The talents

So let's talk the specific talents. I mentioned general specs you could try, but I'd like to go down the list of Ret talents, and mention a few talents in the other trees worth contemplating. Get a talent calculator out to follow along - I won't be linking the skills, I'll just be discussing the talents as the list goes down (and yes, I'm sad to say I can actually do this off the top of my head - I've played WAY too much as a Paladin).

So I'll rate the skills on an out of 5 basis, for PvE and PvP separately. This shouldn't be taken as a 'this talent is too weak, they need to buff it' list, more of a guide on how much utility you can expect to gain from using this skill.

Improved Blessing of Might
PvP - 2/5
PvE - 3/5

No denying that an extra 42 AP is useful, but it's a hard task to find a time to use this buff yourself. Threat is always a #1 issue, and Mana consumption is often #2. You can mostly cover the spread by getting Sanctified Judgment, but that's deep in the tree and hard to find a spot for, so often your first two buffs are going to be salv, then wis. #3 is then a battle for Kings or Might, and both have their arguments, since Kings will provide extra mana, health and crit on top of 100 or so AP in good gear. So while I like to have 42 AP, can I find a spot for it myself? Not particularly, when it's right next to....

Benediction
PvP - 3/5
PvE - 4/5

-15% cost of casting seals and judging makes a world of difference, and that difference will only become more stark in the next patch, when we start to spam Crusader Strike and blow through mana like a '90s era dotcom. You want to save every point of mana you can, and this will help you a lot.

Improved Judgment
PvP - 4/5
PvE - 4/5


It increases your DPS. Any skill that offers a substantial improvement to your damage can't be scoffed at. Deflection is nice, and helps plenty in PvP, but there's nothing like buffing your damage. Warriors are, outside of the heavily geared MS types, cake, rogues are usually easy and there's just no reason to spec to improve your ability to kill them. You should take them anyways.

Improved Seal of the Crusader & Sanctified Crusader
PvP - 1/5 & 2.5/5
PvE - 4/5 & 5/5


Imp. SotC is going baseline, so it's not particularly relevant anymore. That said, it's great for PvE, almost useless for PvP. Spec into it if Arena isn't what you live and breathe.

Sanctified Crusader...tough call. I can see why you might try to use it, what with the free 3 crit and all, but I never find time to start judging someone with things that don't do damage. Perhaps I should try it on hefty targets, like well-geared holy paladins/resto shamans, or bear dr00ds, I just haven't considered it. So I can see Sanc Crusader being good for PvP, but only against specific targets in specific situations. Spec into it at your leisure. For PvE, though, no question. Take it and LOVE it.


Deflection

PvE 1.5/5
PvP 2.5/5

Again, rogues and warriors are your targets to beat, don't go out of your way to improve your skills against them. That said, I've run into hard to kill warriors, and this might have helped, but in arena I've got my mage buddy to help burst anyone down so I don't worry too much. For PvE, if you tank for your friends in 5-mans, or you've been asked to OT or some such, it helps. But you're a pretty damn weak raid tank so it's more of a last resort kind of thing. I wouldn't worry about it.

Vindication

Now & Next Patch

PvE - 1/5 & 1/5
PvP - 2.5/5 & 4/5

Currently, kinda weak - again with the making you beat rogues & warriors MORE. In 2.3, it decreases ALL stats by 15%, so your target can lose 900-1000 health, mana & lose str and agi as well, so it's got some nice utility. Very good looking skill from a theorycraft point of view. We'll get to test it out soon enough! As for PvE, no raid boss can be affected by it, so yawn. Clears trash a bit faster if you're knocking out their stamina. I'm getting it, but I'm getting it for Arena, not for my Kara runs.

Conviction

PvE - 5/5
PvP - 5/5

Must have. Don't question it.

Seal of Command

PvE - 5/5
PvP - 5/5

Slightly less if you're BE, but even so, I'd take SoC over SoB for PvP to get the burst, and if you raid Kara still, you MUST have this while fighting Prince, so you might as well spend the ONE point it costs.

Pursuit of Justice

Now & Next Patch

PvE - 1/5 & 3/5
PvP - 2.5/5 & 4/5

The speed boost is going to be a lot of fun, and the reduced chance to be hit by spells will save your butt nicely once in awhile. 15% means no more getting kited, and getting into the action sooner. There's nothing but goodness for PoJ. Right now though, rather bland. Get a boot enchant if you want the speed.

Eye for an Eye

PvE - 1/5
PvP - 3/5

I like this skill, but if you're getting this to proc for real damage that means you're getting your ass kicked anyways. Fun and I've gotten use out of it, but if it were removed tomorrow I wouldn't even think about it. Sitting on the same Tier as Crusade makes it hard to spec for. Especially since your most challenging targets are Lock and Shadow Priests, neither of whom are likely to need any crits to kill us.

Improved Retribution Aura

PvE - 2/5
PvP - 2/5

This was great back before BC when I did a lot of 5-man tanking, but nowadays I hardly even think about it. Prot Pallies can make use of it, but we don't get a whole lot of use for it these days, with Sanc Aura up most of the time.

PvP it could be used to annoy a rogue, but meh, I'd rather be punching his face in. Let the Tankadins do the reflective thing.

Crusade

PvE - 4/5
PvP - 3/5

3% is fairly small, but it adds up easily for PvE. For PvP, why not take a skill that ups your own damage? E4E would be a reasonable alternative for PvP, but I prefer increasing my own damage first.

2H Weapon Specialization

PvE - 5/5
PvP - 5/5

6% more damage all the time? Get it. On a side note, these percentage skill may sound weak at first, but you have to look at it this way: if you do 800 dps, increassing that by 6% gives you another 48 dps. To increase your damage by that amount via attack power, you have to get hundreds of points worth (just to get it equal on your character profile, the amount would be 672 (14 * 48)). This is a LOT of damage for 3 measly points.

Sanctity Aura

PvE - 5/5
PvP - 5/5

Increases all Holy Damage by 10%. Which skills are holy damage? Oh, only everything but auto-attack and Crusader Strike.

Improved Sanctity Aura

PvE - 4/5
PvP - 3/5

2% is getting harder to justify this deep in the tree as you start making small sacrifices. For example, in PvP that 10% damage reduction to crits is very nice and worth getting. For PvE there's still no question, that's a 2% increase in damage for all party members, but it starts getting to the point where you know certain skills are going to compete and you'll have to sacrifice. To sacrifice this is not something I would recommend, but I would certainly understand.

Vengeance

PvE - 5/5
PvP - 5/5

This is what makes Retribution work. It is our Serpent's Swiftness, our Flurry. Avoiding this is sacrilege, plain and simple.

Sanctified Judgment

PvE - 4/5
PvP - 3/5

This is actually a very nice skill - ret pallies burn through mana very easily, and this seriously reduces your mana consumption. I calculated it out awhile back and found it be worth at least 80 mp5 if you judge/seal every 8 seconds, and so it can go a long way towards keeping your mana pool up. PvP, fights shouldn't last long if you're ret, that's the whole point. Burst damage and whatnot. So it's nice and might save you by keeping you from going dry, but eh, your choice to spec or not.

Sanctified Crusader & Sanctified Seals

PvE - 5/5 & 5/5
PvP - 2/5 & 5/5

To be swapped out next patch. Currently, same story as above. Huge for PvE, potentially useful in PvP, but I can't really say a time that I've taken advantage of it in PvP. Sanctified Seals, however, is going to be amazing. No dispelling/purging of seals - it's a massive buff against smart shamans and priests, and since it'll be getting melee crit on top of that, there's no argument that this is a vital skill for all ret pallies.

Repentance

PvE - 3/5
PvP - 5/5

This skill comes up big many times. Back before 1.9 (reaaaaaallly long time ago) this was the top skill in Protection, and was half the reason I was specced Prot. Well, that and the reckbombs. When they changed it in 1.9, I immediately followed Repentance to the Retribution tree, and have largely stayed there since. Great skill, allows you to catch up with people and cause big fat JoC crits. For PvE it even has its use now and then. Accidentally hit a sheep? Repent him so the mage has time to put him back. Combined with HoJ, it can even give you a 12 sec CC, which is a fun trick.

Divine Purpose

PvE - 2/5
PvP - 3.5-4/5

That plus a healthy dose of resilience makes you take a considerable reduction in damage from crits. It's actually quite a nice trick. That said, I haven't personally used it, but I've seen what resilience can do to my crits. Thus, I don't know that it works against spells too. If it does there's no question that it's worth getting for PvP, but that's not what the tooltip says, and I won't have any testing to say one way or the other until 2.3 comes down the pipe and I re-spec.

Fanaticism

PvE - 4/5
PvP - 4/5

Great skill, though many cut it a touch short - say, 3/5 or 4/5 rather than getting the full 5 points. That has its uses and allows you to spend elsewhere, but the big boost to crit will be very noticable, especially on stunned targets. Well worth it.

Crusader Strike

PvE - *
PvP - *

CS gets stars instead of a numerical score because it's that important. Especially when it hits a 6 sec CD.

I'll finish up a post touching on possible talent choices in the other trees, since no one in their right mind will put 61 points in Retribution. To be continued!