By mmomeltingpot.com
Hurrah! The brave new dawn is coming – the new dawn of Mists of Pandaria and WoW Patch 5.05, that is. New talent system, new glyph system, and new and exciting changes for everyone, including us Retribution Paladins. So, let’s get you up to speed with your stat weights, reforging and gemming, talents, glyphs, and AOE and single-target rotations in MoP, so you can get out into that brave new world and hit it with a big hammer as quickly as possible!
Updated 25th September 2012 to Mists of Pandaria
Retribution “Rotation” and Priorities in MoP
Retribution Paladins have a subtly different rotation than in Cataclysm – it’s the same abilities, but in a different order.
Single-target DPS as Retribution
Follow this priority order for abilities:
Top Priority: If Inquisition is about to drop or is not active, and you have Holy Power, cast Inquisition. If not, and if you have 5 Holy Power, cast Templar’s Verdict.
Second Priority: If Hammer of Wrath or Exorcism are available, cast them, in that order if they’re both available.
Third Priority: If Crusader Strike is available, cast it. If not, if Judgement is available, cast it.
Fourth Priority: If you have 3 or 4 Holy Power, cast Templar’s Verdict.
Note: Templar’s Verdict is in your priority tree twice! If you have 5 Holy Power it’s top priority after Inquisition – it’s lowest priority if you have 3-4 HP.
AOE DPS as Retribution
For 3 targets or more, use the same rotation as for single-target, but replace Crusader Strike with Hammer of the Righteous and Templar’s Verdict with Divine Storm.
Cooldowns
Avenging Wrath and Guardian of Ancient Kings should both be used as often as possible. Ideally, use Guardian of Ancient Kings 10 seconds before Avenging Wrath.
Devotion Aura should be used in a dungeon when everyone’s taking heavy damage, and in a raid as directed by your raid leader.
Divine Shield and Divine Protection are powerful defensive cooldowns. Use them if you’re getting the crap kicked out of you by something!
Lay On Hands – a supremely powerful survival ability. I normally have it macroed to a mouse-button click on raid frames. Useful to get yourself or a party member out of a scrape.
Buffs
Use Blessing of Might or Blessing of Kings, whichever will stack with the other buffs in your party. If you have the choice of either, go for Blessing of Might.
Use Seal of Truth for single-target and Seal of Righteousness multi-target.
Retribution Paladin Talent Choices
Talent choices in Wow 5.x are intended to be flexible, and we encourage you to experiment with them – but here’s a good all-purpose loadout:
Tier 1: Pursuit of Justice
Tier 2: Repentance – a decent crowd control spell.
Tier 3: Sacred Shield – useful shielding for yourself or others.
Tier 4: Clemency
Tier 5: Holy Avenger – a powerful DPS cooldown.
Tier 6: Execution Sentence – another DPS cooldown. Use whenever possible.
Stats, reforging and gemming for Retribution Paladin
Strength, Hit and Expertise are our strongest three stats. Beyond that, Haste is our strongest secondary stat, then Crit and Mastery about equal.
Reforging: Reforge for Hit and Expertise of 7.5% (2550) each, then reforge to Haste. Reforge out of excess Hit and Expertise first, then Crit and Mastery.
Gems: Use Bold (Strength) gems in Red sockets, Fierce (Strength /Haste) gems in Yellow sockets and Etched (Hit/Strength) in Blue sockets.
Meta Gem: Reverberating meta gem.
Ret Pallie Glyphs
Retribution Paladin glyphs in 5.05 are particularly situational – but here’s one good all-rounder setup:
Major: Glyph of Templar’s Verdict, Glyph of Double Jeopardy, Glyph of Mass Exorcism
Minor: Your choice!
Retribution Paladin enchants and item enhancements
You should almost always use a profession enhancement item if it provides appropriate stats instead of a general enchant – Inscription of the Earth Prince on shoulders from Inscription, for example.
Don’t break the bank here – this stuff’s only going to last a month.
Shoulder – Greater Tiger Fang Inscription
Back – Enchant Cloak – Accuracy or Enchant Cloak – Superior Critical Strike
Chest – Glorious Stats
Bracers – Enchant Bracers – Exceptional Strength
Gloves – Enchant Gloves – Super Strength
Belt – Living Steel Belt Buckle
Legs – Angerhide Leg Armor
Feet – Enchant Boots – Greater Precision or Enchant Boots – Greater Haste
Weapon – Enchant Weapon – Dancing Weapon
Links
There’s a lot of good info out there for Ret players – here is a suggestion for more in-depth information:
Elitist Jerks have an excellent, long, detailed 5.05 Retribution article
Finally, as a WoW player, you should really check out the latest and greatest from the blogosphere on World of Warcraft, here at the Melting Pot.
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