Azzie
New Member
The RETNOOB PALADIN!! And how to avoid that title as Ret spec
The term "Retnoob' or "retrinoob" is typically associated with paladins specced into retribution, although the term is strictly a style of play rather than an actual spec. Typically refers to pvp.
The retnoob is simply one who, as a paladin, plays much too warrior-like and doesn't use the defensive abilities that can easily turn the tide of the fight...such as not healing, not cleansing, not using Blessings of Protection, Sacrifice, Freedom, etc and only whacking with a big hammer.
However...
Retribution (I use 10 holy, 41 ret at level 60), I would argue, may be the best spec for most paladins to go for in small group (2v2 and 3v3) pvp, and raid dps.
In small group pvp it should be rare that one would need so much healing and mana as to require holy spec, as repentance should negate the need for healing so much. Repentance, then, is what I consider the deciding factor between Retribution and Holy.
Repentance and Hammer of Justice can Crowd Control an enemy for up to 6 seconds each, unless they counter it with abilities/trinket. These are also great for covering the squishies in your group, or as spell interrupts or finishing moves.
If there's a rogue in the group you might as well judge seal of command whenever the enemy's stunned; with only about 100 spell power those crits can get easily to 1k or higher.
The controllable burst damage part is very helpful in group pvp. If you can take an enemy down quickly, DO IT. There's no need to heal if your enemies are dead, so don't think that healing is all there is to group pvp!
In arena 3v3 I find that it really doesn't matter too much which blessing you put on yourself; anyone (except salvation) can help you one way or another. In my video below I use wisdom or light, while I put sacrifice (and always refresh every 20 or so seconds) on the warlock since it keeps me from being CC'ed (like in the fight against the 3 rogues), and might on the rogue to start off. Concentration aura is always good for group healing, since it's important for heal cast times to be as consistent as possible. When Oom you might as well whoop on sanctity if you have it...I forgot to do that in a few fights below, although you *usually* wouldn't need to anyway.
Gear
As for gear, as a retribution paladin this is really where the hard part comes in. Retribution paladins require just about every single stat and attribute in the game to be most effective.
First off, if you spec for vengeance you'll need a decent amount of crit/agil gear. But...Crits are sadly weak without AP and SP for melee and judgements, so you’ll need strength/attack power and +spell damage. You need lots of mana to keep up the heals (so +int and mana regen gear), and of course, you need to stay alive, so you should still wear plate armor. Of course, a big slow 2hander (like Ashkandi, Grand Marshal's claymore, The Unstoppable Force, Herald of Woe) is important too.
In group pvp many would argue that a 1hander healing hammer and shield is better until oom, but I would disagree for 2 reasons:
1) The controllable dps part is shot until you're oom. It's important to be able to kill and hurt enemies during the fight as well as near the end.
2) The illusion of retnoobness. I've noticed that until midway through the fight almost EVERYONE thinks that I'm gonna play like a noob and just swing with my 2hander, and therefore ignore me. If I had say, a GM healing hammer and a Lei of the Lifegiver, it's pretty obvious that I'm gonna play cleric which just asks for focused magic damage or silencing on me.
At the moment the best gear for this is probably the field marshal's set or the Avenger's set from AQ40. By the time most people can get this set of gear BC would have come out already, but just keep in mind that you'll need just about everything. The profile in my signature can give kind of an idea of what to look for, but you will probably want…. a lot more of everything
3v3 Group setup
I've tested a couple group setups and fought against a good number, and most effective I've seen is are these few:
Paladin, Rogue, Warlock --> Paladin controls the fight, Warlock fears and dps'es and silences with pet, Rogue covers other 2 with stuns and dps'es.
Paladin, Rogue, Hunter --> Paladin controls the fight, Hunter traps and dps'es and silences, rogue covers other 2 with stuns and dps'es.
Druid, Druid, Mage --> This is an interesting one. Mage dps'es, the druids control the fight by adapting to any role necessary with good focus.
Controlling the fight means doing a bit of everything; adding to any aspect that needs adding, whether it be healing, crowd control/covering, or dps.
Covering means stunning/disabling the attacker of one of your friends.
These 3 groups listed are basically the one I use, and the only 2 I've lost against.
From what I've seen priests are far too squishy; Kajuokenbo consistently kills them in less than 10 seconds. Warriors and shamans are, in my experience, too often kited and feared and cc'ed. Otherwise, the shamans are just destroyed by concentrated dps.
There are always exceptions, and every group has its weaknesses.
Demonstration
I’ve looked on warcraftmovies.com and tried looking for a good example of how a ret pally can play in group pvp post 2.0, but these days all ppl show are big numbers from ridiculously good gear. As a result, I’ll have to disgrace myself and show my cheesy pvp video from a few weeks ago!! (My most recent vid was kinda lacking in pvp)
http://files.filefront.com/Return_of_Azziewmv/;6341379;;/fileinfo.html
I was a little bit sloppy in some of the fights…see if you can catch what I did wrong
Feel free to comment or ask questions about what I do and why…
The term "Retnoob' or "retrinoob" is typically associated with paladins specced into retribution, although the term is strictly a style of play rather than an actual spec. Typically refers to pvp.
The retnoob is simply one who, as a paladin, plays much too warrior-like and doesn't use the defensive abilities that can easily turn the tide of the fight...such as not healing, not cleansing, not using Blessings of Protection, Sacrifice, Freedom, etc and only whacking with a big hammer.
However...
Retribution (I use 10 holy, 41 ret at level 60), I would argue, may be the best spec for most paladins to go for in small group (2v2 and 3v3) pvp, and raid dps.
In small group pvp it should be rare that one would need so much healing and mana as to require holy spec, as repentance should negate the need for healing so much. Repentance, then, is what I consider the deciding factor between Retribution and Holy.
Repentance and Hammer of Justice can Crowd Control an enemy for up to 6 seconds each, unless they counter it with abilities/trinket. These are also great for covering the squishies in your group, or as spell interrupts or finishing moves.
If there's a rogue in the group you might as well judge seal of command whenever the enemy's stunned; with only about 100 spell power those crits can get easily to 1k or higher.
The controllable burst damage part is very helpful in group pvp. If you can take an enemy down quickly, DO IT. There's no need to heal if your enemies are dead, so don't think that healing is all there is to group pvp!
In arena 3v3 I find that it really doesn't matter too much which blessing you put on yourself; anyone (except salvation) can help you one way or another. In my video below I use wisdom or light, while I put sacrifice (and always refresh every 20 or so seconds) on the warlock since it keeps me from being CC'ed (like in the fight against the 3 rogues), and might on the rogue to start off. Concentration aura is always good for group healing, since it's important for heal cast times to be as consistent as possible. When Oom you might as well whoop on sanctity if you have it...I forgot to do that in a few fights below, although you *usually* wouldn't need to anyway.
Gear
As for gear, as a retribution paladin this is really where the hard part comes in. Retribution paladins require just about every single stat and attribute in the game to be most effective.
First off, if you spec for vengeance you'll need a decent amount of crit/agil gear. But...Crits are sadly weak without AP and SP for melee and judgements, so you’ll need strength/attack power and +spell damage. You need lots of mana to keep up the heals (so +int and mana regen gear), and of course, you need to stay alive, so you should still wear plate armor. Of course, a big slow 2hander (like Ashkandi, Grand Marshal's claymore, The Unstoppable Force, Herald of Woe) is important too.
In group pvp many would argue that a 1hander healing hammer and shield is better until oom, but I would disagree for 2 reasons:
1) The controllable dps part is shot until you're oom. It's important to be able to kill and hurt enemies during the fight as well as near the end.
2) The illusion of retnoobness. I've noticed that until midway through the fight almost EVERYONE thinks that I'm gonna play like a noob and just swing with my 2hander, and therefore ignore me. If I had say, a GM healing hammer and a Lei of the Lifegiver, it's pretty obvious that I'm gonna play cleric which just asks for focused magic damage or silencing on me.
At the moment the best gear for this is probably the field marshal's set or the Avenger's set from AQ40. By the time most people can get this set of gear BC would have come out already, but just keep in mind that you'll need just about everything. The profile in my signature can give kind of an idea of what to look for, but you will probably want…. a lot more of everything
3v3 Group setup
I've tested a couple group setups and fought against a good number, and most effective I've seen is are these few:
Paladin, Rogue, Warlock --> Paladin controls the fight, Warlock fears and dps'es and silences with pet, Rogue covers other 2 with stuns and dps'es.
Paladin, Rogue, Hunter --> Paladin controls the fight, Hunter traps and dps'es and silences, rogue covers other 2 with stuns and dps'es.
Druid, Druid, Mage --> This is an interesting one. Mage dps'es, the druids control the fight by adapting to any role necessary with good focus.
Controlling the fight means doing a bit of everything; adding to any aspect that needs adding, whether it be healing, crowd control/covering, or dps.
Covering means stunning/disabling the attacker of one of your friends.
These 3 groups listed are basically the one I use, and the only 2 I've lost against.
From what I've seen priests are far too squishy; Kajuokenbo consistently kills them in less than 10 seconds. Warriors and shamans are, in my experience, too often kited and feared and cc'ed. Otherwise, the shamans are just destroyed by concentrated dps.
There are always exceptions, and every group has its weaknesses.
Demonstration
I’ve looked on warcraftmovies.com and tried looking for a good example of how a ret pally can play in group pvp post 2.0, but these days all ppl show are big numbers from ridiculously good gear. As a result, I’ll have to disgrace myself and show my cheesy pvp video from a few weeks ago!! (My most recent vid was kinda lacking in pvp)
http://files.filefront.com/Return_of_Azziewmv/;6341379;;/fileinfo.html
I was a little bit sloppy in some of the fights…see if you can catch what I did wrong
Feel free to comment or ask questions about what I do and why…
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