Patch 3.0 has been great news for Retribution paladins. We got buffed so much that we are kicking ass 24/7, leading to the forums crying, “NERF RET!”. PvP aspects aside, the patch has changed the Retribution paladin in PvE as well. This guide will focus on the PvE Retribution paladin.

This guide is compiled from what I have read at Cromfel’s site and Elitistjerks Retribution forums.

RETRIBUTION 3.0 CHANGES
Firstly you might have to reconfigure your gears. Since we lost Precision talent, an addition 3% chance to hit. Before 3.0 you only needed 6% hit chance with Precision, now you need 9% to maximize your DPS. So in theory,

1 hit % = 15.76 hit rating
9 hit % = 15.76 x 9 = 141.84 hit rating

Rounded up we need 142 hit rating in 3.0 to minimize our miss chance.
But wait! Is it worth it to switch your Vengeful Gladiator’s Scaled Helm for Felsteel Warhelm for that extra 18 hit rating? OK maybe that gear comparison was too big a difference…

The point is being hit capped has become a lower priority now. Why? With Divine Strength and Blessing of Might buffed, it is better to stack more attack power so as to overcome the lacking hit rating. Miss? It’s all right, just make sure your melee swings hit harder than before. Of course if you had zero hit rating to start with you have to try and get some decent hit rating. If you short of 1 - 3% it should be ok. If you noticed, you might have gained much more attack power than before. Before patch 3.0, my attack power raid buffed was 2500+, after the patch on a Black Temple raid I was walking around with 3000 AP.

LEVEL 70 TALENT BUILD

This is my recommended talent build, if you have any opinions please feel free to leave a comment. With Seal of Blood and Seal of the Martyr available for both sides, one might argue Seal of the Command is not needed anymore. But you might want to switch to non self-damaging seals in some fights. Also with Glyph of Seal of Command, the proc chance is increased, making the DPS difference between these two seals marginal. The key talents are highlighted below:

KEY TALENTS

Divine Strength
From the Protection tree it increases your Strength up to 15%, must-have.

Benediction
Reduces 10% mana cost of your instant cast spells like Judgements. Worth it? Not really but that is no other alternative, unless you consider Deflection for PvE.

Improved Judgements
Reduces Judgement cooldown by 1/2 seconds. Before patch 3.0 putting one point was needed to work out your DPS rotation, now it is unclear as the discussion for the perfect DPS rotation is still ongoing.

Heart of the Crusader
Extra 3% critical chance to the entire raid? Checked.

Improved Blessing of Might
Blessing of Might is one of the primary buffs a Retribution paladin uses, buff it.

Conviction
5% critical chance to all spells and attacks and it is a precursor to Vengeance. Grab it.

Sanctified Seals
Another 3% critical chance and prevents your Seals from being dispelled.

Crusade
Extra 3% damage + another 3% more to Humanoids, Undead, Demons and Elementals. You could take it as 6% extra damage.

Two-Handed Weapon Specialization
Increases damage dealt with two-handed weapons by 6%. PvE is all about increasing your DPS.

Sanctified Retribution
Raid members under Retribution aura increases damage done by 3%. Must-have.

Vengeance
Increases damage done by 3% per stack, stacks up to 3 times. Additional 9% damage, get it.

Repentance
While not useful for PvE, it is needed to reach Fanaticism. Besides, the one minute sleep can be useful for Crowd Controling.

The Art of War
Great new talent, increases the critical damage of your Judgement, Crusader Strike, and Divine Storm and makes Flash of Light instant.

Judgements of the Wise
Refunds 33% of your base mana when you judge. Solid talent.

Fanaticism
Increases Judgement critical chance by 25% and reduces threat. Essential talent.

Sanctified Wrath
Increases the critical chance of Hammer of Wrath by 50% and improves Avenging Wrath. When target is below 35% health this talent will shine.

Crusader Strike
Instant attack important for DPS, obvious must-have. Would be better if it had some secondary effect.

Sheath of Light
Increases spell power by 30% of your attack power. Very strong talent as it improves your healing and also spell power coefficients are also calculated into Seals. So more spell power and more attack power equals to higher Seal damage.

Righteous Vengeance
Another talent that buffs critical damage. Take it to reach Divine Storm, upcoming changes will see this talent become a DoT effect. Crappy huh?

Divine Storm
An AoE attack spell that works like Warrior’s Whirlwind, only Holy Damage. Pity it was nerfed the next day to become EXACTLY like Whirlwind. Still it does good damage and another spell to add into DPS rotation.

DPS CYCLE
With the new changes, a Retribution paladin’s DPS cycle has changed. Before, it was simply rotating Crusader Strike and Judgement, working in Consecration if you could afford it. Now however, with the addition of Divine Storm and added Global Cooldown (GCD), mechanics have changed and the old cycle is impossible. It is practically impossible to work out a perfect rotation for each spell.

If you are really interested in knowing more about the discussion on DPS cycle, click this link to read the thread on Elitistjerks forums. This is probably where the discussion on DPS cycle starts I think, if you read through from page 1 to page 255 and know more, please do leave a comment.

Firstly the new DPS cycle stresses upon First-Come-First-Serve (FCFS), meaning you cast which spell is up as soon as possible. Due to the cooldown of certain skills, it is impossible to obtain a perfect repeating DPS rotation, thus the emphasis on FCFS. The general agreement on DPS cycle is as follows:

Judgement > Crusader Strike > Divine Storm > Consecration

If you read about a different DPS cycle please let me know so I can test it out. But considering Wrath of the Lich King is coming in a few weeks and everything is in easy mode. Just enjoy the game for now.