Retribution Paladin Level 58 Boost Guide

In TBC Classic, Blizzard has added a feature where you can boost a character instantly to Level 58. While this feature greatly expedites the leveling process, it can be overwhelming trying to find out which abilities you will be using and what stats to aim for.

The purpose of this guide is to help you navigate your Retribution Paladin after boosting to Level 58, giving you a rundown of the spells you should focus on and how to play your character.

The talent build listed below is optimized for kill speed and durability specifically for Level 58 and onward.

1. Hit Chance; (to 9%);
2. Strength;
3. Attack Power;
4. Stamina
5. Haste;
6. Armor Penetration;
7. Agility/Crit Chance;

Paladin has some downtime between abilities, doing maximum damage is done by following the correct list of priorities and using the correct spells in the correct order as opposed to a rotation. Listed below will be your priority list in order to deal max DPS while leveling.

• Use Hammer of Wrath whenever possible if the target is below 20% health.
• Use Seal of the Crusader to apply Judgement of the Crusader.
• Ensure Seal of Command is active if your weapon is 3.5 speed or slower. If is faster, use Seal of Righteousness.
• Use Crusader Strike on cooldown to maintain Judgment debuffs on the mob and deal damage.
• Use Judgement on cooldown.
• Ensure you are always auto attacking.
• Use Consecration sparingly, unless the fight is very short,as it will drain your Mana quickly. It is best used against multiple mobs or physical-immune enemies.
• Exorcism can be used situationally against Demons and Undead mobs, but it does not scale with attack power, so it does not get stronger with your gear. It is never worth casting above anything else listed.

Below is a list of the most important abilities for a Level 58 Retribution Paladin.

• Seal of Righteousness will be the seal you will be using primarily. This seal adds Holy damage to every auto attack you deal. When you boost a Paladin, the weapon you start with is 2.7 speed and the faster the weapon speed, the more you can take advantage of this added damage. While questing, it is important to pay attention to your quest rewards (especially weapons). If you come across a 3.5 speed or slower weapon, then Seal of Command becomes better and should be used as your default seal.
  • Seal of Command is another powerful seal that you can use while leveling. It only has a chance to proc as opposed to adding flat damage to every attack like Seal of Righteousness, so a slower weapon (3.5 or slower) allows you to take more advantage of this, as Seal of Command can only proc so many times per minute.
• Seal of the Crusader's main use is to apply Improved Seal of the Crusader to the target you are fighting. We do not recommend using this other than to initially apply the debuff to mobs you are fighting.
• Judgement unleashes the seal that you have active when you cast this ability. Most of the time, that will be Seal of Righteousness or Seal of Command, where unleashing either of those two does a considerable amount of damage. Judging with Seal of the Crusader up applies a debuff to the target increasing their Holy damage taken. Each seal has its own unique effects when judged, but the three listed above are the ones you will be using primarily with Judgment.
• Crusader Strike is a powerful single-target attack and a large amount of your damage. Using this on cooldown is important because it refreshes your Judgment debuff, as well as dealing damage.
• Consecration places a ground effect that deals damage to enemies who are inside of it. Consecration costs a lot of Mana, so it is important to make sure the mobs you are fighting stay inside the ground effect for its entire duration to get the most value from the Mana spent.
• Hammer of Wrath is an extremely fast, high damage ability that is only usable on enemies that are below 20% HP, but it deals the most damage of any spell Paladins have.

• Holy Light is your big single-target heal, but has a very slow cast and costs quite a bit of Mana, so using it in combat can sometimes be difficult.
• Flash of Light is a small, quick, and inexpensive heal.
• Divine Shield grants you immunity from all damage and removes almost every debuff in the game. Be cautious using it as it greatly slows your attack speed, has a long cooldown, and will give you the 'Forbearance' debuff, which stops you from using some of your other spells for a minute.
• Hammer of Justice is your only crowd controlling ability. It is a 6 second stun and can help in emergencies or if you need to interrupt a spell by stunning the mob.

• Blessing of Freedom removes all movement impairing effects and makes you immune to them for 10 seconds.
• Cleanse removes 1 poison, disease, and magic effect from a friendly target.
• Redemption brings a dead player back to life, but cannot be used in combat.

• Turn Evil is a quick, cheap cast that will fear demon/undead mobs.
• Exorcism is an instant cast of damage that can only be used against undead/demon mobs.
• Holy Wrath is a very costly short cast that deals damage to all undead/demon mobs within 20 yards.
• Blessing of Protection grants immunity against physical attacks/debuffs to a friendly target for 10 seconds.
• Blessing of Sacrifice places a buff on a party member redirecting some of the damage they take to the caster for 30 seconds.
• Divine Protection protects the Paladin from all physical damage and abilities for 8 seconds, but you cannot attack or use any physical abilities while this buff is active.
• Lay on Hands is a massive heal that will heal for an amount equal to your maximum HP. Lay on Hands has an extremely long cooldown and drains all of your Mana, so only use it in an emergency.

While leveling, you will rarely, if ever actually swap auras. While leveling as Retribution as we have recommended in this guide, you will always use Sanctity Aura, as it increases your damage greatly. All other auras are nice, passive benefits, but are rather insignificant compared to the bonus granted by Sanctity aura.

As a Paladin leveling, you will always have a blessing active as it is a cheap, long lasting buff that grants great benefits. There are two blessings you can choose from while leveling that all offer unique, but comparably strong, benefits. Finding what you prefer in the balance between regeneration/kill speed is mostly personal preference.