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Retribution Paladin Guide — Class Guides · WoW Classic

Two-handed melee damage from seals and judgements, with crits and utility for the group. The usual leveling tree.

A plate-wearing holy warrior who heals with the Light, protects with blessings, auras and seals, and fights in melee. Paladins heal, tank or deal damage with a two-handed weapon. More about the paladin

Class
Paladin
Roles
Damage
Used for
Raids and dungeons, Player versus player, Leveling
Top talent
Repentance
Popular builds
3
Version
WoW Classic

How to play

Retribution is the paladin's damage tree: a slow two-handed weapon, Seal of Command for big holy procs and Judgement to cash in Seals. Vengeance raises your damage after critical strikes, and Sanctity Aura boosts holy damage for you and your group.

Your damage comes from white swings, Seal of Command procs, Judgement, Exorcism against undead and demons, and Consecration on packs. Mana is the limit: Seal of Wisdom or a Judgement of Wisdom keeps you going, and Retribution leans on Intellect more than other melee.

In Classic raids Retribution brings Sanctity Aura and the Crusader's Judgement rather than top damage, so most raid spots for paladins are healing ones. Retribution shines while leveling and in duels, where Seal of Command crits and Hammer of Justice can end a fight in seconds.

At a glance

Single-target damage
Damage to groups
Survivability
Utility for the group
Solo play and leveling
Ease of play

Rated 1 to 5 against the other specs in WoW Classic.

Rotation and priorities

  1. 1Keep Seal of Command up and swing: auto attacks drive most of your damage.
  2. 2Judge your Seal whenever Judgement is ready and you have the mana, then put a Seal back up at once.
  3. 3Exorcism on undead and demons; Hammer of Wrath on targets below 20% health.
  4. 4Consecration on packs of three or more, as mana allows.
  5. 5Hammer of Justice to interrupt a cast or stop a runner; Blessing of Freedom against roots and slows.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

  • Big burst from Seal of Command crits with a slow two-hander.
  • Your own heals, Divine Shield and plate make leveling safe.
  • Sanctity Aura and Blessings help your group.

Weaknesses

  • Weak, mana-starved raid damage in Classic.
  • Damage swings with procs: some fights you hit nothing big.
  • Few ways to catch a fleeing target.

Stats and gear

Stat priority

Most valuable first. Bars compare each stat with the best one; a cap in the note means the stat drops off once you reach it.

  1. 1

    Weapon damageslow two-handers, 3.5 speed or more

  2. 2

    Strength2 attack power each

  3. 3

    Critical striketriggers Vengeance

  4. 4

    Hitto 9%

  5. 5

    Intellectmana

  6. 6

    Agility

What to look for

  • The slowest two-hander you can get: Seal of Command's procs scale with weapon damage, so slow weapons proc harder.
  • Plate or mail with Strength and crit; a little Intellect keeps the mana up.
  • Crusader on the weapon.

Items worth chasing

  • Arcanite ReaperCrafted slow two-handed axe.
  • Bonereaver's EdgeSlow two-handed sword whose hits strip armour.
  • Lionheart HelmCrafted plate helm with Strength, crit and hit.
  • Blackhand's BreadthA trinket of critical strike chance.

Builds

Each bar splits the build's talent points by tree.

  • Holy
  • Protection
  • Retribution

  • Sanctity Crusader

    DamagePvE
    11/8/32

    Raid Retribution: Sanctity Aura boosts the group's Holy damage, Seal of Command and Vengeance fuel melee crits, and Improved Seal of the Crusader helps the raid.

    • Consecration 1/1
    • Seal of Command 1/1
    • Two-Handed Weapon Specialization 3/3
    • Sanctity Aura 1/1
    • Vengeance 5/5

    Open in the talent calculatorTheorycraftingTalent order by level

  • Holy Avenger

    DamagePvP
    21/0/30

    Holy/Retribution for world PvP: Divine Favor and Illumination for strong self-heals, with Seal of Command, Vengeance and Sanctity Aura for damage.

    • Consecration 1/1
    • Divine Favor 1/1
    • Two-Handed Weapon Specialization 3/3
    • Sanctity Aura 1/1
    • Vengeance 5/5

    Open in the talent calculatorTheorycraftingTalent order by level

  • Seal of Command Wanderer

    DamageLeveling
    10/10/31

    A classic 1–60 path: Seal of Command and Two-Handed Weapon Specialization for big swings, Vengeance for crits and Repentance to stop a dangerous add.

    • Seal of Command 1/1
    • Two-Handed Weapon Specialization 3/3
    • Sanctity Aura 1/1
    • Vengeance 5/5
    • Repentance 1/1

    Open in the talent calculatorTheorycraftingTalent order by level

Key talents

  • Repentance · top talent, up to 1

    Puts the enemy target in a state of meditation, incapacitating them for up to 6 sec. Any damage caused will awaken the target. Only works against Humanoids.

  • Improved Judgement · tier 2, up to 2

    Decreases the cooldown of your Judgement spell by 2 sec.

  • Improved Seal of the Crusader · tier 2, up to 3

    Increases the melee attack power bonus of your Seal of the Crusader and the Holy damage increase of your Judgement of the Crusader by 15%.

  • Deflection · tier 2, up to 5

    Increases your Parry chance by 5%.

  • Conviction · tier 3, up to 5

    Increases your chance to get a critical strike with melee weapons by 5%.

  • Seal of Command · tier 3, up to 1

    Gives the Paladin a chance to deal additional Holy damage equal to 70% of normal weapon damage. Only one Seal can be active on the Paladin at any one time. Lasts 30 sec. Unleashing this Seal's energy will judge an enemy, instantly causing 68.5 Holy damage, 137 to 145 if the target is stunned or incapacitated.

  • Pursuit of Justice · tier 3, up to 2

    Increases movement and mounted movement speed by 8%. This does not stack with other movement speed increasing effects.

  • Two-Handed Weapon Specialization · tier 5, up to 3

    Increases the damage you deal with two-handed melee weapons by 6%.

  • Sanctity Aura · tier 5, up to 1

    Increases Holy damage done by party members within 30 yards by 10%. Players may only have one Aura on them per Paladin at any one time.

  • Vengeance · tier 6, up to 5

    Gives you a 15% bonus to Physical and Holy damage you deal for 8 sec after dealing a critical strike from a weapon swing, spell, or ability.

Retribution abilities by level

When each ability arrives: trained abilities at the level a trainer first teaches them, talent abilities (gold frame) at the first level the talent can be taken.

Related

Other paladin specs: Holy, Protection