PVP Retribution Paladin Guide

PvP Retribution Paladin

Stat Priority

Talents & Builds

Entry-Level & Best In Slot (BiS)

Glyphs, Gems, Enchants, & Consumables

Rotation, Cooldowns, & Abilities

Welcome to the Retribution Paladin PvP guide for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.

In this guide you will learn how to properly play a Retribution Paladin in a PvP scenario, whether it might be a duel, a battleground or the arenas. The Retribution Paladin is one of the most versatile classes for Player-versus-Player content, benefiting from a variety of utility spells and a high burst capability, making it a hybrid class.

This guide overviews the Retribution Paladin regarding the latest patch 3.3.5 which includes:

BIS gear, gems, enchantments, gameplay and spell rotation tips.

Best Races

Considering the expansion we are reviewing is Wrath of the Lich King, the Paladin class has somewhat of a one-sided availability when it comes to races that are able to select this class with Horde having just the Blood Elves and the Alliance having several choices which are Human, Dwarf and Draenei.

Horde

• Blood Elf: The Blood Elves offer three distinct racials abilities: Arcane Torrent, Arcane Affinity, Magic Resistance. In PvP, any form of crowd control gives you an advantage. The Arcane Torrent ability will help you control a target for setting up a kill.

Alliance

• Human: One of the three available races for the Paladin class in Alliance, Humans have the strongest potential when it comes to PvP due to their powerful racial, Every Man for Himself. This racial removes the need to buy a PvP trinket and acts as its own trinket being available since the character’s creation. This allows you to utilize double DPS trinkets which offer far stronger burst capabilities than the other races. Humans also have several other racials which benefit the player greatly but they do shine more in PvE content. Some of these racials being Diplomacy, Sword Specialization, and Mace Specialization.
• Dwarf: The Dwarves benefit from Frost Resistance, which helps you negate some of the damage you will face. Dwarves have one more interesting defensive racial, Stoneform, which can have applicability to PvP content. You can combine Stoneform with your Divine Protection in order to survive a clutch situation or just heal yourself without worrying about being burst down
• Draenei: Another suitable choice for the Paladin class, the Draenei race has one major racial which is able to buff up the entire party, Heroic Presence, which is a highly sought after buff which increases the entire party’s hit rating by 1%. This buff can help you min-max your stats better in PvP while also helping your party achieve the same effect. Other than this, Draenei benefits from Gift of the Naaru which is similar to a bandage effect, offering a heal over time that can help you survive burst classes, and Shadow Resistance which helps you mitigate shadow damage from casters.

Best Professions

When it comes to professions it really depends on what you are aiming for: gold farming, game play improvements, or overall min-maxing.

• Mining will generate you a good source of income while also generating enough raw materials to level up professions such as Engineering or Jewelcrafting. Most people underestimate the profitability of mining but rest assured that it will make you go a long way. Not only it will provide you with a sustainable source of gold but it will also provide you with a special passive that will enhance your PvP potency, Toughness which will increase your stamina by 60 at max rank. 
• Jewelcrafting is one of the professions which can lend you plenty of gold while also contributing to the min-maxing aspect of the game. A Jewelcrafter can create special gems like the Mystic Dragon’s Eye which boosts your resilience by a considerable amount.
• Engineering has always been the number one profession when it comes to player-versus-player content since the beginning of WoW. It provides players with several gadgets that can give them an edge over their opponents, some of those being Nitro Boots, Saronite Bomb, Mind Amplification Dish,  Hand-Mounted Pyro Rocket, Frag Belt.
• Skinning is mainly used as a gatherer profession, but it also offers you a nice boost to your critical strike rating in the form of Master of Anatomy
• Alchemy offers a variety of useful potions and flasks. Although you are not able to use potions in arenas, you can still use one specific flask dedicated to alchemists,  Flask of the North, which offers either spell power, attack power or raw strength and is the only usable flask in an arena. Alchemy offers potions like Free Action Potion which can be used as an improvised trinket in dire situations.