Retribution Paladin

What's different in Forever

From Blizzard's deep dive:

• Judgement no longer uses up your Seal, so you Judge on cooldown.
• Sacred Arbiter (16 points) adds 20% to Holy Strike and makes it refresh every Judgement on the target, even other Paladins'.
• Sanctified Judgement refunds up to 60% of the judged Seal's cost.
• Vengeance now gives 3% damage per stack, up to three stacks, for 30 sec after a crit.
• Instrument of Law makes Hammer of Wrath instant and cuts your threat by 20% while Righteous Fury is off, so you can still turn it on to off-tank.
• Twist of Light (31 points) makes a replaced damage Seal leave an Echo that also applies on your next swing. Blizzard calls it a more forgiving take on seal twisting.
• Holy Shock sits in Holy as an alternative for a hybrid "Shockadin" (see the hybrid page).

Talents by level

With Legacy points, Wowhead and Icy Veins both finish Vengeance and add a point of Champion of the Light.

Rotation and priorities

• ForeverDB's level 30 sim card (PvE guide): Seal of the Crusader and its Judgement, then Judgement on cooldown, Seal of Command kept up, and Holy Strike as the filler. The sim credits Judgement with 48% of damage, Seal of Command 34.5% and Holy Strike 19.7%. ForeverDB flags that its Seal of Command proc rate is Classic's, since the client doesn't give one.
• Wowhead: Judge Seal of the Crusader on long fights, keep your main Seal up, then Judgement and Holy Strike on cooldown (it suggests one macro for both). Add Consecration on packs, Exorcism on Undead and Demons, and Hammer of Justice on dangerous enemies.
• Icy Veins: the same core. Stun with Hammer of Justice or Repentance before a Seal of Command Judgement, which nearly doubles against stunned or incapacitated targets.

The WoWSims default APL is built for level 60 with Twist of Light. It Judges between swings, uses Hammer of Wrath when instant, and presses Holy Strike right after each Judgement. It keeps swapping Seal of Command and Seal of Righteousness to keep Echoes going, and only fits in Consecration or Exorcism between swings. The Holy Shock APL adds Divine Favor into Holy Shock after Holy Strike.

Levelling

ForeverDB and Icy Veins both rate Retribution the quickest Paladin to level. Icy Veins advises turning leftover Mana into health with Holy Light instead of drinking, and skipping Judgement or Holy Strike when an auto attack will finish the enemy.

Gear and consumables

Weapon first. Wowhead and Icy Veins list Corpsemaker (Razorfen Kraul), Manual Crowd Pummeler (Gnomeregan) and Strike of the Hydra (Blackfathom Deeps). Wowhead says Seal of Command suits weapons of about 3.0 speed or slower, and Seal of Righteousness everything else. Icy Veins puts Seal of Righteousness at 22% of spell power per hit with a two-hander, against 20.3% on Seal of Command's procs. ForeverDB's sim ranks Bear Brisket (+1.7%) and Scroll of Strength II (+1.5%) as the best level 30 consumables; Icy Veins adds Lesser Arcane Elixir and Lesser Wizard Oil.

Where guides disagree

• Seal of Command at 20: ForeverDB makes it your main Seal. Wowhead said at 20 it wasn't clearly better than a spell-power-boosted Seal of Righteousness. Icy Veins says it depends on weapon speed and spell power.
• Row 5 at 30: Wowhead and ForeverDB take Vengeance; Icy Veins takes Repentance for crowd control.
• Shockadin: Wowhead skips it at 30 because of Mana. Icy Veins offers an all-Holy alternative, and WoWSims has a level 60 Holy Shock preset.
• Spell power or melee gear: Wowhead calls the shift to spell power divisive, and says some seal-twisters find Twist of Light a let-down.
• Champion of the Light — resolved: 16 October official notes specify 10/20/30% of Intellect as spell damage. Older 20/40/60% client or guide values are superseded.