New Paladin Tools in WOTLK

There are two new tricks Paladins have in Wrath of the Lich King I'm relying on more and more.

Hand of Reckoning

I have only rarely needed to use the badly-named Hand of Reckoning a few times in protection spec, preferring instead to stick to my tried-and-true Righteous Defense. I don't use it to initiate combat - once the taunt buff wears off, the mob usually heads straight for any healer within range, forcing me to burn Righteous Defense anyway. That said, I've learned to appreciate it while farming solo, especially when I'm competing with others for mobs.

I use it extensively on Gluth. We don't rely on hunters to kite zombie chow, as our huntards are terribad at kiting. Instead I slap on my tanking gear for extra dodge and run around, picking up spawning zombies with HoR and cementing my hold on them through the occasional Consecration. I also use it on 4 Horsemen to ensure that the Horseman I'm tanking doesn't ignore me completely.

I understand that it's brilliant in PVP - a taunt that actually does damage, preventing rogues from stealthing - and I'm keen to test the report that it breaks through Divine Shield, preventing bubble hearths. Now if only it interrupted casting...

Beacon of Light

Four major changes to paladin healing have challenged me this expansion:

1) The need to judge,
2) The newfound viability of Holy Shock as a healing spell,
3) Sacred Shield, and
4) Beacon of Light.

Of these changes, Beacon of Light has forced me to rethink how I heal the most. Beacon of Light effectively forks your heal onto a second target, healing it for up to however much your first heal landed for. So if you had your Beacon of Light on Target B while you healed Target A, Target B would receive heals up to however much Target A was healed for.

Say, for example, that my main tank, Azmuth, was standing in front of a boss mob. Az has 29,000 hit points and the boss hits for around 6,000 on plate. Behind the boss is one of my melee DPS, Malago, who has 18,000 hit points. Unfortunately, this boss casts a spell which does 10,000 damage to a melee player in range. So Az gets hit for 6,000, bringing him down to 23,000, while Mal gets hit for 10,000, bringing him down to 8,000 hit points.

Let's say I had my Beacon of Light on Malago. If I threw a heal on Azmuth for 10,000, that would heal him back to full - wasting 4,000 hit points (overheal). Malago would not be healed to full, as he only receives 6,000 hit points back. So now I have a healing deficit; I need to throw another heal on Malago to make up the gap. This would be remedied by putting Beacon of Light on Az and healing Malago instead.

This is why Beacon of Light messes me up so badly. In order to know how to maximize my healing output, I need to be deeply aware of the fight mechanics. I need to know who will be taking damage - and how much - so I don't waste my Beacon on someone who won't be getting hurt anyway. If I shift my healing target, I waste one GCD on transferring the Beacon to someone else. More often than not I find myself forgetting to refresh Beacon.

That said, Beacon is insanely powerful, although I often wish they'd made it a 2 or 3 minute buff instead (it's currently a 1 minute buff). I like having it in my arsenal. Maybe I just need to learn to use it better.