Divine Storm now costs 5% base mana, and does not cost Holy Power.  It shares a cooldown with Crusader Strike, and is also affected by Sanctity of Battle, much like Crusader Strike is.  Thus, Haste rating will not speed one up more than the other.  you must choose between the two in AoE situations.

Divine Storm now functions very similarly to Fan of Knives.  It is spammable, so long as the Paladin doesn’t run out of mana.  It deals 60% weapon damage to every single enemy within range.

So, let’s run over those details one more time:

• Divine Storm cost is 5% base mana
• No longer costs Holy Power
• Deals 60% weapon damage to all enemies within range
• Shares a 4.5 second cooldown with Crusader Strike
• Haste affects Divine Storm in exactly the same manner as Crusader Strike via Sanctity of Battle
• In AoE combat, Paladins must choose which to use either DS or CS

AoE DPS Rotation

The big question on everyone’s mind is, “Now that Divine Storm has some utility, what will our AoE rotation look like?  The answer isn’t as simple as mashing A, B, and C.

First, you need to evaluate if Divine Storm is even useful at all.  As it stands, Divine Storm can be used safely with 3 or more mobs present.  If in combat with 2 or less mobs, then Divine Storm is a DPS loss.  Crusader Strike takes over priority.

Second, what you use between Divine Storms is dependent on how much time you have to cast other abilities.  Depending on how much Haste you have stacked, the cooldown for Divine Storm will decrease, allowing for fewer attacks in-between.

Third, and this is the complicated part…you have to determine if Exorcism, Templar’s Verdict, or Hammer of Wrath is a better attack over Divine Storm.  If you have three mobs on you, and either HoW or Exorcism is available, you would want to use those instead of DS, since the damage is so high for both those attacks.  If you are surriounded by 15 mobs, then Divine Storm would, of course, regain priority.

So, now I will give you my AoE rotations.  They may not be universally agreed upon, but for now, this is how I prioritize my attacks:

Pure AoE

• Divine Storm > Holy Wrath > Consecrate

Integrgated AoE

• HoW > TV > Ex > DS > CS > HW > Cons > Judge

Before we all go 800 different directions, there is a ton of time to get this right between now and Cataclysm.  In the grand scheme of things, this won’t be utilized heavily until level 85, so don’t worry about mastering AoE rotations just yet.  Get the hang of it, and get comfortable with the different AoE situations.  When we have something more concrete to go by, I’ll post them up as quickly as possible.