So Ret Aura is finally present in the combat log....

[Aeverius]

I have never been able to see this ability proc before (ie, in a documented sense), but I noticed today that it's actually viewable for once. "Ret Aura reflects 26 holy damage to X." So I played with it a bit, and (as best I can tell) confirmed something I have long been afraid of but never found data to verify: it doesn't proc off partial blocks. Therefore, it can only proc off: normal hits, critical hits, and crushes. Hm. I am starting to wonder how I never knew this, but I haven't been able to find any posts that mention it. What I do see, is people recommending its use. At this point, the following situations (assuming uncrushability]) will cause Ret aura to do something:

1) You have holy shield down.
2) You can't block/parry/dodge due to being stunned/silenced/feared/facing away from the mob/whatever.

Hm. Neither of these are situations in which I'm terribly concerned with an extra 26 holy damage, really.

It does not appear to have a spelldamage coefficient, as stated by http://www.wowwiki.com/Retribution_Aura.

Anyway: if you all knew this already and I am just an idiot, disregard. If you tested it and I am clearly wrong on some part of it, let me know so I can be better informed about this. I get the feeling that I can't be the first one to investigate this, but I see a lot of people recommend using Ret Aura for increased threat, and I don't see it being of any use in that regard unless one of those two conditions are met.

EDIT: Better testing reveals that the above is wrong, and I should not be posting things without testing them properly. So Ret Aura isn't useless, but it's still not very good.

[Lieris]

Looking at WWS reports ret aura definitely does work on partial blocks, the number of ret aura hits typically matches the number of physical hits the boss does on me but not exactly... there's usually 2 or 3 ret aura hits shy of what it should be *shrugs*.

[Gerilith]

Looking at WWS reports ret aura definitely does work on partial blocks, the number of ret aura hits typically matches the number of physical hits the boss does on me but not exactly... there's usually 2 or 3 ret aura hits shy of what it should be *shrugs*.

Resists, anyone?

- does not scale
- can be resisted
- proccs if damage is recieved

=> Crap

[Spectrum]

It definitely procs off blocks. All through my leveling I've gotten used to seeing:

Your Holy Shield deals 164 Holy Damage to X.
Your Blessing of Sanctuary deals 32 Holy damage to X.
You reflect 22 Holy Damage to X.
X hits you for 4 (94 blocked).

It's there. It's easy to see the numbers of a single mobs head, for example.

[xyzor]

I usually use Ret aura for AoE threat since you usually wont block ALL of those attacks. For most bosses who I don't outgear, I throw up Devo (unless we have another Pally in my group with imp. Devo, like a healer).

[Lieris]

Looking at WWS reports ret aura definitely does work on partial blocks, the number of ret aura hits typically matches the number of physical hits the boss does on me but not exactly... there's usually 2 or 3 ret aura hits shy of what it should be *shrugs*.

Resists, anyone?

- does not scale
- can be resisted
- proccs if damage is recieved

=> Crap

Ahh of course.

And yeah it sucks. The better your avoidance the crappier it gets whilst the rest of your threat moves that do actually scale get better until it only accounts for like 1% of your threat :/

[Extremity]

If they changed ret aura to:

Deals damage to any mob that ATTACKS You

from

Deals damage to any mob that HITS you

it would be good

[ryan4nayr]

If they changed ret aura to:

Deals damage to any mob that ATTACKS You

from

Deals damage to any mob that HITS you

it would be good

A spell coefficient would be nice too.

[Worldie]

I'll reply with my favourite...

Finally a gamebreaking news for us prot paladins!

[sbeacher]

As crappy as ret aura is, I was pretty disappointed to see my DMC: Vengeance card does less damage than it

[thorn]

yeah, but it's a good excuse to use devotion aura.

and besides, the card will proc on spell casters standing on the other side of the room, helping them stay glued to you until you can give them some attention.

ranged tank ftw.

[Racerover]

It definitely procs off blocks. All through my leveling I've gotten used to seeing:

Your Holy Shield deals 164 Holy Damage to X.
Your Blessing of Sanctuary deals 32 Holy damage to X.
You reflect 22 Holy Damage to X.
X hits you for 4 (94 blocked).

It's there. It's easy to see the numbers of a single mobs head, for example.

The reason you saw retribution aura damage is because you didnt block the entire attack. Or at least that's what I'm seeing through personal experience. My shield blocks up to 520 damage (when I do block) and if the mob doesn't hit for harder than that, retribution aura doesn't go through. Now if a mob hits me for 600 and I block, I get hit for 80 after the block... then ret aura procs.

I tend to use ret aura while tanking, so this thread made me think about it... The amount of threat it puts out is minimal at best. I may go for the extra 864 armor. Not to mention if someone in my group gets hit, they take the threat from ret aura proccing.