Retribution Paladins are one of the most powerful Damage Dealer specializations in Cataclysm, providing both consistent damage and a powerful burst phase. In this section of the guide, we will present both a simplified version of our rotations and an in-depth version, going over all of our abilities, synergies, and core gameplay mechanics.
Rotation Summary
Single Target Rotation (TLDR)
Under 3 Holy Power
- Activate Seal of Truth before the fight starts.
- Use Judgement before reaching your target.
- Use Crusader Strike on cooldown as your main tool to generate Holy Power.
- Use Judgement on cooldown after reaching your target.
- Use Exorcism when The Art of War procs.
- Use Hammer of Wrath on cooldown when your target is under 20% HP.
- Use Hammer of Wrath while Avenging Wrath is active.
- Use Consecration when you have more than half of your Mana bar.
- Use Holy Wrath whenever it’s off cooldown.
3 Holy Power/Divine Purpose Proc
- Use Inquisition once you reach 3 Holy Power or trigger the Divine Purpose proc and upkeep it after the first cast.
- Use Templar’s Verdict only when you have 3 Holy Power.
- Use Templar’s Verdict when you trigger Divine Purpose while Inquisition is active.
- Use Templar’s Verdict whenever you reach 3 Holy Power while Inquisition is active.
- Use Hammer of Wrath on cooldown when your target is under 20% HP.
- Use Hammer of Wrath while Avenging Wrath is active.
- Use Exorcism when The Art of War procs.
- Use Judgement in between whenever its cooldown is available and Hammer of Wrath is on cooldown.
- Use Judgement before Exorcism if the The Art of War proc didn’t trigger and Judgement‘s cooldown is available.
AoE Rotation (TLDR)
- Activate Seal of Righteousness before the fight starts.
- Use Judgement before reaching your target and on cooldown during the fight.
- Use Consecration at the beginning of the fight if you have more than half of your Mana.
- Use Divine Storm to generate Holy Power when there are 4 or more targets.
- Use Inquisition when you have 3 Holy Power and upkeep it after the first cast.
- Use Holy Wrath on cooldown.
- Use Templar’s Verdict after casting Inquisition.
- Use Templar’s Verdict whenever you have 3 Holy Power while Inquisition is active.
- Use Exorcism when The Art of War procs.
- Use Avenging Wrath for extended fights.
Abilities Overview
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Single Target Rotation (In-depth Explanation)
Now that we have gone over the overview of the abilities, we will explain the Single-Target Rotation in-depth and how it’s split into two different variations. Thanks to the new Holy Power resource system, Retribution Paladins have a much more dynamic gameplay with little to no downtime when it comes to pushing buttons. While this is genuinely a good thing for the specialization, it can also cause a player to get lost in the buttons and underperform. The main component of a Retribution Paladin’s gameplay is now focused around properly managing Holy Power stacks and carefully using proc effects such as the Divine Purpose proc.
There is a single standard rotation and two main variants of your burst phase for Retribution Paladin!
Burst Variations
The two burst variations are fairly similar yet one of them includes a heavy amount of RNG to be functional. The first variant incorporates Avenging Wrath during Zealotry while the second variant uses Avenging Wrath as a standalone buff for more chances of proccing Divine Purpose by casting Hammer of Wrath on cooldown while Avenging Wrath is active. The first variant is considered the standard option, however, it has one possible flaw. It’s a very APM-heavy rotation that might lead to you losing precious Hammer of Wrath casts in between Judgement/Exorcism/Crusader Strike/Templar’s Verdict casts. Since the burst part of the rotation is very spammy, it can be quite hard to weave in abilities correctly.
The second variant is considered to heavily rely on RNG and thus more unconventional. The perk of the second variant is that it can fully make use of Hammer of Wrath as you will have more downtime between each of your abilities. The downside of this variant is that you will lose the 20% damage buff during Zealotry, which will heavily impact your DPS since we will easily spam Templar’s Verdict while Zealotry is active.
Opener
The opener always depends on the encounter itself! Depending on the duration of the encounter and the mechanics involved, you will either want to directly enter your Burst Phase and blast all of your cooldowns at the start or reserve them for a more opportune moment. In specific scenarios, some of your most powerful abilities such as Zealotry and Guardian of Ancient Kings can be used right at the beginning while in others you will want to synch your abilities with your Trinkets and Heroism/Bloodlust/Time Warp.
First of all, your main seal for any Single-Target encounter will always be the Seal of Truth. The best part of the new Censure DoT unlike its WotLK counterpart is that it can be procced by almost every ability in your kit, with the only exceptions being Guardian of Ancient Kings, Consecration, and Divine Storm. This means that even in raid encounters that require a large amount of movement, you can upkeep the DoT with abilities such as Judgement or Hammer of Wrath even while on the move.
In every specific scenario, you will want to start with Judgement before reaching your target. This will trigger both the Judgements of the Bold passive effect and Replenishment through the Communion talent. Since we are a spam-heavy specialization with abilities that have a high mana cost, upkeeping both effects will be vital for avoiding a quick OoM situation. Additionally, thanks to the Long Arm of the Law talent, Judgement also acts as a gap closer.
Another extremely important aspect to take into consideration is the Divine Purpose talent. Depending on whether or not you have the RNG gods on your side, you may be able to trigger it in the very first moments of the encounter. If this happens, you should use Inquisition as fast as possible!
Standard Rotation
The standard rotation revolves around activating Inquisition as soon as possible and upkeeping it while using any spare Holy Power on Templar’s Verdict as long as Inquisition is active. Inquisition is a very important spell that should be maintained at all times since it empowers all of your Holy Damage by up to 30%. Since our kit is filled with Holy Damage, especially from the Mastery: Hand of Light effect, you will always prioritize activating Inquisition over any other effect. The only situation in which you won’t prioritize Inquisition is our burst phase, in which Inqusition becomes a second priority directly after casting Zealotry.
The standard rotation utilizes a priority list for the spells, with Crusader Strike being at the top of the priority order whenever you are below 3 Holy Power. Judgement acts as your second priority spell whenever is off cooldown to maintain Judgements of the Bold and Replenishment. However, there are three specific cases in which you won’t prioritize it.
- You won’t cast Judgement when The Art of War procs at the same time as Judgement comes off cooldown, prioritizing Exorcism instead.
- You won’t cast Judgement if Hammer of Wrath is off cooldown and your mana pool is above 25%.
- You won’t cast Judgement if you have 3 Holy Power for Inquisition or Templar’s Verdict.
Once Inquisition is active, Templar’s Verdict becomes the number one priority spell whenever Divine Purpose triggers or whenever you reach 3 Holy Power, surpassing all other spells in the rotation in terms of importance. There are two situations in which this rule doesn’t apply:
- The first rule is when the Inquisition buff is about to expire or has not been activated yet.
- The second rule involves Exorcism and Hammer of Wrath.
- Since Exorcism and Hammer of Wrath can potentially trigger Divine Purpose while also having a high damage output, you will want to prioritize them over Templar’s Verdict in hopes of triggering Divine Purpose even while at 3 Holy Power.
While Judgement can also trigger Divine Purpose its priority falls behind Exorcism and Hammer of Wrath as long as you have enough mana!
For the standard rotation, Hammer of Wrath will only be added to the mix once the target reaches 20% HP, as we will not count the threshold removal effect of the Avenging Wrath spell to this variation. Lastly, Holy Wrath is added to the mix as the last priority on the list. The main reason for this is that its damage output is lower than the rest of the abilities, while its stun effect won’t work on raid bosses, even if they fit in the (Undead/Demon/Elemental/Dragonkin) categories.
Standard Rotation Example:
- Judgement -> Crusader Strike -> Inquisition (3 Holy Power stacks or cast if Divine Purpose procs) -> Consecration ->Judgement (Cast on cooldown) -> Hammer of Wrath (High Priority once the Target at 20% HP or less) -> Exorcism (Only if The Art of War procs) ->Crusader Strike (Cast until you reach 3 stacks of Holy Power)-> Templar’s Verdict (Highest Priority after Inquisition once you reach 3 stacks of Holy Power or on Divine Purpose proc) -> Holy Wrath.
Burst Phase ~ Rotation After Opener
Your burst phase begins once Zealotry, Avenging Wrath, and Guardian of Ancient Kings are active! It is up to you whether or not you wish to include Avenging Wrath in the mix. However, we will offer you two examples of what the Burst Phase Rotation looks like, both with and without Avenging Wrath present.
The standard burst phase is defined by Zealotry, Avenging Wrath, and Guardian of Ancient Kings! Zealotry is the main component as it allows you to directly empower every single Crusader Strike cast, allowing you to generate 3 Holy Power per cast. Furthermore, Zealotry is also used as either an activator or a refresher effect for Inquisition, as it requires 3 Holy Power to activate but it doesn’t consume the Holy Power itself once its effect begins.
Guardian of Ancient Kings is one of your longest cooldowns and should only be utilized once Heroism/Bloodlust/Time Warp is active, as you will directly benefit more from its Strength-increasing effect while your Haste is also enhanced. On top of it, the standard burst phase aims to enhance all of those effects even further by adding Avenging Wrath in the mix for an extra 20% damage on top of the Strength gained from Guardian of Ancient Kings.
First Variation (Avenging Wrath Included)
- Zealotry -> Inquisition -> Guardian of Ancient Kings -> Crusader Strike (On Cooldown while Zealotry is active) -> Templar’s Verdict (Weaved in after each Crusader Strike/Used after each Divine Purpose proc) -> Hammer of Wrath (On Cooldown ~Highest Priority after Templar’s Verdict) -> Exorcism (Only if The Art of War procs) -> Judgement (When running low on mana/Whenever Crusader Strike/Hammer of Wrath is on cooldown)
Second Variation (Avenging Wrath Not Included)
- Zealotry -> Inquisition -> Guardian of Ancient Kings -> Crusader Strike (On Cooldown while Zealotry is active) -> Templar’s Verdict (Weaved in after each Crusader Strike/Used after each Divine Purpose proc) -> Exorcism (Only if The Art of War procs) -> Judgement (On Cooldown)
After the Burst Phase ~ Waiting on Cooldowns
After your Burst Phase ends, you will have to upkeep Inquisition and manage your mana to prepare for your next Burst Phase. As we previously mentioned, our main abilities are only 2-minute long cooldowns, meaning that we won’t have much downtime between each Burst Phase. Of course, the encounter’s duration plays a big role in regards to the amount of times we can activate our Burst Phase.
You will return to your standard rotation, following the same priority order. As we previously mentioned, this part of the rotation is heavily reliant on RNG, it can directly make or break your damage output outside your Burst Phase.
AoE Rotation (In-depth)
Unlike our Single-Target Rotation, the AoE rotation has been completely reworked as opposed to the WotLK Classic version. While some of our spells received significant buffs, other new effects are firmly restricted when it comes to Cleave/AoE encounters.
Sadly, Zealotry only works on Crusader Strike, meaning that any Cleave or AoE encounter can’t effectively make use of it to damage all of the targets. Furthermore, since Crusader Strike shares the same cooldown as Divine Storm, you can’t weave in Crusader Strikes in between Divine Storm casts.
Additionally, there is one more issue with Divine Storm, the fact that it doesn’t generate any Holy Power unless it hits at least 4 targets. This instantly creates an issue for any Cleave situations where there are 3 or 2 targets, as you can’t fuel your Holy Power at all. Compared to the old Divine Storm from WotLK Classic, this change drastically reduces a Retribution Paladin’s effectiveness in any Cleave raid encounter that only features 2 nearby targets beside the main target, turning Retribution Paladin into a much-more Single-Target-oriented specialization.
Nevertheless, besides the Cleave scenarios, Retribution Paladin has a great amount of damage in AoE encounters. While Divine Storm has been nerfed in Cleave scenarios, it has greatly been improved in AoE scenarios, with the 4-target limit from WotLK Classic being completely removed. With Divine Storm now hitting an endless number of enemies in an 8-yard radius, Retribution Paladins are now capable of dealing extreme amounts of AoE damage, especially since Divine Storm‘s cooldown can be decreased by Haste effects.
Besides Divine Storm being reworked, Seal of Righteousness also received a revamp through the Seals of Command talent, now becoming your main seal for any AoE/Cleave encounter. Since the Seal of Righteousness procs off every attack that counts as a direct weapon swing, spells such as Judgement, Templar’s Verdict, Crusader Strike, and Divine Storm also trigger the effect on targets that are within 3-8 yards.
Besides Divine Storm and Seal of Righteousness, Consecration and Holy Wrath are your two other main AoE abilities. Both abilities have also been reworked, with Consecration receiving a massive cooldown and mana cost increase while Holy Wrath was also reworked, causing it to damage every enemy archetype.
Rotation Example
- Seal of Righteousness -> Judgement (On cooldown) -> Divine Storm (On cooldown)-> Inquisition (1 Holy Power/Divine Purpose proc) -> Consecration (Refresh on cooldown) -> Holy Wrath -> Exorcism (On The Art of War proc) -> Inquisition (Refresh 2 or 3 Holy Power/Divine Purpose proc) -> Templar’s Verdict (On 3 Holy Power/Divine Purpose proc when Inquisition is active)
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