Retribution Paladin Guide

📊 Stat Priority

Priority (same for raid and Mythic+): Item Level > Mastery > Critical Strike > Haste > Versatility.

• Mastery — top secondary: it increases the damage of everything that deals Holy damage (including Holystrike / Radiant hits), which is most of your kit.
• Critical Strike — gains extra value from Heart of the Crusader and Art of War (crits proc resets more often). Slightly stronger on AoE for Templar via Wrathful Descent, but not enough to outrank Mastery.
• Haste — resource generation and Holy Power generator cooldown reduction (especially with Crusading Strikes builds). Smooths the rotation but ranks below the damage stats.
• Versatility — flat damage plus a little damage reduction, but no innate synergies, so it's last.

🎁 Tier Set, Trinkets & Consumables

Tier set — Luminant Verdict: 2pc = Expurgation deals 20% increased damage. 4pc = Final Verdict applies Expurgation at 100% effectiveness while Divine Storm applies it at 50%. It doesn't reshape the rotation, but the set is your single biggest gear priority — grab the 4-piece before chasing off-piece upgrades.

Top trinkets (raid): Umbral Plume, Radiant Plume, Algeth'ar Puzzle Box (S-tier — note the Puzzle Box has a cast time, so press it BEFORE entering your burst window, not during). Then Gaze of the Alnseer, Heart of Ancient Hunger. M+ alternatives: Solarflare Prism, Kroluk's Warbanner, Heart of Wind.

Crafted / embellishments: Early season, Blood Knight's Warblade + Darkmoon Sigil: Hunt. BiS crafted pieces include Adherent's Silken Shroud and Spellbreaker's Bracers with Arcanoweave Lining, plus a Loa Worshiper's Band.

Gems: Indecipherable Eversong Diamond + Flawless Masterful (Mastery) gems; lean Critical Strike gems if you're already Mastery-heavy. Consumables: top Agility flask, the current combat Agility potion (Light's Potential), best-available Agility food and a Void-Touched / current augment rune. Enchant weapon, rings, and gear slots with the highest Mastery/Crit options available.

🚀 Opener

Pre-cast your trinket so it lands as wings go up, then dump everything into the Avenging Wrath + Execution Sentence window. Build to 5 Holy Power fast and spend hard. On a pack, lead with Wake of Ashes + Divine Storm instead of single-target Final Verdict.

1. Algeth'ar Puzzle Box pre-pull (if equipped — it has a cast time, fire it BEFORE wings)
2. Blade of Justice (Holy Power + opens the fight)
3. Avenging Wrath (your primary burst cooldown)
4. Light's Potential / on-use trinkets
5. Execution Sentence
6. Wake of Ashes
7. Hammer of Light
8. Final Verdict (×2, spending toward your stacked Holy Power)
9. Divine Toll
10. From here, follow the single-target or AoE priority below

⚔️ Single-Target Priority

No fixed rotation — read top-to-bottom and cast the first ability whose conditions are met. The golden rules: keep your damage cooldowns rolling, never let Holy Power overcap, and spend Final Verdict at 5 (or earlier if you'd otherwise cap).

1. Avenging Wrath on cooldown
2. Execution Sentence on cooldown
3. Hammer of Light when Light's Deliverance is up (free, big hit)
4. Final Verdict at 5 Holy Power
5. Wake of Ashes
6. Divine Toll
7. Hammer of Wrath with an Art of War proc (or in execute / Avenging Wrath)
8. Blade of Justice with an Art of War proc
9. Final Verdict at 3+ Holy Power to avoid overcapping
10. Judgment
11. Hammer of Wrath / Blade of Justice off cooldown (Holy Power generators)
12. Templar Strike / Templar Slash, then Crusader Strike as the filler generator

💥 AoE / Cleave Priority

Swap in at 3+ targets (2+ with the right talents). Same skeleton as single-target, but Divine Storm becomes your Holy Power spender and your burst cooldowns hit much harder spread across the pack. This is where Ret shines — line Wake of Ashes + Avenging Wrath + Execution Sentence onto big pulls.

1. Avenging Wrath on cooldown
2. Execution Sentence (initial AoE hit + delayed payload)
3. Hammer of Light when Light's Deliverance is up
4. Divine Storm at 5 Holy Power (your AoE spender)
5. Wake of Ashes (huge front-loaded AoE + Holy Power)
6. Divine Toll
7. Blade of Justice (cleaves with the right talents)
8. Hammer of Wrath with an Art of War proc
9. Divine Storm with an Empyrean Power proc (free), or at 3+ Holy Power to avoid capping
10. Judgment to spread the debuff
11. Templar Strike / Templar Slash, then Crusader Strike as filler

⏱️ Cooldowns

Stack your damage cooldowns together. The whole game is dumping as much Holy Power as possible inside the Avenging Wrath + Execution Sentence window — pair them every time rather than drifting them apart.

Avenging Wrath~2 min

Your signature burst window: increased damage and Critical Strike chance, and it converts Judgment uses into Hammer of Wrath. Everything else lines up under it — pool Holy Power going in and spend aggressively.

Execution Sentence~1 min

Stores a portion of damage you deal to the target over ~10s, then detonates for a large Holy hit. Cast it at the START of your burst so the full window feeds it. On AoE it also deals upfront damage to everything.

Wake of Ashes~30 sec

Big front-loaded burst of damage in a cone plus a chunk of Holy Power. Your most reliable on-demand AoE — fire it into packs and inside burst windows. With Templar it feeds the Empyrean Hammer / Hammer of Light loop.

Divine Toll~45 sec

Fires Judgments at up to 5 targets, generating Holy Power and (with Templar) triggering Divine Hammer / empowered Empyrean Hammers. Strong on both single-target and AoE; weave it into the burst window.

Hammer of Lightvia Light's Deliverance

Templar's payoff button — spending Holy Power charges Light's Deliverance, which grants a free, hard-hitting Hammer of Light. Always take it near the top of the priority when available.

💚 Defensive Toolkit

Ret has the deepest survivability kit of any melee DPS — a full immunity, a self-rez-tier heal, and absorbs. Use them proactively for known damage; you almost never have to take a lethal hit.

Divine Shield5 min

Full immunity to all damage and most debuffs for 8s. Your ultimate panic button and a mechanic-skip (drop boss debuffs, ignore a one-shot). Hand of Reckoning aside, it drops threat — fine for DPS. Forbearance prevents stacking with Lay on Hands.

Shield of Vengeance~1.5 min

Absorb shield scaled by your Attack Power that also deals damage back when it expires. Use it on cooldown — it's offensive AND defensive, so there's no reason to hold it.

Lay on Hands~10 min

Heals a target (you or an ally) to full health. Emergency save for yourself or a dying teammate. Triggers Forbearance, so it won't chain with Divine Shield.

Word of GloryHoly Power

Instant self-heal that costs Holy Power (free + amplified with a Shining Light / Art of War-style proc). Your spammable topup between damage spikes — spend a spare 5 Holy Power on it when health is low instead of a damage spender.

Divine Protection~1 min

20% damage reduction for several seconds. Cheap, frequent mitigation for rot or unavoidable hits.

🧰 Utility & Crowd Control

🗝️ Mythic+ Tips

• Line Wake of Ashes + Avenging Wrath + Execution Sentence onto the biggest pull of each pack — that triple is your AoE nuke and the reason Ret is an A-tier key spec.
• Hold Divine Storm spenders for 3+ targets; on small pulls keep building so you arrive at the next pack already at 5 Holy Power ready to burst.
• You are the off-support: Blessing of Sacrifice / Protection / Freedom on whoever's in trouble, and Word of Glory or Lay on Hands to save a teammate the healer can't reach.
• Use Divine Shield to skip a one-shot mechanic entirely, or to soak something nobody else can survive (immunities don't drop the soak).
• Hammer of Justice and Blinding Light cover stun + disorient duties; coordinate Rebuke kicks with the group's interrupt rotation.
• Herald of the Sun gives bigger burst for pack-to-pack pulls; Templar is steadier and the safer default if you're unsure.

⌨️ Macros & Addons

WeakAuras is not supported in Midnight (12.0) — use Blizzard's built-in Cooldown Manager (importable configs on Wago.io). Addons: ElvUI, DBM/BigWigs, OmniCD (track party Blessings/CDs), Plater (track Hammer of Light / proc windows).

#showtooltip Rebuke
/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][@focus,exists,harm,nodead][] Rebuke

#showtooltip Blessing of Protection
/cast [@mouseover,help,nodead][] Blessing of Protection

#showtooltip Blessing of Sacrifice
/cast [@mouseover,help,nodead][] Blessing of Sacrifice

#showtooltip Divine Shield
/cancelaura Divine Shield
/cast Divine Shield

#showtooltip Avenging Wrath
/cast Avenging Wrath
/cast Execution Sentence
/use 13
/use 14

🚫 Common Mistakes

• Overcapping Holy Power — spend Final Verdict / Divine Storm before you waste generators; a capped bar is dead damage.
• Drifting Avenging Wrath and Execution Sentence apart — they're meant to be stacked; spend as much Holy Power as possible inside that window.
• Casting Algeth'ar Puzzle Box during burst — it has a cast time, so it must go off BEFORE wings or you lose GCDs and value.
• Final Verdict on AoE — swap to Divine Storm as your spender at 3+ targets (Final Verdict is single-target only).
• Hoarding defensives — Divine Shield, Lay on Hands and Blessings save runs; you have far more than other melee, so use them.
• Ignoring Hammer of Light — with Templar, a ready Light's Deliverance Hammer of Light is one of your biggest hits; don't skip it for filler.
• Forgetting you're a support — a well-timed Blessing of Sacrifice or off-heal often does more for the key than squeezing out extra personal DPS.