Retribution Paladin DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents (BfA 8.0.1)

Table of Contents

• +Introduction
  • 1. Class Overview
  • 2. Patch 8.0.1 Changes for Retribution Paladins
  • 3. Strengths of Retribution Paladin
  • 4. Weaknesses of Retribution Paladin
  • 5. Contents
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Easy Mode
  • 1. Foreword
  • 2. The Basics of Retribution Paladins
  • 3. Talent Choice for Retribution Paladins
  • 4. Stat Choice for Retribution Paladins
  • 5. Basic Rotation for Retribution Paladins
• +Spell Summary
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Main Resource of Retribution Paladins
  • 3. Basic Abilities for Retribution Paladins
    • 3.1. Utility for Retribution Paladins
  • 4. Cooldowns for Retribution Paladins
• ×Builds and Talents
  • 1. Talent Choices
  • 2. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents for Retribution Paladins
  • 3. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents for Retribution Paladins
  • 4. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents for Retribution Paladins
  • 5. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents for Retribution Paladins
  • 6. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents for Retribution Paladins
  • 7. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents for Retribution Paladins
  • 8. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents for Retribution Paladins
  • 9. PvP Talents (War Mode)
    • 9.1. Retribution Paladin War Mode Talents
      • 9.1.1. General PvP Talents
      • 9.1.2. Retribution Paladin PvP Talents
• +Artifact Traits and Relics
  • 1. Artifact Changes in 8.0
• +Rotation, Cooldowns, and Abilities
  • 1. Single Target Rotation for Retribution Paladins
    • 1.1. Additional Notes
  • 2. Multiple Target Rotation for Retribution Paladins
  • 3. Cooldown Usage for Retribution Paladins
  • 4. Optional Read: Mastering Your Retribution Paladin
    • 4.1. Greater Blessings
  • 5. Opening Rotations for Retribution Paladins
    • 5.1. Inquisition
      • 5.1.1. With Divine Judgment
      • 5.1.2. With Consecration
      • 5.1.3. With Wake of Ashes
    • 5.2. Crusade
      • 5.2.1. With Divine Judgment
      • 5.2.2. With Consecration
      • 5.2.3. With Wake of Ashes
    • 5.3. Divine Purpose
      • 5.3.1. With Divine Judgment
      • 5.3.2. With Consecration
      • 5.3.3. With Wake of Ashes
    • 5.4. Abilities and Cooldowns from Talents
      • 5.4.1. Level 15 Talents
      • 5.4.2. Level 30 Talents
      • 5.4.3. Level 60 Talents
      • 5.4.4. Level 100 Talents
  • 6. ChangeLog
• +Common and Worst Mistakes
  • 1. Wasting Global Cooldowns
  • 2. Staying in Front of Your Target
  • 3. Overcapping Holy Power
  • 4. Prioritizing Crusader Strike
  • 5. Not using Shield of Vengeance
  • 6. Not using cooldowns
  • 7. Delaying Execution Sentence
  • 8. Delaying Judgment with Divine Judgment
  • 9. Using Inquisition with Low Uptime
  • 10. Not Knowing How to Sim Yourself
  • 11. Analyzing Your Mistakes as a Retribution Paladin
• +Stat Priority
  • 1. Basics
  • 2. Getting a Better Understanding of Retribution Paladin Stats
    • 2.1. Stat caps
    • 2.2. Statistics Priority
• +Gems, Enchants, and Consumables
  • 1. Gems for Retribution Paladins
  • 2. Enchants for Retribution Paladins
  • 3. Consumables for Retribution Paladins
  • 4. ChangeLog
• +Macros and Addons
  • 1. Macros
    • 1.1. Generic Macros for Paladins
      • 1.1.1. Blessing Mouseover Macros
      • 1.1.2. Lay on Hands Mouseover Macro
      • 1.1.3. Cleanse Toxins Mouseover Macro
      • 1.1.4. Divine Shield
      • 1.1.5. Rebuke
    • 1.2. Specific Macros for Retribution Paladins
      • 1.2.1. Combined Consecration and Wake of Ashes Macro
      • 1.2.2. Hammer of Wrath Focus Macro
    • 1.3. War Mode Macros
      • 1.3.1. Hammer of Reckoning Focus Macro
      • 1.3.2. Blessing of Sanctuary Mouseover Macro
  • 2. Addons
    • 2.1. Generic Addons for Paladins
      • 2.1.1. ElvUI
      • 2.1.2. Boss Mods: Deadly Boss Mods or Bigwigs
      • 2.1.3. GTFO
      • 2.1.4. Parrot or Mik's Scrolling Battle Text
      • 2.1.5. Recount / Skada / Details!
      • 2.1.6. Weak Auras
      • 2.1.7. TellMeWhen
      • 2.1.8. Omen Threat Meter
      • 2.1.9. Grid and GridClickSets (Optional)
    • 2.2. Specific Addons for Retribution Paladins
    • 2.3. Hekili
  • 3. ChangeLog
• +Gear, Legendaries, and Best in Slot
  • 1. Recommended Gear
  • 2. Tier 21 Set Bonuses for Retribution Paladins
  • 3. Legendary Items for Retribution Paladins
  • 4. Loot Competition for Retribution Paladins

General Information

On this page, we present the viable talent choices for Retribution Paladins in World of Warcraft BfA 8.0.1. We detail what each of the talents do and in which situations they should be taken.

The other pages of our Retribution Paladin guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.

About Our Author

This guide has been written by Urthearso, theorycrafter for Retribution Paladins. If you have any questions about the spec you can reach him on the official Paladin Discord, on Twitter, and during his streams on Twitch.

1. Talent Choices

Level	Choices
15	✔ Zeal	✔ Righteous Verdict	? Execution Sentence
30	✔ Fires of Justice	✔ Blade of Wrath	✔ Hammer of Wrath
45	✔ Fist of Justice	? Repentance	✔ Blinding Light
60	✘ Divine Judgment	✔ Consecration	✔ Wake of Ashes
75	✔ Unbreakable Spirit	✔ Cavalier	✔ Eye for an Eye
90	✔ Selfless Healer	✘ Justicar's Vengeance	✔ Word of Glory
100	✔ Divine Purpose	✘ Crusade	✔ Inquisition

Talents can be freely changed when out of combat and in a rested XP area (such as an inn or a capital city). Moreover, Tome of the Tranquil Mind and Codex of the Tranquil Mind can be used to temporarily allow players to change talents anywhere, as long as they are out of combat.

2. Tier 1 (Level 15) Talents for Retribution Paladins

✔ Zeal

✔ Righteous Verdict

? Execution Sentence

• Zeal causes your Judgment to buff your next 3 auto attacks, causing them to occur 30% faster and deal additional Holy damage. The Zeal buff lasts 20 seconds and can store up to 9 buffed auto attacks.
• Righteous Verdict increases Templar's Verdict's damage by 15% for 6 seconds after casting Templar's Verdict.
• Execution Sentence is an active ability with a 30-second cooldown, 20-yard range, and which costs 3 Holy Power. It deals a moderate amount of Holy damage and causes the target to take 20% increased Holy damage for 12 seconds.

Righteous Verdict currently is the best choice for single target.

Zeal currently is the best choice for AoE, once you replace Templar's Verdict with Divine Storm.

3. Tier 2 (Level 30) Talents for Retribution Paladins

✔ Fires of Justice

✔ Blade of Wrath

✔ Hammer of Wrath

• Fires of Justice reduces the cooldown of Crusader Strike by 15% and gives it a 15% chance to reduce the cost of your next Holy Power spender by 1.
• Blade of Wrath doubles the proc rate of Art of War to 4 RPPM and increases its damage by 25%.
• Hammer of Wrath is an active ability with a 7.5-second cooldown (reduced by Haste) with a 30-yard range. It deals a moderate amount of Holy damage and generates 1 Holy Power. It is only usable on enemies that have less than 20% Health or during Avenging Wrath and Crusade.

All three talents in this row are viable in all situations, and the choice is up to you.

Hammer of Wrath is currently the recommended choice in this tier, because the damage is shifted towards your burst and execute phases, which is generally preferred. Additionally, you can build extra Holy Power from casting Hammer of Wrath on adds that are up to 30 yards away while they have less than 20% Health.

Blade of Wrath is the choice in this tier if you prefer a damage gain during and outside of Avenging Wrath and Crusade. Note that once Blade of Wrath is talented, Art of War can proc while Blade of Justice is ready, so the proc can potentially go to waste.

Fires of Justice is a good alternative to Blade of Wrath, providing the same benefits but without downsides.

4. Tier 3 (Level 45) Talents for Retribution Paladins

✔ Fist of Justice

? Repentance

✔ Blinding Light

• Fist of Justice causes each Holy Power spent to reduce the remaining cooldown of Hammer of Justice by 2 seconds.
• Repentance is an active ability with an 15-second cooldown. It is a form of crowd-control that incapacitates the target for up to 1 minute. Damage done will break the effect. Repentance can only be used against Humanoids, Demons, Undead, Dragonkin, and Giants.
• Blinding Light is an active ability with an 90-second cooldown. It disorients all enemies within a 10-yard radius around you for 6 seconds. Non-holy damage done to them will break the disorient effect.

The talents in this tier are situational and have no effect on your DPS. You should choose based on your preference or the requirements of the encounter, although we recommend Blinding Light as a reasonable default pick, as its AoE disorient is versatile.

5. Tier 4 (Level 60) Talents for Retribution Paladins

✘ Divine Judgment

✔ Consecration

✔ Wake of Ashes

• Divine Judgment builds one stack per enemy hit by your Holy Power spenders, stacking up to 15 times. Each stack increases the damage of your next Judgment by 20%.
• Consecration is an active ability with an 20-second cooldown. You consecrate the land beneath you within 8 yards, dealing a moderate amount of Holy damage over 6 seconds to enemies who enter the area. It generates 1 Holy Power.
• Wake of Ashes is an active ability with an 45-second cooldown. It does a massive amount of Radiant damage to all enemies in a frontal cone within 12 yards and reduces their movement speed by 50%. Demons and Undead are also stunned for 5 seconds. It generates 5 Holy Power.

In this tier you have to choose between Wake of Ashes and Consecration.

Wake of Ashes currently is the recommended choice for all situations.

Consecration is a viable choice if your enemies are staying in your Consecration zone at all times.

6. Tier 5 (Level 75) Talents for Retribution Paladins

✔ Unbreakable Spirit

✔ Cavalier

✔ Eye for an Eye

• Cavalier causes your Divine Steed to have 2 charges.
• Unbreakable Spirit passively reduces the cooldown of your Divine Shield, Shield of Vengeance, and Lay on Hands by 30%.
• Eye for an Eye is an active ability with a 1-minute cooldown. It lasts 10 seconds, during which time it reduces the Physical damage you take by 35% and causes you to instantly counterattack any enemy that strikes you with a melee attack (dealing Physical damage to them).

In raids, we recommend Unbreakable Spirit as the default choice, mainly allowing you to use Shield of Vengeance more frequently, which slightly increases your damage dealt. You can switch to Eye for an Eye for Physical damage heavy encounters. Lastly if you absolutely need additional mobility, you use Cavalier.

For dungeons, we recommend Cavalier as the default choice. Eye for an Eye can be used to reduce damage taken while off-tanking if your tank looses aggro (for example with the Skittish Mythic+ Affix).

7. Tier 6 (Level 90) Talents for Retribution Paladins

✔ Selfless Healer

✘ Justicar's Vengeance

✔ Word of Glory

• Selfless Healer causes Holy Power spenders to reduce the cast time of your next Flash of Light by 25% and increase its healing done by 10%. It stacks up to 4 times.
• Justicar's Vengeance is an active ability that has no cooldown but costs 5 Holy Power. It deals a moderate amount of Holy damage to the target, healing you equal to the damage dealt. Against stunned targets, the damage and healing are increased by 50%.
• Word of Glory is an active ability with 2 charges and a 1-minute recharge time. It heals a friendly target in 40 yards range and the 2 most injured friendly targets within 30 yards.

For raids, we recommend choosing either Selfless Healer or Word of Glory. Between the two, the choice up to your preference.

For dungeons, we recommend Word of Glory.

8. Tier 7 (Level 100) Talents for Retribution Paladins

✔ Divine Purpose

✘ Crusade

✔ Inquisition

• Divine Purpose causes your Holy Power spenders to have a 15% chance to make your next Holy Power spender free and deal 30% increased damage and healing.
• Crusade replaces Avenging Wrath. It increases your damage and Haste by 3% for 25 seconds, and each Holy Power spent during Crusade increases your damage and Haste by an additional 3%, up to a maximum of 10 stacks (so a 30% increase to both damage and Haste).
• Inquisition is an active ability that has no cooldown but costs 1-3 Holy Power. It is a buff that increases your damage and Haste by 7%. The buff lasts 15 seconds per Holy Power spend.

In this tier, you have to choose between Divine Purpose and Inquisition.

Divine Purpose is the recommended choice for all situations.

Inquisition is a viable choice if prefer a non-random damage gain. Additionally, this is the recommended choice if you already use Soul of the Highlord.

9. PvP Talents (War Mode)

In Battle for Azeroth, there will be the option to go into "War Mode". Enabling War Mode provides the following benefits:

• PvP talents enabled in the outdoor world.
• 10% increase in World Quest rewards at maximum level.
• 10% more experience gained while leveling.
• Earn Conquest Points which can reward gear every week.

With the benefits of enabling War Mode for leveling and PvE content, it is recommended to enable the feature to maximize your leveling and rewards at maximum level. However, you will make yourself available for open world PvP, and the possibility to be "ganked" while leveling or doing World Quests exists.

9.1. Retribution Paladin War Mode Talents

In this section we will rank the PvP talents best for leveling and doing solo / small group PvE content. Below is a ranking of both General PvP Talents and Retribution Paladin-specific PvE talents.

9.1.1. General PvP Talents

1. Adaptation is likely your most passive choice, since it will automatically remove loss of control effects over 5 seconds. It is recommended for leveling to take this PvP talent.
2. Relentless is a passive ability, but it does not automatically remove crowd control abilities, but instead reduces the duration.
3. Gladiator's Medallion is an on-use ability that removes all movement impairing effects and all loss of control effects.

9.1.2. Retribution Paladin PvP Talents

1. Hammer of Reckoning is an active ability with 30 yards range and a 48-second cooldown. When you or allies with your Greater Blessings take damage, your gain Reckoning. Consume 50 stacks of Reckoning to deal a massive amount of Holy damage and gain Avenging Wrath for 6 seconds.
2. Divine Punisher causes two consecutive Judgments on the same enemy to generate 3 Holy Power (up from 1).
3. Lawbringer causes your Judgment to apply Lawbringer to initial targets hit for 45 seconds. Casting Judgment causes all enemies with your Lawbringer effect to suffer up to 5% of their maximum Health in Holy damage.

Luminescence, Blessing of Sanctuary, Seraphim's Blessing, Vengeance Aura, and Law and Order have limited use for PvE content in terms of increasing your damage in the open world in a small group setting. For the purpose of leveling and World Quests in Battle for Azeroth, the choices above are better options.