New here - are Ret paladins viable at endgame?

[btoll]

Hi, just started playing here and curious if ret paladin is a viable/desired spec for Molten Core and beyond? I remember back in original Vanilla it was a joke and no one wanted ret pallies other than to buff kings.

Thanks!

[Akalix]

Yes!

Paladins are seen in all three specs in raiding.

[Steakhouse]

Hi, just started playing here and curious if ret paladin is a viable/desired spec for Molten Core and beyond? I remember back in original Vanilla it was a joke and no one wanted ret pallies other than to buff kings.

Thanks!

In Vanilla kings was a prot talent

Akalix already answered you but I greatly encourage you to play what you enjoy and not worry about viability and parsing on twow. Every spec is performant. There are better ones than others at certain things but you can play any spec in all raids and do fine.

[btoll]

Hi, just started playing here and curious if ret paladin is a viable/desired spec for Molten Core and beyond? I remember back in original Vanilla it was a joke and no one wanted ret pallies other than to buff kings.

Thanks!

In Vanilla kings was a prot talent

Akalix already answered you but I greatly encourage you to play what you enjoy and not worry about viability and parsing on twow. Every spec is performant. There are better ones than others at certain things but you can play any spec in all raids and do fine.

Actually it didn't get moved to the Prot tree until patch 1.9 I believe, it used to be the 31 point talent in ret.
I don't care about parsing I just wanted to find out if it was comparable with other classes dps specs. In vanilla wow it was much much lower than all the dps classes. Sounds like that is the case so I will give it a try, cheers.

[Steakhouse]

That's what I'm trying to say: all DPS classes deal adequate DPS. Some are better than others but they're all raid viable, so dw about it and play what you want.

[otis5842]

Ret Paladins aren’t outright useless, but they are far from optimal. If you’re looking for a min-max raid spot, Holy is the way to go. If you love playing Ret, you may need to find a more flexible guild willing to accommodate you.

[Atreidon]

On turtlewow any spec is an asset to a Guild if the Person piloting it is a decent player.

While warrior mage or a few other pure dps classes can outperform ret in a pure DPS sense. Retpaladin offers respectable damage, emergency tank vapabilities, dispell support and judgements for his raid.

It's less glamourous than topping dps meter, but a good ret keeps his raid moving in ways other classes can only dream of.

Having the ability to transform into a healer on the spot should the need arise (your regular healer has to step out for half an hour due to rl, the fight demanding more healers than the rest of the raid etc) rounds off your profile.

[Reploidrocsa]

On turtlewow any spec is an asset to a Guild if the Person piloting it is a decent player.

While warrior mage or a few other pure dps classes can outperform ret in a pure DPS sense. Retpaladin offers respectable damage, emergency tank vapabilities, dispell support and judgements for his raid.

It's less glamourous than topping dps meter, but a good ret keeps his raid moving in ways other classes can only dream of.

Having the ability to transform into a healer on the spot should the need arise (your regular healer has to step out for half an hour due to rl, the fight demanding more healers than the rest of the raid etc) rounds off your profile.

This.

Also, one of my guild ret paladins ends up top 5 dps among other wars and one top mage. He can also go bananas right away since he can drop threat with divine shield

[Bigsmerf]

Cold take: All DPS specs were always viable since vanilla.

[Beanman157]

Paladin reminds me of Red Mage on Final Fantasy 14, sacrifices top damage for help removing the pressure from healer with his buffs and healing skills, while still doing damage.

[Gildark]

I'm BiS in a high tier raiding guild and usually end up top 5 in overall dps on a good night, Definitely viable.

[Bittermens]

They are not, prepare for minmaxing and stupid cookie cutter.
As healers and tanks they are even worse.

[Gildark]

They are not, prepare for minmaxing and stupid cookie cutter.
As healers and tanks they are even worse.

This is blatantly wrong.

[Drubarrymooer]

They are not, prepare for minmaxing and stupid cookie cutter.
As healers and tanks they are even worse.

Huh? Pally healers are very strong as are pally tanks. Heck even ret can pump good DPS. There are several tanking builds that can be used, so not even cookie cutter. I'm not sure why you've had bad experiences with them but it simply isn't the case. Pally tanks have MT'd all content even pre CC2.

[Bigsmerf]

They are not, prepare for minmaxing and stupid cookie cutter.
As healers and tanks they are even worse.

Pass the pipe

[Jemaris]

They are not, prepare for minmaxing and stupid cookie cutter.
As healers and tanks they are even worse.

Sounds like someone else (Paladin) won the SR roll last raid! :D

All Paladin specs are viable.

[bechtelar2]

They are not, prepare for minmaxing and stupid cookie cutter.
As healers and tanks they are even worse.

Sounds like someone else (Paladin) won the SR roll last raid! :D

All Paladin specs are viable.

Seriously! Paladin specs have so much versatility. They can excel in any role if played right.