Ret FAQ for 3.3

Greetings once more, interwebs. I come bearing a revised FAQ for you. Please note - I will likely discontinue updates of E4AE's version of the guide with this version, and instead maintain my guide on Maintankadin's site (found under Guides > Dual Specs > Ret PvE, or something to that effect).

It is also a possibility that I will blow up E4AE, as I might need to use my Blogger account for business-related things - if you're curious, hit me via e-mail.

Without further ado...

--------------------------------

I'm not kidding when I say there are people out there who still don't quite understand what the flux they're doing when it comes to retribution. So, here's a PvE ret primer in FAQ format. Feel free to submit additional commonly asked questions in the comments, I'll add them and the answers as I deem fit.
What follows is up to date as of patch 3.3. To find out what I've changed since the original posting, please refer to the change log at the end of this post.
To jump to a specific section or question, click the appropriate link below.

I. Talents and Skills

• How should I spec?


• What seal should I use?


• What Judgement should I use?


• What's my skill rotation?


• What blessings do I want?

II. Gear, Enchants, and Glyphs

• What stats should I gear for?


• What major glyphs should I use?


• What minor glyphs should I use?


• What enchants should I get?


• How should I enchant my weapon?


• How should I socket my gear?


• Should I stack spell power/intellect?


• Should I use weapon A or weapon B?

III. Miscellaneous Questions

• I'm running out of mana, what should I do?


• What consumables should I use for raiding?


• Is sword/board retribution viable?


• Are there tools out there to help me make gear choices?


• How'd you get so smart, Baelor?

---

I. Talents and Skills

Q: How should I spec?
A: For PvE, anything resembling 5/5/52 is a good start. Here's some specs to choose from:
5/11/55
5/10/56
11/5/55
I personally run with 11/5/55 . Please note that my spec examples have Improved Blessing of Might - Vindication is also a valid choice to provide the group with an AP debuff. Communicate with your raid team to cover the buff/debuff that isn't currently accounted for.

Q: What seal should I use?
A: For PvE in raids, Seal of Vengeance or Seal of Corruption, depending on your faction. Use Seal of Command or Seal of Righteousness in times when the mobs you're attacking won't live long enough for the seal's DoT debuff to stack up to 5 or in AoE situations.

Q: What Judgement should I use?
A: If you're the only paladin, it's a judgment call (hardy har har). Caster-heavy groups get JoWisdom and healing-intense fights get JoLight, choose based on the group composition and encounter. When in doubt, Wisdom it out.

Q: What's my skill rotation?
A: Retribution doesn't have a set rotation like a rogue or a mage might. Retribution normal functioning is more akin to a shadow priest's skill priority system, keeping everything on cooldown as much as possible. Here's your basic priorities, with conditionals in parentheses:

Crusader Strike > (Hammer of Wrath) > Judgement > Divine Storm > Consecration > Exorcism > (Holy Wrath)

With starter equipment, Crusader Strike is your highest DPS and DPM move, as it is relatively inexpensive, has a short cooldown, and procs both your seal and Righteous Vengeance. Use it liberally. Judgement is a big source of damage and returns mana through JotW, so keep that high in your priorities as well. For AoE situations, this priority ranking changes, the above is for single target stationary DPS. For multi-target, emphasize Divine Storm and Consecration while using Seal of Righteousness or Command. For movement intense fights, drop Consecration behind Exorcism.

Please note that these aren't hard and fast rules. Pick which skills you use when intelligently and don't just blindly hit whatever's higher on this list. Your goal is to use as many of these abilities as you can in the time allowed (the boss's life span).

Once you have tier 9 gear, Judgement becomes your top priority:

Judgement > Crusader Strike > (Hammer of Wrath) > Divine Storm > Consecration > Exorcism

Critting DoT's is great, and big Judgements are awesome. That's why Judgement moves to the forefront.

With the 2 piece tier 10 bonus, however, the priority changes again:

Judgement > Divine Storm > Crusader Strike > (Hammer of Wrath) > Consecration > Exorcism

The 2pc t10 bonus periodically resets your Divine Storm cooldown, which lets you cast it more often and reduces its effective cooldown. As DS can proc Seal of Vengeance, hits harder than CS, and can proc Righteous Vengeance, it gets moved up in the rotation. Judgement remains at the front of the line because at this gear level, Judgements are enormous.

In short, use your highest damage-per-global-cooldown abilities first, which changes based on your gear level and set bonuses.

Q: What blessings do I want?
A: Might > Kings > Wisdom > Sanctuary

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II. Gear, Enchants, and Glyphs


Q: What stats should I gear for?
A: For raiding, you want to aim to stack hit to about 263 hit rating (which will yield 8% hit, the most needed for hitting a raid-level boss) and lots of strength. Past that, stack to about 214 expertise rating (which will yield 26 skill, or 6.5% dodge reduction) and then crit, haste, and armor penetration can come as they may. In list format:

1. Hit (to 8%, or ~263 rating)
2. Strength
3. Expertise (to 6.5%, or ~214 rating before racials - get to 26 expertise skill)
4. Crit
5. Agility
6. Haste
7. Armor Penetration

Please note that while haste is still ranked fairly low, it is by no means useless. Haste, crit, and agility are about equal, crit just barely edges out haste. Don't shun the haste gear. Also, the value of Armor Penetration scales upward as you stack it - the more you've got, the better it is.
Also note, if you are Alliance and always run with a Draenei, you can get away with 230 hit rating, as you will have the Heroic Presence buff aura.

Go forth and gear up.

Q: What major glyphs should I use?
A: Glyph of Judgement, Glyph of Consecration, Glyph of Seal of Vengeance, and Glyph of Exorcism are your choices. My recommendation is the following:

1. Glyph of Judgement
2. Glyph of Consecration
3. Glyph of Seal of Vengeance if you are not expertise dodge-capped (26 skill), Glyph of Exorcism if you are

If you can get any significant amount of Expertise out of the Glyph of SoV, I recommend using it.

Q: What minor glyphs should I use?
A: As long as you include Glyph of Sense Undead as one of them, it doesn't matter. I recommend using Glyph of Lay on Hands in one of your other minor slots.

Q: What enchants should I get?
A: Enchant for hit if available for the slot and you're not hit capped. Otherwise, enchant for AP. Want it broken down by armor slot? Here ya go -
Head: Arcanum of Torment
Shoulders: Greater Inscription of the Axe
Back: Major Agility
Chest: Powerful Stats
Wrists: Greater Assault
Hands: Precision if not hit capped, Crusher if you are
Legs: Icescale Leg Armor
Feet: Icewalker if not hit capped, Greater Assault if you are
Please note, profession-only gear enhancements are not in the scope of this FAQ. Research your particular professions benefits and adjust your gear accordingly.

Q: What about my weapon, how should I enchant that?
A: Berserking.

Q: How should I socket my gear?
A: Meta = Relentless Earthsiege Diamond. Make sure you fulfill your meta requirements. Gem to the melee hit cap if necessary (~263 hit rating for general raiding), then stack pure strength gems.

Q: Should I stack spell power/intellect/(insert caster stat here)?
A: No. Stick to the melee DPS plate. On occasion, you can branch out into the hunter mail or the rogue leather. Don't you dare put on that elemental shaman mail. I will find you and beat the sense back into you.

Q: Should I use weapon A or weapon B?
A: Whichever one has the higher DPS, unless there is a huge difference in damage range. If the DPS is the same, pick the one with the higher top damage. For example, The Jawbone has the same DPS and a higher top damage than Death's Bite, therefore pick The Jawbone if you're choosing between the two (discounting their other stats).

Back to top


III. Miscellaneous Questions


Q: I'm running out of mana, what should I do?
A: First step is make sure you're using Divine Plea on every cooldown. Second step is to ensure that your Judgements are not missing by having a good amount of +hit. Third step is use a mana potion. Fourth step is to cut back on Consecration if you're spamming it. Past that, if you're still running low on mana, you're doing something wrong. Parse your damage on an encounter with Recount (I recommend Patchwerk in Naxx and Ignis the Furnace Master in Ulduar as good test subjects), screenshot the skill split, and seek professional help.

Q: What consumables should I use for raiding?
A: Dragonfin Filet, Flask of Endless Rage. Runic Mana Potion if you are worried about mana, Potion of Speed if you are not.

Q: Is sword/board retribution viable?
A: Not if you want to keep up with the rogues. Get a two-hander and smash something with it.

Q: Are there tools out there to help me make gear choices?
A: There sure are. Rawr can help.

Q: How'd you get so smart, Baelor?
A: By frequenting forums and think-tanks like Elitist Jerks, Maintankadin, and Retpaladin.com.

Back to top

Change Log
12/29/09 - Altered rotation section to account for 3.3 changes and tier 10 set bonus.

The 3.2 Ret FAQ

Hello, interwebs.

I have a new version of the Ret FAQ for you. Before we get into it, some caveats:
1. No, this post does not mean I'm posting on a regular basis again.
2. No, I will not be posting on a regular basis in the future.
3. This update to the FAQ was done because it might be published in other places and because I haven't seen anything phenomenal come about to replace it yet.
4. I wanted to see if the HTML coding for in-post bookmarking and tagging was done correctly.
5. I want some community input to make sure I didn't screw anything up.

Without further adieu, the 3.2 Ret FAQ...

---------------------------------------

I'm not kidding when I say there are people out there who still don't quite understand what the flux they're doing when it comes to retribution. So, here's a PvE ret primer in FAQ format. Feel free to submit additional commonly asked questions in the comments, I'll add them and the answers as I deem fit.

What follows is up to date as of 9/1/09. To find out what I've changed since the original posting, please refer to the change log at the end of this post.

To jump to a specific section or question, click the appropriate link below.

I. Talents and Skills
How should I spec?
What seal should I use?
What Judgement should I use?
What's my skill rotation?
What blessings do I want?

II. Gear, Enchants, and Glyphs
What stats should I gear for?
What major glyphs should I use?
What minor glyphs should I use?
What enchants should I get?
How should I enchant my weapon?
How should I socket my gear?
Should I stack spell power/intellect?
Should I use weapon A or weapon B?

III. Miscellaneous Questions
I'm running out of mana, what should I do?
What consumables should I use for raiding?
Is sword/board retribution viable?
Are there tools out there to help me make gear choices?
How'd you get so smart, Josh?

----------------------

I. Talents and Skills
Q: How should I spec?
A: For PvE, anything resembling 5/5/52 is a good start. Here's some specs to choose from:
5/11/55
5/10/56
11/5/55
I personally run with 5/12/54. Please note that my spec examples have Improved Blessing of Might - Vindication is also a valid choice to provide the group with an AP debuff. Communicate with your raid team to cover the buff/debuff that isn't currently accounted for.

Q: What seal should I use?
A: For PvE in raids, Seal of Vengeance or Seal of Corruption, depending on your faction. Use Seal of Command or Seal of Righteousness in times when the mobs you're attacking won't live long enough for the seal's DoT debuff to stack up to 5 or in AoE situations.

Q: What Judgement should I use?
A: If you're the only paladin, it's a judgment call (hardy har har). Caster-heavy groups get JoWisdom and healing-intense fights get JoLight, choose based on the group composition and encounter. When in doubt, Wisdom it out.

Q: What's my skill rotation?
A: Retribution doesn't have a set rotation like a rogue or a mage might. Retribution normal functioning is more akin to a shadow priest's skill priority system, keeping everything on cooldown as much as possible. Here's your priorities, with conditionals in parentheses:

Crusader Strike > (Hammer of Wrath) > Judgement > Divine Storm > Consecration > Exorcism > (Holy Wrath)

Crusader Strike in 3.2 is your highest DPS and DPM move, as it is relatively inexpensive, has a short cooldown, and procs both your seal and Righteous Vengeance. Use it liberally. Judgement is a big source of damage and returns mana through JotW, so keep that high in your priorities as well. For AoE situations, this priority ranking changes, the above is for single target stationary DPS. For multi-target, emphasize Divine Storm and Consecration while using Seal of Righteousness or Command. For movement intense fights, drop Consecration behind Exorcism.

Please note that these aren't hard and fast rules. Pick which skills you use when intelligently and don't just blindly hit whatever's higher on this list. Your goal is to use as many of these abilities as you can in the time allowed (the boss's life span).

Q: What blessings do I want?
A: Might > Kings > Wisdom > Sanctuary

Back to top

II. Gear, Enchants, and Glyphs
Q: What stats should I gear for?
A: For raiding, you want to aim to stack hit to about 263 hit rating (which will yield 8% hit, the most needed for hitting a raid-level boss) and lots of strength. Past that, stack to about 214 expertise rating (which will yield 26 skill, or 6.5% dodge reduction) and then crit, haste, and armor penetration can come as they may. In list format:

1. Hit (to 8%, or ~263 rating)
2. Strength
3. Expertise (to 6.5%, or ~214 rating before racials - get to 26 expertise skill)
4. Crit
5. Agility
6. Haste
7. Armor Penetration
8. Attack Power

Please note that while haste is still ranked fairly low, it is by no means useless. Haste, crit, and agility are about equal, crit just barely edges out haste. Don't shun the haste gear. Also, the value of Armor Penetration scales upward as you stack it - the more you've got, the better it is.
Also note, if you are Alliance and always run with a Draenei, you can get away with 230 hit rating, as you will have the Heroic Presence buff aura.

Go forth and gear up.

Q: What major glyphs should I use?
A: Glyph of Judgement, Glyph of Consecration, Glyph of Seal of Vengeance, and Glyph of Exorcism are your choices. My recommendation is the following:

1. Glyph of Judgement
2. Glyph of Consecration
3. Glyph of Seal of Vengeance if you are not expertise dodge-capped (26 skill), Glyph of Exorcism if you are

If can get any significant amount of Expertise out of the Glyph of SoV, I recommend using it.

Q: What minor glyphs should I use?
A: As long as you include Glyph of Sense Undead as one of them, it doesn't matter. I recommend using Glyph of Lay on Hands in one of your other minor slots.

Q: What enchants should I get?
A: Enchant for hit if available for the slot and you're not hit capped. Otherwise, enchant for AP. Want it broken down by armor slot? Here ya go -
Head: Arcanum of Torment
Shoulders: Greater Inscription of the Axe
Back: Major Agility
Chest: Powerful Stats
Wrists: Greater Assault
Hands: Precision if not hit capped, Crusher if you are
Legs: Icescale Leg Armor
Feet: Icewalker if not hit capped, Greater Assault if you are
Please note, profession-only gear enhancements are not in the scope of this FAQ. Research your particular professions benefits and adjust your gear accordingly.

Q: What about my weapon, how should I enchant that?
A: Berserking.

Q: How should I socket my gear?
A: Meta = Relentless Earthsiege Diamond. Make sure you fulfill your meta requirements.
Gem to the melee hit cap if necessary (~263 hit rating for general raiding), then stack pure strength gems.

Q: Should I stack spell power/intellect/(insert caster stat here)?
A: No. Stick to the melee DPS plate. On occasion, you can branch out into the hunter mail or the rogue leather. Don't you dare put on that elemental shaman mail. I will find you and beat the sense back into you.

Q: Should I use weapon A or weapon B?
A: Whichever one has the higher DPS, unless there is a huge difference in damage range. If the DPS is the same, pick the one with the higher top damage. For example, The Jawbone has the same DPS and a higher top damage than Death's Bite, therefore pick The Jawbone if you're choosing between the two (discounting their other stats).

Back to top

III. Miscellaneous Questions
Q: I'm running out of mana, what should I do?
A: First step is make sure you're using Divine Plea on every cooldown. Second step is to ensure that your Judgements are not missing by having a good amount of +hit. Third step is use a mana potion. Fourth step is to cut back on Consecration if you're spamming it. Past that, if you're still running low on mana, you're doing something wrong. Parse your damage on an encounter with Recount (I recommend Patchwerk in Naxx and Ignis the Furnace Master in Ulduar as good test subjects), screenshot the skill split, and seek professional help.

Q: What consumables should I use for raiding?
A: Dragonfin Filet, Flask of Endless Rage. Runic Mana Potion if you are worried about mana, Potion of Speed if you are not.

Q: Is sword/board retribution viable?
A: Not if you want to keep up with the rogues. Get a two-hander and smash something with it.

Q: Are there tools out there to help me make gear choices?
A: There sure are. Rawr can help.

Q: How'd you get so smart, Josh?
A: By frequenting forums and think-tanks like Elitist Jerks, Maintankadin, and Retpaladin.com.

Back to top

The 3.1 Ret FAQ

The following is an update from my 3.0 FAQ. Without any ado, the 3.1 FAQ!

I'm not kidding when I say there are people out there who still don't quite understand what the flux they're doing when it comes to retribution. So, here's a PvE ret primer in FAQ format. Feel free to submit additional commonly asked questions in the comments, I'll add them and the answers as I deem fit.

What follows is up to date as of 4/14/09. To find out what I've changed since the original posting, please refer to the change log at the end of this post.

To jump to a specific section or question, click the appropriate link below.

I. Talents and Skills
How should I spec?
What seal should I use?
What Judgement should I use?
What's my skill rotation?
What blessings do I want?

II. Gear, Enchants, and Glyphs
What stats should I gear for?
What major glyphs should I use?
What minor glyphs should I use?
What enchants should I get?
How should I enchant my weapon?
How should I socket my gear?
Should I stack spell power/intellect?
Should I use weapon A or weapon B?

III. Miscellaneous Questions
I'm running out of mana, what should I do?
What consumables should I use for raiding?
Is sword/board retribution viable?
Are there tools out there to help me make gear choices?
How'd you get so smart, Josh?

----------------------

I. Talents and Skills
Q: How should I spec?
A: For PvE, anything resembling 0/5/52 is a good start. Include all those talents and you can’t go wrong. I recommend choosing from one of the following:
0/17/54
0/12/59
12/5/54
11/5/55
I personally run with 0/17/54, since I really love Divine Sacrifice and Divine Guardian. It makes me feel hybrid-y.

Q: What seal should I use?
A: For PvE in raids, Seal of the Martyr or Seal of Blood, depending on your faction. Other seals are reserved for times when the kickback damage would kill you. For Burning Crusade veterans, an example would be Prince Malchezaar in Karazhan. For Wrath newbies, if you see your HP dropping dangerously low more than once or twice in an encounter, you have two options: switch to Command (if you have it) or Righteousness and play it safe; or, alternatively, heal/bandage yourself and watch your HP like a hawk. Do whichever you feel more comfortable with. Remember, dead players do zero DPS.

Q: What Judgement should I use?
A: That depends on your group. If you're the only paladin and there are mana-using DPS in the group (hunters, mages, warlocks, enhancement shaman, shadow priests, etc), use Judgement of Wisdom. If there are holy/prot paladins in your group, have one of them cover JoWisdom and use JoLight.

If you are in a paladin-heavy group with multiple rets, the ret paladin with the highest buffed AP value should use JoLight, and the rest should judge something else.

Q: What's my skill rotation?
A: Retribution doesn't have a set rotation like a rogue or a mage might. Retribution normal functioning is more akin to a shadow priest's skill priority system, keeping everything on cooldown as much as possible. Here's your priorities, with conditionals in parentheses:

Crusader Strike > (Hammer of Wrath) > Judgement > Divine Storm > Consecration > Exorcism > (Holy Wrath)

Crusader Strike in 3.1 is your highest DPS and DPM move, as it is relatively inexpensive, has a short-ish cooldown, and procs both your seal and Righteous Vengeance. Use it liberally. Judgement is a big source of damage and returns mana through JotW, so keep that high in your priorities as well. For AoE situations, this priority ranking changes, the above is for single target stationary DPS. For multi-target, emphasize Divine Storm and Consecration. For movement intense fights, drop Consecration behind Exorcism.

Please note that these aren't hard and fast rules. Pick which skills you use when intelligently and don't just blindly hit whatever's higher on this list. Your goal is to use as many of these abilities as you can in the time allowed (the boss's life span).

Q: What blessings do I want?
A: Might > Kings > Wisdom > Sanctuary

Back to top

II. Gear, Enchants, and Glyphs
Q: What stats should I gear for?
A: For raiding, you want to aim to stack hit to about 263 hit rating (which will yield 8% hit, the most needed for hitting a raid-level boss) and lots of strength. Past that, stack to about 214 expertise rating (which will yield 26 skill, or 6.5% dodge reduction) and then crit, haste, and armor penetration can come as they may. In list format:

1. Hit (to 8%, or ~263 rating)
2. Strength
3. Expertise (to 6.5%, or ~214 rating before racials - get to 26 expertise skill)
4. Crit
5. Agility
6. Haste
7. Armor Penetration
8. Attack Power

Please note that while haste is still ranked fairly low, it is by no means useless. Haste, crit, and agility are about equal, crit just barely edges out haste. Don't shun the haste gear. Also, the value of Armor Penetration scales upward as you stack it - the more you've got, the better it is.

Go forth and gear up.

Q: What major glyphs should I use?
A: Glyph of Judgement, Glyph of Consecration, and Glyph of Exorcism. You can choose to use Glyph of Seal of Blood instead of Glyph of Cons or Glyph of Avenging Wrath instead of Glyph of Exorcism, but you’ll likely get more mileage out of Judge/Cons/Exo. To sum it up, my recommendation is the following:

1. Glyph of Judgement
2. Glyph of Consecration
3. Glyph of Exorcism

Q: What minor glyphs should I use?
A: As long as you include Glyph of Sense Undead as one of them, it doesn't matter. I recommend using Glyph of Lay on Hands in one of your other minor slots.

Q: What enchants should I get?
A: Enchant for hit if available for the slot and you're not hit capped. Otherwise, enchant for AP. Want it broken down by armor slot? Here ya go -
Head: Arcanum of Torment
Shoulders: Greater Inscription of the Axe
Back: Major Agility
Chest: Powerful Stats
Wrists: Greater Assault
Hands: Precision if not hit capped, Crusher if you are
Legs: Icescale Leg Armor
Feet: Icewalker if not hit capped, Greater Assault if you are

Q: What about my weapon, how should I enchant that?
A: If you've got the cash, Berserking. If not, Massacre or Greater Savagery, depending on how much you're looking to spend.

Q: How should I socket my gear?
A: Meta = Relentless Earthsiege Diamond. Make sure you fulfill your meta requirements.
If you are naturally hit capped (~263 rating before gems): Use a Sovereign Twilight Opal to fulfill your blue requirement. Use Inscribed Monarch Topaz for your yellow requirement. Then stack Bold Scarlet Ruby at will.
If you are not hit capped (<255 rating before gems): First, use a Vivid Forest Emerald to knock out both your blue and yellow requirements and get a bit more hit. If you capped your hit with that gem, enchants, and gear, stack Bold Scarlet Ruby. If you still need more hit, use Etched Monarch Topaz or Rigid Autumn's Glow to achieve your hit cap. If at any point you achieve your hit cap and still have sockets to fill, you may now use Bold Scarlet Ruby.
The reason the number 255 is used as the reference point is that if you have any more than 255 before you start accounting for gems and socket bonuses, then you wouldn't get the full value from the 8 points of hit rating on the Vivid Forest Emerald and you'd be better off gemming strength.

Q: Should I stack spell power/intellect/(insert caster stat here)?
A: No. Stick to the melee DPS plate. On occasion, you can branch out into the hunter mail or the rogue leather. Don't you dare put on that elemental shaman mail. I will find you and beat the sense back into you.

Q: Should I use weapon A or weapon B?
A: Whichever one has the higher DPS, unless there is a huge difference in damage range. If the DPS is the same, pick the one with the higher top damage. For example, The Jawbone has the same DPS and a higher top damage than Death's Bite, therefore pick The Jawbone if you're choosing between the two (discounting their other stats).

Back to top

III. Miscellaneous Questions
Q: I'm running out of mana, what should I do?
A: First step is make sure you're using Divine Plea on every cooldown. Second step is to ensure that your Judgements are not missing by having a good amount of +hit. Third step is use a mana potion. Fourth step is to cut back on Consecration if you're spamming it. Past that, if you're still running low on mana, you're doing something wrong. Parse your damage on an encounter with Recount (I recommend Patchwerk in Naxx as a good test subject), screenshot the skill split, and seek professional help.

Q: What consumables should I use for raiding?
A: Dragonfin Filet, Flask of Endless Rage. Runic Mana Potion if you are worried about mana, Potion of Speed if you are not.

Q: Is sword/board retribution viable?
A: Not if you want to keep up with the rogues. Get a two-hander and smash something with it.

Q: Are there tools out there to help me make gear choices?
A: There sure are. Rawr and Redcape's Ret DPS Spreadsheet are here to help. You can find both in the EJ Wrath Ret Thread.

Q: How'd you get so smart, Josh?
A: By frequenting forums and think-tanks like Elitist Jerks, Maintankadin, and Retpaladin.com.

Back to top

Change Log

4/14/09
Edited the stat weightings and changed "the rotation" slightly. Also changed the gem recommendations to account for the new stat weightings.

The Mailbag: Gemming and Socket Bonuses

Tomas writes:

Hey Josh,

I was looking at your best in slot guide and noticed that Bold Scarlet Ruby was listed for the majority of gem slots... Problem is that many of the gem slots were Blue or Yellow... Thus you need to put something else in for the socket to work properly.

My response:

The only gem slot that requires a gem of that type be socketed in it is a meta slot. You can socket a red into a blue, a green into a red, and a purple into a yellow to no ill effect. The only thing that is effected by mismatching gem color to socket color is the acquisition of the socket bonus.

For example, I have a Bold Scarlet Ruby in my Spiked Titansteel Helm. The ruby is a red gem, but the socket color is blue. I still get the 16 strength bonus from the gem. However, if I were to socket, say, a Sovereign Twilight Opal (purple gem, counts for both red and blue) into that socket instead, I would gain 8 strength and 12 stamina from the gem AND 8 crit rating from the socket bonus.

I assure you, you can put a red gem into a yellow or blue socket and still benefit from that gem's effects.

Tomas' rebuttal:

Thanks for the reply, I was probably a bit unclear. What I meant was that if you put a Bold Scarlet Ruby into a non-red slot you're not going to get the socket bonus, missing out on the free stats even though the gem itself will work properly.

So what you're saying is that a paladin should forgo the socket bonus and always gem STR? Looking at your example of the Spiked Titansteel helm; is loosing 12 stamina AND 8 Crit worth the extra 8AP? In essence you're saying STR is so good you should gem STR exclusively regardless of slot color and missing slot bonuses?

My riposte:

8 strength is not 8 AP.

First, 1 point of strength is 2 points of AP.

Secondly, Divine Strength and Blessing of Kings combine to make 1 point of strength worth more than just 2 AP. 1 point of strength, after Divine Strength, is 1.15. Then after BoKings it's 1.265. So that 1 point of strength after talents and buffs is actually 2.53 AP.

So, what I'm saying is that the 20.24 AP you'll get from those extra 8 points of strength outweighs 8 crit rating and 12 stamina. You get enough stamina on your gear to survive any raid splash damage you'll encounter, so the 12 stam from another purple gem is moot, it doesn't do anything for you. The 8 crit rating pales in comparison to the 20 AP you could get instead.

Hopefully that clears up any questions regarding the current state of ret gemming. Most people are hard-pressed to find a socket bonus worth gemming for, since it'll have to be worth more to a ret paladin's DPS than 20.24 AP, which is the amount that can be expected 8 strength will add to a ret paladin's AP pool in a raid by using a Bold Scarlet Ruby instead of an Inscribed Monarch Topaz or Sovereign Twilight Opal.

Let's look at a comprehensive example. Using the Spiked Titansteel Helm, adding a Bold Scarlet Ruby would give us 40.48 AP and would not activate the socket bonus. Adding a Sovereign Twilight Opal would give us 20.24 AP and 13.2 stamina (modified by Blessing of Kings as well) and would activate the socket bonus, giving us a "free" 8 crit rating. So, the options here are:

• 40.48 AP
• 20.24 AP, 8 crit, and 13.2 stamina
  

Stamina isn't a DPS stat, so we ignore it for our purposes in this exercise. So, you're comparing +20.24 AP to +8 crit rating. The differential is heavily in the AP's favor.

"But Josh, you used a biased example! Purple gems are inferior for DPS stats because of the stamina!"

Fine, let's pretend our Spiked Titansteel Helm were the same except the socket is yellow instead of blue. So, we'll compare an Inscribed Monarch Topaz to the Bold Scarlet Ruby. The options:

• 40.48 AP
• 20.24 AP and 16 crit (8 from the gem, 8 from the socket bonus)
  

+20.24 AP for the ruby, +16 crit for the topaz. I'm still going with the ruby, since a point of AP is worth more to a ret paladin than a point of crit you're getting more AP bang for your buck. For me to consider gemming anything other than pure strength aside from meta gem activation, I need to get a return from the socket bonus that is flat-out greater than something like 16 AP better than 80% of the AP I would gain otherwise. It'll have to be one whopping socket bonus - 8 rating of any secondary stat or 6 of any primary stat is the highest socket bonus I've seen on gear to date.
EDITS: Thank you to Zebra for the clarifications in comments, the above passage has been edited in accordance with his notes.

Of course, this could all change in 3.1. Depending on how things shake out with the mana situation and the redistribution of ret damage sources, I might be recommending Etched Monarch Topaz, Accurate Monarch Topaz, or, hell, maybe even Rigid Autumn's Glow in a few weeks. As for right now, though, strength is the way to go.

Thanks for the question, Tomas!

Best-In-Slot v3.0: Gear of the Heroic Raider

The following is a slot-by-slot listing of the best gear available to a retribution paladin as of patch 3.0.8, limited to plate armor. This gear set has been discussed to death by people on EJ, and was compiled for Maintankadin by Questioner.

Head: Obsidian Greathelm
Enhancements - Arcanum of Torment, Relentless Earthsiege Diamond, Enchanted Tear

Neck: Favor of the Dragon Queen
Enhancements - Bold Scarlet Ruby

Shoulders: Valorous Redemption Shoulderplates
Enhancements - Greater Inscription of the Axe, Bold Scarlet Ruby

Back: Drape of the Deadly Foe
Enhancements - Major Agility

Chest: Valorous Redemption Chestpiece
Enhancements - Powerful Stats, Bold Scarlet Ruby x2

Wrist: Bracers of Unrelenting Attack
Enhancements - Greater Assault, Bold Scarlet Ruby

Hands: Valorous Redemption Gauntlets
Enhancements - Crusher, Bold Scarlet Ruby

Waist: Girdle of Razuvious
Enhancements - Eternal Belt Buckle, Bold Scarlet Ruby

Legs: Valorous Redemption Legplates
Enhancements - Icescale Leg Armor, Bold Scarlet Ruby x2

Feet: Iron-Spring Jumpers / Melancholy Sabatons (depending on raid buffs)
Enhancements - Greater Assault

Fingers: Ruthlessness & Surge Needle Ring

Trinkets: Darkmoon Card: Greatness & Fury of the Five Flights / Mirror of Truth

Weapon: Betrayer of Humanity
Enhancements - Berserking

Libram: Deadly Gladiator's Libram of Fortitude

Mr Moneybags: Ret Gear Options for the Rich & Famous

Are you inundated with gold? Is retribution not your main spec? Have you finished all the quests in Northrend all ready?

If you answered "yes" to one or more of the above questions and want to put together a retribution gear set, have I got a deal for you!

The following is a compilation of gear from Wowhead - all the gear referenced is from one of several sources:

1. The Auction House
2. Vendors
3. Professions (not including profession-specific crafts); or
4. Reputation

The list will go slot-by-slot and detail 1-3 options available. Remember, these are your "expensive" options, throwing cost and caution to the wind. My previous post detailed the economy stuff that you can grab on the cheap or from quests if you want to spring for something a bit more economical or have quests yet to complete. By taking from both lists, you can work yourself up a nice set of gear without ever entering an instance. If you stick to the one below, however, you may be able to put together a set without even leaving the comforts of Ironforge/Orgrimmar. Or at least without getting your hands all dirty with undead parts, blood, guts, and gore.

The following items are listed from most powerful to least powerful as according to Josh's gut instinct and relative item level from Wowhead, in the following format. Also, please note - some reputation items are listed, so if you do not have the appropriate rep with the noted faction, you may have to kill a few things to acquire that piece of gear. I included them for the sole reason that some of you fine readers are likely throwing a make-shift off-set together and might have the appropriate rep for the character anyway. Those items are ranked down their equipment slot lists, however, since I don't know whether you have the rep or not. Without further ado:

Equipment Slot
Item - Source
Item - Source


Head
Spiked Titansteel Helm - Blacksmithing

Neck
Titanium Impact Choker - Jewelcrafting

Shoulders
Savage Saronite Pauldrons - Blacksmithing
Spaulders of the Giant Lords - Reputation (Revered, Sons of Hodir)
Gold Star Spaulders - Reputation (Revered, Oracles)

Back
Cloak of Bloodied Waters - BoE (Auction House)
Ice Striker's Cloak - Leatherworking

Chest
Savage Saronite Hauberk - Blacksmithing

Wrist
Wristbands of the Sentinel Huntress - BoE (Emblems of Valor. Buy them from a raider!)
Vengeance Bindings - Blacksmithing

Hands
Zeliek's Gauntlets - BoE (Auction House)
Savage Saronite Gauntlets - Blacksmithing

Waist
Savage Saronite Waistguard - Blacksmithing

Legs
Savage Saronite Legplates - Blacksmithing
Legplates of Bloody Reprisal - Reputation (Exalted, Wyrmrest Accord)

Feet
Iron-Spring Jumpers - BoE (Auction House)
Death-Inured Sabatons - Reputation (Exalted, Knights of the Ebon Blade)
Spiked Titansteel Treads - Blacksmithing

Ring
Surge Needle Ring - BoE (Auction House)
Ring of the Kirin Tor - Vendor (Dalaran)
Titanium Impact Band - Jewelcrafting

Trinket
Darkmoon Card: Greatness - BoE (Nobles Deck)
Darkmoon Card: Death - BoE (Undeath Deck)
Darkmoon Card: Berserker! - BoE (Chaos Deck)

Weapon
Titansteel Destroyer - Blacksmithing
Runeblade of Demonstrable Power - Reputation (Revered, Knights of the Ebon Blade)
Argent Skeleton Crusher - Reputation (Revered, Argent Crusade)

Libram
None available unless you quest, raid, instance, or PvP!

Beginner Gear at 80: Non-instanced Gear Rewards

Everyone starts somewhere. Whether your paladin is a re-roll, a fresh start, or simply just has been sitting around for a while, once it gets to level 80 it will need some gear to use. If retribution is your game, I can point you to some gear that will get you by until you feel you're ready for instances. The following is a compilation of gear from Wowhead - all the gear referenced is from one of several sources:

1. Non-instance quests
2. Professions (using no "expensive" materials like Frozen Orbs); or
3. Reputation

The list will go slot-by-slot and detail 2-4 options available. Remember, these are your "economy" options. My next post details the more expensive stuff you can have crafted or buy from the auction house if you want to spring for something a bit more shiny. By taking from both lists, you can work yourself up a nice set of gear without ever entering an instance.

The following items are listed from most powerful to least powerful as according to Josh's gut instinct and relative item level from Wowhead, in the following format:

Equipment Slot
Item - Source
Item - Source


Head
Helm of Command - Blacksmithing
Fang Deflecting Faceguard - Reputation (Revered, Argent Crusade)
Helm of Towering Rage - Quest (Reclamation, Sholazar Basin)

Neck
The Severed Noose of Westwind - Quest (The Admiral Revealed, Icecrown)
Choker of the Betrayer - Quest (Betrayal, Zul'Drak)
Jade Dagger Pendant - Jewelcrafting

Shoulders
Spaulders of the Giant Lords - Reputation (Revered, Sons of Hodir)
Gold Star Spaulders - Reputation (Revered, The Oracles)
Savage Saronite Pauldrons - Blacksmithing

Back
Cloak of Peaceful Resolutions - Reputation (Honored, Wyrmrest Accord) (Yes, it's a tanking cloak. It's got strength and hit.)
Illskar's Greatcloak - Quest (Revenge for the Vargul, Icecrown)
Cloak of the Deadliest Game - Quest (Post-partum Aggression, Sholazar Basin)
Cloak of Holy Extermination - Reputation (Honored, Argent Crusade)

Chest
Blackened Brestplate of the Vault - Quest (Shadow Vault Decree, Icecrown)
Battleplate of Unheard Ovation - Quest (Battle at Valhalas: Final Challenge, Icecrown)
Whalebone Carapace - Reputation (Honored, Kalu'ak)
Links of the Terrified Deity - Quest (Convocation at Zol'heb, Zul'Drak)

Wrist
Vengeance Bindings - Blacksmithing
Battlescar Spirebands - Quest (Not-So-Honorable Combat, Icecrown)
Savage Saronite Bracers - Blacksmithing

Hands
Astrid's Riding Gloves - Quest (Making a Harness, Storm Peaks)
Savage Saronite Gauntlets - Blacksmithing
Gauntlets of Vigilance - Quest (The Reckoning, Storm Peaks)

Waist
Thorim's Grasp - Quest (The Earthen Oath, Storm Peaks)
Savage Saronite Waistguard - Blacksmithing
Stability Girdle - Quest (The Stone That Started a Revolution, Icecrown)

Legs
Coldblooded Legplates - Quest (Emergency Measures (H) / Fervor of the Frostborn (A), Storm Peaks)
Plated Legs of the Unholy - Quest (The Rider of the Unholy, Icecrown)
Savage Saronite Legplates - Blacksmithing

Feet
The Darkspear's Iron Walkers - Quest (Mind Tricks, Icecrown)
Icewalker's Spikes - Quest (Establishing Superiority (H) / Securing the Perimeter (A), Icecrown)
Rockshaper Stompers - Quest (Valduran the Stormborn, Storm Peaks)

Ring
Ring of Scarlet Shadows - Jewelcrafting
Signet of Bridenbrad - Quest (Light Within The Darkness, Icecrown)
Jagged Ice Band - Quest (Forging the Keystone (H) / The Brothers Bronzebeard (A), Storm Peaks)
Frog-Toe Band - Quest (Basic Chemistry, Icecrown)

Trinket
Chuchu's Tiny Box of Horrors - Quest (The Shadow Vault, Icecrown)
Crusader's Locket - Quest (Defending the Vanguard, Icecrown)
Fezzik's Pocketwatch - Quest (The Last Line of Defense, Icecrown)
Horn of Argent Fury - Quest (That's What Friends Are For…, Zul'Drak)

Weapon
Runeblade of Demonstrable Power - Reputation (Revered, Knights of the Ebon Blade)
Argent Skeleton Crusher - Reputation (Revered, Argent Crusade)
De-Raged Waraxe - Quest (The Champion of Anguish, Zul'Drak)
Whale-Stick Harpoon - Reputation (Revered, Kalu'ak)

Libram
Venture Co. Libram of Retribution - Venture Coins Turn-in (Grizzly Hills)
Libram of Furious Blows - Quest (Return My Remains (H) / Get Me Outta Here! (A), Borean Tundra)

Engineering Tinkers

According to MMO Champion, the latest PTR build (9684) will include some buffs to a few of my favorite engineering tinkers.

Engineering

• Nitro Boosts now Permanently attaches overpowered nitro boosts to a pair of
  boots, increasing critical strike rating by 16 (up from 12) and allowing you to
  greatly increase run speed for 2 sec.
• Flexweave Underlay now Permanently attaches a flexweave underlay to a cloak,
  increasing Agility by 15 (up from 10) and allowing you to turn the cloak into a
  parachute to fall slowly for 10 sec.
• Springy Arachnoweave now Permanently attaches a springy arachnoweave to a cloak, increasing spell power by 18 (up from 11) and allowing you to turn the
  cloak into a parachute to fall slowly for 10 sec.

I'm very happy that they're adding stat buffs to the fun and situationally useful engineering tinkers we all (read: engineers) know and love, but I have a question that is nagging at me. Why are the engineering tinkers less powerful than the enchanting equivalents for that slot?

My original thought was simply "hey, the tinkers give a cooldown benefit, so it's okay that they're not as powerful stats-wise." But then I got thinking that engineers don't have a profession-based benefit otherwise.

Blacksmiths get extra sockets.
Jewelcrafters get prismatic gems.
Enchanters get ring enchants.
Scribes get more powerful shoulder enchants.
Engineers get highly situational cooldowns but they can't use enchanting enhancements.

Why do engineers have a "but" clause attached to their benefit?

I'm not seeing the problem that would arise if the Flexweave Underlay granted 22 agility and the parachute cloak mechanic. It's not like the engineer is getting much in the way of stat benefits from their profession, might as well keep his stats on par with everyone else and let him enjoy his cooldown!

Upcoming Posts

Since I've neglected to do so and I've been asked by several people regarding this topic, I will be creating the following gear guides for your general consumption:

1. Beginner Gear at 80 - Non-instanced gear rewards
This post will lay out the gear to aim for from reputation, quests, world drop BoE's and craftables and prep an aspiring ret paladin in the best gear he can find outside of any instances. Expensive BoE's (such as iLvl 213 stuff from heroic Naxx, BoE badge rewards, DMC: Greatness) will not be included.

2. iLevel 200 Gear - Getting your "epic" on
This post will lay out the gear to aim for once you have access to 5-man heroics /10-man normal raids.

3. Best-in-slot v3.0 - Conqueror of Naxxramas
This post will lay out the "best in slot" gear to aim for once you can clear the raid content in the game as of WoW 3.0. Ulduar and 3.1 gear will not be included.

4. BoE's, Crafts, and Collectables - Gearing with an infinite budget
This post will kit out your paladin in the best gear you can get without setting foot outside of town, for those that eschew reputation/instance/quest grinding and need their gear ASAP with no mind to the price tag. Contingency items from reputation rewards will be included as alternate options for those that have their reps up already.

One thing I couldn't find a place for is normal (non-heroic) 5-man gear. I wanted to keep the beginner gear guide devoid of instance drops for the true solo player and the drops in normal 5-mans don't fit in any of the other guides. I can't think of anything in normal 5-mans that truly should be included in the thought process.

UPDATE: Thoughts On Going Berserk

I threw together a Naxx-25 PUG last night. We started with the Spider Wing. Anub'Rehkan went down simply, Faerlina was a mess but a one-shot, and Maexxna was seamless. I was pretty impressed by the PUG's ability through the end of the spider wing.

Maexxna also decided to grace my raid with a Jawbone, for which I promptly won the roll. So, about that decision I had regarding re-enchanting my Death's Bite... that's not happening. I have a Jawbone with Berserking, I'm throwing the Death's Bite in the bank.

After Spider was cleared, I lead the raid through most of the Construct Wing. Our healers lost their heal buttons for a few minutes on Patchwerk, but the third time was the charm. We also took Gluth to the brink - the DPS were terrible at killing zombies and Gluth ate a few, stretching the fight length. He hit his enrage timer, but Shield Wall for the last 5-10% of Gluth's health cemented the kill.

I called the raid after Gluth since it was late. I'm going to muster the troops on Friday night and try to finish out.

EDIT: Oh, and apparently I have to moderate some forum now. I don't know if this is a compliment or punishment (just kidding Aergis!).

Getting The Token Shaft

I just realized something. To my knowledge, normal Ulduar (10-man) will reward raiders with Emblems of Valor for boss kills. Emblems of Valor can be exchanged for ilvl 213 items at vendors.

However, the loot in normal Ulduar will be ilvl 219, and the end boss (or bosses) will yield ilvl 232 loot.

The token-exchange loot they will have access to will not be equal to the boss-drop loot they will obtain.

On the 25-man side of things, a new token will be found on heroic boss corpses: Emblems of Conquest. The bosses will drop ilvl 232/239 loot, and these tokens, which will be exchangeable for ilvl 226 loot.

Can't wrap your head around it? Here, let's tabulate the data:

Normal Ulduar
Token rewards = ilvl 213
Boss drops = ilvl 219
End boss drops = ilvl 232

Heroic Ulduar
Token rewards = ilvl 226
Boss drops = ilvl 232
End boss drops = ilvl 239

So, all loot from tokens will be lower quality than the loot obtainable in the associated Ulduar raid instance. This is in contrast to the current rewards in Naxxramas, where you can get items from Emblems of Heroism/Valor that are equal in ilvl to the drops in the associated instance(s). The loot that Patchwerk in normal Naxxramas drops is equal quality to the loot you can buy from the Emblem of Heroism vendor, for example.

They done nerfed our epics. Sorta.

Thoughts On Going Berserk

My current weapon is Death's Bite. It is a two-handed axe with a 554-831 damage range and a 3.4 speed, translating to a 203.7 DPS rating. It is acquired from Kel'Thuzad in normal Naxxramas. Short of 25-man raid drops, it is the best weapon that is readily available to me.

When I first acquired this axe, I did not have much in the way of enchanting materials, and it was fairly early in WotLK life, so Abyss Crystals were expensive and hard to come by. Thinking that I'd be fiscally responsible and that I'd be able to upgrade to a 25-man drop in the near future, I sprung for a Greater Savagery enchant on my weapon rather than Massacre or Berserking. Months later, however, I am still using Death's Bite with a Greater Savagery enchant.

There are only two weapons currently on the live servers with which I'd consider replacing Death's Bite - The Jawbone and Betrayer of Humanity. The former is slightly better than Death's Bite due to its higher damage range, and the latter is head-and-shoulders better than every two-hander in the game. Both drop in heroic Naxxramas.

To date, I have killed Maexxna and Kel'Thuzad on heroic once each. I am unsure how many times I will kill them in the future, making my access to these weapons questionable.

The weapon equation must also account for the imminent arrival of patch 3.1 in the next month or two. This patch will bring the Ulduar raid instance, and with it, additional weapons to consider. The weapons of normal Ulduar promise to be even higher quality than those of heroic Naxxramas (Ulduar normal items = ilvl 219/232, Naxxramas heroic items = ilvl 213/226). MMO Champion brings tidings of weapons such as Ironsoul and Stormedge, which are both clear upgrades to either Death's Bite or The Jawbone, and which are slightly below Betrayer of Humanity.

This whole conversation distills down to one question. Given my level of access to heroic Naxxramas and the uncertain release date of Ulduar, should I enchant my Death's Bite with Berserking? I have gone out of my way to make sure my gear is in tip-top shape on all accounts (within the realm of possibility given my raid schedule) with the exception of my weapon enchant. Money isn't a huge concern - I still haven't fully finished questing in Sholazar Basin or Zul'Drak, and I'm a miner so I can farm up some ore to sell. The question is entirely about whether the enchant is worth it for the perceived amount of time I'd be using the weapon.

I've embedded a poll in the sidebar - register your opinion.

Peering Into the 8-Ball - Divining My Gear Upgrades

With Sarth-10 3D now conquered and a Malygos-10 6-minute kill imminent, my Glory of the Raider achievement is nearly in the bag. What next? Max out my gear, of course!

Based on my current gear set, I have a few areas to improve. First and foremost, I plan on grabbing Valorous shoulders to replace my Heroes' shoulders. That's just a matter of saving up Badges of Valor to buy a shoulder token. After that, however, things get murky because of my lack of access to 25-man loot.

Here's a list of stuff that I'm wearing, other than shoulders, that I'd like to replace:

• Spiked Titansteel Helm
• Flame-Bathed Steel Girdle
• Iron-Spring Jumpers
• Loatheb's Shadow
• Death's Bite
• Venture Co. Libram of Retribution

Finding upgrades for these is going to be difficult. For my helm, I'd need to kill Sartharion-25 3D and get the helm that drops there. That's probably not happening unless 2 of the 3 raiding paladins in my guild decide not to show up on a Sunday night and the guild just so happens to be doing Sarth-3D that night. As the magic 8-Ball would say, "Outlook not so good."

For the belt, I'd be after Girdle of Razuvious. Razuvious is killable by PUGs, so I might be able to luck out with that. Let's shake up that 8-Ball again - "Signs point to yes."

Looking at my boots, some might argue that Iron-Spring Jumpers are best in slot. Others feel the Melancholy Sabatons from Malygos-25 are. I usually go with pure ilvl when there's any question, and the Malygos boots are higher. But, that would require a Malygos-25 kill, another thing I have not achieved. It's more likely than a Sarth-3D kill though, since it just requires killing Malygos, not killing him all special-like. "Reply hazy, try again."

Loatheb's Shadow is a great trinket. Fury of the Five Flights and Darkmoon Card: Greatness are better. FotFF requires an OS-25 kill and then beating the hordes of physical DPS that want it out on the roll. DMC: G requires me farming gold. Neither are likely. "My sources say no."

Replacing my weapon is a matter of doing more Naxx-25. I'd be looking to grab either The Jawbone from Maexxna or the Betrayer of Humanity from Kel'Thuzad. I think I can kill Maexxna again and snag a Jawbone. "As I see it, yes."

Finally, my libram. The upgrade choices are the Deadly libram, which I don't PvP enough to get, or the Naxx-25 libram, which I haven't seen drop. I guess it's just a matter of running Naxx-25 some more. "Outlook good."

/cracks knuckles
Looks like I've got some work to do.

Bandit's Insignia vs. Loatheb's Shadow

Because my dice were a little less cursed than everyone else's this weekend, I landed two upgrades in Naxx-25 this reset: Legplates of Double Strikes and Bandit's Insignia. The legplates I plan to replace as soon as I get my grubby hands on a t7 or t7.5 leg token, so they are inconsequential in my eyes. The trinket, however, requires some thinking.

The Bandit's Insignia is an always-active trinket - it provides a flat AP boost and every so often makes me lash out at my target with an extra bit of arcane damage. The arcane strike can crit.

Loatheb's Shadow, my former go-to trinket for that slot (yes, I got it this month sometime - I don't like to make a big fuss about gear upgrades), provides a flat crit boost and has a 2 minute use cooldown to boost my AP by 670.

Using Rawr, plugging in my current gear and spec, and checking off all raid buffs (flask, food, blessings, Heroism - the works), Loatheb's Shadow supposedly comes out to 20 more DPS on 3 minute fight. Why did I choose 3 minutes? I dunno, Patchwerk usually takes around 3 minutes, so it seemed logical to me at the time.

I'm not sure how Rawr models the up-time of Loatheb's Shadow or the internal cooldown of Bandit's Insignia, but 20 DPS isn't a ton of difference, I don't think. The Bandit's Insignia has the advantage that I don't have to activate it - it just zaps stuff with a jolt of arcane damage whenever, and the significant AP increase is always up. Loatheb's Shadow requires I monitor its cooldown and use it often.

On the other hand, I just macro Loatheb's Shadow to my Avenging Wrath (since they have the same cooldown and stacking buffs is good to do) and make sure I wings up a lot. And Bandit's Insignia isn't guaranteed to proc while I have my wings up, when it would be most effective.

I don't know what to use. I'm not going to sub out my Mirror of Truth, so I must choose one of these trinkets as my "other" trinket. What do you think, fair reader? Bandit's or Loatheb's?

On a related note, I saw how much of a DPS "boost" Darkmoon Card: Greatness would be through Rawr. Considering the current price of Nobles cards on Malfurion and the minute difference in DPS it would represent, I'll happily entertain this debate rather than engage in further farming shenanigans. Rawr put the card in between Loatheb's and Bandit's, which are all below the Mirror. I'll blow my gold on a motorcycle or something.

Lightbringer > Judgement

I have a confession to make.

The Lightbringer armor set is my favorite.

I know everyone loves the Judgement (tier 2) set and thought that it was the best, but I love that tier 6 goodness.

Why?

1. Lightbringer looks like armor.

Judgement set looked like cloth. The inquisitor look was forboding/intimidating, but it didn't look like it offered much protection. Lightbringer, on the other hand, looks like it's made of plate/metal. Sure it's a little gawdy/ornamented, but at least an arrow won't pierce it without a ton of force.

2. Lightbringer shines.

The paladin is a "warrior of the Light," and everything they do is s'posed to represent truth, justice, and the American Azerothian way. Judgement armor makes a paladin look like he's been hanging out at an S&M convention or inflicting some sort of torture on sinners. Lightbringer is shimmering golden platemail that literally radiates light.

3. Tirion Fordring wears Lightbringer.

If it's good enough for the mightiest paladin currently alive in Azeroth, it's good enough for me.

4. Lightbringer is named after the greatest and first paladin.

Uther was a man. Uther was a paladin. Uther was awesome. There's a reason that there's a monument and memorial near the now-ruined city of Lordaeron commemorating his life and sacrifice.

5. Lightbringer's color scheme matches that of the paladin charger.

Black and red with blue and gold is not as cool as blue and gold with gold and blue.

Plus, while Lightbringer's halo-helm looked stupid, I can hide my helmet. I can't hide Judgement's skirt/kilt thing.

I kept my full season 3 Vengeful set together and wear that and my Sulfuras for vanity screenshots. I'm considering toting that stuff around with me whereever I go instead of my tank gear, just for kicks.

Because I think the pic looks good, here's my current avatar on a bunch of forums that proves Lightbringer looks better than Judgement. That's alls I'm sayin, yo.

To All The Paladins I Loved Before

Thank you Honors and Siha for the link-love for BHB. It's good to know it's got the support of my paladin brothers and sisters-at-arms. I don't know that BHB will be quite as successful as Tankspot, Maintankadin, or PlusHeal, since melee DPS is a narrower focus than tanking or healing with less intersection of topics amongst the classes, but hey, you gotta at least start the engine to see how far the car will go. Or, as Matticus loves to quote, "You miss 100% of the shots you never take" (Wayne Gretzky).

In other paladin news, Pike started a paladin. I recommend a head exam. Leveling a paladin is excruciating, despite the changes made to the class. And leveling prot before you have access to Holy Shield? Might wanna go for the full-blown psych evaluation. Level ret, Seal of Command and strength gear are your friend!

But who am I kidding? I leveled as prot for my formative years too. I was stupid then, and didn't know hit rating from my own arse or what "uncrittable" amounted to for tanking (I used to tank Stratholme dead-side with my ret gear on and a shield strapped to my arm!), but it still was fun getting bashed in the face and not dying immediately. I just didn't know how much *more* fun ret was at the time. BIG YELLOW NUMBERS, YEEHA!

I'd also like to make a note on my glyph analysis - a reader, Coristad of Kul Tiras-US, sent me a spreadsheet detailing out how Glyph of Avenging Wrath is more DPS than Glyph of Hammer of Wrath or Glyph of Crusader Strike. Here's what he said:

I think there is another way to look at your glyph analysis. You did your analysis purely on the basis of mana-consumption which is understandable, but undervalues Hammer of Wrath.

Thanks to Sanctified Wrath, HoW crits at an abnormally high rate. The damage it can be "counted on" to do, therefore, is vastly disproportional to its mana cost. In situations where mana is not a constraint- let's say the last 20% of a boss's health- mana consumption becomes irrelevant and the name of the game is to simply cram as much damage in as short of a period of time as possible.

In the atached spreadsheet, I modelled a few different scenarios. The first set of scenarios was a 20 second burn down, the second set of scenarios was a 10 second burndown, all timed to coincide with an Avenging-Wrath induced beatdown. All data comes from an recent Sarth fight of mine, so no Exorcism to figure in. The damage for each ability was "weighted" by its crit rate. White swings are excluded because they are not relevant to the analysis.

The short version is that over a 20 second run, the Glyph of Avenging Wrath would net *me* 35% more damage (about 16.6K more), and 42% more over a 10 second burn (due to less GCD clashes).

I currently run with Judgement, Consecration, and HoW for my glyphs, and I almost never have mana issues. I don't think Glyph of Crusader Strike is necessary with smart use of replenishment and consumables. Therefore I contend that more damage is better, given that mana is only occasionally a problem, and so the maximum DPS combination of Glyphs is actually Judgement, Consecration, and Avenging Wrath.

I'd just like to clarify my point. Glyph of Avenging Wrath is the highest DPS option amongst your 3rd major glyph options, but comes with several strings attached. If the fight doesn't lend itself to saving your wings for the last 20%, then you won't get full value. If you manage to burn too much of your mana and don't have ways available to replenish your resources when 20% rolls around (Divine Plea on cooldown, potion used, Lay on Hands on cooldown), then you won't get full value, since Glyph of Avenging Wrath will ramp up your mana consumption while active. If the boss becomes unattackable for any reason during the 20% phase and your wings are up (Sapphiron takes off and you're hiding behind an ice block, or the boss teleports away like Heigan or Noth, etc), then you don't get your full value. All in all, you need three things to happen when you're using Glyph of AW:

1. You must have saved enough mana to support an extra 2k mana consumed (minus the mana used on Exorcism/Holy Wrath/1 odd strike, as they would get bumped from the skill cycle).
2. You must have your Avenging Wrath cooldown available
3. You must have all 20 seconds of your Avenging Wrath duration as on-target boss DPS.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that yes, Glyph of AW will give you the highest damage output of any of your 3rd glyph options, but only if you can work within its requirements. Glyph of CS and Glyph of HoW are more broadly applicable, and therefore are safer options with very tangible benefits. Sure, they're just mana saving glyphs, but if you save enough mana, you might be able to use a Potion of Speed instead of a Runic Mana Potion, which will still up your DPS. Remember, haste isn't bad, it's just not as good as an equal amount of strength.

Coristad fired back with the following:

I don't think 2 and 3 are really substantial objections. Even making frequent use of of AW, it's not unrealistic to say that there are situations where you're not going to pop it immediately, especially in heroic raids where you can expect the raid leader to synchronize heroisms, drums, etc. If your AW comes available at 25%, would you use it or wait until 20%? Also, as my model shows, having less than 20 seconds IMPROVES the performance of HoW. insta-cast (can be cast while running, flying backwards, knocked up in the air) ranged damage that crits lke crazy, and I can use it every 3 seconds? Yes Please!

I will grant you that increased mana usage is a concern. There are a few dead spots in the models where a potion could be chugged. Divine Please could also make an appearance. My feeling, however, is that I am doing fine on mana without the Crusader glyph for extended fights. If there's any kind of splash damage flying around I am hard pressed to spend all of my mana.

The big picture is that I don't think it's worth automatically dismissing the Glyph because it does not promote mana efficiency. There is at least one other way to look at the problem, and that's in giving you more burst damage. After doing this modelling, I figure it's at least worth the couple of gold to try it out.

So, I leave it up to you, fair reader. Glyph of AW might be worth it. If I can figure out how to post Excel spreadsheets to Blogger I'll make his workbook available for your consumption. I might even replace my Glyph of Crusader Strike and give it a whirl.

Adventures in PUG'ing & Amending the To-Do

Last night started off hopeful. I set my bank alt on the auction house, selling off any materials of value he held - Frostweave, spare Heartseeker Scopes, Saronite, Frozen Orbs, Eternals, rare quality gems. Sitting at just over 5k gold between my main and my bank alt, I could taste my Dalaran ring. After throwing half my wares to the auctioneers, I logged over to Cathmor.

I had posted on my guild's forums the night before trying to generate interest in a Naxx-10 run. I got a very lukewarm response - no tanks, only 1 healer, and about half the DPS needed. Since most of the other raid guilds I know and trust have scheduled guild runs on Tuesday nights, I had no luck pulling trusted individuals into my rag-tag crew. After nearly two hours of searching for additional bodies, I gave up.

While I was desperately digging for dastardly dudes to dabble in deeds unsavory, I went and changed out my Glyph of Seal of Command for a Glyph of Consecration, as I promised myself I'd do.

When I had given up trying to form my own Naxx run, I started looking for a suitable PUG for any raid instance. I joined a heroic Obsidian Sanctum run that was forming, thinking that a few Valor tokens and a chance at Valorous gloves and Fury of the Five Flights isn't a bad thing. When I joined, there were many people in raid asking what the boss did, and others asking whether we were leaving drakes up. I explained in raid for those who needed about Sartharion's flame wall. The raid was very poorly run, though - half the raid members were killed on the first pull, the healers let a tank die, there was no target coordination, and the tanks did not keep anything under control while they were alive. Rather than get myself saved to a raid instance that might end in utter failure, I bailed. I hate leaving a group, but if
a) Half the raid doesn't know the fight at all,
b) They can't handle the first trash pull cleanly,
c) The raid is physical DPS-heavy, and
d) A good deal of the raid is in greens,
I wasn't going to enjoy myself anyway.

Going back to Dalaran, I checked on Wintergrasp - 1 hour until the battle, Horde currently in control. Phooey, no Archavon right then.

I turned my attention back to Naxx. Joining LFG, I found 3 10-man raid groups looking for 1 more. One was a pure PUG of names I didn't know, one was group from one of the other raid guilds on the server that was seeking a tank, and the last was a group from a guild I did not know seeking a DPS. Despite thoroughly borking my optimal tanking rotation with my new Glyph of Consecration, I offered myself up as a tank to the second group - the leader informed me that they had just filled from within the guild. Phooey. The first group's leader then approached me, asking "r u holy?" "No," I respond. "prot?" "Why do you want to know," I retort, becoming a bit miffed at the lack of common courtesy, like saying "hello" and using complete sentences devoid of 1337-speak. I end the conversation with him, saying I'm not interested in tanking this evening.

Then the third raid's leader approaches me, asking if I'd been to Naxx before. He must not have looked at my armory or read my guild tag (my guild has downed Sarth-25 +3D, it's a safe bet that anyone in the guild can handle Naxx-10). When I reply in the affirmative, he asks if I have about 3-4 hours and Ventrilo. "Of course," I tell him. This guy sounds like he's got his shiznit together. What follows is an account of the raid, with the first wing in death-defying detail.

We start pulling the construct quarter, slowly but surely, and make our way to Patchwerk. There's a prot paladin and a frost death knight tanking - the death knight keeps disconnecting and has terrible latency. My failure-sense starts tingling. As we wait for the DK to reconnect for Patchwerk, I start inspecting people. The prot paladin doesn't have Improved Judgement. The holy paladin (yes, with me there were 3 paladins in this 10-man raid - not good times for token drops, we'll get to that) is gemmed and enchanted for spirit. The rogue raid lead doesn't have Relentless Strikes. The frost DK is invested 66 or so in frost and dual-wields. I didn't bother checking the rest, because I was starting to get a little dizzy from the sheer lack of good sense.

The first pull of Patchwerk ends in complete failure - the frost DK disconnected, I got hateful'ed, and I didn't notice that the raid leader had elected to leave a trash pack up, so they came barreling down the slime highway and finished everyone off.

The second pull ended with a kill, but I was pushing real close on threat and took a few hatefuls. If we had wiped, I would have left - but that saved me to their instance, so I was committed now.

The fight gave me a chance to compare my mana usage with and without Glyph of Consecration. This glyph is mandatory. Last week, I was running dry on mana at the end of a 3.5 minute Patchwerk, using Divine Plea on cooldown and gulping down a mana potion. This week, even though I had to ease up a little at the beginning of the fight due to bad threat from the tanks, I didn't need a mana potion at all. If you're a ret paladin in PvE content, Glyphs of Judgement and Consecration should be equipped. Period. End of story. I didn't have any mana concerns for the entire night.

Grobbulus took a while, but he died just fine. Then came Gluth. At first the raid leader asked if I wanted to kite the zombies. I hesitated. Then he asked if I could tank Gluth. I said that I would do either if he wanted, but I'd rather straight-up DPS. I didn't check the DPS meter, but I suspected I was top DPS in the group and didn't want Gluth to take an eternity. He ended up having the prot paladin kite the zombies and his fury warrior hop into tank gear to double tank Gluth with the DK. Everything went off without a hitch until about 15%. The fury warrior died. I threw on my sword/shield and stepped in front, tanking in my ret gear with the DK. Kids, don't try this at home. I taunted off the DK when his debuff stack got high, bubble-walled and prayed. Thankfully I didn't get crit to oblivion. The DK took Gluth back in short order and the doggie died.

No leg token from Gluth. Oh well.

Thaddius was an adventure. For the two mobs before Thaddius, myself and a PUG'ed Frostfire mage (#'s 1 and 2 on the DPS meter, respectively, according to the raid lead) were on one mob with the DK tank, and the rest of the DPS were on the other. The DK's threat is terrible, so I had to stop attacking several times in the first 20 seconds. The other mob gets a good 15% ahead. So, the mage and I turn it up and get our mob down first, despite spotting the other 3 DPS a good margin.

/pat myself on the back

No one missed the jump to Thaddius, but one or two people did get fried by the polarity shift. I was pushing the prot paladin on threat the entire way.

Now comes the fun part - Conqueror legs dropped. With 3 paladins and a priest in the raid. Mind you, this piece will get me the 4-set bonus and is one of two or three things I'm after in Naxx-10.

I rolled a 2.

/sulk

Makes me wish I was in a raid that rewards based on performance, like a Loot Council or something...

The plague wing yielded no Loatheb's Shadow, and the spider wing went off without a hitch. Despite my apprehension about the group's questionable members, they did get 3 wings done in 3 hours. Granted, I didn't get anything I wanted and I didn't finish the instance (which I usually do with guildmates, 3 hours is enough to go from zone-in to Kel'Thuzad down for them), but at least I didn't get saved without getting shots at the loot I wanted from Gluth/Thaddius/Loatheb.

After we were finished, I checked in on my bank alt. He had sold quite a bit! With the cash I raised, I was able to purchase my Dalaran ring. For those that are interested, the teleport use does not share a cooldown with your hearthstone. Now the Circle of Death from Sapphiron would be nice to replace my Hemorrhaging Circle, but it's not a necessity. T7 legs and a trinket are what I need, and then I'll be heroic/10-manned out.

I started an in-game to-do list yesterday. Let's see how I did:

• Replace my Glyph of Seal of Command with Glyph of Consecration. Glyph replaced, with excellent results!
• Start liquidating some of my materials to raise cash to buy a Ring of the Kirin Tor -it's better than my PvP ring and has strength, crit, and expertise. Plus I can use it as a hearth to Dalaran. These are a few of my favorite things. Ring purchased, much to my surprise!
  
• Research how much it would cost me to get a Darkmoon Card: Greatness. If I can't stomach the price, I'll resume praying to every deity I know for a Loatheb's Shadow.
  Loatheb killed, no trinket.
• Get some Dragonfin Filet. I'm all out of leftover Clefthoof from Burning Crusade, so I find myself lacking in the food department.
• Start advertising my Engineering services in trade again to raise money for all the purchases I've detailed above.
  Whoops, forgot to do that...
• Use my surplus Badges of Heroism to buy rare quality gems and Frozen Orbs to sell for profit.
  That's my next task so I can start saving for the Darkmoon Card.

Progress is tangible. There were many disappointments last night, but I did get a few things done. Raiding task for tonight, should I have time: Vault of Archavon and/or Obsidian Sanctum.

Apologies for the long and winding "this is what I'm doing" sort of posts lately. I know it's not my norm. Hopefully I can get back to tips, tricks, and guides soon - I know I never did make that post on pre-raid gearing...