Retribution Paladin guide for WoW Forever

The Retribution Paladin in WoW Forever is the holy warrior with a big two-handed weapon. You hit slowly but hard, cast a few spells in between, and almost all of it now scales with spell power. You do not press a button every global cooldown, but Judgement, Holy Strike and Consecration keep you busy. This guide covers the level 30 build, the rotation, seals, blessings, stats and races.

Role	Melee damage with a slow two-handed weapon
Build at level 30	21 points in Retribution, Talented adds Two-Handed Weapon Specialization and Vengeance
Key talents	Conviction, Sanctified Judgement, Seal of Command, Sacred Arbiter, Vengeance, Twist of Light
Strength	Group utility, very hard to kill, big bursts
Weakness	Slow to reach a target, mana can run out
Leveling	Paladin leveling guide, Paladin level build

Strengths and weaknesses

Group utility. Every group wants two Paladins. You bring blessings, an aura, Judgements and bubbles. None of that is unique to Retribution, but you bring all of it.

Hard to kill. Plate, Divine Shield, Lay on Hands and your own heals keep you standing when your healer cannot. That makes Retribution strong in rough fights.

Slow to get anywhere. You have no charge, no blink and no sprint. Pursuit of Justice gives you 15% movement speed, and that is it.

Mana. You do not build a resource before a fight, but mana can run out. Sanctified Judgement and Holy Conduit help, and Judgement of Wisdom helps the whole group.

The level 30 build

The beta stopped at level 30, so the build uses 21 points. Talented from the Legacy system adds 5 more. Open the build in the talent calculator.

Talent	Points
Deflection	5/5
Improved Judgement	1/2
Holy Conduit	2/2
Conviction	5/5
Sanctified Judgement	3/3
Seal of Command	1/1
Pursuit of Justice	2/2
Sacred Arbiter	1/1
Vengeance	1/3

Open the Talented version with Two-Handed Weapon Specialization 3/3 and Vengeance 3/3.

Benediction instead of Deflection. Deflection only gives parry. If you run out of mana in long fights, put those 5 points in Benediction: instant spells and abilities then cost 10% less mana.

What the key talents do

Talent	What it does in Forever
Improved Judgement	Judgement comes back 1 second sooner per point
Holy Conduit	Consecration, Holy Wrath, Exorcism and Hammer of Wrath cost 40% less mana
Conviction	5% more critical strike chance in melee
Sanctified Judgement	Judgement returns 60% of the mana cost of the judged seal
Seal of Command	A chance to deal 70% of your weapon damage again as Holy damage, so a slow weapon gains the most
Pursuit of Justice	15% movement speed, also mounted
Sacred Arbiter	Holy Strike deals 20% more damage and refreshes every Judgement on the target, also those of other Paladins
Two-Handed Weapon Specialization	6% more damage with two-handed weapons
Vengeance	3% more Physical and Holy damage for 30 seconds after a critical strike, stacking up to 3 times
Champion of the Light	Spell damage equal to up to 30% of your Intellect
Instrument of Law	Hammer of Wrath casts 1 second faster, and you cause 20% less threat without Righteous Fury
Twist of Light	Seals cost 20% less, and a replaced Seal of Command or Seal of Righteousness keeps working for one more swing

Champion of the Light, Instrument of Law and Twist of Light sit in rows 6 and 7, out of reach at level 30. They are the reason to keep going down the tree after the launch.

Rotation

1. Cast Seal of the Crusader before the pull.
2. Open with Judgement, for Judgement of the Crusader on the target.
3. Cast Seal of Command and keep it up.
4. Cast Judgement on cooldown.
5. Cast Holy Strike whenever it is ready.
6. Keep Consecration up.
7. Against Undead, cast Exorcism whenever it is ready.
8. With Twist of Light, keep both Seal of Command and Seal of Righteousness going where you can.

Seals and Judgements

Each Paladin can keep only one Judgement on a target, so you choose per group and per fight.

• Seal of the Crusader is weak on its own. You use it for its Judgement, which raises the Holy damage the target takes. That is a big boost for you, but not for the rest of the group.
• Seal of Wisdom and its Judgement give mana back. Your group will thank you for keeping it on the boss.
• Seal of Light and its Judgement give a little healing back, useful in fights with a lot of small area damage.
• Seal of Command is your damage seal. Its Judgement also deals a large hit of Holy damage.
• Seal of Righteousness adds Holy damage to every swing and also hits hard when judged. With Twist of Light it is the second seal you run next to Seal of Command.

Cooldowns and utility

• Divine Shield, Divine Protection and Blessing of Protection are strong defensive cooldowns, and all three cause Forbearance. You cannot attack under Divine Protection or Blessing of Protection, so Divine Shield comes first.
• Lay on Hands heals you to full instantly. It costs all your mana and gives a little back, so use it with care.
• Blessing of Sacrifice moves part of the damage on an ally to you. The amount is small, so it works best against many small hits. Give the ally their normal blessing back afterwards.
• Divine Intervention protects one ally from everything for 3 minutes, but kills you. Use it as wipe protection on a healer far from the boss, so they can resurrect the group.

Blessings in a group

Before a fight, give everyone the right blessing, and everyone except the tank also Blessing of Salvation. During the fight, watch your group: Blessing of Protection on someone who pulls threat, Blessing of Freedom on someone who is rooted in a bad spot, and Blessing of Sacrifice on a caster buried under a pack of small monsters.

Stats and gear

Stat priorities for level 60 follow after the launch. Until then, these are the stats that count:

• Hit, so your attacks and spells land.
• Critical strike chance, which works with Conviction and Vengeance.
• Strength and attack power for your melee damage. Strength gives 2 attack power per point.
• Spell power and Intellect, because most of your kit scales with spell power. Champion of the Light adds spell damage from Intellect.
• Agility, for a little critical strike chance.

Armor. Look at the stats, not the armor type. Leather or even cloth can be better than plate if the stats fit. At low levels, Blacksmithing is almost a must, because plate and mail with spell power are rare. Dungeons have good pieces too.

Weapon. A slow two-handed weapon with high weapon damage, for Seal of Command and Holy Strike.

Librams. Paladins carry a libram in the ranged slot, with a small passive bonus. Pick one that fits your spells.

Races and professions

Faction	Race	Why
Alliance	Human	Extra critical strike chance, the best choice
Alliance	Dwarf	More critical strike damage, and Stoneform as a strong defensive cooldown
Horde	Undead	A proc that deals damage and heals you a little; the only Horde Paladin

Blacksmithing makes some of the best plate and mail, much of it only available to blacksmiths. Engineering gives useful gadgets to every spec. More about the races in Races and classes.