it's a great pulling ability for leveling.
lv 20:
Exorcism
- An offensive spell that deals holy damage and will guarantee a crit if used against undead or demons. Use Exo after you pull with HoR, and you can use it after HoJ, other than that, wait until you get the Art of War talent to fully implement into your rotation.
lv 20:
Consecration
- This is an Area of Effect (AoE) spell that does damage to mobs that are standing in it. An easy way to level at this point is to gather up a few (melee) mobs, consecrate, have ret aura up and judge light to get health back. It's possible to also have a shield equipped to decrease the amount of damage taken.
Leveling Ret Builds:
A recommendation of what points to take as you level. Note that this is only a recommendation. This also includes recommended glyphs.
lv 20:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#sZZVf0z:zZ0
Start using Seal of Command instead of SoR.
lv 30:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#sZZVfbtb0z:z0Z0
lv 40:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#sZZVfbtbIu00o:z0Z0
(Many people advise going protection and AoE leveling at this time, if you would rather do that there are stickies already written that give advice on that method of leveling.)
lv 50:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#sZZVfbtbIuhbhbo:z0Z0
Good stuff here, Art of War will give you instant heals, Judgements of the Wise will help keep your mana up, and you get Crusader Strike.
lv 60:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#sZZVfbtbIuhbhfsu:z0Z0m
Divine Storm, the final piece of your normal rotation.
lv 70:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#szZVZVfbtbIuhdIfsu:z0Z0m
lv 79:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#sVZEZVfbtbIuhdIfsu:z0Z0mc
lv 80, respec to ret raiding build or try your hand at healing or tanking.
Seals List:
lv 1 -
Seal of Righteousness
lv 20 -
Seal of Command
(ret talent, earliest you can get it), for raiding, use on multi trash mobs that die quickly
lv 22 -
Seal of Justice
lv 30 -
Seal of Light
lv 38 -
Seal of Wisdom
- holy seal
lv 64 -
Seal of Vengeance
- tanking and dps seal, for raiding use on mobs that take longer than 12 seconds to kill (bosses, big elites, etc.)
lv 66 -
Seal of Corruption
- tanking and dps seal, for raiding use on mobs that take longer than 12 seconds to kill (bosses, big elites, etc.)
Note: Vengeance and Corruption are the same. Vengeance being alliance and Corruption being horde.
Post by
kevinjohn3d
Rotation:
Ret pallies do not have a specified rotation. We use each ability when it comes off it's cooldown. This is called First Come First Serve (FCFS). In the event of two abilities being available at the same time the clash resolution is:
Hammer of Wrath
(when boss is less than 20%) >
Judgement of Wisdom
>
Crusader Strike
>
Divine Storm
>
Consecration
>
Exorcism
>
Holy Wrath
(on undead/demon mobs)
Note: This list changes in 2 situations. In AoE situations Consecration and Divine Storm move to the top of the list. In pulling situations where you are running to the mob, it is acceptable to use your Judgement while running into melee range (after the tank gets aggro of course). As of 3.2, using exorcism first while pulling is impractical, as it delays you getting into melee range.
Note: In regards to which Judgement, Light or Wisdom:
JoL
and
JoW
both are now fixed at 2%. Ret pallies should be judging wisdom to maintain 100% uptime with prot or holy pallies judging light.
3.3 Update:
If you have 2pc T9 equipped your best clash resolution is: Judgement > HoW > CS > DS > Consecrate > Exorcism > Holy Wrath.
If you have 2pc T9 AND 2pc T10 equipped, your best resolution is: Judgement > DS > HoW > CS > Consecrate > Exorcism > Holy Wrath
If you have 2pc T10 equipped your best clash resolution is: DS > HoW > Judgement > CS > Consecrate > Exorcism > Holy Wrath.
If you have 4pc T10 equipped, your best clash resolution is: Judgement > DS > CS > HoW > Consecrate > Exorcism > Holy Wrath
Stats:
Before Outlands:
Strength and Stamina are priorities, get Crit and Hit if you can find it.
Outlands and leveling in Northrend:
Strength is still the main stat. You will find Crit and Hit more readily available as well as Expertise, Haste and Armor Penetration. Try to stack as much hit as you can find without lowering your other stats.
Raiding:
Priorities:
Hit (until capped) > Strength = Expertise (until capped) > Crit > Agility > Haste > Attack Power > Armor Penetration > Spell Power > Intellect
Caps:
Hit:
You need 8% to not miss your attacks. This cap is your first priority in raiding to maximize dps. Note though that Exorcism and Consecration work off of spell hit which is higher but the spell hit cap is not worth trying to reach.
Draenei pally needs 230 hit rating to reach 8% due to their racial
Heroic Presence
.
All other pallies need 263 hit rating to reach 8% (Alliance should not rely on having a draenei in their group to reach the hit cap).
Expertise:
You need 26 expertise skill to prevent your attacks from being dodged. Mobs are able to dodge attacks from any direction but can only parry attacks coming from the front. This is why dps stands behind the mob and why the expertise cap only covers dodging and not parry. The expertise cap isn't as required as the hit cap but reaching it is highly recommended and you will notice a difference in your dps.
You need 214 Expertise Rating to get 26 Expertise Skill.
Dwarves using maces need 173 Expertise Rating to get 21 Expertise Skill + 5 with
racial
Humans using maces or swords need 189 Expertise Rating to get 23 Expertise Skill + 3 with
mace
and
sword
racial
Weapon Speed:
This isn't a skill but is important to look for while you are gearing. Due to the nature of our abilities, you will want a 2 handed weapon that is slow and has a high top end damage. For example,
Ironsoul
has a speed of 3.5 and a top end damage of 892. Usually the slower the weapon the higher the max range but this isn't always the case.
Betrayer of Humanity
has a speed of 3.4 but the top end damage is 910. It is a faster weapon but still clearly an upgrade over Ironsoul.
Builds and Glyphs:
The Bare Minimum:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#sVZVZVfbx0IuhdIfsu:0Gomc
Raid Recommended 1:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#sVcdZVZVfbtbIuhdIfsu:0Gomc
Raid Recommended 2:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#sVZAMzZVfbtbIuhdIfsu:0Gomc
if you'd rather keep DS than AM. I can't recommend anything with DG as it takes too much away from your core ret talents. It's best to just let your prot pallies grab DG.
Post by
kevinjohn3d
Librams:
Libram of Three Truths
>
Libram of Valiance
>
Furious Gladiator's Libram of Fortitude
>
Deadly Gladiator's Libram of Fortitude
>
Libram of Discord
>
Libram of Radiance
>
Libram of Reciprocation
>
Venture Co. Libram of Retribution
Gems:
Do not go for terrible socket bonuses (i.e. Stam, ArPen, Haste). You will lose more dps than socketing straight strength or hit. Also, you can socket any gem in any socket (excluding meta gems). The color is not a requirement and is stictly used for gaining the socket bonus.
Meta:
Relentless Earthsiege Diamond
- By not having to socket 2 blue gems you gain more overall dps than using
Chaotic Skyflare Diamond
.
Red: Use
strength
gems only, do not gem for Attack Power. You can also gem
expertise
if you are wanting to cap it.
Yellow:
Hit
gems are acceptable until you are hit capped. Orange
strength/hit
gems work if you are slightly under the hit cap. When you are hit capped and still need a yellow for the meta, use an orange
strength/crit
.
Blue -
Enchanted Tear
- Just need 1 to fulfill the meta so put it in where you will get the best bonus.
Note: Use Epic/JC versions if you have them.
For gem min/maxing, visit
Quest's guide to gem theory
.
Enchants:
The first listed enchant is the preferred but usually more expensive enchant. Use the lesser enchants while you are still gearing up.
Head:
Arcanum of Torment
Shoulders:
Greater Inscription of the Axe
or
Lesser Inscription of the Axe
Chest:
Powerful Stats
or
Super Stats
Cloak:
Major Agility
or
Greater Speed
Bracers:
Greater Assault
or
Striking
Hands:
Crusher
or
Precision
(if under hit cap)
Legs:
Icescale Leg Armor
or
Nerubian Leg Armor
Feet:
Icewalker
(if under hit cap) or
Greater Assault
Weapon:
Berserking
or
Massacre
or
Greater Savagery
Professions:
Currently Jewelcrafting and either Blacksmithing OR Engineering are the best possible for a ret pally. According to some posts on EJ people are finding a minor dps upgrade with Engineering. List of professions and their benefits:
JC: 42 Strength - (
34 str
vs.
20 str
) x 3
BS: 40 Strength - extra 2 sockets -
gloves
and
bracers
(40 strength using epic gems)
Engineering:
Hand-Mounted Pyro Rocket
OR
Hyperspeed Accelerators
;
Nitro Boosts
;
Flexweave Underlay
;
Frag Belt
LW: 80 AP -
130 AP Fur Lining
vs
50 AP enchant
Enchanting: 80 AP -
2 Ring Enchants
Inscription: 80 AP -
Shoulder Inscription
vs
exalted SoH
Alchemy: 80 AP - benefit of
Mixology
using 180 AP Flask and 1 more hour on flasks
Tailoring:
Swordguard Embroidery
(about 90 AP) vs
22 agility
Skinning:
40 Crit Rating
Consumables:
Flask:
Flask of Endless Rage
Food:
Worg Tartare
or
Snapper Extreme
if you still need a boost in hit rating.
If hit capped,
Dragonfin Filet
if no
Fish Feast
is available.
Potions:
Runic Mana Potion
and
Potion of Speed
. Carry both, use mana if going oom, otherwise use Speed. Save your speed potion for Heroism/Bloodlust for maximum benefit.
Post by
kevinjohn3d
Pre-raid Gear Suggestions
A list of pre-raid gear suggestions, including emblem gear, dungeon drops and crafted items. Each section is ordered in what is listed first is generally best. However due to variables such as being hit capped your 'best' gear may be different. It's recommended to use a personal gear comparison tool (
http://rawr.codeplex.com/
for example) to determine the best upgrade for your character.
Items with hit rating are marked to help you reach the cap if needed.
Helm:
Faceplate of Thunderous Rampage
- 75 Triumph
Skeleton Lord's Cranium
- Scourgelord Tyrannus: reg PoS (Hit)
Spiked Titansteel Helm
- Crafted (Hit)
Neck:
Spiked Battleguard Choker
- 19 Conquest (Hit)
Barbed Ymirheim Choker
- Forgemaster Garfrost: H PoS
Painfully Sharp Choker
- Scourgelord Tyrannus: reg PoS
Shoulder:
Shoulderplates of Trembling Rage
- 45 Triumph (Hit)
Pauldrons of the Devourer
- The Devourer of Souls: H FoS
Majestic Silversmith Shoulderplates
- Black Knight: H ToC
Cape:
Tapestry of the Frozen Throne
- Captain's Chest: reg HoR (Hit)
Accursed Crawling Cape
- The Devourer of Souls: reg FoS (Hit)
Hammerhead Sharkskin Cloak
- 25 Valor
Drape of the Undefeated
- Black Knight: reg ToC
Chest:
Titanium Razorplate
- Crafted
T9 Chest
- 50 Triumph
Frost Wyrm Ribcage
- Scourgelord Tyrannus: H PoS
Lost Reliquary Chestguard
- The Devourer of Souls: reg FoS (Hit)
Bracers:
Titanium Spikeguards
- Crafted
Malykriss Vambraces
- Forgemaster Garfrost: H PoS (Hit)
Wristbands of the Sentinel Huntress
- 60 Valor or Auction House
Gloves:
T9 Gloves
- 30 Triumph (Hit)
Weeping Gauntlets
- Bronjahm: H FoS
Zeliek's Gauntlets
- Auction House
Plated Grips of Korth'azz
- reg ICC trash drop
Belt:
Belt of the Titans
- Crafted
Belt of the Singing Blade
- 28 Conquest (Hit)
Bent Gold Belt
- Ick: reg PoS
Pants:
T9 Pants
- 50 Triumph
Minister's Number One Legplates
- Bronjahm: reg FoS (Hit)
Boots:
Grinning Skull Boots
- Captain's Chest: H HoR
Battlelord's Plate Boots
- Crafted
Bladed Steelboots
- 40 Valor (Hit)
Iron-Spring Jumpers
- Auction House (Hit)
Rings:
Bloodshed Band
- 35 Triumph (Hit)
The Lady's Promise
- Captain's Chest: H HoR
Dexterous Brightstone Ring
- 35 Triumph
Trinkets:
Mark of Supremacy
- 50 Triumph (Hit)
Shard of the Crystal Heart
- 50 Triumph (Hit)
Darkmoon Card: Greatness
- Auction House
Mirror of Truth
- 40 Heroism
Needle-Encrusted Scorpion
- The Devourer of Souls: H FoS
Weapon:
Quel'Delar, Might of the Faithful
- Battered Hilt
Orca-Hunter's Harpoon
- Marwyn: H HoR
Tyrannical Beheader
- Scourgelord Tyrannus: H PoS
Garfrost's Two-Ton Hammer
- Forgemaster Garfrost: reg PoS
Mourning Malice
- Captain's Chest: reg HoR
Libram:
Libram of Valiance
- 25 Triumph
----------------------
That's all I have for now. I hope this will be a benefit to the ret community here, especially those who are new to the spec/class. If you have any corrections, comments, or requested additions please let me know. Thanks.
Post by
114144
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
354963
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Proteja
Nice, but the bit about the meta isn't valid if you're a JC, slap the 2 jc gems for the blue socket bonuses
Post by
kevinjohn3d
To clarify, only the first tick of Consecration can be resisted/missed. After that, it's not an issue.
Yeah I know, but I'm trying to keep this simple and leaving all the advanced stuff to EJ. At any rate no one should be trying to get hit capped for that first tick so I just left it as a side note.
Nice, but the bit about the meta isn't valid if you're a JC, slap the 2 jc gems for the blue socket bonuses
This is going to be changed in the future (not sure if it's 3.2 or the next minor patch). JC gems will no longer be prismatic and will be normal colors like other gems. Due to this you will have to use 2 blue gems whether they be JC or not to activate the meta.
Post by
svirve
lv 4: Judgement of Light (JoL) - First judgement. Remember seal of righteousness? Whenever you have a seal active you will be able to judge enemies. Judging does extra holy damage to mobs and will also apply a debuff to the mob based off of which judgement you use. For example, using Judgement of Light with
Seal of Righteousness active will do extra holy damage to the mob
and give it a debuff that will heal you a little for each of your melee attacks. You will want to be judging every time that it is off it's cooldown.
It could be worth noting that different seals have different effects when you judge with them.
Or simply to point towards the seals tooltip for more info of what it will do when judging with it.
Priorities:
Hit (until capped) > Strength > Expertise (until capped) > Crit > Agility > Haste > Armor Penetration > Attack Power > Spell Power > Intellect
Expertise gives you the same raise in DPS as hit does why is it weighted lower than STR?
Otherwise i cant say much more than that this looks very good indeed!
Post by
kevinjohn3d
I made changes to that paragraph and added a Seals List. Also I altered the stats list and put the expertise gem in as an option.
Thanks for the comments. They're appreciated.
Edit: Added the racials for expertise as well and the adjusted ratings.
Post by
Squishalot
Not sure how obvious you want to be, but since this is a beginner's guide, any talk of caps and required %'s is applicable at level 80 only.
I do recall trying to max out my Defence skill as a L60s Prot pally after Wrath came out, and trying to work out how on earth I was supposed to get 540 defence, since that's all anyone ever quoted as "you need to have this as a tank!"
In the 'beginners' vein, it started off looking really good, then it slowly morphed more and more into another ordinary Ret PvE guide, with best enchants @ 80, best professions @ 80 etc. Just wondering if we're not doing enough to support the real beginners - there's heaps on what to do when you're 80, but not very much on how to actually get to 80.
Post by
154749
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
kevinjohn3d
Not sure how obvious you want to be, but since this is a beginner's guide, any talk of caps and required %'s is applicable at level 80 only.
I do recall trying to max out my Defence skill as a L60s Prot pally after Wrath came out, and trying to work out how on earth I was supposed to get 540 defence, since that's all anyone ever quoted as "you need to have this as a tank!"
In the 'beginners' vein, it started off looking really good, then it slowly morphed more and more into another ordinary Ret PvE guide, with best enchants @ 80, best professions @ 80 etc. Just wondering if we're not doing enough to support the real beginners - there's heaps on what to do when you're 80, but not very much on how to actually get to 80.
I see what you mean but this isn't a leveling guide, this is a ret pve guide. I basically made the progression of the guide as a normal toon would. Starting abilities, talent trees, stats to go for in old world, BC then leveling in LK. Then it moves on to dungeon/raiding. As you put it, slowly morphing from the leveling aspect to the dungeon/raiding aspect.
If you feel I could beef up the leveling section I would appreciate some ideas for what to put in there. As it is, leveling is not hard and there really isn't a point to talking about gear, gems or enchants for leveling as it gets replaced quickly.
The reason I call this a beginners guide is not just the leveling but because I am trying to present the same kind of info that EJ does but in a less theory crafting way. As there is no ret stickied thread on wowhead I thought I would make one that is an easier read for new people but still points the more advanced players towards (the updated) EJ thread.
Post by
Squishalot
The reason I call this a beginners guide is not just the leveling but because I am trying to present the same kind of info that EJ does but in a less theory crafting way. As there is no ret stickied thread on wowhead I thought I would make one that is an easier read for new people but still points the more advanced players towards (the updated) EJ thread.
Fair enough. In that vein, it might be worthwhile putting the more basic things (eg, rotation) up near the top, so that people don't run into a whole lot of stats and caps, when really they just need to learn how to play the pally first.
Maybe you can label your posts into three sections - the first is Levelling, the second is essentially Basics (what you *need* to do), the third is Advanced/Customising? As a reader, I know that I'd be somewhat spun out by hit caps and weapon speeds, when I just want to know what rotation I need to use (ret builds are fairly self explanatory, it's hard to go too wrong).
Post by
Silversmith
Expertise gives you the same raise in DPS as hit does why is it weighted lower than STR?
Does expertise really have the same raise in dps as hit? Hit affects every ability we have. Expertise doesn't affect Consecration, Exorcism, or Judgements.
That's my guess as to why it's weighted lower, although what I've read generally puts it about equal to Strength.
Expertise is very good - if your melee/strikes get dodged, seals (~25% of total damage!) don't even get chance to try hitting. Hit is still superior, but expertise is about the same weight as strength, and most sources recommend getting as close to cap as possible before stacking str - your damage will be more predictable.
Post by
Proky
you write this: debuff that will heal you a little for each of your melee attacks
its just melle attacks have a chance to heal you, not always
you write: Draenei pally needs 230 hit rating to reach 8% due to their racial Heroic Presence.
All other pallies need 263 hit rating to reach 8%
it should be All other pallies need 263 hit rating to reach 9%,right? because Heroic presence is lowering it by 1%, so dreanai need 8% to have 9% hit.
otherwise its good guide
Post by
127934
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Proky
All other pallies need 263 hit rating to reach
9%
,right?
9% is an incorrect number. It has been proven that the hit cap for melee specials (and ranged / non duel wielding white damage) is now 8% (Draeni need 7% from hit rating). If you don't want to take my word for it then go have a look at the rogue and hunter sections of EJ.
Very nice guide though.ok i didnt know it exactly i was just informing him that he has mistake
Post by
svirve
Actually about the hit rating question you were partially right.
You just got the percentage wrong but the required rating right.
Though in the guide it's both phrased properly and correct in numbers :)
Does expertise really have the same raise in dps as hit? Hit affects every ability we have. Expertise doesn't affect Consecration, Exorcism, or Judgements.
That's my guess as to why it's weighted lower, although what I've read generally puts it about equal to Strength.
Indeed i forgot about cons, exo & judge but still about half of our damage comes from SoB and white swings.
Judgement is way down at 10%. Cons and exo usually lies in between 5-10%
So were hit would give you a 1% increase in DPS expertise would give you ~.75% increase in DPS.
I still think it should be weighted higher than STR though.
Post by
kevinjohn3d
you write this: debuff that will heal you a little for each of your melee attacks
its just melle attacks have a chance to heal you, not always
Good distinction, it's been updated.
Fair enough. In that vein, it might be worthwhile putting the more basic things (eg, rotation) up near the top, so that people don't run into a whole lot of stats and caps, when really they just need to learn how to play the pally first.
I'm keeping Rotation in the section it's in because you don't even get Crusader Strike and Divine Storm until 50 and 60, so I felt putting it in with the 'your lv 20 abilities' was kind of pointless. I did however move it up the list so it is now Rotation > Stats > Builds. It does seem to flow better as you'll be using the rotation for 20 levels before you even worry about hit caps.
In regards to expertise since it is still being asked about. EJ ranked it as third because full BIS has enough expertise to cap it. This doesn't really apply to ret pallies new to raiding so I altered it to have Strength = Expertise and put in the gem section the option for gemming for expertise. Svirve is correct in that a huge chunck of our damage comes from SoB and normal melee swings. Capping expertise is a big increase in dps but pallies still gearing up for heroics/raiding may find it hard to cap both hit and expertise. This is why I listed hit as a required cap and expertise as highly recommended.
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