Day three of Retribution Paladins in Patch 4.0.1 and I must say, this has been a much better day. The quick fixes Blizzard added to remedy our poor DPS included a buffing of Hammer of Wrath damage by 300%, and boosting Crusader Strike damage form 120% o 150%. Both of these were very noticeable in testing.
Avenging Wrath vs Zealotry
In the previous two days, we had been combining Avenging Wrath and Zealotry to be used at the same time. Well, with Hammer of Wrath hitting so hard, it appears we could use the two separately. This is currently being debated on EJ, with AW + Zealotry still coming out on top. My own testing did not confirm this, so it looks like we have more to hash out.
My fights with AW and HoW used first, followed by Zealotry and TV gave me slightly more DPS. Now, I may have to go back and correct a few things, because those guys on EJ are pretty darn smart! If anything I test contradicts the general consensus over there, I always fell the need to take a closer look at my approach. More to come on this later.
Target Dummy Damage Increase!
A lackluster 4.7k to 5k DPS on dummies is all I could manage in the first couple days of Patch 4.0.1. Today, with the Blizz buffs to HoW and Exorcism, I was hitting 7k-7.3k. Much, much better. I am very pleased with this result. When Blizz makes changes to our class, I am okay if it results in a small initial DPS loss. But when we get a sizable deflation, that’s kind of frustrating. All is well though, much improved DPS today.
5-Man DPS increase!
Ran a few 5-mans, with my overall DPS ranging from 5k to 6k. Bosses were trials, as I was testing AW +HoW separate from Zealotry and Templar’s Verdict. For those short fights, Avenging Wrath and Hammer of Wrath were generating 9k+ DPS. Zealotry and Templar’s Verdict alone were generating 6k+ DPS. I did not test out AW + Zealotry together in a 5-man this time around.
Fixed My Gear
Had to downgrade my bracers from 251 leather to 245 plate. This was to get the 5% bonus to strength for equipping all plate gear. I also pinpointed my haste softcap, and converted everything extra to Mastery. I am now hit, expertise, and haste capped. Since crit is on every piece of gear I own, I could not reforge that way…had to choose Mastery instead.
Switched my meta gem to the Chaotic Skyflare. Needs 2 blue gems to activate, so I used a +haste/+hit gem. Not the best gem to use, I know, but I’m trying some things out. The gem situation is far from over, and I am working really hard to get you guys some concrete gems to put into your gear!
Earthquakes!
Everytime those Earthquakes shoot off, I get a little more excited! For Alliance toons, stop by the Stormwind Throne Room to view all the Alliance leaders and their dialogue about the current Cataclysmic events. Very cool in my opinion.
More leveling!
I have shot up from 34 to 42 in about 5 hours total. DPS is so awesome while leveling, I can’t wait to start those posts up again for Cataclysm! Did you know gathering professions now yield experience when you gather a raw material that grants a skill point? I was wondering how I was jumping up in XP so fast!
The changes to CS and HoW are definitely great. Pulled 10k on Toravon in VOA 10-man which I think is almost close to what I was pulling pre-patch.
Question though, How much crit is enough before going for more mastery on reforge? Tried getting more mastery after getting haste cap yesterday and it was a dps loss for me. Can’t remember for how much though.
I think the hotfix will be significantly nerfed in a few more days. Reason being is since it hit my dps has jumped up so high that it’s impossible for me to actually go all out on anything. I spend the majority of my top hitting escape to detarget and sit there just to start all over again a few seconds later once the tank has had time to catch up. So far with the best tank I could find on my server I’ve managed about 26k on Festergut, Bloodqueen (since I generate no threat) I’ve broken 67k before I had to run off n’ find a mage to bite, after the first air phase (due to dots ticking) I was still over 40k. She was at 48% before air phase.
With numbers like these I feel that there’s a major nerf in the works.
Also a note to other rets out there.. if your gear has crit but no haste on it.. reforge your crit to haste. You’ll notice a dramatic improvement..and please for the time being stay away from mastery.
Varthin, you’re DPS numbers are insane, feel free to explain you’re rotation cause i am anyway near that and it is not my gear.
Hi,
Maybe I am not reading very well, but I am having serious trouble with mana. It seems I constantly don’t have enough and when I use Consecration I burn half of my mana. Prepatch i didnt have to worry about my mana with the judgement and all. Do you have any tips to solve this problem?
and Varthin…… LOL!
67K? Why are you even bothering with a party!! I am with Exornn on this one, I would love to see your rotation – your gear looks very similar to many Pallies on my server who are not pulling anything like 26 – 67K
- Hawk
@Elmer – Snuiter I personally don’t use consecration that much anymore unless it’s an AOE mob and even then only when everything else on the rotation is on CD. If you’re following the AOE rotation right, you should be busy enough that you won’t really need consecration that often (enough to cause mana probs) so if you cast it the once, then judgement and divine plea, you should have your mana back by the time you need another one.
Very nice overall.
You get experience for gathering on anything… I was gathering low level ore on my dk and was getting xp on it… mind you, it’s not much but it was some (3k xp on cobalt vs 50 on tin) but its still some.
I don’t seem to see any of these changes applied to my char. This are on live, right? Cause my Zealotry still consumes all my holy power. And I don’t see the damage increase on any of my other spells =/
The Zealotry change is in the Beta test,so we won’t see it yet. The other damage increases should be there, viewable via tooltips.
I love the new mechanic sooo much more than the old style.. I am actually getting more dps now than I was pre patch. Thanks for the info Khor!
Been wondering all day if the changes to Crusader Strike & Hammer of Wrath were live, cause as far as I can see on my tooltips, CS is still a 156% weapon damage attack (flat 120% as holy), and HoW still does 2419 damage, influenced by gear.
On the other hand, the dps on dummies have gone up noticably since thursday, floating around 9.5k over the course of several mio. The “tests” I’ve done so far, have solely been on dummies, and are therefor rather inaccurate, but the difference from thursday suggest they’ve hotfixed something.
I haven’t noticed much of a difference; I was struggling to hit 5k before the patch, struggling to hit 5k after the patch, and now I’m just about managing 7500 on the dummy while everyone else is doing 10k plus. Including Mages in 4-T9.
On the flip side my Holy HPS has gone from 3000 to 6000+, which is a bonus.
I’m not seeing much of a difference personally. On the dummy I was struggling to sustain 5k before the patch, struggling to sustain 5k after it, and now am able to just about hold 7400 while everyone else is doing 10k plus. Including mages in 4-T9.
On the plus side my HPS in Holy has doubled, which is quite funny.
Well, I’m having troubles with my DPS I lost about 2k DPS but to be honest I think that I’m just not burning correctly my CDs… it is going to take a while to erase my former rotation