Ret Pally Gearing for Arena Help

[Xelas]

Here's my armory link: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...gan&cn=Palanos

I wanna start getting into some serious arena, I think Ive got enough Resil but I just want to double check my gemming, enchanting and speccing job before I dive in.

Any advice and guidance will be greatly appreciated

-Xel

[Leman]

Oh man...ok here we go, I'm gonna tell you what I think you can improve on as far as what I think of ret paladins.

Here's my armory link as well so as to get an idea of what I'm talking about.

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...7gall&cn=Leman

First off any and all red sockets should have +STR in them. I see that your help has +STAM instead of +STR and quite frankly I /facepalmed myself. Also your meta gem, while honestly your preference, isn't your best selection. Ret pallys have A LOT of ways to break stuns and so long as your fighting smart you'll rarely find yourself in a situation where your gonna be in a stun for more than 2 seconds. For example if your cheep shotted by a rogue, wait until the kidney shot to use Hand of Freedom. Also your cape... I guess you could keep that spell pen for Exorcism and Judgement but I also see that your working on blacksmithing, which is great for pvp! I would replace that spell pen with either +22 AGI (which I have) or that BS enchant with the parachute. For your chest your gonna want to have +STR in the red socket and a yellow socket of your choice. Your bracers should probably have +50 AP but if survivability is what your going for then I guess its ok. Everything else looks alright except for that Jousters Fury crap. Replace it with a medallion and you'll be good to go.

And finally if you want to get an idea of what pro ret pallys look like take a gander here http://www.sk-gaming.com/arena/player/3/all/23/all/all/ that has some of the best arena ret pallys in WoW so look at them for better tips on gear. Hope this helped!

[Xelas]

I went with the str+stam gems and the stam enchants for survivability, I'll change out the meta for the 21agi+3%crit dmg since I see a bunch of people on that list using it as well as changing out the other gems. So for gems I should aim at getting the socket bonuses? +20str for red, 10resil+15stam for blue and 20 crit or resil for yellow a good direction?

And pay no attention to the libram lol, i forgot to take out my tanking one and throw in the furious gladiator libram :P

Thanks for the help
-Xel

[Leman]

With a ret pally your biggest priority after hitting 1000+ res is +STR for damage. Paladins get 2 (2.3 ap with the Divine Strength talent) attack power per point of STR which equals more damage which equals more pwning. But Ret Pallys are much more than the face bashing blunt heroics of warriors, they are very much a support member of any pvp battle with their hands to help teammates move freely and without harm. So therefore your choice to maximize survivability is a viable one when it comes to your gems. But as far as red sockets go, YES!, always put in +STR and all the other gem sockets are your choice. I went with +Crit, +STR, and +Stam gems for the most part because I love to be in the middle of the fray slaughtering my enemies. But as far as resilience goes once you hit 1000 its no longer a necessary stat as far as gemming and enchants.

[Neongreen]

Yeah i agree with Leman in a lot of ways, and for the most part aside from the Jousters Fury your gear has potential. However i dont agree with getting to 1k Res BEFORE getting your ap up arount 5k. With your gear its possiable and you will have arount 7-8oo Res after that witch is totally fine. Gem STR, and for gods sake, PLEASE LEVEL YOUR BS!!!!! LOL your missing 2 gem sockets >< /facepalm

I understand your theory on the extra stam will be a help witch is true, but if you cant kill anything what good will it do lol and if you havent noticed pvp gear has a TON of stam. When you are setting around 5k - 6k ap in your pvp set the if you like gem for stam. but not untill then. you loose soooooo much doing that.

Note: It is acceptable to gem for Str/Stam, BUT that is only to meet a socket bonus, and only do that if you are A: getting 8+ Str out if it OR B: If you will get 8+ Res out of it.

o and wft is up with your libram?

EDIT: I Will log out in my pvp gear after maintenance today. http://www.wowarmory.com/character-s...m&cn=Neongreen

[Leman]

Well I was saying to go for 1000 resilience in order to maximize his survivability, but the amount of resilience is honestly your preference. I don't really gem or enchant for resilience simply because your pvp gear should EASILY get you enough, I always go for +STR and AP, but STR first.

[Neongreen]

True Story, i usually have 2 different set ups for BG / Arena. Arena i usually have my 1K + Resil and a Weapon that gets me my 5 expertise and my 5% hit cap to maximize my performance. However in BG i usually run with about 800 Resil and have more PvE Gear. like rings trinkets and other items that have better states over all.
For Ret too, Having your 2 Piece Bonus can be pretty devastating in BG. So thats what i do, but for each his own.

~Neo