WoW The War Within Retribution Paladin Spec Guide

Introduction

In this guide, we will talk about one of the community's favorite classes, Paladin. Added back in the Classic, this class has remained the most played one, and Retribution is its most popular specialization, really fitting the fantasy of a Justice Warrior of Holy Light going and purging all the evil from Azeroth. In Season 2 of TWW, Retribution remains one of the best DPS picks, with strong DPS and very good sustain and utility, ranking it in one of the highest tiers in our Tier List. With its rework happening in the Dragonflight, this class has been performing incredibly well season after season, having stronger AoE on top of even having more simplified gameplay than before, cementing it as one of the easier classes to pick, and it remains fun! With this guide we will run through all the things you need to know regarding this spec, but if you do need some additional help, we got plenty of interesting coaching plans that could elevate what you’ve read up in this guide on a whole new level and make you be one of the top players on logs!

Retribution Paladin Spec Overview

Who doesn’t like smiting big baddies with Divine Storm and all insane sun-themed abilities? The Holy Light makes the fantasy of the class feel extraordinary and makes sense why it is so iconic. The coolest thing about Paladin is its vast amount of different abilities, providing so many different sustain spells, having a cleanse, good AoE, and not that bad single target damage. Dying as a Paladin is hard, as you can always survive even if the healer is not fully focused on you, with Word of Glory, Divine Shield, and even Lay on Hands that you can cast on a tank if it gets really low, and help your healer. There is also the Blessing of Protection that provides you with good Physical Defensive that you can apply to any of your party members, proving once again that a Paladin is a huge help to the group. You can also have solid CC abilities to make sure your group can execute kicking sequences well (You also do have Rebuke - Your kick ability!). That’s not all, Paladins also got Combat Res, meaning they can now be even more beneficial to the group in both raid and Mythic+. This spec and class is the jack of all trades.

Strengths

Retribution has strong burst windows, with heavy AoE abilities, but even without those bursts, the spec does have solid overall damage and will not fall behind. This is due to solid AoE damage and fairly low big CDs on important abilities.

• Provides good sustain for themself, but also the whole party, with the aforementioned abilities such as Divine Shield, the Blessing of Protection, and Lay on Hands can prove to be very helpful in heavy fights. On top of all of this, the spec has access to the Cleanse ability.
• Devotion Aura is a huge help, as it is an Aura that provides a party-wide buff.
• On top of sustain abilities, there are also utility abilities such as Blessing of Sacrifice and Blessing of Freedom.
• Can bring a Combat Ress to the party, having a valuable CD as this is crucial in Dungeons and Raids.
• The spec is pretty easy, meaning that you can fast learn the rotations and not have to worry too much about some complicated combos. It’s very easy to execute properly.

Weaknesses

• Despite having a large variety of utility abilities, they can tend to be a bit useless and scenario-specific in some dungeons and raids.
• Another one worth mentioning is that, even if easy can be a good thing, the class simply doesn’t have a high ceiling, so eventually you will not improve with it over time, due to already reaching the biggest potential of the spec early. This can feel a bit unrewarding for some people in the long run.

General Rotation for Retribution Paladin

Executing rotation is important for any spec, and our holy friends are no different. Overall, the rotation is pretty straightforward. Your goal is to try and generate as much Holy Power and use the abilities that make the most sense in the given scenario. (Mostly focusing on casting as many Divine Storms of Templar Verdicts as possible.)

• Single Target > Open with the Blade of Justice so you can apply Expuragation, then you can use Divine Hammer > Execution Sentence > Wake of Ashes - Then you can do your standard rotation with Hammer of Light and Templar Verdicts, while rotating your big important CDs using also Judgement and Hammer of Wrath when available.
• AoE Rotation > Relatively similar openers, but instead of focusing on Templar Verdict, you make sure to cast as many Divine Storms as possible to maximize the damage output in the AoE department, and that you cleave all the targets down.
• Another important CD is the Crusade, you can use this ability together with other damaging big CDs to amplify them and deal far higher damage. They align, so you can get them often together with all the other cooldowns!

Best in slot gear

Getting the best possible gear and knowing what stats will bring the most benefits to your spec is always an important factor in topping the charts. We will run through all the things you need to know regarding optimization of your character and what the strongest combo you can go with is.

Best Stat for Retribution Paladin (Stat Prio)

The most important stat that Ret Paladin benefits from is Strength, like all Plate classes. Always focus on getting Strength first over any other secondary stat, even if that stat is very good, Strength should ALWAYS be the top priority. Here’s the Stat order from the most beneficial one to the least.

• Mastery (This is the strongest secondary stat for our Light friends. Retribution benefits a lot from Mastery, simply making the rotations hit way harder, and getting this as a top priority alongside Strength is important.)
• Critical Strike = Haste (Both of these stats are performing relatively similarly. You should get them both if you can, but getting one over the other is fine. They bring a solid amount of benefits, so it doesn’t matter as long as you have them evenly split!)
• Versatility (This is the worst-performing of all the stats mentioned above; it simply scales very slowly, and you need lots of it to make it do anything. It’s not useless, but due to its high requirement to have some impact, it is not worth focusing on.)

Best gear for Retribution Paladin

Finding the exact best gear you need is important, we’re going to go through all the BIS items in each slot and also mention a couple of trinkets that can be used if you really can’t find best best-performing one.
 

Best Trinkets

There are quite a few trinkets that can be relevant for Retribution Paladin, so making sure that you know all your options matters. Here are the best trinkets that tend to perform pretty well. First of all, we’re going to go through the options you have for Single Target/Raiding:

• Eye of Kezan  (Drop: Chrome King Gallywix - Liberation of Undermine)
• Improvised Seaforium Pacemaker (Drop: Floodgate)
• House of Cards (Drop: One Armed Bandit - Liberation of Undermine)
• Mechano-Core Amplifier (Drop: Delves)
• Suspicious Energy Drink (Drop: Delves)

Pretty much all the trinkets except Eye of Kezan can be used for Mythic+ as well, they tend to give similar benefits even in AoE situations, so you can go with all the ones mentioned except the first. Also, you can go with the following as a replacement in case you didn’t opt for the others:

• Spelunker’s Waning Candle (Drop: Delves)
• Funhouse Lens (Drop: Delves)

Best Cyrene Circlet’s Gems

The ring we found on Siren Isles in 10.0.5 remains the best-performing one, and due to its strength and variety of options, it is the best bet in the ring slot! The following citrines are the best for Retribution Paladin:

• Stormbringer’s Runed Citrine (Raiding/Mythic+)
• Fathomdweller’s Runed Citrine (Raiding/Mythic+)
• Legendary’s Skipper Citrine (Raiding)
• Windsinger’s Runed Citrine (Mythic+)

Obtaining these Citrines should be your focus as they’re pretty beneficial ones and will elevate your DPS to the maximum of your potential!

Best Enchants

The following enchants will give you that missing oomph, so you can make sure to get them once you have the gear you’re satisfied with equipped in each slot of the respective enchant.

• Greater Rune of the Void Ritual (Raiding/Mythic+)
• Magnificent Jeweler's Setting (adds up to 2 sockets to a Ring or Necklace)
• Enchant Weapon - Authority of the Depths (single target)
• Enchant Weapon - Oathsworn's Tenacity (multitarget)
• Enchant Cloak - Chant of Winged Grace
• Enchant Chest - Crystalline Radiance
• Enchant Bracer - Chant of Armored Avoidance
• Defender's Armor Kit
• Enchant Boots - Defender's March
• Enchant Ring - Radiant Mastery
• Enchant Ring - Radiant Haste
• Magnificent Jeweler's (adds up to 2 sockets to a Ring or Necklace)

Final Thoughts

Retribution Paladin remains one of the best specs/classes combinations in the current season with the large AoE and solid windows of burst damage. They are performing well in the higher-end game content and are staying relevant so far through the season. Every class can end up working if you try to play it enough and get all the best possible gear. If you need some further assistance, we offer plenty of coaching services and similar things related to helping you improve in your gameplay. Our coaches are ready to give you any additional tips on top of this guide, so hopefully you can find something that piques your fancy!