Ret rotation/ hopo help?

[Starks]

Ok so first off I think the theory crafting posts are amazing and the author has done a fantastic job. I am a fairly new ret pali being that I took up ret this xpac. I have 4pc t17 and am using the DP FV build as recommended by the posts and other sources but my dps i feel is struggling. I don't Clearly understand the priority chart shown in the theory craft posts. my ilvl is 688 for example on beastlord i got obliterated by a ret pali who was ilvl692 doing 72k dps at the end of the fight and i was doing like 36k. i don't have the log for that fight because it was a pug.

Whats really confusing me and maybe I am missing it is should i aim to always pool my holy power to 5 or use it as soon as i get 3 and allow it to reach 5 through the effects of rng and my set bonus? I hear mixed things about it and could really use some clarification.

I went as far as trying to study parses the even logs and imagining the holy power pooling and I looked up a few videos on youtube covering rotation. one guy was pooling only to 3 then dumping with fv and letting procs etc get him to five another guy was weaving FV and DS every time regardless if he got a DS proc. Maybe I am complicating ret to much for myself to see it but if anyone can help me out it would be greatly appreciated and thank you in advance.

I will keep checking back to this post and reply to any concerns that arise to me if that is ok with whom ever helps me out.

[RagnorZ]

The aim of the rotation is to maximize finishers (TV/FV/DS) while minimising downtime where everything is on cd.

1: During wings and below 30% finisher at 3 because you have HoW available
2: Rest of the time pool to 5 except when you're at 4 and only exo is available (save exo for after finisher in case of 2p proc)
3: For single target never DS without FV and EmpDS buff
4: For aoe weave FV and DS every time

Beastlord:
- Watch the timer for the adds and save your EmpDS proc if the adds are coming out before it runs out
- If the adds are dying slowly because the locks and hunters in the raid are garbage you could take Lights Hammer, Mass Exo Glyph and switch to SoR just before they come out
- During unmounted phases keep SoT censure x5 on both the boss and the mount by alternating targets
- Later in the fight (when he's about to mount cruelfang or ironcrusher) you need to make a subjective decision about whether leaving the boss/mount to run over and aoe the adds is worth the time.

[pkm]

Beastlord is a terrible fight to compare dps. Everyone just pads with AoE damage when single target is just as important.

For rotation you should be using a generator every gcd unless @ 5, where you spend it on a consumer. I don't know the tier bonuses for ret but that's the general idea of the ret rotation.

[Deleted]

Beastlord is a terrible fight to compare dps. Everyone just pads with AoE damage when single target is just as important.

I'll go further than that and say it's the only thing that's important. The damage to pack beasts doesn't matter at all as they will die to passive cleave and tanks long before they ever become a problem. When the boss is still challenging, any deliberate damage done to those is not being spent on the boss/mounts and so screwing your raid over. When the fight is under control then it's still wasted damage even if you're not risking a wipe for your raid group by whoring.

When comparing yourself to others, you should be using logs to look at the damage on priority targets not overall. It keeps annoying me that people think that ret is bad based on overall damage. We're only bad when we can't excel in priority tasks needed to beat the encounter (something that is admittedly increasingly the case as this tier goes on and a real worry atm for the next tier).

[Starks]

Thank you for clearing that up for me. Can't wait to try it out with this in mind

[Malthanis]

In the future, please use the designated thread for such questions.

Closing.