Retribution Paladin DPS Guide — Battle for Azeroth (BfA) 8.0.1

1. Retribution Paladin Overview

In single-target DPS, the Retribution specialisation is currently performing very well, compared to most other classes. The sustained AoE performance on the other side is rather weak.

2. Patch 8.0.1 Changes for Retribution Paladins

• Mastery: Hand of Light increases all Holy damage done by our abilities. Note that this does not affect Racials and Trinket effects.
• Avenging Wrath and Shield of Vengeance are now affected by the global cooldown.
• Avenging Wrath now grants 20% increased damage, healing, and Critical Strike chance.
• Judgment now generates 1 Holy Power and causes the target to take 25% increased damage from your next Holy Power spender.
• Art of War is a new passive, giving us the Legion version of Blade of Wrath with half proc rate at 2 procs per minute.
• Shield of Vengeance's absorb shield now equals 30% of your maximum Health. It will burst when the shield is consumed, or after 15 seconds, and deal Holy damage equal to the absorbed amount divided to nearby enemies. The absorb shield and damage do not get increased by any damage modifiers.
• Retribution's duration has been halved to 10 seconds.
• Crusader Strike's cooldown has been increased to 6 seconds, up from 4.5.

3. Strengths of Retribution Paladin

• Strong single-target sustained damage
• Good single-target burst damage
• Can switch targets without downsides
• Many utility spells such as Greater Blessing of Wisdom, Blessing of Protection, and Blessing of Freedom
• Strong defensives like Divine Shield, Eye for an Eye, and Shield of Vengeance

4. Weaknesses of Retribution Paladin

• Low sustained AoE damage
• Low mobility
• Uptime-reliant

5. Retribution Paladin Viability in the Current Patch

Retribution Paladin is doing fine in Uldir so far, but that is only as far as melee are concerned. When there is only a very small amount of melee slots available, other melee specs are preferred over Retribution for their raid-wide class buffs. Currently, Retribution is not filling a specific niche, so there is no hard requirement or situation where you have to bring one into the raid. Retribution still lacks an instantaneous gap closer mobility tool to deal with certain raid mechanics as efficiently as most of the other melee can. In dungeons, Retribution can make use of its utility kit to support the healer, but lacks in output. Overall, the spec is probably sitting in the middle of the pack so it could be better, but also worse.

6. Changelog