The Shockadin - A Complete Guide

[abhorsenjay]

The Shockadin - A Complete Guide

Hello again everyone! Recently I’ve decided to level a Paladin using mainly battlegrounds as my tool. I’ve jumped around with specs a fair bit until I finally decided upon possibly the most controversial of all specs, the Shockadin. In the past I had heard lots of good, and lots of bad about Shockadins, so I figured the best way to know for sure was to try one out for myself. I am pleased to say that I am finding the build very enjoyable, and I have been roflstomping noobs aplenty, so I thought I’d share.

Index
1. Introduction and Controversy
2. The Pros
3. The Cons
4. The Spec and Glyphs
5. Rotation and Spell Priority
6. Gear and Stat Priority

1. Introduction and Controversy – A jack of all trades, master of none

A Shockadin is essentially an offensive Holy Paladin, with some points in Retribution. They deal very little physical damage and rely mainly on spell damage (Holy Shock, Exorcism). Shockadins bear the brunt of a hilarious amount of criticism and scorn, some of it, well deserved. The problem in my opinion lies not with the spec, but rather the individual choosing it. Shockadin is a battleground spec mainly for intermediate to high level players.

As you approach level 85, the usefulness and viability of PvPing as a Shockadin plummet. Shockadins should not be used in PvE encounters as they are dwarfed in both healing and damage by other Paladin specs. I’ve seen many Shockadins take their PvP mentality and try to PvE with it. This only leads to the player being a major pain for all the other players in the group as either A) The Shockadin runs ahead and doesn’t listen, B) The Shockadin sucks at damage and heals, or C) All of the above. For leveling the choice is yours, it isn’t necessarily a bad idea, but it would be very boring.

2. The Pros

- Positively ludicrous damage, with the removal of the cooldown on Exorcism, you can douse anyone you face with high criticals, even one shotting clothies
- Total battleground domination, you can heal yourself, heal others, inflict damage, and CC (Screenshot)
- Viable for leveling and soloing dungeons on your own
- Dominate duels
- Being able to adapt to the situation

3. The Cons

- Jack of all trades, master of none, don’t try and do serious PvE with this
- Healing is a bit of a mana hog at lower levels
- Silences can kick your butt if you aren’t careful
- Multi target capability, not so good
- People may or may not make fun of you, until you kill them

4. The Spec and Glyphs

Spec Here

Prime Glyphs:
Glyph of Divine Favor – Increases the duration of Divine Favor by 10 sec.: Longer burst mode
Glyph of Exorcism – Your Exorcism causes an additional 20% of its damage of 6 sec: Obviously.
Glyph of Holy Shock – Increases the critical effect change of your Holy Shock by 5%: Once again, obviously.
Glyph of Word of Glory – Increases the healing done by Word of Glory by 10%: Can save you in a pinch

Minor Glyphs:
Glyph of Cleansing – Reduces the mana cost of Cleanse by 20%
Glyph of Hammer of Wrath – Reduces the mana cost of Hammer of Wrath by 100%
Glyph of Light of Dawn – Reduces the cooldown of Light of Dawn by 10 sec and the amount healed by 20%
Glyph of Turn Evil – Reduces the casting time of your Turn Evil spell by 100%

5. Rotation and Spell Priority

There isn’t really a rotation per se since you are always on the fly in PvP. For the most part, you will cast Judgement first, and again throughout the fight in order to refresh Judgements of the Pure. Your main spells are Exorcism and Holy Shock which should be used at all times, but watch for incoming silences, or silencing opportunities of your own. Avenging Wrath, Divine Favor, Holy Wrath, and Crusader Strike should be used as fillers. Seal of Insight and Consecration Aura should be kept on at all times. Consecration can do dangerous AoE damage but it’s a mana hog so be careful.

6. Gear and Stat Priority
- Hit Cap: 6% in PvP
- Spirit if you have Enlightened Judgements
- Intellect: Gives mana and boosts Spell Power upping overall damage
-Resilience/Stamina: Increase survivability
-Critical Strike: Good buff, minor in comparison to those above
-Mastery/Haste Rating: Shockadin spells are already very quick so Haste is not necessary, and the Mastery buff is too low to matter

Final Comments:
Shockadin is a good spec depending on how you play it, just have fun with it, don’t take it too seriously.

~A guide by AbhorsenJay~

[Domo Kun]

Very well written, idk bout build bcuz i dont really find the concept of it (Skimming though the guide)
But +rep will try after makin other=D

btw is it quick or/and fun to level?
thx

[berryman13]

Can we get a shockadin pvp video? I'm interested in seeing how you'd fare in cataclysm.

[abhorsenjay]

Can we get a shockadin pvp video? I'm interested in seeing how you'd fare in cataclysm.

Sure! I'll see if I can upload one tomorrow, or find something else that's appropriate.

Very well written, idk bout build bcuz i dont really find the concept of it (Skimming though the guide)
But +rep will try after makin other=D

btw is it quick or/and fun to level?
thx

Yeap it's pretty quick and fun, and like I said, even more so in BGs

[melia789]

How good is it in arena?

[Stige]

You will just oom yourself in arenas while doing miniscule damage at 85. Maybe it works for twinking but useless at 85.

[Baaja]

So it's a good battleground leveling spec huh? That's the only viable playground for a shockadin? Maybe I should have stopped leveling then :/

[mpollywolly]

So it's a good battleground leveling spec huh? That's the only viable playground for a shockadin? Maybe I should have stopped leveling then :/

Damage output at 85 even with cooldowns up is such a joke, even spamming exo with inq up you'll be pulling maybe 6k which is laughable in any pvp/pve environment. It's only good while leveling because crit/haste etc scale favorably at low lvls.

[abhorsenjay]

Damage output at 85 even with cooldowns up is such a joke, even spamming exo with inq up you'll be pulling maybe 6k which is laughable in any pvp/pve environment. It's only good while leveling because crit/haste etc scale favorably at low lvls.

Yeap, basically like I said, it's a fun battleground spec but a joke in PvE as you approach 85.