Retribution Paladin

Hardcore viability

Retribution Paladins are a great choice for players attempting the Hardcore leveling challenge in World of Warcraft Classic. With their high survivability, massive burst damage, and variety of supportive abilities, they are capable of handling many different challenges solo.

Retribution Paladins deal damage primarily through melee attacks, adding additional damage and utility with Seal and Judgement abilities. They also have defensive abilities, such as Divine Shield and Blessing of Sanctuary, which can be used to protect themselves and others from harm. In terms of survivability, they can heal themselves and others, reducing the risk of death. Retribution Paladins are highly effective in both solo and group play, making them a strong choice for players looking to take on the Hardcore leveling challenge.

Rotation

Level 1-4

Maintain Seal of Righteousness and Blessing of Might, apply Devotion Aura. watch netflix.

Level 4-11

Do NOT train Seal of Righteousness Rank 2 until level 11, it isn’t worth the mana increase until then.

Spam Judgment on CD until level 11. The pre-10 mana regen is OP.

Level 12-20

Train SoR ranks until 20. You can ignore it from now on unless you find a Fast BoE Blue.

Start being more mindful of your Judgment spam as it can OOM you quickly. I rarely use it more than once or twice a fight depending on my level / the mobs level.

Use Retribution Aura from now on. Concentration can be a handy pickup to prevent spellcasting knockback if you remember to switch to it in sticky situations.

If you need Blessing of Wisdom,, you’re judging too much. Keep using BoM.

Level 21-44

You typically should only use Seal of Command now if you’re following standard weapon progression. Explained further in the SoC talent section below.

Exorcism / Holy Wrath are fine to use on Undead sparingly. Just mind your mana.

Use Seal of the Crusader on elites.

Level 45-60

Start using Seal of the Crusader on every mob.

You can usually start spamming Judgment again due to our bigger mana pool at these levels.

Hammer of Wrath should only be used on runners that may pull more mobs. The cast time and mana cost are both pepega.

Talents

There are two talent tree routes I would consider ideal for the average Hardcore Paladin. “New to Hardcore” and “Experienced”.

I would only use the Experienced build after you’ve reached level 60 at least once on Hardcore, as it skips out on critical survivability talents in exchange for more damage

Professions

Engineering

Engineering is the best profession for safety. You have no way to safely split pull without grenades, and grenades can act as an extra interrupt. Additionally bubble already lasts nearly as long as leash timers, if you somehow need extra time, Target Dummy gives it to you easily.

Alchemy

The one upside to Alchemy defensively is Swiftness Pots, however even if you get a swiftness potion recipe, it is “too much”. You will never be in a situation where you’d need that much of an out compared to Dummy/Grenade Stun + Bubble. Alchemy is the best profession for challenge runs due to the extra stats.

No profession at all is best for speed leveling. Getting Engineering to 85 for Dummys then ignoring it is a viable middle ground.

Stats

Strength >> Agi > Int >> Spirit > Armor > Stam

This is probably a hot take, but Stamina is a crutch in Hardcore, especially on paladin. There are very few mobs in the game that can outright out 1v1 you, even without using heals. And the ones that can, healing lets you tip the scales in your favor again.

Other considerations

Agi = Crit/Dodge (ratio scales depending on level) Spirit = More mana regen per tic (scales on level)

Considering that 7 stam = 70 health and 7 int = 105 mana, although using Holy Light (Rank 3), which heals for 170 at the cost of 105 mana, gives you effectivly 100 more HP.

14 Attack Power = 1 Weapon DPS. This means a weapon with 32.5 DPS and 7 strength is actually a 33.5 DPS weapon.

Weapon progression

Here is a list of weapons you can aim to achieve while you level:

Advanced tips

Potions and Heals reset your swing timer. Try to get a swing off before doing either if possible.

Mind the “5 Second Rule” for mana regen, you don’t start regaining mana until you haven’t been casting for 5 seconds. So judgment once or twice then let your mana tic back up!

Always try to have enough mana stored for a holy light.

Aggressive bubbling is how you die :)

Use bandages while bubbled to continue regenerating mana

Seal Twisting isn’t really worth the mana while leveling.

Keep a shield on your person with a weapon swap macro, switch to it versus elites or when running from mobs to get a huge damage reduction.

It’s okay to not use Judgment on cooldown, it uses up a lot of mana. I rarely use it more than twice a fight to make sure I have enough mana to heal myself in case things go wrong.

It’s only worth getting every 2nd or 3rd rank of Seal of Command. It’s a higher mana cost only to increase the judgment damage minimally. Use the higher rank when HoJ is off cd

Hardcore Paladin Leveling Guide

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Important Macros

1-Button Judgement/Seal

/cast Judgement
/stopcasting
/cast Seal of Command

/cast Judgement
/stopcasting
/cast Seal of Righteousness

Weapon Swap Macro

/equip [noequipped:shields] One Hander Name; Two Handed Weapon Name
/equip [noequipped:shields] Shield Name

Bubble Cancel

This is helpful if you’re in an immunity and want to be able to attack quicker

/cancelaura Divine Shield