The Light and How to Swing It: Raiding and the Retadin part III
Spell rotations
The simplest way to put this is that there is no spell rotation. You simply cast whatever spell is off the cooldown, with Judgements -- primarily Judgement of Light -- as the highest priority. Crusader Strike and Divine Storm are next, followed by Consecration. It bears mentioning that Improved Judgements, which bring the cooldown of Judgement spells to 8 seconds, creates a clash between Crusader Strike and Judgements as using Crusader Strike right after a Judgement will result in them both going off the cooldown at almost the same time. You optimize your DPS by casting something while everything else is on cooldown.
If two or more spells become available at the same time -- and this will inevitably happen -- this will result in a dip in DPS. You'll want to avoid that as much as possible. Opening with a Judgement is pretty mandatory as Heart of the Crusader will benefit your next attack. You can opt to follow it with Divine Storm and then Crusader Strike to avoid early clashes, but because all the spell cooldowns are even numbers, a clash will happen anyway. The four-piece set bonus which reduces Judgement cooldowns by 1 second will lessen the clashes, but it won't remove them entirely.
You will have idle time unless you're fighting demons or undead, in which case you can insert Exorcism and Holy Wrath into the rotation. In fact, running into a fight, you can start off with Exorcism because it has a longer range than Judgements. Otherwise, you will find yourself every now and then with no more buttons to press because everything is on cooldown. You have no spammable ability like a Hunter's Steady Shot or a Shaman's Lightning Bolt, everything is an instant attack with a cooldown. For most mobs, you will have lulls between spell cooldowns where you'll rely purely on auto-attacks. It will feel like a DPS dip, but trust your Seal of Blood / of the Martyr to do its job.
Always use Avenging Wrath. Because it is now off the GCD, make a macro to use it along with a Judgement. Never use it before getting within range of a mob, as you will kill 1-2 seconds of Avenging Wrath just trying to get into position. For the most part, use it every time it's available except when you know you won't be able to reach a boss such as when Noth the Plaguebringer teleports. In cases like those, unleash it once the boss is attackable within range. This way you can maximize the 20 second uptime. If you have an on-use trinket, bind its use with Avenging Wrath. Most trinkets have a 2-minute cooldown, making it available every time wings are up. Likewise, time it to coincide with Bloodlust or Heroism.
Even against a single mob, fire off a Consecration and use Divine Storm. Even if those are AoE spells, their contribution makes up a significant chunk of our DPS. As much as possible, refrain from healing yourself with an instant Flash of Light, even when The Art of War procs. The instant heal will reset your swing timer, and it also doesn't contribute to Spiritual Attunement. [Update: the heal from an instant Flash of Light no longer resets the swing timer.]
Always stay at max range. This will matter a lot, specially against bosses with large hit boxes, like Sapphiron. Being on what seems like his side might be considered his front, so you could eat a fatal cleave. Needless to say, always attack from behind as all melee classes are supposed to do. You will sometimes find yourself attacking from the front, specially in mobile fights or during trash pulls where everything is AoE'd to kingdom come. That's fine. This is also where Expertise comes into play.
Raiding as a Retribution Paladin is easy. Doing well isn't as simple. Being a melee class, you already have some challenges to begin with. Even on the easiest raid boss in the entire game, Archavon, your DPS can dip considerably if the tank doesn't move him out of the clouds. Naxxramas is a place where you can shine because of the type of mobs in it. Most of the bosses are also undead, which should boost performance greatly. That said, even with those extra spells at your disposal, you will likely not out-DPS a similarly geared and skilled Hunter or Mage. This is why refinement of skill is mandatory. More than a fancy mace or sword, knowing how to play is going to be your best weapon in the DPS race.
The Light and How to Swing It tries to help Paladins, those champions of the Light, tackle the Wrath of the Lich King. It's a good time to play the class, which in the best state it has ever been in years. Read Zach's thoughts on how good it is to be the King.
The simplest way to put this is that there is no spell rotation. You simply cast whatever spell is off the cooldown, with Judgements -- primarily Judgement of Light -- as the highest priority. Crusader Strike and Divine Storm are next, followed by Consecration. It bears mentioning that Improved Judgements, which bring the cooldown of Judgement spells to 8 seconds, creates a clash between Crusader Strike and Judgements as using Crusader Strike right after a Judgement will result in them both going off the cooldown at almost the same time. You optimize your DPS by casting something while everything else is on cooldown.
If two or more spells become available at the same time -- and this will inevitably happen -- this will result in a dip in DPS. You'll want to avoid that as much as possible. Opening with a Judgement is pretty mandatory as Heart of the Crusader will benefit your next attack. You can opt to follow it with Divine Storm and then Crusader Strike to avoid early clashes, but because all the spell cooldowns are even numbers, a clash will happen anyway. The four-piece set bonus which reduces Judgement cooldowns by 1 second will lessen the clashes, but it won't remove them entirely.
You will have idle time unless you're fighting demons or undead, in which case you can insert Exorcism and Holy Wrath into the rotation. In fact, running into a fight, you can start off with Exorcism because it has a longer range than Judgements. Otherwise, you will find yourself every now and then with no more buttons to press because everything is on cooldown. You have no spammable ability like a Hunter's Steady Shot or a Shaman's Lightning Bolt, everything is an instant attack with a cooldown. For most mobs, you will have lulls between spell cooldowns where you'll rely purely on auto-attacks. It will feel like a DPS dip, but trust your Seal of Blood / of the Martyr to do its job.
Always use Avenging Wrath. Because it is now off the GCD, make a macro to use it along with a Judgement. Never use it before getting within range of a mob, as you will kill 1-2 seconds of Avenging Wrath just trying to get into position. For the most part, use it every time it's available except when you know you won't be able to reach a boss such as when Noth the Plaguebringer teleports. In cases like those, unleash it once the boss is attackable within range. This way you can maximize the 20 second uptime. If you have an on-use trinket, bind its use with Avenging Wrath. Most trinkets have a 2-minute cooldown, making it available every time wings are up. Likewise, time it to coincide with Bloodlust or Heroism.
Even against a single mob, fire off a Consecration and use Divine Storm. Even if those are AoE spells, their contribution makes up a significant chunk of our DPS. As much as possible, refrain from healing yourself with an instant Flash of Light, even when The Art of War procs. The instant heal will reset your swing timer, and it also doesn't contribute to Spiritual Attunement. [Update: the heal from an instant Flash of Light no longer resets the swing timer.]
Always stay at max range. This will matter a lot, specially against bosses with large hit boxes, like Sapphiron. Being on what seems like his side might be considered his front, so you could eat a fatal cleave. Needless to say, always attack from behind as all melee classes are supposed to do. You will sometimes find yourself attacking from the front, specially in mobile fights or during trash pulls where everything is AoE'd to kingdom come. That's fine. This is also where Expertise comes into play.
Raiding as a Retribution Paladin is easy. Doing well isn't as simple. Being a melee class, you already have some challenges to begin with. Even on the easiest raid boss in the entire game, Archavon, your DPS can dip considerably if the tank doesn't move him out of the clouds. Naxxramas is a place where you can shine because of the type of mobs in it. Most of the bosses are also undead, which should boost performance greatly. That said, even with those extra spells at your disposal, you will likely not out-DPS a similarly geared and skilled Hunter or Mage. This is why refinement of skill is mandatory. More than a fancy mace or sword, knowing how to play is going to be your best weapon in the DPS race.






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
MusedMoose Feb 1st 2009 10:01PM
Just wanted to say thanks; this seems to be excellent advice. It'll be a while before I can use it, but I'll definitely remember this. The talent build is a definite improvement on what I'd been planning to use.
Also: Mel Brooks FTW.
Lextalionus Feb 1st 2009 10:36PM
Suggestion: in your first raiding spec (10/59+2), I'm a fan of favoring pursuit of justice over vindication when comparing dps talents. More mobility usually adds up to higher dps, whereas bosses are vindication immune. Aside from nitpicking, I think this guide is painting a good picture for up and coming Ret Paladins. Lots of palpable information without going into number crunching.
Sleep Feb 1st 2009 10:42PM
Superb article, I was specced Holy and raiding casually during TBC- however since Wrath my game time has been cut significantly. I respecced Ret as it made questing far more fun, and sure helps speed along rep grinds and achievements. I run heroics when possible and had recently been trying to decide the 'best' route to improve my damage output - this guide has helped a lot, even if just confirming what i am doing 'right' (dps rotation was something i've been trying to optimize through experimentation, but kept boiling down to whatever wasn't on CD!)
Bookmarked- and i hadn't realised those pvp boots were so easy to get...i'm off to wintergrasp it seems..
Thanks Zach!
Semadin Feb 1st 2009 10:55PM
As a high end raiding ret paladin - I think this article does a great job for newbies ^_^
I second the note about vindication - bosses are immune, and it no longer triggers wisdom, so it is perfectly useless on bosses. Additionally, people say Pursuit of Justice is optional, but there are plenty of encounters where you are running around. The sooner you are on the boss, the more you are in combat, the more damage you do. I consider PoJ a necessary.
On the subject of glyphs - most of the minors are naturally just conveniences, except Glyph of Sense Undead (sp?), which gives you +1% damage to undead while sense undead is active. Considering the majority of raiding right now is undead, +1% raid damage from a minor glyph is huge ^_^ (just make sure you have sense undead on).
BobbyLee Feb 2nd 2009 12:24AM
Very nice guide, thank you very much. For those who are still hungering for more knowledge, there is a great Ret guide on the official forums...
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=12891010269&sid=1
Worth checking out imo
Matt Feb 3rd 2009 10:23AM
Nice article, but your info about avenging wrath is wrong. Mabye its off the gcd for you, but its still on the gcd for me
Zach Feb 3rd 2009 10:24AM
Hi Matt,
Are you sure? My macro to cast Judgement of Wisdom and Avenging Wrath at the same time works, which means it's off the GCD. You might want to check that again. It was changed in Patch 3.0.8.
Kanuris Feb 2nd 2009 1:56AM
Little simplified gem advice concerning Metas.
If your a JC, take the 21 crit rating metagem as your prismatics will cover the requirements. If your not, take the 21 agility one and slot a blue gem somewhere, i use an enchanted tear in my belt at the moment.
Lemons Feb 2nd 2009 4:09AM
No...rotation?
Christ it must be easy raiding as a pally. Mash buttons, use whatever ability is up, enjoy idle time.
Raiding as a mut rogue there is always something that needs to be done. Make sure your snd is up, make sure you got rupture up, make sure your HFB doesn't run out, make sure you have enough deadly poison on the target when u envenom, and (my personal favorite) hope to god you can even generate enough energy with ur focused attacks to even do your rotation correctly.
It's nice to find out that ret pallies have a rotation that could be preformed by a small child.
bigjonno Feb 2nd 2009 7:11AM
That's not strictly true. Unlike some classes, we don't have a rotation that works. Our abilities clip and clip often. We have a priority system; you have to know exactly which ability takes precedence over another to get the best possible DPS in a given situation.
That said, my wife runs a mutilate rogue and I have a huge amount of respect for anybody who plays one well, especially pre-Wrath when it generally had worse DPS than combat while being much harder.
flythebike Feb 3rd 2009 11:10AM
@ Lemons. At least I can spell performed.
Lemons Feb 2nd 2009 12:49PM
Wow, flythebike, you've really proved your point..
Bravo good sir, bravo..
Culhag Feb 3rd 2009 11:04AM
"You simply cast whatever spell is off the cooldown, with Judgements -- primarily Judgement of Wisdom -- as the highest priority."
WRONG - Ret pallies should always judge Light as they have the most AP + SP of the 3 pally specs, so their Judgement of Light will return the most health.
The threat it caused could have been a problem prior to 3.0.8 but it is now fixed.
turkeyspit Feb 2nd 2009 7:27AM
MP5 > Healing for your Raid. That is why you bring Healers, no?
Unless you have a MT Prot Pally who is on the boss with you, and/or Holy Paladins who -will- Judge Wisdom every 20 seconds on the same mob focused by the Raid, you and your guild are better off with you Judging Wisdom.
The only real exception to this rule (imo) is Sapphiron, where I have managed to outheal the Raid healers with JoL, simply because there is so much raid-wide damage.
HumanTargetJoe Feb 2nd 2009 7:32AM
Yeah, get your Holy or Protection Paladin to Judge Wisdom instead.
I don't think anyone but Retribution and Protection Paladins will see any real benefit from Judgement of Wisdom regardless because of how much higher than base their mana pools are. And if you've got a mage, your mana pool nearly doubles with the Intellect buff.
turkeyspit Feb 2nd 2009 8:23AM
That's not entirely true. I've heard complaints from our Hunters and Mages(when I wasn't in the raid) of being tighter on mana.
Again, let me be clear: if you have a Prot Paladin as a MT, or a Holy Paladin who -can- find a way to weave a Judgement into their rotation every 20 seconds, then by all means the Ret should Judge Light, as they will yield the best heals overall.
BUT, if you have to place a priority on it, JoW will yield better results for your raid overall then JoL will. More MP5 for your Mana using DPS = more DPS = shorter fight = less healing needed.
Healing is for healers, but you don't have anyone whose job it is to just restore Mana beyond Replenishment.
Angus Feb 2nd 2009 9:07AM
The judgment comment should actually say:
"If you have a protection paladin, judge light. The paladin will be using their judgment of wisdom on almost every CD, and your light will yield better results for the raid overall as it can help lower stress on the healers in large raid damage."
flythebike Feb 2nd 2009 10:47AM
This post contains an error where it mentions that you can't Glyph of Hammer of Wrath 65% of the time. It should read 80%.
Sarak Feb 2nd 2009 5:46PM
Just wanted to say that according to Elitist Jerks, the Sword of Justice (http://www.wowhead.com/?item=37653), is almost as good as the titansteel destroyer, and if you are a JC, it is actually better.
Sanzer Feb 2nd 2009 12:20PM
how about Librams, I find the Furious Blows Green one is still a favorite, even with the Heroism ret libram being upgraded...any advise?