Retribution Paladin Dragonflight Class Guide

General Information

Welcome to our Retribution Paladin Guide for World of Warcraft: Dragonflight. We will help you to learn and master Retribution Paladin in either Raids or Mythic Keystone Dungeons.

Last Update: 26-03-2023

Easy Mode

Basics of Retribution Paladin

Retribution Paladins are using Holy Power as their Energy to spend on powerful abilities for either Single-Target or Multi-Target. With many abilities and Talents which can trigger other abilities to be used, Retribution Paladin offers a fast, but also sometimes confusing, playstyle.

Stat Choice for Retribution Paladin

General Stat Priority for Retribution Paladin with our Build is:

Strength
Haste
Mastery
Critical Strike
Versatility

Basic Rotation

Please read our Rotation and Cooldown section for further information.

Use Templer’s Verdict to spend Holy Power
Use Wake of Ashes with 2 or less Holy Power
Use Judgement on cooldown between every Holy Power spender
Use Hammer of Wrath whenever possible
Use Blade of Justice with 3 or less Holy Power
Use Crusader Strike as filler
Maintain Consecration

Builds and Talents

Mythic+ Dungeons

Aberrus, The Shadowed Crucible

Kazzara, the Hellforged

Molgoth

The Forgotten Experiments

Assault of the Zaqali

Rashok, the Elder

The Vigilant Steward, Zskarn

Magmorax

Echo of Neltharion

Scalecommander Sarkareth

Mythic+ Dungeons

Aberrus, The Shadowed Crucible

Kazzara, the Hellforged

Molgoth

The Forgotten Experiments

Assault of the Zaqali

Rashok, the Elder

The Vigilant Steward, Zskarn

Magmorax

Echo of Neltharion

Scalecommander Sarkareth

Talent Tree Explanation

General Talent Tree

Most Notable Talents

Seal of Order, Seraphim or Sanctified Wrath, Zealot’s Paragon and all allocated bottom row talents have the biggest impact in your playstyle. Holy Avenger and Divine Purpose manipulated frequently your Holy Power generation.

Other Damage Talents

Avenging Wrath is your strong 2-minute cooldown, increasing your damage. Greater Judgement causes your Holy Power spender to deal more damage after using Judgement. and Seal of Reprisal grants passive damage increase to your main ability.

Crowd Control & Utility

Repentance and Blinding Light either stun or disorient enemies. Turn Evil can fear an Undead, Demon or Aberration for 40 seconds. All your Blessings (Freedom, Sacrifice, Protection) are granting unique Utility abilities. Cleanse Toxins can remove debuffs from allies, and Rebuke interrupts enemies.

Defensive Talents

Most Talents on the left side are granting additional Healing to yourself and your party members, or can cause your next Word of Glory to be free-to-use.

Specialization Talent Tree

Single Target Talents

Final Verdict replaces Templar’s Verdict, and has a chance whenever used to make Hammer of Wrath free-to-use.
Execution Sentence is a new ability which deals damage to the target after 8 seconds, plus 10% of damage taken from your abilities in that time.
Exorcism is another ability which deals damage to the target, and leaves a periodic damage debuff.
Ashes to Dust grants Art of War to reset the cooldown of Wake of Ashes instead of Blade of Justice.
Expurgation causes your Blade of Justice critical strikes to leave a periodic damage debuff.

Multi Target Talents

Divine Storm is your Holy Power spender which deals damage to all targets.
Sanctify increases the damage enemies take from Consecration after being hit by Divine Storm.
Sanctification causes your Consecration to randomly grant you 1 Holy Power whenever it deals damage.
Divine Toll makes you cast Judgement to 5 targets at the same time.
Empyrean Legacy empowers your next Templar’s Verdict to trigger an automatic Divine Storm.
Final Reckoning deals damage to all targets in the area, and increases their damage taken by your Holy Power abilities by 50% for 8 seconds.
Tempest of the Lightbringer causes your Divine Storm to project an additonal wave of light, dealing 20% of its damage in a frontal cone.
Radiant Decree replaces Wake of Ashes, and deals damage to all enemies in front of you.

Rotation and Cooldowns

Basic Rotation for Retribution Paladin in Single Target

Use Judgement
Use Crusade
Use Seraphim (if skilled)
Use Holy Avenger (if skilled)
Use Final Reckoning (if skilled)
Use Execution Sentence (if skilled)
Use Templer’s Verdict to spend Holy Power
Use Divine Toll (if skilled)
Use Wake of Ashes (if skilled) with 2 or less Holy Power
Use Exorcism (if skilled) on cooldown
Use Judgement on cooldown between every Holy Power spender to gain its bonus effect
Use Hammer of Wrath whenever possible
Use Blade of Justice with 3 or less Holy Power
Use Crusader Strike as filler
Maintain Consecration

Basic Rotation for Retribution Paladin in Multi Target

Use Judgement
Maintain Consecration
Use Crusade
Use Seraphim (if skilled)
Use Holy Avenger (if skilled)
Use Final Reckoning (if skilled)
Use Execution Sentence (if skilled)
Use Divine Storm to spend Holy Power
Use Divine Toll (if skilled)
Use Radiant Decree (if skilled)
Use Exorcism (if skilled) on cooldown
Use Judgement on cooldown between every Holy Power spender to gain its bonus effect
Use Hammer of Wrath whenever possible
Use Blade of Justice with 3 or less Holy Power
Use Templer’s Verdict (only if Empyrean Power occurs and is skilled)
Use Crusader Strike as filler
Maintain Consecration

Stat Priority

Stat Choice for Retribution Paladin

General Stat Priority for Retribution Paladin with our Build is:

Strength
Haste
Mastery
Critical Strike
Versatility

–

Strength is your primary stat, meaning that Itemlevel is superior in most cases. Higher Itemlevel will also increase your Stamina and Armor that you gain.

Critical Strike increases the chance for your abilities and spells to deal double damage.

Haste reduces your global cooldown, your time to cast spells, and reduces the cooldown of many abilities.

Versatility grants you a flat damage increase, but also a damage decrease for half of its value.

Mastery increases your Holy damage by a certain amount.

The further we are getting into the expansion, the effects of diminishing returns start to limit your effective gain of your secondary stats. After reaching 30% (by rating) of any given stat, you will start to receive a penalty that reduces the gain from more of the same stat over this treshold.

Stat priority can differ on every character. Make sure to simulate yourself on Raidbots get the perfect results for you.

Gear and Trinkets

Best In Slot Gear for Retribution Paladin

This List shows the current Best-In-Slot Gear for Dragonflight Season 1. Many Items can be potentially substituted with any Profession Gear, especially early on into the Season.

Additionally, there is the option for Profession Gear to be crafted with additional Buffs/Perks, which can benefit your character in certain situations.

Slot	Item
Head	Virtuous Silver Heaume
Necklace	Eye of the Vengeful Hurricane
Shoulders	Virtuous Silver Pauldrons
Cloak	Acid-Proof Webbing
Chest	Virtuous Silver Breastplate
Wrists	Shackles of Titanic Failure
Hands	Virtuous Silver Gauntlets
Belt	Matriarch’s Opulent Girdle
Legs	Virtuous Silver Cuisses
Boots	Kurog’s Thunderhooves
Ring 1	Seal of Diurna’s Chosen
Ring 2	Seal of Filial Duty
Weapon 1	Incarnate Sky-Splitter
Weapon 2	/