Retribution Paladin DPS Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities — The War Within (11.1.0)

This page includes all information you will need to play Retribution. If you are not familiar with all of the abilities, we recommend checking the Spell Summary page first, as some of the rotational nuances will become clear with a full understanding of how the abilities function.

A number of talent choices will significantly affect how you should play. The priority lists below will automatically change based on the talent selections. You can select full recommended builds with the buttons below as well.

Hero Talents
Templar	Herald of the Sun

Generators	Spenders	Cooldowns
Crusading Strikes	Judge, Jury and Executioner	Avenging Wrath: Might
Templar Strikes	Empyrean Power	Crusade
Holy Blade	Empyrean Legacy	Radiant Glory
Divine Hammer	Divine Arbiter	Execution Sentence
Final Reckoning

For your opener, you will want to cast the abilities in the order listed here before moving on to the regular rotation priority.

1. Cast Blade of Justice to apply Expurgation.
2. Cast Judgment to generate Holy Power.
3. Cast Divine Toll to generate Holy Power.
4. Cast Judgment to generate Holy Power.
5. Cast Divine Hammer.
6. Cast Execution Sentence.
7. Cast Avenging Wrath.
8. Cast Crusade.
9. Cast Final Reckoning.
10. Cast Final Reckoning.
11. Cast Final Verdict.
12. Cast Wake of Ashes.
13. Cast Divine Toll.
14. Cast Final Reckoning.
15. Cast Final Reckoning.
16. Cast Final Verdict.
17. Cast Final Verdict.
18. Cast Hammer of Light.
19. Continue with the regular priority listed below.

Your goal in your opener should be to start generating Holy Power before your cooldowns and then begin your burst window. When not using Radiant Glory, you can use Execution Sentence before Avenging Wrath to save an extra GCD since Execution Sentence is buffed by it when it lands, not when it is cast.

Retribution follows a priority for its rotation, as listed below. Start from the top and work your way down the list until you reach an ability with all criteria met, and that will be the best one to cast for the situation.

1. Cast Divine Hammer.
2. Cast Avenging Wrath.
3. Cast Crusade if you have at least 3 Holy Power.
4. Cast Execution Sentence.
5. Cast Final Reckoning if you have at least 3 Holy Power and Wake of Ashes is on cooldown.
6. Cast Hammer of Light.
7. Cast Divine Storm if you have an Empyrean Power proc and 5 Holy Power.
8. Cast Final Verdict if you have 5 Holy Power.
9. Cast Blade of Justice if Expurgation is not active.
10. Cast Templar Slash if it will expire within a GCD.
11. Cast Wake of Ashes.
12. Cast Divine Toll if you have 3 or less Holy Power.
13. Cast Divine Storm if you have an Empyrean Power proc.
14. Cast Final Verdict with 3-4 Holy Power.
15. Cast Hammer of Wrath if you have a Blessing of An'she proc.
16. Cast Templar Strikes or Templar Slash.
17. Cast Judgment if you have 3 or less Holy Power.
18. Cast Blade of Justice if you have 3 or less Holy Power.
19. Cast Hammer of Wrath with 4 Holy Power or less. Cast with 3 Holy Power or less against 20% or lower Health targets while using Vanguard's Momentum.
20. Cast Crusader Strike.

You need to manage two resources when playing Retribution, Holy Power and time. Most of your damage comes by generating and spending Holy Power, and increasing the efficiency of this loop will increase your damage in turn. To optimize Holy Power generation, you need to consider both the cooldowns of generators and periodic effects that provide it, like Crusading Strikes and Divine Resonance. Minimizing wasting Holy Power should be kept in mind at all times. You do not want to continue to generate Holy Power when you already have 5 just to put an ability on cooldown, and you need to consider whether you will gain Holy Power within a GCD before you use a generator to reach 5. Although Ret has historically valued putting generators on cooldown before spending, with current design you can immediately spend Holy Power whenever you have enough to use a spender.

Retribution follows a priority for its rotation, as listed below. Start from the top and work your way down the list until you reach an ability with all criteria met, and that will be the best one to cast for the situation.

1. Cast Divine Hammer.
2. Cast Avenging Wrath.
3. Cast Crusade if you have at least 3 Holy Power.
4. Cast Execution Sentence.
5. Cast Final Reckoning if you have at least 3 Holy Power and Wake of Ashes is on cooldown.
6. Cast Hammer of Light.
7. Cast Final Verdict if you have 25 stacks of Divine Arbiter or Judge, Jury and Executioner active or Empyrean Legacy active and 5 Holy Power.
8. Cast Final Verdict if you have Judge, Jury and Executioner active or Empyrean Legacy active and 5 Holy Power.
9. Cast Final Verdict if you have Empyrean Legacy active and 5 Holy Power.
10. Cast Divine Storm if you have 5 Holy Power.
11. Cast Templar Slash if it will expire within a GCD.
12. Cast Wake of Ashes.
13. Cast Divine Toll if you have 1 or less Holy Power.
14. Cast Divine Storm if you have an Empyrean Power proc.
15. Cast Final Verdict if you have 25 stacks of Divine Arbiter or Judge, Jury and Executioner active or Empyrean Legacy active and 3-4 Holy Power.
16. Cast Final Verdict if you have Judge, Jury and Executioner active or Empyrean Legacy active and 3-4 Holy Power.
17. Cast Final Verdict if you have Empyrean Legacy active and 3-4 Holy Power.
18. Cast Divine Storm with 3-4 Holy Power.
19. Cast Blade of Justice if you have 3 or less Holy Power.
20. Cast Templar Strikes or Templar Slash.
21. Cast Judgment if you have 3 or less Holy Power.
22. Cast Crusader Strike.
23. Cast Hammer of Wrath.

The philosophy behind the rotation for AoE is essentially the same as it is for single-target. See the section above for details. You will want to swap to the AoE rotation at 2 or more targets.

With Judge, Jury and Executioner, Empyrean Legacy, or Divine Arbiter, you will occasionally want to cast Final Verdict to proc the free AoE effect. You should track these buffs so that you know when to use them appropriately.

There are two types of on-use trinkets that you will use, trinkets that just deal damage and trinkets that provide a stat bonus. For trinkets that provide a stat bonus, usage is straightforward; you should use them with Avenging Wrath / Crusade unless the encounter will end before Avenging Wrath / Crusade will come off cooldown if their cooldowns do not naturally line up. When using Radiant Glory, you can use multiple on-use stat trinkets by simply using them with alternating cooldown sets. With both 1.5 and 2-minute cooldown items, using the 1.5-minute cooldown trinket first reduces cooldown clashes as much as possible.

For on-use damage trinkets, usage can depend on the trinket. Avenging Wrath does not buff trinket damage, but it does increase the critical strike chance of the damage. For instant on-use damage from trinkets like Spare Meat Hook you will want to make sure you use it inside Avenging Wrath. Crusade does not buff trinket damage.

Divine Hammer is a cooldown that is extended when you use Holy Power spenders. These extensions have an internal cooldown of 1 second, which will affect you during Crusade even with ordinary levels of Haste. To extend it optimally, you should try to avoid casting two Holy Power spenders in a row during Crusade or Bloodlust with Divine Hammer active, instead alternating spenders and generators each GCD.