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The Complete WotLK Paladin Compendium
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Post by
pyrokin
Right, now that all this new info is out for paladins in WotLK i have decided to try and make a comprehencive list of new and changed stuff and how i see it affecting our class. Some sections are based on articles from
www.mmo-champion.com
and also
www.wowinsider.com
. Props to mmo-champion, it has the bigest listing of changes that completely overwelms and is worth a scan sometime.
Talents
the new talent trees are awesome in their own right and can be viewed here on wowhead:
http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?talent
please view them before reading on as i will assume you have in all susiquent parts of this post.
Sweeping Class Changes!
Judgement Revamp!
Ok some fairly major changes to the way seals and judgements work has been included in WotLK, as it stands in BC you have four judgements that provide debuffs but in WotLK SoCr and therefore JoCr are being removed. So that leave 3 debuffs you can judge onto the mob by consuming the relevant seal.
In the WotLK beta the single judgement spell we have now is no more, now you have three types of judgement: JoJ, JoL and JoW. Each of these will put up the relevent debuff when used regardless of which seal you have up when you judge. I don't know if you can but consievably you could judge with no seal up.
When you use one of these judgement with a seal up you will cause damage based on which seal you have up, even with SoW or SoL you will cause damage. The different seals will cause different amounts of damage and scale at different rates with either Spellpower or Attackpower.
The Judgement will not consume the the Seal
! Judgement debuffs are still refreshed by the casters melee attacks and any retri paladins CS.
S/JoL & S/JoW now scale with gear in how much they return! Judgments appear to now be on the GCD. Seals now last 2 minutes.
This will not impact the game style too much it will allow a paladin to frontload more damage by not expending their first judgement to get the judgement debuff up and the paladin not having to spend mana on 2 seals at the begining of a fight. Also it will allow paladins to use SoL or particulaly SoW when dpsing more freely as although those seals will do less damage they will still do some and have the seals specific benifit. Furthermore assuming all the jusgements are off the GCD then we dont need to reseal after each judgement allowing more space in rotations.
Props to holydeadpenguins for pointing this out.
Auras
Nice easy one now, Raidwide auras. Thats right, synergising your raid will get that much easier 'cos auras now get anything up to 40 people so long as they are in range. This is a nice simple and easily stated buff to the power of a paladins auras in raids.
Hand of <>
This is a big one with far reaching inplications, all those short term blessings (freedom, Sacrifice and Protection) have been renamed and revamped as 'Hand' spells:
http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?search=hand+of#abilities
(minus one rogue move). This means they won't overwrite wisdom or kings anymore so there is no need to rebuff after using them. This has had no impact on the function of BoP and BoF, but sacrifice and
salvation (?!)
are changing.
Blessing of Sacrifice in its current form is use as an anti-CC manuver in PvE and PvP. In its transition to a Hand spell it has been completely reimagined and now looks like This. this requires consideration, one change is that as an anti-CC in now requires timing as the duration is now shadowed by the cooldown so some may call that a nerf to the move. However, in this new form the move will be a nice combination for a Healadin when they use bubble: the damage is still rerouted but your immune to it thus forming a sort of pain suppression effect. even without bubble it is somthing a healer could consider and the main thing is that this is viable even in PvP. Also the spell may have applications for a tank to protect a squishy if no other option is available but that is a long shot give the new salvation...
Blessing of Salvation is a hugely useful buff and is seen by many as the primary buff a paladin brings to a raid. It make a tanks job that much easier by making it harder for the DPS to overaggro, it is a full duration blessing with a greater counterpart. In that form, Salvation is dead (and with it one of my favourite WoW jokes) also note that the shamans Tranquil Air Totem has ceased to be aswell. Salvation makes a suprise apearence as a new situational 'Hand' spell like this. The motive behind this is that tanks of all four flavours are being given greater abilities to generate threat so Salvation as it was is in theory now unnecessary.
So now reborn as Hand of Salvation, this spell has applications for all three specs of paladin. Healadins will be able to use it as an aggro dump or use it to save an overenthusiastic DPS and therefore not have to heal him directly (or have him onshotted). Tankadins can use it as a kind of pre-emptive taunt on any dps that seems to be eroding his threat lead or as an actual taunt if RD and HoP (formerly BoP) is on cooldown or if the boss is a caster. Retadins can use it to throttle their own threat output assuming they can keep an eye on Omen and not just on DPS meters or they may use it on others as i outlined a holy paladin doing.
Avenging Wrath
Avenging Wrath (BC version) will become Avenging Wrath, which no longer causes Forebearance. Its damage increase has been reduced to +20% (down from 30%), and now increases healing done by +20% (up from 0%). This is a buff even though it now does less damage than before because it will now have more utility and now works for healing.
Faction Seals
Seal of Vengence and Seal of Blood have been renamed and awarded to the faction that priviously lacked them: Seal of Corruption and Seal of the Martyr so now Belfs get the tanking seal and Allies get the DPS seal.
Panic Buttons
the Paladins' two 'oh @^%&' spells, Divine Intervention and Lay on Hands, have had their cooldowns reduced to 20 minutes from one hour, and Lay on Hands no longer consumes all available mana. this is massive and increases the utility of the class in an obvious and uncomplecated buff.
Removed! Why's <> Gone?
Seal of the Crusader is out. However, the bounus from the judgement has been folded into the relevent spells so now I can tank with JoW.
Sanctity Aura is also removed! but to compensate Ret Aura now scales with spellpower and inherit the 'improved sanctity aura' effect from talents.
Blessing of Light is also removed and the bonus healing has been rolled into the relevent spells
Post by
pyrokin
Holy
Holy paladins have been crying out for more love for the longest time and it looks like some of it has been heard and acted upon. the list is very promising and i for one am glowing with excitement at the prospect of a greater PvP arena viability and also a more complex overall healing practice.
Changing
:
Holy Shock cooldown reduced to 6 seconds (down from 15) and a 40 yard range when used as a heal. also had it's heal potential increased by 66%.
Blessing of Light has been removed and its benifit rolled into the heals themselves!
Imporved Concentration aura is now in the holy tree
Divine Intellect now increases intelect by 15% (up from 10%) when 5/5ed
Retribution talents have been made viable for holy paladins to spec into! Notably Conviction has been changed to affect spells.
New!
:
Awesome talents! An AoE HoT is just made of win! mana cost reduced in the most recent build
More awesome talents, Infusion of Light, Judgements of the Pure and Enlightened Judgements.
This spell which is very interesting indeed.
Interpretation
Holy is a spec that is getting less in terms of changes, numerically speaking, than protection however the extream potency of many of the new things and the subtle changes about the place form a very strong basis for hope and excitement!
Holy Shock
the changes to holy shock are a biggie, reduced cooldown and supporting talents like infusion of light mean things are getting interesting regarding this little number. Holy Shock is mana inefficient in its current form, but with a high enough Holy spell crit (with aid from the improved Sanctified Light talent), Holy Shock can become standard a precursor to instant Holy Lights. Infusion of Light puts Holy Shock into serious consideration as an integral part of a Holy Paladin's spell cycle. It's still fairly expensive, but the time reduction to Holy Light is a 15 second buff that can be kept until needed. Paladin healers can crit with a Holy Shock and subsequently spam Flash of Light until an instant, giant heal is called for.
Furthermore, a critical Holy Shock also means Paladins get 60% of the cost back, thanks to Illumination. With enough spell crit, or even Divine Illumination, Holy Shock actually becomes a cheap spell that grants an instant Holy Light. Does this help in fights with mobility? To a degree, yes. It's not as controllable, but it certainly creates more options for Holy Paladins. Holy Shock's range was also increased to 40 yards when used on friendly targets, which should allow healers to use it in conjunction with other healing staples without having to adjust range.
Sacred Shield
this spell Sacred Shield is a new, interesting and very cheap new ability for a healer. Very little is know about this spell but it is listed on the spell page to have a 30 second duration working somthing like a Greater Rune of Warding. It can be speculated as to wether this spell will scale with spellpower or if it is a flat 500. The real queston is if the damage reduction this gives is worth a GCD every 30 seconds in WotLK content.
Judgements
Between Judgements of the Pure and Enlightened Judgements judgements get a 30yrd range and gives the paladin a 10% haste buff. that is just awesome! Placing judgement of the light on the mob will reduce the amount of healing needed by melee dps aswell and if judgements can be cast without a seal up then youu dont even loose a GCD.
Beacon of Light
This spell is somthing else. Not only does it give paladins the HoT
and
AoE heal we have been asking but is does so in an very interesting way. The spell is like a mix of the priest Circle of Healing and a druids Tranquility in that it is centred on the target and is an AoE heal over time. The other big thing is that the healing aggro from this spell will be the beacons not the paladins (unless you cast it on yourself) so aswell as an AoE HoT this is also a way a paladin can help a MT gain aggro, i see this as a massively usful spell.
Ret vs Prot...
This is a big one, where to spec once you have everything you want in holy. I look at a basic 51 point in holy spec and then where should i go?
Consider prot, going in there there are many things to attract a healer like in this build. the main attractions are Guardians Favour, BoK and the new improve Dev aura. Kings is always nice and the new devotion aura is certainly an atractive prospect and i belive this will be a fairly standard healing build for at least one healer per raid for the aura.
Then in Ret there is this build: 51/0/18, this gets you better judgements to go with your new 30 yard range and raid utility with the 3% crit for all dps. also you get 15% increased movement speed to reduce how long you must spend on the move and mainly +5% crit chance. also if the paladin drops Beacon of Light and some points in the haste talent you could choose to get Sanctified Retribution for more raid utility and/or, more interestingly, the Sheath of Light talent that gives you Ignite for your heals, this is one for better maths lovers than me as to exactly how good it is.
However, Consider that in a PvP encounter a HoT Built in to a spell is worth infinitly more than a HoT you must cast at a rather extravigant mana cost. On the other hand one might argue that Beacon on light is an invaluable asset to any tank to help them build aggro and they would be right, also on raid bosses the melee dps are almost always within 10 yards of the tank so the spell would come into it's own. I do see the beacon being dropped by PvPers in favour of the sheath but in PvE I see a real contraversy over this. I personnaly belive that unless Blizz caves to the QQers and put this a level down in the tree (and i hope thay don't) we will see somthing about the pally healer that has not been seen for an age, a degree of variation. In the end, even if beacon is buffed, range increased or mana cost dropped, i can imagine that some paladins will still prefer and take this talent and that they can do so without gimping themselves is a great thing indeed.
Post by
pyrokin
Retribution
Looking at the changes to the paladin DPS tree i am blown away. I have never actually spec'd ret on my paladin, i leveled as prot all the way =P, however, because of the nature of my being an information glutton I know what changes are happening and can offer competent analysis of their impact (at least that is the idea!). And what changes they are! Retri is getting a new instant weapon attack that hits multiple targets and increased utility in raids, also allience are getting SoB to even the playing field!
Changing
:
Sanctity Aura is gone! Retribution aura is taking its place.
Twining with the about Ret aura has got some love, it now scales with spell damage and is subject to the talents Sanctified Retribution (note it is only a 1 point talent for the same as 2 curently gets you) and Swift Retribution in addition to making the current and unchanged improved ret aura talent viable.
With Seal of the Crusader gone only the Heart of the Crusader remains as a changed and interesting talent.
Conviction in the third tier consolidates melee and spell crit, in line with Blizzard's direction for the game.
Sanctified Judgement on the sixth tier has been renamed Judgements of the Wise, and now returns mana to the whole group, not just you, based on damage dealt.
Repentence is getting a 1 minute duration in PvE!
Imp BoM is changing from 4% per point to 10% per point, and there was much rejoicing.
New!
:
A whole raft of new talents that are drop dead gorgeous.
A new instant weapon attack to be rotated into an attack cycle, say hello to the 51 pointer - Divine Storm!
The Retwings change needs to be noted here aswell, AW can now be used while bubbled but causes less of an increase.
Interpretation
Well they general undercurrent driving these changes seems to be that blizz wants ret paladins to be a good support class with competative dps. The new talents seem geared toward making retridins desireable.
Retribution Aura
The changes to this aura are very large because with the removal of Sanctity Aura it becomes the main aura of a retribution paladin. With the talents Sanctified Retribution and Swift Retribution this aura cause the retridin and his entire raid (remember raidwide auras now) to have +2% dmg and +3% haste in addition to the dmg shield which now scales with spellpower and has higher base damage anyway.
This is huge, a real reason to take a retridin in a raid although only one is needed* as the aura affect the whole raid but still a big bonus for retridins. Also some complain that +2% damage is a lousy 21 point talent but i have to argue that the 10% holy damage bonus from sanctity aura was really not much different given that white damage was more than half the retridin's damage, more once they got CS.
*Note: while not likely it may be that if you took 3 ret paladins one with both Sanc Ret and Swif Ret, one with just Swif Ret and one with just Sanc Ret the auras would stack because they all give a different subset of buffs.
Repent!
What can i say, Retridins now have an indefinite CC that will work on all the same things sap will. That is humanoids, dragonkin, giants, undead and demons. Thumbs up!
Other Utility
Another reason to take a ret pally because HotC this is again a raid wide bonus that a retridin can apply without thinking about it. the real question is wether this effect will stack if three retridins work together to apply JoJ, JoW and JoL giving 3% crit from each, we just dont know.
Then there is this little number, JotW, this is another massive utility bonus and this time one that would definatly stack up as you took more retridins. Both hunter and Paladins have gained talents that help them break into the currently SP dominated roll of 'mana-battery'. This talent means without any change in spell rotation a retridin can restore mana to his raid.
Plus DPS
The Art of War has changed, it is now a PvP talent that looks like this:
http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?spell=53489
this makes it an adverage PvP talent rather than an awesome all round talent.
Righteous Vengence is a nice increase of the critical strike damage modifier, a flat increase to dps and somthing to increase the usufulness of crit rating beyond keeping up vengence.
Divine Storm
Between being an additional instant weapon attack, an AoE, and a healing spell, it's worth the +50% mana cost over Crusader Strike, but oh so worth that. Given that it does holy damage, it'll probably hit for 20%+ more damage (depending on mob armor and armor penetration) than Crusader Strike on a single target. On a pack of (ideally 4 mobs) This will be godly hitting harder than CS on each then taking the total damage and healing the paladin and/or his allies for 20% of that between them.
this is another huge boost to retridins in terms of both dps and utility. Also the bonus it multiplied by having multiple ret pallies present. I forsee this letting Retridins top rogues for dps in AoE situations because along with consercation it will give the paladin massive AoE potential (note Fan of Knives may change this depending on how it is implemented), and even on a single mob this will be a massive boost to the output of any retridin. AND it can currently proc seals on all the targets it hits thought this may not go live.
The Sheath...
This is a controvesial one indeed. This 3 point talent is causing many healers to question if beacon of light is as big as some would say it is. However for a retridin this is a whole different kettle of fish. whilst the HoT effect has healers torn between their own 51 pointer and this, the AP to SP conversion is far more interesting to a retridin, the spellpower will serve to increase the damage of Consacration and Seals/Judgements while also giving retribution paladins the ability to heal themselves and others without expending all their mana. I certainly would pick this up in any ret build i may spec in WotLK but i wouldn't call it essential, however this is part of a growing trend that allows paladins spec one way to still move to where they are needed with a great fluidity that will make a skilled paladin an invalueable asset to any raid.
The Overview
Overall, the Retribution changes are fantastic. Retribution has become a DPS powerhouse with raid utility thrown in. The game is still likely to change but at this stage, as with all the aspects of the class i am ready to admit that I feel unreservedly optimistic, Blizz has earned my faith.
Post by
pyrokin
Protection
The spec i play most and am therefore most excited about, prot is getting lots of love.
the talent changes are very nice, mainly i must note this piece of awesome which will make those namby pamby caster weps non-essential at least.
Changing
:
Holy shield Cooldown reduced to 8 seconds, down from 10.
AS casttime down to .5 seconds and daze duration increased to 10 seconds.
Retribution aura now scales with spell damage (now USP but meh).
Devotion aura now has a use! if the tankadins will take it or leave it to the healadins is uncertain.
The talent Anticipation has changed to give more avoidence.
Righteous Fury now give its full 90% threat boost without the talent.
With the removal of SoCr, paladins may tank using JoW
The divine strength talent is now in the prot tree and give 15% bonus up from 10%.
SoV (or SoCor) now applies on all hits afirming it as 'the tanking seal' and also raising the possibility of seal twisting.
New!
:
Shield of Rightousness as referenced in the talent Shield of the templar. take a moment to absorb that.
Twin the above with the 51 pnt talent Hammer of the Righteous. my eyes were like dinnerplates in my head.
I must, again, note this piece of awesome. /drool.
Judgements of the Just is a big thing aswell, reducing the pace of incoming damage is somthing that gave warriors an edge, but no more!
Interpretation
Looking at all the abilities, new and changed, and the direction blizz is taking the tanking paladin I see only massive buffs to the paladins ability to generate threat with two new abilities and that they have given the horde SoV. Blizzard has recognised that paladins are being gimped slightly by having to use caster weapons and has decided to do somthing about it and have also decided to make paladins closer closer to warrior itemization for tanking.
Touched by the Light
This is the biggest change as far as class mechanics go. in TBC tankadins must stack huge amounts of avoidence and mitigation to try and reach uncrushable and then must worry about spelldamage for threat, this vastly strains the item budget for tankadin gear. This talents means that spell damage weapons will no longer be necessary alowing paladins to take a weapon with avoidence stats on it, decreasing the strain. Also is must be noted that the changes to Shield Block warriors will also be stacking large amounts of avoidence meaning less of a division between the tanking gear. I can't see tankadins dropping the policy of Enchanting their gear for more spellpower but that is niether here or there. Also the healing component is an intersting change that will help paladins solo as prot. It should be noted that because of the game mechanic changes to a universal spellpower stat so that all the offensive spellpower you have is also +healing!
New tanking Moves
The new Shield of Rightousness and Hammer of the Righteous moves are just awesome. They will be some of the highest threat moves in the game because they cause holy damage with its 1.9 modifier and high base threat and will just be the bread and butter of boss tanking and as Hammer of the Righteous is a multi target thing that will be used across the bored. They have the same mana cost but i would like to clarify that they will work of mana pre intellect bonus costing 240 ish mana at level 70 so though 6% may sound like lots when it really isn't. Also with a reduced cast time AS may find a place as more than an opener in a tanking rotation.
Also as sunsmoon commented, because these cause holy damage they wont be affected by armor and resistances (there is no holy resistance! you cannot resist!). AND get this:
What is the new Str->BV conversion? Answer: 2 Str = 1 BV This is probably the best place to add in a quick contemplation of divine strength's move to the prot tree, maybe blizzard is looking to get paladin tank interested in strength - it's a long shot but maybe. The best point about this is that it give retri paladins a foot up into the prot tree so they can reach BoK and imp HoJ if they want.
Ajusting Mitigation
One thing missing from the talents as they stand are any real mitigation things, there are two. Anticipation is now dodge and judgements of the just will mitigate the amount of incoming damage. However the way i see this is that the talents are covering other bases and this will leave paladins able to use all their gear itemisation points for Block, Dodge, Parry, SBV and even Hit (now one stat for melee and spell) and the guardian of the light talent is making dodge and parry a benificial thing whereas now i would happily have only block rating and block value if i could get uncrushable that way (although that probably wont change, i <3 block 4eva).
Overall Tankadin Vision
One thing that give me a warm feeling inside is that blizzard has recognised the tankadins niche and expanded upon it with talents like guarded by the light and changes to Ret aura but also moved to give paladins a huge boost to our maintanking abilities as discussed. Spelldamage need not be stacked on gear now, the stam conversion + enchants sould cover threat generation and SBV has become a mainstream atribute like it is for warriors; and you never know, with the new BV conversion rate and how AP is now scaling our abilities strength may even be worth a go.
Post by
pyrokin
buffer reserve
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Post by
pyrokin
Ok, thats all for today. Im off to a party cos i can.
please post on stuff you would like to see included and things i may have missed aswell as your reactions to the changes.
Post by
Gannick
Blessing of Sacrifice in its current form is use as an anti-CC manuver in PvE and ignored in PvP.
The only PvE fight i know you use it on is Maiden, other than that it's uses are completely PvP. Not having to trinket while a mage repeatedly sheeps you is a must.
Post by
Philmckraken
From what I've seen so far, the end result of the class changes will result in a less gear-dependent class that can contribute more to any group or raid in whichever spec you choose. It seems like the new talents will require much less "paladin-specific" gear, which I'm OK with, since it means your paladin's talents, and not your luck at gear drops, will determine your value to the guild and raid.
The Ret changes intrigue me the most; I'm seeing a lot more in the way of damage output, group utility in the form of mana regeneration, healing and even a CC! While I'm sure that the DPS will not top that of a well-played rogue or mage, at least the WotLK ret paladin can hold their own on the damage meters, while providing much more than just another blessing and 3% crit to the rest of the group. Every member of the raid now benefits from the presence of a retridin in some way. It's honestly more than I was hoping for.
On the tank side of things, it was hinted that the endgame paladin tank would be a "garbage collector," rounding up trash mobs but sitting it out for boss fights if there was a warrior around. However, the new talents like Shield of Righteousness and Hammer of the Righteous seem to be made for single-target threat.
Overall, the changes are huge. No more caster weapons, no more treating ret paladins as the dorky kid that you have to invite to your birthday party. Holy Paladins with more than 2 heals? I might have to put a healing set together and give that a try.
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Post by
fkkoko
I wonder what do you guys think about
Sheath of Light
talent (ret tree). Is 60% more healing from your crits (HoT) better than AoE heal which heals for 2000 for 2330 mana? And you get +5% crit chance (
http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?spell=20121
) too.
Post by
Piroz
nice post pyro! really organised thread that summs up the changes for palladins.
Ive got an addition for you as to holy shock, you see to have forgotten to mention that the healing counterpart now heals up to 40 yards range ( or was it 30 .. mm sleepy)
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Post by
pyrokin
Ive got an addition for you as to holy shock, you see to have forgotten to mention that the healing counterpart now heals up to 40 yards range ( or was it 30 .. mm sleepy)
fixt. it was 40
Also, i was thinking, should i include a section on other changes ie to the game or to other classes that effect us pallies? or a section on PvE vs PvP?
also i apologise for renaming the tread so much but i just keep think of names i think are better =Z
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Post by
Philmckraken
I think I've missed something. Will our defence cap stay the same? or will it be lowered? seems to me we lose 20 just from talents. Like it isnt hard enough to keep capped.
Crushing blows are being removed, so now you only need to worry about stam and +defense. Agonizing over avoidance will no longer be our primary concern when raiding.
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