Hi folks,

After trying to get some answers in game and on the main wow forums (that was a big mistake), I remembered there were lots of smart theorycraft minded folks who hang out here and I was wondering if I could get some answers or link to some answers to questions I have. I've read a few paladin threads here and I didnt see what I was looking for, so appologies in advance if I missed something.

I've been a long time WoW high end player and recently rerolled paladin for my guild and I am trying to familiarize myself with the theorycraft and numbers (since I love that stuff) to help the few other people that rerolled.

I am mainly concerned how AP, Crit, SpellCrit, and +dmg affect our abilities. I have some guesses, but I am looking for some more concrete answers, and numbers if possible.

For example: 1) How does +spelldmg affect SoR compared to SoCommand. Is SoR purely magic based and therefore regular melee crit doesnt help it, but spellcrit would?

2) Same question for Command, which crit helps it, and does AP raise its dmg as well as +spelldmg?

3) For crusader strike, it is physical damage correct? But It has a holy component that raises this physical damage, so +dmg and regular crit for CS?

4) Can seal procs and weapon procs trigger from CS?

5) How does regular AP factor in besides normal white dmg?

Ideally I'd love to find a post or have someone list our abilities, and have how each bonus (crit ap etc) affects these.

Thanks much in advance, I dont think I left anything out.

http://forums.elitistjerks.com/viewtopic.php?id=9566
http://forums.elitistjerks.com/viewtopic.php?id=9593
Between those two threads you'll find a good deal of information that relates to your questions.

SoR doesn't crit at all.

If you're referring to JoR, that exhibits spellcrit behavior (crits at the spell rate for 150% damage).

Seal of Command is a bit of an odd duck. An SoC proc is effectively an instant attack that does 70% of your normal weapon damage, plus 20% of your spelldamage, with all damage dealt as Holy. So it's unique in that it benefits from AP (because AP increases your normal weapon damage) and it also benefits from spelldamage.

SoC's crit behavior is melee-like -- it uses the melee crit rate and crits for 200% damage.

Judgement of Command is affected by spelldamage, but not by AP. Its crit behavior is melee-like.

It's all physical damage -- the physical damage is simply boosted by 40% of your total Holy spelldamage. Melee crit behavior, like any other physical swing.

(CS shows up as yellow damage, which can be somewhat confusing if you're used to always assuming that yellow damage is Holy.)

It's well-documented that Seal of Command won't proc from CS. Other seals I'm not entirely sure about, although I believe I've read that CS can proc Seal of Justice.

I also know that weapon procs and enchants can proc from SoC procs, so I'd expect CS to be able to do so as well, but I'm not entirely sure.

AP boosts the damage of SoC procs and of CS, since it increases your weapon damage. It doesn't affect anything else.

Basically what it boils down to is that for PvE dps, a Ret-heavy build will benefit a lot from AP and melee crit, benefit somewhat from spelldamage, and not benefit at all from spell crit.

Spelldamage, however, improves both healing and damage, so it's a nice stat from a hybrid point of view.

Thats exactly what I was looking for!

Thank you so much folks, much appriciated.

Though you could probably find these answers elsewhere, it's probably worth it since there are so many rerollers to give you some concise answers.

1) SoR has a 10% per 1.0 speed coefficient(12% for 2handers). SoC has a 20% static coefficient.

2) SoC can crit, SoR can't; SoC/JoC uses melee crit, JoR uses spell crit. Yes AP affects SoC at 70% of normal (as you would expect).

3) CS is pure physical, but has a 40% spell dmg coefficient.

4) Command, no. Everything else, I believe yes, but I am not 41 ret.

5) Nothing is normalized, as far as I know. SoC and CS are affected as you would expect from AP.

EDIT: Bah, beaten to the punch.

I find it amusing I've been posting this for weeks on Wow Pally forums, and have gotten awesome information < 30 mins here.

Guess I learned my lesson.

Looks like for PVE Ret +AP, Crit, +dmg and mana to sustain it all is the way to fly.