Retribution Paladin DPS Easy Mode — The War Within (11.0.7)
On this page, we explain how to easily play Retribution Paladin in World of Warcraft — The War Within (11.0.7), using the simplest rotation, talent tree, stat priority, gear setup, etc., without sacrificing performance.
Foreword
This page is intended for players who are new to the game or class, have no intentions of raiding Mythic difficulty or simply want a more straightforward way to play their specialization without being overwhelmed by the numerous subtleties and active abilities that need to be taken into consideration for optimal play.
The Basics of Retribution Paladin in The War Within
Retribution is a melee DPS specialization with a relatively easy-to-grasp playstyle. Retribution's greatest strength is its strong defensive capabilities, allowing it to survive damage that would ordinarily kill most other non-tank specs.
If you just started out learning about your Retribution Paladin abilities, you can check out our Spell Summary page for a detailed breakdown of what each ability does.
Throughout an encounter, you must manage your Holy Power generation and expenditure to maximize your damage output.
Beginner's Guide to Retribution Paladin in The War Within
Beginner Single-Target Talents for Retribution Paladin
This build is focused on pure single-target, without any talents that would be used for cleave or AoE. You can use the "copy export string" button to import this build directly into the game.
Beginner Priority Cleave Talents for Retribution Paladin
This build has fairly strong priority damage while also taking some options to be able to perform better on AoE. You can use the "copy export string" button to import this build directly into the game.
Beginner AoE and Mythic+ Talents for Retribution Paladin
This build picks up many valuable AoE talents while still maintaining a solid single-target core. You can use the "copy export string" button to import this build directly into the game.
Retribution Paladin Rotation for Beginners
Retribution Paladins do not have a fixed rotation of abilities. Instead, your goal is to make sure that high-priority Holy Power generators are used as often as possible while making sure that Holy Power spenders are used before Holy Power gets overcapped. Cooldowns are used as often as possible to maximize total uses.
- Use your major cooldown abilities like Execution Sentence, Wake of Ashes, Divine Toll, and Hammer of Light as often as possible. Make sure to use Execution Sentence before Wake of Ashes.
- Spend Holy Power with Final Verdict for a single target or Divine Storm against multiple targets. You will want to spend Holy Power either when you are capped at 5, will become capped at 5 soon due to effects like Crusading Strikes or Divine Resonance, or have no regular generators off cooldown.
- Generate Holy Power with Blade of Justice, Judgment, and Hammer of Wrath. The specific order you use them in does not make a large difference to your overall damage, but ideally it is best to put Judgment and Blade of Justice on cooldown first. If you have 4 Holy Power and an ability would generate 2, you should spend Holy Power first.
For more detailed information about the priority system, including using all the other talents and alternative Hero Talents, check out our full rotation page below.
Defensive Spells for Retribution Paladin
Retribution has many defensive options available. Here is a list of the main ones you will regularly use:
- Divine Shield - Prevents all damage and removes most harmful effects for 8 seconds. Also applies Forbearance.
- Divine Protection - Reduces all damage taken by 20% for 8 seconds.
- Shield of Vengeance - Provides an absorb shield that does AoE damage when it expires.
- Lay on Hands - Heals a target for an amount equivalent to your maximum health. Also applies Forbearance.
- Blessing of Protection - Prevents all physical damage and removes most harmful physical effects for 8 seconds. Also applies Forbearance.
See the spell glossary below for a full list of Retribution's spells and abilities.
If you want to learn about alternative Retribution Paladin builds that are optimized for various situations and playstyles, check out our full talents page below.
Stat Priority for Beginners
For the above talent builds, you will want to prioritize stats as follows:
- Strength;
- Mastery;
- Critical Strike = Haste;
- Versatility.
The overall recommendations for stat priority will remain similar in the full guide, but to understand them fully, you should check the in-depth details about the stats themselves. You can check out our full stats page below.
Changelog
- 15 Dec. 2024: Updated for Patch 11.0.7.
- 21 Oct. 2024: Updated for Patch 11.0.5.
- 08 Oct. 2024: Updated for hotfixes.
- 25 Sep. 2024: Updated builds.
- 09 Sep. 2024: Updated for hotfixes.
- 21 Aug. 2024: Updated for The War Within.
- 23 Jul. 2024: Updated for The War Within pre-patch.
- 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
- 22 Apr. 2024: Updated for Dragonflight Season 4.
- 19 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6.
- 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
- 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.2.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Updated builds and rotation for Patch 10.1.7.
- 10 Jul. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.5.
- 06 May 2023: Updated Hammer of Wrath to T30 cleave priority and Holy Power management based on recommend talents.
- 01 May 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.
- 21 Mar. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.0.7.
- 24 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 17 Jan. 2023: Updated Talents and Stats.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Updated Talents and Rotation.
- 28 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight launch.
- 24 Oct. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight pre-patch.
More Paladin Guides
Guides from Other Classes
This guide has been written by Bolas, a long time Retribution Paladin enthusiast, theorycrafter, and sometimes high-end raider. You can find him in the Paladin Discord as bolas.ret.
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