Retribution Paladin PvP Guide (2024)

Retribution Paladin is one of the kings of burst damage in PvP and, among othermelee, is unmatched in the utility they can offer to their teammates in theform of buffs, off-healing, and damage mitigation.

The talent build listed above takes all of the major bonuses from Retributionto help maximize your damage such as Crusader Strike,Divine Storm, and The Art of War as well as theutility that will keep you in range of your target, namelyRepentance and Pursuit of Justice.It also dips into the Protection tree to maximize the benefits of spells alreadyavailable to you and reducing the effectiveness of crowd-controlling abilitieson your character.

For Glyphs you will be using Glyph of Judgement which is a flat damage increaseto your Judgement ability, Glyph of Turn Evil which will make your Turn Evilability an instant cast, making it even more useful as you will be facing a largeamount of Death Knights and Warlocks, and lastly Glyph of Salvation which turnsyour Hand of Salvation ability into a 20% damage reduction cooldownwhen cast on yourself.

As a Retribution Paladin in PvP there is no real set rotation you should befocusing on. The usage of your damaging abilities depends on many factors butthe most important thing as a Retribution Paladin is to stay on your target asmuch as you possibly can. As a Paladin your mobility will be quite limited,but if you take advantage of Hand of Freedom to remove allslows and roots and Judgement of Justice to lessen the effectiveness ofyour enemies' movespeed bonuses, you can stick to a target quite well.

Seal of Righteousness is the primary Seal you will be using in PvPas it synergizes well with your spells all being on short cooldowns and putsmore emphasis on your burst potential. You choose this seal over Command becausethe additional burst damage it causes when unleashing your judgements.

Judgement of Light, Judgement of Wisdom, or Judgement of Justiceshould be used on cooldown to deal as much damage as possible. If you are followingour spec recommendation you will also be receiving the majority of your Mana backevery time you cast Judgement. Mana may become an issue in longer fights, so it isimportant to take advantage of this nearly-free source of damage.

Crusader Strike will be the majority of your damage.In a situation where you are fighting someone with a movement speedincrease, having as high uptime as possible on Judgement of Justicewill help your damage considerably.

Hammer of Wrath is your execute and deals massive damage totargets below 20% health. If you are able to cast Hammer of Wrath you probablyshould.

Exorcism is not a new ability, but one that is now much more usable inPvP thanks to The Art of War. This should only be used when you have an Art of Warproc but can it can be used to deal a considerable amount of damage or spent on aninstant-cast Flash Heal as well.

Divine Storm is a new ability that not only deals massive damageon multiple targets but also provides a considerable amount of healing.

Consecration can be used to try and pull stealthed enemies outof hiding.

Paladins offer some of the best utility in the game; taking full advantageof your utility is what really separates a good Paladin from a great one. Whenused correctly, Paladin has a response to almost every situation you could thinkof.

Hand of Freedom is a great tool to keep you or your alliesmobile, removing all root and slow effects from whomever you cast it on. This is,however, a Magic effect and able to be dispelled or spell-stolen, so you cannotalways depend on it.

Divine Shield is a complete immunity that clears most debuffsfrom you. Using this can save your life or keep you offensive in a situationwhere you are constantly being crowd-controlled. This effect can be dispelled byPriests casting Mass Dispel, so it is important to keep this inmind when playing against a Priest.

Cleanse is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, dispelsin the game. Removing one Magic, Poison, and Disease effect from your ally in PvPis a massive advantage. Make sure you have this in a place you can easily use it,as dispelling a crowd-controlling effect off your teammates could turn the tideof any fight.

Hand of Protection protects you or an ally with a shieldthat grants immunity to all Physical damage and Physical effects. This can be usedto both stop damage or remove stuns such as Kidney Shot. Keep inmind that this is a Magic effect and can be dispelled or spell-stolen. If youare fighting against a Mage it is a good idea to be ready to cancel the buff offof yourself or you risk the Mage potentially stealing the shield.

Repentance is a powerful ranged crowd control ability thatincapacitates your target. This is a great tool to close the gap or set up burston a target. Keep in mind that because this is an incapacitate effect it breakson any damage dealt, including damage-over-time effects.

Hammer of Justice is a short-range stun that can be used as apseudo-interrupt if needed. Hammer of Justice is both great in an offensivesituation where you might need to shut down a spell or heal cast, or in adefensive one where you need to create distance or give yourself time to heal.

Turn Evil allows you to fear Undead or Demons. This is onlyparticularly useful against Warlocks and Death Knights,but oftentimes crowd-controlling their petcan have a major impact on the fight as their demons will not be able to usetheir abilities while feared.

Righteous Fury reduces your damage taken by a flat 6% whenthe buff is active, assuming you are talented into the improved version in theProtection tree.

Avenging Wrath is a massive damage increase, but stops youfrom using your defensive abilities such as Divine Shield for a short time.Using Avenging Wrath effectively can win you games because of how much it increasesyour damage, but it can just as easily lose them if you are not prepared for thedamage you may receive while you are not able to use any of your defensive cooldowns.

The Aura you will be using in PvP will almost exclusively beDevotion Aura, but for specific situations where you feel likeyou are taking too much damage you can switch to a resistance aura for the typeof damage you are taking to lessen the burden on your healer.

As a Retribution Paladin your largest focus stats-wise will be Resilienceand Stamina. Retribution Paladins deal a large amount of damage with justStrength which will be plentiful on any gear, and the lack of Paladin's mobilitycan make it easy for them to find themselves in a situation where they will betaking a considerable amount of damage, so defensive stats can be more beneficialfor them than other classes.

Resilience is the largest source of damage mitigation you can get from stats.Resilience is a flat damage reduction from all sources and getting as much of thisas possible especially early on can help you in most PvP situations.Retribution Paladin deals a lot of damage baseline, so putting anemphasis on this stat is important.

Strength increases your damage by being the single-largest source of Attack Power.Assuming you are talented in Divine Strength, each point of Strengthwill grant 2.2 Attack Power.

Stamina increases your healthpool and, especially early on, there are times wherethe raw health added by certain pieces can make a major difference in your survivability.

Attack Power increases the damage of your abilities and auto-attacks.

Critical Strike and Agility both have very marginal benefits for Retribution,but are damage increases either way. 30% Crit is the sweet spot for Retribution asit will guarantee your uptime of Vengeance and Righteous Vengeanceand will lead to more The Art of War procs.

The list linked below includes the best possible gear setup for aRetribution Paladin in PvP.

When it comes to evaluating Retribution Paladin's place within the Arena,we have created a number of guides devoted to listing a variety of popularteam compositions which you can find below.