Besides your gear and talents, there are 3 additional ways you can increase your character’s power: gems, enchants, and consumables, which make your character significantly more powerful when combined correctly. Many guilds and raid groups may not invite you at all if you don’t have the correct gems, enchants, and consumables — but worry not, this guide will help you avoid that problem!
Gems
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By far the best Meta Gem that you can acquire as a Retribution Paladin is the Reverberating Shadowspirit Diamond. Since Strength is our primary stat, we want to stack as much of it as possible. Alternatively, two other options are worth exploring in case the primary choice is not available, mainly the Chaotic Shadowspirit Diamond and the Fleet Shadowspirit Diamond. The former option is all around better since it still grants the 3% increased Critical Strike Damage while the latter option is decent if you already have a high amount of Mastery.
In the first part of the expansion, the Bold Inferno Ruby will be your staple gem for any Red Socket. As the expansion progresses and Bold Queen’s Garnet‘s recipe becomes available, you will want to primarily use Bold Queen’s Garnets in all of your Red Sockets.
Additionally, Jewelcrafters have the option of using 3 x Bold Chimera’s Eye which offers the highest amount of Strength.
Your Yellow Sockets depend entirely on the rest of your stats. If you have plenty of Hit Rating, Critical Strike Chance, or Mastery, you may use Bold Inferno Ruby/Blood Queen’s Garnet for increased Strength. These are especially useful slots that grant a high Strength bonus. If the Strength bonus is not high enough from the respective slot, the best possible option is the Skillful Ember Topaz/Skillful Lava Coral as it grants a balanced amount of both Strength and Mastery.
Depending on the current Hit Rating, you will want to use the Blue Sockets for Etched Demon’s Eye/Etched Shadow Spinel as they grant you Strength and Hit Rating. If you already have enough Hit Rating from your gear or reforging, you will use Bold Inferno Ruby/Blood Queen’s Garnet.
Enchants
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This is the best option for this slot!
There are no better options than the Arcanum of the Wildhammer/Arcanum of the Dragonmaw throughout the entirety of the expansion. You may be forced to keep using the Arcanum of Torment until you manage to farm enough reputation with either the Wildhammer Clan or the Dragonmaw Clan in order to gain this item.
The Greater Inscription of Jagged Stone is the best Shoulder Enchantment that Retribution Paladins can normally acquire. Alternatively, for players who choose the Inscription profession, the Lionsmane Inscription is the best possible option for this slot.
The main issue with the Greater Inscription of Jagged Stone is its very tedious reputation farm, specifically the Exalted reputation status with Therazane. As such, players with the Lionsmane Inscription may bypass the reputation grind entirely while also receiving a much better bonus. Players that can’t afford either option yet may use the Greater Inscription of Vicious Strength as it grants the same large 50 Strength bonus.
One of the most powerful enchantments throughout the entirety of the expansion is by far the Swordguard Embroidery. This enchantment is so strong that many players change their professions with the sole purpose of acquiring it. WotLK Classic veterans will recognize this enchantment as it gets as it was present during the WotLK era as well, receiving a massive update in Cataclysm.
If you don’t wish to change one of your current professions to Tailoring, the Enchant Cloak: Greater Critical Strike is the only other viable option for this slot, as all of the other normal options pale in comparison.
This is the best option for this slot!
Veteran players of WotLK Classic will recognize the Enchant Chest: Peerless Stats as the updated version of the former chest enchantment, Enchant Chest: Powerful Stats. There is no better enchantment for this slot, with the only other alternative being Enchant Chest: Powerful Stats until you can acquire the first option.
This is the best possible option for this slot without any special bonus acquired from Professions! For players that specialize in Leatherworking, the Draconic Embossment is a far more powerful option, granting a 130 Strength bonus.
Alternatively, depending on your current build, you may choose the Enchant Bracers: Precision as a filler for increasing your overall Hit Rating. It’s advised to choose the second option only after you’ve exhausted all reforging possibilities for increasing your Hit Rating.
The best possible option for this slot is the Enchant Gloves: Mighty Strength. For players who also specialize in the Engineering profession, a huge surprise awaits them. Thanks to the new Tinker items, you can now add an extremely powerful enchantment on top of an existing enchantment.
The second most powerful enchantment that you can acquire in the entirety of the expansion besides the Swordguard Embroidery is the Synapse Springs! This enchantment grants a 480 Strength bonus, granting a 960 bonus Attack Power with only a 1-minute cooldown. Many WotLK Classic players will recognize this enchantment as the better version of Hyperspeed Accelerators, especially since Strength is far better than Haste Rating for Retribution Paladin in Cataclysm.
This is the best option for this slot as it grants a Prismatic Socket to your Waist! Players who specialize in Engineering may also acquire another powerful defensive enchantment that can be added on top of the Ebonsteel Belt Buckle.
The Grounded Plasma Shield grants a moderate absorption effect being useful in certain clutch situations where you don’t have enough time to heal yourself or the healers are busy with other targets.
The best enchantment you can acquire for this slot is the Dragonscale Leg Armor since it grants a good amount of Attack Power and moderate Critical Strike Chance. Alternatively, for players who specialize in Leatherworking, the Dragonbone Leg Reinforcements grants the same bonuses at a much cheaper price.
The best possible option for this slot is the Enchant Boots: Mastery! You will preferably want to gain this enchant since Mastery is very valuable for Retribution Paladins, however, you may use the Enchant Boots: Precision as an alternative if you struggle with your Hit Rating. You will preferably want to gain an increased Hit Rating from Reforging your gear instead of the Enchant Boots: Precision.
Additionally, for players who specialize in Engineering, the Nitro Boots make a comeback in Cataclysm! Thanks to the new Tinker items system, you can now add Nitro Boots on top of an existent enchantment, however, there is a massive catch. The item itself has a very high chance of backfiring, resulting in an 80% health loss. As u can imagine, this situation is very far from an ideal situation, with many high-end raiding guilds choosing to ignore the item entirely.
Players can only enchant their rings if they acquire the Enchanting profession, with the Enchant Ring: Strength being the best option for Retribution Paladins! There are no other options for this slot, as both the Agility and Intellect variants are entirely useless to us.
This is the best option for this slot!
In case you don’t have the necessary funds to acquire this enchant, you may use Enchant Weapon: Berserking as a viable replacement. Some players believe that Enchant Weapon: Avalanche is better than the old Enchant Weapon: Berserking, however, the Attack Power proc grants increased damage to all of our abilities, making it much more valuable than the Avalanche proc.
Consumables
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The best flask that you can acquire in Cataclysm is the Flask of Titanic Strength! It grants an impressive amount of 300 Strength for one hour, with the effect persisting through death.
There is no other viable option, with the only item that comes close to it being the Flask of Enhancement which is a specific Alchemy-only flask.
There are 3 different buff foods that you may use during any raid encounter! Either one of the Beer-Basted Basilisk, Seafood Magnifique Feast, or Fortune Cookie provides a bonus of 90 Strength and 90 Stamina for one hour. This effect is the best one that you can find, considering that Strength is the best damage-enhancing effect besides Mastery.
You may also use similar options such as the Goblin Barbeque or the Broiled Dragon Feast to gain a 60 Strength & 60 Stamina buff for one hour. Those options should only be picked if you lack the necessary funds to purchase any of the first 3 options.
Whereas there were multiple viable potion options in WotLK Classic, the situation changed dramatically in Cataclysm. The Golemblood Potion is the best option you can opt for, granting a very impressive 1200 Strength bonus for 25 seconds. There is no other option that comes close to the effect! Since Haste Rating is not as impressive as it used to be back in WotLK Classic, there is no Cataclysm equivalent for the good old Potion of Speed.
You should use this potion before the pull as a Pre-Pot and also use it together with your other cooldowns during the encounter!
Although there aren’t many situations in which you will need scrolls in Cataclysm, there are a few choices that might prove useful.
The most potent scroll you can use is the Runescroll of Fortitude II, which can be used as an effective Stamina buff. Although useful, it doesn’t provide the same bonus as Power Word: Fortitude or any other similar Health Points increasing effect. There is also yet another viable option that is yet to be confirmed whether or not it will be present in Cataclysm Classic, the Runescroll of Might. This scroll has a similar effect to Trueshot Aura and it is yet to be confirmed whether or not it will be present.
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