Retribution Paladin DPS Guide for PvE

Updated for Patch 4.3

Retribution DPS

Note: Some aspects of this guide may not apply to your character until higher level. If are interested in getting your character to max level quickly, take a look at this leveling guide.

Glyphs come in three varieties, Prime, Major and Minor. Prime glyphs enhance core aspects of your class and generally provide the greatest benefit of the three types.

Major Glyphs, while not quite as powerful as Prime Glyphs, are still useful and continue to provide a myriad of benefits.

Minor Glyphs often times provide small quality of life improvements or visual changes, such as the Glyph of Shadow Form for priests which makes the character more visible through Shadow Form. However, a few are known to provide more significant benefits such as the warrior glyph of Berserker Rage.

Prime Glyphs:

 
 
 
 
 
 

Major Glyphs:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

Here are your highest priority abilities.

Seal of Truth – Primary Damage Seal
Crusader Strike – Primary Attack Ability
Inquisition – Keep Active
Templar’s Verdict – 3 Holy Power
Hammer of Wrath – When Target is at or below 20% Health
Exorcism – When Art of War is Active

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Crusader Strike is your primary attack ability and method of generating Holy Power. Whenever you reach 3 Holy Power, use that for either Inquisition or Templar’s Verdict. Keep inquisition active at all times, only using Templar’s Verdict when Inquisition is already active.

AoE Rotation

Divine Storm – Primary Attack Ability
Consecration – On Cooldown

 
 
 
 
 

Multi-Target fights will have you using the same rotation as single-target except using Divine Storm instead of Crusader Strike.

Cooldowns

 
 
 
 
 
 

The most important aspect of managing your cooldowns as a damage dealer is making certain to use them whenever they’re avaliable. Don’t be afraid to use them during any fight, even against trash mobs, as the higher the uptime you have with them, the greater your overall damage will be so long as you aren’t using them when a fight is about to end.

The only time to hold off on using your cooldowns is when you’ll be unable to attack the boss due to fight mechanics, such as during Morchok’s Black Blood of the Earth ability or when Hagara is about to cast Water Shield and become immune to all damage.

Melee DPS will have to watch out for this more than ranged, as they are far more vulnerable to situations where an encounter requires constant movement or the boss is utilizing some form of AoE attack that makes fighting in melee range impossible.

Strength > Melee Hit (8%) > 26 Expertise > Mastery > Critical > Haste

Strength:

Strength increases your attack power, and thus damage, making it your most effective stat.

(8%) Melee Hit:

Hit rating reduces you chance to miss with attacks. A hit rating of 8% makes it so that your special abilities will no longer miss on bosses, thereby avoiding loss of DPS.

(26) Expertise:

Expertise reduces the chance for an enemy to dodge or parry your attacks. At an expertise rating of 26, the ‘soft’ cap, your attacks will no longer be dodged when behind your target.

Mastery – Hand of Light:

Retribution Paladin Mastery increases the damage of Templar’s Verdict, Crusader Strike and Divine Storm.

Haste:

Haste rating increases attack speed and reduces the Global Cooldown.

Critical Strike:

Critical Strike rating increases your chance to critically hit with attacks.

Reforging

When reforging gear, it’s important that you look to reforge from your least effective stat into the most effective for whatever gear goal you are currently aiming for. See our stat priority list for more information.

8% Melee Hit > (26) Expertise > Mastery

(8%) Melee Hit:

First check that you have 8% melee hit, and if not, reforge until you reach it.

(26) Expertise – Mastery:

Once you’ve reached the 8% melee hit cap, optimize the amount of Mastery on your gear while also aiming to reach the (26) Expertise Cap.

Keep in mind that the Glyph for Seal of Truth adds 10 Expertise, allowing you to further reduce your Expertise Rating in favor of Mastery, Haste and Critical while maintaining your Expertise, when the Seal is active, at the soft cap of 26.

 
 
 
 
 

Gems

Unless a socket bonus offers strength, it’s more effective to gem for pure strength and ignore the bonus.

Enchantments

 

Our class guides for whichever class you’re playing:

Death KnightsDruidHunterMagePaladin
PriestRogueShamanWarlockWarrior

The GotWarcraft Gold Guide

Cataclysm Heroic Guides

 
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