The basics in one minute
Keep a seal active, use your damage abilities, and save enough mana to heal when a fight goes wrong. Your support spells matter to the group too.
ROLE
Melee damage
RESOURCE
Mana
DAMAGE
Physical & Holy
SECTION 01
How Retribution plays
Retribution combines close-range weapon attacks with Holy damage. Seals are buffs you cast on yourself to add an effect to your attacks; Judgement uses the effect of your active seal against an enemy.
Holy Strike gives you a direct melee attack, and Consecration damages enemies around you once you learn it. Between attacks, you can heal yourself and use blessings to help allies.
Your main limits are mana and reaching the enemy. A useful rhythm is to fight, recover and move on, rather than spend every point of mana on a single pull.
Sources: Class overview
SECTION 02
Choose a talent direction
For a melee-focused route, Benediction is a useful early investment because it reduces the mana cost of instant spells. Retribution then offers choices for damage and movement as you level.
Holy talents also support a damage build through Strength and stronger seals. Choosing Holy points does not automatically mean you are levelling as a healer.
Pick a route suited to your weapon and the content you enjoy. Avoid changing talents after every upgrade: learn how your current setup performs first.
Sources: Retribution levelling talents · Holy and Retribution options
＋ Plan your talent points
Try your own talent route below, or open the full Paladin calculator.
Loading the Paladin talent trees…
SECTION 03
What to use in combat
01
Keep a seal active.
Refresh it when it expires. Judgement does not consume your seal.
02
Use Holy Strike and Judgement.
Use these attacks as they become available.
03
Add Consecration for groups.
Once learned, use it against several enemies while keeping mana for healing.
Dangerous pull? Stun a threatening enemy with Hammer of Justice, then use healing or protection spells to recover or help an ally.
Sources: Combat and dungeon advice
SECTION 04
Stats at a glance
Strength
Supports melee damage.
Intellect
Increases your mana pool.
Stamina
Increases your health.
Spell power
Supports your Holy damage.
Start with your weapon: its damage and speed affect the melee side of your character. Spell power matters to the Holy side, so equipment can improve more than one part of your toolkit.
In Forever, hit and critical strike bonuses can apply across melee and spells. Healing equipment can also carry spell power. Read the item tooltip instead of assuming an old Classic item works exactly as you remember.
For a plain-language introduction to upgrades and equipment sources, open the gear guide.
Sources: Forever equipment changes
SECTION 05
Keep learning
New to the class? Follow the levelling guide from the character screen into your first quests.
For more detailed builds, read the Wowhead class overview, Method Paladin guide and Mobalytics levelling guide.
This guide covers WoW Forever beta. Talents and ability details may change with updates.