http://www.tao123.com.cn/blog/ en LBS v2.0.313 Sat, 22 Nov 2008 13:56:57 +0800 60 ]]> Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:42:26 +0800 Fade;330mana,30sec cooldown
Fade out, discouraging enemies from attacking you for 10 seconds.

Mind Blast;450mana,30yd range,8sec cooldown
Blast the target for 708 to 748 Shadow damage.

Mind Control;750mana,20yd range,Channeled
Controls a humanoid mind up to level 62, but increases the time between attacks by 25%. Last up to 1 min.

Mind Soothe;120mana,40yd range
Soothes the target, reducing the range at which it will attack you by 10 yards. Only affects Humanoid targets level 85 or lower. Last 15 seconds.

Mind Vision;150mana,50000yd range,Channeled
Allows the caster to see through the ]]> ]]> Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:42:07 +0800 Healing Focus;2points
Gives you a 70% chance to avoid interruption caused by damage while casting any healing spell.

Improved Renew;3points
Increased the amount healed by your renew spell by 15%

Holy Specialization;5points
Increase the critical effect chance of your Holy spells by 5%

Spell Warding;5points
Reduce all spell damage taken by 10%

Divine Fury;5points
Reduces the cast time of your Smite, Holy Fire, Heal and Greater Heal spells by 0..5 seconds.

Holy Nova;1point,185mana
Causes an explosion of holy light around the caster, causing 28 to 32 Holy damage to all enemy ]]> ]]> Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:41:10 +0800 Unbreakable Will;5points
Increases your chance to resist Stun, Fear, and Silence effects by an additional 15%.

Wand Specialization;5points
Increase your damage with wands by 25%

Silent Resolve;5points
Reduces the threat generated by your Holy and Discipline spells by 20% and reduces the chance your spells will be dispelled by 20%

Improved Power Word:Fortitude;2points
Increase the effect of your Power Word:Fortitude and Prayer of Fortitude spells by 30%.

Improved Power Word:Shield;3points
Increases the damage absorbed by your Power Word:Shield by 15%.

Martyrdom;2points
]]> ]]> Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:40:47 +0800 Spirit Tap;5points
Gives you a 100% chance to gain 100% bonus of your Spirit after killing a target that yields experience or honor. For the duration, your mana will regenerate at a 50% rate while casting. Last 15 seconds.

Blackout;5points
Gives your shadow spells a 10% chance to stun the target for 3 seconds.

Shadow Affinity;3ponts
Reduces the threat generated by your Shadow spells by 25%

Improved Shadow Word:Pain;2points
Increases the duration of your Shadow Word:Pain spell by 6 seconds.

Shadow Focus;5points
Reduces your targets chance to resist your shadow spells by 10%.

]]> ]]> Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:40:20 +0800 As you level your Ret, you’ll see different people recommending different stats for you. Some would say that you should maximize strength, some say spell damage, and some a combination of both.

As you look at your abilities and how AP, Crit rate and Spell Damage affect them all, you’ll see that Crit affects the 4 primary sources of damage (white damage, Seal of Command [or Seal of Blood for Horde Ret pallies], Crusader Strike, and Judgment of Command [Judgment of Blood]). AP affects three of them (all but JoC). Spell Damage affects only 2 (SoC and JoC), and only one ]]> ]]> Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:39:54 +0800 The Retribution tree was originally designed to be the leveling spec for the Paladin class. Because of this Rets were able to do damage comparable to any other DPS class up untill end game, where Ret DPS started to fall behind other classes due to lack of good Gear itemization and no natural threat reduction.

Many determined Ret’s did their best to make Ret work as an end game spec, and recently, in response to this, Blizzard has finally made steps to allow Ret Pallies to be viable for end game content. Patch 2.3 gave us talented threat reduction, Patch 2.3.2 gave ]]> ]]> Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:39:21 +0800 There are 4 main sources of damage, and a few other spells and abilities. This isn’t intended as a play by play of how to play Ret, but I’ll go through each one briefly and describe its usefulness to a Ret.

2.1 White Damage:

White damage, or auto-attack, is typically your largest source of DPS. This ability is based on your weapon and scales with your AP and crits based on your melee Crit chance. This is the base of your attack. It takes 14 AP (7 strength) to get one dps from white damage.

2.2 Seal of Command:

For Alliance Ret pallies this is your primary Seal for DPS. ]]> ]]> Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:38:42 +0800 4.1.1 Divine Strength:
Since a Ret pally gets most benefit from abilities that increase weapon damage, this ability will make every point of strength you get worth more. With the right gear (i.e. strength rather than AP gear) this ability will boost your DPS quite a bit.

4.1.2 Divine Intellect:
While it’s true that most of our DPS comes from abilities that use mana, this is usually a waste of talent points. Our Int is typically too low for 10% to make much difference. These are 5 points better used elsewhere.

4.1.3 Other:
Anything else in Holy is a waste of talent points for ]]> ]]> Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:19:29 +0800 There is another way that I use where you don’t have to worry about where your weapons are in your bags. Equipslot 16 is mainhand and 17 is offhand. Replace my weapon names with your weapons of choice. You can either type in your weapon name or just shift click it to insert. Here is an example of ambushing with a dagger.

/equipslot 16 Gladiator’s Shanker
/cast Ambush

Now to get your mace or sword back for hemos.

/equipslot 16 Merciless Gladiator’s Pummeler
/equipslot 17 Merciless Gladiator’s Bonecracker
/cast Hemorrhage(Rank 4)

The reason I have my off hand equip as well is ]]> ]]> Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:19:01 +0800 Subtlety is our “PVP-tree”. This is where we (should) find all the good stuff for one of the main aspects of the class, stealthability and ruthless PVP.
However, this tree is considered the weakest of ALL rogue talent-trees at the moment, as it does not contribute to more than one aspect at a time, which the others surely do.
Subtlety is what I consider a “one-trick-pony”. Its trick is stealth-attacks. These attacks rely on the element of surprise and heavy burst damage. More about this further down.
As it stands now, combat oriented specs are far better off in both PVE and ]]> ]]> Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:45:25 +0800 There are a lot of options; which one is best depends on what you want.

If you’re looking for something that will make you stronger in combat, especially PvP, Engineering is probably the best choice, since it gives you a nice assortment of bombs and other nifty gizmos you can use in fights. Most of the craftable items in Engineering can only be used by other engineers, so there’s not a large sales market.

Blacksmithing lets you make your own weapons and armor. This can be quite a help at the lower levels, since the craftable items are often better than the drops ]]> ]]> Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:45:07 +0800 A Paladin can have up to 8 auras by the time they hit level 70. Only one can be active at a time, and as long as nothing removes them, they will last forever. These auras are buffs that apply to both you and your party forever and for free. Here’s a quick rundown:

Devotion Aura
-Increases armor by X amount. (Can be increased by talents).
-Useful to reduce the amount of damage taken by you and your party.

Retribution Aura
-Deals X amount of damage to attackers that strike a party member.
(Can be increased by talents)
-Useful for tanks (especially Paladins) and for AOE grinding.

Concentration Aura
]]> ]]> Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:44:50 +0800 A blessing is a Paladins primary buffing ability. They have several of these which can benefit every class in every situation. However, only one blessing per Paladin can be active on a player at any given time.

Blessing of Might(BoM)
-Increases the target’s attack power by X for 10 minutes.
-This is useful if you need to deal more damage than usual, but not too good
for grinding. In a party, DPS classes will love this as it will let them do
more damage.

Blessing of Wisdom(BoW)
-Increases the target’s mana regeneration by X for 10 minutes.
-This is the best ]]> ]]> Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:44:32 +0800 Seals are temporary buffs that only apply to Paladins for 30 seconds. They have a secondary use in that a Paladin can judge these seals, providing an instant effect or a debuff on an enemy for 20 seconds. The duration of the debuff is refreshed every time the enemy is hit by the Paladin who cast that judgement.

Seal of Righteousness (SoR)
-Imbues the Paladin with holy energy, causing each melee hit to damage the Paladin’s target with X holy damage. (X is affected by melee weapon speed)
-Judgment: Instantly deals Y amount of holy energy to the target. (not effected by melee weapon speed.)
]]> ]]> Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:44:17 +0800 There are a few other spells that are a Paladins defining attributes after the auras, blessings and seals.

Divine Shield (Bubble)
-Makes the Paladin immune to all melee and magical attacks and removes (almost) all detrimental effects on the Paladin for 12 seconds. 5 minute cooldown (can be decreased to 4 minutes with talents).
-This is the spell that every other class hates about us. This can allow us to heal ourselves back to full, hearth back to our homepoint in pointless or unwinable fights, and sometimes can be used offensively if you know what you are doing. This ]]> ]]> Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:43:50 +0800 There is a bit of a difference depending on what level you are. Before about the level 50’s, it is not necessary to be prot spec to be able to tank the instances. You will have an easier time tanking as protection, but it’s not 100% necessary. A one-handed weapon and shield is required, have Righteous Fury up at all times, and tank with SoR for one-mob. Use consecration if you need to tank more than one mob at a time. If you lose aggro, use righteous defense to pull the mob back onto you (it does work on the target of target). With this method alone you should be fine. ]]> ]]> Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:43:18 +0800 For a while, a Paladin does not have to have points in Holy to effectively heal in a group, however they should keep a healing set of gear on them in case they do need to heal.

Pre-BC there is not much healing plate/mail out there, so try to focus on int, sta, and mp5 where possible, get pieces other than plate/mail if you need to.

A paladin only has two healing spells (unless you are a Draenei, in which you have your HoT). Holy Light is our large heal, and Flash of Light is our quick, mana-efficient heal. When healing, the policy is to always make sure your main tank ]]> ]]> Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:42:58 +0800 This is extremely subjective, as there is no “best” way to level up. In grinding from 1 - 70, you will be discovering every nuance of the Paladin class, and some methods will work better for you than others. Other than that, there are basically 2-methods of leveling up for a paladin.

Single-Target(Can be used from 1 - 70 effectively)
The idea for this is putting out as much single-target damage as possible. In order to do that, you will be looking for either a ret/holy or holy/ret build, the key talents to grab are Seal of Command and Spiritual Focus. SoC will ]]>