Retribution Paladin

Holy Power Generation

Hammer of Wrath
A 30yd range heavy hitting ability that causes 240% of spellpower to the target enemy. Only usable during Avenging Wrath, Execute range (<35% HP) or when Crusader’s Fury is active; our Item – Paladin T17 Retribution 2P Bonus. HoW is the #1 priority Holy Power generator and hardest hitting rotation ability. Due to this we want to adjust our finishers and generator priority to avoid HoW’s CD from clipping. 6 second base CD. Procs Mastery: Hand of Light and all Seals.

Crusader Strike
A melee range attack that deals 120% weapon damage to the target as physical. 4.5 second base CD. Procs Mastery: Hand of Light and all Seals. Generates one Holy Power.

Judgment
A 30yd range moderate damage holy attack that generates one Holy Power. 6 second base CD. Procs Seal of Truth and Seal of Righteousness.

Exorcism
A 30yd range moderate damage holy attack. It’s unique from the other generators because it has the ability to have it’s 15 second CD reset by melee swings at a 20% chance per attack. Generates one Holy power. Additionally, once the Item – Paladin T17 Retribution 4P Bonus is acquired Hammer of Wrath will grant your next Exorcism three Holy Power instead of one.

Hammer of the Righteous
A melee range attack that deals 42% weapon damage to the target as physical, and 24% holy damage to all targets within 8yds. 4.5 second base CD. Procs Mastery: Hand of Light and all Seals. Generates one Holy Power. HotR is used in place of CS when four or more enemy targets can be hit.

When Empty Drinking Horn is equipped HotR is used at three targets instead of four.

Holy Power Expenditure

Templar’s Verdict
Our single target finisher, deals 240% weapon damage as physical. Consumes three holy power, procs Mastery: Hand of Light, all seals; and provides a chance to proc Divine Crusader, or Divine Purpose when specialized for it.

Final Verdict
Talented single target finisher, deals 240% weapon damage as holy. Consumes three holy power, procs Mastery: Hand of Light, all seals; and provides a chance to proc Divine Crusader, or Divine Purpose when specialized for it. Also increases the damage of your next Divine Storm by 100%, and increases it’s radius by 50% (8yds to 12yds).

Divine Storm
Templar’s Verdict AoE counterpart, in the absence of Divine Crusader or Final Verdict’s DS multiplier buff, Divine Storm will be cast when three or more targets are present. 80% weapon damage to all targets within 8yds. Procs Mastery: Hand of Light, Seal of Righteousness, Divine Crusader and when specialized, Divine Purpose.

Divine Storm will replace Templar’s Verdict in the priority once three or more targets are present.

Seraphim
Consumes five Holy Power to amplify all stats by 1000 for 15 seconds, 30 second CD. Procs Divine Crusader.

Cooldowns

Avenging Wrath
AW provides a pretty basic 20% increase to damage for 20 seconds. Additionally, Hammer of Wrath becomes available during this period, which in turn opens up the ‘Execute rotation’ for the duration. This means Holy Power consumers will be prioritized much higher and utilized the moment the appropriate level of HP has been reached, ignoring all generator clash fail safe logic that is outlined in the ‘rotation’ section. When Tier 18 bonuses are acquired Retribution gameplay will focus heavily around Avenging Wrath usage. When these bonuses are obtained, our 2pc bonus provides AW with three charges and the 4pc provides a stacking buff that increases all damage dealt by 5% every second for 10 seconds upon activating Avenging Wrath.

Holy Avenger
HA is a talented CD located on the level 75 tier. HA usage will always be synchronized with AW.  When HA is used it will activate an 18 second buff that increases all HP generator damage by 30%, In addition to that, said generators will provide three holy power instead of one. Due to this, we will want to use a ‘generator > finisher > repeat’ rotation for its duration. I’ll include an image to illustrate how that would look (with seraphim, as well).

Procs

Divine Purpose
DP procs are generated at a 25% chance when TV or DS is cast. When active, DP will allow the use of an additional TV or DS; free of cost. Due to this, a more dynamic priority system is introduced that attempts to juggle greatly increased free HP sources.

Exorcism
Auto attacks have a 20% chance to reset the cooldown of exorcism.

Divine Crusader
DC procs are generated at a 25% chance when TV or DS is cast. When active DC will allow the use of a DS that deals 50% more damage; free of cost.

When cleaving, due to the increased damage Divine Storm deals with this proc, executing a priority identical to Final Verdict (even if your not specialized for it) will become optimal.

Seals

Seal of Truth
SoT is utilized when engaged in single target combat, or when two targets are present for a duration longer than Censure. This means maintaining two copies of this debuff simultaneously on two targets. Judgment is able to proc Censure application, so you do not need to be in melee range of the second target to maintain it! Deals 12% weapon damage, procs from various sources, notably single target attacks.

Seal of Righteousness
SoR is used when three or more targets are present (i.e. AoE seal). Like truth, SoR deals 12% weapon damage, but can proc from additional sources, such as Divine Storm and Hammer of the Righteous.

When Empty Drinking Horn is equipped, Seal of righteousness is the superior option when only two targets are present.

Hands

Hands are the utility kit that paladins have, all of them are niche in application and have very limited use in a general sense, but are quite potent where applicable, circumventing mechanics, snare removal, DoT negation, etc.

Hand of Protection
HoP (colloquially referred to as ‘BOP’) is an external immunity shield that can either be applied to yourself or a raid member. HoP/BOP provides a 10 second shield to the target that prevent all physical damage from occurring.

Hand of Sacrifice
HoS is an external damage reduction cooldown that can only be applied to other targets. Reduces all incoming damage on that target by 30% for 12 seconds, transferring that damage to the Paladin for the duration.

Hand of Freedom
HoF is a short CD snare removal spell that can be either applied to oneself or another target, very niche in use.

Hand of Purity
HoP is an additional hand spell on the level 60 talent tier on a short 30 second cooldown. This allows the paladin to reduce all incoming damage on the target slightly (15%) and all damage over time effects massively (80%) for six seconds. Niche in application, so it only has uses on a few fights. Where it is usable however, it can be a game changer.

Lay on Hands
LoH is a instant cast off the GCD spell that heals you, or your target for an amount equivalent to 100% of your total HP. Very useful, especially for those attentive players when pulling someone back from the brink.

Openers

Sanctified Wrath + Seraphim

If you have on use trinkets that have buffs that are equal to or less than the duration of Seraphim, activate it with Seraphim instead of Avenging Wrath.

1.  Execution Sentence
2. Avenging Wrath / Hammer of Wrath
3. Crusader Strike
4. Hammer of Wrath
5. Judgment
6. Hammer of Wrath
7. Seraphim / Crusader Strike
8. Follow priority

Holy Avenger + Seraphim

1. Execution Sentence
2. Crusader Strike
3. Judgment
4. Holy Avenger / Avenging Wrath / Hammer of Wrath / Trinkets
5. Seraphim / Crusader Strike
6. Follow priority

Sanctified Wrath + Empowered Seals

While using Empowered Seals, stay in righteousness for the pull to apply the haste buff before activating cooldowns. If bloodlust is used on the pull, use Seal of Truth and stay in it until bloodlust expires, in which case your opener will simply be (or when using Divine Purpose): Prepot > Execution Sentence > Judgment > Cooldowns > follow priority

1. Seal of Righteousness / prepot
2. Execution Sentence
3. Judgment
4. Seal of Truth
5. Crusader Strike
6. Avenging Wrath / Hammer of Wrath / Trinkets
7. Judgment
8. Follow priority

Holy Avenger + Empowered Seals

1. Seal of Righteousness / prepot
2. Execution Sentence
3. Judgment
4. Seal of Truth
5. Crusader Strike
6. Exorcism
7. Judgment
8. Templar’s Verdict 4
9. Holy Avenger / Avenging Wrath / Hammer of Wrath
10. Follow Priority

Seraphim & Tier18 bonuses

If you have tier 18 bonuses present cooldown usage will be delayed until seraphim is ready to be used, instead of using cooldowns then building up to seraphim’s activation. We will also use the same sequence starting at line 6 for cooldown usage mid-fight. This ensures Execution Sentence‘s final tick lines up with the 9th stack of our 4pc buff and Seraphim stat amplifiers.

1.  Crusader Strike
2. Judgment
3. Exorcism
4. Crusader Strike
5. Judgment
6. Execution Sentence
7. Seraphim / Avenging Wrath / Hammer of Wrath
8. Follow priority

General Priority

 

This is the base priority for Retribution Paladins. This priority is used for both Seraphim and Empowered Seals talents, as well as all three level 75 talents.

1) Execution Sentence -or- Light’s Hammer: Our highest DPE ability, this should be prioritized ahead of all other abilities.

2) Divine Purpose (<3 seconds): Cast when either of these two buffs is set to expire. 3) Templar’s Verdict 5: Cast when at five Holy Power.

4) Hammer of Wrath: Cast when available.

5) Exorcism/Blazing Contempt: When Blazing Contempt (Tier 17 4pc bonus) is active, with less than three Holy Power, Generates 3 Holy Power.

6) Templar’s Verdict CD/Execute/Clip: Cast when Avenging Wrath is active or when the target is below <35% health, regardless of Holy Power level. Or when attempting to not clip Crusader Strike or Judgment CD’s (in that priority) at four holy power.

7) Crusader Strike: Cast when available.

8) Divine Crusader CD/Exec: Cast when Avenging Wrath is active or when the target is below <35% health. 9) Judgment: Cast when available below four holy power, however, NOT when Crusader Strike‘s CD will be available within two GCD’s above 35% target health at four Holy Power.

10) Divine Purpose: Cast when available. Only available with Divine Purpose talented.

11) Divine Crusader: Cast when Available.

12) Templar’s Verdict 4: Cast at four holy power,

13) Exorcism: Cast when available below four holy power, however, NOT when Crusader Strike or Judgment‘s CD will be available within two GCD’s above 35% target health at four Holy Power.

14) Templar’s Verdict 3: Cast when Available.

Final Verdict Priority

Final Verdict’s priority remains fairly similar to the general priority listed above. However, a few things do change, as a result of this talent substantially buffing our holy power expenditure DPE. Notably, Divine Storm’s Divine Crusader proc taking a prominent position within the priority (provided the Final Verdict multiplier is active) instead of a low priority filler.

When utilizing FV during cleave or AoE periods, you will need to alternate finishers between Final Verdict and Divine Storm. With the only exception of, if the mobs time to die exceeds another FV>DS cycle, i.e; just hitting DS or FV.

1) Execution Sentence -or- Light’s Hammer: Our highest DPE ability, this should be prioritized ahead of all other abilities.

2) Divine Crusader (<3 seconds): Cast when buff is set to expire with Final Verdict multiplier active. 3) Divine Purpose (<3 seconds): Cast when buff is set to expire. 4) Divine Crusader 5: Cast when at five Holy Power, with Final Verdict multiplier active.

5) Final Verdict 5: Cast when at five Holy Power.

6) Hammer of Wrath: Cast when available.

7) Exorcism/Blazing Contempt: When Blazing Contempt (Tier 17 4pc bonus) is active, with less than three Holy Power, Generates 3 Holy Power.

8) Divine Crusader CD/Execute/Clip: Cast when Avenging Wrath is active or the target is below <35% health, regardless of Holy Power level with the Final Verdict multiplier active. Or when attempting to not clip the CD’s of Crusader Strike or Judgment (in that priority) at four holy power when the target is above 35% health.

9) Final Verdict CD/Execute/Clip: Cast when Avenging Wrath is active or the target is within execute range, regardless of Holy Power level, or when attempting to not clip the CD’s of Crusader Strike or Judgment (in that priority) at four holy power when the target is above 35% health.

10) Crusader Strike: Cast when available.

11) Judgment: Cast when available below four holy power, however, NOT when Crusader Strike‘s CD will be available within two GCD’s above 35% target HP at four Holy Power.

12) Divine Crusader: Cast when Available, With Final Verdict multiplier active.

13) Divine Purpose: Cast when available. Only available with Divine Purpose talented.

14) Final Verdict 4: Cast at four holy power,

15) Exorcism: Cast when available below four holy power, however, NOT when Crusader Strike or Judgment‘s CD will be available within two GCD’s above 35% target HP at four Holy Power.

16) Final Verdict 3: Cast when Available.

T17 Talents Cheat Sheet

Level 15: Long Arm of the Law

Level 30: Fist of Justice

Level 45: Sacred Shield

Level 60: Unbreakable Spirit

Level 75: Situational choice, read below.

Level 90: Execution Sentence

Level 100: Final Verdict

T18 Talents Cheat Sheet

Level 15: Long Arm of the Law

Level 30: Fist of Justice

Level 45: Sacred Shield

Level 60: Unbreakable Spirit

Level 75: Sanctified Wrath

Level 90: Execution Sentence

Level 100: Seraphim

Advanced Talents

Level 15: Speed of Light, Long Arm of the Law, Pursuit of Justice

Speed of Light
SoL provides a short cooldown sprint. Most useful for fights where infrequent but quick movement is necessary. Requires arguably the most preparation over the course of the fight to use optimally.

Long Arm of the Law
LAotL allows judgment to increase our movement speed moderately, useful for bosses that require frequent or sporadic movement. Great for dodging most dangerous mechanics. Focuses on reactive play.

Pursuit of Justice
PoJ fills the middle ground that the aforementioned two talents lack. PoJ Grants higher base movement speed and the ability to increase speed even further as your Holy Power pool grows. This talent requires the least amount of thought to utilize fully. The effects are entirely passive.

Level 30: Fist of Justice, Repentance, Blinding Light

Fist of Justice
FoJ is a beefed up version of Hammer of Justice, reducing it’s cooldown by 30 seconds. A strong Defensive/Offensive option. This talent has the broadest usage for raiding, and thus considered to be the only real option to take with this talent tier.

Repentance
Repentance is a ranged incapacitate effect that provides an extended crowd control niche. Much to the liking of a Mage’s Polymorph, or a Warlock’s Fear. Repentance doesn’t have very many practical applications in raiding encounters currently present in WoD. However, it does shine with dungeon content.

Blinding Light
BL gives us the ability to incapacitate all enemy targets surrounding the Paladin. With the removal of it’s associated glyph, this talent has become largely useless.

Level 45: Selfless Healer, Eternal Flame, Sacred Shield

Selfless Healer
SH allows our judgments to provide a stacking buff that eventually allows our Flash of Light to be instant cast and heal for 60% more. Complements our single target utility kit well.

Eternal Flame
EF is a beefed up Word of Glory, adding a heal over time component. Useless as a Retribution Paladin.

Sacred Shield
SS is a ‘ticking’ absorb buff that is cast on a friendly target (or the caster). An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, absorbs being king in the healing world gives this talent an inherent leg up. Considered to be the best talent for us in this tier for personal survivability.

Level 60: Hand of Purity, Unbreakable Spirit, Clemency

This talent tier is all about hard choices and sacrifices. Where you gain in one field, be it personal survivability, or additional utility, you’ll lose in another. Choose what best fits the task at hand.

Hand of Purity
HoP is an additional hand spell on a short 30 second cooldown. This allows the paladin to reduce all incoming damage on the target slightly (15%) and all damage over time effects massively (80%) for six seconds. Niche in application, so it only has uses on a few fights. Where it is usable however, it can be a game changer.

Unbreakable Spirit
Reduces all defensive related cooldowns by 50%. A pretty straightforward option; greatly increases our personal survivability at the cost of additional hand spells.

Clemency
Adds a charge mechanic to all hand spells, effectively granting the use of an additional hand over the course of a fight. Great for fights where dangerous targeted mechanics are present, Iron Maidens, Blackhand, etc.

Level 75: Holy Avenger, Sanctified Wrath, Divine Purpose

This is the first talent tier that affects our damage output by complementing our Holy Power generation. Herein we have three options that all provide different niches for the task at hand, be it sustained AoE, short term burst, or sustained single target output.

Holy Avenger
HA fulfills a short duration burst cooldown playstyle. damage wise, this talent provides the middle ground between SW (high single target, lower AoE) and DP (lower single target, higher AoE). Holy Avenger will always be synced with Avenging Wrath, as they share a two minute cooldown. AW’s Hammer of Wrath activation is subject to HA’s 30% generator damage modifier, adding to the already absurd output for that brief 18 second window.

Sanctified Wrath
SW is our generic single target DPS talent. This talent will extend the duration of Avenging Wrath by 50% (from 20 to 30 seconds) and reduces the cooldown of Hammer of Wrath by 50% while active. Effectively tripling our Hammer of Wrath usage during this period.

Divine Purpose
DP greatly increase our AoE and cleave capability at the cost of slightly lower single target output. Divine Purpose procs are generated by using your finishers. When a proc does occur, you will gain the ability to use another finisher within an eight second window, free of cost. Divine Purpose also synergies extremely well with our T17 set bonuses in conjunction with the level 100 talent, Final Verdict; making it the default choice, even for single target output.

Level 90: Holy Prism, Light’s Hammer, Execution Sentence

The second talent tier that affects damage output. These talents also have the added benefit of also being used for healing purposes.
Holy Prism
HP is rarely used as Retribution, thanks to poor tuning. The healing or damage provided, unfortunately, is not worth the opportunity cost (delaying Holy Power generation or expenditure) and thus, has no real practical use.

Light’s Hammer
LH is our AoE damage/healing choice for this talent tier. Light’s Hammer has a 60 second cooldown that allows us to drop a ‘hammer’ that pulses every 2 seconds for 14 seconds dealing damage to all targets or healing 6 targets within 10 yards for its duration. LH’s application will more often than not be relegated to its damage dealing ability rather than its meager healing output.

Execution Sentence
ES is our single target option on this tier. Like Light’s Hammer, it has a 60 second cooldown, however its functionality does differ. When casting ES a 10 second DoT (or HoT) will be applied to the target dealing damage/healing over time, steadily increasing said damage as it reaches its expiration. When this occurs a massive amount of damage is dealt to the target. ES works in reverse when healing a target: a large burst initially that slowly tapers off over the course of its duration.

Level 100: Empowered Seals, Seraphim, Final Verdict

The third damage dealing tier; arguably the most important. This tier heavily influences playstyle and also introduces additional niches that were found in previous talent tiers.

Empowered Seals
EmpS is the buff monitoring talent. What this talent entails as DPS is cycling through Seal of Truth and Seal of Righteousness while interweaving judgment to maintain the associated 15% attack power modifier from truth and the 20% haste modifier from righteousness. The explanation on how to handle this talent in your play can be found in the ‘Rotation’ section.

Additionally, this talent also opens up two other buffs that can be utilized while in Seal of Justice or Seal of Insight, a 20% movement speed increase or a 2% heal per 3 second buff, respectively.

Empowered Seals provides stable high single target output, and performs well in all situations, generic winner for most endurance fights. Without tier bonuses, this talent yields better results than both Final Verdict and Seraphim.

Seraphim
Seraphim, is a burst DPS talent that revolves around the pooling of Holy Power. Like Empowered Seals a detailed description on how to use this talent effectively can be found in the ‘Rotation’ section. Seraphim excels at providing burst, especially with CD’s active.

Final Verdict
FV is the ‘passive’ talent of the three options at level 100. Two things change when specialized into FV: Templar’s Verdict is converted to holy, effectively causing it to deal roughly 30% more damage due to ignoring armor. And increasing the damage of Divine Storm by 100%. Giving Empowered Divine Storm a prominent position within our rotation, instead of a low priority filler. The differences in said rotation can be found, once again, in the ‘Rotation’ section. Final Verdict is also the strongest talent we can take for two target cleave and short term burst AoE.

Seraphim Usage

To use seraphim optimally you will need to pay close attention to both its duration and CD, typically a good point to start planning for usage is 10 seconds before the CD is ready. Optimal Seraphim usage often encourages doing nothing, waiting for generators and Seraphim to become available. The length of the pooling period before Seraphim’s activation/CD reset  should be roughly three seconds (or two GCD’s), to ensure at least two generators are available upon activation. Should you find yourself in a situation where you have stopped your rotation to early in preparation for the activation of Seraphim, e.g.: a wait longer equal to or greater than two GCD’s, you can use Divine Crusader or Exorcism, even if you’re at holy power cap.

We want to cram as many abilities into that brief 15 second window as possible. For this reason, Haste has a higher relative stat weight (up to a point) while utilizing Seraphim. Seraphim Is off of the GCD, so pop it, preferably <200ms before your opening generator. Always align seraphim with your CD’s, i.e. every fourth Seraphim cast. All pooling should be done before Seraphim is off cooldown, as pooling afterwards will cause a hefty DPS loss by pushing back your two minute CD’s (Avenging Wrath & Holy Avenger), as well as potential Seraphim usage loss over the course of a fight. As a general rule, when attempting to factor whether or not to use Templar’s Verdict within the aforementioned 10 second prep window, you should follow this rough outline. While simultaneously assuming average HP generation rate of 1 HP per 2 seconds, 1HP/GCD during execute:

Don’t cast Templar’s Verdict if:

• Holy power= 5 & cooldown remains less than 4 GCD’s (6 seconds with zero haste)
• Holy power= 4 & cooldown remains less than 5 GCD’s (7.5 seconds with zero haste)
• Holy power= 3 & cooldown remains less than 6 GCD’s. (9 seconds with zero haste)

A linear increase in pool time proportional to the decreasing level of current holy power, pretty straight forward. If the mob in question is sub 35% HP minus one GCD from that pool time as execute HP generation increases.

Empowered Seals Usage

Like Seraphim, Empowered Seals is going to require greatly increased attention. What this talent entails is cycling through Seal of Truth/Seal of Righteousness to maintain the attack power multiplier and haste multiplier.  If you are using bloodlust on the pull, stay in truth until BL expires.

Here is a rough outline with handling the seal ‘twisting’ portion of the talent.

• Twists from Seal of Truth to Seal of Righteousness will need to be performed just above Crusader Strike in the base rotation, if Liadrin’s Righteousness is down, or, in place of Exorcism if Liadrins Righteousness is still active, but has less duration than the cooldown of judgment.
• Twists from Seal of Righteousness to Seal of Truth will need to be performed just before CD’s or above Crusader Strike if Maraad’s Truth is down (or less than three seconds remaining), or like Righteousness, in place of Exorcism with the same judgment condition logic.

Note: the above logic isn’t 100% rigid, using some common sense when to twist will always be optimal regardless of current priority state. E.g. Out of range, CD’s becoming available, etc. Buff uptime priority is always Maraad’s Truth > Liadrin’s Righteousness.

Due to the current damage value of our Seals, there is no inherent need to quickly jump back to Truth after swapping to Seal of Righteousness. The swap conditions to Truth are similar to Righteousness, however the buff provided is far more important. For this reason, Seal of Truth is the seal we will want to have active during CD’s. This also means we will NOT ‘seal-twist’ during these periods. If for whatever reason, You may not be able to refresh Maraad’s Truth before you hit judgment in your priority, you can prioritize Judgment ahead of Crusader Strike and below Hammer of Wrath to maintain it. Liadrin’s Righteousness expiring is far less important, in fact, it is often optimal to let the buff fall off before refreshes. This ensures full use of the haste buff is dedicated to your damage dealing and not seal cycling. Try to refresh Liadrin’s righteousness before cooldowns, preferably less than five seconds before they’re available. Then make the swap back to Truth if you’re using talents like HA or SW, even if said Judgment clashes with abilities like Crusader strike. Empowered Seals usage with Divine Purpose isn’t recommended except for fights with heavy AoE.

Glyphs

Major

Glyph of Templar’s Verdict
This Glyph is mandatory. Nothing else really compares to what is provided by it.

Glyph of Hand of Sacrifice
Removes the damage that is transferred to the paladin.

Glyph of Divine Storm
Causes Divine Storm to heal you for 4% of maximum HP.

Situational

Glyph of Divine Protection
When an encounter has a lot of physical damage. Butcher, Hanz’gar & Franzok, Blackhand, etc.

Glyph of Double Jeopardy
Causes your Judgment to deal 20% additional damage so long as you use it on a different target the next time it is cast. Use where target switching or cleaving is necessary.

Glyph of Mass Exorcism
Removes the 30yd range, but causes Exorcism to deal 25% of its damage to all targets within 8yds of the target. Great for AoE and cleave fights.

Stats

Final Verdict stat priority:
Weapon DPS >> Strength > Mastery > Multistrike = Critical Strike > Haste > Versatility

Empowered Seals stat priority:
Weapon DPS >> Strength > Mastery = Haste > Multistrike = Critical Strike > Versatility

Seraphim Stat Priority:
Weapon DPS >> Strength > Mastery > Haste > Multistrike = Critical Strike > Versatility

Strength is a primary stat that provides 1 Attack Power and 1 spell power per point. All of our abilities use a percentage of attack power to the damage they deal. Spellpower only affects a few abilities, heals, Exorcism, Judgment, Sacred Shield. to name a few.

Mastery Hand of Light is Retributions attuned stat, and as a result is the strongest secondary stat available to us. HoL provides an independent  damage strike that deals holy damage. This effect is triggered by Crusader Strike, Hammer of Wrath, Templar’s Verdict; Final Verdict, Divine Storm and Hammer of the Righteous and their associated multistrikes by 2.25% additional damage per 110 Mastery rating (before Righteous Vengeance).

Critical Strike increases the chance to critically hit with abilities.

Haste Increase attack speed while simultaneously reducing our GCD and the cooldowns of all of our abilities. Using this formula: CD/1+.% haste.

theory/math note: Haste’s value is very fluid, and continues to be a stat subject to plateaus. These points are purely theoretical, and vary from talent to talent. Should you choose to stack Haste, or favor Crit and Multistrike you probably will not notice any difference by any practical means. Despite what simulations show regarding this (simcraft’s two point linear approximations occasionally spit out dubious values), it is often best to find some middle ground when considering scale factors for haste. Human error and fight mechanics, in practice, will render these points largely irrelevant.

Versatility increases all damage and healing done, and decreases all damage taken.

Multistrike causes abilities to have a chance to hit a second and a third time, each dealing 30% of the initial damage. Multistrikes from abilities that generate Mastery: Hand of Light damage, also cause those multistrikes to produce said HoL damage.

Enchants

Rings: Enchant Ring – Gift of Mastery
Cloak: Enchant Cloak – Gift of Mastery
Neck: Enchant Neck – Gift of Mastery
Weapon: Enchant Weapon – Mark of Bleeding Hollow

Gems

Immaculate Mastery Taladite

Consumables

Food: Sleeper Sushi
Potion: Draenic Strength Potion
Flask: Greater Draenic Strength Flask
Augment Rune: Stout Augment Rune

Gear

Slot	Item	Source
Helmet	Helm of the Ceaseless Vigil	Kormrok
Necklace	Choker of Sneering Superiority	Tyrant Velhari
Shoulder	Doomcriers Shoulderplates	Archimonde
Cloak	Cloak of Incendiary Wrath	Archimonde
Chest	Cuirass of the Ceaseless Vigil	Mannoroth
Bracer	Breach-Scarred Wristplates	Xhul’Horac
Gloves	Gauntlets of the Ceaseless Vigil	Socrethar
Waist	Annihilan’s Waistplate	Mannoroth
Legs	Greaves of the Ceaseless Vigil	Gorefiend
Boots	Treads of the Defiler	Archimonde
Ring	Loop of Beckoned Shadows	Xhul’Horac
Weapon	Calamity’s Edge	Archimonde
Trinket 1 (single target)	Libram of Vindication	Archimonde
Trinket 1 (Cleave / AoE / Heavy target switching)	Unending Hunger	Gorefiend
Trinket 2	Empty Drinking Horn	Mannoroth

Gear

Slot	Item	Source
Helmet	Helmet of Guiding Light	Kromog
Necklace	Thogar’s Serrated Chain	Thogar
Shoulder	Overdriven Spaulders	Blackhand
Cloak	Cloak of Sanguine Terror	Iron Maidens
Chest	Battleplate of Guiding Light	Ka’graz
Bracer	Fleshmelter Bracers	Blast Furnace
Gloves	Gauntlets of Guiding Light	Iron Maidens
Waist	Uktar’s Belt of Chiming Rings	Iron Maidins
Legs	Legplates of Guiding Light	Blast Furnace
Boots	Sabatons of Fractal Earth	Kromog
Ring	Seal of the Savage Howl	Darmac
Weapon	Thogar’s Control Rod	Thogar
Trinket	Vial of Convulsive Shadows	Iron Maidens
Trinket	Horn of Screaming Spirits	Ka’graz

AddOns

Weakauras

I ‘ve only one AddOn that i highly recommend, Weakauras. There appears to be no limit with what can be achieved using this. WA supplements and streamlines  information for the user with brutal efficiency; be it through the use of audio, visual or textual displays. All of these auras can be placed and customized at the users discretion. It even has the option of expanding its intuitive functionality further for those familiar with Lua programming language. My Ret specific auras can be found here.

Hekili

Hekili is a rotation assistance AddOn that employs the use of the Ret Simcraft algorithms, having written those myself, i can speak for the power of this AddOn. Hekili aims to supplement your play by suggesting optimal usage of abilities via a logic heavy set of conditions: GCD & boolean checks, relative CDs, etc. Following these recommendations has the potential to greatly increases your output while simultaneously providing methods of monitoring the swath of CD’s that a Ret Paladin should be constantly aware of. Great for those attempting to ease into the use of other playstyles found within the spec.

Macros

To save space, ill summarize the following macro as a be all end all macro for a swath of abilities. Usually those that require mouseover/focus functionality. eg; Flash of Light, Hand of Protection, etc.
#showtooltip
/cast [@focus,exists,modifier:shift]Ability
/cast [@mouseover,nomodifier]Ability


Cooldowns
This macro will activate all CD’s simultaneously, AW, HA, Sera, Trinkets.
#showtooltip avenging wrath
/cast avenging wrath
/cast holy avenger
/cast seraphim
/use 13

Judgment
This macro will allow Judgment to either judge your current target or, if present, your mouseover.
#showtooltip judgment
/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][] judgment

Rebuke
This has the same functionality as the above Judgment macro.
#showtooltip rebuke
/cast [@mouseover,harm,nodead][] rebuke

Focus
Simple, yet powerful. Allows you to specify a new Focus target via mouseover.
/focus [target=mouseover]

Crusader Strike / Hammer of the Righteous
This macro consolidates CS/HotR into a single bind via modifier.
#showtooltip
/cast [nomodifier] Crusader Strike; /cast [modifier:alt] Hammer of the Righteous

Templar’s Verdict / Divine Storm
Identical to the above CS/HotR functionality, except for TV/DS!
#showtooltip
/cast [nomodifier] Templar's Verdict; /cast [modifier:alt] Divine Storm

Seal Swap
This macro can be used to swap between SoT and SoR within a single bind.
#showtooltip
/castsequence !seal of truth, !seal of righteousness