Need help, advice for Ret rotation.

[Ikari]

As the title states I'm looking for info on the Ret's rotation. Just came back to WoW myself (played since vanilla, quit after first raids in Cata) and decided to pick up my paladin again and level towards 90. Only 87 so far but just came back last Thursday. Now from all the info that I've read I keep seeing different suggestions and variations so hoping someone could give me some solid feedback.

I'm curious as to whether divine purpose is better than holy avenger?
What is the rotation to start a fight 'cold'? IE running towards the mob with just kings/raid buffs on, no holy power
What is the stat priority?

Thanks in advance!

[Bigchipper]

Get the clcret addon from Curse...will solve your problems immediately.

[Krekko]

While CLCRet is a great addon for new players, I always suggest before doing anything ever, don't know what to do know WHY to do it. I suggest with reading the Ret Sticky up top please.

[Ikari]

Well I'm not 'new' to the whole how to play a paladin IE what skills do. I still didn't see anything in the Ret sticky on rotation to start a fight cold. That's why I was asking here. Clcret looked interesting but I have a question or two about it. It says disables exorcism to be cast unless art of war is up. Is that due to when exorcism had a cast time? How does that factor in our 'rotation' now?

While I see there is a lot of chatter on the TV5>TVDP>TV3 etc argument I saw that the rotation was Inq > TV5/TVDP/TV3HA > HoW > Exo > CS > J > TV 3(roughly, not assuming that's perfect) I was curious if you're starting with INQ what gave you the holy power to do so? Am I just being dumb and not making the smart choice to start at the Exo phase? I feel like I'm just confused and missing something simple. Looking for someone to clear it up. If I'm being dumb please don't be afraid to say so lol, I can take criticism. As always thanks in advance.

[saintlyn]

As you are running towards the boss you want to accomplish a few things:

1) Stay alive (aka don't pull the boss, don't do something stupid)
2) Get your basic buff up (aka inquisition)

Now there are few ways to accomplish this. If your tank charges ahead of you - you're not that much worried about (1). So I'd suggest using Judgment > Exo > ES. Now if you are still not in melee range (weird, but could happen abstractly speaking) - use your movement enhance ability (if you spec'ed into it).

[Grognard]

I would recommend speccing Long Arm of the Law if you have not yet done so; after 5.0.4, I used Pursuit of Justice for one boss pull (H Mor'chok) and instantly regretted it, as I was not quite in position for Stomp after split. Tried LAotL on H Yor'sahj and never looked back - I made it to oozes before the Heroicly Leaping Fury, or the Blinking Mage. As to DP or HA, definitely use HA for maximum burst in dungeons; DP is really only best on long, Deathwing-style encounters, where HA or SW is more favorable for shorter engagements. SW will be superior come 4pT14, hands down, no question.

On pull for bosses, Judge for your speed boost, Exoorcism if you're not glyphed for Mass, hit Inq; assume normal rotation. Typically, I pop Guardian as soon as I Inq then pop all my other offensives, then use Execution Sentence so that it is at maximum boosted effect. It's worked well so far, those few times I've had the chance to swap to ES before bosses in 5-mans; I had been running Light's Hammer for the added AoE on trash, but I tried Holy Prism last night for trash and it was simply amazing. The shorter CD means it's up for pretty much every pull, and the Inq-boosted damage spread across multiple targets is sublime.

[Krekko]

Well I'm not 'new' to the whole how to play a paladin IE what skills do. I still didn't see anything in the Ret sticky on rotation to start a fight cold. That's why I was asking here. Clcret looked interesting but I have a question or two about it. It says disables exorcism to be cast unless art of war is up. Is that due to when exorcism had a cast time? How does that factor in our 'rotation' now?

While I see there is a lot of chatter on the TV5>TVDP>TV3 etc argument I saw that the rotation was Inq > TV5/TVDP/TV3HA > HoW > Exo > CS > J > TV 3(roughly, not assuming that's perfect) I was curious if you're starting with INQ what gave you the holy power to do so? Am I just being dumb and not making the smart choice to start at the Exo phase? I feel like I'm just confused and missing something simple. Looking for someone to clear it up. If I'm being dumb please don't be afraid to say so lol, I can take criticism. As always thanks in advance.

Actually, it's there. It's in the second post (Balhale has a post between it), I'm sorry that it's not clear.

For the start of an encounter;

• You'll want to get into the fight and get your INQ up as soon as possible.
  Pop Speed of Light of you have it. If you have Long Arm of the Law you'll want to open up with Judgment to close the gap.
  -Since Judgement and Exo have the same distance (without the PvP gloves), you'll want to prioritize Exo with PoJ or Speed of Light. Then continue on down the line
• Once you're in range you'll want to build up your 3HP and use INQ. Don't wait until 5HP for INQ.
• Once you have your INQ up, you'll want to use your CD's. Starting with GoAK and working your way to HA/AW on use items and ES if you're specced into it.

To put it simply; close the gap first, then Exo or Judgment (whichever you didn't use) then CS and that will produce your INQ.

If you have Long Arm use Judgment first to close the gap, then Exo, then CS, then INQ, then back to the basics from there, Pop guardian, CD's ES, so on so forth.

I don't use CLCRet really, so I can't comment on your Exo question about AoW but I just updated it and turned it on and it looks like it's fine except it seems to prioritize Exo > HoW. You can change that though in the settings. Just do that.

[Ikari]

Actually, it's there. It's in the second post (Balhale has a post between it), I'm sorry that it's not clear.



To put it simply; close the gap first, then Exo or Judgment (whichever you didn't use) then CS and that will produce your INQ.

If you have Long Arm use Judgment first to close the gap, then Exo, then CS, then INQ, then back to the basics from there, Pop guardian, CD's ES, so on so forth.

I don't use CLCRet really, so I can't comment on your Exo question about AoW but I just updated it and turned it on and it looks like it's fine except it seems to prioritize Exo > HoW. You can change that though in the settings. Just do that.

Yeah as I said I was probably being dumb lol. Been a long few days for me. You guys have been most helpful. Definitely more than I expected lately with the other games I've played in my time away. Though I guess the last question is the one I see in the other forum posts most, which is, ES or HP? Recommended anyway, ES for single (bosses) vs HP for trash, packs? Probably should be bringing stuff to change those talents out pretty much all the time? (All of this from a PvE standpoint btw, I know PVP is a horse of a different color.)

[Krekko]

Yeah as I said I was probably being dumb lol. Been a long few days for me. You guys have been most helpful. Definitely more than I expected lately with the other games I've played in my time away. Though I guess the last question is the one I see in the other forum posts most, which is, ES or HP? Recommended anyway, ES for single (bosses) vs HP for trash, packs? Probably should be bringing stuff to change those talents out pretty much all the time? (All of this from a PvE standpoint btw, I know PVP is a horse of a different color.)

Yupp! Holy Prism is for Trash, ES for single target bosses, and LH for bosses with 2 or more targets where you'll get the targets in the effect for the full duration 2/3+ of the time, or 2+ targets period.

The problem with Holy Prism is while it has a shorter CD it is a lot harder to fit in considering it doesn't generate HP so it falls to the bottom of our list.

You'll always want to go into a full raid with plenty of Tome of the Clear Mind. You'll do plenty of switching. In dungeons switch if you can, I personally don't doesn't really matter much. I know some Ret Paladins who just run with LH for the whole thing for simplicity sake. I run with ES personally. In the end, it's six of one half a dozen of the other, it's easy enough.

[Grognard]

Yupp! HS is for Trash, ES for single target bosses, and LH for bosses with 2 or more targets where you'll get the targets in the effect for the full duration 2/3+ of the time, or 2+ targets period.

The problem with HS is while it has a shorter CD it is a lot harder to fit in considering it doesn't generate HP so it falls to the bottom of our list.

You'll always want to go into a full raid with plenty of Tome of the Clear Mind. You'll do plenty of switching. In dungeons switch if you can, I personally don't doesn't really matter much. I know some Ret Paladins who just run with LH for the whole thing for simplicity sake. I run with ES personally. In the end, it's six of one half a dozen of the other, it's easy enough.

When you say HS, do you mean Holy Prism? 'Cause I think the standard shorthand is HP - not to be confused with HoPo, for Holy Power.

[Krekko]

When you say HS, do you mean Holy Prism? 'Cause I think the standard shorthand is HP - not to be confused with HoPo, for Holy Power.

Yupp! My bad! Don't know where I got the S from hah. Thanks!

[Felixphaeton]

Here's how I've been opening my elegon pulls.

1. Pre-pot.
2. Speed of Light + Exorcism.
3. Crusader Strike
4. Judgment
5. Inquisition
6. Guardian+ AW (Sanctified Wrath talent) + Hammer of Wrath
7. From here, Hammer of wrath is used every other GCD, and ES is used when relic of xuen, alchy trinket, and pot are all up, but one of them is below 1.5 seconds remaining. Doing this allows me to cast ES with nearly 30k strength

[Grognard]

Yupp! My bad! Don't know where I got the S from hah. Thanks!

Okay. Just wanted to make sure I didn't miss a memo. LOL