Threat tip of the day: Don’t Hammer of Wrath!

Just a dopey little tip, but one that seems counterintuitive. One of the more fun parts of a fight is when you break past the 20% mark and the button for Hammer of Wrath lights up. If you ever dabble in Ret you know that’s a time you can seriously pull ahead on a boss fight, but for Prot the use of that spell is much more nuanced. Namely, you should probably avoid using HoW altogether.

If you’re running a standard 969 rotation, it was previously suggested to throw HoW in whenever because it was generally a pretty hard-hitting, high-threat attack. These days, thanks to superior gear scaling with our other attacks, this is no longer the case.

According to Theck, the only spell of ours that Hammer of Wrath does more damage than is Holy Shield. And, when fighting an AOE pack or a boss, you probably want the block boost more than an instant execute attack.

The skinny is this: the only time you should be using Hammer of Wrath in end-game is when on the move, or off-tanking, and you need an instant attack. And only to substitute Holy Shield or maybe Consecrate in your 969 rotation, if you’re even dropping Consecrates. Don’t substitute Judgement, as that will do more threat than HoW.

4 Comments to “Threat tip of the day: Don’t Hammer of Wrath!”

  1. LabRat 10 May 2010 at 12:40 pm #

    Yeah. I was fairly let down when I realized this, it’s just so much fun.

    It’s still nice as hell to have on Saurfang, though, when I have to spend the other 80% of the fight with my co-tank having to watch Skada to make sure he’s not passing me when he’s Runed.
    LabRat’s last blog ..Aloha, LOL My ComLuv Profile

    • Rhidach
      @Rhidach
       10 May 2010 at 12:56 pm #

      Oh, you reminded me to make a point about offtanking. I find myself using HoW a lot when OTing as well, especially Saurfang and Festergut. Anytime I’m in melee, actively hitting a boss, but not being his back.

  2. Tweets that mention New post: Threat tip of the day: Don't Hammer of Wrath! - -- Topsy.com

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Angel, Rhidach. Rhidach said: New post: Threat tip of the day: Don't Hammer of Wrath! – http://tinyurl.com/39uorwj [...]

  3. Wulfstan 11 May 2010 at 11:53 am #

    Another usage for HoW is when you need to attack from range.

    A perfect eaxmple is when tanking Kelesath on Heroic Blood Princes. HoW is permanently on when he isn’t empowered, and it allows you to build aggro while standing more in the middle of the room to pick up orbs with Judgement, Exorcism and Avenger’s Shield.