The Light and How to Swing It: Shockadins!
by Robin Torres 
Jul 25th 2007 at 1:00AM
Every other week, Robin Torres investigates Paladin issues, interviews experienced Paladins and reports her findings in The Light and How to Swing It, formerly The Paladin Report.
I am very interested in trying out the Shockadin spec when I get my pally to 70 and I've been trying to find info on this particular spec. Ten Ton Hammer has an excellent Paladin Guide, but doesn't list the Shockadin as a sub guide. The stickied Paladin Guide on the official forums has a lot of information of varied accuracy, but also doesn't have a Shockadin section. I'm pretty much having to scrounge for bits of information here and there, so I thought I'd publish my findings in this week's column.
The Shockadin is mostly a PVP spec, though some claim to be able to heal in raids just fine as long as they change their gear. This is what is so intriguing to me: that the DPS is supposed to be similar or better than a Retribution Pally, but that you still have plenty of Holy for healing. The gear for DPS needs to be high +Spell Damage -- mostly you are looking for caster gear. Some will settle for mail gear intended for Shamans for the casting bonuses. Just as Moonkin will wear a combination of leather and cloth to boost their spell damage, the Shockadin must balance spell damage gear from all armor categories with enough AP to survive.
Everyone seems to agree that the Shockadin spec is 40/0/21, though there are slight variations on how those points are spent. Pictured above is a very common Shockadin spec. Breaking it down according to talent:
Retribution Tree
Benediction (5 points): Mana efficiency is extremely important to the Shockadin. This talent reduces the Mana cost of Judgement and Seal spells by 15%.
Improved Judgement (2 points): Captain Obvious says faster casting = more DPS. This reduces the Cooldown time of Judgement by 2 seconds.
Improved Seal of the Crusader: Some put 3 points into this talent to increase the Holy damage of Judgement of the Crusader by 5%, though others will put 3 points in Parry to increase survivability.
Conviction (5 points): Increases critical strike chance with melee by 5%.
Seal of Command (1 point): Though I have seen Shockadin builds without it, it seems to me that the Judgement of this seal is a big plus for increasing DPS. The Seal of Command gives a chance to deal additional Holy damage equal to 70% of normal weapon damage and when trained to maximum, the Judgement deals 228 to 252 damage (456 to 504 to a stunned or incapacitated foe).
Eye for an Eye (2 points): Spell criticals cause 30% of the damage taken to also be taken by the caster.
Crusade (2 points): Increases damage caused against Humanoids, Demons, Undead and Elementals by 2%. This can be increased by spending one talent point, if not spending it on Seal of command or elsewhere.
Sanctity Aura (1 point): This is required for the Shockadin as it increases Holy damage done by 10% for the Pally as well as all party members within 30 yards. It used to also increase Healing, but unfortunately, not anymore.
Holy Tree
Holy Shock (1 point): This is the most important talent, as it gives Shockadins their name. It is an instant cast, 20 yard range spell that can be trained up 5 ranks and causes up to 574 Damage or Healing. No matter what talent choices you make before this, you must take the path to Holy Shock.
Holy Guidance (5 points): This is the second most important talent as it increases all spell damage and healing by 35% of total Intellect.
Choose whatever talents you wish to get to the above two talents, but here are some suggestions:
Divine Intellect (5 points): Holy Guidance will be much more effective with this talent choice as it increases total Intellect by 10%.
Illumination (5 points) and Divine Favor (1 point): These are both prerequisites for taking Holy Shock. They also reduce mana and increase criticals which benefit the Shockadin greatly.
Holy Power (5 points): As the critical effect chance of all Holy spells are increased by 5%, this is a great way to spend 5 talent points.
Improved Blessing of Wisdom (2 points): As a caster, no matter how well armored, Blessing of Wisdom should be the blessing of choice and the Improved talent increases the effect by 20%.
In the forums, Doru (a level 70 Warrior who also has a 70 Ret Pally) defines the Shockadin as follows:
A shockadin, by definition, is a melee class that has become a caster that stands 40 yds back spamming heals and moves in 20 yds every 15 seconds to hit with a bolt of shock. This completely shocks the enemy as surely there must be some mistake that a character wearing 12000 armor is standing 40 yds away.
Another good source for a discussion of the Shockadin is Sylvina's blog. Sylvina is a WoW Insider reader and a Belfadin. Jeffpally has a video of a PVP Shockadin, which is mostly made up of using Holy Shock and Hammer of Wrath repeatedly.
Is being a Shockadin as fun as it sounds? Has anyone had any trouble with a Shockadin speced pally healing in groups or raids?
Robin Torres is raising a couple of Blood Elf Paladins of her very own on two different servers, because one just isn't enough. In her search for knowledge about her new favorite class, Robin interviews more experienced paladins. If you want to be one of those paladins, please email Robin.Torres AT weblogsinc DOT com for a possible future column.
I am very interested in trying out the Shockadin spec when I get my pally to 70 and I've been trying to find info on this particular spec. Ten Ton Hammer has an excellent Paladin Guide, but doesn't list the Shockadin as a sub guide. The stickied Paladin Guide on the official forums has a lot of information of varied accuracy, but also doesn't have a Shockadin section. I'm pretty much having to scrounge for bits of information here and there, so I thought I'd publish my findings in this week's column.
The Shockadin is mostly a PVP spec, though some claim to be able to heal in raids just fine as long as they change their gear. This is what is so intriguing to me: that the DPS is supposed to be similar or better than a Retribution Pally, but that you still have plenty of Holy for healing. The gear for DPS needs to be high +Spell Damage -- mostly you are looking for caster gear. Some will settle for mail gear intended for Shamans for the casting bonuses. Just as Moonkin will wear a combination of leather and cloth to boost their spell damage, the Shockadin must balance spell damage gear from all armor categories with enough AP to survive.
Everyone seems to agree that the Shockadin spec is 40/0/21, though there are slight variations on how those points are spent. Pictured above is a very common Shockadin spec. Breaking it down according to talent:
Retribution Tree
Benediction (5 points): Mana efficiency is extremely important to the Shockadin. This talent reduces the Mana cost of Judgement and Seal spells by 15%.
Improved Judgement (2 points): Captain Obvious says faster casting = more DPS. This reduces the Cooldown time of Judgement by 2 seconds.
Improved Seal of the Crusader: Some put 3 points into this talent to increase the Holy damage of Judgement of the Crusader by 5%, though others will put 3 points in Parry to increase survivability.
Conviction (5 points): Increases critical strike chance with melee by 5%.
Seal of Command (1 point): Though I have seen Shockadin builds without it, it seems to me that the Judgement of this seal is a big plus for increasing DPS. The Seal of Command gives a chance to deal additional Holy damage equal to 70% of normal weapon damage and when trained to maximum, the Judgement deals 228 to 252 damage (456 to 504 to a stunned or incapacitated foe).
Eye for an Eye (2 points): Spell criticals cause 30% of the damage taken to also be taken by the caster.
Crusade (2 points): Increases damage caused against Humanoids, Demons, Undead and Elementals by 2%. This can be increased by spending one talent point, if not spending it on Seal of command or elsewhere.
Sanctity Aura (1 point): This is required for the Shockadin as it increases Holy damage done by 10% for the Pally as well as all party members within 30 yards. It used to also increase Healing, but unfortunately, not anymore.
Holy Tree
Holy Shock (1 point): This is the most important talent, as it gives Shockadins their name. It is an instant cast, 20 yard range spell that can be trained up 5 ranks and causes up to 574 Damage or Healing. No matter what talent choices you make before this, you must take the path to Holy Shock.
Holy Guidance (5 points): This is the second most important talent as it increases all spell damage and healing by 35% of total Intellect.
Choose whatever talents you wish to get to the above two talents, but here are some suggestions:
Divine Intellect (5 points): Holy Guidance will be much more effective with this talent choice as it increases total Intellect by 10%.
Illumination (5 points) and Divine Favor (1 point): These are both prerequisites for taking Holy Shock. They also reduce mana and increase criticals which benefit the Shockadin greatly.
Holy Power (5 points): As the critical effect chance of all Holy spells are increased by 5%, this is a great way to spend 5 talent points.
Improved Blessing of Wisdom (2 points): As a caster, no matter how well armored, Blessing of Wisdom should be the blessing of choice and the Improved talent increases the effect by 20%.
In the forums, Doru (a level 70 Warrior who also has a 70 Ret Pally) defines the Shockadin as follows:
A shockadin, by definition, is a melee class that has become a caster that stands 40 yds back spamming heals and moves in 20 yds every 15 seconds to hit with a bolt of shock. This completely shocks the enemy as surely there must be some mistake that a character wearing 12000 armor is standing 40 yds away.
Another good source for a discussion of the Shockadin is Sylvina's blog. Sylvina is a WoW Insider reader and a Belfadin. Jeffpally has a video of a PVP Shockadin, which is mostly made up of using Holy Shock and Hammer of Wrath repeatedly.
Is being a Shockadin as fun as it sounds? Has anyone had any trouble with a Shockadin speced pally healing in groups or raids?
Robin Torres is raising a couple of Blood Elf Paladins of her very own on two different servers, because one just isn't enough. In her search for knowledge about her new favorite class, Robin interviews more experienced paladins. If you want to be one of those paladins, please email Robin.Torres AT weblogsinc DOT com for a possible future column.
Filed under: (Paladin) The Light and How to Swing It, Paladin
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
phestona Jul 25th 2007 1:24AM
I feel silly asking this, especially since I've been playing for 2+ years, but... What's the difference between a 10% increase in mana and a 10% increase in int? Since Intellect = mana, why the difference in terms? Or is it just that, a difference in terms?
curveball2004 Jul 25th 2007 1:35AM
*sigh* plz do ur research.... first off...
"Seal of Command (1 point): Though I have seen Shockadin builds without it, it seems to me that the Judgement of this seal is a big plus for increasing DPS"
SoC is useless to a shockadin, simply because the spell Coefficient is so inferior to SoR that at any reasonable amount of spell damage, JoR is 2-4 times more powerful than a JoC of the same rank.
"Conviction (5 points): Increases critical strike chance with melee by 5%."
Your melee damage is pitiful, aand if ur stacking the correct stats (int, stam and spelldmg) then u wont have room for strength/ap. Much better use of those points is in vindication (15% reduction to str/agil) or Imp. SoCr, since the extra spelldmg is vital to a shockadin for the DF/trink/sanc aura/JoCr shock crit for 2-3k damage followed by a few swings of insane SoR hits.
Basically, take the points outta SoC and Conviction and put them in Imp. SoCr, vindication or parry.
PS: plz dont make a DIY shockadin guide without at least consulting some of the higher end shockadins on arena teams, see: deadlyblonde on one of the EU servers (can't remember off the top of my head). Your the WoW news source, im sure ud have no problem getting some advice.
PS2: Just realized how long this post has taken me, crossing fingers to hope nobody posted this info while i was typing, if they have, dont shoot me down, just read mine aswell and consider both :)
Nogun Jul 25th 2007 1:38AM
@1 10% Intellect will give less than 10% more mana because of base mana depending on level, i.e. your mana divided by 15 will give you a number higher than your total intellect.
Despite +10% Int giving less additional mana than +10% mana it is for most superior because the the +10% Int will also increase your Spell Crit.
Grimm Jul 25th 2007 1:40AM
@1:
Int and mana are not the same thing. Increasing Int increases mana, yes, but it also increases your spell crit rate, which is a big deal for a bursty caster spec like a shockadin.
Arturis Jul 25th 2007 2:02AM
I am a Retribution Paladin at heart (have been that way since launch) that had to go Holy due to a lack of available healers in the guild. So while I wait for the major Retribution revamp that keeps being hinted at, Ive been playing the "Shockadin" when not in healing mode. So far its worked out pretty well. My damage gear is still a bit lacking, but according to the Recap mod Ive been averaging around 450 dps (with spikes as high as 750 dps) while out grinding primals for smithing, roughly 35% of which is coming from melee damage and the rest from my Holy spells. I honestly think thats not too shabby for Paladin damage, though I'm sure someone will say otherwise.
My spell rotation is very simple: Seal of the Crusader->Judgement->Seal of Righteousness then Judgement/Holy Shock when each is up. Every 3 minutes I get to kick in Avenging Wrath (Increases all damage by 30%) for an extra boost. What Curveball said about Seal/Judgment of Command being useless to a Holyshock Paladin is unfortunately quite true - its not worth investing the point in it when Righteousness does the job more efficiently.
The best part is I can deal enough damage for most solo situations or as DPS in a 5 man, but then switch on my healing gear (currently about +1k healing) when no other healers are available. No need for constant the constant and costly respeccing back and forth in order to be viable both as a healer and a fighter.
Current Talent Spec: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/classes/paladin/talents.html?0555312052010050105000000000000000000000000523500000230100000000
Argent Jul 25th 2007 2:04AM
ret builds will out-damage shockadin builds with inferior gear. this really isn't much of a contest. arena/pvp geared ret pallys will can burst out nearly 10k in short order and can do 2-3k damage on non-crits almost at will.
shockadins don't have ANY +hit (and seeing as they need both melee *AND* spellhit), if they get a resist on judgements (melee) or shocks (spell), they spend 16-30s standing around doing jack for dps.
using leather/cloth instead of plate just trades durability for potential dps, which may or may not manifest itself. whereas ret paladins can clear the +hit cap almost at will.
if people want to cling to this fantasy that sthe shockadin spec has any intrinsic value, be my guest. i think it's pretty darn worthless myself and exposes one of the deeper flaws in the holy tree -- the lack of any type of decent dps options for solo play. adding some sort of DD spell that becomes active when judgements or shocks miss/are resisted would be a good first step to address that.
Sylvina Jul 25th 2007 3:24AM
Yay I got mentioned! As I say in my blog, my information isn't perfect, and I gear myself as a Shockadin, but I have most of my points setup for Holy, etc. It still works extremely well for wannabe DPS and still remain with a 100% Holy oriented spec with some off-tank ability. As I always say spec is maybe 3/8ths of the battle, the rest is all gear based in terms of tanking & dps.
bwest0526 Jul 25th 2007 3:58AM
@2 I like the information you have to give and the only problem I have is -- Don't be a dick! give constructive critisim that's great but don't be a dick about it when you do, it makes you look like an ass. It's just common curtosey. WoW I can't believe the rudeness of some people.
Asspigeon Jul 25th 2007 4:21AM
What I don't understand about the shockadin build is where it comes in handy. If you want to main heal or heal in arenas, holy/prot is the best due to shortened BoP cooldown and kings. For pure DPS, nothing is going to beat a well geared ret paladin. And for solo grinding, a prot paladin can take on several mobs at a time and kill them all.
Shockadins seem to be trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, blizzard doesn't want paladins as offensive casters. I can maybe see where it might be useful in battlegrounds (not arena because you lack sustainable damage and need to sacrifice too much +healing). But overall the spec seems to be intent on achieving the true hybrid synergy that the paladin should be capable of but failing miserably.
rinc Jul 25th 2007 4:36AM
The talent build in original post is ok, but not that accurate.
I have been using similar build for half year now, and before tbc for much longer.
Wearing full plate and 1k of spell dmg.
Biggest mistake is lack of imp sor points. thats 5 points = 2 from loh, 2 from bow, and 1 from "faster holy light" buff talent.
On ret side, i had soc for long time, but never used it so I removed it. Instead of parry use imp sotc. 5% melee crit talent - while not as useful as spell crit, it does increase slightly your dps in pve dps -role (5men/kara) Also, hammer of wrath is based on melee crit, and thats still the highest dmg spell you have. (when it crits) With the upcoming buff (0.5sec cast) it will be even more useful
First, you shouldn't wear cloth/leather/mail. Yes it might bring your dmg a bit higher but your usual customers like warriors, rogues or anxious feral kittens will cut you in pieces way faster then you can kill them.
Same like with retribution armor, only quality, complete gear for this build can be found in honor rewards/ arena. Yes rings/capes/trinkets/neck you can find wherever but armor with spell crit (and for ret with melee crit) is only accessible from pvp side. In that way ret build is even in better situation since at least it has a tier sets that you can take.
For the end, One trinket I picked up in kara that i really like is lightning capacitator. http://www.wowhead.com/?item=28785
Since the shockadins favorite trinket six demon bag is getting a nerf (no scaling with spell dmg) I find this one to be rather nice addition for you situational burst output in pvp. It does scale with AW and bg dmg buffs. Can crit up to 2k, and can be timed with carefull use of divine favour.
Juwon Jul 25th 2007 4:54AM
I Am a baby to paladins and will like to know how to place my talent points as I level up for max damage. Mind you I will be doing a lot of soloing and therefore I will like to have my dps high without losing too much on my healing skills. At the moment, I am lvl18 with all my talent points on Ret.
As far as I can say I want to help up as a support player in instance and raiding but still able to hold my ground in PVP.
What kind of gear do I need to build up my attribults: Int, Stam, and Streg? Should I look for shaman gears?
Thanks.
rinc Jul 25th 2007 5:01AM
@9
I would say Blizzard don't want us to be offensive casters. In recent months they made several decisions in that line. They fixed imp sor, they gave it bigger spell damage %, they introduced spell dmg armor in honor and arena rewards.
And also, if you decide to go in 5-10 men instances and dps, it has more of a melee feel to it, since your cheapest dmg comes from using sor and maybe lvl 1 or 2 consecration. (In a way its almost the same as pally tanking way, only with more spell dmg and less +def:p)
With full plate spell dmg gear, you can tank non heroic 5 men instances more effective then warrior/feral druid/prot pally, since you wont be losing aggro, you can handle non heroic mobs, the nuking of the instance will be faster because of a 4 dps ers in the group, and at the end, you will be so far ahead of dmg meters.... (only thing you need is a good spamming healer)
Since you can produce 4-5k dmg almost instant + the finishing (trinkets/aw - jor/df/hs) followed by consecration and how), this build can be of use in a 2v2 and 3v3 arenas, using fast nuke tactic.
Still it doesn't work 100% of the time, like nothing does. Also, BoK is rather useless in 2v2 and 3v3 because you will be using bof/bos/bop on them, almost from the start and it will remove kings.
5v5 teams with 2 healers - priest/shammy can do well with it, as you can help in both ways.
rinc Jul 25th 2007 5:26AM
@6
Ret pally in inferior gear can't out dps a shockadins that knows what to do - either in instances, raids or bg/arena. While I've been using ret, and still like the general "come to a guy, swing, pray for soc to proc, cs, wait 3.8secs, swing, pray for the soc to proc (and crit). :p
Thing with "inferior" pallies is: they are either using warrior gear without int or spell dmg, or pally instance gear with no melee crit. Result is a pally that cant heal himself, that dont want to judge joc, because he saves his mana, and is free kill for most classes that are patient and smart enough and can survive his initial burst.
Tier set/ arena gear ret pallies are capable of producing out dps ing same geared shockadin, but can be out dps ed by him aswell. It all comes down to who will have more crits.
And with a fast spell dmg mace (like the arena one) using sor and enough mana to afford using consecration, (different levels, depending on how much mana you have left) its far from waiting for cd-s to come.
But if we decide to throw big heal to our teammate in need, inbetween 8sec cd judgements.... well then you just might out dps us :p
Sylvina Jul 25th 2007 6:16AM
@11 You can't go wrong with +10% strength and the 5 points in righteousness when you're starting to level, also Devotion Aura talents are really handy if you plan on using a two-hander (The talent ends up sucking at 70 but it's not bad while leveling up)
Argent Jul 25th 2007 6:19AM
again, you ignore the simple fact of the matterthat shockadin dps is on a 8-15s cooldown that can be resisted or miss entirely at will. at which point in time the shockadin does jack for dps.
a ret pallys don't have as many of those issues and have decent sustained dps outside of CS, SoC and judgements. they can also stack +hit further benefit themselves.
as for shockadins out-dpsing ret in raids or 5 mans: ok, you made me laugh.
rinc Jul 25th 2007 7:19AM
@15
Just like ret dps is on 3.8 sec weapon cd, 8sec judge cd and 10 sec cs cd. And just as ret uses auto attack with soc up, shockadins use autoattack, + sor, + consecration.
It is a hybrid build inside a hybrid class. Its raid viable, as much as ret one. It gives a raid an option like with feral druids to use you in 2 roles, depending on the setup, boss etc.
And as ret build's soc, joc and melee attacks can all be blocked, parried, dodged... I wouldn't say it is in any kind of better position.
Just like + melee hit for ret armor, +spell hit is easily accessible with spell dmg enchants, spell dmg weapons/rings/capes/trinkets
All our dmg is holy which means we hit warrior as much as we hit mage or priest, which is one of the main advantages for shockadins over ret, next to superior healing capabilities, and bigger manapool.
If equally geared, ret build should produce better dmg burst, but over time, shockadin would win.
And thats main reason why i didn't stay ret. Yes when soc procs, and crits all is nice but when you need to actually survive, all other pally builds are far more useful.
Comparable to some extent with mage's full fire and full frost builds. Or full feral and feral/resto hybrid.
And at the end of the day, everyone should play what he/she prefers instead of theorycrafting most of the day.
Heme Jul 25th 2007 8:15AM
I dont know why you have seal of command in there. You get more spell damage from the one handers as well as more from a shield.
To be an effective shockadin, you need at least 600 spell damage and be lvl 63.
If you want to see a vid of shockadins in action look for Cosaga's (pt 4 i believe) or DeadlyBlonde's video.
Required talents to be effective.
-=HOLY=-
DIvine intellect
Improved Seal of Righteousness
Holy shock
holy guidance
Holy power
since this is a pvp build either Pure of Heart or Unyielding Faith
-=Retribution=-
Benediction
Improved seal of crusader
Improved judgement
eye for an eye
at least 1 or 2 pts in deflection
sanctity aura
the rest of the talents can go elsewhere but, in the ret tree, soc, imprved ret aura and improved blessing of might are more or less useless.
Mehrunes Jul 25th 2007 8:34AM
@2
Wow. She said that she couldn't find much info on the shockadin and that she was posting what she did find. So, she did do research. Jesus....
Angael Jul 25th 2007 1:22PM
I do very well with my "shockadin". I currently have 300 resilience so I can definately take a beating. I try not to spam JoR because it waste too much mana. Its important for a holy paladin to conserve his mana. What I do is judge with crusader then put up seal of righteousness. I let that sit for 15 sec then... I cast my super awesome macro. Holy Shock and Judgement of Righteousness. With 622 spell damage I do 1700-1900 uncritted damage. When I do crit its around 2300-2400. I think the macro is huge. One it makes it easier to cast burst damage instead of hitting two buttons in succession. Also like I mentioned by only casting JoR every 15 sec along with Holy Shock I conserve mana. I don't do well in duels when I go all out by judging righteousness every 6 sec. Also this way you dont need improved judgement. Note, I went into the prot tree and not retro tree.
Ninkasi Jul 25th 2007 9:23AM
What you some of you seem to forget, is that this is a game, and is meant to be fun. This build may not be optimum, but I bet it's fun to play. It gives people another way to play the paladin, with viable DPS while still being able to be an effective healer.