Audience

Introductory level Retribution guide.

Guide

Although the class was once considered little more than buff bot, the Retribution specialization of the Wrath of the Lich King era has become a competitive source of top end raid DPS. With Seal of Corruption/Vengeance skilled Retribution Paladins are able to surpass even Hunters in terms of single target DPS. With Seal of Command, we’re able to hold our own in terms of area of effect (AOE) DPS.

Class Strengths
In true “faceroll” form with Seal of Corruption/Vengeance, Retribution excels at single target DPS where there is little to no movement or target switching. An example of this type of encounter in Trial of the Crusader would be Twin Val’kyr or Lord Jaraxxus. Retribution performs well in this type of encounter because one is able to maximize the number of melee and yellow hits, seal procs, and DOT uptime.

With Seal of Command, the second type of encounter that Retribution excels at consists of rapid target switches and multiple mobs. An encounter of this type is not present in Trial of the Crusader. In the upcoming Icecrown Citadel raid, two strong examples are the Icecrown Airship Battle and Valithria Dreamwalker. Retribution excels at this type of encounter because Seal of Command requires no ramp up time and the seal proc, since 3.2, has become a strong cleave.

Class Weaknesses
Seal of Corruption/Vengeance is both a blessing and a curse. In order to deal high DPS one needs to reach a five stack of Blood Corruption or Holy Vengeance. This ramp up process takes roughly 15 seconds. Consequently, Retribution performs poorly on single target DPS encounters that require frequent target switches and the reapplication of our five stack. Northrend Beasts would be the best example of this type of encounter in Trial of the Crusader.

Rotation
Retribution has no rotation per se. Similar to Hunters, we use a first come, first serve priority order to determine which ability to use next. There is no one definitive priority order. The order for a given Ret depends on one's level of gear, set bonuses, and raid buffs. For those with at least two piece T9 and mostly ilvl245 equipment, the optimal priority order is Judgement > Crusader Strike > Divine Storm > Consecration > Hammer of Wrath > Exorcism. In order to determine your individual priority order, I highly recommend a sandbox DPS program called Rawr.

Talents
There are three general ways to spec as Retribution: Aura Mastery, Divine Sacrifice, or Vindication. In each of the three sub specs your generic DPS talents remain the same. How you spec should be dependent upon the request of your raid leader or the demands of a given encounter.

Aura Mastery (11/5/55): If there's any sort of raid shadow, fire, or frost damage then Aura Mastery will provide a significant amount of damage mitigation. Moreover Aura Mastery has situational uses in combination with Concentration Aura. Two examples from Ulduar would be Freya where AM can provide immunity to pacify during the Anicent Conservator phase and Yogg-Saron where AM can break his silence effect.

Divine Sacrifice (5/11/55): This talent is exceptional for encounters with massive AOE damage that we can't Aura Mastery. The two examples from Ulduar are General Vezax and Iron Council.

Vindication: (5/5/57*): At first glance a 547 AP reduction might not seem like it's significant. Vindication generally provides a 15% reduction in incoming DPS for most raid bosses. It's essential. Talk to your tanks. If you pick up Vindication this may allow them to reallocate a few of their talents towards more threat or mitigation. If your main tank is a Death Knight, then you may be the primary source of boss AP reduction in the raid.

*There are four free talent points to allocate and no strong talents to pick up.

Glyphs
Retribution has a limited selection of useful major glyphs. If you have 16 or less expertise skill then the optimal DPS glyph setup is Seal of Vengeance / Consecration / Judgement. In TOC there are quite a few expertise laden plate items. If you’re near 26 unbuffed expertise skill, then it’s optimal to replace Glyph of Seal of Vengeance with Glyph of Exorcism.

Certain encounters may require specialized glyphs. For example, many Retribution Paladins use Glyph of Holy Wrath for Heroic 25 Anub’arak so that you may pre-stun the Nerubian Burrowers before Shadowstrike is cast. Some Retribution Paladins may also find Glyph of Turn Evil useful for Heroic 25 Faction Champions.

Gems
Relentless Earthsiege Diamond is the highest DPS meta for Retribution Paladins. In order activate this meta you'll need one blue, one yellow, and one red gem. Nightmare Tears are prismatic, therefore a single Nightmare Tear is sufficient to meet all three portions of the meta requirement. The ideal location for a Nightmare Tear is in a blue gem socket with a +STR socket bonus.

In red and blue gem sockets the optimal gem is always a Bold Cardinal Ruby.

The optimal gem for a yellow gem socket varies depending on gear level and the socket bonus. If you are 10 or more hit rating below the melee hit cap (263), then you should use an Etched Ametrine. If you are at or above the melee hit cap, then Inscribed Ametrines should be used in yellow gem sockets with a four or greater +STR socket bonus. For yellow gem sockets that do not have a four or greater +STR socket bonus, one should use a Bold Cardinal Ruby.

Enchants and Enhancements
There is little choice when it comes to the optimal DPS enchants for Retribution.

Head: Arcanum of Torment
Shoulders: Greater Inscription of the Axe
Back: Major Agility
Chest: Powerful Stats
Wrist: Greater Assault
Gloves: Crusher
Belt: Eternal Belt Buckle
Legs: Icescale Leg Armor
Weapon: Berserking

The optimal boot enchant will vary depending on your gear. If you are below the melee hit cap (263 rating), then you should use Icewalker. If you are above the melee hit cap, then you should use Greater Assault.

Professions
The two highest DPS professions for Retribution are Jewelcrafting (+42 STR) and Blacksmithing (+40 STR). Enchanting (+80 AP) and Inscription (+80 AP) are viable alternatives, however they provide slightly less DPS. A profession that provides pure STR results in a higher DPS increase than a profession that provides additional AP because the +STR provided by Jewelcrafting and Blacksmithing is modified by the Divine Strength talent (+15% STR) and Blessing of Kings (+10% STR).

Consumables
A good Retribution Paladin will always use all three types of consumables: flask, food, and potion.

Flask: Flask of Endless Rage
Food: Dragonfin Filet (if you're cheap, you can use Fish Feast for a minor DPS loss)
Potion: Potion of Speed

In certain encounters that are especially mana intensive, you may find it necessary to use a Runic Mana Potion rather than Potion of Speed. Keep plenty of both types in your bag!

Hit and Expertise
The hit cap for a melee DPS refers to the point at which you can remove Misses from the attack table. In general, a raid level mob is level 83. This means that you need an additional 8% hit or 263 hit rating in order to remove misses from the attack table.

The expertise cap for a melee DPS refers to the point at which you can remove Dodges from the attack table. For Retribution the expertise cap varies depending on glyph choice. Glyph of Seal of Vengeance provides 10 expertise skill when Seal of Vengeance/Corruption is active. For those who are using Glyph of Seal of Vengeance, the expertise cap is 16 expertise skill or 132 expertise rating. For those who are not using the glyph, the expertise cap is 26 expertise skill or 213 expertise rating.

For alliance characters, racial bonuses may greatly alter these numbers.

Your UI!
The basic raiding addons any Retribution should include a boss mod, raid frames, and a blessing buff tool. In addition to these basic addons, there are several tools that can help you optimize your DPS in a raid setting. In general I follow a principle of minimalism. A UI should take up as little screen real estate as possible while maximizing your situational awareness.

CLCRet: this mod will likely provide the single largest DPS increase of any mod in the game. Our rotation is by no means complicated, but this tool allows you to “auto pilot” your DPS rotation while focusing more on the mechanics of an encounter.

Example: my UI.

As you can see, CLCRet has a prominent position within the center of my screen. This allows me to "faceroll" my rotation while paying attention to other important aspects of the encounter, like fire on the ground, incoming debuffs, or boss mod timers.

Third Party Tools
Rawr
SimulationCraft
Rawr is the mainstream tool for Retribution Paladins to evaluate gear upgrades and rotation priorities. SimulationCraft’s Paladin module is becoming increasingly refined; however, Rawr is more user friendly than SimulationCraft. The way SimulationCraft is designed makes it a poor tool for evaluating multiple pieces of gear, but I find its DPS output data more realistic and informative. For some reason not yet explained, SimulationCraft values haste rating more heavily than critical strike rating when compared to Rawr.