Retribution Paladin PvP Best Races and Racials — The War Within (11.2)
Racial bonuses can provide interesting PvP benefits. Here are the best races to choose for each faction. The races are sorted from highest impact in arena to lowest. However, all races below have their own unique ways of making an impact in a PvP match.
This page is part of our Retribution Paladin PvP Guide.
Best Alliance Races for Retribution Paladins
If your desired goal is to absolutely min-max you should play either Human or Dark Iron Dwarf, otherwise pick whichever race you think looks the best. Humans gain slightly more secondary stats while their active racial allows an extra stun removal every 3-minutes (Shares 90 second cooldown with Medallion). Dark Iron is on occasion better than Human but only when Feral Druids, Assassination Rogues, and Shadow Priests are common.
- Dark Iron Dwarf
- Human
- Dwarf
Dark Iron Dwarf Racials
The Dark Iron Dwarf racial bonus ( Fireblood) removes all bleeds,
poisons, magical, and curse debuffs and increases your primary stat by 750 and
an additional 250 for each effect removed. This is a great racial to use
defensively. However, you can use this to remove debuffs right before you use
your burst rotation to increase your primary stat.
Human Racials
The Human racial bonus ( Will to Survive) is a great way to get
out of stuns. If you think you will be the focus target versus teams with
multiple stuns, this race allows you to play
Relentless. This will
help increase your overall survivability. It is also important to note that
Humans also have
The Human Spirit. This increases your secondary
stats (Haste, Critical Strike, Mastery, Versatility). This is another
beneficial reason to play Human.
Dwarf Racials
The Dwarf racial bonus ( Stoneform) removes Poison, Disease, Magic,
and bleed effects. In addition to this, it reduces all Physical damage taken by
10%. This racial can make a large impact versus teams that have multiple Bleed
or Magical damage over time abilities. It is also important to note that this
racial lines up with the cooldown from Maledict trinkets and can be used
to remove the absorption that is placed on you from Maledict. Another example
is removing bleeds versus Assassination Rogues
or Feral Druids that are focusing you. This
will significantly slow down the damage being dealt to you.
Best Horde Races for Retribution Paladins
- Zandalari Troll
- Tauren
- Blood Elf
Zandalari Troll Racials
The Zandalari Troll racial bonus ( Regeneratin') channels a heal on
you until you are at 100% health or get damaged. This racial is particularly
good for Paladins, because you can use it while
Divine Shield is active.
If you are the primary focus, you can use Divine Shield, then Regeneratin’,
and be at full health when it expires. Zandalari Trolls also give you the ability
to choose a passive Loa. Because Critical Strike is a very
important stat to have,
Embrace of Pa'ku is the best Loa to choose.
Tauren Racials
The Tauren racial bonus ( War Stomp) provides an additional
way to interrupt or setup crowd control on an enemy player. For example, if you
are playing with a Survival Hunter, you can use War Stomp
and follow up with your own crowd control or the Hunter can use their
Freezing Trap. The additional health from
Endurance will also
help with your survivability.
Blood Elf Racials
The Blood Elf racial bonus ( Arcane Torrent) has multiple effects.
The primary use for this ability is that it removes 1 beneficial effect from
all enemies in range. This is great for removing abilities such as
Blessing of Protection from Paladins or
Soul of the Forest from Restoration Druids.
The other effect is that it restores resources
based on what specialization you are.
Changelog
- 04 Aug. 2025: Updated for Patch 11.2
- 15 Jun. 2025: Reviewed for Patch 11.1.7.
- 21 Apr. 2025: Reviewed for Patch 11.1.5.
- 24 Feb. 2025: Reviewed for Patch 11.1
- 15 Dec. 2024: Updated for Patch 11.0.7
- 21 Oct. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 11.0.5.
- 09 Sep. 2024: Reviewed for The War Within Season 1.
- 21 Aug. 2024: Reviewed for The War Within.
- 23 Jul. 2024: Reviewed for The War Within 11.0 Prepatch
- 07 May 2024: Reviewed for 10.2.7.
- 22 Apr. 2024: Reviewed for Season 4.
- 19 Mar. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.6
- 15 Jan. 2024: Reviewed for Patch 10.2.5
- 06 Nov. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.2
- 04 Sep. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.7
- 10 Jul. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.1.5
- 30 Jan. 2023: Reviewed for Patch 10.0.5.
- 11 Dec. 2022: Reviewed for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 22 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight Pre-patch.
- 01 Aug. 2022: Reviewed for Shadowlands Season 4.
- 31 May 2022: Reviewed for Patch 9.2.5.
- 28 Feb. 2022: Reviewed for Patch 9.2.
- 10 Nov. 2021: Updated Best Races.
- 02 Jul. 2021: Reviewed for Patch 9.1.
- 08 Mar. 2021: Reviewed for Patch 9.0.5.
- 14 Oct. 2020: Updated for Shadowlands pre-patch.
Other PvP Guides
This guide has been written by Lvladen, a Ret Paladin Multi-Gladiator PvP Player, Streamer, and Content Creator. You can find him on his stream on Twitch, or his YouTube Channel
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