Can a Retribution Paladin be a part of main raid teams as a DPS?

So, it’s a pretty long title, but the core question is precisely that.

I was thinking about maining a Ret Pala because love its utility while being a DPS, but are Ret Palas even picked and/or able to be part of a main raid team?

I am not even talking about that top 1% of raid teams that try to be world firsts and are really hardcore, just your avarage guilds which try to progress raid.

Talk to me, pala mains.

Of course. We perform very well on all fights except maybe Court.
Method had ret pala on world first Azhara and he was top 3 dps.

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Oh, I didn’t know about that.
Everytime I see someone recruiting melee DPS’s it’s always Warriors or Demon Hunters, so I thought people wouldn’t even consider Rets.

You’re probably thinking M+? In M+ Ret could use a bit more utility to be frank.

Raid wise Ret is fine.

Ret is viable in mythic raids and high m+ as well. In a group with other orange loggers however you will rarely be on top but close to the top melee specs (rogue/fury/dh). Of course this is an ideal situation that takes as granted that everyone in your raid will be on top performance so…

Having said that, keep in mind that while the current crit based Execution Sentence built performs very well, is also extremely punishing, partially due to lack of mobility. You will have to perform properly to be on top.

However if you have no guild, be prepared to be declined by many pugs because people prefer to meta specs…

Yeah, I figured as much about pugs. Like I mentioned, I have never saw someone asking for a ret on the channels. Luckily I have a nice guild.
I was mostely worried on investing into a class/spec which I would be declined on the main features of the game.

Btw, what’s “orange loggers”?

I mean people who have above 95 logs.

But if you invest time and learn the spec is absolutely viable in raids.

It’s also because pretty much every guild already has already one or more ret.
Pala is hardly ever fotm class but always works so there are a ton of them around.

It’s mega punishing even if you’re not correctly geared and with the right essences. Every other build can’t keep up in terms of pure numbers.

WHOA… slow down there guys, just stop for a second, ill handle this.

LOLRET.

It should be viable, and depending on the guild a Ret can be pretty handy. I seldom see advertisements on trade chat showing up for guilds who are looking for retribution paladins, but that is Draenor horde side. I am unsure how the Alliance side is faring.

The only issue I can see you run into are the abundance of melee specs in a lot of raid groups, but if your goal is to do keys at a medium level (10) with guildies and do raids up to heroic you should be fine as Ret.

I am not sure how they fare on mythic level sadly, as currently I am needed on other characters of mine for progression.

Says the drug knight

Retolies was on Azshara and Jaina and was on 5/6 raid final bosses first kill. Also, when Guldans world first was claimerd by Exorsus there was a ret pala called Midzor too and both of them were alway on top3/5 on dps meters so, being said that, retribution spec is absolutely viable as mithic raiding spec. Maybe performs maginally (1-3%) lower than warrior/rogue/dh, but brings loads of utility and mechanics skips when played correctly. An wise raid leader wold bring a ret pala to the raid at any moment.

Sure but the problem is that any wise leader would bring 1 ret, not many, and proper raid teams already have a ret since pala is one of the oldest class and is heavily represented.

Stacking more of them due to how they are punished by any movement mechanics against a war/rogue/dh is not convenient unless you need a tons of bubble.

Maybe in proper guilds. Retri propably one of the worst classes to pug specially if you are trying to push mythic from heroic.

Reason is simple as listed before. Ppl tend to prefer invite classes that are not so sensitive dmg output. Also proper traits gear atm are very important.

Also messy playstyle of other people breaks usually retris rotations (excess need of movement/someone needs BoP/Cleanse etc). Retri is best with stable fight without small movement and aoe. And what comes for raiding there rarely are any raids designed that in mind.

Last time retri was strongest were around Kill Jaedan times when Arfifact power boosted retris to the top. After that they have been hit multiple times with nerfhammer too harsh. Which ended up retri quite low on dps overall. Played right can be veyr functional toolkit for everything.

One of most underrated class specially in pugging circles atm.

In TOS, we were bad. I remember those Warcraftlogs chart where ret was last.

They shouldn’t have nerfed divine steed that way. I do think that’s really frustrating. 30s cd was not an excellent movement CD, but that was fine. Now, at 45s, it forces to now anticipate even more when to move.

Also, I do think Blizzard has no clue about desinging ret. They said in legion they wanted us to be a pure melee spec. Fine. But they should have sticked to this idea by giving us more tools to be an efficient melee. Or they could have giving back exorcism as a ranged spell, so we can increase uptime. I was also thinking about increasing damage output, but that’s not a path they are following.

I was only recruited for blessings, because some healers cried for extra mana. Besides, from a pure DPS output, we’re being outclassed.

can’t you all just use that judgement aoe heal, i mean if you have 5 ret paladins with that then nobody will ever need healing again so then your healers can add more dps in and thus… increase your raids dps…?

ret is great dps for any fight however it will lesslikely shine in overall dps. The problem is its very trait/talent/secondary dependant . In one build you can do realy great single target dps, but your aoe will just suck, in another build you can do pretty solid (not the top) aoe dps but your single target will be pretty sh ity. Anyway its great class for progress when the guy is playing the role like a paladin not like a dh or warrior. Its also much stronger on longer fights, i am almost everytime pretty bad on fast rekills, while i am on the top when fight is longer 5min+.
When you will be forced a lot to healing then ofc your dps will suffer a lot, world of glory costs me 76k st dmg at avarage (135k during wings).
Overall its much better for mythic then for heroic runs,strong bursty potential is always great on latest mythic bosses (as Ghuun, azshara, Jaina in Bfa). There was one video where Josh priest is talking why they are using retolies on almost every harder mythic boss, the reason was simply versatile brutal burst on short cooldown which can be delivered at almost any time becouse of buble. Btw Method and Limit are realy Top guilds both of them using the ret in main raid group, so its not some Methods unicum, also in Chinesse guilds rets are very popular, they are not over powered, but they are pretty well balanced around their unique niche.

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It’s a prot paladin talent.

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It’s an azerite trait… not a talent

That trait is hardly an aoe heal, works only on melee range, it’s crappy healing and only up to 10 people.
The prot talent is a much more solid aoe heal.