Classic Retribution Paladin DPS Guide (2024)

Last updated on Dec 02, 2020 at 01:29by Impakt20 comments

Champions of the light, Paladins bring powerful blessings, potent heals, andan array of auras that make them excellent at supporting a raid group. Paladinsare also clad in plate armor, making them quite durable and hard to kill inPvP. Perhaps most importantly though, Paladins have a wide array of powerfulcooldowns, some of which are considered to be among the most powerful in the game.

While Retribution Paladins are not going to top meters with their damage, theydo offer incredibly support tools and cooldowns that can make them worth a raidspot in some groups. Your seals and Judgement combine to unleash Holydamage upon enemies, which can be reasonably effective when played well. WhileRetribution Paladins are not considered to be a meta class, they are viable when youput in the effort with extra consumables and prep.

In PvP, Retribution Paladins are walking juggernauts that beat their foes down withauto attacks and Holy damage. While you have limited mobility, your array ofpowerful cooldowns enables you to take on any player out in the world, and moreimportantly to support your group when needed. Hammer of Justice is oneof the best stuns in the game, and can be devastating when setting up kill windowson potential targets.

Although the Season of Mastery brings with it a number ofchanges to how you may experience the content of WoW Classic, these tweaks donot include any adjustments to how you play Retribution Paladin. As such, this guidewill cover all you need to know regardless of which version of Classic you wishto play.

However, due to certain pieces of content from later Phases now being availableat an earlier date, gearing recommendations for Retribution Paladin will be different.Because of this, we have created additional pages detailing your best in slotitems for both pre-raid gear and the current raids available.

• Powerful raid buffs;
• Many important cooldowns;
• Durable in PvP;
• Strong off healing;

• Low sustained damage;
• Low mobility;
• Damage toolkit is limited;

Paladins are an Alliance only class, meaning you must be Alliance to play aPaladin. Within the Alliance, Paladins can choose to be either Human or Dwarf.

Humans are going to be the best race for Retribution Paladins primarily due to the extraweapon skill you get from Sword Specialization and Mace Specialization.In WoW Classic, weapon skill is incredibly important and will increase your chanceto hit, reduce glancing blows, and reduce dodged attacks. This is worth going Humanfor, as it is a significant DPS increase that Dwarfs just cannot match. Humansalso have some other nice racial abilities such as Diplomacy which is a nicequality of life bonus when farming important reputations. Perceptioncan also be quite good in PvP, but is situational and hard to use since you needto activate it to detect stealthed targets around you.

• Diplomacy increases your reputation gains be 10%.
• The Human Spirit increases your Spirit by 5%.
• Mace Specialization increases your weapon skill with maces by 5.
• Sword Specialization increases your weapon skill with swords by 5.
• Perception is a 3-minute cooldown that increases your stealthdetection for 20 seconds, making it easier to spot stealthed units near you.

Dwarf is a viable race for PvP due to Stoneform, but is not a damageincrease making them strictly worse in PvE.Stone Form gives you an 8-second immunity to any bleed, poison, or disease,which can be incredibly important in some raids. In AQ40, poisons are incrediblycommon, making Stone Form invaluable on many bosses. While it will not be meaningfulin every raid and dungeon, when it is usable, it is powerful. In PvP,Stone Form is a game changing ability against Rogues and Warriors, and can countertheir bleeds and poisons that could potentially kill you. Specifically againstRogues, Blind is considered a poison effect, giving you a free counteragainst one of their best control spells.

• Find Treasure allows you to sense nearby treasure, showing it on yourminimap.
• Frost Resistance increases your frost resistance by 10.
• Gun Specialization increases your weapon skill with guns by 5. Thisis useless for Paladins since you cannot use guns.
• Stoneform is a 3-minute cooldown that makes you immune to bleed,poison, and disease effects for 8 seconds, while also increasing your armorby 10% while active.

• PvE: Human
• PvP: Human

The best profession to have as a Ret is Engineering. It provides powerfulitems that you can use in both PvE and PvP content to either deal damage or helpyou get out of a tough spot. There are several unique items accessible only throughEngineering that are considered to be some of the strongest utility items in thegame.

While Engineering is a great profession, probably the moreimportant thing to think about is how you plan to make gold. Gold is incrediblyimportant in WoW Classic for a number of reasons and will be quite hard to comeby especially at the start. Check out the Paladin Goldmaking sectionfor more information on other potential professions for making gold.