Retribution Paladin DPS Guide — The War Within (11.1.5)

Herald of the Sun received some buffs to its abilities just before Patch 11.1.5 launched. Although they do reduce the gap between the strength of the Hero trees slightly, they are not enough to make Herald of the Sun a consideration in any situation.

• The damage bonus from Gleaming Rays to Holy Power spenders is increased from 5% to 15%.
• Sun's Avatar damage increased by 50%.
• Dawnlight damage increased by 40%.

Patch 11.1 brings some tweaks to the Templar Hero Tree, a rework of Divine Hammer, and some adjustments to healing abilities.

• Divine Hammer now costs 3 Holy Power to activate and no longer consumes Holy Power to stay active. It is instead extended when Holy Power spenders are used.
• Hammerfall's internal cooldown has been reduced to 0.1s.
• Empyrean Hammer damage is reduced by 30%.
• To partially compensate for the Empyrean Hammer nerf, damage of all abilities is increased by 5%.

• Seal of the Crusader and Lightforged Blessing healing is reduced by 50%.
• Word of Glory mana cost is increased by 50% and no longer does increased healing to allies with Healing Hands.
• Flash of Light healing is increased by 35%.

11.0.5 brings a large number of changes to the Paladin class talents.

Many of the older talents that increased damage have been removed from the Paladin Tree, including talents like Touch of Light and Seal of Order. In some situations these have been compensated for, such as the bonus from Justification being applied to the baseline version of Judgment, but not all effects have been made baseline like this. The full list of effects that have been removed without an equivalent effect being applied to baseline abilities is:

• The 4% Haste effect from Seal of Alacrity
• The 10% reduction to the cooldown of Holy Power generators from Seal of Order
• The damage effect from Seal of the Crusader
• Touch of Light
• Incandescence

In compensation for these effects being removed, Retribution has received the following buffs:

• A 6% damage buff to all spells and abilities
• The maximum effect of Vengeful Wrath is now 60%

This results in an overall damage loss of about 3% on both single-target and AoE.

Many new utility effects have been added to replace the damage talents removed. These are mostly either small bonuses to existing utility options that improve them slightly by reducing their cooldowns or giving them bonus effects, or passive healing talents that will proc naturally without needing any active gameplay to make use of them.

Retribution received a number of hotfix changes to the tuning of its Hero Talents between the launch of The War Within and 11.0.5:

Shake the Heavens lasts for 10 seconds (was 8 seconds)

Sanctification duration increased to 12 seconds (was 10 seconds)

Final Reckoning now increases the damage of Hammer of Light by 30% (was 15%)

Hammer of Light main target damage increased by 25% and secondary target damage increased by 75%

Light's Deliverance now triggers at 50 stacks (was 60)

Undisputed Ruling now grants 15% Haste for 8 seconds (was 12% Haste for 6 seconds)

Wrathful Descent now deals 125% of the Empyrean Hammer damage to nearby enemies (was 100%)

Empyrean Hammer now benefits from Penitence and Burn to Ash

As a result of these large buffs to Templar, it has become the strongest Hero Tree to use for all PvE content.

Paladin's class talents have not had massive changes, with the highlights being the removal of some utility abilities and the adjustment of some passive effects.

• The following talents have been removed:
  • Retribution Aura
  • Crusader's Reprieve
• Greater Judgment applications can now overlap.
• Retribution now automatically learns Greater Judgment.
• Vengeful Wrath now increases the damage of Hammer of Wrath on low-health enemies instead of causing it to always critically hit.

Retribution's specialization talents have had an overhaul, with many talents being redesigned, removed, or moved to other locations in the tree, along with some new talents added too. This is not an exhaustive list of those changes; for a full list, see the class changes page linked below.

• Mastery: Highlord's Judgment has been buffed significantly and also adjusted to include a chance to deal Holy damage when Judgment is used.
• Divine Hammer has been redesigned to consume Holy Power periodically to deal AoE damage at an increasing rate as Holy Power generators are used.
• Judge, Jury and Executioner has been redesigned to give your Holy Power generators a chance to cause your next single-target Holy Power spender to deal damage to additional targets.
• Righteous Cause has been redesigned to now cause Blade of Justice to occasionally have its cooldown reset when Holy Power is spent.
• Highlord's Judgment has been redesigned to also increase the effectiveness of Mastery: Highlord's Judgment on Judgment and Hammer of Wrath, and now costs a single talent point.
• Boundless Judgment now also increases the chance for Judgment to trigger Mastery: Highlord's Judgment.
• Burn to Ash has been added as a new talent that extends the duration of Truth's Wake when it critically hits and increases the damage of other DoT effects while it is active.
• Radiant Glory has been added as a new talent that removes Avenging Wrath as an active ability and instead causes it to be automatically cast when Wake of Ashes is used at a reduced duration, or occasionally when Holy Power is spent.
• Vanguard of Justice has been removed.
• Consecrated Blade has been removed as a talent and is now a baseline passive ability.
• Zealot's Fervor and Heart of the Crusader are now 2-point talent nodes.
• Blessed Champion is now a 1-point talent node.
• The 5% Holystrike damage bonus effect has been moved from Divine Arbiter to Blades of Light.
• Holy Flames has been added as a new talent that increases the damage of Divine Storm, applies Expurgation to secondary targets when Divine Storm is used, and increases Holy damage dealt to targets with Expurgation active. It is now a choice node with Blade of Vengeance and Empyrean Legacy has been moved to a separate node.
• The Avenging Wrath / Crusade and Wake of Ashes nodes have been moved.
• Shield of Vengeance is now a choice node with Aegis of Protection.