Interested in seeing BoJ function with a 1 hander equiped and maybe a JV damage increase if FV remains unable to be used with a one hander. I gave a “be durable” 1hander and shield Ret build a try in a random BG. As expected Shield of the Rightous does nearly no damage BUT reduces physical damage taken from monk, warrior, hunter and various pets exceptionally as the armor boost and 10% block reducing damge taken with Vers stacked on top of that reducing physical damage taken by about 80%! Just need to remember to SotR for physical incoming damage. JV doing 5% of casters health in healing does add up over the course of a match, but with every healing talent I could muster it is not a substitute for a healer being with you, I didnt die that match but mainly because I was never in combat with more than 3 enemies near me. JV damage did surprise me in a good way with largest crits being larger than the biggest FV I’ve had, but of course overall JV damage is lower than FV. That max JV damage requires wings, saltwater potion, on use trinket, a stunned target, and a divine purpose proc. It is quite a process to line up. With the build I tried it included both “consecration heals” talents and being in consecration boosts SotR damage by 20% still usless for damage but it is AoE, maybe spin flag with it and WoG healing by 20%. Open world non-pvp combat WoG was huge, in pvp it is still only 1/5 of my 1100k healthbar with Wings, consecration buff, and WoG talent chosen so it heals more. WoG is quite weak in pvp imo. Jugement damage is just as high as playing 2hander Ret, but my talent build dropped having HoW always crits so it was lower damage than I’m use to, also I had some rotation down time and missing holy power from not having BoJ, so i used Templar strikes as a filler and it feels good, only does average 17k per cast though.
Additionally tested in a duel VS a similar geared Ret with pvp experience. I lost, but it took maybe 2.5 min for me to lose. So my take away was 2 hander Ret is the play, in all content. What if blizzard made changes so it did not have to be that way?
Not having access to BoJ, DS, and FV are probably the largest deterants to 1 hander and shield being “good”. One forum user recommended keeping the two hander but allowing a shield in the back slot which I am all for. Lose a enchant slot in exchange for the same embelishment slot number and slightly more stats.