PvE Retribution Paladin Rotations & Cooldowns – WoW Classic

Two possible rotations for Retribution Paladins in Single-Target environments, alongside an AoE rotation and an in-depth explanation of their cooldowns and utility spells. One of the rotations is extremely simple and often underwhelming while the other one poses a decent Damage Output but involves a complicated mechanic that requires addons to be pulled off.

PvE Holy Paladin

Stat Priority

Best Professions

Talents & Builds

Rotation & Cooldowns

Pre-Raid & Best in Slot (BiS)

Enchants & Consumables

Single-Target Rotation

Normal Rotation

1. Cast Seal of the Crusader (Pre-Fight)
2. Cast Judgement with Seal of the Crusader
   • Judgement of the Crusader (Automatically Maintained)
3. Cast Seal of Command (Maintain it)
   • Use it with a Strong & Slow Weapon
4. Cast Seal of Righteousness (Use it with Fast Weapon)
5. Cast Judgement with Seal of Command
6. Cast Judgement with Seal of Righteousness
7. Cast Consecration on Vengeance procs
8. Cast Hammer of Wrath (Execute Phase)
9. Cast Exorcism (If Undead/Demons)

The normal rotation for Retribution Paladins can feel very lackluster when compared to the engaging rotation of other classes since most of their abilities are based on Auto-Attacks or specific targets. Their rotation consists of initially applying the Judgement of the Crusader debuff on the target with Judgement by using the Seal of the Crusader, followed up by consistently upkeeping the Seal of Command and hoping for procs. Since the Judgement of the Crusader is automatically maintained when you Auto-Attack a target, you will only need to apply it once.

Seal of Command deals damage based on your weapon, meaning that it is stronger if you have a powerful weapon. It is also better with slow weapons. If you don’t have a slow or strong weapon, you should replace it with the Seal of Righteousness until you acquire one.

You will mainly want to use Judgement with the Seal of Command if you acquire a proper weapon but you will instead use it with the Seal of Righteousness if you are stuck with a fast/weaker one.

Since Vengeance boosts all Holy Damage, you will only want to use Consecration when it procs, especially considering its very high mana cost. Once you reach the execute phase, you will spam Hammer of Wrath whenever it’s available, meaning that you should optimize your Mana to allow a few casts at the end of the fight.

Lastly, against Undead and Demons, you will also want to incorporate Exorcism on cooldown! This will be rarely used since there are only a few areas where you can actually incorporate the ability in the latter parts of the game. While leveling, you will find many occasions to use Exorcism!

Seal Twisting Rotation

1. Cast Seal of the Crusader (Pre-Fight)
2. Cast Judgement with Seal of the Crusader (Huge Mana Pool Variant)
   • Judgement of the Crusader (Automatically Maintained)
3. Cast Seal of Wisdom (Small Mana Pool Variant)
4. Cast Judgement with Seal of Wisdom
   • Reapply Judgement of Wisdom when it expires
5. Cast Seal of Command (Main Seal to Twist)
6. Cast Seal of Righteousness (0.4 Seconds Before Auto-Attack)
7. Cast Judgement either with Seal of Righteousness after twisting or with Seal of Command before whenever Judgement is available
8. Recast Seal of Command and repeat the sequence
9. Cast Consecration on Vengeance procs (If not OoM)
10. Cast Hammer of Wrath (Execute Phase)
11. Cast Exorcism (If Undead/Demons)

The second rotation, dubbed by the community as “Seal Twisting” is a much more complicated version of the standard rotation that involves activating two Seal effects in one Melee Swing. This can be realized by acquiring a Melee Weapon Swing Timer addon or Weakaura and swapping seals exactly 0.4 seconds before an Auto-Attack. This mechanic works because the Seal of Command has a buffer timer of 0.4 seconds in which its effect sticks even if you change to a different Seal such as the Seal of Righteousness. The result of a correct Seal Twist is both the Seal of Command and the Seal of Righteousness are applied to the target. This, however, is extremely mana intensive, and can usually lead to losing DPS if not done properly.

If you have a huge mana pool and use consumables to extend it further, you won’t have to worry too much about it. You can also downrank Seal of Command since it’s based on Weapon Damage, not specific Holy Damage, to further conserve mana.

You will want Judgement of the Crusader to maximize your Damage Output but you will use Judgement of Wisdom instead if you’re working with a low Mana Pool.

The rest of the rotation stays the same as the standard rotation, with the only main difference being that you will use Judgement with both Seal of Command and the Seal of Righteousness depending on when its cooldown becomes available, with some cases resulting in a cast before the twist and other resulting in casts after the twist.

AoE Rotation

1. Cast Consecration on cooldown
2. Cast Holy Wrath (If Undead & Demons)

Retribution Paladins don’t actually have an AoE Rotation, when compared to other classes, having only two viable abilities for AoE scenarios, one of which is specifically usable only against Undead and Demons. You will want to use Consecration on cooldown for AoE, attempting to time it with Vengeance whenever possible.

Utility & Cooldowns

• Lay on Hands
• Cleanse
• Blessing of Light
• Blessing of Kings
• Blessing of Might
• Blessing of Wisdom
• Blessing of Freedom
• Blessing of Protection
• Blessing of Sacrifice
• Seal of Wisdom
• Seal of Light
• Divine Shield
• Divine Protection
• Auras

Much like their fellow brethren, Retribution Paladins are utility powerhouses that bring many effects to their allies. The majority of their effects are split in between two main categories: Auras and Blessings. Those effects are mainly used before the encounter itself, resulting in huge stat buffs, with only a few cases such as Blessing of Protection or Blessing of Freedom being used in combat to either shield or remove Movement Impairing effects from their allies.

While their damage may be underwhelming, they will be required to use certain Utility/Crowd Control abilities during fights such as Cleanse, Hammer of Justice, or Turn Undead to aid their allies.

Retribution Paladins also have access to very powerful defensive cooldowns such as Divine Shield and Divine Protection to evade many dangerous raid mechanics, although at the cost of either making them incapable of attacking or considerably reducing their overall damage and attack speed.