Class guide
Retribution Paladin Guide for WoW Forever
Retribution Paladin builds for WoW Forever. A Level 30 leveling build, the 60 raid build with Seal twisting, and PvP, with rotation and gear.
On this page
Variants
Overview
Retribution in WoW Forever is a Holy-damage fighter with a two-handed weapon, and it finally has buttons to press. Holy Strike is a baseline instant strike every 10 seconds. Judgement no longer eats your Seal, so you judge on cooldown and keep swinging with the Seal still up. Consecration is baseline at 20, and the Retribution tree now pays you for casting: Sanctified Judgement hands back Seal mana on every Judgement, and Champion of the Light turns your Intellect into spell damage.
Holy
Judgement
Consecration
Sanctified
ChampionThe spec's signature is Seal twisting. Twist of Light makes your Seals 20% cheaper, and whenever you replace Seal of Command, Righteousness, Fury or Justice with a different Seal, your next swing still carries the old one. Swap at the right moment and one swing hits with two Seals.
TwistRetribution is the Paladin leveling spec, and at 60 it brings raid damage plus a Judgement debuff that Sacred Arbiter keeps on the boss for free.
SacredStrengths
- Fast solo leveling: quick kills, instant tools, mail armor (plate from 40) and your own heals between pulls.
- Mana that lasts: Benediction cuts the cost of every instant, and Sanctified Judgement refunds 60% of your Seal's cost on every Judgement.
- Burst on demand. Seal of Command judged on a stunned target deals double damage, and you carry your own stun.
- A free raid debuff: Holy Strike refreshes every Judgement on the target, so your 40-second Judgement never falls off.
- Hybrid tools no pure DPS has: Blessing of Protection, Lay on Hands, Blessings, auras and Redemption.
Seal
Blessing
Lay
RedemptionWeaknesses
- Slow two-handed swings mean big swings in damage. A few missed or unlucky hits in a row cost more than they do for a fast-weapon class.
- Mana still ends fights. Consecration and Seal twisting drain you if you press everything on cooldown.
- No interrupt. Hammer of Justice is your only answer to a heal.
- Limited mobility: no charge, no sprint. Pursuit of Justice and Blessing of Freedom are all you get.
- Divine Shield halves your damage in Forever, so you can't bubble and keep fighting at full power.
Hammer
Pursuit
BlessingWhat's new in Forever
- Holy Strike: baseline at 6, 10-second cooldown, 25% of weapon damage plus Holy damage at rank 1 and 50% at rank 8 (level 60).
- Judgement no longer consumes your Seal, and the Judgement debuffs of Crusader, Light and Wisdom now last 40 seconds.
- Consecration is baseline at 20. The first 4 enemies in it take a large extra chunk of damage.
- Hammer of Wrath is trained at 44: a 1-second cast on a 6-second cooldown against targets at 20% health or less.
- New Retribution talents: Holy Conduit (40% cheaper Consecration, Exorcism, Holy Wrath and Hammer of Wrath), Sanctified Judgement, Sacred Arbiter (+20% Holy Strike damage, refreshes Judgements), Champion of the Light, Instrument of Law (instant Hammer of Wrath, 20% less threat) and Twist of Light.
- Reworked talents: Benediction now discounts every instant spell and ability by 10%. Conviction covers all melee attacks. Vengeance triggers from any non-periodic critical strike and gives up to 3% per stack, three stacks at most. Pursuit of Justice is 15%. Vindication now also raises your Attack Power by 3% for 30 seconds.
- Improved Seals in the Holy tree adds 15% to all Seal and Judgement damage.
- Hit and Critical Strike are single stats in Forever that cover your melee swings and your Holy spells alike.
- Blessings last 1 hour, Blessing of Kings is baseline at 20, and Divine Shield now halves your damage instead of slowing your attacks.
Talents
The leveling build to 30. Benediction and Conviction first, Seal of Command at 20, then the mana and speed talents that shorten your downtime: Sanctified Judgement, Pursuit of Justice and Sacred Arbiter. The last point starts Vengeance.
Split 0/0/21 · 21 points at level 30 · Open in calculator
Talent order
- Levels 10–14: 5/5 Benediction. 10% cheaper instant spells and abilities. Everything you press while leveling is instant: Seals, Judgement, Holy Strike, Blessings.
- Levels 15–19: 5/5 Conviction. +5% critical strike chance with melee attacks.
- Level 20: 1/1 Seal of Command. Your swings get a chance to deal 70% of your weapon damage again as Holy damage. With a slow two-hander, it's the Seal you level with.
- Levels 21–23: 3/3 Sanctified Judgement. Every Judgement returns 60% of the judged Seal's mana cost. Fewer drinks, shorter downtime.
- Levels 24–25: 2/2 Pursuit of Justice. 15% faster on foot and mounted. Every quest gets shorter.
- Level 26: 1/1 Sacred Arbiter. +20% Holy Strike damage, and each Holy Strike refreshes your Judgement effects on the target.
- Levels 27–29: 3/3 Vindication. Your hits lower the target's Attack Power and raise yours by 3% for 30 seconds.
- Level 30: 1/3 Vengeance. +1% Physical and Holy damage per crit, stacking three times. Finish it at 31 and 32.
Benediction
Conviction
Vindication
VengeanceFlexible points
- Losing fights to mobs at or above your level? Put 2 of the Conviction points into 2/5 Deflection for 2% parry until you outlevel them.
- For dungeons at 25–30 instead of questing, move Pursuit of Justice into 2/2 Improved Judgement for an 8-second Judgement.
DeflectionThe raid build. 35 points in Retribution take every damage talent in the tree, including Champion of the Light, Instrument of Law and Twist of Light. The 16 in Holy buy Divine Strength, Improved Seals, Divine Intellect and Reverence: more Attack Power, 15% more Seal and Judgement damage, and the mana to keep twisting.
Split 16/0/35 · 51 points at level 60 · Open in calculator
Retribution: 35 points
- 5/5 Benediction: 10% cheaper instants, which is your whole rotation.
- 2/2 Improved Judgement: Judgement every 8 seconds.
- 2/2 Holy Conduit: 40% cheaper Consecration, Exorcism and Hammer of Wrath.
- 5/5 Conviction: +5% melee critical strike chance.
- 3/3 Vindication: +3% Attack Power, and the boss loses Attack Power too.
- 3/3 Sanctified Judgement: 60% of the judged Seal's mana back on every Judgement.
- 1/1 Seal of Command: your main Seal.
- 1/2 Pursuit of Justice: 8% movement speed for raid mechanics.
- 1/1 Sacred Arbiter: +20% Holy Strike damage, and Holy Strike keeps your Judgement on the boss.
- 3/3 Two-Handed Weapon Specialization: +6% two-handed weapon damage.
- 3/3 Vengeance: up to +9% Physical and Holy damage after crits.
- 3/3 Champion of the Light: spell damage equal to your Intellect. Judgements, Consecration, Holy Strike's Holy damage, Hammer of Wrath and Exorcism all scale with it.
- 2/2 Instrument of Law: instant Hammer of Wrath, and 20% less threat while Righteous Fury is off.
- 1/1 Twist of Light: 20% cheaper Seals, and every Seal swap leaves an Echo on your next swing.
Holy
Two-Handed
InstrumentHoly: 16 points
- 5/5 Divine Strength: +10% Strength.
- 5/5 Divine Intellect: +10% Intellect. With Champion of the Light, that's also more spell damage.
- 3/3 Improved Seals: +15% damage from Seals and Judgements. Seal of Command, Seal of Righteousness, every Echo and every Judgement.
- 3/3 Reverence: 30% of your mana regeneration continues while casting. As a Paladin who presses an instant every few seconds, you are always casting.
Divine
Divine
Improved
ReverenceFlexible points
- Undead and Demon bosses: move Reverence into 2/2 Purifying Power plus one point back into Pursuit of Justice. Exorcism comes back every 10 seconds instead of 15.
- Fights with a Fear: move 2 points from Reverence into 2/2 Unyielding Faith for 30% shorter fears.
Purifying
UnyieldingThe PvP build for battlegrounds and world PvP. You keep the Retribution damage core and add Repentance, Eye for an Eye and full Pursuit of Justice. The 14 points in Protection buy Guardian's Favor for a 3-minute Blessing of Protection and a longer Blessing of Freedom, Sacred Duty for faster immunities, and Toughness for armor.
Split 0/14/37 · 51 points at level 60 · Open in calculator
Retribution: 37 points
- Benediction, Improved Judgement, Conviction, Vindication, Sanctified Judgement, Seal of Command, Sacred Arbiter, Two-Handed Weapon Specialization, Vengeance, Champion of the Light, Instrument of Law and Twist of Light: the raid build's damage talents, minus Holy Conduit and the 16 Holy points.
- 2/2 Pursuit of Justice: 15% movement speed. Kiting and chasing both depend on it.
- 2/2 Eye for an Eye: every crit against you reflects 10% of its damage to the attacker.
- 1/1 Repentance: a 6-second incapacitate on a Humanoid, every minute. It works on players in their normal form; a shapeshifted Druid isn't a Humanoid.
Eye
RepentanceProtection: 14 points
- 5/5 Toughness: 10% more armor from items.
- 2/2 Guardian's Favor: Blessing of Protection every 3 minutes and Blessing of Freedom 6 seconds longer.
- 3/5 Anticipation: +12 Defense Skill.
- 2/3 Precision: +2% hit.
- 2/2 Sacred Duty: +4% Stamina and a 4-minute Divine Shield and Divine Protection.
Toughness
Anticipation
Precision
SacredFlexible points
- Taking a beating from Rogues and Warriors: move the 2 Precision points into Anticipation for 5/5 and +20 Defense Skill.
Races
Best races
Alliance: Human. Sword Specialization adds 2% critical strike chance with all spells and attacks while you wield a sword or two-handed sword. That's 2% crit for your swings, your Seal of Command procs and your Judgements. Will to Survive breaks any stun every 3 minutes, which in PvP is the difference between a kill and a death.
Sword
WillAlliance alternative: Dwarf. Mace Specialization adds 1% crit with a mace or two-handed mace, Big Game Hunter adds 5% damage against Beasts, and Stoneform cleanses Bleeds, Poisons and Diseases and cuts Physical damage by 10% for 8 seconds. Pick Dwarf if your best weapon is a mace.
Mace
Big
StoneformHorde: Undead. The only Horde Paladin. Will of the Forsaken breaks Fear, Charm and Sleep every 2 minutes. Cannibalize restores 7% of your health and mana every 2 seconds for 10 seconds from a corpse: a free drink after Humanoid and Undead pulls. Touch of the Grave gives your attacks a 5% chance to drain health.
Will
Cannibalize
TouchAll playable races
- Human: Sword Specialization, The Human Spirit, Will to Survive, Perception.
- Dwarf: Mace Specialization, Big Game Hunter, Stoneform, Find Treasure.
- Undead (Horde, new in Forever): Will of the Forsaken, Cannibalize, Touch of the Grave, Underwater Breathing.
Rotation
Single pull
- Buff yourself: Blessing of Might and Retribution Aura. Blessings last an hour.
- Seal of Command active. Before 20, use Seal of Righteousness and train each new rank.
- Run in and Judgement as you reach the mob. Judgement of Command deals instant Holy damage, and the Seal stays up.
- Holy Strike on cooldown. Every 10 seconds.
- Judge again every time it's ready.
- Refresh Seal of Command before it runs out (30 seconds).
Blessing
RetributionThe stun combo
Seal of Command's Judgement deals double damage to a stunned target. Open with Hammer of Justice, then Judge. It's the fastest way to finish a mob that's about to run, or a caster that's healing itself.
Two or more mobs
- Pull both, then drop Consecration at your feet. The first 4 enemies in it take the full extra damage.
- Holy Strike and Judge the one you want dead first.
- Exorcism hits Undead and Demons hard every 15 seconds. Open with it on every Undead mob.
ExorcismStaying alive and mana
- Heal between pulls with Holy Light, not in combat. A 2.5-second cast in melee gets pushed back.
- Drink only when you need it. Sanctified Judgement returns 60% of Seal of Command's cost on every Judgement, and Benediction takes 10% off every instant.
- Divine Protection when a pull goes wrong. It makes you immune for 8 seconds, but you can't attack, so heal yourself during it.
- Lay on Hands is your emergency full heal every 20 minutes.
Holy
DivineBefore the pull
- Check which Judgement your raid wants from you: Crusader, Wisdom or Light. Each Paladin keeps one Judgement on the boss, and Sacred Arbiter keeps yours up for free.
- Cast that Seal (Seal of the Crusader, Seal of Wisdom or Seal of Light), Judge it on the pull, then switch to Seal of Command.
Seal
Seal
SealPriority
- Holy Strike on cooldown. It refreshes your 40-second Judgement debuff every time it hits, so the debuff never needs recasting.
- Judgement on cooldown with Seal of Command up: instant Holy damage every 8 seconds, and Sanctified Judgement refunds most of the Seal.
- Hammer of Wrath when the boss drops to 20%. Instrument of Law makes it instant, and Holy Conduit makes it 40% cheaper. It's your top priority in the execute phase.
- Exorcism on cooldown against Undead and Demons.
- Seal twist when your Seal is due for a refresh (see below).
- Consecration when there are adds, or when you're above half mana on a single target.
HammerSeal twisting
Twist of Light leaves an Echo of your old Seal when you swap to a new one. The next swing applies both. The twist you do every refresh:
- Seal of Command is up and nearly expired. Right after a swing, cast Seal of Righteousness.
- Your next swing hits with Seal of Righteousness and the Echo of Seal of Command.
- Right after that swing, cast Seal of Command again. The next swing hits with Seal of Command and an Echo of Seal of Righteousness.
Every swap costs a Seal cast, 20% cheaper with Twist of Light. Twist on every refresh, and twist between refreshes only while you're above half mana.
Threat
Instrument of Law cuts your threat by 20% while Righteous Fury is off, which is always for you. Ask for Greater Blessing of Salvation as well, and don't open before the tank's second Judgement.
GreaterOpener
- Repentance the healer, then attack their partner. Repentance breaks on damage, so keep Consecration off it.
- Hammer of Justice your kill target, then Judgement with Seal of Command up. A stunned target takes double Judgement damage.
- Holy Strike while they're stunned.
- Keep swinging. Your next Judgement is back in 8 seconds.
Finishing
Hammer of Wrath is instant with Instrument of Law and hits anything at 20% health or less from 30 yards. Use it the moment the target drops under 20%, and again 6 seconds later.
Staying on target
- Blessing of Freedom on yourself breaks roots and snares and makes you immune to them for 16 seconds with Guardian's Favor. Its cooldown is 20 seconds.
- Seal of Justice judged on a runner stops them fleeing for 10 seconds.
SealDefense
- Divine Shield makes you immune for 12 seconds, but your damage drops by half. Use it to stop a burst, then cancel it.
- Blessing of Protection on a teammate under melee attack, or on yourself against a Rogue or Warrior. Remember: it stops you attacking too.
- Blessing of Protection, Divine Protection and Divine Shield share Forbearance: one per minute.
Stat priority
Leveling
- Strength
- Critical Strike
- Stamina
- Intellect
- Agility
Strength is Attack Power for every swing and every Holy Strike. Critical Strike stacks Vengeance, and every hit rolls for Vindication. Intellect is a bigger mana pool, so fewer drinks. Take the weapon upgrade over any armor upgrade: Seal of Command and Holy Strike both scale with weapon damage.
Raid
- Hit
- Strength
- Critical Strike
- Intellect
- Spell Power
- Agility
- Stamina
Hit comes first: a missed swing deals nothing and also loses its Seal of Command proc and its Twist of Light Echo. In Forever, one Hit stat covers your swings, Judgements and spells. Strength and Critical Strike follow: crits keep Vengeance stacked at 9%. Champion of the Light turns each point of Intellect into a point of spell damage, and Intellect also gives mana, so it beats Spell Power point for point.
PvP
- Stamina
- Strength
- Critical Strike
- Intellect
- Hit
Stamina keeps you alive through the first stun. Then take burst: Strength and Critical Strike for the stun-and-Judge window, Intellect for bigger Judgements and a mana pool that lasts a full fight.
Gear
Weapons
Your weapon is your damage. Take the slowest two-handed weapon with the highest damage per second you can use. Seal of Command procs deal 70% of your weapon damage, and Holy Strike deals a share of it, so big slow hits scale everything.
Armor
Mail until 40, plate from 40, with Strength and Stamina first. Quest rewards with Strength beat vendor gear at every level.
Class quest
Alliance Paladins pick up The Test of Righteousness (quest level 21): speak to Jordan Stilwell in Ironforge. Next comes the collection step (level 22), which sends you after four components, and the final step ends with Jordan forging a weapon for you.
What you're gearing for
Hit first, then Strength and Critical Strike on plate. Blacksmiths make Lionheart Helm (level 56, Bind on Equip), a plate helm with Strength, Hit and Critical Strike, and Arcanite Reaper (level 58, Bind on Equip), a 3.8-speed two-hander with 62 Attack Power: the slow, hard-hitting weapon Seal of Command wants.
Lionheart
ArcaniteEnchants
- Enchant Weapon - Crusader on your weapon: heals you and adds 100 Strength for 15 seconds when it procs.
- Enchant Gloves - Greater Strength on your gloves and Enchant Bracer - Superior Strength on your bracers.
- Enchant Chest - Greater Stats on your chest.
EnchantConsumables
- Elixir of Greater Strength and Elixir of the Mongoose for Strength and crit.
- Dense Sharpening Stone on a sword or axe, Dense Weightstone on a mace.
- Winterfall Firewater for 35 Attack Power.
- Major Mana Potion when a long fight runs you dry.
Elixir
Elixir
Dense
Dense
Winterfall
MajorWhat you're gearing for
Stamina on every slot you can, then Strength and Critical Strike. The same two-handed weapon you raid with is your PvP weapon. Keep a set of Stamina pieces for battlegrounds.
Consumables
- Major Healing Potion for the burst you can't bubble through.
- Elixir of Greater Strength for Strength.
- Enchant Weapon - Crusader on your weapon: a self-heal and 100 Strength on proc.
MajorProfessions
Blacksmithing and Mining is the Retribution pair. Blacksmithing makes armor (plate from 40) and two-handed weapons all the way to 60, and the Sharpening Wheel is a camping object your whole party uses. Mining feeds it and pays for it.
Engineering is the PvP pick: explosives and gadgets add burst and control no other profession gives.
For gold while leveling, take Mining and Herbalism, then switch one of them at 60.
Group play and dungeons
You're damage first, and a spare healer and a buff bot second.
- One Judgement per Paladin. Agree with the other Paladins on who keeps Crusader, Wisdom and Light on the boss. Holy Strike keeps yours refreshed.
- Blessings. Each player gets one Blessing from each Paladin, for an hour. Kings is baseline and goes on everyone who doesn't have it. Blessing of Might on melee, Blessing of Wisdom on casters.
- Auras. Retribution Aura for trash-heavy dungeons, Devotion Aura when your tank takes big hits, and a resistance aura on the matching boss. Forever's resistance auras cover the whole raid.
- Emergency healer. When the healer dies, Holy Light and Flash of Light keep the tank alive until the fight ends. Redemption brings them back after.
- Stun the heal. Hammer of Justice is your interrupt. Save it for healers and fears.
- Undead dungeons. In Stratholme and Scholomance, Exorcism hits Undead hard every 15 seconds, and Holy Wrath stuns every Undead and Demon within 20 yards for 2 seconds.
Blessing
Flash
HolyPvP
Retribution in PvP is a stun-and-burst spec. Your kill window is Hammer of Justice into a Judgement of Command for double damage and a Holy Strike, then Hammer of Wrath the moment they drop under 20%.
- Repentance the healer before you open on their partner. It lasts 6 seconds and only breaks on damage.
- Free yourself. Blessing of Freedom every 20 seconds keeps you on your target through Frost Nova and Hamstring.
- Divine Shield is a reset, not an attack. It halves your damage in Forever. Bubble, heal with Flash of Light, cancel it, then fight.
- Undead Paladins carry Will of the Forsaken for Fear. Humans carry Will to Survive for stuns.
Tips
Seal of Command's Judgement deals double damage to a stunned or incapacitated target. Hammer of Justice into Judgement is your biggest hit, while leveling and in PvP.
Judgement no longer consumes your Seal. Classic habits of recasting the Seal after every Judgement waste mana. Judge on cooldown and refresh the Seal only when its 30 seconds run out, or to twist.
Holy Strike is your Judgement timer. With Sacred Arbiter, each Holy Strike refreshes your Judgement debuffs. Press it on cooldown and you never rejudge Crusader.
Train every Seal of Command rank. New ranks come at 30, 40, 50 and 60, and every rank raises its Judgement damage.
Hammer of Wrath is trained at 44. With 2/2 Instrument of Law it's instant: a finisher every 6 seconds on anything at 20% health or less.
Don't bubble to keep fighting. Divine Shield halves your damage. Use it to survive, then cancel it.
Macros
Holy Strike that also starts your auto-attack, so a new pull never waits for a white swing.
#showtooltip Holy Strike
/startattack
/cast Holy StrikeJudgement with auto-attack. Your opener on every mob.
#showtooltip Judgement
/startattack
/cast JudgementRepentance on your focus target, so you can lock the healer while you stay on your kill target.
#showtooltip Repentance
/cast [@focus,harm,nodead][] RepentanceBlessing of Freedom on yourself, with no retargeting.
#showtooltip Blessing of Freedom
/cast [@player] Blessing of FreedomDivine Shield that cancels itself on a second press, so you get your full damage back the moment you're safe.
#showtooltip Divine Shield
/cancelaura Divine Shield
/cast Divine ShieldChangelog
- Guide published with Level 30, Level 60 Raid and Level 60 PvP builds.
- Fixed a sentence; linked dungeons.