3% crit to raidRet / Ele shaman / Mut rogue3% all damage to raidRet / BM hunter / Arcane Mage3% haste to raidRet / Moonkin100% JoW/JoL uptimeRet or prot paladin Replenishment to 10 raid membersRet / Spriest / Destro lock / Frost mage / Surv HunterBlessing of Kings / Imp Blessing of MightAny paladin-AP DebuffRet or Prot paladin / Warriors / Warlocks / Ferals
When an auto-attack lands (does not dodge/parry/miss) that can proc a seal the of the following things happen independently of each other (see 2 roll system).

1) A "hidden strike" which uses melee combat mechanics occurs. If it lands it refreshes/stacks SoV DoT. Only white swings can trigger a refresh or stack. (This hidden strike mechanic can also proc things like berserking..)
\\wat the fack is going on here w/ hotfixes, update this later
2) A weapon damage based proc will occur if you used a special (CS/DS/judge) or if you have a 5 stack (from auto attacks). This attack can not be avoided.

Remember #2 happens regardless of #1 landing, it just requires the initial attack (autos, cs, etc) to land.

DoT functions and mechanics:
DoT application is melee hit/exp based. (Cannot be resisted like a spell, but can be dodged or parried)
DoT will still be applied even if your white swing is fully absorbed (in a PvP situation).
DoT is only applied via auto-attacks (whites).
DoT ticks always hit.
DoT ticks are reduced by partial resist on skull mobs, but not by players (it is holy damage).
DoT gains from CoE (and equivalents).

Seal Proc functions and mechanics:
Proc (after 5 stack/triggered from specials) can NOT be dodged or parried, it occurs as long as your initial white/strike lands.
Proc suffers from partial resists (it's holy damage).
Proc gains from CoE (and equivalents).
Proc can crit. (like SoB did)

With the release of 3.2.2, SoV stack interaction should now be functioning correctly and the damage you get from procs/judgements is solely based on your stack count.

Seal of Righteousness
It's still an option to use this seal, however since the critical breakpoint has been reached (ILvl 252 gear), SoC now hits harder and can cleave things. In general, SoR has been relegated to a PvP seal due to its' harder hitting judgements. SoR procs also cannot miss or be dodged/parried (unless your initial auto misses), and judging SoR results in an additional SoR proc. It is the only seal that behaves in this manner.

Seal of Command
SoC is our cleaving/trash seal. SoC procs follow all standard melee attack rules, no longer have an ICD, and can crit. Judging on a stunned target no longer guarantees a crit, and the judgement is fairly weak to being with, you use this seal for its' proc damage. The cleave effect on this seal is based on the middle of the target hitbox; if you are at maximum melee range it is possible for you to be missing out on SoC cleaves (if there are adds being tanked nearby, Anub25H is a very good example of this). You also need all the targets that you want cleaved in front of you, or at least stacked on top of each other; unlike DS, SoC procs will not hit adds positioned in a circle. The cleave range is about that same as protection's HotR, 8 yards (slightly smaller than DS' 10 yards).


[top]Strikes and DPS skills


These spells are used in the retribution skill rotation.

Consecration
Widely viewed as a necessary part of the retribution rotation, as our DPS is not very competitive without it. Should be used against both single and multiple targets. Consecration has some odd behavior on skull level mobs; the first tick can be fully resisted (miss) and subsequent ticks can also be partially resisted (due to mob level difference). You cannot work around the partial resists at all, but they are often small enough to not matter:


Originally Posted by http://elitistjerks.com/1052225-post672.html
I tested this situation while wearing a massive amount of + hit (22% spell hit or so) and things didn't change noticeably. There simply were only 4 combat log entries most of the time, something like:

Boss is afflicted by your Consecration
Boss takes 20 Damage from your Consecration (60 resisted)
Boss takes 30 Damage from your Consecration (50 resisted)
Consecration fades from Boss

Sometimes I got 4 ticks, sometimes 1, but against a +13 level mob I never got anywhere near 8. There simply weren't entries in the log for those other ticks. I won't claim to know the precise mechanics of this, but it does seem evident that mobs can totally resist Consecration ticks if they are high enough level in addition to the debuff application that we are all so familiar with. I don't actually have a paladin that can test this anymore since I did it just after 3.0 launched against the level 83 dummy and my level 80 paladin has no way to fight a level 93 mob.

Hammer of Wrath
With the release of 3.0, this skill was buffed a substantial amount, to the point where it is used on cooldown vs targets under 20% health (due to deep ret talents that give this skill a 50% base crit chance, in addition to gear). It is now an instant ranged execute, but retains its' fixed mana cost. Using this skill does not reset your swing timer.

Exorcism
Chnaged again in 3.2. This is now usable on all mob types, can crit (based on your spell crit), and has 100% crit chance vs undead and demon mobs. It uses the spell hit table so you can still miss with this even if melee hitcapped. It has a base cast time of 1.5s which means you will never ever use this without an AoW proc available - when used with AoW it becomes instant and does not reset the swing timer. Note that because it is not a base instant cast it does not benefit from Benediction.

Holy Wrath
Also uses the spell hit tables, can crit. Has no target limit so it is very useful on certain fights with many undead/demon adds. Changed from a 60s cooldown/20yd range (BC) to a 30s cooldown/10yd range, and it now stuns all targets that it hits for 3s, and shares stun DR with HoJ.

Divine Plea
You will need to use this to keep your mana up in both PvE and PvP. It scales off your total mana pool, and is dispellable. DP is usually responsible for 10% of our total mana income on bosses.

And of course, our talented instant attacks:

Divine Storm
Our 51 pt talent, it is basically the same as a warrior's whirlwind ability except that DS heals for negligible amounts. Despite it seeming like an underwhelming talent it is critical to our DPS as it can and will trigger seals and RV. This skill is normalized to 3.3 weapon speed.

Crusader Strike
Our still bland 41 pt talent, yet still crucial to our DPS as it also triggers seals and RV. CS no longer refreshes your or any other paladins' judgements. This skill is also normalized (to 3.3).



[top]Special Talents


and their ..."specialness"
This is just to cover some talents that have odd quirks or interesting functionality.

Art of War
AoW seems like it becomes more important in pve, but realistically nothing has changed. Exorcism still has a 15 second cooldown, and the chances that you will not see a crit on the pull (7.5 seconds in) while raid buffed are 1.6%, while the chances you won't see a crit in 15 seconds is 0.2% - therefore there is no reason to stack crit or worry about not being able to use it every 15s. AoW has been changed to proc on all melee crits, which means whites, strikes and judgements, but not seal procs.

Righteous Vengeance
Once again stealing from the warriors! The RV dot does indeed "roll" like the warrior version, meaning critical judgements and DS's in succession will refresh the dot duration, not overwrite it. The RV dot is a magic effect and thus dispellable, can be partially resisted by bosses, but is not mitigated by armor. With 2pc T9 equipped, RV crits for 200% damage, just like any of our other melee abilities.
How RV rolls courtesy Redcape:


It adds the new critical damage onto any remaining damage in the dot and then resets the duration with the new damage total. There is absolutely no need to maintain the stack in any fashion, the stack falling off does not cause you to lose dps.
Sheath of Light
One of our most exciting talents for wrath. This talent helps to increase our damage because of the way we double-dip in AP and SP, gives retribution paladins heals actually worth casting/using, and makes STR that much more important. Sacred Shield finally also scales from spellpower granted by this talent. The healing portion of this talent acts the same way as RV; getting a crit heal while still having a sheath hot active "rolls" (see above).

Sacred Shield
We used to use this a lot in pve, but now this is more of a pvp ret utility. Using this does not reset the swing timer. Sacred Shield also has a 6s ICD even when talented, so it is capable of refreshing itself every 6 seconds, even if the 'old' shield has not been fully used up.

Divinity
This has an odd double dipping interaction with your own heals (JoL, DS heals) which causes it to multiply twice, like so: (original heal number) * 1.05 *1.05. It is taken in pve builds only when you are trying to get to DSac. If you pick up this talent, you may want to use JoL and have other paladins use JoW.




[top]Talent Specs


Caveat: There are no two exact situations that are the same. Looking at one paladin's spec may vary from another, due to guild progression, rostering, ect. The specs below are provided only as a base, hence the new sub-section below.

The core PvE DPS talents are: 5/5/55.

The most common PvE spec for 3.3 is: 11/5/55.

A PvP talent spec looks more like: 0/17/54.


[top]Talent Options


There are several talents that provide (de)buffs that can already be covered by other specs, or are highly situational, so let's look at situations and numbers below. Many of these can be juggled or dropped to gain other talents if they are already covered, giving us some freedom in our talent choices. Tailor your spec by using the core spec provided above, and finding out what you already have covered in your raid.

Aura Mastery - If you really want raid utility and miss having DSac, AM provides a weaker alternative. It now only lasts for 6 seconds, and of course it still only applies to the base aura effect (using this with ret aura active only increases the thorns-like damage, it does not increase the 3% damage from sanctified retribution). This can be useful on fights with heavy magic damage spikes. Of course, AM does require that you be running the appropriate aura before use, however AM is NOT on the GCD.

Heart of the Crusader - This is a critical debuff to have in your raids, however it is early enough in the tree that both protection and holy paladins can reach this. This is also covered by an elemental shaman and does not stack.

Vindication - Turned into an actual debuff in 3.2, our "demo shout" requires no thought or resources to apply, thus saving your druid/warrior/warlock friends a GCD and some rage/mana. It's situational because this is a mandatory talent for protection paladins, so if you raid with one then you don't need this (ps go make friends with a prot paladin). Demo shout is superior for AoE situations like Anub's adds, because vindication only procs on attacks (such as DS) and not from consecration - Vindication is superior for single targets because it is applied on your first melee attack and is basically a passive debuff.

Swift Retribution - Another required buff for your raid, but if you have a moonkin in your roster who is always present, he can provide this buff (does not stack).

Divinity - Due to JoL no longer scaling this talent has diminished value. It is still increases JoL healing, but only from 2.0% to 2.1% of max hp (2.2% on yourself only).

Divine Sacrifice / Divine Guardian- Was absolutely required for 3.1 raiding and arguably for 3.2 as well, this talent was heavily nerfed for 3.3 (rightfully so, it was previously the single most powerful talent point you could have for your raid). Using the bubble before DSac used to prevent the cap from ever being met, giving your entire raid 30% damage reduction for 10 seconds; it now only gives your party 30% absorption until you either take 200% of your total hp as damage, or if you drop below 20% total hp - you can't use the bubble to immune the damage now. Divine Guardian is now required to "restore" DSac's old functionality and even then it is not as powerful as before. Because of the major changes to these talents, and their deep placement in the prot tree, these talents are best left to holy or protection paladins and cannot be taken in any serious pve retribution build. DSac is more or less a pvp talent for retribution now.


[top]Glyphs, Gems, Consumables, Enchants, Professions


I won't mention horrible glyphs, because they are horrible! Some glyphs are of debatable use, and there are (slightly) better uses for the slots, so they are also left out. Apologies in advance for the hard to read colors, but there doesn't seem to be a way to override wowhead's item links.

If you don't want to know why we choose the glyphs, then the TLDR is: Judgement, Cons, SoV for majors, Sense Undead for minors.


[top]Recommended Major PvE Glyphs


[Glyph of Judgement]
This is your primary glyph as retribution. 10% more damage on one of our primary attacks is mandatory.

[Glyph of Consecration]
This is a PvE glyph, it saves a ton of mana and some GCD clashes over the course of a fight (worth 108mp5). With our GCD as locked as it is this is also a mandatory pve glyph.

[Glyph of Seal of Vengeance]
We now have the option of glyphing for 10 expertise! This glyph grants exactly what it says, 10 expertise (82 rating, 2.5%) when using our primary dps seal. This is a decent option if you are under the expertise cap or if you want to use other stronger items in place of expertise items. It's worth noting that if you benefit from even half of the expertise (example, glyph puts you at 31 expertise) it is more dps than the exo glyph. The main benefit of this glyph is a lot of freedom in gear choices, as you can drop weaker expertise pieces.

[Glyph of Exorcism]
An option if you are naturally expertise capped, or perhaps for pvp. This glyph is worth ~50 dps, and as noted above you can gain more from using freed itemization on non-expertise gear.

[Glyph of Seal of Command]
PvP glyph - note that even if your judgement is fully absorbed, you will still get 8% base mana back (unlike JotW's absorb mechanics).



[top]Recommended Minor Glyphs


[Glyph of Sense Undead]
1% damage to undead, in an expansion filled with undead mobs. Our only real useful minor glyph.

[Glyph of Lay on Hands]
Self explanatory, taken for lack of decent minor glyphs.

The other four minor glyphs are your choice for the last minor slot. They aren't particularly useful in pve or pvp situations, but they can save you a reagent here and there.


[top]Recommended Gems


Sometimes you will have to ignore socket bonuses because they are terrible! This is more a guide for when you want to meet such requirements. We finally have epic gems available, and so rare cuts have been removed from the lists. Due to JC changes (removal of the prismatic portion of the dragon's eyes) all paladins are equalized in gemming options.

Metas:

[Relentless Earthsiege Diamond]
This is the preferred meta, simply because of fairly easy gem requirements. You do lose between .5 and 1 DPS between this and the CSD but you gain more DPS by not using 2 blue gems. Do not use [Chaotic Skyflare Diamond] because 2 blue gems suck.

Prismatic:
You will be using one (and only one) of these to fulfill your meta requirement. Use it in a blue slot, preferably one with a good socket bonus (like str).
[Nightmare Tear]

Red slots:
You will be gemming pure STR in almost everything.
[Bold Cardinal Ruby]

Yellow slots:
If you have ONE socket in a piece that is yellow with a STR bonus of 4 or higher, you can safely use these - a piece with 2+ yellow sockets is better off gemmed with pure STR.
[Etched Ametrine]
[Inscribed Ametrine]

Blue slots:
Gemming for blue sockets is always a dps loss until we have 10 str socket bonuses (aka, not in this xpac). You should use the prismatic tear above. You do find the following gem used in pvp gear, though.
[Sovereign Dreadstone]



[top]Professions


The quick and dirty of it is, if you are min-maxing every point you can get, Blacksmithing and Jewelcrafting is the strongest combo for ret pve (because STR is far superior to AP). Gathering professions are the weakest.

Profession perks:


JC: 42 Strength (34 str vs. 20 str)
BS: 40 Strength (extra 2 sockets)
Alchemy: 80 AP (Using 180 AP Flask + 1 more hour on flasks)*
LW: 80 AP (Bracer enchant)
Enchanting: 80 AP (2x Ring enchants)
Inscription: 80 AP (Better shoulder enchant + no need to do Sons dailies)
Engineering: Glove enchant (Use effect worth ~57 haste) at the expense of 44 AP, or rockets worth ~59 dps
Tailoring: Embroidery on cloak (proc worth ~130 AP) at the expense of 22 agility
Skinning: 40 Crit Rating
Herbalism: None
*A special note on alchemy's flask ([Flask of the North]): because this flask does not stack with other flasks and does not benefit from mixology, you will be using Endless Rage flasks like the rest of us for pve. However for pvp, you will get 40 STR from drinking the flask.


[top]Enchants


Bolded enchants are what you should be using at endgame levels (the good/expensive stuff).

Head: [Arcanum of Torment]
Shoulders: [Greater Inscription of the Axe] / [Lesser Inscription of the Axe]
Chest: Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats / Enchant Chest - Super Stats
Cloak: Enchant Cloak - Major Agility / Enchant Cloak - Greater Speed
Bracers: Enchant Bracers - Greater Assault / Enchant Bracers - Striking /
Hands: Enchant Gloves - Crusher / Enchant Gloves - Precision (if hit is a problem)
Legs: [Icescale Leg Armor]
Feet: Enchant Boots - Icewalker (unless you are way over hitcap, use this) / Enchant Boots - Greater Assault
Weapon: Enchant Weapon - Berserking / Enchant 2H Weapon - Massacre

How berserking works: Berserking is a ppm based proc, similar to mongoose - in a raid environment it has a ~75% uptime. It can only trigger off attacks flagged as melee attacks and melee specials (Judgements, CS, DS, white swings). It has increased uptime since 3.2 due to SoV's hidden strike mechanic, which seems to be able to trigger and refresh the buff. Because of this, this is our only real choice for any dps weapon enchant.


[top]Consumables


Flasks and elixirs:
Just flask, they last the same time amount as an elixir and last through death.
[Flask of Endless Rage]

Food:
More interesting choices this time around - you have traditional STR food, in addition to some new foods that actually support our double-dipping into AP/SP. Dragonfin and Fish Feast are roughly equivalent:
[Dragonfin Filet]
[Fish Feast]

Potions: (it might be wise to carry a stack of each)
[Runic Mana Potion] If you have mana issues
[Potion of Speed] If you don't


[top]Tier Gear



[top]Tier 7


This sub-section is outdated due to major changes in 3.1 Please refer to the 3.0 thread if you were looking for what it did.


[top]Tier 8


Refer to the 3.1 thread for full math and such. T8 is not as outdated as T7 was (the mechanics didn't change as much) so the 3% dps boost from the 4pc should still be valid.


[top]Tier 9




Maths:
RV damage average: 7% of our total dps
Average critrate in a raid: 45%
(45*7)% = 3.15
2pc: Allowing RV ticks to crit results in a ~3% dps boost. As is the case with most wrath sets, this scales with your gear (as more STR increases the dot strength, and more crit means it will crit more often).

4pc: 5% more crit to our judgements is paltry and probably our worst set bonus in wotlk. It works out to a ~0.5% dps increase.

2T9 also slightly changes our clash resolution system, please see above.


[top]Tier 10



Pegged as the final tier set of this expansion, this is our best and most interesting set so far. I've also opted to include the T10 libram as a comparison to the T9 and pvp ones.

Libram comparison chart, thanks exemplar. The T10 libram requires 39 seconds to reach equivalence with the T9 libram, and is better after that point. Obviously, the T10 libram can be used with any seal making it useful on fights where you need to use SoC. The T10 libram also becomes more powerful than the pvp librams at a mere 2 stacks, 5 seconds into a fight. The chart assumes you use CS at time 0 - in real FCFS situations at the T10 level, equivalence time is slightly higher at about 45 seconds. The T10 libram will likely be one of your last badge purchases if you already have the T9 libram.
TimeT9T9 AverageT10T10 Average 0 sec0 Str0 Str44 Str44 Str51921008810010192128132881519214417611020192153 .622013225192160220146.6630192164.57220157.1435192 16822016540192170.66220171.11

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