Last time we looked into Holy changes in the upcoming 3.2 patch. Now let’s take a look at the Retribution tree in 3.2. Although Paladin class changes focused mostly on Holy, Retribution received a few changes as well.

Exorcism: Now has a 1.5 second cast time, but can once again be used on players.

Judgements: Some of these attacks were considered ranged and some melee. They are all now considered melee attacks that can’t be dodged, parried or blocked.

Judgement of Light: Now heals for 2% of the attacker’s maximum health instead of a variable amount based on the spell power and attack power of the judging paladin.

Seal of Blood/ Martyr: This ability has been removed.

Seal of Vengeance/ Corruption: These seals have been redesigned to deal substantially more damage. Now, once a paladin has 5 copies of the debuff from these seals on his or her target, on each swing the paladin will deal 33% weapon damage as Holy, with critical strikes dealing double damage. In addition, the damage-over-time effect is now considered a melee attack instead of a spell attack.

Art of War: Now only applies to melee critical hits, but will make your next Flash of Light or Exorcism instant. In addition, this talent now provides notification in the floating combat text when it activates.

Crusader Strike: Damage reduced to 75% weapon damage to match the new 4-second cooldown. Mana cost reduced to 5% of base mana.

Seal of Command: Redesigned. This seal now deals 36% weapon damage on every swing, and deals substantially less judgement damage.

Vindication: Redesigned. Now lowers target attack power, is consistent and does not stack with Demoralizing Shout.

Hand of Reckoning: Redesigned. Now does damage only when the target does not currently have the caster targeted, but damage done increased to 50% of attack power, occurring after the taunt effect is applied.

The biggest change is obviously the removal of Seal of Blood/ Martyr, and Seal of Vengeance/ Corruption the new standard Seal for DPS. The top priority when using Seal of Vengeance/ Corruption is obviously getting its attack to reach 5 stacks as soon as possible. Only when you have applied 5 stacks of debuff then can your Seal attacks yield its full damage potential. With Crusader Strike cooldown lowered to 4 seconds, it should not take long to apply a full 5 stack on the target. Also when at 5 stacks, Judgements proc Seal attacks as well, so you want Seal of Vengeance/ Corruption to stack fully ASAP.

The downside to Seal of Vengeance/ Corruption is that Seal attacks can be resisted, DoT application can be dodged and resisted.

However note that all this information i obtained are from players on the PTR, so there will be changes and adjustments. At the moment the Seal changes seem to be working out pretty well. Talent wise, you will now want to have Seals of the Pure, which increases Seal/Judgement of Vengeance/ Corruption damage by 15%.

Another great change is Art of War, which now allows you to cast Exorcism instantly whenever you crit. At least you now have the option to either heal or DPS when Art of War procs. Currently Art of War is a useful talent, but doesn’t lives up to its name. (Art of War procs, heal yourself? WTH?)

Lastly another change is Crusader Strike, lowered to 4 seconds and 75% damage. Opinion is divided on this one, some thinks a lower CD will yield higher DPS while others disagreed. But one thing is certain, this bloody 41-point needs a debuff effect. It’s been a simple melee strike attack for a few years now, and a debuff effect is due.

Here’s a deeper look in Holy in Patch 3.2. For those concerned about the changes to Holy in the coming patch, this is a informative read.

First let’s look at the changes again,

Judgement of Light: Now heals for 2% of the attacker’s maximum health instead of a variable amount based on the spell power and attack power of the judging paladin.

Sacred Shield: When a paladin casts Flash of Light on a target with this buff, they also now place a heal-over-time effect on the target, healing that target for 100% of the Flash of Light amount over 12 seconds

Beacon of Light: The healing amount on the Beacon of Light target is now based on the total healing done (including over-healing) instead of the effective healing done. Radius increased to 60 yards. Multiple Paladins can now have this active on the same target. Buff indicating a player is within range of the Beacon target is no longer displayed.

Divine Intellect: This talent now gives 2/4/6/8/10% increased intellect instead of 3/6/9/12/15%.

Illumination: This talent now returns 30% of the mana cost of the spell instead of 60%.

In addition,

Mana Regeneration: All items that provide “X mana per five seconds” have had the amount of mana they regenerate increased by approximately 25%.

Replenishment: This buff now grants 1% of the target’s maximum mana over 5 seconds instead of 0.25% per second. This applies to all 5 sources of Replenishment (Vampiric Touch, Judgements of the Wise, Hunting Party, Enduring Winter Frostbolts and Soul Leech).

Overall great changes but as you can see the mana refund from Illumination went from 60% to 30%, a substantial amount. Still with Beacon of Light buffed and the new ability of Sacred Shield we are able to get more healing than before. Blizzard’s intention is to make paladins worry about their mana regeneration, h
ence the Illumination nerf and the buffs to MP5 gear and Replenishment.

Healing wise we are able to multitask better, with Beacon of Light able to heal the Beacon(usually the tank) for the full amount even if the heal lands on a raid member with 100% health. With Flash of Light providing a HoT on a member with Sacred Shield we are able to dish out more healing.

The counter to this is obviously mana regeneration issues, Holy paladins now have to be more careful with their casting in Patch 3.2 with Illumination nerfed. Unlike Priests and Druids who obey the 5 second rule, where they regenerate substantial mana if they are able to stop casting for 5 seconds. In priest/druid itemization and talents, mana regeneration and spirit is an important stat. Paladins however, place these stats on the lowest priority, with Intellect and Critical Rating being the most important due to Illumination in the past. By having a huge mana pool and a high critical rate, Illumination used to be able to provide the mana regeneration paladins need to last through a fight. With the nerf, Illumination is no longer a reliable way for mana conversation. Actually I should use the word conservation instead of regeneration.

To cope with this problem the obvious way is better mana management. This requires better utilization of Divine Illumination, Divine Plea and other spells such as Divine Sacrifice. When the fight enters a intense situation where the whole raid takes damage, it would be wise to pop Divine Shield with Divine Sacrifice to absorb the raid damage to conserve mana.

Divine Plea is a tricky spell use considering the 50% reduction to heals, which means its only usable when you are able to share the healing tasks with another healer. A popular workaround is to combine it with Divine Illumination, Avenging Wrath and using Trinkets to heal and regenerate in that period. Think about it, with Divine Illumination and Divine Plea, you are technically healing for the same amount, only it takes you twice as long to cast the heal. With Avenging Wrath and trinkets you in fact are increasing your healing. Let me clarify,

With Divine Plea and Divine Illumination,
Healing lowered tp 50% effective
Mana cost lowered to 50% required

which balances out, you’re paying half the mana cost for heals that’s half effective. Full mana cost equals heals that’s 100% effective without Divine Plea and Divine Illumination.

With Avenging Wrath and Spellpower Trinkets
Avenging Wrath adds 20% healing
Trinkets boost spellpower

which effectively increases healing output. So adding these effects, you healing at 60% + spellpower boost with 50% mana cost per spell.

So effectively, you’re healing at full potential or more, only that you are taking twice as long to do that AND you are regenerating mana. The only downside is whether the tank is capable of dealing with the longer inflow of heals.

As of now there are few alternative strategies for regenerating mana, such as attacking with Seal of Wisdom. But with 3.2 still in the PTR, all is not set in stone yet. Watch this page for more news.