Playstyle

Leveling as a retribution paladin your playstyle embodies that of a holy melee crusader. While leveling you will combine your Auras, Seals and Judgements with Two Handed weapons to dispose of enemies.

Paladins are historically known as a class that doesn’t feel very interactive. However, when played correctly, this is not the case. They can be one of the fastest (and safest) levelers.

Rotation

1-19

Seal of Righteousness -> Auto Attack -> Judgement

• Use Seal of Righteousness.
• Use Devotion Aura until Retribution Aura.
• Use the newest rank of Blessing of Might/Wisdom.

20-39

Seal of Command -> Hand of Justice+Judgement -> Auto Attack -> Judgement

• Use Seal of Command.
• Use Retribution Aura until Sanctity Aura.

Try to combo your Seal of Command on stunned mobs using Hand of Justice.  Remember that using Seal of Command Judgement on a stunned target rewards bonus damage.

For Elite mobs, open on it by judging Seal of the Crusader. This increases the damage taken by Seal of Command procs+Judgements on the mob.

For Undead and Demon mobs, use Exorcism on cooldown. This is also effective for pulling from a longer range than paladins typically can.

You can also start using Repentance in the same way you use Hand of Justice at 37+.

40-49

Seal of the Crusader -> Judgement -> Seal of Command -> Auto Attack -> Hand of Justice+Judgement -> Auto Attack -> Judgement

Start opening on all mobs by judging Seal of the Crusader. This increases the damage taken by Seal of Command procs+Judgements on the mob. At around 40, this is the level where it starts providing more value over an extra Seal of Command judgement.

For your 2nd judgement, auto attack until your Judgement is off cooldown, then Hand of Justice+Judgement the mob, before reverting back to the normal spellcast order of Seal of Command -> Judgement -> Auto attack.

40-52 (OPTIONAL)

From 40-52, you can solo the Zombie Graves in Zul’Farrak. This is quite difficult and requires some preperation, but can save a few hours if you know what you’re doing. You can see our guide for it here:

50-70

Seal of the Crusader -> Judgement -> Seal of Command -> Crusader Strike -> Auto Attack -> Hand of Justice+Judgement -> Auto Attack -> Judgement

• Same as 40-49, except you can now start using Crusader Strike on cooldown.
• At 61+, start using Blessing of Might all the time over Blessing of Wisdom.

Notes

• Try to only heal when out of combat to not get pushed back when healing, and remove the need for the Spiritual Focus talent.
• If you have to heal in combat, then you can avoid pushback by using Blessing of Protection/Divine Shield/Divine Protection and healing.
• If fighting a mob with Frost Armor, then you can use Blessing of Freedom to immunise yourself against the debuff.
• Try to melee kite mobs to other objectives (other mobs, quests). This will greatly reduce your time spent travelling in the early levels.
• Creatively use Line of Sight mechanics to mitigate damage verses spellcasters.
• Find an addon (such as Decursive) that tells you when to purify yourself against poisons and diseases.
• Install a melee swingtimer addon to get a better idea of when your melee weapon will start a swing. This can be used to more efficiently heal after combat by healing straight after a swing that will kill a mob.
• Furthermore, if you cancel a heal before your swingtimer is ready, it will not reset your melee’s swing timer.
• Movespeed enchants will not stack with Pursuit of Justice.
• Try to move to face all enemies that are attacking you if you’re attacking multiple mobs at once. This will allow you to mitigate damage through dodges and parries, as well as do more damage through parry haste.
• Keep Turn Undead rank 1 on your bars, as it can be incredibly useful in some situations against undead mobs due to fearing them away for 20 seconds.

Spec

Link