Retribution Paladin playstyle and rotation guide

In general, you want to pool Holy Power as much as you can and always have cooldowns running and don’t overcap.

With tier-set bonuses, it can change your rotation by quite a bit. Now, generally, you always want to use Wake of Ashes before auto-attacking (remember Art of War can’t proc twice in a row) to not waste a reset on Wake of Ashes. 
With the 2-set proc, you want to fit as many hard-hitting abilities as possible before Seraphim ends, and you’ll want to track the timer in order to not miss out. This applies largely to Divine Toll as well, as you’ll do a lot more damage with it if you fit it into a Seraphim window.

This makes the priority list somewhat like this:

Wake of Ashes > Blade of Justice > Judgment > Hammer of Wrath > Crusader Strike > Consecration (when you have nothing else to press or if you only have 1x CS charge left) > Templar’s / Final Verdict when 5HP or no other abilities available.

The openers listed below are only examples, and they wary depending on your Art of War procs, Divine Resonance ticks (you don’t want to waste Judgment debuffs). Remember, during bloodlust, you might get off a Templar’s / Final Verdict before the last judgment debuff from Divine Toll lands, meaning you will be able to sink in an extra holy power-spender on the judgment debuff.

An example of an opener on pull with bloodlust - Single-target:

1. Judgment
2. Blade of Justice
3. Avenging Wrath + On-use trinket + Potion of spectral strength
4. Hammer of Wrath
5. Final Verdict
6. Wake of Ashes (this is in order to avoid wasting reset proc on 2nd auto-attack)
7. Final Verdict
8. Divine toll (assuming you got 2-piece proc and have Seraphim)
9. Final Verdict
10. Wake of Ashes (assuming the proc reset Wake of Ashes)
11. Final Verdict

An example of an opener on pull with bloodlust - Multi-target:

1. Judgment
2. Blade of Justice
3. Avenging Wrath + On-use trinket + Potion of spectral strength
4. Hammer of Wrath
5. Divine storm
6. Wake of Ashes (this is in order to avoid wasting reset proc on 2nd auto-attack)
7. Divine storm
8. Divine toll (assuming you got 2-piece proc and have Seraphim)
9. Divine storm
10. Blade of Wrath
11. Hammer of Wrath
12. Judgment
13. Divine storm

Playstyle

Cooldown management: I’ve mentioned earlier in the guide when to use your cooldowns but try to remember what relevant damage is. You might be able to pop all CDs on an add pack, but it might not be the best for the raid, as they could die by passive cleave anyway and you’re missing out on boss damage.

Movement: Try to not waste your divine steeds, as it’s your only mobility ability, and can save you in a lot of situations.

General notes: Try to remember you’re a hybrid class. You can offer very strong burst, especially on AoE. That doesn’t mean you should forget about your other strengths, like your ability to save raid/party members with abilities like blessing of protection, blessing of sacrifice or lay on hands. You can also sacrifice some DPS and use Word of Glory to help out healers get through tough phases.

Often forgotten, but always try to stand behind the targets you’re hitting to avoid missing your hits.