World of Warcraft: Forever · class guide
Retribution Paladin
Melee damage
The easiest levelling spec in the beta: keep a Seal up, 
Judgement and 
Holy Strike on cooldown, heal between pulls. About 5% below the pure damage classes by design.
Retribution swings a slow two-hander with a Seal up and spends its globals on Judgement and Holy Strike, each on a 10-second cooldown. Seal of Command (from 20) adds big Holy procs, and its Judgement does double damage to a stunned target. Seal of the Crusader's Judgement raises Holy damage taken, and Sacred Arbiter lets Holy Strike keep every Judgement on the target refreshed. From 40, Twist of Light makes the old Seal echo onto your next swing when you swap, one swap per swing. Blizzard tunes it about 5% below pure damage classes and gives it no cleave beyond Consecration.
Strengths and weaknesses
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|
| Easy to level: keep a Seal up and use Judgement and Holy Strike on cooldown | Tuned about 5% below pure damage classes |
| Seal of Command adds big Holy procs | No cleave beyond Consecration |
| Sacred Arbiter keeps every Judgement refreshed on the target | No interrupt and no slow, so runners and casters are a weak spot solo |
| Can heal between pulls | Heavily dependent on the two-hander |
| Champion of the Light gives 30% of Intellect as spell damage | Twist of Light echoes only Command, Righteousness, Fury and Justice |
Stat priority
- Weapon damage
- Hit
- Critical strike
- Spell power
- Strength
- Intellect
Your two-hander matters more than any other item. Spell power ranks just below crit because Seals, Judgement and Consecration scale with it, and items with both Strength and spell power are best; at level 30 the simple list is weapon damage, then Strength and Stamina. Intellect gains value with Champion of the Light (30% of Intellect as spell damage).
Do this
- Use a slow two-hander: Holy Strike and Seal of Command both reward big weapon hits.
- Heal yourself with Holy Light or Flash of Light between pulls instead of eating, while mana lasts.
- Open with Hammer of Justice and then Judgement under Seal of Command for a double-damage judge.
- One Ret with Sacred Arbiter keeps every Paladin's Judgements up on a boss.
Watch out for
- Judging Seal of Fury taunts, even if you only put it up for a Twist of Light swap.
- Light, Wisdom and Crusader don't create Echoes. Twist of Light only echoes Command, Righteousness, Fury and Justice.
- Retribution Aura is weak: Vanilla base damage (about a third less) and a 6% spell-power ratio, now read from your own spell power.
- Builds that list Crusade are out of date: it was removed.
- No interrupt and no slow: runners and casters are your weak spot when solo.