Retribution Paladin Talents is current for Patch 4.0.6 and Patch 4.1. Included are Ret Paladin talents, abilities, and buffs in hope to give a better understanding of everything to do with Ret Paladins in Cataclysm
The Ret Talent Tree seems to change with each content patch, as our DPS and damage output is modified by talent and ability changes. Retribution Paladin talents will primarily focus on the Retribution Tree, while dabbling in Protection and Holy. It seems to vary, depending on raid encounters, how far we dip into the other trees, and your guild or raid leader may ask you to spec certain ways for this reason.
Whether you are leveling, PvPing, raiding, or soloing content, it is important to pay attention to your talents, and try to create the optimal set-up for whatever you are doing in World of Warcraft at the time. Make sure you are putting points into talents that are relevant to what you are trying to accomplish. A little research can help with this, and I hope this can point you in the right direction!
RETRIBUTION RAIDING: The current cookie cutter talent build for Patch 4.0 and Patch 4.0.3 raiding Ret Paladins are:
- 3 / 2 / 31 @ 80
- 7 / 2 / 32 @ 85
Retribution Spec Passives
- Templar’s Verdict
- Judgements of the Bold
- Sheath of Light
- Two-Handed Weapon Specialization
- Hand of Light (Mastery)
Templar’s Verdict
A strong damaging attack that uses Holy Power. 30%/90%/235% weapon damage for each Holy Power consumed. Usually one of our top priorities in FCFS rotations. Not a viable DPS source if used with less than 3 Holy Power.
Judgements of the Bold
Judgment grant 25% of base mana over 10 seconds. A passive ability, but great at keeping our mana pool refreshed.
Sheath of Light
Increases Spell Power by 30% of Attack Power; increases spell hit by 6%. Useful for Exorcism, Consecration, Holy Wrath, and any heals we may use. Exorcism benefits greatly here, as it is a very strong attack and a huge part of our FCFS rotation. Consecration and Holy Wrath are weaker AoE attacks, but still benefit from the additional spell power.
Two-Hand Weapon Specialization
Increases 2-handed weapon damage by 20%. Since all we use is 2H weapons as Ret Paladins, this is a great passive for us.
Hand of Light
Auto attacks have an 8% chance to proc Hand of Light, which allows a Holy Power ability to consume no power, yet cast as if 3 Holy Power were consumed. This seems like a great ability, but Mastery Rating currently is our lowest ranked stat. Haste and Crit still take precedence, and reforging for Mastery pre-85 comes at the cost of hit, expertise, crit, and haste…all of which take higher priority. Hand of Light could become more useful at 85 as Mastery starts appearing on gear, but for now it stands as a mediocre support ability.
DPS Attacks
- Templar’s Verdict
- Crusader Strike
- Exorcism
- Judgement
- Hammer of Wrath
- Divine Storm
- Holy Wrath
- Consecration
Templar’s Verdict
Physical damage. See Retribution Passives above.
Crusader Strike
Physical damage. Deals 135% weapon damage and cooldown can be affected by Haste with talents. This is our primary source for generating Holy Power at 100%. For this reason, it sits high on the FCFS list. The priority for Crusader Strike has been changing constantly with patch releases Pre-Cataclysm. Look for more solid information once we hit 85. In its current form, it sits below Inq, TV, and HoW.
Exorcism
Spell damage. Hard hitting attack with a cast time. Art of War talent will make Exorcism instant cast, cost no mana, and hit for 100% additional damage.
Judgement
Physical damage. Unleashes damage consistent with the Paladin’s current active Seal. Completely underwhelming attack in its current state. Our lowest ranked non-AoE attack, this should only be used if TV, CS, Ex, and HoW are all on cooldown. Despite generating mana from Judgements of the Bold, the serious lack of damage leaves me desperately wanting more.
Hammer of Wrath
Physical damage. Ridiculously strong attack used when a target is at 20% HP or lower. Via talents, HoW can be used anytime while Avenging Wrath is active. Sits very high on the FCFS priority list.
Divine Storm
Physical damage. 100% weapon damage to all targets within 8 yards, heals up to 25% damage cause to up to 3 nearby players. Still underwhelming in its current form. For those that never used it in WotLK, you may nto realize how strong this attack used to be. Now it is shunned, and players are even mentioning dropping it from their talent specs.
Holy Wrath
Spell damage. Deals Holy damage divided among all targets. Also stuns Demons and Undead. Will stun Elementals and Dragonkin via HW Glyph. A strong attack, obviously working better among fewer targets. The more targets, the less damage each will take. Can be used in single target rotations if all other abilities are off cooldown (excpet Consecrate, which is last).
Consecration
Spell damage. Deals Holy damage over 10 seconds to all enemies in affected area. Very weak AoE attack, and not even considered a viable single target option any longer. Should only be used in AoE situations, and as a last option in FCFS for single target fights.
DPS Buffs
- Avenging Wrath
- Zealotry (via talents)
- Inquisition
Avenging Wrath
Increases all damage and healing by 20% for 20 seconds. Huge and crucial buff in all aspects of Ret gameplay.
Zealotry
Allows Crusader Strike to generate three Holy Power per attack, lasts for 20 seconds. Does not consume Holy Power when used. Average buff with huge potential. Looking for this to be further tweaked, possible being combined with Avenging Wrath in Cataclysm. Currently this is used separately from AW, usually coming after AW has finished.
Inquisition
Consumes all Holy Power to increase Holy damage by 30%. Lasts 12 seconds at 3 Holy Power, and can be boosted up to a duration of 30 seconds with the Inquiry of Faith talent. First on the FCFS DPS Rotation priority list. Must be active as often as possible.
Combat Support
- Divine Plea
- Rebuke (via talents)
- Repentance (via talents)
- Hammer of Justice
Divine Plea
Replenishes 10% of mana over 15 seconds, but reduces healing by 50%. Still a decent means to recover mana, but in our current state , we have very little mana concerns, so this is almost a non-factor. Pop it as often as needed, just to make sure you are capped off, but don’t let it interrupt DPS rotations, unless mana is becoming a serious concern.
Rebuke
Interrupts spell casting, as well as preventing any spell from that school of magic from being cast again for 4 seconds. Great PvP tool, and will find use in PvE as well. Much needed spell to take the place of Hammer of Justice’s limited interrupt ability.
Repentance
Places an enemy in a state of meditation for up to 1 minute, making them unable to attack or move. Effect will break if attacked. Similar to a Mage’s Sheep ability.
Hammer of Justice
Stuns an enemy 6 seconds. One of our core abilities from vanilla WoW that refuses to change its basic function. Solid for PvP, and has plenty of utility in PvE as well. Usually does not work on end-game bosses.
Heals & Cleanse
Word of Glory
Heals for 2331 for each charge of Holy Power consumed. Extremely useful healing ability, probably the number one healing ability for Ret Paladins. During leveling, can be effectively used at even 1 or 2 stacks of Holy Power. Can help ease a healer’s work in 5-mans and raids by self-casting.
Holy Light
Now our normal, standard heal. 3 second cast, and heals for 4809. We won’t be using this much at all. Our healing usually focuses on Word of Glory and Flash of Light.
Flash of Light
Big heal, high mana cost. Very different from what Flash of Light has been in the past, where it was a cheap, low heal. 27% base mana for 8010 healing. 1.5 second cast. Great for healing in combat when Word of Glory is unavailable.
Divine Light
New, massive heal that can be used in emergencies, or in high damage situations. For Rets, this is probably just going to be used out of combat to replace 75% or so HP. Not efficient in combat. Flash of Light and Word of Glory take priority there.
Holy Radiance
A new AoE heal for Paladins, giving them a group heal if needed for that role. Extremely helpful in a supporting healing role. Use this and use it often to help give your healers a break.
Lay on Hands
Heals target for Paladin’s maximum HP. If used on self, no Divine Shield or Hand of Protection for 2 minutes. This is a great PvP tool, and also an excellent tool when leveling. But the best use as a Ret, in my opinion, is to use this to save a tank about to eat it in a raid. This can pull some heavy stress off healers, and may make or break that particular attempt. Glyphing for Lay on Hands will also restore 10% mana.
Cleanse
Removes 1 disease and 1 poison effect from a friendly target. For Rets, this is mainly a self-cleansing tool…but can be used if needed to help clear off debuffs from tanks and healers.
Seals
Seal of Righteousness
Deals additional Holy damage on each single target attack. Not nearly as strong as Seal of Command was in WotLK, but it is the best we have. Best use for this seal is for AoE, and single mobs that will die in under 20 seconds or so.
Seal of Insight
Chance to generate 4% base mana on each attack, and yields 15% base mana when judged. Also deals damage when used with Judgement. Ret Paladins shouldn’t be using this much unless they are completely out of mana replenishment options.
Seal of Truth
Causes Censure, which deals Holy damage over 15 seconds. This is our main raiding seal for singel targets and bosses. The damage over time far outweighs the single output of damage SoR yields.
Seal of Justice
Deals Holy damage and causes single target attacks to reduce target’s maximum run speed. Pure PvP seal, great for locking down those pesky Rogues, Hunters, and Mages.
Stat Buffs
Blessing of Kings
Increases Agility, Strength, Intellect, and Stamina by 5%. Will buff entire party and/or raid. Does not stack with Gift ofthe Wild. One hour duration. If your group is caster heavy, use BoK.
Blessing of Might
Increases attack power by 10% and generates 326 mana per 5 seconds while active. Will buff entire party and/or raid. One hour duration. If your group is melee heavy, use BoM.
Hands
Hand of Salvation
Reduces total threat by 2% every second for 10 seconds. Probably our most important Ret Hand. Since our burst damage is fairly high in its current state, Hand of Salvation may find itself being used quite frequently to keep aggro off the tanks.
Hand of Freedom
Grants immunity from movement impairing effects for 6 seconds. Great PvP tool, but useful in PvE as well, especially during leveling.
Hand of Sacrifice
Transfers 30% of damage from party or raid member to caster for 10 seconds or until 100% of caster’s HP is taken. Not really a Ret tool, unless you are feeling like becoming a sacrificial martyr for the tank in raids.
Hand of Protection
Imunce to physical attacks for 10 seconds, but cannotattack or use physical abilities. Good for PvP, especialyl to throw on your healers or squishy casters. Not much use in PvE, where other shields are more useful.
Hand of Reckoning
Taunts the target to attack you, causes no damage. Useful in leveling, to pull additional mobs, and can help in raid enivironments if a stray trash mob gets on a healer or caster. Be careful, though, try to pull back to the tank as quickly as possible.
Shields & Protection
Divine Protection
Reduces all damage taken by 20% for 10 seconds. Useful for periods of high damage in PvE.
Divine Shield
Protects Paladin from all damage for 8 seconds, but reduces damage dealt by 50%. Great in PvE for a last minute death avoidance, or to help drop threat output.
PvE Talents
- Crusade
- Improved Judgement
- Rule of Law
- Pursuit of Justice
- Communion
- Art of War
- Long Arm of the Law
- Sanctity of Battle
- Seals of Command
- Sanctified Wrath
- Divine Purpose
- Inquiry of Faith
- Acts of Sacrifice
- Seals of the Pure
- Judgements of the Pure
- Arbiter of Light
- Blazing Light
PvP Talents
- Eye for an Eye
- Guardian’s Favor
- Selfless Healer
Eye for an Eye
All magic attacks have a 40% chance to cause 30% damage to the attacker. Great for PvP, especially against hard-hitting Mages and Warlocks. May find use in PvE if other spells prove underwhelming (cough*divinestorm*cough).
Guardian’s Favor
Decreases Hand of Protection cooldown by 60 seconds and increased duration of Hand of Freedom by 2 seconds.
Selfless Healer
When healing others with Word of Glory, increases effictiveness by 50%. Also increases damage by 4% per charge of Holy Power. Return of the Shockadin!
I was wondering if you could give me a heads up on where to find a decent ret talent tree to look at as everysite i go on always comes up saying the tree is flagged for update.
your assistence in this matter is greatly appreciated
Baz Wilson
The talent tree on this page is up to date as of Patch 3.3. 11 / 5 / 55
Khor hello,
I’ve been following your blog for quite some time and it’s very useful to a paladin, especially the beginning one, like me.
Recently I’ve encountered a problem I’d like to discuss with you if you have time and wish, of course.
In short – I’m bad at dps. Now with the details. I’m not sure you’d be able to see my armory, I play on russian servers in Euro WoW zone.
Try this link: http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=%D0%AF%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%B2%D1%8B%D0%B9+%D0%BB%D0%B5%D1%81&cn=%D0%9C%D0%B0%D0%B9%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BD Maybe it’d open for you.
If no, those are the base stats (no food, flask etc):
Str 2455, Dex 145, dam 2365-2787, speed 3.22 (136), expertise 22 (32 With symbol), crit 31.83, hit 359 (recently got chest with tons of hit on it), attack 5421. 246 ilevel. I’ve got only 232 piece – Liandrin gloves without Triumph thingie. other 245, 251, 264. And 251 hatchet Ramaladni from Marrowgar.
And with all this stuff I let out around 10k dps on trash LCC mobs, 6.3 on Marrowgar, 6.8 on Saurfang and whooping 5.9-6.0 on Rotface (today). 6.0 recently on simple Jaraxxus and even less on Beasts.
And that sucks a lot. I’ve been talking to a fellow paladin (he’s mainly in ToGC stuff and with Hercumli war sign) and he says I should produce around 8++ k dps with my level of items. He’s here: http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=%D0%AF%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%B2%D1%8B%D0%B9+%D0%BB%D0%B5%D1%81&cn=%D0%90%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%8C&gn=%D0%A2%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%B3%D0%B0
He’s heavy haste geared, my strength and crit are somewhere better, and – he produces better dps. Why?!
The only things that suck are my trinkets. I’ve got http://www.wowhead.com/?item=42987
and http://www.wowhead.com/?item=50198.
Should I get the hercumli war sign as Death’s choice or whispering fang aren’t dropping to me? And where can be the problem?
Thanks!
Igor
hey guys, i’ve being reading and trying to make a good build and i endend in this :
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#scZVGzmbZVf0xbIuGdIbsu:u0a0zm
check it out and comment please.
i found that if your looking to maximize your own PvE dps and are a regular raider i have made a spec that helps a lot for both raid bonus and solo damage
http://www.wowarmory.com/talent-calc.xml?cid=2&tal=050501000000000000000000000500000000000000000000000005232251003331302133231331
this link helped me maximize my dps out by dipping into the holy tree for some increased mana and to help raid in times of need with aura mastery. i left out any un-required pvp talents in my spec as i dont pvp but feel free to mix it up a bit and let me know how it works for you.
Xanzaa from Darkspear Horde =]
@xanzaa – I like your spec, however I am wondering why you took 2 points in Vindication and left out Pursuit of Justice. Seems like the 15% movement speed increase would provide more raid utility and more dps as you would be getting to targets faster and in/out of situations faster. Just seems that the 2 points in Vindication would be of much more use in PoJ.
@Khor – Thank you for all of this info. I am currently running ICC content with my guild and we are 6/12 so far and working on Putricide. I am going to be respeccing once the servers come up to see how switching a few talents around affects my dps. I seem to top out around 6k on tank and spank bosses like festergut, however, I feel I should be doing more considering my gear http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Nordrassil&cn=Hrpuffnstuff&gn=REJECTED
I am consistantly in the top 3 for single target on our dps charts, which I absolutely love, but I am always looking for ways to improve. Please pay no attention to my spec if you look at my wow-armory link as I have not respecced for 3.3
Any suggestions you can give me would be greatly appreciated.
I still dont see the point where you put aura mastery over Divine Sacrifice… maybe if aura mastery double the haste of ret aura when it active? but i dont think aura mastery does that.
Imo, Divine Sacrifice would help the raid alot, since you are usually in melee group, pop-ing divine sacrifice at the right time can be very helpful in fights like Festgut/BQ and more.
Anyway, I do see some other ret pallies with aura mastery in their spec, and I just want to get some ideas from other people, feel free to bash my idea
thanks
What stat is more needed for a Retribution Paladin?
@ WoWman – Strength, hands down
so.. any idea to my question?
thanks, still waiting for some answers.
ok so i was wondering why i see some pallys with rogue gear on.
is some leather gear better then the plate i dont get it? hear is an example. http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Daggerspine&n=Donmc
plus what is with the gems on her wepon i look at some pallys and wonder am i missing somthing
please look at my spec and gear let me know what i might be able to do to up the dps i push about 12k on trash in 25man and around 6 on single target.
Hey false, your DPS actually isn’t too bad. Paladins will iften take some leather items because the stat itemization is better than plate on certain pieces. You will see more haste/crit/AP/agi on one piece of leather as compared to str/crit/random DPS stat on plate. The leather will occasionally yield more DPS. It’s best to plug your numbers in to rawr and see if that optimizes your DPS. If you don’t use rawr, then working on dummies to test gear out is always an option, too.
ok thanks
Hi Khor
I just wonder why you put 2 on Unyielding Faith, isn’t thats more PvP?
For me I think we should take out those 2 points and fill out Divine Intellect
Thaldai
Ah Thaldai, thank you, you are very correct! I have no idea why I had that there. Definitely not optimal. Thanks for finding the error! Now it should link correctly
Hello Khor
I posted this in another area it probably was not the best place for it but wowpopular.com shows this as the most popular spec.
http://www.wowhead.com/talent#sVZVZVfrtrIuGdIfsu
Any comment on this one. I am using it and it seems pretty cool but what do I know about pallies lol.
Thanks
Nytengale
@ Nytengale
The talents Vindication and Eye for an Eye are seldom used at least for PVE. The meager reduction of AP that occurs with Vindication just ins’t worth the two points that could go into another tree. Eye for an Eye is all about damaging your opponent after he hits you with a crit. NPC’s don’t crit the same way that players do, so that just leaves boss crits for this talent to work with, and if you’re getting hit by boss crits, you’re likely already dead. It might be a good talent for PVP. I’d put those 4 points towards some fear resistance with Unyeilding faith or some stun resistance with Stoicism, or even up your mana pool by getting some divine intellect.
in the build link, i do not see the point of specing any further down the holy tree beyond seals of the pure or w/e its called 5pts into intillect seems like a gross missuse of pts as retadins dont have enough intillect to justify this
lol, we need a update on this, and as always, Great job! best wow blog out there
Ugh, yeah, this is my worst procrastination to date. The update to this post is half-done, and I keep putting it off!
I’d be interested to know exactly which attacks proc seal damage and/or stack censure. Is it just white melee hits now? It’s really difficult to find a straight answer anywhere, especially after all the changes they’ve done to our class.
Seal of Truth
Causes Censure, which deals Holy damage over 15 seconds. This is our main raiding seal for singel targets and bosses. The damage over time far outweighs the single output of damage SoR yields.
gonna interrupt the serious convo to point out ya mis spelled single…sorry at work and bored
Khor.
I’m not sure of the exact figures and such but why do we not sink 2 points into Eye for an eye? Instead of Communion and Acts of Sacrifice?
In regards to communion the extra mana is good for all but on a selfish basis I never seem to want for it anymore.
In regards to Acts of sacrifice I can honestly say I have never once used Hand of freedom, Salvation or Sacrifice in the entire time I have played a Ret.
Surely in such instances and because we are purely ” supposed ” to be DPS ( Hint at Blizz there ) the chance to cause some attack within Eye for an Eye is a much better option?
What do you think or anyone else for that matter??
Hello,
First I would like to say that this is the best site for retri paladins that I found. Khor really really good job. I didnt play for one year duo to my job that lead me to USA, but once I returned I found evertyhing that I need on this site.
My build is very simmilar to the one you post but instead of divine storm and both talents in Acts of Sacrifice I have both talents in Eye for an Eye and only one in Acts of Sacrifice.
I think that damage is bigger since and still my clense will dispell moving debuff…
I would like to hear from you what do you think about it and why do you think divine storm is more important that Eye for an Eye ?
Thank you very much and keep up with awesome job
@ Varaxill – Yeah, I was dragging my feet on the Eye for an Eye change. I know EJ has posted that one point in E4aE is a small DPS boost on boss fights, but I was going to wait until raiding to verify that.
However, given the cooldown reducer of Acts of Sacrifice isn’t really helping all that much, so the best choice so far is to place the extra point in E4aE and not AoS. Divine Storm stays put, and with the Mastery change incoming, we’ll see if that changes DS’s utility at all.
based on your new talent tree set up theres 1 point left…should it be unused? if not where should i put the last point??
@ Jaden – Dangit, this is liek the third time I have fixed that stupid link! Hah. You can either put that in Acts of Sacrifice or fill out Eye for an Eye. I choose Sacrifice, which allows Cleanse to remove a movement impairing effect. But you can go 2/2 Eye for an Eye as well.
Are you planning on, or do you know about a Prot pally website that does the same level of awesome as you do for ret?