World of Warcraft has a very ambitious plan and with the upcoming release of The War Within, the team at Blizzard has introduced a brand new Hero Talents system for the expansion.
Ultimately, this will shift things up in retail as many players have been wishing for more flavor to their classes and Blizzard is looking to deliver with these new Hero Talent Trees.
We will be taking a close look at one of the three Hero Talent trees for Paladins and examining just how powerful we can expect the talents to be.
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WoW The War Within: Herald of the Sun Hero Talent Tree
Since there is a lot to cover in the initial Hero Talent tree, we will be separately examining all of the nodes so we can get a better understanding of the core concepts.
Herald of the Sun Keystone
Sunspot: Wake of Ashes (Retribution) and Holy Prism (Holy) cause your next 2 Holy Power spending abilities to create a Sunspot on your target, dealing Radiant damage or healing over 8 seconds. 10% of Sunspots damage and healing radiates to nearby allies or enemies, reduced beyond 5 targets
Herald of the Sun Row 1
Choice Node:
- Morning Star: Every 5 sec, your next Sunspot’s damage or healing is increased by 5%, stacking up to 10 times. Morning Star stacks twice as fast while out of combat.
- Gleaming Rays: While a Sunspot is active, your abilities that use Holy Power deal 10% increased additional damage or healing.
Eternal Flame: Heals an ally immediately and over an additional 20 seconds. Healing increased by 25% when cast on self. Replaces Word of Glory, costs 3 Holy Power.
Luminosity: Critical strike chance of Hammer of Wrath and Divine Storm (Retribution) and Holy Shock and Light of Dawn (Holy) increased by 10%.
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Herald of the Sun Row 2
Choice Node:
- Illumine: Sunspots reduce the movement speed of enemies by 50% and increase the movement speed of allies by 20%.
- Will of the Dawn: Movement speed increased by 5% while above 80% health. When your health is brought below 35%, your movement speed is increased by 40% for 5 seconds. Cannot occur more than once every 60 seconds.
Choice Node:
- Eternal Sun: Sunspot’s duration is increased by 2 seconds and Eternal Flame’s duration is increased by 3 seconds.
- Lingering Radiance: Sunspots leave an Eternal Flame for 12 seconds on allies or a Greater Judgment on enemies when they expire or are extended.
Sun Sear: Hammer of Wrath and Divine Storm (Retribution) and Holy Shock and Light of Dawn (Holy) critical strikes cause the target to burn for additional Radiant damage over 4 seconds or be healed for over 4 seconds.
Herald of the Sun Row 3
Aurora: After you cast Wake of Ashes (Retribution) or Holy Prism (Holy) gain Divine Purpose.
Solar Grace: Your Haste is increased by 4% for 12 seconds each time you apply a Sunspot. Multiple stacks may overlap.
Second Sunrise: Hammer of Wrath and Divine Storm (Retribution]) and Holy Shock and Light of Dawn (Holy) have a 15% chance to cast again at 30% effectiveness.
Herald of the Sun Row Capstone
Sun’s Avatar: During Avenging Wrath, you become linked to your Sunspots, causing Radiant damage to enemies or healing to allies that pass through the beams, reduced beyond 5 targets.
Activating Avenging Wrath applies 4 Sunspots onto nearby allies or enemies and increases Sunspot’s damage and healing by 20%.
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Summary
Overall, these are some very interesting design choices behind making Holy and Retribution Paladins not only stronger healing-wise, but allow them to pump out a lot of damage as well.
As more is being revealed regarding the newest World of Warcraft Expansion: The War Within, we are slowly starting to see just how much the scales have changed for Retail WoW. Here is the entire Hero Talent Tree as presented in the most recent blue post.
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