Retribution Paladin PvP Guide for Cataclysm Classic

Retribution Paladin is the king of burst damage especially in PvP thanks to massive DPS cooldowns like Avenging Wrath and Zealotry. Paladin also offers some of the strongest defensive cooldowns in the game in the form of abilities like Hand of Sacrifice and Divine Shield.

Strengths

• Consistent up time and high damage especially when cooldowns like Avenging Wrath are active.
• Ability to self-heal and heal teammates with Word of Glory.
• Powerful personal defensive cooldowns like Divine Shield.
• Incredibly versatile and pairs well with almost any other DPS class.

Weaknesses

• Very susceptible to Magic based crowd controlling abilities when Hand of Sacrifice is on cooldown.
• Struggles when being focused by enemies.
• Limited mobility when the target is out of range of Judgement.

• Glyph of Templar's Verdict — Increases the damage dealt by our Templar's Verdict ability which will act as our primary spender of Holy Power to deal damage.
• Glyph of Word of Glory — Increases the healing done by our Word of Glory ability which will act as our primary spender of Holy Power to heal ourselves and allies.
• Glyph of Seal of Truth — Grants a considerable amount of Expertise allowing us to focus on gearing towards other stats.

• Glyph of Cleansing — Reduces the mana cost of our Cleanse ability allowing us to cast it more often without worrying about mana.
• Glyph of Turn Evil — Causes our Turn Evil ability to be an instant cast allowing us to crowd control targets much more effectively.
• Glyph of Hammer of Justice — Increases the range of Hammer of Justice allowing you to use the rather short-ranged ability much more easily to close the gap or CC an off target.

• Glyph of Blessing of Kings — Greatly reduces the mana cost of your Blessing of Kings ability.
• Glyph of Truth — Greatly reduces the mana cost of your Seal of Truth ability.
• Glyph of Blessing of Might — Greatly reduces the mana cost of your Blessing of Might ability.

Make sure to check out our Spells Summary Page first. Having a good understanding of not only what your abilities do but how to optimally use them can often times be the difference between winning or losing in PvP. PvP will require you to constantly change your priorities from dealing damage, to surviving or having to peel to keep one of your teammates alive so knowing how to best use your spells will give you the best chance at victory!

1. Crusader Strike — Deals damage and generates Holy Power allowing us to use Templar's Verdict and Word of Glory.
2. Templar's Verdict — Acts as our primary spender of Holy Power to deal damage, this ability is ideally used with 3 Holy Power.
3. Word of Glory — Can be used to heal yourself or allies when taking heavy damage. This also procs Selfless Healer which slightly turns this into an offensive ability as well.
4. Hammer of Justice — Instantly stuns your target, can also be used as a psuedo interrupt in a situation where your Rebuke is on cooldown.
5. Inquisition — Greatly increases your Holy Damage dealt, this is ideally used to prepare for using your DPS cooldowns like Avenging Wrath and Inquisition.
6. Repentance — Instantly incapcitates the target, stopping them from acting. This effect will break on any damage taken.
7. Exorcism — Deals a considerable amount of Holy Damage but should only really be used with a The Art of War proc.
8. Judgement — Deals a considerable amount of Holy Damage and also procs Long Arm of the Law which greatly helps with out mobility and sticking to targets in PvP.
9. Rebuke — Interrupts your targets spell casting, use this early and often to mitigate incoming damage or stop your target from healing.
10. Hammer of Wrath — Deals a ton of Holy Damage but is only usable on targets below 20% or when Avenging Wrath is active.

Retribution Paladin deals a ton of damage but deals even more when cooldowns like Avenging Wrath and Zealotry are active.

• Zealotry — is a two-minute cooldown that causes your Crusader Strike ability to generate three Holy Power instead of one. This effect lasts for twenty seconds and should be used in on cooldown but in PvP it is especially important to pair with another DPS cooldown to increase itself effectiveness like Avenging Wrath. This can also be used when the other team is dealing a considerable amount of damage to be able to cast more Word of Glorys on your team.
• Avenging Wrath. — increases your healing and damage done by 20% for twenty seconds. This is a massive DPS increase that is made even stronger when paired with abilities like Zealotry.
• Divine Shield — is a five-minute cooldown that makes you immune to all incoming sources of damage for eight seconds while reducing the damage you deal by 50%. It is important to keep in mind that this ability can be dispelled by other players in PvP thanks to abilities like Mass Dispel and Shattering Throw.
• Guardian of Ancient Kings — summons a guardian of the light that attacks your target dealing a small amount of Holy Damage but giving you a stacking Strength buff up to 20% increased Strength. While it can take a considerable amount of time to fully stack in PvP it is a great way to not only increase your own damage but deal after the guardian expires it will explode dealing a considerable amount of Holy damage to all nearby enemies.
• Hand of Sacrifice — is a two-minute cooldown that redirects 30% of the damage being dealt to the target to the Paladin who casted the Hand of Sacrifice. In PvP this can be used to both reduce an allies damage taken but also to avoid crowd control that breaks on damage taken allowing you more uptime.
• Hand of Protection — is a five-minute cooldown that instantly makes the target immune to incoming Physical damage for ten seconds. This ability is able to be dispeled by anyone able to purge Magic effects so keep this in mind especially when against a Mage that may be able to Spellsteal it off of your ally.
• Hand of Freedom — is a twenty five-second cooldown that removes and makes the target immune to movement impairing abilities for six seconds. This can be used on either yourself or allies to maximize your uptime on your target.

While trying to get the most out of your Retribution Paladin in Cataclysm PvP, these are the professions we recommend:

1. Blacksmithing — Gives you access to two additional gem sockets in your Gloves and Writs allowing you to add Strength or Resilience depending on if you feel like you need to become tankier or you need to deal more damage.
2. Engineering — allows you access to the Engineering Helmet Reinforced Bio-Optic Killshades which can be socketed with Cogwheels increasing your Resilience and another secondary stat of your choosing by 208 as well as Synapse Springs which pairs incredibly with your Avenging Wrath and Guardian of Ancient Kings cooldowns.

The list linked below includes the best possible gear setup for an Paladin in PvP.

Retribution Paladin is an incredibly versatile class that can synergize well with many other classes. Highlighted below are some of the strongest arena comps in the game to help you decide what best to pair with your Paladin.