The Same Old Story of a Retankadin: the Nut & Bolts.

(I had originally thought to do this all in one post, but after writing it out in Word, it was 4 pages long and still not done. So here's part 1)

So, I’ve talked about the BGs and I whine how I get trounced, aas well as how I feel I’m playing as a retankadin. And some other fluff. That said, I do actually put some thought into the game.

So what the F*** do I actually do? And how am I geared, functionally? And what tactics do I use? I have glossed over this a bit a while ago, but I’m going to get a bit more in depth to explain what I’m doing, with the hope that someone might find it useful, and/or if someone out there sees a major flaw, they could steer me in the right direction.

Here goes…

GEAR

Overall, my gear is pretty much Plain Jane Pally (or Warrior) stuff: Highest armor value I can get, with an emphasis on STR and STA adds. I’m no theory crafter, but I would suspect, at my level, much of what I’m using is the same, whether I’m playing a Tank or a Ret paladin. The one difference from a straight melee class is that I will, if things look “good” enough, I will get stuff that excels in Intellect or Spirit, as long as it isn’t TOO bad for “normal”. (more on this later)

I love damage, so I am Spec’ed as Retribution (working towards the 0/14/51, or whatever the current talent tree preference is) I pretty much follow the guidelines for a Retadin, with one exception: I use “Sword & Board” – I use a one handed weapon (usually sword, but not always) and a shield. (My current talent tree is 0/5/24, and I'll get into specifics later.)

As I mentioned a few posts ago, my reasoning for sword & board is three fold:

- I gain about half of my current armor from my shield. (1408 out of a current [non-buffed, non ability modified] total of 2844) Or you could look at it as a 100% increase in armor.

- Shields represent one more item that can have adds & enchants on them, so I can have even more strength, attack power, or whatever. My current shield has +20 attack power, +9 strength, +3 spirit and +1 stamina. Benefits on top of bonuses!

- 1-handed weapons are faster, so you get more attacks in a given time. This is important for stuns, which I’ll talk about more in my Buffs (auras/seals/blessings) section. FIr Giggles I just added the "Fiery Enchant" to my sword, so it should be even better...

Armor & Other

As of now, I am running all Mail, aside from my Cloak. I have yet to any leather of cloth that gives me the stats I want (again, primarily STR and STA, with a dash of others) EVerything I have is green with the exception of my chest piece, which is Green Iron Hauberk, and a piece I was able to blacksmith myself. (total cost was about 10 gold for mats, and I sold a second one in the AH for 55 gold)

I could probably spend another 200 gold in the AH getting a few more points getting maybe another 100-150 armor points and such, but when I hit level 40, I will be able to wear Plate armor, so I will probably need to completely replace what I have anyway, so I am NOT going to do that.

The one thing I *might* look at replacing is my necklace., but there just doesn't seem to be much of anything that's really better. I get +2 STR, +2 INT, +2 AGI, +2 SPI and +1 STA. That's a total of 9 points, and realistically, I can use all the stat buffs since Pallies (Rets in particular) are very much a hybrid caster/fighter class. The one I would LIKE to get is Gazlowe's Charm, but until I run Uldaman a few times, or Stanglethorn or Barrens enough, I won't get it. (It's suggested AH value is 75 gold! Yikes!)

In the next section, I will talk about my Buffs (Seals, Auras, etc) and why I use what I do.