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Retribution Paladin DPS Starter Guide - Shadowlands 9.0.5
By Bolas
Last updated
2021/03/27 at 11:47 PM
View Changelog
Table of Contents
Quick Facts
Table of Contents
Guide Navigation
Welcome to our Retribution Paladin starter guide, which covers everything you need to start playing a new character in Shadowlands. While our other guide pages go into more individual detail, this simple starter guide covers all the basics in one place, whether you're a new Retribution Paladin, a returning player to Shadowlands, hardcore, or casual alike, it's the best place to get a beginners overview on the class. Included are basic talent builds, simplified rotations, stats, legendary recommendations, and more to get you started as quickly as possible.
Please keep in mind that this page is meant to get players started quickly as an introduction, and does not contain much in the way of detailed explanations, mechanics, competitive options, gearing, simulation comparisons, or nuance. For more in-depth information, including all those optimizations and more, check out the complete Retribution Paladin Guide pages linked in the navigation on the left-hand side of the page, and if you're leveling up in Shadowlands, you can take a look at our
leveling tips
.
Playing WoW Classic?
Click here for the Classic Version of the Retribution Paladin Guide!
Overview
NEW
NEW Best Covenant
Gear
Talent Builds
NEW Legendaries
NEW Twisting Corridors
NEW Conduits
NEW Kyrian
NEW Necrolord
NEW Night Fae
NEW Venthyr
Pre-Patch
Starter Guide
Rotation, Priority, and Abilities
Advanced Concepts
Stats
Consumables
Macros & Addons
WeakAuras
Common Terms
NEW Castle Nathria Tips
NEW Mythic+
Common Questions
NEW Simulations
About the Author
Hi, I'm Bolas, I've played Ret since WotLK and am a former top 10 raider. You can find me on
Twitter
or in the
Hammer of Wrath
discord if you have any questions or are interested in more information about Retribution.
Best Retribution Paladin Covenant
All covenants are viable for Retribution for any PvE content, so if you really like a specific covenant, you can still choose it and perform fine. Venthyr, Kyrian, and Night Fae all have their own strengths and weaknesses in both Raid and Mythic+ that are worth considering, and although Necrolord is behind the other three in damage it's still usable as well, even though it's not recommended.
Best Raid Covenants
Covenant
Rating
Best Soulbind
Kyrian
Strong
Pelagos
Necrolord
Underwhelming
Heirmir
Night Fae
Decent
Niya
Venthyr
Decent
Theotar
Best Mythic+ Covenants
Covenant
Rating
Best Soulbind
Kyrian
Strong
Pelagos
Necrolord
Underwhelming
Heirmir
Night Fae
Decent
Korayn
Venthyr
Decent
Nadjia
None of the covenant abilities will fundamentally change your gameplay. At the core they're all simply extra damage cooldowns that you'll use as often as possible. However, there are some talents that can synergize with one covenant more than the others, such as
Execution Sentence
with Kyrian, so if there's a particular talent build you do or don't want to use then that's worth some consideration.
Best Retribution Paladin Covenant
Kyrian Retribution Paladin Guide
Necrolord Retribution Paladin Guide
Night Fae Retribution Paladin Guide
Venthyr Retribution Paladin Guide
Best Retribution Paladin Legendaries
The Magistrate's Judgment
for Raids if you picked Kyrian.
The Mad Paragon
for Raids otherwise.
Tempest of the Lightbringer
for Mythic+.
Final Verdict
for pure single target Raid encounters.
The Magistrate's Judgment
is the best overall Legendary for Kyrian due to its synergy with
Divine Toll
. For the other covenants,
The Mad Paragon
is a strong single target Legendary and is also the second best AoE Legendary, especially with either
Sanctified Wrath
or
Crusade
, .
Tempest of the Lightbringer
is the best AoE Legendary, but since it doesn't provide any single target benefit it can be better to use
The Mad Paragon
or
The Magistrate's Judgment
in some Tyrannical Mythic+. Conversely,
Final Verdict
is the best single target Legendary, but doesn't help at all if you're mainly casting
Divine Storm
.
Retribution Paladin Legendaries Guide
Best Retribution Paladin Talents
This is a general, single target focused build that will perform well with any covenant. For AoE or cleave situations,
Zeal
and
Empyrean Power
will perform very well. For a more detailed look at talents check out the guide linked below.
Retribution Paladin Talents Guide
Retribution Paladin Stat Priority
There isn't an exact, one-size-fits-all stat priority for Ret Paladins. Ideally you should use Raidbots to find upgrades, and if you're not sure how to use it the
Raidbots Guide
can help you. However, if you just need a generic priority to keep in mind then this is a fine approximation to use:
Strength > Haste > Critical Strike ~= Versatility ~= Mastery
You can find more information on how each stat interacts with Retribution in the Stats Guide.
Retribution Paladin Stats Guide
Retribution Paladin Enchants
Cloak
:
Enchant Cloak - Fortified Avoidance
,
Enchant Cloak - Fortified Leech
,
Enchant Cloak - Fortified Speed
, or
Enchant Cloak - Soul Vitality
depending on which tertiary stat you like most.
Chest
:
Enchant Chest - Eternal Skirmish
Gloves
:
Enchant Gloves - Eternal Strength
Rings
:
Enchant Ring - Tenet of Haste
or one of the other secondary stat enchants, if they perform better for you.
Weapon
:
Enchant Weapon - Sinful Revelation
in Single Target or
Enchant Weapon - Lightless Force
in AoE.
Retribution Paladin Enchants & Consumables Guide
Best Retribution Paladin Rotation
This is a general Retribution Paladin damage priority, using the talents recommended above. Further explanation including how to best use your covenant ability can be found in the
Retribution Paladin Rotation Guide
.
Avenging Wrath
(with 3+ Holy Power)
Templar's Verdict
/
Divine Storm
(5 Holy Power)
Wake of Ashes
Hammer of Wrath
Blade of Justice
Judgment
Crusader Strike
Templar's Verdict
/
Divine Storm
(3-4 Holy Power)
Consecration
Don't use Holy Power generating abilities if it will waste some of the Holy Power, for example using
Blade of Justice
at 4 Holy Power.
Don't wait for a builder to come off of cooldown just to spend Holy Power. You shouldn't be waiting unless you have less than 3 Holy Power and all of your builders are on cooldown.
Swap from
Templar's Verdict
to
Divine Storm
at 2 or more targets.
Retribution Paladin Rotation Guide
Our Ret Paladin guides are always updated with the latest information from in-game experience, simulations, and logs; make sure to check our changelog to this page, by clicking on
View Changelog
at the top of the page. If you are interested in more in-depth Ret Paladin guides for , make sure to browse the
Navigation Bar
below, and our list of
Related Guides
just beneath the
Table of Contents
.
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