Opening Shot

There are few specs more maligned than the infamous Retribution Paladin. From the day that Seal of the Crusader was nerfed into oblivion years ago until present day Burning Crusade, Ret Pallies have been fired upon as useless weaklings operating under a false pretense of being able to do damage.

And unfortunately, 90-95% of the players operating with a ret spec prove them right.

There is no group of players more in need of an overhaul in playstyle than Ret Pallies, and that's what Retnoob will be about. I'm here to lay out a full guideline on exactly how to play this spec, and after I give the guts of what matters to playing this spec, I'll offer my thoughts and provide advice.

What do Ret Pallies offer? First, we have all of the instrinsic support abilities of a Paladin at our fingertips. It's an easy way to squeeze in an extra set of blessings in a group or raid without bringing too many healers/tanks and slowing down the raid. We can save a squishy's butt with a timely bop, free up a melee class to get out of a snare and cleanse off everything, all without taking more than a short GCD. We don't even lose our melee swing.

Played right, from my experience over the last 2 years a good Ret Pally can handle 80% of the damage of a good DPSer. Add in our buffs and cleanses, as well as the melee support abilities we have (specifically, our Judgments) and we hold our own in any raid. But you've gotta learn how to play that well, and you've gotta learn how to gear right. And that's what I'm here for.

Welcome to Retnoob.