Ret Paladin ICC DPS Raiding Guide

We are well entrenched in Icecrown Citadel now.  The Lich King has fallen, in all heroic and normal modes.  Some of this Ret Paladin information will be nothing new.  For me, my guild has beaten down every ICC boss on the way to the Lich King (10-man), which is where we currently stand.  Having recently been used as a healer for the last month or so, I finally was able to finish all the bosses leading up to the Lich King as DPS.

I will outline how to approach each boss fight to maximize DPS.  Yes, this information is already out there in some way or form, and you are definitely welcome to read it there, too!  But I like to write from my own experiences if I can, so this is coming straight from me!

Retribution Paladin ICC Boss DPS Basics

FCFS Rotations – Follow the DPS rotations as closely as possible.  Once you get 2 T10 or 4 T10 set bonuses, Judgement becomes your number one ability, with Divine Storm right behind.

• Basic: HoW > Judge > CS > DS > Cons > Ex > HW
• With T10 gear: Judge > DS > CS > HoW > Cons > Ex > HW

Potion of Speed (Haste Potions)

• Haste potions are best used when in tandem with a Shaman’s Heroism.  If there is no Heroism available, then use them with Avenging Wrath.

Avenging Wrath

• Use Avenging Wrath when 5 stacks of SoV are on the boss.  Ideal use of Avenging Wrath is also when your libram procs are maxed out as well.  I use Avenging Wrath at the beginning of the fight, as soon as all my stacks are maxed, then I save the second one for Heroism.  Some fights get a 3x use of Avenging Wrath, but it’s rare.

Divine Plea

• Use as needed, but ideal activation are the rare times when all abilities are on coodown.  It’s a fast click, but do-able.

Lord Marrowgar

Marrowgar is a good fight for Ret Paladins, despite all the running around during Bone Storm.  You will want to align yourself directly behind the boss and continue DPSing until Bone Storm begins.  I always chase him during Bone Storm, keeping my SoV stack fresh.  Watch out for Coldflame, it’s the trail of blue fire on the ground.  It deals damage, so make your healers happy and stay out!  My last run had me at around 8500 DPS on Marrowgar.  A good average to aim for if you are beginning to raid in ICC is around 6k DPS.

• Stay directly behind Marrowgar for DPS for main phase of fight.  This will keep you from dealing with the Coldflame.  Avoid Coldflame during Bone Storm.
• Keep SoV stacks up on Marrowgar during Bonestorm to maximize DPS.  EDIT: Marrowgar no longer resets aggro after Bone Storm.  Thanks Beate!
• If someone is affected by Bone Spike, hurry and DPS the spike down.  Ranged are often in a better position to take out spikes, and that’s how we do it in our guild so melee can stay on Marrowgar.  Plus, Divine Storm will be helping out as well.
• Don’t be afraid to utilize Sacred Shield and Flash of Light (when Art of War procs) during Bone Storm.

Lady Deathwhisper

Deathwhisper is an awful melee DPS fight, simply due to the amount of running around we are doing.  Ranged DPS will excel here, so expect them to outperform you here.  A Ret Paladin’s job is to take down adds, burn Deathwhiper’s shield down between add spawns in Phase 1, and then DPS her down in Phase 2.  Awareness is huge on this fight.  It’s an easy encounter, but also very easy to screw up…so pay attention!

• Seal of Command for the adds, switch to Seal of Vengeance for Boss if greater than 20 seconds on add timer during Phase 1.  Seal of Vengeance on Deathwhisper during Phase 2.
• Once your wave of adds are down, run to Deathwhisper in Phase 1 to help burn her shield down.  This will also burn her mana pool, and when her mana pool empties, Phase 2 begins.
• Break off of boss for additional wave of adds when the timer reaches about 5 seconds remaining.
• Ret Paladins and melee will focus on Adherents.  Ranged DPS will focus on Fanatics.
• Avoid Death and Decay at all costs.  Will look like a green consecrate.  Deals damage, nasty spell.  Will be in both Phase 1 and 2.
• Vengeful shades are the ghosts summoned from corpses of dead Adherents and Fanatics.  Stay away, they deal huge damage.
• Interrupt Frostbolts with HoJ if available.

Gunship

Gunship isn’t a boss, but an encounter where an Alliance and Horde Gunship dual it out while circling ICC.  Ret Paladins can do several things here.  We can rocket over to the other ship to take down the enemy mage, stay on our ship to help with adds, and sometimes even man the cannons.  You are not focusing on DPS here, but more so on the task you are assigned.

• Grab your rocket pack from the goblin on your ship.  Do not talk to Muradin/Saurfang.  This can start the encounter prematurely.  EQUIP YOUR ROCKET PACK.
• Seal of Command here for all tasks.  If you are light on DPS, SoV for Mage fights.
• If you are attacking the enemy Mage, launch to the enemy ship, burn Mage down, and rocket back over.  Tank should pick up Muradin/Saurfang.  If they don’t, watch your aggro!  Stray Divine Storms like to pull!  Help kill any mobs remaining on your ship.
• If you are attacking adds, SoC all the way.  Careful on threat, and watch for whirlwinds.  HoJ can help here, too.
• I have seen some guilds using melee on the cannons, who then launch over to kill the mage when the cannons freeze.  Have not done so yet myself, but the logic is there.  Such an easy encounter, there is no real need to vary things up, but hey, it’s been done.

Deathbringer Saurfang

Saurfang gives Retribution Paladins their best test for unhindered DPS.  You will be going all out on Saurfang for the duration of the fight.  Top Ret Pallies are bludgeoning Saurfang for over 11k DPS on 10-man ICC.  My max is around 9.3k (without Heroism).  You’re doing well when starting out if you can hit 7k+.

• Seal of Vengeance, all the way.
• Go all out on Saurfang, do not let up.  No need to worry about any of his abilities unless filling a ranged DPS, healing, or tanking role.
• When Blood Beasts spawn, hold of on AoE DPS for a half second until ranged get a hold of them.  Continue facerolling DPS.

Blood Prince Council

The Prince fight is a mind boggling wall of text in regards to their attacks and abilities.  There is a lot going on in this fight, so pay attention to what is going on around you.  However, for Ret Paladins, we really are only worrying about two of the abilities…Shock Vortex and Empowered Shock Vortex.

• Seal of Vengeance
• DPS down the Prince that actually has HP.  There will be one Prince at a time that can be DPSed.  He will be marked by a red, orb-like cloud around his mid-section.  You will be switching between Princes the whole fight.
• Shock Vortex spawns near one player.  Move away at least 13 yards or suffer damage and a powerful knockback.
• Empowered Shock Vortex will spawn near all players.  Move safely away (13 yards) and avoid other players vortexes as well.

Blood Queen Lana’thel

The Blood Queen fight is a unique encounter.  Basically, you will let the two tanks get aggro first, then DPS until she goes in to the air.  When she goes into the air, you need to hug a wall to avoid Swarming Shadows.  DPS again when she lands.  If you get Pact of the Darkfallen, you will need to run to a pre-set spot (usually the middle), and get as close as you can to any other players with the debuff.  This will remove it.  Finally, when you get ‘bitten’ by Vampiric Bite, DPS hard and fast and make sure to ‘bite’ other players when prompted to do so.  Vampiric Bite gives 100% increase to damage, as well as generates self-heals from damage done.  You will have this buff for 75 seconds before you must bite another player.  You have 15 seconds to do so, or you will be mind controlled by Blood Queen, with a steroidal boost to your damage, becoming a wrecking ball to your raid.

Let’ do a generic set-up here on the Vampiric Bites for those that need a little more detail.   Here is the raid make-up:

• 2 tanks: Warrior, Death Knight
• 3 healers: Priest, Shaman, Druid
• 3 ranged DPS: Hunter, Mage, Warlock
• 2 Melee DPS: Paladin, Rogue

Your top DPS are ranked: Rogue, Paladin, Mage, Hunter, Warlock.  You will want to set up a ‘bite’ order before the fight.  After DPS, the tanks get bitten, and finally the healers.

Let’s say luck favors your group and the Rogue is bitten first.  You will want top DPS to be bitten first so they do more damage longer.  The Rogue needs to bite someone, so you are next top DPS, and you get bitten.  Now two players have the buff/debuff.  Time elapses and it’s time to bite again.  Now each of you must bite someone.  The chain will look something like this:

1. Rogue -> Paladin
2. Rogue -> Mage, Paladin -> Hunter
3. Rogue -> Warlock, Paladin ->Warrior, Mage -> Death Knight, Hunter -> Shaman
4. Rogue -> Priest, Paladin -> Druid

Know who you are going to bite beforehand.  Once everyone is bitten, you are SoL, so get her down fast!

• Seal of Vengeance
• Run to walls on air phase to avoid Swarming Shadows.  Shadow Resist aura can help here.
• Group hug for Pact of the Darkfallen.
• Burn all cooldowns when ‘bitten’.
• Remember who you are going to bite and be aware of where they are on the field of battle.
• Bite healers last!

Festergut

Festergut is an easy fight, and Retribution Paladins can more or less go crazy on DPS.  The main thing to watch out for is the Gas Spores.  Gas Spores will hit random members of the raid.  If you get a Gas Spore, you must either run to the tanks, or run to the ranged DPS, as this will add a stacking buff increasing shadow resistance.  When Festergut erupts with his Pungent Blight, it will deal mass AoE damage, therefore everyone in the raid must be affected a spore.  When the spores explode, return to your DPS position and resume DPS.

• Seal of Vengeance
• If you HAVE a Gas Spore, run to the tanks.  If someone is already there with a spore, move to the ranged DPS position that needs a spore. This takes quick reaction time, so pay attention.  Zoom all the way out with your camera on this fight.
• If you DON’T HAVE a Gas Spore, run to the tanks and DPS the boss head on.
• Continue to max DPS until Festergut dies.  This is a high Paladin DPS fight.

Rotface

Rotface is Festergut’s more complicated twin.  This is not a Ret Paladin friendly fight, especially if you are continuously dragging oozes around.  Begin DPS on Rotface, and make sure to maneuver behind him for Slime Spray.  If you get affected by Mutated Infection, you wil lspawn an ooze behind you that will deal damage.  Your job now is to stop DPS, and run to the off-tank that should be running in circles around the edge of the room.  The tank will be dragging a larger (or smaller) ooze behind him or her.  Your job is to align your ooze so that it comes in close proximity to the tank’s ooze.  They will join, and you can run back and continue DPS.  The tank’s ooze will continue to get bigger as more people bring smaller oozes to join it.  Eventually it will explode, raining down damaging ooze on random player locations.  Move away from any position where a player was originally standing at the time of the explosion.  This is very easy to avoid.  Rinse and repeat until Rotface is down.

• Seal of Vengeance
• Open up DPS, move behind boss for Slime Spray.
• With Mutated Infection, run your ooze to the off-tank.  Make sure your ooze joins with another before running back.  Cleanse when you reach the off-tank.
• Stay away from larger oozes, they hurt.
• Green slime on the floor deals damage, and reduces movement speed.  Don’t panic if you’re in it briefly, but don’t stay in it either.
• On explosions, run away from your original position, and avoid other raid member’s as well.
• Execution mastery is key here.  Do not expect to out-DPS ranged for this fight.

Professor Putricide

Professor Putricide is another boss that can be difficult to master, but if everyone is doing their job right, then it’s surprisingly easy.  As a Ret Paladin, you will be responsible for a) DPSing the boss, and b) burning down the gases and slimes that spawn.

• Seal of Vengeance for Putricide, Seal of Command (assuming T10 level gear, otherwise SoR) for slimes and gases.
• Phase 1 – Open up DPS on boss, stay out of slime on the ground…It damages and it hurts.  Your OT should be clearing this up.  DPS Slimes and Gases ASAP.
• Don’t attack slimes until they choose a target…DPS once the slime is moving in on its target.  Slimes will target a player and root them in place.  If you are targeted by the Gases, you must kite them around until they are killed.  Do not let them catch up to you.
• DPS Putricide in between adds.
• Phase 2 – Exact same as Phase 1 except Putricide lays bombs on the ground in the form of orange vials.  Stay away from these, they hurt.
• Phase 3 – Adds go away, and Putricide must be tanked away from the ever-growing pools of ooze.  This is a DPS race at this point, so burn him down fast!

Valithria

In order to defeat the Valithria encounter, you must actually HEAL Valithria to 100%.  Double Holy Paladins are excellent for this, and we have had a great experience with myself off-speccing Holy and healing for this fight with one of our main spec Holy Pallies, while one of our Priests fills my DPS slot.  However, if you are running as Ret, you will be dealing with adds, and lots of them.  How you taken them down, and in what order, depends greatly on your raids make-up and strategy.

• Seal of Command
• Blazing Skeletons and Blistering Zombies deal some decent damage.  Usually high on the priority list.
• Suppressors reduce the amount of healing on a target.  Medium priority.  Can be AoE’d
• Risen Archmages will cast Column of Frost, which will appear as a bright circle on the ground, move away from it, or be launched into the ceiling.  Column of Frost also deals around 10k damage.  They also cast mana void, which will drain mana to any player within a 6 yard radius of the Archmage.  Stay away.
• Keep the adds busy until the healers get Valithria to 100%.
• Throwing random Flash of Lights and a Lay on Hands on Valithria doesn’t hurt either!

Sindragosa

Sindragosa is a complicated fight, so I am going to try and break this down as simple as possible.  There are 3 phases.  Phase 1 involves DPS, DPS, and more DPS.  Phase 2 involves Sindragosa flying into the air, and freezing 2 players in an ice tomb.  The rest of the raid must hide behind these tombs while Sindragosa fires 4 high damage Frost bombs, one at a time, towards the raid.  The raid must break the two frozen players out of the tomb by DPSing them, careful not to completely break them free until all 4 Frost Bombs have hit the ground.  Phase 1 and 2 rinse and repeat until Sindragosa hits 35% HP.

Phase 3 will involve more DPS, but it will constantly be interrupted by the need to remove a debuff called Mystic Buffet.  You remove this debuff by hiding behind Ice Tombs she casts on a random player throughout phase 3.  A Ret Paladin’s job is to DPS down the tombs from behind, using line of sight to remove the debuff at the same time.  When there is no tomb up, continue DPS on boss.  This may only be for 5 or 6 seconds before another tomb pops.  Sindragosa is not a DPS race.  It’s about surviving and mastering technical aspects of the fight.

• Seal of Vengeance
• Phase 1 DPS hard and fast.
• Don’t stand in front or behind Sindragosa, there is a nasty cleave and tail swipe, respectively.
• Watch out for Icy Grip, this will suck all raid members to Sindragosa.  You MUST run out of this, because immediately after Icy Grip, Sindragosa casts Blistering Cold, which a 30k AoE spell.  Blistering Cold is a 5 second cast, so you have 5 seconds to clear her AoE radius.  This persists through Phases 1 and 3.
• Phase 2, if you are going to be tombed, run to your raids designated area.  Do not stand too close to the other tomb-marked person.
• Phase 2, if you are not tombed, DPS tombs down, but do not destroy them.  Leave them up and hide behind them to shield from Frost Bombs.  Destroy them after 4th bomb drops.
• Zoom out fully on your camera view.  This allows for clear viewing of everything going on in the fight.
• Phase 3, at 35% DPS Sindragosa with everything you have.  When first tomb appears, DPS tomb down fast.  Do not let multiple tombs start stacking up. This will guarantee a wipe.
• Phase 3, if you are going to be tombed, run to your raid’s designated tomb area.  Make sure you are clear of anyone near you, as anyone close will be tombed as well.
• Phase 3, between tombs, DPS Sindragosa.  Expect ranged DPS to best us here, since they will be moving less.  This is not a DPS fight for any class.
• Watch your debuffs, remove as needed.

Lich King

Yours truly is currently working on the Lich King.  I will have some general info up soon, and will further enhance this information once we have taken Arthas down!