Retribution cheat sheet for the Throne of Thunder

Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Seasoned ret paladin Dan Desmond is here to answer your questions and provide you with your biweekly dose of retribution medicine. Contact him at dand@wowinsider.com with any questions, concerns, or suggestions!

Throne of Thunder has been out for a good long while now, and many of us have been raiding its depths every week. Personally, though, I took a short break from raiding at the launch of patch 5.2, and had only seen many of these fights on LFR. It wasn't until recently that I picked the raiding game back up and joined a new group, though with them working on their second heroic boss I was a tad behind in terms of progression. So I did a bit of research and, through trial and error each week, have crafted a short list of notes for each boss, including talents, glyphs, and special abilities to look out for.

Usually my "default" talent build is something like 221223, with Mass Exorcism, Double Jeopardy, and Templar's Verdict glyphed. In my summaries below I will try to emphasize the usefulness of certain talents and glyphs, whether they deviate from this core build or not.

Also, these tips are primarily for normal mode encounters in Throne of Thunder, though some of them may be applicable to LFR and parts of heroic.

Jin'rokh the Breaker Stand in the Conductive Water as long as you can, and get out of it when he casts Lightning Storm.

The default build works quite well here. Unbreakable Spirit shortens your Divine Protection cooldown (unglyphed, naturally) as well as that of Divine Shield. Mass Exo and Double Jeopardy are a bit useless as there's only one target, but in the interest of saving tomes I usually leave them in.

Horridon Kill adds (Dinomancers first, then biggest to smallest), interrupt Venom Bolt Volley and Fireball, Cleanse any poisons, and stay away from Frozen Orbs.

Clemency is big here, allowing you to wipe off Triple Puncture stacks from your tanks between doors with Hand of Protection. Light's Hammer and Mass Exorcism could be useful if your offtank is on the ball in stacking the adds up (Mass Exo doubly so if you have the two-piece tier 15 bonus).

Council of Elders Interrupt Sand Bolt and Wrath of the Loa. Prioritize the empowered add as you can.

Again, this fight has a number of AoE elements to it (stacking the bosses, Living Sand spawning) so Mass Exo and Light's Hammer are your friends.

Tortos Watch out for falling stalactites and whirling turtle shells. Try to cleave the bats while remaining within melee range.

If you use melee to cleave down the bats, then Mass Exo works well here, though they tend not to live long enough to make choosing Light's Hammer worth it. Divine Protection is nice to hit before Quake Stomp, so glyph it.

Megaera Stack up during Rampage for AoE healing and cooldowns, run out if you have Cinders, stay out of Acid Rain puddles, and be prepared to use Devotion Aura often.

This fight is all about burst, so Holy Avenger is my go-to here. Make sure to unglyph Divine Protection for this encounter.

Ji-Kun If you're in a nest group, know your assigned nest order and follow your group. When you're on the main platform, stay out of food puddles and do what you can to not be pushed off during Down Draft.

Speed of Light syncs up well with Down Draft, both in cooldown and duration. Most of the damage you take will be from Quills, so glyphing Divine Protection will help you stay alive. If you're jumping from nest to nest, Mass Exo and Light's Hammer will help you take the adds down faster.

Durumu the Forgotten If you're targeted by the red beam, slowly rotate around the boss to reveal the Crimson Fog, then kill it. If you're targeted by either of the other beams, stay put and do not reveal any Azure Fogs. Stay out of Force of Will and Lingering Gaze pools and keep up with the melee group during the maze phase.

This is another great fight for Clemency, as you can BoP off Hard Stare from the tanks. Other than that, our defaults work nicely here.

Primordius Kill Living Fluid and absorb red pools, avoiding purple ones. Once fully mutated, pop cooldowns and burn the boss. Do not use AoE or cleave when on the boss.

Hand of Purity could be helpful if another player is afflicted with a Volatile Pathogen. Again, the remainder of the default build is suitable for this encounter. Make sure to unglyph Mass Exo here, as any extra pools the boss runs over increase his damage on your tanks and raid.

Dark Animus Be careful when killing adds so you don't mess up Anima transfers – just follow your group's plan. Soak up Anima Rings for your tanks.

Either Speed of Light or Long Arm of the Law will allow you to get back into melee range after eating an Anima Ring or following a Matter Swap.

Iron Qon Stay relatively spread out during Ro'shak until you need to collapse for Unleashed Flame. Run out of the windstorm, dodging tornadoes. Emancipate out of Frozen Blood if you walk over it. Stack up for AoE healing on Fist Smash.

Speed of Light is great for escaping the storm. As most of the magic damage in the fight is avoidable, glyphing Divine Protection will give you some coverage from Fist Smash.

Twin Consorts Watch out for Moon Lotus spores. Stay out of Suen's Flames of Passion. Stack Censure on Suen during Tears of the Sun as you can. Don't cleave the Ice Comets.

Unglyph Mass Exo so you don't anger your tanks who will take increased damage from Suen's Blazing Radiance without the comets. Pursuit of Justice is good for stepping out of Flames of Passion quickly.

Lei Shen Use Divine Shield to solo-soak Static Shock as you can. Stack on Overcharged players. Stand under Bouncing Bolts. Keep away from the target of Thunderstruck.

Either Long Arm or Pursuit of Justice will help you chase Lei Shen around from pillar to pillar and during the winds of the third phase. Unbreakable Spirit could let you soak up damage more often, saving your healers mana. Mass Exo can help burst the Ball Lightning down quickly.

And that brings us to the end of the raid. This is what I love about the new talent system – while you can generally do fine without straying from a singular talent setup, most of our talents have a wide range of uses and it would be a shame to not use them to your advantage.

Except Holy Prism, that thing is just awful.

The Light and How to Swing It teaches you the ins and outs of retribution paladins, from Ret 101 and how to gem, enchant and reforge your retadin, to essential ret pally addons.