Retribution Paladin Patch 9.2 Changes Analysis and Tier Set Thoughts (2024)

Last updated on Jan 15, 2024 at 15:00by Urthearso60 comments

This page will go over how the changes in Patch 9.2, Eternity's End,will affect Retribution Paladins, specifically how thechanges might impact its playstyle, best Legendary choices, Covenants, andthe like. If you are simply interested in what the current changes are forPaladins in Patch 9.2 in general, you can instead read our full list of changesto the entire Paladin class on our dedicated page below. For an additional list ofcontent coming with Patch 9.2, you can also check out our Patch 9.2 Overview page.

At the moment, Retribution Paladins have not yet received any changes to thespecialization's base kit. However, some of the further adjustmentsand additional content that will be arriving will likely change how you as aRetribution Paladin may approach your gameplay.

As with the specialization itself, there have been no direct talent changesmade in PvE or PvP for Retribution Paladins, though with a new raid and anew season for both Mythic+ and PvP will come new options for finding gear andtrying out different talent combinations.

Within the new Sepulcher of the First Ones raid that will be coming inPatch 9.2, every class will once again earn pieces of a gear set that isuniquely class-themed with its own two- and four-piece bonuses for everyspecialization. For Retribution Paladins, these set bonusescurrently are:

• Retribution Paladin 2-Piece — When you benefit from Art of War,you gain Seraphim for 4 seconds.
• Retribution Paladin 4-Piece — Art of War has a 50% chance toreset the cooldown of Wake of Ashes instead of Blade of Justice.

Both Retribution Paladin set bonuses trigger based on our baseline passive Art of War, which procs off of auto attacks with a flat 12% chance, or24% chance with our mainstay talent Blade of Wrath. To gain more procs,we can increase our auto attack speed by increasing our Haste, taking the Zeal talent, and finally we can utilize a Shaman's Windfury Totem to get up to extra ~700 single-target DPS.

The Retribution Paladin 2-Piece bonus grants us 4 seconds of thevery same effect we gain from our existing talent Seraphim wheneverwe get a Art of War proc. In case you get a proc during your normalSeraphim, it will extend the duration.

The Retribution Paladin 4-Piece bonus allows us to easily make good use ofthe 4-second Seraphim proc. If we have 3 or more Holy Power, forexample, we first can spend it with Templar's Verdict, then regain the 3 HolyPower we just spent with the freshly-reset Wake of Ashes, and thenspend again with Templar's Verdict. If we get a proc without 3 Holy Power,we skip the first spender and use Wake of Ashes right away into a spender.

Overall, the frequently available Wake of Ashes is very enjoyable toplay with.

You now can press Ashen Hallow again to cancel the effect.

While using the Covenant Legendary Radiant Embers, it will no longercancel the effect when stepping outside of the large bloody circle. To gainthe cooldown-reduction effect, you now have to manually cancel the effect bypressing Ashen Hallow again.

Recall that in Patch 9.1, every class received a Legendary Powerthat was unique to each Covenant. For Paladins, these Powers were:

• Kyrian: Divine Resonance will throw an un-buffed Judgment at your current target once every 5 seconds aftercasting Divine Toll for 15 seconds (3 Judgments).
• Venthyr: Radiant Embers increases the duration of Ashen Hallow to 45 seconds. Once you cancel the effect by clicking itagain, it will reduce your Ashen Hallow cooldown by a certain amount dependingon how long it was up.
• Night Fae: Seasons of Plenty empowers the middle 10 secondsof the 30-second buff of each season in Blessing of the Seasons. Blessing of Spring doubles both healing done and healing received, Blessing of Winter doubles the damage proc, and Blessing of Autumn doubles its cooldown reduction. Currently Blessing of Summer is a exception where its effectiveness isquadrupled instead of doubled, because both the proc rate and damage aredoubled.
• Necrolord: Duty-Bound Gavel adds a second charge to Vanquisher's Hammer and one additional Divine Storm triggerper charge.

However, new in Patch 9.2 is the ability to eventually use asecond Legendary Power, provided it is your Covenant-specific effect.This means that Kyrian Retribution Paladins should make use of both Divine Resonance and Final Verdict. In addition, thisability will be tied to a new Legendary Power that automatically switches tomatch your current Covenant, further encouraging the flexibility of freelychanging Covenants that was introduced in Patch 9.1.5.

For single-target, all Covenants except for Venthyr will use Final Verdict alongside their fixed Covenant Legendary. Venthyrshould use The Mad Paragon alongside their fixed Radiant EmbersLegendary.

For variable target situations, all Covenants should use Vanguard's Momentumalongside their fixed Covenant Legendary.

For cleave, all Covenants should use Tempest of the Lightbringeralongside their fixed Covenant Legendary.