Retribution Paladin DPS Gear and Best in Slot — The War Within (11.1.0)
On this page, you will find the best gear and best in slot items for your Retribution Paladin in World of Warcraft The War Within (11.1.0).
If you were looking for WotLK Classic content, please refer to our WotLK Classic Retribution Paladin gear and best in slot.
Best in Slot Gear Guide for Retribution Paladin
Welcome to our Gear Page for Retribution Paladin. This guide contains all the information you need to know about how to gear a Retribution Paladin, including crafted gear, embellishments, and trinkets.
For more specific information about how stats work for Retribution, you can visit our Stats guide:
The Importance of "Simming Yourself" as a Retribution Paladin
With the sheer number of possible gear combinations, a generic stat priority or BiS list is not going to tell the entire story of how to gear your character. Instead, you should use Raidbots to get a better idea of how changing different items will affect your character. Especially for Retribution, you will frequently find the values of different stats fluctuate a lot as you upgrade your gear, so using a more objective metric to help you make gearing decisions is invaluable.
If you are not experienced with using Raidbots, see the guide below for more information on how to use it:
BiS Gear for Retribution Paladin
Season 2 Overall BiS List for Retribution Paladin
This list contains the BiS items from any source for Season 2 of The War Within.
Some items listed are only available from the Great Vault. While these are theoretical BiS, other similar items that are more easily obtained can be substituted instead. You should not be dropping significant amounts of item level for items on this list in most cases.
Slot | Item | Source/Note |
---|---|---|
Weapon | ![]() |
Chrome King Gallywix in Liberation of Undermine |
Helm | ![]() |
The Geargrinder in Liberation of Undermine |
Neck | ![]() |
Rik Reverb in Liberation of Undermine |
Shoulder | ![]() |
Matrix Catalyst |
Cloak | ![]() |
Tailoring |
Chest | ![]() |
Matrix Catalyst |
Bracers | ![]() |
Blacksmithing |
Gloves | ![]() |
Matrix Catalyst |
Belt | ![]() |
One-Armed Bandit in Liberation of Undermine |
Legs | ![]() |
Matrix Catalyst |
Boots | ![]() |
Chrome King Gallywix in Liberation of Undermine |
Ring #1 | ![]() |
Chrome King Gallywix in Liberation of Undermine |
Ring #2 | ![]() |
Siren Isle |
Trinket #1 | ![]() |
Chrome King Gallywix in Liberation of Undermine |
Trinket #2 | ![]() |
Operation: Floodgate |
Liberation of Undermine BiS List for Retribution Paladin
This list contains the BiS items from Liberation of Undermine for Season 2 of The War Within.
While the items listed are theoretical BiS, other similar items can be substituted instead for most slots. You should not be dropping significant amounts of item level for items on this list in most cases.
Slot | Item | Source/Note |
---|---|---|
Weapon | ![]() |
Chrome King Gallywix in Liberation of Undermine |
Helm | ![]() |
The Geargrinder in Liberation of Undermine |
Neck | ![]() |
Rik Reverb in Liberation of Undermine |
Shoulder | ![]() |
Matrix Catalyst |
Cloak | ![]() |
Sprocketmonger Lockenstock in Liberation of Undermine |
Chest | ![]() |
Matrix Catalyst |
Bracers | ![]() |
Sprocketmonger Lockenstock in Liberation of Undermine |
Gloves | ![]() |
Matrix Catalyst |
Belt | ![]() |
One-Armed Bandit in Liberation of Undermine |
Legs | ![]() |
Matrix Catalyst |
Boots | ![]() |
Chrome King Gallywix in Liberation of Undermine |
Ring #1 | ![]() |
Chrome King Gallywix in Liberation of Undermine |
Ring #2 | ![]() |
Siren Isle |
Trinket #1 | ![]() |
Chrome King Gallywix in Liberation of Undermine |
Trinket #2 | ![]() |
One-Armed Bandit in Liberation of Undermine |
Season 2 Mythic+ BiS List for Retribution Paladin
This list contains the BiS items from Mythic+ for Season 2 of The War Within.
While the items listed are theoretical BiS, other similar items can be substituted instead for most slots. You should not be dropping significant amounts of item level for items on this list in most cases.
Slot | Item | Source/Note |
---|---|---|
Weapon | ![]() |
Theater of Pain |
Helm | ![]() |
Matrix Catalyst |
Neck | ![]() |
Cinderbrew Meadery |
Shoulder | ![]() |
Matrix Catalyst |
Cloak | ![]() |
Cinderbrew Meadery |
Chest | ![]() |
Matrix Catalyst |
Bracers | ![]() |
The MOTHERLODE!! |
Gloves | ![]() |
Operation: Mechagon |
Belt | ![]() |
Operation: Mechagon |
Legs | ![]() |
Matrix Catalyst |
Boots | ![]() |
Cinderbrew Meadery |
Ring #1 | ![]() |
Theater of Pain |
Ring #2 | ![]() |
Siren Isle |
Trinket #1 | ![]() |
Operation: Floodgate |
Trinket #2 | ![]() |
Priory of the Sacred Flame |
Best Cyrce's Circlet Gems for Retribution Paladin
Cyrce's Circlet is a ring introduced in Patch 11.0.7 that you can acquire and upgrade by completing activities in the new Siren Isle zone, up to a maximum item level of 658. The ring has 3 sockets, which can each fit a specific kind of gem. There are four different gems available for each of the three sockets, for a total of 12 gems. The strength of the gem effects scale with the item level of your ring.
For Retribution, Cyrce's Circlet is significantly stronger than other rings and should be used as soon as possible. With the optimal gem combination, no other rings come close to competing with it, even including all Season 2 items.
For gems, these are the best choices for Retribution in all situations:
- Thunder:
Stormbringer's Runed Citrine
- Sea:
Fathomdweller's Runed Citrine
- Wind:
Legendary Skipper's Citrine
For more information on how to acquire and upgrade the ring, along with all of the different gems that it can use, check out our Cyrce's Circlet guide below:
Best Trinkets for Retribution Paladin in The War Within Season 2
Raiding Trinket Tier List for Retribution Paladin
This list contains trinkets from any source, ranked according to their strength in raid content. As raid content is primarily single-target-focused, trinkets that are stronger in single-target will tend to be ranked higher.
S-Tier
Eye of Kezan
Improvised Seaforium Pacemaker
A-Tier
House of Cards
Mechano-Core Amplifier
Suspicious Energy Drink
B-Tier
Mister Lock-N-Stalk
Zee's Thug Hotline
Viscera of Coalesced Hatred
Reverb Radio
C-Tier
Shadow-Binding Ritual Knife
Signet of the Priory
Spelunker's Waning Candle
Sigil of Algari Concordance
Funhouse Lens
D-Tier
Geargrinder's Spare Keys
Ravenous Honey Buzzer
Razdunk's Big Red Button
Torq's Big Red Button
Grim Codex
Remnant of Darkness
K.U.-J.0.'s Flame Vents
Algari Alchemist Stone
Mythic+ Trinket Tier List for Retribution Paladin
This list contains trinkets from any source, ranked according to their strength in Mythic+ content. As Mythic+ is primarily AoE-focused, trinkets that are stronger in multi-target situations will tend to be ranked higher.
S-Tier
Improvised Seaforium Pacemaker
A-Tier
House of Cards
Mechano-Core Amplifier
Suspicious Energy Drink
Spelunker's Waning Candle
Funhouse Lens
B-Tier
Reverb Radio
Shadow-Binding Ritual Knife
Signet of the Priory
C-Tier
Geargrinder's Spare Keys
Razdunk's Big Red Button
Zee's Thug Hotline
Ravenous Honey Buzzer
Viscera of Coalesced Hatred
D-Tier
Eye of Kezan
Mister Lock-N-Stalk
Sigil of Algari Concordance
Grim Codex
Torq's Big Red Button
Remnant of Darkness
K.U.-J.0.'s Flame Vents
Algari Alchemist Stone
Retribution Paladin Tier Set for The War Within Season 2
The Tier Set bonuses for The War Within Season 2 for Retribution Paladin are:
-
Paladin Retribution 11.1 Class Set 2pc — Your spells and abilities have a chance to activate a Winning Streak!, increasing the damage of your
Final Verdict and
Divine Storm by 2%, stacking up to 10 times. Spending Holy Power on damaging abilities has a 12% chance to remove Winning Streak!
-
Paladin Retribution 11.1 Class Set 4pc — When you lose your Winning Streak!, you get the last Holy Power spent back, you cannot lose Holy Power for the next 4 seconds, and the damage of your your Holy Power abilities are increased by 10%.
These bonuses increase the damage of your Holy Power spenders and provide more free casts of them. You should aim to get these bonuses as soon as possible and use them at all times.
Retribution Paladin Crafted Gear and Embellishments
Crafted Gear for Retribution Paladin
In general, you should focus your early crafts on getting embellished gear. For more information on those, see the section below.
Once you have your two embellished items, jewellery is a good choice to craft since you can customize its secondary stats as required, and all crafted rings come with a socket. Finally, fill out any low-item level non-tier slots such as bracers, cloak, belt, and feet, and then you have the option of crafting additional embellished items for different content types.
When crafting gear, you will want to use a missive to set the item's secondary stats. Although you should sim your options to check what the best one for your gear setup would be, a good default to use is Algari Missive of the Peerless.
Embellishments for Retribution Paladin
For Retribution, you have a few combinations that perform very similarly:
- 2x
Dawnthread Lining
- 2x
Elemental Focusing Lens
Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension &
Writhing Armor Banding
Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension along with
Writhing Armor Banding is a strong combination,
but does require you to use a crafted weapon - this can be a bonus as weapons are by far the most important slot to get at high item level, but they do require 2 Sparks rather than 1 to craft,
which will force you to use a non-Spark crafted item for your second embellishment while you wait for your next spark. If you do not get a high item level weapon early and can craft at 675 then this combination is a good choice.
Dawnthread Lining is very close to the
Darkmoon Sigil: Ascension combination, performing slightly ahead or behind depending on the uptime you can maintain and your other weapon options.
Elemental Focusing Lens is the next best armor embellishment after
Dawnthread Lining if you cannot maintain high uptime on its buff.
In Season 2, there are much stronger alternative weapons with special effects like Best-in-Slots which means that any crafted weapon will eventually be replaced. Crafted weapons should be seen as an
early way to get a high item level weapon easily, but not an item that will be permanently used in the long term - you will eventually want to swap to armor embellishments.
Because crafted gear has a slightly lower item level cap than Myth track items, you will want to use armor embellishments in slots that have relatively less Strength. Bracers and cloak are good choices for slots to craft on.
Best Gear Upgrades for Retribution Paladin
Gear can be upgraded using Crests and Valorstones. Upgrading gear for a given slot will also reduce the cost of future upgrades, which reduces the opportunity cost of upgrading early on. In general, you should aim to upgrade the slots with the highest impact first - for Retribution, this is:
- Weapon
- Trinkets
- Helm, Chest, Legs, and Jewellery
- Shoulders, Belt, Gloves, and Boots
- Cloak and Bracers
Changelog
- 27 Feb. 2025: Updated gear recommendations.
- 24 Feb. 2025: Updated for Patch 11.1.
- 01 Jan. 2025: Updated trinket recommendations.
- 17 Dec. 2024: Updated for Patch 11.0.7.
- 21 Oct. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 11.0.5.
- 09 Sep. 2024: Updated for TWW Season 1.
- 28 Aug. 2024: Updated embellishment recommendations.
- 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: Updated for Patch 10.2.6.
- 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5.
- 28 Nov. 2023: Added the new Legendary and adjusted trinket recommendations.
- 06 Nov. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.2.
- 04 Sep. 2023: Added BiS lists and overhauled page formatting for Patch 10.1.7.
- 10 Jul. 2023: Updated for Patch 10.1.5.
- 24 May 2023: Updated for Cataclysm Timewalking and added Pocket Anvil for pure single-target.
- 06 May 2023: Updated for trinket and T30 secondary stat changes.
- 02 May 2023: Updated Raid and Dungeon gear and added m+ embellishments.
- 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: Readded Idol of Tampling Hooves after it got fixed.
- 16 Dec. 2022: Added second on-use trinket Manic Grieftorch.
- 16 Dec. 2022: Removed Idol of Tampling Hooves because it didnt hit raid bosses properly.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight Mythic+ Season 1 loot tables.
- 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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