shockadin
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Editorial: On impractical playstyles and too much change
Adam recently wrote an editorial on why change is an essential part of the MMO experience -- after all, WoW is 10 years old at this point and not changing is more likely to cause problems than shaking things up. Change is what makes the game stay fresh and fun after all of these years and it's a large part of why those of us who are still playing WoW are still playing WoW. Unfortunately, the flip side of that coin is that change can be taken too far. Change can alienate players who no longer feel attached to the game -- and no need to stick around long enough to relearn how to play something they used to love. It's a fine line to walk between changing enough to keep things new and not changing so much that your audience is pushed away... and it's arguably a line Blizzard crossed when many of the game's mechanics turned upside down in Cataclysm. Is Blizzard doing the same with the upcoming Warlords of Draenor? With the beta in a constant state of flux, it's hard to tell -- but if we look back on the tumultuous era of Cataclysm, maybe we can learn something about just what these big changes mean for World of Warcraft.
The return of the Shockadin!
I think the leveling is too easy now, so I end up leveling my characters in otherwise suboptimal ways. I quested as arcane rather than as frost. I'd not learn flying until I absolutely had to. I'd do only orange quests. I also leveled my paladin as a shockadin all the way to 85. Mists of Pandaria comes along, and I figured, why let the 5 levels to 90 stop me? Guilded paladins had told me I should go retribution, that the pre-MoP shockadin excitement wasn't going to pan out. But then I happened upon the "Not Mad, Just Disappointed" shockadin spec by Catulla of Flavor Text Lore. I've styled my paladin in this flavor of shockadin, and I've been having a blast. I don't have the holydin expertise to comment on whether shockadin really could be viable for Challenge Modes or PvP. However, I highly suggest trying this out if all you want is a little healer-spec mob-killing action. Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
The Light and How to Swing It: 4 Dragon Soul tips to make your DPSers love you
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Every Sunday, Chase Christian invites you to discuss the finer side of the paladin class: the holy specialization. Feel free to email me with any questions you want answered, like why paladins are so awesome. With the 15% nerf to Dragon Soul slated for Tuesday and Mists of Pandaria's beta test here already, Cataclysm is winding down. Many guilds are on autopilot in Dragon Soul, simply clearing the place each week for another shot at an elusive trinket or item. You can buy the heroic Dragon Soul title or mount on most realms without too much trouble. With a few months of the same eight bosses ahead of us, it's easy to understand why everyone is focused on what's coming next. I am always looking for ways to optimize my guild's raids. If there's a way that I can shave a few seconds off a boss encounter, I'll take it. There are plenty of areas in Dragon Soul where a clever holy paladin can help move things along. I currently run with a secondary holy talent build that includes Denounce specifically for the purpose of speeding up our runs. If you're still learning Dragon Soul or working on a new heroic encounter, these tips probably won't apply to you.
The Light and How to Swing It: Remembering our first year of holy power
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Every Sunday, Chase Christian invites you to discuss the finer side of the paladin class: the holy specialization. Feel free to email me with any questions you want answered, like why paladins are so awesome. As I looked forward to this year last December, I wasn't sure holy paladins were going to survive 2011 in one piece. We were just learning to adapt to the three-heal model and figuring out how to manage our holy power properly, and I had serious doubts about our AoE healing and mastery bonus. Luckily, I was wrong, and we have thrived in Cataclysm. We started by focusing on our specialty, powerful tank healing, and then expanded to take over the raid healing role as the year progressed. While holy power and the new healing model were the big topics of early 2011, AoE healing has clearly been the topic that defined this era in holy paladin history. Holy Radiance's first beta version, Healing Hands, was loudly trumpeted when the Cataclysm NDA was lifted. Light of Dawn's struggle to find a place in our arsenal has caused more lines of paladin patch notes than any other ability. Learning to AoE heal has been our biggest challenge this year but also our greatest success.
The Light and How to Swing It: Leveling your holy paladin in Cataclysm
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Every Sunday, Chase Christian invites you to discuss the finer side of the paladin class: the holy specialization. Feel free to email me with any questions you want answered, like why paladins are so awesome. Of the three roles in WoW, healers are the odd man out. While mages might call it damage and a warrior might call it threat, the fact is that DPSers and tanks both excel at hurting their opponents. One of my guildmates often refers to tanking as "just DPSing from the front." Healers, on the other hand, have nearly no offensive capabilities. The developers were nice enough to give every healer a cheap spell or two to spam to make us feel like we're contributing, but our DPS is abysmal. Healers, more than any other role, are pointless without a group to support. Throughout the years, we've heard the legends of the shockadin -- the holy paladin build that doled out merciful healing and wrathful judgement in equal doses. While offensive builds for the holy tree have always been around, they've never been truly viable in any serious situation. I love the thought of Holy Shocking some hunter right off his high horse, but the numbers just don't add up.
The Light and How to Swing It: Cataclysm 101 for holy paladins
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Every Sunday, Chase Christian invites you to discuss the finer side of the paladin class: the holy specialization. Feel free to email me with any questions you want answered, like how awesome Exorcism is. Paladins have always been a flexible class. Our hybrid nature is one of our greatest strengths, and it gives us a variety of ways to solve any problem. We can use our raw might to crush our enemies, we can defend ourselves from our opponents' onslaught, and we can save our friends from certain death. The massive class changes in Cataclysm have brought us another role to fill -- that of the avenging cleric. We can now use our holy nature to cleanse Azeroth of evil (and the opposing faction). Holy paladins are lucky enough to have two different roles they can fill with the same set of gear, and this gives us a great opportunity to be flexible while leveling. You can easily queue for the new dungeons while also churning your way through quests, maximizing your experience gain. With the new Light of Dawn at our fingertips, healing groups in dungeons is nearly painless. A shockadin build also allows us to wreak havoc upon our enemies -- and quite efficiently, too. How can we utilize these two halves of the spec to create the best leveling experience?
The Light and How to Swing It: Leveling your new Sunwalker
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Every Sunday, Chase Christian invites you to discuss the finer side of the paladin class: the holy specialization. Feel free to email me with any questions you want answered, like how awesome tauren paladins are. After The Shattering hit Azeroth, it was clear that the world was never going to be the same. Entire zones were torn asunder, and everyone who can take up arms to combat Deathwing has stood up to fight. The Horde recently inducted the Sunwalkers into the fold, and they're eagerly training in the way of the Light. Now players won't be stuck with blood elves when they want to play the paladin class. If you've been on the general forums in the past few days, you've seen some of the clever names that people have come up with for their tauren paladins. Retbull (gives you wings), Skim (Light milk), and Bovinity (divine cows) were among my personal favorites. I decided to start a new tauren paladin myself, figuring I could heal my way through the low-level dungeons and try out the new starting quests and zones at the same time. It's been years since I've played a new paladin, and it was time for a refresher course.
The Light and How to Swing It: Real numbers for future shockadins
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. On Sundays, Chase Christian invites you to discuss the finer side of the paladin class: the holy specialization. Feel free to email me with any questions you want answered, like how awesome the Draenei casting animations are. I have heard from a plethora of patient paladins who are very excited about the new shockadin spec. Holy paladins have traditionally missed out on the fun of dealing ranged damage due to various issues with our abilities and talents. Now that Blizzard added some support for the build, we are now tasked with figuring out if it's even viable and how exactly to best play the spec. We're discovering new territory here, boldly going where no paladin has gone before. While we're sure that holy paladin DPS is going to be at an all-time high no matter what, the question is exactly how powerful we're going to be. Luckily for us, the Cataclysm beta servers are still active, so I took the opportunity to run some tests on exactly what type of damage we can expect to be doing. Obviously, if we're just killing mobs for a daily quest, time isn't exactly of the essence. However, if we want Exorcism and Holy Shock to be viable options in PvP or a raid environment, their damage needs to be substantially larger than it has been in the past.
The Light and How to Swing It: The return of the shockadin
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Every Sunday, Chase Christian invites you to discuss the finer side of the paladin class: the holy specialization. Feel free to email me with any questions you want answered, like how Holy Shock can change your life.. I still remember my very first character. After logging in on the first day WoW was released, I chose a paladin at the character select screen, hoping to embody the role of "holy crusader." I started leveling up my character, and once I hit level 10, I had to decide on a talent specialization. I was waffling between retribution and protection, until I saw holy's 31-point talent. Holy Shock called out to me. It was the only ranged attack that a paladin could obtain, and I was certain it would lead me to victory. Consecration's place in the tree was just icing on the cake. Unfortunately, once I hit level 40 and obtained Holy Shock, I realized just how awful it was for DPS. I never played that paladin again. We're getting two new AoE heals with Cataclysm's arrival, something we've desperately needed for years. Our holy talent tree is getting a revamp, and much of the clutter it previously contained is disappearing. We're seeing numerous quality of life improvements like the extension to Beacon of Light's duration and a newly revamped Lay on Hands. All of these changes are nice, but there's one that has me even more excited. Blizzard has granted us every single element necessary to facilitate a caster DPS holy build, featuring Holy Shock as the signature spell. While rumors and whispers of the shockadin spec have been circling around since WoW's release, it is now a reality.
The Light and How to Swing It: Hot talents and glyphs for holy paladins
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Every Sunday, Chase Christian invites you to discuss the finer side of the paladin class: the holy specialization. Feel free to email me with any questions you want answered. The holy paladin talent tree has historically had issues with its filler talents. While many of the talents and abilities were spec-defining, there were other talents that literally had no purpose and were never taken. I'm talking about Sacred Cleansing, which actually didn't work at all throughout most of Wrath. How could we forget Purifying Power, whose usefulness was completely negated by the Glyph of Holy Wrath, which itself was only used to exploit a difficult encounter? Even with all of these junk talents in the tree, we also had a distinct lack of DPS talents, leaving holy paladins nearly helpless when left to fend for themselves. Cataclysm's new truncated talent trees resolve many of the issues our previous talent tree had, as well as providing several DPS talents to give us some flexibility when we need to up our damage output. Exorcism has finally become the spammable attack we can use from range to nuke our targets, and Crusader Strike gives us some DPS presence while we're in melee range as well. The core focus of the holy paladin will always be healing, but it's nice to see that Blizzard created talents and glyphs to support both the healing paladin and the pseudo-shockadin that's emerging in Cataclysm.
The Queue: RaF'd dailies are delicious
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky will be your host today.I have to admit, o' faithful Queue readers, that I considered pawning off answering questions today to someone else so I could have more time to catch up on other work. Patch days can get quite busy around the WoW.com head quarters. Last night for example. Alex, Mike Sacco, and I had heard that there was a new raid lockout extension feature in place, so we rushed onto the Patch 3.2 PTR to grab some screenshots. Of course that meant we had to deal with the thing crashing every few minutes. And once we finally did make it into ZG to get a quick boss kill, Sacco disconnected and the server announced a shutdown in 5 minutes. But hey, we got the kill off and the screenshots captured with 15 seconds left until the shutdown. We won!Aideros asked..."When are more "hero classes", like the Death Knight, coming out? What are the speculations? Has anything been said about them since WotLK?"
The Light and How to Swing It: The shocking truth in Beta
Ok. So Paladins rock in Beta. There are a whole slew of abilities and talents that make life a whole lot easier and a lot more fun. One popular request on the comments has been to test drive the new Wrath Shockadin, with improvements like a 6 second Holy Shock and ranged judgements from Enlightened Judgements, it really does seem like the spec has finally come into its own. Of course, what looks good on paper doesn't necessarily translate into actual gameplay. With the reshuffle of talents and the consolidation of spell and melee crit, what used to be a fringe off-spec with a loyal following might actually turn into the spec of choice... for healing Paladins. Before anything, though, let's make one thing clear -- this is Beta, so everything we'll be taking a look at today might (and is likely to) change by the time Wrath of the Lich King is live.
Brutal Gladiator's Aegis
The Brutal Gladiator's Aegis is the armor set for Shockadins, or spell damage-based Paladins. It is a lamellar, or plate armor usable only by Paladins and is usually matched with Guardian's Lamellar armor pieces. The armor set can be purchased from Big Zokk Torquewrench in Netherstorm and Ontokk Shatterhorn in Shattrath City. The matching Guardian items may be purchased from Doris Volanthius in the Hall of Legends and Lieutenant Tristia in the Champion's Hall. Brutal Gladiator's Lamellar GauntletsThe Brutal Gladiator armor piece for the hands are the cheapest and easiest Season 4 Arena gear to obtain. With no personal rating requirements, most players will be able to purchase this piece and is the Arena gear likely to be most widespread as soon as the season begins. Arena gloves are also the only item with the exception of relics to have spec-specific bonuses, although Flash of Light isn't incredibly useful to the offensive-minded Shockadin. It is the same bonus as the Ornamented Gloves. The gauntlets have the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent): 1239 Armor (+98)+50 Stamina (+6) +34 Intellect (+4) +34 Spell Critical (+5) +19 Resilience (+0) +40 Spell Damage / Healing (+5)Increases critical effect chance of Flash of Light by 2%Classes: Paladin WoW Insider says: The gauntlets are a marked improvement from its Season 3 predecessor, with the exception of Resilience (Season 3 and 4 armor pieces have exactly the same Resilience ratings). If you have the Arena points for it, it's a good buy, but the on-equip bonus could have been better applied to Holy Shock.Brutal Gladiator's Lamellar LegguardsThe leg armor possesses a personal rating requirement of 1550, which isn't too difficult to obtain. For many players on median-ratings teams, it might take a few weeks to purchase at a cost of 1875 Arena points. While not as accessible as the gloves, the leg armor is highly visible on a character and is also likely to be a popular purchase. The legguards have the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):1735 Armor (+138)+77 Stamina (+7)+35 Intellect (+6)+45 Spell Critical (+6)+35 Resilience (+0)+54 Spell Damage / Healing (+7)Classes: PaladinWoW Insider says: Although an improvement over its Season 3 equivalent, the lack of sockets mean that the only customization that can be done will be through Tailoring or Leatherworking enchants. Although the arena point requirement is relatively low, the chest armor is probably a better purchase if you can manage it.Brutal Gladiator's Lamellar ChestpieceWith three sockets, the chestpiece is the most customizable Arena armor piece, and is the next best purchase after the gloves. Although the personal rating requirement of 1600 may be prohibitive to some players, it costs the same as the leg armor and should be sought after. In PvE, the chest armor is traditionally a drop from the final boss in a series (Magtheridon drops Tier 4 chest token, Kael'thas drops Tier 5 chest token, Illidan drops Tier 6 chest token, etc.). Arenas are different in this regard, but the item level of the chest is identical to PvE chest pieces. Sunwell Plateau breaks from tradition in that the final boss, Kil'jaeden, does not drop chest tokens or armor. However, the Brutal Gladiator chest armor is equivalent to the drops from Entropius and is the best combination of cost and restriction among all the armor pieces. The chestpiece has the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):1983 Armor (+158)+73 Stamina (+7)+36 Intellect (+5)+44 Spell Critical (+6)+31 Resilience (+0)+37 Spell Damage / Healing (+6)Socket Bonus: +4 Spell CriticalClasses: PaladinWoW Insider says: A team and personal rating of 1600 isn't an impossible goal, although more difficult for Shockadins, who are sparse in Arenas. If you can manage it, however, the chest piece is the best armor piece you can get for its cost and low barrier of entry. Because of its PvE equivalent, obtaining the Brutal Gladiator chest armor is almost like killing Entropius in Sunwell Plateau. Well, ok not really, but if you don't raid, that's about as close to a raid drop as you're going to get.Brutal Gladiator's Lamellar HelmThe helm is very likely the last Brutal Gladiator armor piece that many players will obtain. With the shoulders at an extremely prohibitive 2200, most players will only manage 4/5 of Season 4. At 1700 personal rating, some players will have a more difficult time obtaining this piece, which costs the same as the chest and leg armor pieces. With a personal rating attached to it, the Brutal Gladiator helm might be one helm graphic that players would like to leave on. It is also identical in model to the pieces that drop off Kil'jaeden in Sunwell Plateau. The helm has the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):1611 Armor (+128)+77 Stamina (+7)+34 Intellect (+6)+34 Spell Critical (+6)+33 Resilience (+0)+50 Spell Damage / Healing (+7)Socket Bonus: +4 Resilience RatingClasses: PaladinWoW Insider says: If you've managed to obtain the chest piece, there's little reason not to try and go for the helm, which has a Meta Socket. Although it is an improvement over its Season 3 equivalent, the disparity is not so great that players unable to obtain the helm can easily make do with the ratings requirement-free Vengeful Gladiator version.Brutal Gladiator's Lamellar ShouldersThe 2200 personal ratings requirement for the shoulders are almost Gladiator-level for most Battlegroups, and will likely be a very rare sight in most realms. Although it is the cheapest item after the gloves, it is also the most difficult to get. Blizzard's reasoning for this is that the shoulders are the most "visually impacting" armor piece, confirming Blizzard's opinion that PvP achievements should be on display. The shoulders have the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):1487 Armor (+118)+50 Stamina (+6)+28 Intellect (+5)+32 Spell Critical (+4)+22 Resilience (+0)+33 Spell Damage / Healing (+5)Socket Bonus: +3 Resilience RatingClasses: PaladinWoW Insider says: Brutal Gladiator shoulders are purely for show. Aside from the gloves, the shoulders have the lowest point-for-point improvement over its Season 3 equivalent among all the Brutal Gladiator armor pieces. The shoulders are an item players only pick up if they reach 2200 rating levels, but not compelling enough to climb ratings for. Guardian's Lamellar BeltBecause it is a visual match for the Brutal Gladiator's Aegis, and because it comes with no personal ratings requirement, the belt is most likely to be the most widely distributed Season 4 gear. It is purchasable with Honor points, so even players who do not participate in Arena PvP can obtain it. The belt has the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):1115 Armor (+88)+49 Stamina (+6)+35 Intellect (+5)+34 Spell Critical (+4)+26 Resilience (+0)+40 Spell Damage / Healing (+5)Classes: Warrior, PaladinWoW Insider says: The belt is identical in every way to the Guardian's Ornamented Belt with the exception of +healing. Shockadins with a mind to stack more Healing for versatility would do well to explore the option of mixing and matching. That said, the accessibility and affordability of the Season 4 belt makes it an extremely good purchase.Guardian's Lamellar BracersThe only other Guardian piece with a socket is the amulet, which doesn't have a personal rating requirement. Coupled with the fact that bracers are visually insignificant, being hidden under gloves or robes, the urgency to obtain them is very low. They also have a modest 1575 personal rating requirement, necessitating participation -- and moderate success -- in Arena play. The bracers have the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):841 (+69)+33 Stamina (+4)+20 Intellect (+3)+23 Spell Critical (+3)+15 Resilience (+0)+30 Spell Damage / Healing (+3)Socket Bonus: +2 Resilience RatingClasses: Warrior, PaladinWoW Insider says: As with the belt, the bracers are virtually identical to Guardian's Ornamented Bracers, and players may want to try and forego +11 Spell Damage for a +27 Healing. There are much better purchases among the Season 4 items despite the mere 11,794 Honor cost. A minimal upgrade from its predecessor makes it a less compelling sale.Guardian's Lamellar GreavesThe most visually important match of all Guardian items, the boots are a big jump from a 1575 personal ratings requirement and is as demanding to get as the head piece at 1700 personal ratings. It is also as expensive to purchase as the belt, which has no ratings requirement. The bracers have the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):1363 Armor (+108)+49 Stamina (+6)+35 Intellect (+5)+34 Spell Critical (+4)+26 Resilience (+0)+40 Spell Damage / Healing (+5)Classes: Warrior, PaladinWoW Insider says: The greaves are the best Season 4 Honor-bought pieces that players can buy. Although players should probably purchase the belt first, achieving a 1700 rating is worth the grind for an armor piece that is a decent upgrade from its predecessor and a visual match for the rest of Brutal Gladiator gear.%Gallery-25440% Looking for more Season 4 info? We've rounded up everything you need to know about the Brutal Gladiator season right here.
Prot-Gear for Holy Paladins: will it help?
Reader Ron dropped us a line about a basic gear quandary. A Holy paladin who cruised most of his instances with Bear tanks, Ron has amassed a small collection of paladin tanking gear. And he's kept it around, since experience has taught him to never throw away class-appropriate gear. His current Holy kit doesn't pack the spell crit to unleash the full-fledged DPS frenzy of his Shockadin. His question? Ron would like to know if swapping out some of his Holy gear for a bit of Defense and Avoidance might make his dailies a little easier. The easy answer here is...
The Light and How to Swing It: Three easy steps to Retribution PvP
Regular Paladin columnist Elizabeth was crit by an insane amount of work at, well, work and her co-columnist Chris is away completing his own epic quest, so like those duplicitous Blood Elves, I'll be stealing the Light for this week and swinging it around. Since most of the stuff I write on the site concern the one thing I really like to do -- PvP -- I think I'll get into character and write about something that some people find taboo... Retribution PvP. After writing about a few rules on healing in PvP, let's indulge ourselves with a little retributive mayhem. Despite being the most ridiculed spec in the entire game, Retribution can be a lot of fun -- and painful for your opponents -- once you get some fundamentals down pat.Step one: gear upIf you are at all interested in PvP as a Retribution Paladin, you must get geared up. There are no two ways about this. Unless you have the proper gear, you will simply not perform as well as similarly-geared classes and your PvP experience will be diminished greatly. Retribution is one of the most equipment-dependent specs in the game, and you will feel it in PvP. Chris has written an excellent starter guide for all aspiring Ret Pallies, which is an excellent read for learning about the perfect Retribution gear. In order to do some PvP, we'll then need to take the next step and go beyond what Chris suggested and aim much higher as far as at least one piece of equipment is concerned -- your weapon.
Build Shop: Paladin 40/0/21
This week on Build Shop I've got another Paladin build for you all to digest -- Shockadin (aka 40/0/21)! I like this build because it's all purpose, allowing you to act as the main healer for an instance if necessary, but giving you the freedom to go grind or farm or what have you without needing to respec. It's also got the potential for some great burst damage, if used properly.This build picks up most of its talents from the Holy tree, but goes into Retribution for some nice support talents, as well as Sanctity Aura, which is what you'll be using if you're in DPS mode.Alright, let's dig into this build and see what's going on!
The Light and How to Swing It: Maximizing Paladin DPS, Part 2
Welcome back to the second part in our three-part series on Paladin DPS! Our goal, once again, is to squeeze as much DPS out of your Paladin regardless of their spec. Last time, we focused mostly on the Retribution tree, and how best to slam gigantic weapons into your opponents. This time, we're going to be looking mostly at the Holy tree, though we will be picking up some goodies from Retribution.A quick word before we start -- I will be recommending certain talents over others. In any spec, there is usually a good amount of wiggle room for you to pick up the talents that you feel are best for you, and you should take advantage of this. While I will be focusing on the talents that provide the maximum amount of damage and mana efficiency, you may want to pick up others depending on your play style. In fact, I encourage you to break out from the "cookie cutter" builds if you need certain talents to support your play style. Customizing your character... isn't WoW great?Let's get started with the Holy / Retribution hybrid known to some as the Shockadin!
The Light and How to Swing It: Shockadins!
Every other week, Robin Torres investigates Paladin issues, interviews experienced Paladins and reports her findings in The Light and How to Swing It, formerly The Paladin Report.I am very interested in trying out the Shockadin spec when I get my pally to 70 and I've been trying to find info on this particular spec. Ten Ton Hammer has an excellent Paladin Guide, but doesn't list the Shockadin as a sub guide. The stickied Paladin Guide on the official forums has a lot of information of varied accuracy, but also doesn't have a Shockadin section. I'm pretty much having to scrounge for bits of information here and there, so I thought I'd publish my findings in this week's column.The Shockadin is mostly a PVP spec, though some claim to be able to heal in raids just fine as long as they change their gear. This is what is so intriguing to me: that the DPS is supposed to be similar or better than a Retribution Pally, but that you still have plenty of Holy for healing. The gear for DPS needs to be high +Spell Damage -- mostly you are looking for caster gear. Some will settle for mail gear intended for Shamans for the casting bonuses. Just as Moonkin will wear a combination of leather and cloth to boost their spell damage, the Shockadin must balance spell damage gear from all armor categories with enough AP to survive.
