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This guide is written mainly for players new to playing retribution in arena / PvP.
What changed about Rets in 5.3 for PvP?
There are a few changes that has changed us dramatically. I'll list the major ones here:
1.) Devotion Aura can now remove the current silence effects on you and your teammates.
2.) Our damage has been buffed by roughly ~12% on melee attacks. This includes Crusader Strike, Templar's Verdict, Judgement, and the seal's melee damage effects (not the DOT from Seal of Truth).
3.) Divine Protection is now usable in stuns.
Many people ask me if Rets are viable this patch. Viable is more or less an opinion, I'll let you decide after trying it!
PvP Talents
In the talent picture I selected talents that are the most viable in PvP. The circled and selected talents, are talents that are all talents that can be used and should be changed to fit the situation of what you're doing such as RBGs and PvP Composition. Below I'll recommend the most usual talent that I use, and explanation of why some of the other talents can be picked.
Level 15:
Usual recommendation: Long Arm of the Law.
Why Long Arm of the Law? Well Judgement cooldown is incredibly short, so this sprint is almost on demand.
Level 30
For most compositions I recommend Fist of Justice.
For Rated Battlegrounds and Regular Battlegrounds I recommend Burden of Guilt.
Any 3 of these talents are viable. What is best will depend on many factors such as your play-style, the composition you're running, and what you're fighting against. Fist of Justice lets you stun a target 3 times without trinket. This is really useful against Restoration Druids when Repentance is hard to get off, and you're playing a comp that wants to hit the Druid often. Comparing Repentance vs Burden of Guilt, if you play with a class that has a slow, Repentance becomes better. If you play with a class that has diminishing returns with Repentance and Fist of Justice and doesn't have a slow, Burden of Guilt becomes better. If you have a class that plays with both, make a choice base on other factors such as how often a target is slowed, how often that class can put Repentance on Diminishing Returns and such.
Level 45
Selfless Healer is recommended for most cases.
5.2 buffed Flash of Light greatly. Having Selfless Healer is useful to get those fast and lower mana costing heals on yourself or your teammates.
Level 60
Recommended: Clemency - 5.2 made Hand of Sacrifice dispel magic effects. Clemency was already really strong for most scenarios since you can use freedom, sacrifice, and protection twice.
Hand of Purity is awesome for counter comping into DOT cleaves. Hand of Purity is to be used when you fight a DOT Cleave such as affliction warlock teams.
Unbreakable Spirit is good against a team where both Hand of Protection and Hand of Sacrifice dispel effect is not too useful.
Level 75
Recommended: Holy Avenger
An example where all 3 could be viable. Holy Avenger in my opinion provides the best burst. Avenging Wrath isn't bad with the recent buff in making Wings a 2minute cooldown.
Level 90
Highly Recommended:Hand of Prism
Holy Prism is almost always the best because of how PvP is, situational and burst oriented. Light's Hammer buff was nice, but only for very situational uses.
Glyphs
In the picture at the talents section, I choose a lot of major glyphs that are useful for Retribution Paladins. I believe Templar's Verdict will be a very necessary glyph, and other glyphs will be based on preference and a lot of factors.
Prime Glyphs:
Templar's Verdict (Necessary) - Now works on exorcism as well!
Double Jeopardy (The extra 20% burst is really insane at the moment, purposely judgeing a focus target then swapping back right before you Avenging Wrath is really useful)
Word of Glory (Extra damage for all those WOGs you do!)
Turn Evil - A must have if you fight a shadow priest or death knight. Fearing Gargoyle and any of the two fiends is very useful!
Major Glyphs:
Really doesn't matter, Hearthstone glyph is cool though!
Gems / Enchants / Stats
Priorities for Stats:
3% Hit>3% Expertise>Strength>Haste>Resil>Crit=Mastery>PvP Power>More Expertise>More Hit>Other
Resilience gemming has been nerfed in PvP in 5.3. The actual number per % resilience it gives is still the same. This means the 200 resilience enchant on the chest for example is still really good, however gemming Resil's effect has been halved.
"There's a common misconception that PvP Power negates Resilience. This actually isn't true because Resilience is factored in after PvP Power in a sense. Lets say a Frostbomb hits for 100,000. With 50% PvP Power it hits for 150,000. However, if a person has 50% Resilience, it would hit for 75,000 in the end.
Now lets pretend the Mage gemmed more PvP Power and the target gemmed more resilience. The PvP Power became roughly 60%. The Resilience became 55%.
Frost Bomb not hits for 160,000, but with 55% Resilience it hits for 72,000. This is not the exact PvP Power to Resilience scale; but that should give you the picture that Resilience = generally more damage reduction than PvP Power's increased damage point to point with full PvP Gear.
edit: In the end you can't just go one way or the other for everyone. If you play a class like Enhance Shamans, gemming Resilience is probably smart since they get trained over half the time. If you play a class like Warriors, it's probably good to use PvP Power against non-Casters and Rogues."
If you have enough conquest points it's probably best to have 2 sets ready. Wear the set depending on if the team is going to hit you or not. However with the upgrading gear factored in this season it's going to be a lot harder to do this."
Strength and Haste is the biggest damage stat for PvE. PvP Power is really similar to Strength for Rets, increasing Damage and Heals. However, 5.3 has nerfed PvP power stat weigh.The best way to go now is to gem for Strength and Haste. Strength is considered better imo because it also helps with your burst heals and burst damage rather than just DPS.
You should always reforge for Hit and Expertise cap rather than gemming for it. This is to increase your "PvP" stats to the highest possible such as PvP Power and Resilience.
Off-Stat Decisions
The biggest argument and most questions I get as a ret now is "What Off Stat?" There is no definite answer here. In my stat priority I listed haste as the best, with Crit and Mastery being similar. I'm going to give you a few things to read and let you decide on your own. In PvE, Haste is the best followed by Mastery and then Crit. However, PvP is different. Critting affects everything we do in PvP including heals, and our ranged damage such as judgement which mastery doesn't help. I choose Haste as the most valuable cause it affects most of the things we do, including cast time, DOT damage, lower judgement cooldown for faster sprinting and such, it's also one of the best stats for pure damage. I choose crit vs mastery as nearly equal, because I feel if you can melee a lot, mastery is better. If you end the game in Wings, mastery is better for Hammer of Wraths. If the game prolongs and you have to kite or line of sight a lot, Crit is better. Take these factors into consideration, and make your own choice!
Recommended Gems:
Meta - 216 Strength / +3% Crit Damage or Tyrannical Meta Gem (Have both Helms ready, Strength meta still does more damage / burst while Tyrannical Meta Gem is better for surviving)
Red - 160 Strength
Yellow - 80 Strength / 160 Haste
Blue - 80 Strength / 160 PvP Power
Recommended Reforging:
Get 3% Hit Cap
Get 3% Expertise
Get the off-stat off your choice. I recommend Haste>Mastery=Crit.
Recommended Enchants:
Head - None
Shoulders - 200Strength / 100 Crit
Back - 180Hit or 180Crit
Chest - 200 Resilience
Wrist - 180 Strength
Hands - 170 Strength
Legs - 285Strength / 165 Crit
Feet - 140Mastery / Run Speed
Weapon - Tyrannical Weapon Enchant, 400PvP Power / 200 Resilience / Disarm Reduction, have Dancing Steel weapon ready for teams without disarm.
Seal
This is probably the most common question I've gotten! What seal do you use?
5.3 buffed Seal of Justice due to the Sword of Light change, but I find censure to still be the best.
For a simple answer: Censure
Here is a more complicated answer:
Generally for any target you are staying on for 10+ Seconds, Truth is the highest damage dealing seal.
For a game where you don't have burden of guilt, and you're swapping a lot, Seal of Justice could be better. A composition such as Ret / Shadow Priest / Resto Shaman for example has no slow.
Seal of the Righteous is good for AOE, this is very rare in PvP. I've probably swapped it once in the entire expansion.
Healing Seal is good for when you're getting trained, or desperately need mana. Another rare seal to use.
Viable Ret Comps
Viability's definition is different for each person. Just about anything can be ran to gladiator range (I've ran triple pally, 2 hunters + ret, 2 priests + ret to 2700+ in 3s)
Professions
Doesn't really matter. Use any professions that give strength or attack power gains. Blacksmithing is really good since it can give you Resilience. Jewelcrafting also can give you Resilience, these professions give you choices on what you want to do.
What rotation do you use in PvP?
There is no "specific" rotation in PvP.
The best I can give you is this in terms of a PvE Damage Rotation:
Less Than 5HP up:
Keep Inquisition up with 3HP>Exorcism>Hammer of Wrath>Judgement>Crusader Strike>Templar's Verdict
Everything is situational. Keep note that our hardest hitting ability will be Templar's Verdict, which also clashes with Word of Glory as both takes holy power.
What macros does Ret have for PvP?
Most of Ret PvP Macros look like this:
/cast [target=party1] Word of Glory.
You can basically fit in 1-4 for 1, and Word of Glory with Sacrifice / Freedom / Hand of Protection and you'll have most of the Macros I have. I only have 1-2 for most of them, and 1-4 for WOG for 5s. 1-4 for everything was a bit too overwhelming for me. (Not Enough Buttons + Too Crazy lol)
There are people who simplifies this by using mouseover macros and such, all personal preference. Add #showtooltip to the start of these macros if you want to see it.
Some other general macros:
1.) Start Attack + Crusader Strike
/cast Crusader Strike
/startattack
2.) Start Attack + Templar's Verdict
/cast Templar's Verdict
/startattack
3.) Focus HOJ
/cast [target=focus] Hammer of Justice
4.) Focus Repent
/cast [target=focus] Repentance
5.) Switching Between 2H and Shield
/equip [equipped:Shields] Your2HWeaponName
/equip [noequipped:Shields] your1HWeaponName
/equip [noequipped:Shields] YourShieldName
6.) Camera Distance *This is the Camera I used to use, I'm going default max zoomed out now though*
/console cameraDistanceMaxFactor 4
7.) Focus REBUKE
/cast [target=focus] Rebuke
8.) Focus Judgement
/cast [target=focus] Judgement
9.) Cancel Bubble
/cancelaura Divine Shield
10.) Cancel Wings
/cancelaura Avenging Wrath
The Support Macros I Personally Use:
(switch x with number or partyx with Toon Name)
13.) Hand of Protection
/cast [target=partyX] Hand of Protection
14.) Hand of Sacrifice
/cast [target=partyX] Hand of Sacrifice
15.) Hand of Freedom
/cast [target=partyX] Hand of Freedom
16.) Word of Glory
/cast [target=partyX] Word of Glory
17.) Flash of Light
/cast [target=partyX] Flash of Light
As said with almost everything, Macros have a lot to do with personal preference. You can also use modifiers for different skills in your macros such as Repent. Use these only as a general guideline and form your own macros!
Gearing Ret for PvP
You can basically use all the PvP Gear and you'll do great!
Trinkets
Unless you're human obviously you would use the trinket that removes all impairing effects.
For your second trinket, I recommend a Strength proc trinket. The Relic seems to be the best for consistent damage. PvP Proc trinket seems to be around second. The Valor trinket and other raid trinkets are excellent for burst and other situations.
General Arena Tips
Ret is a very strange spec, it's place in arena is rather vague. We have good burst damage during wings, but outside of that we're a bit gimped. We have INSANE off heals and good support, but we're also incredibly easy to CC as a melee class which throws everything off.
As a ret pally, you always have to remember you ARE NOT a warrior. You need to watch your partners the entire game. Do not waste your extremely insane off heals, freedom, BOP, Sac. You are a support class that can burst once every 2 minutes! In an arena match my eyes are on my party screen the most.
If you are playing with a DK or Warrior or Rogue, be considerate about your freedom. In 3s, I almost NEVER freedom myself. You can cleanse most of your roots, and my death knight can kill people around 2 times faster than me, why would I freedom myself?
Ret PvP Stream
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Ret PvP Videos
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Thanks for reading, I hope this helped you out. Post any other questions you have! If you have specific questions for me, try posting them on my facebook page.
By Vanguards / Sam
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