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style="font-weight: bold;">A Glyph Guide
for the
Paladin in Your Life
were introduced with much fanfare, but have
struggled
to really be the impact that the developers intended. The changes to
glyphs
since their arrival have been numerous and severe. Some glyphs have
been
removed, some modified drastically. The current crop of glyphs seem to
be
relatively stable so it’s high time for a guide on glyphology.
Glyphs
come in two flavors - Major and Minor. As
the names
imply, the
major glyphs provide special enhancements that can truly
affect a
player’s damage, healing, tanking, etc. The minor glyphs on
the
other hand are
typically created to provide slight advantages for convenience and
occasionally
an upgrade to an ability or spell.
This
guide will walk you through each of the
current glyphs
and then discuss their usefulness (highlighting when different Paladin
specs
will want to insert or avoid). Please remember that these glyphs will
change,
and hopefully some new ones will appear soon too!
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style="">Minor Glyphs:
Most
of the minor Paladin glyphs are what I call
“Convenience” glyphs. This means that the glyphs
reduce the
cost in mana of
certain spells or increase the duration. All of which is typically
handled
outside of combat so the real benefit isn’t that great. We
will
find some use
for them though, so read on:
style="">Glyph of Blessing of
Kings
style="">Reduces the cost of
your BoK and Greater BoK by 50%.
So
what you say? Well, in those rare occasions
when someone
gets resurrected during a fight or a Shaman reincarnates, you can put
another
BoK on them in combat without a major mana impact. Not the greatest
benefit in
the world, but a good general use of minor slot.
style="">Glyph of Blessing of
Might
style="">Increases the duration
of your Blessing of Might Spell by 20 min when cast on yourself.
If
your friends think you’re selfish, then
get this glyph. I
don’t believe I’ve ever seen this one used by a
level 80
Paladin. The only use
I can see for this one is during leveling up when you won’t
have
to renew this
blessing as often.
style="">Glyph of Lay on Hands
style="">Reduces the cooldown
of your Lay OnHands spell by 5 min.
Excellent
minor glyph to have compared to the
others. Very
useful (almost mandatory) for Holy Paladins, and really neither of the
other
two builds should be without this one.
style="">Glyph of Sense Undead
style="">Damage against Undead
increased by 1% while your Sense Undead ability is active.
This
is an excellent glyph for Retribution
Paladins (that
can remember to turn on Sense Undead).
style="">
It also works well for
tanking Protection Paladins, but just
remember
that you won’t see those mining nodes show up
(we’re all
miners, right?).
style="">Glyph of the Wise
style="">Reduces the mana cost
of your Seal of Wisdom spell by 50%.
This
was popular for a bit when Shaman mana totems
were
over-writing Blessing of Wisdom so we kept having to refresh the buff
mid-fight. Since we get three minor glyph slots, this might be a decent
convenience glyph.
style="">Major Glyphs:
Major
glyphs actually have a purpose and some are
quite
powerful. Most of them are specific to a certain ability or spell which
means
the glyphs only provide a benefit if you use those abilities (or learn
to!).
Many of the descriptions will
include the term “If you use this spell, then get this
glyph.”
Whether or not you find the
glyphs a good
reason to change your current rotations will be up to you. You have to
remember
that your glyph selection is only as good as your guild’s
Inscription skills,
and the auction house. If glyphs are scarce or too expensive, look
through the
list for alternatives.
Most
Popular Major Glyphs per Spec:
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Holy
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Protection
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Retribution
Seal of Wisdom
Seal of Light
Glyph of Divinity
Glyph of Spiritual Attunement
Glyph of Righteous Defense
Glyph of Divine Plea
Glyph of Seal of Blood
Glyph of Consecration
For more detailed information on the Major glyphs, read on:
style="">Glyph of Avenger’s
Shield
style="">Your Avenger’s Shield
hits 2 fewer targets, but for 100% more damage.
They
lost me at “fewer targets.” Why
the heck would I want
that? Probably not as a tank, but possibly as a Retribution Paladin
that is
bumping DPS as high as possible on a single target. There are much
better
options for Retribution Paladins though.
style="">Glyph of Avenging
Wrath
style="">Reduces the cooldown
of your Hammer of Wrath spell by 50% while Avenging Wrath is active.
This
is a complicated mathematical word problem
that I don’t
typically enjoy considering during a fight. This glyph will reduce the
cooldown
of a spell that can only be used on enemy targets below 20% health, and
all of
this has to occur while Avenging Wrath is active. It can be worth a few
DPS to
a Retribution Paladin, but it has to be one who keeps Avenging Wrath up
as the
enemy is close to dying. This is too much math for me. There are better
options
of DPS increases outside of the short window offered here.
style="">Glyph of Beacon of
Light
style="">Increases the duration
of Beacon of Light by 30 sec.
This
glyph is only a benefit if you have the
Beacon of Light
spell, aka a Holy Paladin. BoL lasts for a minute in its standard form,
so
adding 30 seconds increases the duration by 50%. This really
isn’t that
dramatic though. BoL is cast every time it is available if you are in a
typical
instance fight. This means that every minute you are clicking BoL and
incurring
a mana cost and global cooldown. In a short fight (which is essentially
everything except for boss fights) you won’t refresh BoL more
than once,
possibly twice. Saving a global cooldown here and there and a bit of
mana is
good but not great. There are better healing glyphs for your major
slots.
style="">Glyph of Cleansing
style="">Reduces the mana cost
of your Cleanse and Purify spells by 20%.
Much
better glyphs out there for major slots.
Cleanse uses
little mana and causes a global cooldown, so this decrease
wouldn’t even be
noticeable.
style="">Glyph of Consecration style="">
style="">Increases the duration
and cooldown of Consecration by 2 sec.
I’m
not a big fan of the glyphs that
increase cooldowns, if
for no other reason than I spend so much time trying to get abilities
off of
cooldown. However, this glyph increases the cooldown to match the
duration
(unmodified by other means). Tanking Paladins use Consecrate a lot.
Consecrate
uses a lot of mana. Using less mana is a good thing. The glyph does
throw a wrench
into the 696 rotation of the tanking Paladin, but many of us have this
one.
Retribution Paladins have mana issues too, so this can be helpful when
dishing
out damage as a Ret-Pally. For Retribution, this is in the top four of
glyphs
you might want.
style="">Glyph of Crusader
Strike
style="">Reduces the mana cost
of your Crusader Strike ability by 20%.
Retribution
Paladins are mashing the Crusader
Strike button
every time its available. This glyph can help with mana conservation,
but there
are others more viable for your major glyph spots.
style="">Glyph of Divine Plea
style="">While Divine Plea is
active, you take 3% reduced damage from all sources.
As a
tank, this glyph has some wonderful benefits.
A
Protection Paladin with a maxed out Guarded by the Light talent can
keep
refreshing Divine Plea every time he/she hits the enemy. This glyph in
combination with the talent provides an almost “always
on”
3% damage reduction.
This is a good glyph if you are tanking, just make sure to have Divine
Plea up
at all times.
style="">Glyph of Divine Storm
style="">Your Divine Storm now
heals for an additional 15% of the damage it causes.
Leave
this one in the auction house. Divine Storm
is not a
major source of healing, and there are much better glyphs to put in the
precious major slots.
style="">Glyph of Divinty
style="">Your Lay on Hands
grants twice as much mana as normal and also grants you as much mana as
it
grants your target.
A
fairly popular Holy Paladin glyph, this will
actually
provide you with double the mana if you self-cast it. I don’t
typically think
of LoH as a mana regen spell, I think of it more as an “Uh
Oh, my
healing
target is dropping like a stone!” spell. This is up for
consideration if you
find that you use LoH in ways other than just for healing, or have a
blank
third major slot and nothing to put in it.
style="">Glyph of Exorcism
style="">Increases damage done
by Exorcism by 20%.
Yes,
and yes. Those are the answers to whether or
not you
should take this glyph if you are a Retribution Paladin. Now that
Exorcism is
usable on all targets (except other players), this is a pure DPS boost.
style="">Glyph of Flash of
Light
style="">Your Flash of Light
has an additional 5% critical strike chance.
Holy
Paladins, use this glyph, even you in the
back who is
wondering how much this will really help. If you heal and you are a
Paladin,
this is one of the three major glyphs you should have.
style="">Glyph of Hammer of
Justice
style="">Increases your Hammer
of Justice range by 5 yards.
Very
situational in terms of usefulness for this
glyph. In
PvE it is tough to make a compelling argument in favor of this glyph
over
others, but in PvP the extra 5 yards might be worth it. It gets a few
votes,
but not your typical front runner.
style="">Glyph of Hammer of
the Righteous
style="">Your Hammer of
Righteous hits 1 additional target.
While
Paladins are the kings of AoE tanking, this
glyph
isn’t the reason. With so many other ways to taunt groups of
enemies, it is
difficult to justify using a glyph slot to have one of your spells hit
one
additional enemy (when it already hits 3). Hit Consecrate and leave
this glyph
alone.
style="">Glyph of the Hammer
of Wrath
style="">Reduces the mana cost
of Hammer of Wrath by 100%.
As
discussed above, this spell is only usable
during very
short windows of opportunity. My guess is that during a five pull in an
instance, a good Retribution Paladin (the only specs that should be
looking at
this glyph) will hit 3 of those 5 targets with the hammer. The reality
is that
things are dying too quickly to even use the hammer, let alone worry
about how
much mana it uses. If you are one of those quick on the draw Paladins,
that
always finishes off the enemies with a hammer to the head, then this
might be a
good glyph for you.
style="">Glyph of Holy Light
style="">Your Holy Light grants
10% of its heal amount to up to 5 friendly targets within 8 yards of
the
initial target.
This
one is a staple in the Holy Paladin’s
glyph repertoire.
This is like a second Beacon of Light that has no downside. Make sure
you have
this if you are a healer.
style="">Glyph of Holy Shock
style="">Reduces the cooldown
of Holy Shock by 1 sec.
Holy
Paladins have a lot of healing spells in
their arsenal
now, and with much better glyphs available in my opinion. Holy Shock
might be a
good PvP/Arena glyph to have, but as a pure PvE healer it appears that
there
are better options for your major slots.
style="">Glyph of Judgement
style="">Your Judgements deal
10% more damage.
This
is a very good glyph for Retribution Paladins
(more
damage is more damage), and can be helpful for tanks to generate a bit
more
threat (since we are judging seals constantly).
style="">Glyph of Righteous
Defense
style="">Increase the chance
for your Righteous Defense ability to work successfully by 8% on each
target.
In
comparison to other tanking tricks, this glyph
has a very
low return on the cost. RD doesn’t miss that often and there
are
definitely
better tanking glyphs to put in these slots. Prior to Hand of Reckoning
this
glyph was a “must have” but since HoR’s
delivery this
glyph has lost some of its luster.
style="">Glyph of Salvation
style="">When you cast Hand of
Salvation on yourself it also reduces damage taken by 20%.
A
tailor made tanking glyph right? Hand of
Salvation
decreases threat significantly so casting this on yourself may cause
100%
reduction in damage as the enemy runs off and kills your healer.
style=""> That
would be bad. If you are a good threat
manager and can build up enough threat to be able to cast HoS on
yourself, then
this can be quite useful as another “Oh No I’m
going to
die!” button. This is
not for the faint of heart though, and will require some timing and
threat
management.
style="">Glyph of Seal of
Blood
style="">When your Seal of
Blood, Seal of the Martyr, Judgement of Blood or Judgement of the Marty
deals
damage to you, you gain 11% of the damage done as mana.
This
glyph requires another math equation for
those of you
keeping calculators handy at home. The Blood and Martyr spells bounce
10% of
the damage done by the spells back on the caster (you). This glyph will
replenish the caster with mana (which can be turned into health since
we are
healers). Retribution Paladins have a serious mana consumption
appetite, so
this is a great way to keep the mana flowing. If you are in a group or
raid,
chances are that enough splash healing is occurring that you can keep
your
health topped off without having to stop and heal yourself or cause too
much
drain on the primary healers. This is a very good glyph to have as a
Retribution Paladin.
style="">
Glyph
of Seal of
Command
style="">Increases the chance
of dealing Seal of Command damage by 20%.
Apparently
some Retribution Paladins are still
running
around with SoC up instead of Seal of Blood/Martyr, so this might be
useful to
them. Since you can get this glyph at level 20, it’s a great
leveling glyph
though that is for certain.
style="">Glyph of Seal of
Light
style="">While Seal of Light is
active, the effect of your healing spells is increased by 5%.
Get an
extra 5% healing for almost free. This is
definitely
in the top 4 for Holy Paladins. Most are debating between this one and
Glyph of
Seal of Wisdom. Glyph of SoL adds healing, while SoW reduces the mana
cost of
those heals. The effectiveness of the glyphs will depend on which will
be more
beneficial. If you are struggling with mana, use Glyph of SoW, if you
need more
big heals, then try this one (Glyph of SoL).
style="">Glyph of Seal of
Righteousness
style="">Increases the damage
done by Seal of Righteousness by 10%.
Seal
of Righteousness is well down the priority
list when it
comes to the seals available to a level 80 Paladin. Since this glyph
isn’t
available until level 50, its usefulness is a bit suspect.
style="">Glyph of Seal of
Vengeance
style="">Your Seal of Vengeance
or Seal of Corruption also grants 10 expertise while active.
A
tanking specialty glyph. As a tank, a Protection
Paladin
will almost always have the required Seal up, so this glyph will
provide some
much needed expertise. If you are a Protection Paladin, you should have
this
one.
style="">Glyph of Seal of
Wisdom
style="">While the Seal of
Wisdom is active, the cost of your healing spells is reduced by 5%.
Make
sure to revisit Glyph of Seal of Light above
to help
evaluate options for the very important third slot of your major
glyphs. This
is a great glyph if you are struggling with mana management as a Holy
Paladin.
style="">Glyph of Shield of
Righteousness
style="">Reduces the mana cost
of Shield of Righteousness by 80%.
Between
Blessing of Sanctuary, Divine Plea
(especially when
running with Glyph of Diving Plea) and occasionally judging Wisdom, a
tanking
Paladin can keep a pretty full mana bar. This means that even a
low-cost SoR
isn’t that attractive when you have much better options.
style="">Glyph of Spiritual
Attunement
style="">Increases the amount
of mana gained from your Spiritual Attunement spell by an additional 2%.
Not
near enough benefit to plop down in a major
glyph slot.
See “lack of mana issues” for tanking Paladins
above.
style="">Glyph of Turn Evil
style="">Reduces the casting
time of your Turn Evil spell by 100%, but increases the cooldown by 8
seconds.
Almost
completely useless in PvE situations, this
can be a
great glyph for PvP. Think warlock pets…and then think of
them
fleeing from an
instant cast fear.
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So
there you have all of the glyphs currently
available to
our beloved Paladin class. Some are quite useful and others a bit
useless.
Regardless, the cost of glyphs is typically not outrageous which means
that you
have the luxury of experimenting with different combinations to see
which will
suit your play style best.
Hopefully
this guide has opened your eyes to how some of the lesser used glyphs
might be a
benefit, and also help steer you away from some potential mistakes. I
look
forward to hearing about your trials and tribulation with Glyphs on our
forums.
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