PvE Retribution Paladin Talents & Builds

Author: Judgement
Date: April 2, 2021
Updated: April 2, 2021
Expansion: TBC Classic

Retribution Paladin Guide

Stat Priority

Best Races

Talents & Builds

Gear & Best In Slot (BiS)

Best Professions

Gems, Enchants, & Consumables

Rotation, Cooldowns, & Abilities

Addons & Macros

The Retribution tree for Paladins has been greatly improved in TBC compared to Original Classic. We get raid-wide buffs with both Judgement of the Crusader and Sanctity Aura which makes Retribution Paladin wanted in raids.
We also get a much needed Mana-return talent in the form of Sanctified Judgement, which in combination with the Spiritual Attunement + Seal of Blood combination solves most of our mana problems.

Vengeance has been changed for the better and now lasts 15 seconds, up from 8, which makes it very easy to keep up during a fight. You do have to stack it up 3 times, but that’s not a big deal.

Another big talent is Fanaticism which gives us 15% extra crit chance on Judgements as well as reducing our threat output. Threat in TBC is still something you need to be careful of, so this talent helps to combat that.

Lastly and most importantly, we finally get the ability that we should have had in original Classic but never got, Crusader Strike. In addition to being our main damage ability it also refreshes all Judgements on the target, which means that your Holy paladins can judge Wisdom or Light on the boss and you will be able to keep it active for them which is a big deal.

This is the standard build you want to use for raiding and dungeons if you are trying to maximize your DPS.

This build will give you less raw damage output but you will get more survivability and sustain. It allows you to handle farming and open world PvP encounters much better, while still doing good enough damage for dungeons and casual raiding.

Another variation of a more casual build that gives you more healing power and improved LoH while still maintaining good enough DPS for dungeons and casual raiding.

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Judgement

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christehkiller

#2641

2 years ago

question: why spec seal of command if seal of blood is more dps? is it for more durability on high damage fights? what is the purpose of it?

Judgement(@judgement)

Author

#2642

Reply to christehkiller

You use SoC when seal twisting, and it can also be better in other scenarios. Judgement of Command deals more damage then Judgement on Blood on stunned/incap targets etc. You should always spec SoC

Joe

#2651

During pre patch, since we have ten less talent points what talents would we not grab? I was thinking of dropping the holy talents and making sure I have precision until I reach hit cat

#2653

Reply to Joe

Depends on your gear, with good gear its not hard to replace the 3% hit from Precision with items instead, and then it would look like this:
https://tbc.wowhead.com/talent-calc/paladin/5–0523005130033125331051
If you need the hit you should instead go for something like this:
https://tbc.wowhead.com/talent-calc/paladin/-053-0523005110033125321051

Tanzjin

#2687

Why is every guide skipping Imp. Blessing of Might? Is Benediction so important that we would skip buffing melee with 20% better BoM if another Paladin buffs Kings?

Kurathis(@kurathis)

#2690

Reply to Tanzjin

“Improved Blessing of Might” only increases the additional power by 44 (220 x 0.20)

“Benediction” decreases mana cost of Seals and Judgement by 15%:
–         Seal of Righteousness: Saves roughly 39 Mana
–         Seal of Vengeance: Saves roughly 37.5 Mana
–         Seal of Command: Saves roughly 42 Mana
–         Judgement: Sitting at a base mana of 3,918 at level 70, “Benediction” would save you roughly 29.39 Mana

“Sanctified Judgement” provides an 80% mana return every time you use Judgement. (5% of Base Mana ((3,918) is 195.9 – 80% of 195.9 is 156.72))

Without “Benediction”….
– Seal of Command + Judgement w/ “Sanctified Judgement”
o 280 Mana + 196 Mana = 476 Mana – 157 Mana = 319 Mana Used

With “Benediction”…
– Seal of Command + Judgement w/ “Sanctified Judgement”
o 238 Mana + 167 Mana = 405 Mana – 133 Mana = 272 Mana Used

Assuming “Judgement” is used on the 8-second cooldown, and we reapply “Seal of Command” immediately after, that means a total of 7 casts for each spell over the course of a minute. (2,233 Mana and 1,904 Mana spent respectively) Theoretically, allowing for “Benediction” to allow for an extra Judgement and Seal application while costing 57 less mana total. (2,176 mana compared to the 2,233 mana) This assists in survivability, overall damage output and better utility.