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.

If The PTR Went Live Today...

... I'd spec this way for PvE.

Now, for the explanation part of the program.

My ret tree has a glaring omission - Seal of Command. I don't plan on using it at all, so why use the talent point when I've got somewhere else to put the point? In any situation that I risk killing myself with recoil damage, I'm going to either use Seal of Righteousness instead or ease off a bit while using Seal of the Martyr and concentrate hard on Sacred Shield'ing and Flash of Light'ing myself. Hopefully these sorts of fights are few and far between.

Seal of Command without the glyph is lackluster, and I don't plan on keeping a glyph and a talent point on me for these occasions.

Anything else I left out of the ret tree was because the talent has little to no PvE application (Vindication, Eye for an Eye, Divine Purpose) or it's a tank talent (Deflection).

As for the prot tree, I grabbed Divine Strength (of course, never leave Ironforge without it!) and a bunch of other goodies. First up, the new talent - Divinity.

Divinity increases healing to the paladin and by the paladin by 1/2/3/4/5%. It is my understanding that this applies to the paladin in question's Judgement of Light, which means it boosts the effective heal on JoLight by 5% on everyone. JoLight also got expanded to ranged attacks too, so yippie! Divinity also double-dips - if I end up Flash of Light'ing myself, it boosts the heal itself by 5% (healing done by the paladin) and then boosts it additional 5% when it heals me up (healing done to the paladin). 10% increase to my Art of War self-Flashes, woohoo!

Now that I've got 10 points in the tree, I can grab Divine Sacrifice, bring me up to 11 points in prot. The new Divine Guardian looks juicy too, though. It boosts the effectivness of Divine Sacrifice and increases the amount absorbed by Sacred Shield, which I plan on using more often now that it plays nice with Sheath of Light. So, I need to burn another 4 points in the prot tree.

Guardian's Favor grants increased mobility (longer duration Hand of Freedom) and decreased Hand of Protection cooldown. It's a solid talent. It usually won't increase personal DPS, but it can prove it's worth by helping you save a zealous clothie with a timely HoP.

The last 2 points I tossed into Toughness for lack of a better choice. More armor and decreased snare duration sounded good to me. Others would say Improved Righteous Fury would be a good choice, but I can't see myself using Righteous Fury on any fight. The only time I'd end up using it is if it were talented and I were fighting Loatheb, and even then I'd need to wait to get a spore to buff it up. Basically, I'm too wary of aggro to try it. And Stoicism/Anticipation don't appeal to me for PvE.

That brings me up to 15, and then I can toss 2 into Divine Guardian. 0/17/54, the new 0/10/61 in my personal opinion.

Glyphing in 3.1: Mana Neutrality

Okay, Spiritual Attunement is a protection talent. Fine, we're over it.

Okay, we're keeping the recoil on Seal of the Martyr. We're coming to terms with that too.

Judgement of the Wise, as of the current PTR, is up to 25% base mana return. Woohoo!

Glyph of Seal of Blood, as of the current PTR, is changing to return 11% of the recoil damage seals/judgements cause as mana. Oka... wait, what?

Depending on how things pan out mana-wise before glyphs are applied, I might take this glyph as an offense to all things retributive. If, for example, ret will go bone-dry mana-wise in no time flat without both Consecration and Seal of Blood glyphs equipped, even with 25% JotW, ret mana regen is broken and the glyphs are a band-aid fix. Glyphs shouldn't be necessary for normal functionality, they should be conscientious choices that alter gameplay. If retribution can't remain somewhat mana neutral without those glyphs, the glyphs cease to be a choice and become a necessity.

That said, what a lot of posters are saying over at EJ and on the Maintankadin Off-specs board indicates that without using the new SoB glyph, ret is currently mana neutral, meaning it's possible to use all abilities and cooldowns and not go OOM (at least, not for a good long while - people are estimating that the current PTR build would lead to 11+ minutes to OOM in a 25 man).

That little rant out of the way, let's examine the contenders for your glyph slots in 3.1, shall we? In no particular order:

• Glyph of Judgement: +10% Judgement damage


• Glyph of Consecration: +2s Consecration damage/cooldown


• Glyph of Exorcism: +20% Exorcism damage


• Glyph of Seal of Blood: +11% recoil damage as mana


• Glyph of Avenging Wrath: -3s HoW cooldown while under AW


• Glyph of Crusader Strike: -70 mana on CS


• Glyph of Hammer of Wrath: free HoW

My napkin math on Glyph of CS and Glyph of HoW is still relevant, even though everything I said in that post regarding Glyph of SA and Glyph of SoB is now moot. However, the changes to the Exorcism ability and its related glyph throw off all glyph debates and send them spinning into a new realm. Exorcism is now a regular part of the ret rotation, as it is usable against all targets.

Assuming that with Glyph of Cons equipped ret is, or is close to, mana neutral, all the other mana reduction/refund glyphs become next to useless. There is no need to save mana if mana isn't an issue! (Note: the reason Glyph of Cons is picked instead of Glyph of SoB is because Glyph of Cons smooths out cooldown clashes, increases Cons damage by increasing Cons up-time, and saves mana by decreasing the mana/up-time ratio.) So, we can toss Glyph of SoB, Glyph of CS, and Glyph of HoW off to the side.

Glyph of Judgement stays in. +10% damage to a ret's biggest damage source? Yes please!

The last slot comes down to Glyph of AW and Glyph of Exo. Double the amount of HoW's for 20s during the Execute period, or a flat +20% damage to Exorcism, the new ability on the rotational block? Intuitively, Glyph of Exo sounds better. If you read thru the EJ Ret thread, the math seems to support that, especially with some of the talent changes that increase Exorcism damage further.

So, unless something drastic happens, it looks like my recommended glyph load-out will be:

1. Glyph of Judgement


2. Glyph of Consecration


3. Glyph of Exorcism

Sound good to you? 'Cuz that sounds lovely to me.

EDIT: Note to self - BBCode doesn't work on blog posts.

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.

Don't Read WoW Insider's Ret Guide

As much as I appreciate what Zach Yonzon is trying to do, it's riddled with mistakes.

First off, yes, hit and expertise are good stats, but the hit cap and expertise cap are completely unnecessary. Stocking up on strength at the expense of either of these stats is fine. Never gem for hit. Bold red, Inscribed orange, and Sovereign purple, nothing else (aside from your meta) is acceptable.

Second, when speaking about expertise rating, keep your terms uniform! The following:

You'll need 214 Hit Rating to be Expertise capped, so every little bit helps.

... is confusing! I know Zach meant "214 expertise rating," but anyone reading this that isn't, well, me or someone like me, might not know that he just mixed his terms. Hit rating is not expertise rating.

Third, I just got done explaining why Glyph of Seal of Blood is terrible, especially when you have the option of Glyph of Spiritual Attunement. Neither of them should be considered, but if you do, Glyph of Seal of Blood should not be chosen. Ever.

Fourth, you don't open with Judgement because of Heart of the Crusader. You open with Judgement because it's your biggest, juiciest, highest damage and highest DPS attack. And you keep it as your top priority because of that AND it returns mana.

Lastly, it is irresponsible to macro Avenging Wrath to Judgement. Avenging Wrath should be used early in the fight and as often as possible, but if it comes off cooldown just before Sapphiron takes to the air, or just before Malygos starts his Vortex, or just before Sartharion sends a position-unfriendly Flame Wall at you, or before Heigan teleports away to make you dance, you just wasted your cooldown.

There are some good things said in the article, but these glaring errors make me nervous that people will actually read and take some of these wrong pieces of information to heart.

EDIT: And another thing! When talking about specs, Zach says:

As far as the two discretionary points are concerned, it's a toss-up between Pursuit of Justice and Divine Purpose. Pursuit of Justice is extremely useful for mobility fights while Divine Purpose is useful to break stuns on bosses with stun abilities.

Let me make this crystal clear. Vindication should not be considered mandatory in a PvE raiding build. It does not affect bosses and is iffy on the trash. If you want to make a PvE build skeleton, it's 0/10/57 +4, with your 4 points having a choice of going into Improved Blessing of Might (which is not necessary if you coordinate your talent builds with other paladins in your raid), Divine Purpose, and Improved Retribution Aura. Pursuit of Justice should be the mandatory one - getting to your target quicker means you can start attacking quicker, and if you start earlier you get more swings in. More swings = more damage. Vindication is even less important to a raiding paladin than Divine Purpose, which has limited application in raids to begin with.

Examining Ret Glyphs

After finally giving in to better judgment and replacing my Glyph of Seal of Command with Glyph of Consecration, my attention turns to my third glyph. Currently, I have Glyph of Crusader Strike equipped, which decreases the cost of Crusader Strike by 20%. Let's do a little math, shall we?

The cost of Crusader Strike is 6% of the paladin's base mana, which at level 80 works out to 351 mana. With the glyph, the cost drops by 20% to 281 mana, saving 70 mana per strike.

Over a 5 minute fight, a paladin can do a maximum of 50 Crusader Strikes - that would be if the paladin used Crusader Strike on cooldown, every cooldown, with no interruption and no latency. Unglyphed, those 50 Crusader Strikes would cost 17,550 mana. With the glyph, however, those same 50 strikes would cost 14,050 mana - a savings of 3500 mana, half of a raid-buffed mana pool.

But wait! There are other glyphs to consider! What about Glyph of Hammer of Wrath? This glyph reduces Hammer of Wrath's mana cost by 100%, making it free to spam your Hamxecute. At 527 mana per Hammer, you only need to cast Hammer of Wrath 7 times to have the mana savings from this glyph surpass that of Glyph of Crusader Strike in a 5 minute fight. That would mean that the boss's under 20% phase would need to last about 45 seconds so that enough hammers could be thrown to get that much of a benefit - that's 15% of the total fight.

I'm not convinced that a boss would only die 5% faster with warriors Executing, paladins Hamxecuting, mages throwing Molten Fury-empowered spells, and everyone going "full burn." However, as the "under 20%" phase gets stretched out and the paladin can use Hammer of Wrath more and more, the scale tips toward Glyph of HoW. For every Hamxecute used, that's 527 mana saved, versus 70 mana per Crusader Strike with Glyph of CS. So, if you experience long-ish fights (be it because the boss has tons of health or your raid DPS is low), Glyph of HoW is better. But, if you burn down bosses quickly (be it because the boss has low HP or your raid is uber), Glyph of CS is better.

There is also Glyph of Seal of Blood, which Alex uses and likes. I am not sold on its usefulness at first glance, but I am willing to entertain the thought. This glyph ups the mana return from Spiritual Attunement by 10% while Seal of the Martyr /Blood is active. 10% of 10% is 1%, so while a paladin has this glyph equipped and Seal of Blood going, he will receive 11% of the heal as mana instead of 10%. Now, I don't have numbers to validate how much a paladin will receive in healing over a 5 minute fight, as this varies wildly depending on the encounter, encounter length, and the damage output of the paladin. Let's consider the same 5 minute fight as above - to achieve the same mana gain/savings as Glyph of Crusader Strike, the paladin would need to take 35,000 healing from outside sources. That 35,000 healing would yield 3,500 mana returned from Spiritual Attunement, unglyphed. With the Seal of Blood glyph, that 35,000 healing would return 3,850 mana, a gain of 350 mana. For encounters with a lot of raid damage, or for paladins that tend to wander into non-lethal environmental hazards, this glyph might prove more useful than either of the ones mentioned above. This is, of course, a very contingent glyph - you must take an immense amount of damage to get the benefit.

However! There is also Glyph of Spiritual Attunement, which increases the mana gain from Spiritual Attunement by 2%. This is an additive effect - it increases Spiritual Attunement from 10% to 12%. So, no matter what, this glyph is superior to Glyph of Seal of Blood. It has the same stipulations as Glyph of Seal of Blood (must take enough damage and get healed by other people to make it work), but it's flat-out better at its job.

Despite the fact that a paladin will get a flat 1% more mana from Glyph of SA over Glyph of SoB in all situations, I still remain skeptical of using it. To be in the same realm as Glyph of CS or Glyph of HoW, a ret paladin would need to take 30k damage over a 5 minute fight and be healed through HoT's or direct heals from other people.

Now comes some more math, hold on to your hat.

Let's say a paladin does 4,000 DPS over a 5 minute fight. And lets that 25% of his damage was from Judgement (33% kickback), and 15% from his Seal (10% kickback). That would come out to 300,000 damage from Judgement (99,000 kickback), and 180,000 from his Seal (18,000 kickback). That works out to 117,000 kickback damage. Spiritual Attunement would return 11,700 mana if someone else healed that 117k damage. With Glyph of Spiritual Attunement, the heals would return 14,040 mana. That's 2,340 mana extra from kickback damage, but that's just over half the savings that Glyph of Crusader Strike would provide over that same period. To get the effectiveness as Glyph of CS, with a 5 minute encounter and 4k DPS out, the paladin would need to take well over 200,000 additional damage over the course of the fight to trigger enough Spiritual Attunement gains.

I don't know about you, fair reader, but I think that there's way too many strings attached to Glyph of Spiritual Attunement. Sure, it scales with your damage and your damage taken, but I don't have the computational skills or the data available to chart out when Glyph of SA would overtake Glyph of CS or Glyph of HoW. For Glyph of SA to be worth it, the following criteria would need to be met:

• High personal DPS
• Appreciable raid damage taken
• Low/no self-healing

... and I can't give numbers at present for threshholds for either of the first two bullets.

Last but not least, there's Glyph of Avenging Wrath, which drops the Hamxecute cooldown from 6 seconds to 3 seconds while wings are up. Again, this is very conditional - a paladin will need to have an additional 2,100 mana (enough to throw 4 more Hammers) in reserve above and beyond the mana to sustain the rest of the rotation, and have his wings off cooldown, and be assured that the boss will be alive for the next 20 seconds to get full benefit from Avenging Wrath. That's a lot of criteria.

So, wrapping it all up: Glyph of Judgement, Glyph of Consecration, and then your choice of Glyph of Crusader Strike (well geared, shorter fights) or Glyph of Hammer of Wrath (undergeared, longer fights) are your safest and most dependable glyph choices for retribution. Glyph of Avenging Wrath is good if you have absolutely no mana problems. Glyph of Spiritual Attunement is acceptable if you take *a lot* of raid damage - and when I say a lot, I mean possibly fatal. Glyph of Seal of Blood is inferior in every way.

That's the scoop on ret paladin major glyphs - choose wisely, and Light be with you.

EDIT: Typo in Glyph of Seal of Blood section fixed.

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...

To-Do List - Taking My Own Advice

This is more for me than anyone else. I updated the 3.0 FAQ again with new glyph prioritization. I had turned a blind eye to the benefits of Glyph of Consecration, because I semi-frequently respec protection to tank and that glyph would cause havoc with my rotation. However, after running dry for mana toward the end of Patchwerk last week, and with my slow realization that Seal of Command isn't that useful even in PvP (Seal/Judgement of the Martyr hits for more on average and spikes for the same amount), it's time I listened to the power of reason. The Consecration glyph saves nearly an entire mana bar over the course of a fight and eliminates some GCD clashes.

So, my plan going forward:

• Replace my Glyph of Seal of Command with Glyph of Consecration.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Use my surplus Badges of Heroism to buy rare quality gems to sell for profit. I had no idea that a vendor in Dalaran started offering 10 badge per gem exchanges!

I've got some selling to do!

The Wrath 3.0 Level 80 Pre-Raid 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 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.

Also, the title of this impossibly long, so in the future I'm referring to it as my "3.0 Ret FAQ." Hope none of you mind.

Talents and Skills
Q: How should I spec?
A: For PvE, 0/10/61. For PvP, 0/20/51 or something like that. See my level 80 spec guide for more "advanced" options. Take note - I'm not a PvP expert, so the PvP suggestion is my admittedly novice opinion.

Q: What seal should I use?
A: For PvE in raids, Seal of the Martyr or Seal of Blood, depending on your faction. Seal of Command is 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, switch to Command and play it safe. Dead players do zero DPS.

For PvE solo or PvP, Seal of Command is your choice.

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 priority skill system, keeping everything on cooldown as much as possible. Here's your priorities, with conditionals in parentheses:

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

Hammer of Wrath is the most DPS after Judgement, hit it as soon as it comes up and keep doing so whenever possible, providing it doesn't interfere with Judgement. Judgement is a ton of damage and returns mana, keeping your resources flowing. Crusader Strike is more damage for less mana than Divine Storm, hence why it is ahead of Divine Storm. For AoE situations, this priority ranking changes, the above is for single target DPS. For multi-target, emphasize Divine Storm and Consecration.

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

Gear, Enchants, and Glyphs
Q: How should I gear?
A: Strength first and foremost. Strength increases all of your DPS abilities and scales the best out of all stats for ret paladins. Stack as much as you can. For raiding, you want to aim to stack hit as well, to about 262 rating (which will yield 8% hit, the most needed for hitting a raid-level boss), and expertise to 26 skill to eliminate dodges. Past that, crit is great, and then haste and armor penetration can come as they may. In list format:

1. Strength
2. Hit (to 8%, or ~262 rating)
3. Expertise (to 6.5%, or ~214 rating before racials - get to 26 expertise skill)
4. Crit (or equal amounts of Agility)
5. Haste
6. Armor Penetration

Go forth and gear up.

Q: What major glyphs should I use?
A: Glyph of Judgement and Glyph of Consecration for sure. For the 3rd major glyph spot, take your pick of Glyph of Avenging Wrath, Glyph of Hammer of Wrath, and Glyph of Crusader Strike. For further discussion on glyphs, see my post on examining retribution glyph options.

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 AP. Certain enchants, like Icewalker to boots, are exceptions, but for the most part, spring for AP. AP to bracers and gloves, Arcanum of Torment, Icescale Leg Armor, etc.

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. Past that, fulfill the meta requirements with orange/purple gems that contain strength, and then stack strength. If you don't have a bunch of bold red gems, you did it wrong. As of the latest version of this FAQ, the best gems you can use are the above meta, one Sovereign Twilight Opal for the blue requirement, one Inscribed Monarch Topaz for the yellow requirement, and as many Bold Scarlet Ruby as money can buy.
If you have an Enchanted Tear, you may use the RED, Tear, and socket Bold Scarlet Ruby in the rest of your slots.
*Please note* - the meta gem recommendation above does not apply to Jewelcrafters. Their prismatic gems allow them to use a different meta to greater effect. For further discussion, see my post on meta 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).

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.

Change log:
1/12/09

• Edited the section on skill rotation, moving Consecration up in the cycle.
• Updated the gearing section to reflect the correct and most up-to-date information regarding the hit and expertise caps.
• Added Greater Savagery to the gearing section as a budget enchant recommendation.
• Added additional commentary on meta gems and general gemming to the gearing section.

1/20/09

• Edited the gear section, changing the recommendations for enchants from strength to AP (since there are no WotLK strength enchants - thanks Fedaykin98 for the heads-up!).

1/27/09

• Edited the glyphs section, swapping the prioritization of Glyph of Consecration with Glyph of Crusader Strike. Major glyphs for ret should be Glyph of Judgement, Glyph of Consecration, and then either Glyph of Hammer of Wrath, Glyph of Crusader Strike, or Glyph of Avenging Wrath.

2/03/09

• Edited the gems section to account for the inclusion of Inscribed Monarch Topaz and Sovereign Twilight Opal in the game.

2/05/09

• Edited the weapon enchant section to account for the update to Berserking (now 5% armor reduction instead of 25%).
• Added Enchanted Tear to the gems section.
• Added additional clarification for glyphs.
• Added additional clarification for weapon choices.

2/11/09

• Clarified language regarding Hammer of Wrath prioritization.
• Made changes to the gem section to account for Enchanted Tear's prismatic nature.

Glyph, Gaffe, Goof

For posterity, my preferred major glyph set up for raiding for all three paladin specs:

Retribution
[Glyph of Judgement]
[Glyph of Seal of Command]
[Glyph of Crusader Strike]

Protection
[Glyph of Judgement]
[Glyph of Seal of Vengeance]
[Glyph of Righteous Defense]

Holy
[Glyph of Judgement]
[Glyph of Seal of Light]
[Glyph of Holy Light]

This is for PvE raiding, not PvP or solo'ing. For the ret choices, I have a hang-up. I didn't want to take the Seal of Command glyph, as I'll likely use Seal of the Martyr in a raid situation, however, I love using Seal of Command. Okay, let me rephrase. I've grown attached to Seal of Command. The idea of hurting myself every time I swing or Judge seems silly, which makes SotM a turn-off.

Plus, there aren't a ton of glyphs out there that are immediately useful to retribution. [Glyph of Turn Evil]? Very situational. [Glyph of Avenging Wrath]? Hammer of Wrath is fairly awesome, I guess that'd be a decent choice... [Glyph of Seal of Blood]? Going from 10 to 11% mana return on Spiritual Attunement isn't all that exciting.

I dunno, I guess I'll eventually wrench my SoComm glyph out of there if I start raiding regularly and replace with that AW-HoW glyph. That doesn't mean I have to be happy about it.