How to be a good Retri paladin in PvP. My 2 cents.

[GTrax]

This is an article about how to supporting retri properly in PvP.
By GTrax or Uta Shadowbringer ingame (lvl 60 Paladin).

In this big wall of text I wrote I'm going to talk about how to be of most help to your team in PvP. Be it WSG, AB, AV or world PvP. First of all I want to say that as a paladin your duty is first and foremost to support your teammates. That means to heal, Freedom warriors or other pure dps when needed so they can kill stuff, defend the other healers near you when needed with stunning annoying rogues, warrs or casters that break the line and reach friendly casters in the back. As a paladin, no matter what spec you choose you never go pure dmg. You go swing your weapon only when the situation allows it. For instance when there is enough healers or when you roflstomp the enemy so hard that there is not much need for healing your teammates.

I'm going to cover mostly playstyle, talents and stats.

First of all lets cover stats.

Stat prio is like this:
Stam >Int> Str> Agi/Crit/Hit> Armor> Mp5/+Healing> Spirit>everything else.

Since you want to be able to help your teammates when needed and not OOM at the first 10sec of a fight Int is the second most important stat for you.
You want to always have atleast 4k hp and 4k mana before going for gear with pure dps stats such as str/crit/hit.

The kind of gear you want to put on you is mostly items that give str/stam/int or agi/stam/int untill you reach the 4k mana/hp that is essential in pvp. There are many t1
pieces as well as blue pieces that give you all the stats you need. Don't go pure stam/int/healing either because you do want to be able to kill the enemy
if you get attacked or if you are fighting in the front line. You never ever want to put a mail,leather or cloth piece on you for PvP as a retri, especially if you are not rolling with
a 1h+shield all the time. If you lack armor you will get killed by rogues and warrs too fast and you don't want to die a lot, do you?
With good enough gear you will be able to reach 4k hp/mana, 17-20%crit 2-5% hit(need only 2% from gear if you get 3% hit from talents) and about 105-115dps with a blue 2h from dungeons. This is more than enough to fight off many rogues and warriors that dare attack you, or even burst down a stupid clother that dares come close to you.

Secont Lets talk about Talents.
Theres a few good choices that are good for being a supporting retri in PvP.

The first one I call Selfless Retri spec that emphasises more on being able to heal for big amounts from time to time when needed. 21/0/30 http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#sxxuzxoZZxfLtbcV

Spec which gives you Divine Favour and Illumintaion talents and that +12% healing which makes a big diference when using max rank Holy Light. You can save someones life every 2min with one big Divine Favour+Holy Light combo without loosing any of your mana which is perfect for sustainability. Also it feels godly when you get that random Holy Light crit when you are healing yourself or someone else. This spec is also very good for PvE healing in dungeons and raids, since most people wont let paladins raid as dps sadly.\

You could drop 1 point from Deflection and get Sanct Aura, but at the moment SoC doesn't benefit from it so
it would be wasted point more or less. Also you could put 5 points in +10% Int instead of Str in Holy tree if you find it dificult to reach the 4k mana needed for decent Paladin PvP. No points in Benediction since its bugged as far as i know.

The second spec is the one I go with at the moment.
11/8/32http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#sxxzZVhZxfLtbcqo
With this spec you get Repentance, Redoubt and +3% hit. You don't heal for as much and you go OOM faster than with Selfless Retri spec, but you do get a bit more survivability against physical dmg.
When you know you will be attacked by a warrior or a rogue you switch to 1h+shield immediately and you become 3xharder to kill than if you had your 2h on. Use seal of Crusader, Consecrate the area
and you will certainly outlast your enemy. You have self healing abilities a 6s stun, 2xbubble, Repentance and whatnot. All these abilities lets you heal yourself uninterrupted while the enemy warr/rogue
has only but a bandage to heal themselves. No matter how many times a rogue stunlocks you as long as you keep your mana up they should have no way of killing you alone. I've bested rogues and warrs
in many a 2v1 fights with 1h+shield and spamming r1 Consecration that its just absurd how tanky a paladin can get while still kicking some serious ass.

Here you could remove 2points from Deflection and get Eye for an Eye if you feel like it. Also Sanct Aura is not
mandatory as it is still bugged as I said. No points in Benediction since as far as I know its bugged on Nost.

The third spec is Shockadin.
While its more holy spec than a retri one it still can and is used as an offensive paladin spec by many.
31/0/20.http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#sxxurxktZxf0tr With this spec you trade your Vengeance and Repentance talents for Holy Shock and 5% spell crit. While I have not played much as a Shockadin it is still one of the best supporting retri specs. You can burst
down enemies on low hp very easily with Divine Favor+Holy Shock and 1-2melee hits. And I've found this spec very good for taking down enemy flag carriers trying to run away from you in WSG or
Interrupting flag capping in AB if you're slowed and cant reach target fast enough. The big range on Holy Shock is of advantage for a paladin as it is more or less our only ranged spell that deals damage to the enemy. Also you get to use Divine Favor+Holy Light combo like in the 21/0/30 spec which is very good.

The forth and last spec is Reck spec.[/b]
5/28/18http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#sxZVhtcchxZxf0tb- or whatever talents you prefer + reck. You get lowered CD on stun, a lot more armor +3% hit, Bless of Kings etc.
It is a very good spec for someone who wants to mostly stay in the back and heal, but also be able to defend himself from the enemy. You can stay in the back and heal and get hit(crit) from time
to time to stack Reck and when the time is right unleash them on the enemy be it a pesky rogue trying to kill you or an ally, or a Flag carrier who is running through you about to get RECKT by 5hits in
1 swing -you decide.


Since in PvP theres always pure dps classes such as warriors, mages, rogues and locks that can kill people a lot better than you can, PvPing with 2,6k mana pool is somewhat stupid. If you go for
pure melee dps gear you will have only about 10-15% more dmg overall which is not much when you can't reach hostile targets 90% of the time. When you have
enough mana you can heal instead of mindlessly chasing a mage or rogue who just laughs his ass off while blinking or sprinting away from you, while your teammates
are crying for some healing.

It is true that as a paladin you will always be kited and reaching your target will be hard in 1v1, but in Battlegrounds you should never be alone anyways(if you end up alone that's your fault and you deserve to
be killed by even the weakest naked mage)


Now lets talk about playstyle.

No matter which spec you choose. As I said in the start of this post YOUR MAIN ROLE IS TO SUPPORT YOUR ALLIES! This means you don't go around chasing people around while
your buddies are bleeding all over the place. You are something like a combat medic on the field, you carry a gun you kill people, but when someone gets hurt it is YOUR job to heal their wounds and save their life.
There will always be enough pure dps classes who wil kill the enemy, and there's few healers most of the time. That means that your heals are more needed on the battlefield than your damage. I'm not trying to
say Retri sux, no dmg or whatever. I am a Retri and I know what the class is capable of in PvP. I'm talking about being of most use to your team so you can complete the objective and get that precious honor you all know you want.

First what spells you use to heal your allies? The Best Blessing for you is Bless of Light, and the best spell to use is Holy Light and I'll explain why.
You are not a healbot, you have people to kill, and you want some spare time to get a hit or two on the enemy. With Blessing of Light+max rank Holy Light you will be healing for 1,8k+(About 2,8k crit) for only 2,5sec cast time with +0healing.
If there is no need for fast big heal on a target at the moment (he has lost health but is not getting attacked or is taking very low dmg) it is best to use rank1 Holy Light for maximum mana efficiency. With BoL on the target
you will be healing about 440-450 for only 35 mana cost, which is almost free heals. Sice you wont be in full healing gear and you will lack the mp5 that a properly geared heal has. Using the spells with maximum heal efficiency is in your
best interest. Spamming FoL is somewhat ok if your target doesn't have BoL on him and you don't have the free GCD to bless him, but is not the best way to heal without proper healing gear.

Since Hammersplat cleverly mentioned Cleanse and Decursive addon I will metinon this awesome spell also.

Be aware of the surroundings around you. Always check for sheeps, fears, blinds, nasty dots that need immediate cleansing. If you see a teammate getting CCed and you can cleanse while youre bashing someone, cleansing gets higher priority than hitting someone one more time(you can also cleanse between your auto attacks so just do it). Also if you have Decursive it makes it much easier to cleanse yourself and others. You can make a macro- "/decursive" this acts as pressing the debuff that is highest on the prio list of your decursive addon. Usually highest prio is Cleansing yourself then its everyone else, by Decursive default, but I'm sure you can play around the config to change things up a bit.

Second lets talk about seals and killing people.
If you have a slow 3,7-3,8 weapon SoC can be a good seal to use for big burst. But I usually go with SotC, especialy against clothers. You can be very deadly to a caster that cannot get far away from you If you are using very fast 1h or 2h + Seal of Crusader.
Using Blade of Hanna+Seal of Crusader it is usuall for a paladin to get a warlock to half HP before he can get a single fear on you. Usually that's when they death coil you and fear you anyways, but you get the point(interrupting with fast weap = win). Its very good for interrupting healers.

Use of SoC
SoC is love, SoC is life and death. Very good seal and even better with Judged Crusader on target (Devs pls fix JotC +holy dmg scaling soon or I'll keep getting 1,4k SoC crits like it aint nothing.). Also you can Judge Command for even more burst if the target is
stunned. With JotC on target+stun your judgments will crit for 1k+. This seal shines best against oponents with lots of armor such as warriors with a shield on and stupid shamans. If you are using Seal of the Crusader it is best to Judge it and switch to Command
about 4-5 seconds before you are about to stun someone so that you get to Judge Command before the stun expires. Normal Rotation I do to finish someone off is something like this. SotC+hit+hit+JotC+SoC+hit+stun+hit+JoC+SoC+hit etc. I hit a few times with Crusader on
then I judge it and switch to max rank SoC, hit once or twice with that if I can and stun when my Judgement is more or less ready to be used again, then Stun+Hit+Judge Command and reseal between swings. You don't want to Judge before you've first hit your target,
because if you do that you may get a swing off that has no seal on it which is a big loss of potential burst.
If you don't want to waste your mana on Judgments then use SoC rank1 and judge it only in the rare occasions when your enemy has less than 100hp. On a target with 100hp or less hammer of wrath would be just wasted mana so JoC for 80/160crit is better. Oh yea also
Judge Command procs HoJ, but you didn't hear it from me. Also HoJ proc can trigger SoC so that's a very good oneshot potential right there.

Use of SotC
If you hate when SoC just doesn't proc and the RNG gods don't like you very much, then this is the seal for you. SotC is not that much weap speed dependent as SoC and is just as good. With a 3,8 weapon with this seal your attacks go a lot faster to 2,71att speed.
SotC does not have super big burst, but its power comes after the 2nd and 3rd hit. If you can keep on the target and keep hiting him you will see how the 40% att speed increase destroys your oponent. But if you get only 1hit on a target then he runs away then
you can't really benefit from the att speed increase the seal gives. Thats why it is best used when you can hit the target atleast 3-4times in a row. For example when an enemy has just been stunned or slowed.

Sometimes its good to Judge light/wisdom on the target if the fight is taking a lot longer than expected and you can keep hitting him so you actually benefit from the judgement and keep it on the target.
Sometimes I end up fighting a rogue for 2-3min and judging him wisdom is very good especially after he has used his stunlock and CDs numerous times failed to kill me. Some rogues just won't quit and run away, neither will you.

Consecration is your friend. Its dmg scales with att power and rank1 costs only 135 mana. Does 60+ AoE dps, spam that shit whenever u can, and if there arent sheeped,cced targets around.

Don't be selfish and people will love the retri you are, be selfish and thirsty for killing blows and nobody will respect you.
These are some of the things I learned while playing on Nost as paladin in PvP. Don't take everything I said in this article as the absolute truth. Go test it find what helps you best and use it to your advantage.
Would love to read about your opininon on what I said. Please comment and let's teach the young paladins how to be awesome.

[Farske]

No one has thanked you, but thank you. I feel this is my playstyle and has helped me get my head around my talents at 60.

[Hammersplat]

nice list can you add this to it...

Get decursive.

It's amazing how many things can be undone with this. Sheep, blind, seduce, counterspell (or a silence of some kind), crippling poison, i forget what else.
From experience I'd say 50% of ret paladins will just stand there fighting and leave you sheeped.

[GTrax]

I put a mention about Cleanse in my original post . Wall of text just grew bigger.

[smilkovpetko]

dude i don't like to be terrible person but :

you are correct regarding int .

Spell damage is actually stronger than Strength (if abilities work proper where i already seen report that command work with this so its op) .
14 ap = 1 damage to command
7 sp = 1.8 damage to command
7 str = 14 ap
Agility is also stronger than Spell damage and Strength until you get 26% Crit (+ 6% from consumes/buffs) = 32 Soft Cap.
Once you reach 26% crit + 6% consumes = 32% then Agility become most weak stat from all.

[zeequenz]

Not sure why, but I legitimately thought after that Title, a simple "Reroll" would follow up, you got me there buddy.
Looks smooth though

[GTrax]

Yea I hadn't added Spell Damage in Stats Prio list because when I was posting this there was hardly any gear with +damage and healing for Paladins. Now that we have he PvP set upgraded to give +dmg and healing I agree that its actually better than pure +str. Getting both your dmg and your healing capability increased is good in PvP even for full retri specced Paladins. Have to also consider that +healing gives you more survivability when you have to heal yourself.

Also regarding crit and agility. I'm not sure that you can reach the 26% crit unbuffed without gimping on +Int stat. Since I recomend a good amount of mana so you can keep going for atleast a little while before you are oom.
Then again If you are in a premade and your team has given you only one job -jump in there, soak dmg and swing at the infidels. Then yes Stam, Crit, Str/+Dmg and healing are your best choices. Sine you can always use SoC r1 and you wont be required to throw occasional heals since you will have enough designated healers on your side, in such a scenario mana pool is not that important and 3k is moooore than enough i guess.

Also:
zeequenz -No way. Holy Paladins are many good and many needed. For those who wanna Retri in PvP, having in mind that Paladin is support class no matter the spec is important to eliminate retardation amongst our ranks!

[JCarrill0]

If you looking for AGI for Paladins, Pre-rank 10 paladin set has AGI.
The new rank 10 set has spell power
Avenger has AGI and spell power.
The paladin AB epic shoulder also has AGI.