Is reckoning overrated?Follow

Im a full protect spec tankadin, but sometimes feel that my build could be better (see sig for current spec). One thing that I keep coming back to thinking is 'is reckoning really worth 5 points for a tank?'. Don't get me wrong, I love it when it goes off and have always maxed out my points in it, but I'm coming to think that the extra damage output it gives me isn't really worth it.

As a tankadin most of my damage comes from retribution aura, blessing of sanctuary, and holy shield. My sword (Spellfire Longsword) helps up this damage with its +56 magic damage and spell strike rating, but doesn't really hit for much.

Maybe those 5 points in reckoning could be better spent elsewhere, gaining some more defensive talents that will help keep me alive at the expense of an abilty to hit twice with a sword that doesn't really hit for that much anyway?

I was thinking of speccing something like this. It loses reckoning, but I have 5 points in 1 handed specialisation which will boost all my damage, not just a random proc like reckoning that just gives me a couple more hits. It has basically every damage mitigation\reduction talent a paladin has-

Redoubt, Toughness, Anticipation, Shield Spec, Stoicism, Spell warding, Sacred duty, Blessing of Sanctuary, Imp. Righteous fury, Imp. Holy Shield, Ardent defender, and Deflection from the ret tree.

Its probably not going to be the most exciting build to quest\solo but for tanking instances (my favourite thing in WoW), I can't see how I could make my guy any harder to kill while still putting out good reflective holy damage to hold aggro.

There is even 1 spare point to stick where you want!! (Seal of command?!)

What he said...

With 5-10-15 mobs hitting on you,reckoning procs alot!

Not worth alot in terms of white dmg,but with double the return on seals,those hits does make a difference :D

Reckoning has a 10% chance to proc and if your holding aggro on 3-4 mobs then you know its going to proc anyway. Its good for cutting down clothies and ripping through single mobs while you tank alot of other ones.

When I'm tanking I usually use seal of wisdom or light, as I think staying alive and being able to keep my mana up for consecrations is more important. I guess those extra swings from reckoning will keep the procs of those up.

Looking at my build before, maybe stoisim isn't so great (10% resist to stun) so with that and the spare point I had, maybe 3 points in reckoning is a good compromise; it will still proc plenty if I am tanking multi-mobs...

Just.... awful. I don't mean to be mean but it is. You shouldn't have to rely on Seal of Light to keep you alive, that's what healers are for. Seal of wisdom is nice to judge for mana regen (that's what I do) but keeping it up for mana for consecration is bad. Sure, throwing out a consecration to keep mobs on you is a good idea, but you shouldnt be spamming it, as it will wear out your mana faster than Seal of Wisdom to keep you up.

To tank, use SoR, judge wisdom if you want, but it will keep aggro a lot better, and your dps and healer classes will thank you for it.

I never judge seal of Righteousness because I don't have any problems holding aggro, and a few procs of light\wisdom (especially if it is double procced, eg seal\judgement of light) give me a nice boost to my health. It might not be much but there have been times in tough fights where I have ridden the line with 100-200 health and those procs of light keep me alive.

With Ardent defender, those extra couple of 100 health points every few seconds can keep me alive, especially if the healer is OOM or dead or incapacited when the ~&*! hits the fan!

There's really no such thing as having no problems holding aggro period. It's more accurate to say you're having little difficulty holding aggro given your party members' current DPS output.

Consider this: If you had sealed/judged Righteousness, perhaps your DDs could have ramped up their damage, killing the mob faster and actually saving you significantly more health than you gained from Seal of Light.

I told you not to try to explain it. For you to not lose aggro without using SoR/JoR or SoV/JoV, your DPS has to be hitting mobs with pillows.

You're going to have to sell that crap somewhere else, because I'm not buying it.

Why would you put blessing of Sacrifice on other party members, when other blessings could add to their DPS? You did say you have no problems holding aggro.




As long as you have the basic 40 points in Protection and 12 points in Retribution. Your problems could then be solved with gearing out properly.

I can understand multi-mob pulls without using SoR to a degree, as you can consecrate and porcupine your way through. But being able to keep threat on bosses, dps has to hold back a LOT without that extra threat. If you need the extra mana, just judge wis and pull up SoR. I also bet that with spamming consecrate you are drinking after every fight or every other fight which just drags out the fight.

Maybe since you are in your mid-60s you can pull this off well enough, since you aren't having epicced out warlocks and mages in your party, but when you hit 70 and have to tank with people who are cranking out tons and tons of dps, you are going to have big problems with your current playstyle.

Also, you are devoting way too many stats to int/spell damage for your level. You say you need more defense, then get some more defensive gear. I tanked at your level with almost no int, and also almost no spell damage, cause I used SoR for single targets and consecrate + Holy shield for multiple targets. Once I hit 70 I changed to my Crystalforged Sword, cause the dps of everyone shot up, but before that I didn't need it so much.

You can increase your ability to take a hit, and your mana/mana regen so much more by getting more defensive gear (i.e. more "of the Champion" stuff) and changing your playstyle, not spamming consecration for multi-mobs, telling your dps to ff your target, and tanking with SoR and judging with SoW, also using Blessing of Wisdom or Kings instead of Sanc (personally I use wisdom in non-heroics unless there is a mana battery, in which case I use kings.) You end up losing some porcupine damage, and a small amount of damage absorption, but you end up being able to plow through mobs without needing to drink, and being able to hold aggro well enough on everyone, and a ton of aggro on your current target.

The way I see it is that I hold ff threat on my current target, and I hold aoe threat on everything else. You just have the aoe threat, not the ff threat, so tanking bosses especially will be more challenging than it has to be for maintaining threat.