Retribution Paladin PvP Best Races and Racials — 12.0.5
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 Races for Retribution Paladin
Human
Since the removal of 
Relentless, human fell off greatly, but is still a viable race to pick.
Will to Survive is usable 30 seconds earlier than your trinket comes off of cooldown, allowing you
to have a second cleanse for stuns ready roughly 1 cycle of Diminishing Returns before any other race does.
Additionally, 
The Human Spirit is a decent increase to your secondary stats.
Dark Iron Dwarf
Dark Iron Dwarf racial 
Fireblood allows for a moderate strength boost to your burst damage windows.
It is also the preferred race into Assassination Rogues and Feral Druids.
Tauren
Tauren is the best race on Horde because of 
Brawn, 
Endurance and 
War Stomp
making you slightly more durable and bursty than other Horde races.
Blood Elf
Blood Elves are primarily picked because of 
Arcane Torrent, which can purge off important
buffs like 
Blessing of Protection or 
Nature's Swiftness. Blood Elf is not a very strong alternative
to Tauren, but somewhat viable competitively.
Changelog
- 20 Apr. 2026: Reviewed for Patch 12.0.5.
- 16 Mar. 2026: Reviewed for Midnight Season 1.
- 26 Feb. 2026: Updated for Midnight 12.0.1
- 19 Jan. 2026: Reviewed for Midnight Prepatch 12.0
- 30 Nov. 2025: Reviewed for Patch 11.2.7.
- 05 Oct. 2025: Reviewed for Patch 11.2.5.
- 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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