Ret "Crutch" Addons?Follow

this always gets me. you see similar things in PUGs, like hunters that can't break 1k even though you see them shooting arrows.

at lvl 80 a Ret with blue gear should be doing 1.5k dps from auto-attack and 1 other button. 2k dps if he uses buttons 2 and 3. so, if he is mashing properly then it must be other factors.

there is no real do it all dps booster add-on for pallies. there are add-ons to help you tweak and squeeze more out, but in this situation these are considered more advanced.

my advice: tell him to somehow get more than 3000 AP, 30% crit; put up Seal of Vengeance; and then mash or click Crusader Strike, Judgement of Whatever, and Divine Storm repeatedly. as soon as he hits 2k dps consistently, come back here and i'll give you phase 2.

Not sure what a fresh 80 is capable of with the seal change, but 2-2.5k was very easy as a fresh 80 at Wrath release.

But to the OP, basically ret dps is FCFS(1st come 1st serve) with priorities, generally in this order --> CS(Crusader Strike)/Judgement/DS(Divine Storm)/Consecration/Exorcism. HoW(Hammer of Wrath takes CS place at the top of the priority once its usable(mob under 20%).

Given the short cd(4sec) of CS this means you can get 2 other abilities in while CS is on cd. So CS+Judge+DS+CS+Cons+Exo+CS would be an example of starting rotation against single target.

Before the seal changes, a friend of mine(also a ret pally) was telling me to open up with aoe spells like divine storm and consecrate, the idea behind that is they dont reset your swing timer(or so he told me).

Since the seal changes what I've been doing is the following rotation:

Running into the fight initially, I use my judgement because it has some range, aside from that, my rotation is pretty similar, though like one poster above said, it really is first come first serve after you get started.

Crusader Strike >> Exorcism(only if art of war is up, mine usually is) >> Judgment >> Crusader Strike >> Divine Storm >> Consecrate

1st Priority is always: Judgement, it refills your mana, should use it every single time its available asap.
2nd Priority: Crusader Strike - cooldown is 4 seconds, if you hit this everytime its up you'll do significantly more dps.
3rd Priority: Exorcism - only when art of war is up, this has a long cooldown so you want to use it asap to start the cd again.
4th Priority: Divine Storm & Consecrate - Ideally used together for the reason mentioned above(swing timer), I don't like opening with these anymore because especially if its a group of mobs, unless you've got a pally tank you're pretty likely going to pull threat on a target the tank has barely touched.

IMO Consecrate is always the last ability to use and should only be used when there is nothing else to use. However, the above is for single targets, your priorities change a bit with multiple mobs. If you have multiple mobs, once your tank has established sufficient threat, I'd put Divine Storm and Consecrate as higher priorities that single target spells(except for judgment which should still be used every single time its up asap, to refill your mana, thats especially important when giving priority to your aoe, you will run out mana quickly if you're not using it every time its available.)

Feel free to post criticism of my rotation - but this is what has worked best for me, though you learn something new every day.

Also, hit cap, expertise cap, they are both very important, but as far as gemming goes, point for point raw strength gems will net you more dps. Never gem for expertise, you should try to find gear to get to the cap instead.

Other things I've noticed, armor penatration is crap for paladins, as very little of our damage comes from physical damage, so avoid it like the plague. Haste to me seems far superior.

As far as stats go(assuming you're hit/exp capped):

Str > Crit > Haste > All else

Hit cap is 8%
Exp cap is 6.5%

http://www.worldoflogs.com/reports/SBa8ZBpXgM2jURqW/sum/damageDone/?s=1468&e=1703

Also, here is a log from last nights raid, this is jaraxxus, less gimmicky fight, I was above 6k, and my buddy legionn just under 7k. Paladins can compete for top dps just like any other class, it just takes proper itemization and being knowledgeable about what should come next in your rotation.

Meant to post that link in wrath of the paladins thread but it serves its purpose anyways. Laziness ensues.

Wall of Text crits you for 133717355.(You Die)

Edited, Sep 23rd 2009 2:27pm by djzombie