I would like to raise some potential problems I have found regarding several talent choices for Ret paladins in Shadowlands. Some of them are not consistent between modes (PVP/PVE) and some of them are kind of duplicates of other abilities/talents.
Talent row 15: Execution Sentence
Problem : Inconsistent in PVE/PVP. Is a DPS loss in PVP because a Templar’s Verdict does more damage and costs same amount of holy power.
How : This talent is nerfed by 25% in PVP.
Why : The reason why its nerfed in PVP is because it gave rets a nuke that chunked down enemies from range with no counterplay.
Reasoning : The reason you pick this talent is because you decide when you want your target to take increased damage from you, not for the initial portion of the damage. Another reason is because when you look at the talent row from a PVP stand point you don’t really have any good options except for Execution Sentence.
Solution : Removing the holy power cost from it and lowering its damage significantly would make it more consistent across PVP/PVE.
Talent row 45: Justicar’s Vengeance
Problem: Does same thing as Word of Glory.
How: Both are holy power finishers that heal you.
Reasoning: This talent has been underwhelming and dead for all of BFA. It is outshined by Selfless Healer because Selfless Healer does not consume holy power. Now that all Paladins are getting Word of Glory baseline in Shadowlands this talent will be even less picked because Word of Glory will do the same thing and you can talent into Selfless Healer instead. Blizzard asked us what we would like to be pruned, this is it Blizzard. This talent has no real use in Shadowlands because its spec specific and Word of Glory is class wide.
Solution: The solution I have come up with is to replace it with something else. A suggestion would be a new talent called: “Glory in Battle: Your Word of Glory will heal 2 addtional injured allies within 40 yards”. Why do I think this is a good replacement? Because it is currently how Word of Glory functions in BFA (in Shadowlands it will be weaker, single target but has no cooldown).
Talent row 45: Healing Hands
Problem: Too niche of a talent and is a dead pick in any form of rated PVP because Lay on Hands is not usable in such activities.
How: The threshold for this talent is too small and very punishing if you miss it.
Reasoning: Lay on Hands is too long of a cooldown to actually play around. In high end content you dont have the luxury of trying to get value of a talent like this. This talent has too high of a risk to be used. Some boss abilities in high end stuff do more damage than 30% of someones HP. So you now face a dilemma, use Lay on hands to save the target but get no value from this talent or try to greed it and the target ends up dying. This creates a lose/lose situation for the Paladin.
Solution: Replace this talent with something else. My suggestion is to replace it with Judgement of Light (your judgement causes attackers to be healed) . Why is this a good solution? Because both Holy and Prot have access to this talent and giving it to Rets will create more class consistency.
Summary of Talent row 45: This talent row is about healing. Selfless Healer is an amazing talent and does not need to be changed. A solid talent choice for Solo play. Glory in Battle will be nice talent to take in any form of group content (mythic plus/arena/battlegrounds) and Judgement of Light will be an excellent choice to take for raiding.
Talent row 50: Inquisition
Problem: Does the same thing as Seraphim.
How: Both are holy power finishers that empower you.
Reasoning: Replace it with something else because its a duplicate of Seraphim and Seraphim is class wide and Inquisition isn’t so the logical choice is to remove it. This talent row is the most significant of them all because its the last one. Whatever you decide to replace Inquisition with it has to be something strong because you will compete with Sancitfied wrath and Crusade . These are your most impactful talents. If you have been paying attention to how much damage Light’s Decree Azerite trait does for Rets in AOE situation then you know Sanctified Wrath will be super good in AOE scenarios. Crusade will probably still dominate for single target. So what could even compete with those talents?
Solution: Bring back Guardian of Ancient Kings . The DPS cooldown Rets used to have in MOP (I think). Why is this a good choice? Guardian of Ancient Kings should be able to compete with Sanctified Wrath and Crusade . Another reason is if you look at this talent row from a PVP perspective you don’t have any good choices because Sanctified Wrath will be the go to AOE talent and will most likely break a lot of Crowd Control in PVP and Crusade needs to be ramped up and is very predictable in a PVP situation. Returning Guardian of Ancient Kings will give PVP:ers a solid choice. Inquisition felt kind of wonky to use in PVP because you need uptime for it to be worth it.
Guardian of Ancient Kings would be similar to Windwalker monks Xuen, the White Tiger or Enhancement Shamans talenting into Ascendance . They already have a DPS cooldown ( Storm, Earth and Fire/Feral Spirits )
Summary/alternative solutions for talent row 50: Replace Inquisition with Guardian of Ancient kings . Another solution is to replace inquisition with a talent that gives your spells and abilities a chance to trigger Avenging Wrath for X seconds(like how Vision of Perfection works right now) or " For every holy power you spend you reduce the cooldown of Avenging Wrath by 1 second ". I don’t like either of those alternative solutions because they are quite boring and don’t alter your gameplay enough to be fun.