[MoP] Ret Paladin guide!

[Krekko]

NEW ABILITIES

• Boundless Conviction: is a new passive ability granted to all Paladins. It increases Holy Power capacity to 5 (from 3). Abilities that cost Holy Power can still only consume a maximum of 3 Holy Power. This will allow us to pool Holy Power and will alter gameplay.
• Judgments of the Bold Your Judgment hits grant one charge of Holy Power and cause the Physical Vulnerability effect.
• Physical Vulnerability Weakens the constitution of an enemy target, increasing their physical damage taken by 4% for 30 sec.
• Emancipate Unshackles your spirit, freeing you from one movement impairing effect. Instant Cast.
• Heart of the Crusader: Since Crusader Aura was removed we received a 20% passive mounted speed bonus. RIP the days of "Turn off Crusader you dumb $*#@!"
• Hammer of the Righteous: is an AoE attack that generates a charge of Holy Power.
• Sword of Light Increases the damage you deal with two-handed melee weapons by 10%. Your spell power is now equal to 50% of your attack power, and you no longer benefit from other sources of spell power. Grants 6% of your maximum mana every 2 sec. Increases the healing done by Word of Glory and Flash of Light by 30%.
• Devotion Aura: is a defensive raid cooldown. It is a combination of the old Divine Guardian (which was previously only available to Protection Paladins and has been removed from the game) and (which was previously only available to Holy Paladins and has been removed from the game) abilities. The 20% magic damage reduction will probably be its most useful feature.
• Supplication For 8 sec after you kill an enemy that yields experience or honor, your next Flash of Light will be a critical.

CHANGES TO EXISTING MECHANICS

• Templar's Verdict Now requires 3 HP to be used, as opposed to damage modifiers at 1hp, 2hp and 3hp.
• Divine Storm Now requires 3 HP to be used, instead of granting a charge of HP if hitting 2+ targets.
• Blessing of Kings Blessing of Kings lost it's 5% stamina component and 5% resistance component
• Blessing of Might Blessing of Might no longer grants Mana Regen and 20% Melee AP and 10% Ranged AP. It instead now grants 3,000 Mastery.
• Exorcism is now instant cast, but has a 15 second cooldown.
• Hammer of Wrath Now generates Holy Power when used.
• The Art of War now grants your autoattacks a chance to reset the cooldown on your Exorcism (it used to have a chance of making it instant cast).
• Sanctity of Battle now causes haste to reduce the global cooldown and the cooldown of Judgment, Crusader Strike, Exorcism, Hammer of Wrath, and Hammer of the Righteous as well as Templar's Verdict and Divine Storm.
• Judgment and Exorcism now generate 1 charge of Holy Power when used.
• Divine Storm no longer generates Holy Power, and instead costs 3 Holy Power to use. More powerful than Templar's Verdict when used on 2 or more targets.
• Inquisition now lasts 10 seconds per charge of Holy Power consumed (up to 3), as well as increases Critical Strike by 10% per Holy Power consumed (up to 3). In addition increases damage by 30%.
• Seal of Justice is 16% weapon damage with 8 seconds of 50% a slow (magic).
• Hammer of the Righteousprocs Seal of Justice and Seal of Insight on all targets hit. Best on 4+ targets.
• GoAK now scales with stats! This means that our great friend is doing more damage!

REMOVED ABILITIES

• Auras have been removed.
• Zealotry has been removed.
• Consecration has been removed. (Prot Paladins Only)
• Holy Wrath has been removed. (Prot Paladins Only)

Seals

With Auras done away with, you'll notice that the aura bar has been replaced with a seal bar. At 85 you'll find on it;

• Seal of Truth- After Level 24, this will be your main DPS seal. It will produce the most damage out of any seal. Censure's damage will be extremely hard to beat!
• Seal of Righteousness- Seal of Righteousness is supposed to be our AoE seal. However, due to how good Censure's damage is you'll only want to use this in situations where there are 6+ targets.
• Seal of Justice- Our PvP seal. Helps close the gap between you and your target. If you talent into Burden of Guilt you DO NOT need this seal. You'll be able to use Seal of Truth instead.
• Seal of Insight- Caster seal of choice. For our purposes you'll really only want to use this to restore mana, for which whatever reason. Though, at times, it can help you survive in PvP if you're really grinding it. Be smart though and use your head.
  Below level 24
• Seal of Command- The under 24 DPS seal of choice.

Seal of Truth will replace Seal of Command at Level 24

ROTATION AND SPELL USAGE

Unlike Cataclysm, we have much better Holy Power generation in MoP.
Our abilities which generate Holy powers are as follows.

• Crusader Strike One of our single Target DPS HP generating attacks. This is our main Melee attack.
• Judgment Another one of our single target DPS HP generating attack. While it can be used at range, it counts as a Melee attack.
• Exorcism Our single target ranged DPS HP generating attack. When glyphed however it can become a melee ranged AoE attack dealing 25% of it's damage to nearby targets.
• Hammer of Wrath Our single Target ranged execute which generates HP. Only useable below 20%, or during Avenging Wrath.
• Hammer of the Righteous Our melee range AoE DPS HP generator. This is a DPS boost over CS when hitting 4+ targets.

Now We also have a change to spells which consume Holy Power as well.

• Templar's Verdict- Our single target DPS HP finisher attack.
• Divine Storm Our AoE DPS HP finisher. This is a DPS upgrade over TV at 2+ targets.
• Word of Glory Our healing HP finisher.
• Word of Glory (Glyph of Harsh Words) When glyphed this is our ranged single target DPS TV alternative HP Finisher.

This is the basic rundown of what spells will be creating Holy Power, and which ones will be consuming.

Now that you have the idea of what spells there are, now we go onto how to use them. The Retribution Paladin rotation in quick overview will be Inq> TV5/TV3HA> ES> HoW>Exo>CS>J>TV 3(TVDP). See below for a breakdown.

• Keep up Inquisition ideally with 3 Holy Power, keep buff rolling as close to 100% uptime as possible, as close to the buff wearing out as possible. Side note; If you refresh Inquisition below 2 seconds, it rolls. i.e.: Casting a 3HP Inquisition with 1.5 seconds left would make it last 31.5 seconds long.
• Cast Templar's Verdict at fully charged Holy Power and while capped at 5 Holy Power. This stands while under the influence of Holy Avenger, or Divine Purpose (if NOT tracking the buff). Interchange with Divine Storm with two or more targets. You'll want to cap out your HP and not use TV with JUST 3 Holy Power when avoidable. *******
• Cast Execution Sentence on Cool down! Match with CD's and trinkets when you can!
• Cast Hammer of Wrath on cooldown (generates holy power, only available on targets below 20% health).
• Cast Exorcism on cooldown (generates Holy Power).
• Cast Crusader Strike on cooldown (generates Holy Power). Interchange with Hammer of the Righteous (generates Holy Power) for AoE situations.
• Cast Judgment (generates Holy Power).
• Templar's Verdict Fully charged, but below 5 HP, or Divine Storm fully charged but below 5 HP, this applies for Divine Purpose (if tracking the buff) *******
  
  ******* For Clarification you want to delay the use of Templar's Verdict when you have HP generators available for use AND/OR have room to accept Holy Power charges (>5HP).
  
  What this means is that if you're below 5 Holy Power, and your HP generators are off CD, you want to use them to cap off your Holy Power. Once you have 5 Holy Power or, if you have a free GCD where all your Holy Power Generators are on cool down, you can use TV then.
  
  What this does NOT mean is that you stand around waiting for your HP Generators to come off CD if you have 3/4 HP. See FAQ for why.

In multiple target situations, the chief (and possibly only) differences are

• replacing Crusader Strike with Hammer of the Righteous at 3+ targets;
• replacing Templar's Verdict with Divine Storm (remember that Divine Storm now costs Holy Power) at 2+ targets.
• You'll want to keep Seal of Truth until 6 targets+, where you'll use Seal of Righteousness.

You'll have to pick and choose which spells are appropriate for interchanging, however you can switch to DS at as early as 2 targets. Seal of Righteousness however will not be prioritized for AoE except in larger packs of 6+ mobs.

For PVP

Apply essentially all of the same above. However, when doing so, (as always) be sure to use discretion and make sure to do so with situational awareness.

TALENTS

Tier 1 talents offer a choice between 3 means of increasing your movement speed:

• Speed of Light, an activated movement speed boost that lasts for 8 seconds, 70% speed increase;
• Long Arm of the Law, a movement speed buff which is activated every time you use Judgment on your target, 45% speed increase for 3 sec.
• Pursuit of Justice, 15% passive movement speed at all times, with additional 5% movement speeds for each charge of Holy Power you have (with a max of 3), capping out at 30% movement speed.
  
  Your choice will boil down to each encounters mechanics and requirements, and how they will fit in with your play style. Clearly each one of these has their ups and downs, however Pursuit of Justice on a Boss per Boss basis should offer the most consistent movement speed bonus.

Tier 2 talents offer a choice between 3 utility spells:

• Fist of Justice, a 6 second stun on a 30 second cooldown. This improves upon and replaces Hammer of Justice an ability granted to you by default. The new spell has a shorter cooldown and longer range at which it can be used.
• Repentance, a 1 minute duration crowd-control, that is broken by damage. Unlike the Cataclysm and WotLK version of this spell, it no longer has a 60 second CD, but a 15 second CD, but as a trade off has a 1.5 second cast time.
• Burden of Guilt, a passive talent that slows the target of your Judgment by 50% for 12 seconds. This replaces the need for the use of Seal of Justice.

Which of these spells you take will be largely dependent on fight mechanics, group comp/size and your point in content. While most people will probably end up with Repentance, Fist of Justice can end up being appealing for PvE as well, while Burden of Guilt is aimed at PvP.

Tier 3 talents offer a choice between 3 healing spells:

• Selfless Healer Each time you use Judgment you reduce the cast time and mana cost of there flash of light by 35% per stack. This stacks up to 3 times for a total effectiveness of 100%. In addition to the reducing the cast time and mana cost, when it is used to heal others it's effectiveness is increased by 35% per Judgment (stacks up to 3 times).
• Eternal Flame This spell replaces Word of Glory as a HP consuming heal but adds in a HoT mechanic. It consumes up to 3 HP healing the target directly and then for an additional amount over 30 seconds. You can manage to keep this up 100%, however maintaining this would be a DPS loss over the other two Spells.
• Sacred Shield A single target shield which absorbs a certain amount of damage every 6 seconds for 30 seconds. The absorbed amount can and will be substantial over the period of a fight, and can be used on yourself or anyone in the raid! With a 6 second CD it's easy to toss around, and has a no mana cost.
  
  You will want to try and stay away from Eternal Flame, as it's a DPS loss compared to the other two options. Once again basing your choices off the demands and needs of the fight and it's mechanics, you're most likely to find yourself using Sacred Shield rather as your talent of choice unless you have good reason to otherwise.

Tier 4 talents offer a choice between 3 talents that grant you some utility:

• Hand of Purity is an actived ability with a 30 second cooldown that reduces the damage the target takes from DoTs by 70% for 6 seconds. This can cast on not only yourself, but any friendly target which can make it appealing to help with boss mechanics, and increase survivability.
• Unbreakable Spirit is a passive talent that reduces the remaining cooldown of Divine Shield, Divine Protection, and Lay on Hands by 1% for each charge of Holy Power you use, up to a maximum of 50% of the cooldown's duration. The ability seems most useful in reducing the cooldown of Lay on Hands, reducing the cooldown drastically allowing you to help help save lives more often.
• Clemency is a passive talent that will give your Hand of Freedom, Hand of Protection, Hand of Sacrifice and Hand of Salvation two charges before their CDs are set off. Seemingly the hand which would receive the most benefit out of this would be Hand of Sacrifice.
  
  
  This tier will depend more strongly than before on the demands of your raid and the fight(s) at hand. If the fight has no DoT's than Hand of Purity is hardly useful, and if there is great need for to mitigate damage from the tank to yourself having Hand of Sacrifice useable more often can be a godsend. Let the point float and choose which you feel is best and most fitting and beneficial to your play style and to the fight mechanics.
  

Tier 5 talents offer a choice between 3 spells that improve your DPS:

• Holy Avenger- While under the effect of HA your HP generators now generate 3HP instead of 1 for 15 seconds. This is a two minute CD and it's similar to the old Zealotry. This will alter your rotation for the time being as seen above.
• Sanctified Wrath Increases the duration of your Avenging Wrath by 50%, and while active it reduces the cooldown of Hammer of Wrath by 50%.
• Divine Purpose Every time you use an ability that consumes Holy Power (finishers), you have a 25% chance to gain the Divine Purpose buff. The Divine Purpose buff makes your next ability which costs Holy Power to cost no Holy Power and act as if 3 were consumed.

These are all DPS increases. I won't say which one is better than the other just yet. Once you have the T14 4 Piece Bonus You'll definitely want to pick up Sanctified Wrath! For now, take the time to play around with them and find their sweet spots and how you feel with them, and how they fit into each boss fight.

SW and HA will be more bursty, while DP will offer more steady and sustained DPS. Keep that in mind for your choice.

Keep in mind that if you choose HA your rotation will look something like this!

• Holy Power generator (such as Exorcism when available, Crusader Strike, etc);
• Templar's Verdict;
• Holy Power generator;
• Templar's Verdict;
• Holy Power generator;
• Templar's Verdict;
• etc.

Tier 6 talents offer a choice between 3 hybrid DPS-healing spells:

• Holy Prism when cast on an ally, heals them and deals damage to all nearby enemies. When placed on an enemy, it deals damage to that enemy and heals all nearby allies. As a Retribution Paladin, you will most likely use this on yourself or another ally, so that the spell damages nearby adds.
• Light's Hammer places a hammer at a targeted ground location. The hammer deals damage to nearby enemies and heals nearby allies.
• Execution Sentence is a single target DPS spell that deals damage to the target in an escalating manner (slowly then ramping up to a burst).
  

Numbers need to be worked and finalized with these spells. Your choice of which will be based on whether you wish to damage a single target (Execution Sentence) or multiple enemies (Light's Hammer or Holy Prism). In the case of multiple enemies, it will also depend on how these adds are placed, your placement in comparison to the adds, how they are tanked and your movement around them.

Blessings

• Blessing of Kings Places a Blessing on the friendly target, increasing Strength, Agility, and Intellect by 5%.
• Blessing of Might Places a Blessing on the friendly target, increasing mastery by 3,000.

GLYPHS

There are several Major Glyphs that can, in certain situations, be useful (Minor Glyphs are purely cosmetic):

Glyph of Inquisition	Reduces the damage bonus of Inquisition by 15%, but increases the duration by 100%. This is obviously a DPS loss, but it will make the rotation easier to maintain for those who are less experienced with the spec.
Glyph of Harsh Words	Allows your Word of Glory to be used as a damaging spell against enemies. Currently, this seems to do a decent amount of damage, making it a viable alternative to Templar's Verdict when you are out of melee range.
Glyph of Mass Exorcism	Causes your Exorcism to deal 25% of its damage to nearby enemies. As a drawback, Exorcism is reduced to melee range. This glyph could prove to be a DPS increase in very specific situations (where you are in melee range for the whole fight and there are adds next to the boss).
Glyph of Templar's Verdict	Has a small damage reduction effect. For 6 seconds after using Templar's Verdict, you take 10% reduced damage. This will probably be mandatory for raiders.

Glyph of Double Jeopardy

Judging a target increases the damage of your next Judgment by 20%, but only if used on a different second target. This can potentially be a good glyph on fights where you'll have a second mob(s) present at all times to hit.

So, what does it look like we'll end up running with?

• Glyph of Templar's Verdict
• Glyph of Double Jeopardy
• Glyph of Mass Exorcism
• Glyph of Harsh Words

But we have only three slots! Well, yeah, but we'll want to switch out Glyph of Mass Exorcism on fights where we can't AoE all over the place, and Harsh words in when the added ranged ability will help!

Stat Priority
THESE ARE TENTATIVE AND TO THE BEST KNOWLEDGE CHECK BACK FOR LATEST

• 5.1 - Hit = Expertise > Haste> Crit=Mastery
  
• Hit Rating90- 2,550 Hit Rating to get cap and 2,210 to get cap with racials when applicable!
  
• Expertise Rating 90- 2,550 Expertise Rating to get to cap. 2,210 Expertise Rating to get to cap with racials once again when applicable.
  

Professions

Right now the best combo you can go with is;
Blacksmithing and Engineering

Blacksmithing is always a great and safe bet! And lining up Synapse springs with Execution Sentence is just awesome!

Gems!
Understand that the usage of gems will be dependent.

• Meta Reverberating Primal Diamond
• Red- Fierce Vermilion Onyx
• Orange-Fierce Vermilion Onyx
• Blue- Lightning Wild Jade
• Yellow- Quick Sun's Radiance
  
• JC ONLY RED Bold Serpent's Eye
• JC ONLY YELLOW (Haste) Quick Serpent's Eye
• JC ONLY YELLOW (Mastery) Fractured Serpent's Eye
  

Profession Guide- Work in Progress!

• Blacksmithing: 2 Extra Gem Sockets. 1 in Bracers, one in Hand slot. Totaling 320 Str, or 640 secondary stats and/or 160 Primary 320 Secondary stat depending on your gem choice.
  
• Herbalism: Lifeblood will give you 2880 Haste rating for 2 seconds every 2 minutes. This will average out to about 320 haste rating, losing value over shorter fights.
  
• Enchanting: Offers two enchanter only ring enchants which increase your strength by 160 each. Totaling 320 total strength.
  
• Engineering: You get Synapse Springs for your gloves which grant you 2940 of your highest primary stat (Which will be str) for 10 seconds. This can average out to 490 str depending on the length of the encounter
  
• Inscription: Inscriptionist only shoulder enchant gets you 520 str and 100 on them! You'll have to get your shoulder enchants from Scribes now, so this will be a definite upgrade over the normal enchants we get!
  
• Leatherworking: The Leatherworking bracer enchant gives you 500 str to any Bracer item! Not the only bracer enchant but a great one at that!
  
• Jewlcrafting: Jewlcrafers get their own gems (2), giving you 640 Strength (320 str per gem) or 960 Haste or Mastery (480 per gem) This profession has seriously depreciated in value since Cata and earlier expansions.

Enchants

• Head-Gone baby gone! There are no longer any head enchants in game.
• Cloak- Enchant Cloak - Superior Critical Strike (180 Crit), Enchant Cloak - Accuracy (180 Hit)
• Shoulder- Greater Tiger Fang Inscription (200 Str, 100 Crit)
  Inscriptionist only - Secret Tiger Claw Inscription (520 Str, 100 Crit)
• Chest- Enchant Chest - Glorious Stats(80 Primary Stats)
• Bracers- Enchant Bracer - Exceptional Strength (170 Str)
  Leatherworker only - Fur Lining - Strength - (Strength)-(500 Str)
• Gloves - Enchant Bracer - Superior Strength (170 Str) if not Enchant Gloves - Superior Mastery (170 Mastery) or Enchant Gloves - Greater Haste (170 Haste)or Enchant Gloves - Superior Expertise (170 Expertise)
• Belt- Living Steel Belt Buckle (1 gem slot)
• Legs -Angerhide Leg Armor (285 Str 165 Crit)
• Feet- Enchant Boots - Greater Precision(175 Hit) or Enchant Boots - Greater Haste (175 Haste) or Enchant Boots - Pandaren\'s Step (move speed, 140 Mastery)
• Weapon- Enchant Weapon - Enchant Weapon - Dancing Steel (Str by 1650 for 12 sec), or Windsong (On chance for Crit or Haste or Mastery by 1500 for 12 sec ), or if you can't get either of those Enchant Weapon - Elemental Force (3000 damage proc)
  

Consumables; More coming soon

• Flask -Flask of Winter's Bite
  

Abbreviations and Acronyms

• Ret -Short for Retribution the best Paladin Class spec of all time and the ONLY acceptable abbreviation for the spec.
• CS- Crusader Strike
• DS- Divine Storm
• TV- Templar's Verdict
• HP- Holy Power
• INQ- Inquisition
• GoAK- Guardian of Ancient Kings
• Exo- Exorcism
• DP- Divine Purpose
• WoG- Word of Glory

Feeling like you're not performing up to par? Check out [Ret] Fix my DPS! to help and see what steps you can take to better perform!

Macros

• Shift mouseover Judgment/Focus Target Judgment
  #showtooltip Judgment
  /cast [@focus,mod:shift,nodead][@mouseover,hard,exists][nomod] Judgment
• Shift Modified Hammer of the Righteous/Crusader Strike Macro
  #showtooltip
  /cast [modifier: shift] Hammer of the Righteous;Crusader Strike
• Shift Modified Divine Storm/Templar's Verdict Macro
  #showtooltip
  /cast [modifier: shift] Divine Storm; Templar's Verdict
• Word of Glory Heal Only Macro
  /cast [@self, harm, exists, nodead][@target, help, exists, nodead] Word of Glory

Addons

• TimeToDie A great Addon to help tell you based on current DPS of the raid, how long until the boss will die. This can and will help you judge your CD usages better and allow you to better decide your spell usage.
  
• http://www.curse.com/addons/wow/clcret"]CLCRet
  
• http://www.curse.com/addons/wow/clctracker"]CLCInfo and to accompany this addon, Requital's Amazing guide!

Misc

• Judgement in game in the instances of spells is now spelt as Judgment. It will be referred to in this guide as such and will require macros to be updated and use this spelling and this spelling only.
  
  

This thread is meant to be a Retribution Compendium throughout Mists of Pandaira. It will be constantly updated and is a place for discussion, questions, suggestion, answers and everything in between. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to ask! If you'd like to see something in this post, please just ask! This is a product of many people's contributions, and help.


Thank you Azshira for letting me use his awesome table!

[Krekko]

Getting in a little more deep.

Useful Fight Mechanics

Terrace of the Endless Spring
Protectors of the Endless Spring
Tsulong
Lei Shi
Sha of Fear

Mogu'shan Vaults
The Stone Guard	Sanctified Wrath - Our strat involves a lot of time in melee without really moving away from the bosses, so 30 seconds of burst was possible with each set of AW. Light's Hammer - Should always hit 2 targets and heals, putting it way ahead of ES. Obvious choice of Light's Hammer here for both the heal and the cleave damage (should always be near 2 guardians regardless of 10/25).
Feng The Accursed	Execution Sentence. Nothing really too special here because it's mostly just a fight that checks a raid's ability to stack and spread correctly.
Gara'Jal The Spiritbinder	ES again. Using Lay on Hands on someone in the Spirit Realm gives them tons of stacks of the stacking stat buff, as well as enabling their escape ability. Divine Shield has no effect on Spirit Doll (I assume HoP is the same), so don't bother. Divine Protection, however, is especially useful if you're the VD because it will reduce not only your damage, but your copied damage as well.
The Spirit Kings	ES, but Holy Prism with a self-target macro is actually very handy. Divine Shield and presumably Hand of Protection can free people from the pinning arrows. Human racial also works on this, too. Holy Prism works well to break people out of Maddening Shout if it's chosen. Do NOT ever use HotR for this, use DS. 10% AP debuff on raid = bad
Elegon	Selfless Healer - With people taking 50% additional healing, tossing these out to others after Total Annihilation is very, very strong. Sanctified Wrath - I've been trying this encounter with a few different things, and you're really looking at a trade-off here. DP will make Phases 2 and 3 a lot less painful for you, but SW on that final phase will be pushing you into the DPS stratosphere.
Will of the Emperor	Divine Purpose - Only assuming this, but DP is the winner when there are tons of low HP adds to kill. Light's Hammer - Much better for adds and for the extra heals.

Alternate rotations
Sometimes you need to change things up!

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.

For Sanctified Wrath;

• HoW will be top HP priority ability be sure to maximize usage! Don't use at 5 HP!
• Make sure to keep using Exorcism! Don't use over HoW though!
• Durring Sanctified Wrath Prioritize Judgement over CS! With less worry for CD clashing you'll get more out of it!

For Holy Avenger;

• Holy Power generator (such as Exorcism when available, Crusader Strike, etc);
• Templar's Verdict;
• Holy Power generator;
• Templar's Verdict;
• Holy Power generator;
• Templar's Verdict;
• etc.

FAQ
Someone might have already asked this" means someone already has!

• Why do you want to go to 5HP? Why not use TV at 3?: It's more beneficial to do TV at 5HP over three (situationally) because you want to keep your HP generators on cool down. This will maximize your HP gains, as well as your DPS. The times you'll want to use TV at 3 or 4 HP, are when your HP generators are on CD and you have a free GCD to use it. The point is not to just sit there!
  
  As a general rule of thumb, if you can immediately receive and have room for HP, don't use TV!
  
  
• How do I use my HA cool down?: Use HA on CD, unless you have reason not to (burn phase and such). You'll want to line it up with your other cool downs when you can. Every three HA's and every two AW's you'll have the cool downs matched up again.
  
  You can delay the use of your cool downs for Heroism, or damage modified phases SO LONG you do NOT lose out on any uptime on your cool downs and or another use of your cool down. I suggest using a timer such as Timetodie to help judge how long until the boss will die.
  
• When using HA, why do I use TV at 3HP, not 5? Didn't you say….: Once again, TV5HP is NOT a DO ALL answer. Going back to the rule of thumb "If you can't receive it….", this applies to the extra HP that you'll be missing out on every time you use a second HP generator. You'll want to use HP Generator -> TV -> HP generator -> TV. This will maximize your DPS!
  
  
• Why do you say do 3TV DP at the end of the rotation?: Because DP only procs off of finishers. It's going no where (well, technically, we'll get to that in a second), so you'll want to apply the same rules as with your normal rotation. Get to 5 unless you have a free GCD to use it. NOW, the DP proc DOES go somewhere, you have 8 seconds to use it. You'll want to make sure to use it BEFORE it runs out, so don't wait more than 6 seconds to use the proc. Be sure to use an add-on to track the time on the proc as well!
  
• So if we do 5TV rotation why don't we do 5INQ?: That's simple. There's no gain in damage waiting for the two HP before using Inq. You'll want to keep this up as close to 100% as humanly possible.
  
• Glyph of Double Jeopardy? Doesn't switching targets reset your swing timer?!: No, that it does not! Switch away!
  
• HA? DP? SW?: Well, Sanctified wrath with T14 4 piece! No doubt about that! DP if you want sustained, HA if you want/need burst.
  
• What's the best spec?: This is hard to say, and I really won't say it ever. I think, and each spell has shown to have their own situational advantages. You need to use your head and judgement on which will be most beneficial on a fight per fight basis. I'll suggest which talents might be good for certain fights, but not say "This is THE spec you NEED to be". Take some time, play around and switch your talents back and forth see which one fits you best, and get used to each one!
  
  
• Why did you have this stat higher than that stat, or tell me to gem this yesterday, but now gem this today?!: While I'll hold off on telling you how to gem until 90, you need to understand that things will change and our understanding of how things are going to go will change vastly once we get to 90 and test things out. We have a general idea, if that pans out or not is yet to be seen! If you read this guide I HIGHLY suggest you check back constantly for updates.
  
  
• How will we know when you update?: I don't keep an update log, however whenever a big change to something that was listed previously comes out I will give it a red UPDATE tag for all to see.
  
  
• I read what you wrote, now how do I use that to get better?: Read more, not just this guide, but the posts in the thread, and forums! See what other people have to/have said! I'll try to give you as much information as I can but that can only go so far! Spend time on the dummies, spend time learning the ins and outs of the class. Don't just find out how, find out WHY! Don't understand something?! Always ask!
  

This post is currently under construction. I accidentally all of the info I had for it and am busy punching my face re-doing it.

[Tauren]

gylph of double jeperdy? doesnt switching targets reset your swing timer. 20% more damage might not be worth it if u lose out on a white attack

[Reith]

Stat priority on Tuesday is also Haste > Mastery > Crit. Also the rotation is Inq > TV5/TVDP/TV3HA > HoW > Exo > CS > J > TV 3. You left off Glyph of Double Jeopardy as well. Hammer of Wrath also generates Holy Power.

TVDP has the same priority as TV below 5 HP when there's a free GCD, since Divine Purpose only procs on finishers. No loss when using other DPS abilities.

Two more things to add:
-If you refresh Inquisition below 2 seconds, it rolls. i.e.: Casting a 3HP Inquisition with 1.5 seconds left would make it last 31.5 seconds long.
-Emancipate has replaced Cleanse (via Acts of Sacrifice) for the purpose of snare/root removal.

gylph of double jeperdy? doesnt switching targets reset your swing timer. 20% more damage might not be worth it if u lose out on a white attack

I don't even know if it would work like that. Mouseover/focus macro is easier anyway.

[Sepharoth]

I don't understand why you say we should only use TV on 5 Holy Power. Of course, if you know you will need to burst in a few seconds, you get 2 TVs in a short interval, but for say a 2 minute period of sustained damage, using TV at 3 or 5 holy power should be the same, or am I missing something?

[youlowgee]

Stat priority on Tuesday is also Haste > Mastery > Crit. Also the rotation is Inq > TV5/TVDP/TV3HA > HoW > Exo > CS > J > TV 3. You left off Glyph of Double Jeopardy as well. Hammer of Wrath also generates Holy Power.

exactly how it was for 4.0 wasn't it? lol weird how things just go full circle.

Thanks for this thread I've been lazy as hell not following beta. <3

[Tangra]

gylph of double jeperdy? doesnt switching targets reset your swing timer. 20% more damage might not be worth it if u lose out on a white attack

I've never heard of target switching resetting you swing timer. If this ever existed it certainly doesn't now.

---------- Post added 2012-08-26 at 03:31 AM ----------

I don't understand why you say we should only use TV on 5 Holy Power. Of course, if you know you will need to burst in a few seconds, you get 2 TVs in a short interval, but for say a 2 minute period of sustained damage, using TV at 3 or 5 holy power should be the same, or am I missing something?

You're missing that TV has no cooldown, but fillers do. If you use a 3 HP TV you're not putting your fillers on cooldown so that they can come back sooner. In other words 3HP TV leads you to sit around and do nothing for a few globals sometimes, since that 3HP wasn't going anywhere, while your fillers need time to come off cooldown.

---------- Post added 2012-08-26 at 03:33 AM ----------

So currently Holy Avenger is the best for burst and sustained? Correct?

[Krekko]

TVDP has the same priority as TV below 5 HP when there's a free GCD, since Divine Purpose only procs on finishers. No loss when using other DPS abilities.

Two more things to add:
-If you refresh Inquisition below 2 seconds, it rolls. i.e.: Casting a 3HP Inquisition with 1.5 seconds left would make it last 31.5 seconds long.
-Emancipate has replaced Cleanse (via Acts of Sacrifice) for the purpose of snare/root removal.


I don't even know if it would work like that. Mouseover/focus macro is easier anyway.

Thanks! Added those two bits!

Also, it doesn't reset swing timer, and yeah, you'd want to be using a Mouseover/focus macro anyway.

I don't understand why you say we should only use TV on 5 Holy Power. Of course, if you know you will need to burst in a few seconds, you get 2 TVs in a short interval, but for say a 2 minute period of sustained damage, using TV at 3 or 5 holy power should be the same, or am I missing something?

Using TV with 3 HP will prevent you from making the most out of your HP Generators and Fillers. TV has no CD other spells do. You want to keep those rolling and off CD as much as possible using TV at 5 HP OR at max charge(3HP) but only with an available and open GCD where everything else is on GCD. Essentially, you don't want to be sitting around.

gylph of double jeperdy? doesnt switching targets reset your swing timer. 20% more damage might not be worth it if u lose out on a white attack

No, it does not! So no worries there, BUT, you'll want to keep on your target for the most part, so use a Mouseover/Focus target macro like Reith suggested. Perhaps I'll add useful Macros later!

I've never heard of target switching resetting you swing timer. If this ever existed it certainly doesn't now.

---------- Post added 2012-08-26 at 03:31 AM ----------



You're missing that TV has no cooldown, but fillers do. If you use a 3 HP TV you're not putting your fillers on cooldown so that they can come back sooner. In other words 3HP TV leads you to sit around and do nothing for a few globals sometimes, since that 3HP wasn't going anywhere, while your fillers need time to come off cooldown.

---------- Post added 2012-08-26 at 03:33 AM ----------

So currently Holy Avenger is the best for burst and sustained? Correct?

Yes, exactly all of this.

And yes, to the best of our knowledge Holy Avenger is the best choice for Ret, and it's also the coolest looking! (We get a temporary Ashbringer!)

[Fhi]

Are you the author of the thread at icy-veins.com? This looks very similar to the one that's from there.

[krethos]

Are you the author of the thread at icy-veins.com? This looks very similar to the one that's from there.

considering at the bottom of the post it says "Credits: Icy Veins" one would assume yes.

[Krekko]

Are you the author of the thread at icy-veins.com? This looks very similar to the one that's from there.

No, I mean, it is the one from there? Credits and all? Nor is it the first time that it's been posted here. Just posted it again in order to properly maintain it and update it for Tuesday on as details get hammered out and questions/answers pop up.

[Fhi]

No, I mean, it is the one from there? Credits and all? Nor is it the first time that it's been posted here. Just posted it again in order to properly maintain it and update it for Tuesday on as details get hammered out and questions/answers pop up.

Mm, I don't know. A lot of these sites cross-post to disseminate their findings to the rest of us, so there are usually more than one floating around the various big-name sites. I didn't see the credits at the bottom though, my bad. Mainly just curious so I know who to PM for thanks and corrections.

[Elovan]

I don't understand why you say we should only use TV on 5 Holy Power. Of course, if you know you will need to burst in a few seconds, you get 2 TVs in a short interval, but for say a 2 minute period of sustained damage, using TV at 3 or 5 holy power should be the same, or am I missing something?

As a couple people posted above, it's not so much that you only want to use TV at 5 Holy Power as it is that you don't want to delay using any of your holy power generators. If you have a free gcd and have 3 or 4 Holy Power then yes you should use TV, but if it's a choice between 3/4 HP TV and CS/Judge/Exo/HoW, you want to delay TV.

[Krekko]

As a couple people posted above, it's not so much that you only want to use TV at 5 Holy Power as it is that you don't want to delay using any of your holy power generators. If you have a free gcd and have 3 or 4 Holy Power then yes you should use TV, but if it's a choice between 3/4 HP TV and CS/Judge/Exo/HoW, you want to delay TV.

Exactly this.

Mm, I don't know. A lot of these sites cross-post to disseminate their findings to the rest of us, so there are usually more than one floating around the various big-name sites. I didn't see the credits at the bottom though, my bad. Mainly just curious so I know who to PM for thanks and corrections.

Ah, haha, makes sense. No, not the original author sadly. I'm just trying to update/correct/keep up the information as best as possible for tuesday so people have a fairly easy read and understanding. With much thanks to the community for help pointing out out of date info.

[Grognard]

exactly how it was for 4.0 wasn't it? lol weird how things just go full circle.

Thanks for this thread I've been lazy as hell not following beta. <3

Actually, with 4.0, as I recall, mastery was at the bottom in a vain attempt to smooth out the sporadic nature of the original mastery.

[Reith]

Well since there isn't much haste on the gear to begin with, I'm going to be going haste > mastery > crit for the pre-patch because I'm not going to end up with more haste than mastery even without the buff.

[Ryuji]

Regarding the 3 HP TV vs. 5 HP TV, you say there's less time spent sitting around waiting for CDs with the 5 HP model. How would that be the case? Example:

You have 5 HP and just used TV. Now you have 2 HP and none of your HP generators are off cooldown quite yet. You're sitting there, waiting to get a HP generator going again.

Repeat the same process, save for having 3 HP, use TV, then 0 HP. You'd still sit there regardless of both situations, no? I'm not accounting for haste or DP procs(which those two would provide more oomph due to being able to use TV more often which is still the hardest hitting move we have, no?).

I can see why you'd want to keep HP generators going so you can use TV more often, but I'm just not seeing how you'd see less instances of sitting there waiting for something when the situation would supposedly feel the exact same with the 3 HP model.

In short, this is what I see when I read the 5 HP TV vs. 3 HP TV logic:

"Use more HP generators(up to 5) to be able to use TV, the hardest hitting move you've got."

"Wait, why delay the use of TV then if you want to use it as much as possible?"

"Less time spent sitting there waiting to do something."

You're bound to have instances where you're sitting there, waiting for something to do for the 5 HP TV model, right? I guess my question is, how much of a difference is it compared to the 3 HP TV model? To me it feels like it's practically identical, though I haven't run a whole lot of tests on it. How often do you find yourself waiting to do something with the 5 HP model vs. the 3 HP one?

[Reith]

Regarding the 3 HP TV vs. 5 HP TV, you say there's less time spent sitting around waiting for CDs with the 5 HP model. How would that be the case? Example:

You have 5 HP and just used TV. Now you have 2 HP and none of your HP generators are off cooldown quite yet. You're sitting there, waiting to get a HP generator going again.

Using Templar's Verdict at 3HP when you have HP generators available, delays them. You effectively lose a GCD. If you have Crusader Strike available with 3HP and you don't use it first, then you use it afterwards, it takes 4 GCDs to do the same thing you could've done with 3.

[Tangra]

Regarding the 3 HP TV vs. 5 HP TV, you say there's less time spent sitting around waiting for CDs with the 5 HP model. How would that be the case? Example:

You have 5 HP and just used TV. Now you have 2 HP and none of your HP generators are off cooldown quite yet. You're sitting there, waiting to get a HP generator going again.

Repeat the same process, save for having 3 HP, use TV, then 0 HP. You'd still sit there regardless of both situations, no? I'm not accounting for haste or DP procs(which those two would provide more oomph due to being able to use TV more often which is still the hardest hitting move we have, no?).

I can see why you'd want to keep HP generators going so you can use TV more often, but I'm just not seeing how you'd see less instances of sitting there waiting for something when the situation would supposedly feel the exact same with the 3 HP model.

In short, this is what I see when I read the 5 HP TV vs. 3 HP TV logic:

"Use more HP generators(up to 5) to be able to use TV, the hardest hitting move you've got."

"Wait, why delay the use of TV then if you want to use it as much as possible?"

"Less time spent sitting there waiting to do something."

You're bound to have instances where you're sitting there, waiting for something to do for the 5 HP TV model, right? I guess my question is, how much of a difference is it compared to the 3 HP TV model? To me it feels like it's practically identical, though I haven't run a whole lot of tests on it. How often do you find yourself waiting to do something with the 5 HP model vs. the 3 HP one?

You're either thinking too hard, or not hard enough, either way you're not grasping something pretty obvious. Umm just visualize it I guess. Also you're forgetting Art of War procs, which could go to waste if you don't use exorcism as soon as possible. But, in general, when you prioritize HP generators they come back faster, when you prioritize TV at 3HP you gain nothing because the 3HP is sitting there and not going anywhere. You spend much more time sitting around and doing nothing when you use a 3HP TV that will be there waiting for you no matter what, as opposed to using a move that has a cooldown and will be back sooner if you use it sooner.

[Ryuji]

Using Templar's Verdict at 3HP when you have HP generators available, delays them. You effectively lose a GCD. If you have Crusader Strike available with 3HP and you don't use it first, then you use it afterwards, it takes 4 GCDs to do the same thing you could've done with 3.

Wouldn't that also apply for a 5 HP TV? If you have a Crusader Strike available with 5 HP, you'd delay it anyways since you're capped on HP and can't actually utilize it or any other HP generators until you spend some HP.

You're either thinking too hard, or not hard enough, either way you're not grasping something pretty obvious. Umm just visualize it I guess. Also you're forgetting Art of War procs, which could go to waste if you don't use exorcism as soon as possible. But, in general, when you prioritize HP generators they come back faster, when you prioritize TV at 3HP you gain nothing because the 3HP is sitting there and not going anywhere. You spend much more time sitting around and doing nothing when you use a 3HP TV that will be there waiting for you no matter what, as opposed to using a move that has a cooldown and will be back sooner if you use it sooner.

It seems I'm not grasping something. It just doesn't make sense to me to delay TV under any circumstance. If it is not the hardest hitting move Ret can do, then I'll re-prioritize.

Art of War procs would be wasted anyways if you're capped at 5 HP vs. 3 HP, right? In both instances, you're delaying the use of Exorcism to use TV which does hit harder than Exo, right?

Besides, assuming TV is the hardest hitting move Ret has, wouldn't you want to allow some abilities to be delayed for it so you won't end up having emtpy GCDs?

I just can't see the reasoning to delay TV *IF* it's the hardest hitting ability Ret can do. If it's not, then my questions about the 3 HP vs. 5 HP are null and void. Otherwise...Idunno.