Ret Paladins, How viable will they be?

Yes obviously good for PvP, but more so in a PvE aspect discuss their potential, etc.

Their potential is actually pretty good. Of course they need to respec to Holy.

81 Likes

Well, paladin buffs are needed. Raids will take a ret if only for their buffs. If a ret pally has a decent set of tanking gear they can help tank on certain fights like garr. Mostly, though, people like bringing extra paladins even if they are ret for the buffs.

2 Likes

Research Esfand. Nuff said

ret pallies will never out dps a rogue or a warrior, but given how easy classic is, i don’t believe guilds will refuse you for being a ret pally

I had no problem in vanilla with getting my ret pally in dungeons. Raiding is a different story.

1 Like

Easy? Do you mean raiding or in general? As far as raiding, I’ll grant you that it’s easier than retail, but at least partially due to only having 1 difficulty. Besides, “easy” ends at the AQ gates

Paladins are very viable for buffing the group. No need to do anything else, just rotate those buff refreshes every 5 minutes. :smiling_imp:

1 Like

Ret Paladins can meet any DPS check requirement in the game, making them achieve the minimum of what one could consider viable.

But they don’t put out damage numbers like the pure DPS + Warrior, meaning you’ll have a harder time finding a raiding guild that is willing to take you as a Ret Paladin who is going to be DPSing.

It’s not going to be impossible, but there will be some people who will refuse hybrid DPS in general with the possible exception of a single Shadow Priest for Shadow Weaving.

5 Likes

raiding specifically. leveling/questing is harder in classic, but the mechanics in raids are a joke compared to what you see in live. also, back in vanilla, it was a lot of peoples’ first mmo. people have gotten a lot better at the game since then, and there’s no surprises as far as what to expect in vanilla raids. people are better at itemization of gear, utilization of play styles, specialization of classes, etc… the overall dps will be a lot higher than it was in vanilla, meaning there can be a lot more slack given to classes that aren’t always in the top of the dps meters. AQ/Naxx was hard, my guild never was able to kill cthun and didn’t get very far in naxx, but in classic, more guilds will be clearing this content than what occurred in vanilla

I’m assuming OP knows this, I think he’s just wondering if they are viable enough to reach end game in a raiding guild.

Which the answer is yes, Ret’s honestly only get better with each raid tier but inherently speaking you will never top charts unless you’ve somehow outgeared all the other DPS’s in the raid.

Which is perfectly fine you are Hybrid DPS who’s meant to buff and do damage pew and throw the occasional heal.

I just hope you enjoy Judgement and Auto-Attack and seal spamming until Naxx where you finally MIGHT just use exorcism.

Fun Fact: Some of the guilds who cleared or stepped into Naxx and killed some of the bosses had Ret pallies, they were uncommon but that was because it was 2004-2006 and we were all trash back then compared to now a Ret would have smooth sailing up until AQ40 where you have to start doing more.

Since the stigma is really strong, the player has to go above and beyond to be viable in the endgame, like:

  • Be okay with having low priority on DPS gear
  • Be okay with grinding PvP or Engineering in order to stay competitive
  • Possibly change up specs (to heal or perhaps even Spelladin come T2)
  • Have thick skin due to the constant stigma, even if you manage to pull off 500dps in MC

I think that if Spelladin data for Pre-BiS, MC, and BWL shows that they are close to a pure’s DPS, there will be at least 1 Ret in every raid group. They’ll be the new Shadow Priest, no more meme.

4 Likes

The biggest problem with ret paladins is that there are a few fights that they can’t even participate in. So even if they were capable of competing with pure dps, that average would go down when they had to be carried through those fights.

1 Like

lol no don’t waste your time with that guy…

1 Like

Geting people to look past the outdated perceptions of Ret=Worthless is going to be your hardest task. Utalize all the advantages you can find and carry off-set gear to help in a pinch. Be flexible.

4 Likes

I personally don’t think this will be such an issue unless OP is aiming for hardcore raiding guild, If he goes spelladian though he’ll have an easier time especially since he goes from low priority gearing in MC to all of Judgement for the most part is yours if it drops, since are Holy pally doesn’t want most of that.

2 Likes

Somebody’s got to swing Nightfall. Might as well be you!

7 Likes

Get’s one of the coolest looking axes in the games + one of the best looking tier sets in the game.

You might not be doing top of the chart DPS but no one can question your style.

10 Likes

it’s legit - and you will earn the respect of your entire guild if you offer to swing it 100% of the time - all those 1337 2h weapons that drop will go to you first for PvP gudness!

1 Like

15 minutes, Greater Blessings were 1.12.

Anyway, if your heart is set on being a Ret Paladin for the sole purpose of dealing damage in a raid, understand that you will have a significantly harder time finding anything more than a bench spot in a raid than if you chose to heal. You will have to work harder to earn your raid spot and your DPS will still be sub-par by comparison to the “pure” classes. The “tryhard” guilds won’t want you, and your low DPS is a greater detriment to “casual” guilds, who will also likely shun you.

I’ll be honest here, I believe that only 1 out of every 100 Paladins trying to be Ret/DPS in a raid will get an active raid spot, and that’s probably being generous. The whole “spelladin” deal may open a few more opportunities, as would Nightfall, but that’s going to require a huge mindset-shift for the player base at large.

Best of luck to you if you decide to go that route, just keep in mind you’ll be trudging uphill, both ways, in the snow, with no shoes, and a rabid weasel gnawing your face - that’s how great the challenge will be.

1 Like