Overview
Your damage is bursty and cooldown-gated rather than sustained, so you play for the kill window: land the stun, blow cooldowns and trinkets, and try to global a target before their healer reacts.
Strengths
- +Big cooldown burst inside a Hammer of Justice stun
- +Plate + bubble + Blessings make it one of the tankiest DPS in arena
- +Repentance, Hammer of Justice and Freedom bring control and anti-kite
Weaknesses
- −Low sustained damage outside of cooldowns
- −Mana-dependent and easy to kite once cooldowns are down
Stat priority & caps (arena)
Stat caps (arena)
| Stat | Cap | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Resilience | 490 rating | No hard cap — ~350 is the 2v2 entry point, 490+ is competitive. Reduces crit chance, crit damage and DoT damage taken. |
| Hit Rating (vs players) | 79 rating | 5% (~79 rating) caps yellow special-attack misses against same-level players. White dual-wield misses stay high but matter less in arena. |
- Resilience: No hard cap — ~350 is the 2v2 entry point, 490+ is competitive. Reduces crit chance, crit damage and DoT damage taken.
- Hit Rating (vs players): 5% (~79 rating) caps yellow special-attack misses against same-level players. White dual-wield misses stay high but matter less in arena.
Full gear with usage %, gems and enchants is on the Retribution Paladin PvP BiS list.
Recommended talent build
5/11/45 · RaidThe seal-twisting Ret build with Blessing of Kings: Crusader Strike, Fanaticism and two-hand spec at the core, Sanctity Aura improved for the melee group. This is the raid-support variant — the group buffs are half the reason you're invited.
Holy
5Increases your total Strength by 2%.
Increases your total Intellect by 2%.
Gives your Flash of Light and Holy Light spells a 14% chance to not lose casting time when you take damage.
Increases the damage done by your Seal of Righteousness and Judgement of Righteousness by 3%.
Increases the amount healed by your Holy Light and Flash of Light spells by 4%.
Increases the radius of your Auras to 40 yards.
Gives the target of your Lay on Hands spell a 15% bonus to their armor value from items for 2 min. In addition, the cooldown for your Lay on Hands spell is reduced by 10 min.
Increases your chance to resist Fear and Disorient effects by an additional 5%.
After getting a critical effect from your Flash of Light, Holy Light, or Holy Shock heal spell, gives you a 20% chance to gain mana equal to 60% of the base cost of the spell. (Proc chance: 20%)
Increases the effect of your Blessing of Wisdom spell by 10%.
Increases your resistance to Curse and Disease effects by 5%.
When activated, gives your next Flash of Light, Holy Light, or Holy Shock spell a 100% critical effect chance.
Increases the critical effect chance of your Holy Light spell by 2%.
Reduces the mana cost of your Cleanse, Purify and Consecration spells by 5% and increases the critical strike chance of your Exorcism and Holy Wrath spells by 10%.
Increases the critical effect chance of your Holy spells by 1%.
Gives your Holy Light spell a 33% chance to reduce the cast time of your next Holy Light spell by 0.5 sec. This effect lasts 15 sec. (Proc chance: 33%)
Blasts the target with Holy energy, causing 277 to 299 Holy damage to an enemy, or 351 to 379 healing to an ally.
All attacks against you have a 4% chance to cause half damage. (Proc chance: 4%)
Increases your spell damage and healing by 7% of your total Intellect.
Reduces the mana cost of all spells by 50% for 15 sec.
Protection
11Increases the armor bonus of your Devotion Aura by 8%.
Damaging melee and ranged attacks against you have a 10% chance to increase your chance to block by 6%. Lasts 10 sec or 5 blocks. (Proc chance: 10%)
Increases your chance to hit with melee weapons and spells by 1%.
Reduces the cooldown of your Blessing of Protection by 60 sec and increases the duration of your Blessing of Freedom by 2 sec.
Increases your armor value from items by 2%.
Places a Blessing on the friendly target, increasing total stats by 10% for 10 min. Players may only have one Blessing on them per Paladin at any one time.
While Righteous Fury is active, all damage taken is reduced by 2% and increases the amount of threat generated by your Righteous Fury spell by 16%.
Increases the amount of damage absorbed by your shield by 10%.
Increases your Defense skill by 4.
Increases your resistance to Stun effects by an additional 5% and reduces the chance your spells will be dispelled by an additional 15%.
Decreases the cooldown of your Hammer of Justice spell by 5 sec.
Increases the effect of your Concentration Aura by an additional 5% and reduces the duration of any Silence or Interrupt effect used against an affected group member by 10%. The duration reduction does not stack with any other effects.
All spell damage taken is reduced by 2%.
Places a Blessing on the friendly target, reducing damage dealt from all sources by up to 10 for 10 min. In addition, when the target blocks a melee attack the attacker will take 14 Holy damage. Players may only have one Blessing on them per Paladin at any one time.
Gives you a 2% chance after being hit by any damaging attack that the next 4 weapon swings within 8 sec will generate an additional attack. (Proc chance: 2%)
Increases your total Stamina by 3%, reduces the cooldown of your Divine Shield spell by 30 sec and reduces the attack speed penalty by 50%.
Increases all damage you deal when a one-handed melee weapon is equipped by 1%.
Increases damage caused by your Holy Shield by 10% and increases the number of charges of your Holy Shield by 2.
Increases chance to block by 30% for 10 sec and deals 59 Holy damage for each attack blocked while active. Damage caused by Holy Shield causes 35% additional threat. Each block expends a charge. 4 charges.
When you have less than 35% health, all damage taken is reduced by 6%.
Increases your expertise by 1 and your total Stamina by 2%.
Hurls a holy shield at the enemy, dealing 270 to 330 Holy damage, Dazing them and then jumping to additional nearby enemies. Affects 3 total targets. Lasts 6 sec.
Retribution
45Increases the attack power bonus of your Blessing of Might by 4%.
Reduces the mana cost of your Judgement and Seal spells by 3%.
Decreases the cooldown of your Judgement spell by 1 sec.
In addition to the normal effect, your Judgement of the Crusader spell will also increase the critical strike chance of all attacks made against that target by an additional 1%.
Increases your Parry chance by 1%.
Gives the Paladin's damaging melee attacks a chance to reduce the target's attributes by 5% for 15 sec.
Increases your chance to get a critical strike with melee weapons by 1%.
Gives the Paladin a chance to deal additional Holy damage equal to 70% of normal weapon damage. Only one Seal can be active on the Paladin at any one time. Lasts 30 sec. Unleashing this Seal's energy will judge an enemy, instantly causing 68 to 73 Holy damage, 137 to 146 if the target is stunned or incapacitated. (1s cooldown)
Reduces the chance you'll be hit by spells by 1% and increases movement and mounted movement speed by 5%. This does not stack with other movement speed increasing effects.
All spell criticals against you cause 15% of the damage taken to the caster as well. The damage caused by Eye for an Eye will not exceed 50% of the Paladin's total health.
Increases the damage done by your Retribution Aura by 25%.
Increases all damage caused against Humanoids, Demons, Undead and Elementals by 1%.
Increases the damage you deal with two-handed melee weapons by 2%.
Increases Holy damage done by party members within 30 yards by 10%. Players may only have one Aura on them per Paladin at any one time.
The amount of damage caused by targets affected by Sanctity Aura is increased by 1%.
Gives you a 1% bonus to Physical and Holy damage you deal for 30 sec after dealing a critical strike from a weapon swing, spell, or ability. This effect stacks up to 3 times.
Gives your Judgement spell a 33% chance to return 80% of the mana cost of the judged seal.
Increases your chance to critically hit with all spells and melee attacks by 1% and reduces the chance your Seals will be dispelled by 33%.
Puts the enemy target in a state of meditation, incapacitating them for up to 6 sec. Any damage caused will awaken the target. Only works against Humanoids.
Melee and ranged critical strikes against you cause 4% less damage.
Increases the critical strike chance of all Judgements capable of a critical hit by 3% and reduces threat caused by all actions by 6% except when under the effects of Righteous Fury.
An instant strike that causes 110% weapon damage and refreshes all Judgements on the target.
Points are filled on each tree above — hover a talent for its tooltip; highlighted talents are the build's key picks.
Burst setup
- 1Repentance the healer (or off-target) to open the kill window.
- 2Hammer of Justice the kill target, then Crusader Strike + Judgement of the Crusader/Command.
- 3Pop Avenging Wrath + trinket for the burst, with Seal of Command up for the extra hits.
- 4Blessing of Freedom to stay on a kiting target; Cleanse yourself of slows/roots.
- 5Divine Shield to survive a swap, then Hand of Protection your partner or bubble-cancel to keep pressure.
Play around Avenging Wrath and the stun. You are a setup class: CC the healer, stun the kill target, and dump every cooldown into the window. Between bursts, keep Seal/Judgement pressure and Freedom yourself against kiters. Never waste bubble on chip damage — it's your only escape and your best offensive reset.
Paladin macros
Focus macros
Focus Blessing of Freedom
Freedom your focus (your melee partner) to keep them un-kited during a burst window.
#showtooltip Blessing of Freedom /cast [target=focus] Blessing of Freedom
Focus Blessing of Protection
Bubble a focus ally to reset a melee train onto them.
#showtooltip Blessing of Protection /cast [target=focus] Blessing of Protection
Utility
Focus Cleanse
Dispel poison/magic/disease off a focus ally without target-swapping.
#showtooltip Cleanse /cast [target=focus] Cleanse
PvP addons
Full list on the Paladin addons page.
Best race (PvP)
Blood Elf is the only Horde paladin. Arcane Torrent is a free AoE silence — excellent against casters and interrupt setups.
The Human Spirit and Perception plus weapon skill make Human the best Ret/Holy PvP paladin.
More on the best race for Paladin page.
Best professions (PvP)
Common mistakes
- ✕Bursting without a stun or with the healer free to react.
- ✕Blowing Avenging Wrath off cooldown instead of syncing it to a kill attempt.
- ✕Getting kited to death because you forgot to Freedom yourself.
Best arena comps
FAQ
Is Retribution viable in TBC arena?
Yes, in the right comp. Ret/Holy and Ret + melee cleaves are durable and hit hard in a stun; it's less flexible than a Rogue or Warrior but very tanky.
What race is best for Ret PvP?
Blood Elf (Arcane Torrent silence) on Horde and Human (racials + Every Man for Himself-style trinket use of the PvP trinket) on Alliance — see the best-race guide.