Retribution Paladins Seals is current for Patch 4.0.6 and Patch 4.1. One of the most common questions I get is, “What Seal is best for a Retribution Paladin?” While the answer is engraved in my brain, I realize that the way our seals have fluctuated in the past makes this a hard thing to keep track of sometimes, especially for a more casual player.
Retribution Paladin PvE Seals
Seal of Truth
Seal of Truth (SoT) is our number one Seal for single target damage, and most PvE end-game content. A Ret Paladin should be using Seal of Truth for all boss fights, in both 5-mans and raids. It is also optimal for trash up to 3 mobs.
Seal of Righteousness
Seal of Righteousness (SoR) is our number one Seal for AoE damage, or multiple target damage. Using this at 4 mobs or greater will usually yield a larger DPS gain, mainly thanks to the [Seals of Command] talent. Also, SoR is going to be your main leveling seal, right up until Cataclysm leveling content. At around level 83 or so, if you are taking longer to kill mobs, try switching to SoT.
Retribution Paladin PvP Seals
You can use any of the following Seals as a Ret Paladin in PvP, though each hinges upon situational and group needs.
Seal of Truth
Seal of Truth is going to be used in situations where you are on a single target for a certain length of time. On average, this is about 10 seconds, but for today’s PvP, it’s safe to assume with so much survviability availabel to all classes, 10 seconds passes by in a flash. This is usually my main PvP seal.
Seal of Righteousness
For burst damage, and fights where you are constantly changing targets, Seal of Righteousness wil be your go-to seal. But, if you are on a single target for a longer period of time, SoR loses its effectiveness, and as mentioned above, SoT is the way to go.
Seal of Insight
Aimed at keeping you and others alive longer. If you are a Paladin that plays a support role, or functions as a true PvP hybrid, this is the seal for you when the situation arises. Many Paladins are burst damage PvPers when Avenging Wrath and Zealotry are available, then go into support mode for the 2-minute gaps between. While everything is always situational, Seal of Insight does offer some value.
Seal of Justice
Extremely situational PvP seal, Seal of Justice slows targets down to 100% normal movement speed. This includes mounts. This won’t see much utility compared to the other seals, but it can be useful to help slow people down.
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Good ideastho, but imo SOJ is nowdays best seal for arena (at least for 3v3, 5v5) since paladin is mainly chasing healer because of his strong immunity against slowing effects it comes very handy to slow them down…
@ Jan – I’ve read some things on Arena Junkies about SoJ and Arenas, and it seems extremely situational. But, I guess it’s dependent on group make-up and who you are playing.
Do you prefer to keep the healer DoT’ed with SoT, or do you prefer to keep SoJ applied to keep their movement at a minimum?
Well before the patch SoT was best option, Ive played hybrid with massing mastery to get high proc chance for Word of Glory and keeping others alive and I had to loose target to heal others and then return to enemy healer and refresh SoT on him and it worked well.
Now with DPS boost is best to keep SoJ and annoy enemy healer and when cooldowns pop up nuke him down but it is essential to keep him close so you can cause solid dps all the time and dont give any time to help others.
Will SoR hit CC´ed targets? Thats the main reason for why I’ve havent used it on trash yet,.
I’m a battleground ret, and I use Justice for the capture-the-flag maps. Great for keeping flag carriers under control. For every other pvp situation, I usually go with Truth. For example, if I’m guarding a flag in AB, I don’t really care if a rogue sprints away…I’m not going to follow him. So no Justice needed there.
As far as Righteousness goes, I think that seal is crap in every part of the game at 85. I threw it in the junk heap with Divine Storm.:)
Khor,
Long time reader blah blah.
I think you should stress that SoT glyphed will probably out weigh the others unless people are way over the expertise cap.
The added dmg or targets won’t account for much if mobs are parrying or dodging…
Keep up the good work.
The two seals i use most often are truth and insight.
righteousness is awful. in the event that id brings more “DPS” to the table, it is spread out and IMO single target damage dealing from a ret paladin would be much better, considering how much better at AoE other classes are. Taking out single monsters should be our job in trash packs. righteousness has no place in pve.
i can see limited use in pvp if you want to make a healer freak out, but the offshoot damage is so small that it’s hardly going to get passed most classes self healing.
Don’t forget the extra 10 expertise with SOT Glyph.(clatifying above from Gyffyn)..At 85 PVE, it’s SOT all the way in my book…
I actually use SoI more in PvE then any other seal. But SoT is definitely the way to go in dungeons and raiding though.
Just wanna say, While Truth is King, Seal of Insight is often an excellent way to raise mana up quickly mid-fight when Divine Plea is on CD or you’re just bottoming out on mana thanks to that blasted Concentration cost. A few seconds of Insight, and you’re ready to switch back to Truth.
I’ve never once had to switch out to Seal of Insight due to mana problems. Consecration is so low on the FCFS order, I barely use it. Judgement is enough to keep that mana flowing, and switching to another seal is a DPS loss.
PVE: Seal of truth always unless 4+ mobs, when 4+ seal of righteousness with mastery stacked and divine storm procing it off as well, we are quite capable of leading aoe fights.
PVP: Truth will be the major player, as you should only ever be single targeting. That being said righteousness in’t even an option. Seal of insight seems to get highly under rated for usefulness, i am an avid arena ret pally and have to say i have won many fights do to self heals from insight. I personally get around 3k heal per hit and seeming as we spam melee abilities it stacks quite fast. It’s not always the way to go, but when your opponent is melee heavy and will be close to hit often, it’s definately note worthy. Seal of justice only for EFC’s, arena healers , and siege vehicles in appropriate battlegrounds, demo’s move at 200% so knocking them down to walk speed is very beneficial