Shadowlands Beta Build 35938 - Ret Paladin Changes

Skeletor -

Vanguard's Momentum now increases the damage of our next Holy Power by 10% in addition to its existing addition of 2 charges to Hammer of Wrath. This is now essentially a combination of 2 Torghast Anima Powers.

Small Smooth Spike increases the number of Hammer of Wrath charges by 3, and Mark of Conk-quest causes our next Holy Power spender to deal 100% additional damage. Obviously, these had to be tuned to an appropriate level.

Overall I am pleased with this change and Mark of Conk-quest was something I originally mentioned could be a Legendary effect to replace one of our bland selections in a previous feedback post of the WoW forums.

Vanguard's Momentum has good versatility by working effectively in Single target and AoE scenarios. The addition of damage provides good synergy with Holy Avenger by allowing us to alternate Hammer of Wrath and buffed Templar's Verdict/Divine Storm. It also helps to further push the strengths of Righteous Verdict, Execution Sentence, Final Reckoning, Divine Purpose, and Empyrean Power. Stacking percentage-based multipliers is always a benefit.

I do find it odd that we now have 3 Legendaries that interact with Hammer of Wrath. Final Verdict has a 50% chance to allow Hammer of Wrath to be usable and have its cooldown reset. The Mad Paragon increases the damage of Hammer of Wrath by 25% and causes each cast to extend the duration of Avenging Wrath/Crusade by 1 second.

The Mad Paragon is the least interesting choice in my opinion and is anemic after 2 rounds of nerfs. It is hard to find good balance with an effect of this nature as it hovers between overpowered and useless. If one had to go The Mad Paragon would be my choice.

In a future where we can potentially use 2 Legendaries Vanguard's Momentum and Final Verdict would be a perfect match.

Also, I want to point out that Blizzard is trolling us. The name is “Vanguard's Momentum” which “Momentum” could imply a movement speed increase. It could also refer to an increase in rotational speed. However, Vanguard's Momentum uses the icon of our old mobility talent Speed of Light.

Soulbinds received a round of tuning. I am only covering the potency conduits as the others were just tooltip updates.

  • Expurgation has received a damage nerf and an update to the wording to make it clearer.
  • Templar's Vindication has received a buff to its proc chance. The damage increase is just a tooltip fix. Rank 1 already provided 15% damage.
  • Truth's Wake has received a buff in damage.
  • Virtuous Command has received significant buffs. The duration, proc chance, and damage have all been increased. This make it a very competitive choice and furthers our damage during important periods such as Execution Sentence and Final Reckoning.

Once the servers are live, I will also check for any undocumented changes and/or bug fixes and edit this post if needed. Overall, this was a good tuning pass on our behalf.

I do know many people are asking specifically for an “AoE Conduit” usually in reference to Divine Storm. I would advise you think about your request more carefully. If Blizzard takes the feedback on face value, which they usually do (see Auras), it will result in a conduit that ONLY works in AoE or potentially with Empyrean Power. At this stage of Beta swapping a Conduit has a 1-week cooldown. Do you really want to alternate between ST and AoE weekly? Instead, I would recommend you advocate for a Conduit that is effective in both ST and AoE such as Truth's Wake.

Undocumented Changes

There were a few undocumented changed I have noticed now that the servers are live.

A full list of known bugs can be located here.