Paladin in WoW Classic

WoW SoD Ret Paladin

In this WoW SoD Ret Paladin guide, you will find the best build for Retribution Paladins in the Season of Discovery in WoW Classic. The build shows the best talents, runes, BiS gear, and enchants to DPS in dungeons and raids as a Ret Pally.

📂 WoW Classic > Paladin

📅 Last updated on February 8, 2025.

WoW SoD Exodin Ret Paladin Talents & Runes

Choose the following talents and runes as a Ret Paladin Paladin for Phase 7 at level 60:

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This build is known as the “Exodin” spec based on the ability Exorcism Exorcism. Learn where to find each rune in our guide WoW SoD Paladin Runes.

WoW SoD Twisting Ret Paladin Talents & Runes

Choose the following talents and runes as a Ret Paladin Paladin for Phase 7 at level 60:

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This build is based on Seal Twisting. It is more complex to play but offers a higher damage ceiling. With Seal Twisting, you want to auto-attack while Seal of Command Seal of Command and Seal of Martyrdom Seal of Martyrdom are both active. For this to work, you have to time the second seal right before the auto attack will land.

SoD Phase 7 Retribution Paladin BiS List

The following Retribution Paladin Paladin BiS list contains the best items you can get in Phase 7 of Season of Discovery:

Legend: Items marked with Icon are BiS for Exodin, while items marked with Icon are BiS for seal-twisting.

Use Soul of the Excommunicator Soul of the Excommunicator as your new shoulder enchant as a Icon Exodin. The Seal Twisting variant should use Soul of the Judicator Soul of the Judicator.

SoD Phase 6 Retribution Paladin BiS List

The following Retribution Paladin Paladin BiS list contains the best items you can get in Phase 6 of Season of Discovery:

Legend: Items marked with Icon are BiS for Exodin, while items marked with Icon are BiS for seal-twisting.

If you’re playing the seal-twisting variant, use the following enchants: Enchant Gloves - Greater Strength Enchant Gloves - Greater Strength, Zandalar Signet of Might Zandalar Signet of Might, and replace Arcanum of Rapidity Arcanum of Rapidity on your legs with Syncretist's Sigil Syncretist's Sigil.

SoD Phase 5 Retribution Paladin BiS List

The following Retribution Paladin Paladin BiS list contains the best items you can get in Phase 5 of Season of Discovery:

Legend: Items marked with Icon are BiS for Exodin, while items marked with Icon are BiS for seal-twisting.

If you’re playing the seal-twisting variant, use the following enchants: Enchant Gloves - Greater Strength Enchant Gloves - Greater Strength, Zandalar Signet of Might Zandalar Signet of Might, and replace Arcanum of Rapidity Arcanum of Rapidity on your legs with Syncretist's Sigil Syncretist's Sigil.

SoD Phase 4 Ret Paladin BiS List

The following Retribution Paladin Paladin BiS list contains the best items you can get in Phase 4 of Season of Discovery to DPS in raids and dungeons:

1 This quest requires Lightforge Helm Lightforge Helm from Scholomance and Lightforge Breastplate Lightforge Breastplate from Upper Blackrock Spire to complete.
2 This quest requires Lightforge Legplates Lightforge Legplates from Stratholme, Lightforge Boots Lightforge Boots from Stratholme, and Lightforge Spaulders Lightforge Spaulders from Upper Blackrock Spire to complete.
3 The Lawbringer Radiance set pieces provide slightly less DPS than their alternatives. It is recommended to collect the Lawbringer Radiance set pieces nonetheless, in case Blizzard is nerfing the Sunken Temple set or buffing the Lawbringer Radiance in a future patch.

Fire Resistance for Heat Level 2 and Heat Level 3

To raid the more difficult heat levels in Molten Core you need to hit Fire Resistance thresholds. For Heat Level 2 you need at least 96 Fire Resistance and for Heat Level 3 you need at least 226 Fire Resistance. To increase your Fire Resistance you can equip gear, utilize enchantments, use consumables, and use buffs or activate your Fire Resistance Aura Fire Resistance Aura.

Use the following sources to increase your Fire Resistance to the required threshold:

Using Fire Resistance items often results in a DPS loss in comparison to your BiS list. After you’ve acquired new raid items recalculate your Fire Resistance and re-optimize your gear loadout.

🔥 Since the boss Garr from Molten Core can dispel magic effects, you should make sure your Paladin Paladin is hitting the Fire Resistance threshold without Mark of the Wild Mark of the Wild for that specific fight. This might require you to have some off-pieces for that boss fight.

SoD Ret Paladin Pre-Raid BiS List

The following Retribution Paladin Paladin BiS list contains the best items you can get in Season of Discovery before entering the endgame raids at level 60.

1 This quest requires Lightforge Helm Lightforge Helm from Scholomance and Lightforge Breastplate Lightforge Breastplate from Upper Blackrock Spire to complete.
2 This quest requires Lightforge Legplates Lightforge Legplates from Stratholme, Lightforge Boots Lightforge Boots from Stratholme, and Lightforge Spaulders Lightforge Spaulders from Upper Blackrock Spire to complete.
3 This quest requires Lightforge Belt Lightforge Belt and Lightforge Gauntlets Lightforge Gauntlets to complete. Both items drop in Stratholme.
4 Use this item only if you have all three pieces of the set.
5 This quest requires Lightforge Bracers Lightforge Bracers from Scholomance to complete. Additionally, you need 15 Winterspring Blood Sample Winterspring Blood Sample from Frostsabers like Frostsaber Cub and Frostsaber Stalker in the northern corner of Winterspring.

If you are not Seal Twisting, you want to use fast weapons like those shown above. If you’re Seal Twisting, you want to use slow weapons like The Unstoppable Force The Unstoppable Force (Alterac Valley – Exalted) or Blackblade of Shahram Blackblade of Shahram (Upper Blackrock Spire).

Ret Paladin Rotation

The rotation as a Ret Paladin Paladin in WoW SoD depends on whether you’re playing the Exodin or Seal Twisting variant of a Ret Paladin Paladin.

Icon Exorcism Rotation

This is the priority system for Exodins:

  1. Keep Seal of Martyrdom Seal of Martyrdom up.
  2. Cast Judgement Judgement right before your Seal runs out. Recast Seal of Martyrdom Seal of Martyrdom after.
  3. Cast Exorcism Exorcism whenever it’s available.
  4. Cast Crusader Strike Crusader Strike whenever it’s available.
  5. Cast Divine Storm Divine Storm when it’s available.
  6. Cast Holy Wrath Holy Wrath when it’s available.
  7. Cast Consecration Consecration when it’s available.

Icon Seal Twisting Rotation

This is the priority system for Seal Twisting:

  1. Have one of the two seals up: Seal of Martyrdom Seal of Martyrdom or Seal of Command Seal of Command.
  2. Cast the other seal less than 400ms before your auto attack will land. This way, your auto attack will benefit from both seals. It is recommended to use an addon or WeakAura that shows you auto attack timer.
  3. Cast Judgement Judgement after the auto attack while you still have both seals up. The first seal will only have 400ms uptime after you casted the second seal. The more you can delay the second seal towards the auto attack (e.g. casting it 200ms instead of 400ms before the auto attack), the more time you have after the auto attack to cast Judgement Judgement.
    You do not need to time your Judgement Judgement, if you have the 2-set bonus of Tier 2 (e.g. Judgement Breastplate Judgement Breastplate).
  4. Cast one filler spell. Your weapon has to be slow enough so you can still seal twist before the next auto attack. This is the priority list for your filler spells:
    • Crusader Strike Crusader Strike
    • Divine Storm Divine Storm
    • Exorcist Exorcist

Ret Paladin Consumables in SoD

The following list of consumables can be used by Ret Paladins Paladins in endgame raids at level 60:

Don’t use Consecrated Sharpening Stone Consecrated Sharpening Stone on your weapon, if you have Wild Strikes Wild Strikes.

Ret Paladin Stat Priority

As a Ret Paladin Paladin you want to prioritize gear with the following stats:

  1. Up to 9% Hit Chance against level 60 raid bosses.
  2. Crit Chance
  3. Strength
  4. Agility
  5. Attack Power

Due to your finger runes, you only need to get 6% Hit Chance to reach the hit cap. After reaching the hit cap, more Hit Chance has no value for melee attacks.

More Builds for Paladins in Season of Discovery

The Paladin Paladin is a hybrid in WoW Classic. Depending on the role you take on in a group, your Paladin Paladin will need a different build. The following builds are for your other roles:

Tank Build for Paladins in Season of Discovery

To tank in dungeons and raids, use the WoW SoD Paladin Tank Spec. The Protection Paladin Paladin spec is optimized to maintain your opponents’ threat and reduce incoming damage.

Healer Build for Paladins in Season of Discovery

To heal in dungeons and raids, use the WoW SoD Paladin Healer Spec. This spec is optimized to heal your dungeon group and raid members.

Additional Resources

You can find more resources about the WoW SoD Paladin here, including Paladin Macros for WoW Classic. Special thanks to the WoWSims team for providing an invaluable simulation tool to optimize BiS lists. If you want to learn more and optimize your gameplay, visit the Classic Paladin Discord community for discussions and insights.