[Guide] Retribution Paladin

[abaraikenshi]

Retribution paladin is the DPS tree of the Paladin class, first of all you need to know that you CAN’T do dps like a Rogue, Mage, or Hunter with your same gear (if you have tier 4 and they have tier 4, they do more dps than us), if you want to be at the top of the damage meter go and create a rogue, mage, or hunter; but your main role on PVE is not to do dps, is to increase the DPS of the other members of the group or raid. Using the right Blessings and Seals, Retribution Paladin can considerably increase the damage done be the members of the group or raid.

As a Retribution Paladin you have to know:

1. As Paladin 1 Strength gives you 2 Attack Power, so always go for items with Strength and then for Attack Power, Example: There is a gem that give you 20 Attack Power and there is another that give you 10 Strength, is much better get the 10 Strength gem because you are getting the same 20 Attack Power, but if someone buff you with Blessing of Kings (10% to all your attributes), you will get 10 + 10*0.1= 11, 11*2=22 so you get 22 attack power instead of 20. And if you spend 5 points in the Holy Tree to get Divine Strength (10% to Strength) you will get 10 +10*0.2=12, 12*2=24 so you get 24 attack power instead of 20.

So, Strength is the main attribute for a Retribution Paladin Damage

2. As a Retribution Paladin, you HAVE to get Vengeance from the Retribution Tree, because you can get a 5% increase of your damage for 30sec each time you land a crit (stacking 3 times, so you can get a total of 15% for 30sec), but you need to keep doin crit to keep the 30sec up.. so another important stat for a retadin is the Crit Chance. I tested for a while and with +25% on Crit Chance you can crit enough to keep your Vengeance up, but don’t forget this stat because if you crit a lot you do more damage.

3. Use the right seals and judgements: we have a cycle in the way that we have to use the seals, judgements and abilities, here is the way that i use:

Target the mob
Crusader Strike
Seal of Crusader
Judge Seal of Crusader
While attacking the mob do
Seal of Command
Wait for Crusader Strike cooldown
Crusader Strike
Wait for Judge cooldown
Judge Seal of Command
Repeat until the mob is dead

3. Don’t be afraid to lose your mana pool to gain Strength, Attack Power or Crit, (don’t worry if u have to wear DPS Warrior Gear), because with 5000-6000 on mana you can do a great job BUT remember to always get some Mana Potions on you because you will need it. And remember that as a paladin you get mana from Healing, but don’t abuse on that.. you don’t want to get all the healings and let the tank die. If there is another paladin in the group or raid, ask to him to judge Seal of Wisdom on the mob, or judge it if you need it..

4. Remember to do a right use of your auras, don’t be afraid of put the fire, frost or shadow resistance aura if you need it, and always ask to the other paladins in the group for what auras they are using.

5. On raids, remember to always try to go with the right group. For me the ideal group is:

Feral Druid (Leader of the pack give +5% crit chance)
DPS Warrior (Battle Shout give +305 Attack Power)
Marksmanship Hunter(True Shot Aura give +125 Attack Power)
Enhancement Shaman(Strength of Earth Totem give +86 Strength, Windfury Totem give +445 Attack Power)

6. Don’t forget that as a Retribution Paladin you still can HEAL yourself, so don’t be afraid of stop the dps and cast some heals on you or on some party or raid member that need it.

7. Another important Stat is the Hit Rating, remember that if you don’t hit you can do damage. To never miss a boss (lvl73) you need 9% on hit chance = 140 hit rating without precision and 6% on hit chance = 93 hit rating.

8. Always attack from behind of the target, why this? Because mobs can’t parry if you attack them from behind, so to avoid a parry from a mob you should attack him from behind and let the tank attack him from the front.

As a Retribution Paladin you have to know:

1. A Retribution Paladin is no a Rogue, Mage, or Hunter, don’t think that a retribution paladin will do the same damage that they do (if they have equivalent gear).

2. Blessing of Kings is a spell from the Protection Tree (tanking tree), and you have to spend at least 11 point to get it. Only PVP Retribution paladin go for it because is too much talents points on the Protection Tree. A retribution paladin only should take a maximum of 8 points of the Protection Tree, and this is to get the Precision (3% to melee and spells hit rating) so stop asking for Blessing of Kings.

3. We have some problems with not stealing the aggro from the tank, so we are going to lose dps but is much better to get Blessing of Salvation than Blessing of Kings. Only give Blessing of Kings if there is another paladin giving Blessing of Salvation or if your main tank is the bomb and you know that he don’t lose the aggro easily.

4. We only have a mana pool of 5000-6000, so 3 or 4 heals and we are Out of Mana, and without mana our DPS go down because we can’t cast Seals or Crusader Strike, so only ask from healing if there is no option left

Well.. now what can you get from a Retadin?:

- 1 more blessing (+264 Attack Power with Improved Blessing of Might)

- 1 more aura (normally Sanctity increase 10% of the holy damage and + 2% of all the damage [melee, range, spells] with the improved sanctity aura).

- 3% to Crit to all the group, raid with the Improved Seal of Crusader when attacking the mob that the paladin judge.

- Using Crusader Strike each 6 sec, a retribution paladin can refresh all the seal that all the other paladin of the group, raid have judged in a mob, so holy paladin can start the battle judging a mob with seal of wisdom or light and don’t have to worry for refresh the judge

- Reduce 15% of all the attributes from a mob (trash mob because bosses are immune)

- 1 more Lay on Hands to save the A** of the tank and 1 more Divine Intervention to save a healer or any class that can res and avoid a total wipe

- 1 more use of Blessing of Protection to avoid the attack of a mob in any member of the party

- Work great with a Protection Paladin, because a retribution paladin can buff his holy damage, so he can take more aggro (Protection paladin take aggro from the holy damage that they do)

- If you know how to used, a retribution paladin can cc a humanoid for 12sec, using Repentance (6 sec) and then Hammer of Justice (6sec)

[knusperkekkx1]

great guide, i think about rolling a pala

[Stabster226]

good guide - a bit messy and wall of text. Try to get a bit more systematic"ish" in it

Otherwise i guess it was good, never had my own pala, but have had my chances to play!

[abaraikenshi]

Yeah, I'll admit its a tad messy, I'm currently trying to clean it up in Word, but thanks for the comments, my first guide to MMOwned.

[polarmike76]

your rotation is horribly ineffecient and a ret pally should be doing more damage then a mage 90% of the time

[suicidewarpig]

A ret pally do better damage then a mage?! That would have to be one shitty mage...

[jeleopard]

ok the first thing i must disagree is he term DPS

for ret pals its more like DPM or just damage (i play ret pallys and are faily good at them)

but overall nice guide

[abaraikenshi]

Yeah, Ret paladins don't do very well with DPS, but overall damage done is splendid, and if you REALLY know what your doing, you can out damage almost everybody. A buddy of mine, he's always topping the damage done charts surpassing almost everyone except those pesky warlocks ^_^

[polarmike76]

@ leecher suicidewarpig
I can pull off about 2281 with seal twisting on brutallis, a mage cannot compare to that. I have raided up to kil'jaedon and many guilds have noticed the same exact thing. Unless you give mages multiple bloodlusts, you can't really get higher then 2k on one.

@abaraikenshi

the classes that a paladin cannot outdps, or shouldn't usually is a rogue or a warlock, a hunter, and sometimes a shaman