Hi guys,
I just returned to wow and as I am leveling my boost druid here I am trying to decide on a main between Retribution Paladin and WW Monk. I have tried both in class trials in the follower instances, and honestly Paladin seems more fun, but it is horribly slow feeling for movement speed. Monk is not quite as fun but the mobility is much better.
In general I am pretty terrible at this game. Mostly endgame i want to d a lot of Regular Que PvP and some light raiding up to just clearing everything on normal.
I do tend to die, a lot, which is why I am choosing betwen two classes that can heal themselves. Will I have an eaiser time surviving on one class vs the other?
Has anyone played both and can give me their thoughts please?
Thanks,
-Matt
Between Ret and WW, its Ret for sure in the current season. However some ret paladins on the PTR complained that their healing is getting nerfed in 11.1. Not sure what they meant, but they still out-healed my shadow priest.
Paladin has so many survival tools, on top of their passive sustain, and these tools can be used to help your party too 
1 Like
WW Monks and Ret Paladins are fairly analogous to each other when broken down. Both have a way to remove roots/snares and also provide a movement speed increase (Tiger’s Lust/Blessing of Freedom), both have effectively a self-shield that returns damage back to the enemy (Touch of Karma/Shield of Vengeance), and have meaningful single target off healing they can throw out (Vivify (instant cast when talented)/Word of Glory or Flash of Light when talented).
In some ways, Paladin’s are more potent with their ally-support oriented utility. Word of Glory is a much stronger heal than Vivify, though comes at a damage loss as it replaces a damaging holy power spender where Vivify is effectively free. Additionally, when talented, Monk’s Expel Harm can be baked into their filled Tiger Palm ability, adding a meaningful amount of passive self-sustain. Blessing of Freedom is on a shorter CD than Tiger’s Lust while also having the benefit of affecting an ally and the Paladin at the same time. You cannot also forget the extremely powerful CDs in Lay on Hands, Blessing of Protection, and Blessing of Sacrifice, all on top of a personal immunity in Divine Shield to boot.
However, in other ways, I find Monks to be more potent in enemy-focused utility. They have an AOE stun in Leg Sweep, Ring of Peace for enemy displacement, and passively provide a debuff on enemies that increases physical damage taken. They additionally have far superior mobility in maneuvering around the battlefield with Roll, Tiger’s Lust, Serpent Kick, and even situational tools like Transcendence.
This is not a wholistic comparison of the two specs, as there is something to be said about the complexity of their damage profiles in how you are able to weave the aforementioned utility in. At the end of the day, I find Paladin easier to use it’s utility to it’s full potential, but WW Monks excel in a lot of ways, however they are played far less often compared to Ret and therefore their use cases aren’t as well known. If you want to stand out, then play a Monk!
1 Like