How to Play Retribution in Midnight Season 2 — Transcript
Full transcript
- 0:00Things have changed a fair bit heading
- 0:02into season 2 for retribution paladin.
- 0:05So, if you want to learn how to play
- 0:06retribution, guess what? You're in the
- 0:08right place.
- 0:10So, today [music] we're going to cover
- 0:12talent builds, spell priorities, and
- 0:14decision-making that really [music]
- 0:15matters if you want to put up big
- 0:17numbers and contribute meaningfully to
- 0:19your raid. We're even going [music] to
- 0:21cover some cool stuff like optimal bonus
- 0:23roll pathing, too,
- 0:24and all the changes that really come
- 0:26with the patch.
- 0:28But, let's briefly touch on Blizzard's
- 0:29new philosophy and some of the class
- 0:31changes before we get into things like
- 0:33talents and rotation. So, what changed?
- 0:36In 12.1, almost all DPS classes have had
- 0:40their cooldowns and damage profiles
- 0:42changed.
- 0:43Damage has been [music] shifted out of
- 0:45cooldowns like Avenging Wrath and moved
- 0:47into regular rotational abilities.
- 0:50It's probably a healthy change for the
- 0:51game overall,
- 0:53>> [music]
- 0:53>> but for red at least, it has a pretty
- 0:55limited impact.
- 0:56Speaking of healthy changes, [music]
- 0:58we're also now less reliant on having
- 1:00the Skyfury buff, so you won't always
- 1:02have to have a shaman in the group.
- 1:05When taking [music] crusading strikes,
- 1:06we now no longer generate additional
- 1:09holy power from that extra auto attack
- 1:12from Skyfury. To compensate, [music]
- 1:14crusading strikes was buffed 35%
- 1:17and honestly, it's a pretty big change.
- 1:19We auto attack very quickly.
- 1:21This change [music] does force us to
- 1:23play crusading strikes in every single
- 1:25build we run.
- 1:27>> [music]
- 1:27>> This does create a better flow of
- 1:29incoming holy power
- 1:30and it is more consistent with Art of
- 1:32War procs.
- 1:33I I think it's a pretty good change.
- 1:35Speaking of good changes, our apex
- 1:38talent now allows Art of War or
- 1:40Righteous Cause to stack up to two
- 1:42charges.
- 1:43This is a massive quality of life change
- 1:45for us and puts less of focus on
- 1:47immediately using Art of War when
- 1:49[music] it happens.
- 1:50Moving forward, we should munch less of
- 1:53these procs if playing correctly,
- 1:54[music] and that's pretty great.
- 1:56Templar had some weird changes here
- 1:58though.
- 1:59>> [music]
- 1:59>> Hammer of Light now costs three Holy
- 2:01Power, down from five. And it did feel a
- 2:04bit odd initially, but with some time
- 2:06[music] and practice, it's going to feel
- 2:08normal again.
- 2:09Uh it's not a huge change, but it is
- 2:11something of note.
- 2:12And all of the other changes outlined
- 2:14here just [music] move damage around
- 2:17from our burst windows into our regular
- 2:19rotation.
- 2:20This is going to make our profile
- 2:22slightly more flat,
- 2:24but [music] the trade-off is our damage
- 2:26will just be slightly higher all of the
- 2:28time rather than our burst window. I
- 2:30think it's probably a win overall, uh
- 2:33but we'll see.
- 2:35I do want to address the elephant in the
- 2:37room here though.
- 2:38On the patch launch,
- 2:39>> [music]
- 2:40>> Ret is not tuned particularly well.
- 2:43We're simming right around 200k,
- 2:45>> [music]
- 2:46>> and that is substantially behind other
- 2:47classes. And quite frankly, Ret
- 2:49desperately needs a buff.
- 2:51As with previous seasons, Blizzard is
- 2:53going to do tuning. Maybe some as early
- 2:56as Friday, and it's going to ideally get
- 2:58us in a more competitive spot. So, it's
- 3:01not time to panic. Changes [music] will
- 3:03come, but right now, you might be a
- 3:05little bit lower than you're going to
- 3:06end up being. Before we dive in further
- 3:08though, I do want to have one reminder
- 3:10here. The content of this guide is
- 3:12subject [music] to change. Blizzard
- 3:14nerfs and buffs things all the time, and
- 3:16new things get discovered. So, do keep
- 3:18an eye out on this specific channel for
- 3:20future updates, and don't forget to look
- 3:22at your written guide resources like
- 3:23Wowhead or Icy Veins.
- 3:25And if you haven't already yet, join the
- 3:28JessierTV Discord as well as the
- 3:30Retribution Paladin Discord linked
- 3:31below.
- 3:32So, let's lay the groundwork here with
- 3:34talents first.
- 3:35>> [music]
- 3:35>> I think it's a core foundation to build
- 3:37on the rest of this guide.
- 3:38For better or for worse, Retribution has
- 3:41had limited talent choice [music] in
- 3:42Midnight. You're going to have a set of
- 3:44core talents you're always going to
- 3:46pick, and based upon your encounter or
- 3:48[music] situation, you're just going to
- 3:50swap a few points around. We are playing
- 3:52both Templar and Herald of the Sun this
- 3:55tier. Templar does [music] better single
- 3:57target alongside burst AoE, where Herald
- 4:00of the Sun definitely shines [music]
- 4:02with sustained AoE. You're You're going
- 4:04to play both.
- 4:05So, I'd encourage [music] you to check
- 4:06out Warcraft Logs for the most
- 4:08up-to-date player-driven information
- 4:10because things can change week over week
- 4:13as people [music] learn and adjust how
- 4:15they play fights. But, let's start with
- 4:16Templar.
- 4:17Here's what the talent tree looks like.
- 4:20The orange points here are mostly
- 4:21non-negotiable. [music]
- 4:23If you're hitting multiple targets or
- 4:25are in Mythic Plus, all you'll do is
- 4:27you'll swap Heart of the Crusader
- 4:28[music] points for the purple icons
- 4:30here.
- 4:31You'll also want to swap Divine
- 4:33Resonance to Quickened Invocation and
- 4:35Seal of the Templar to Divine Exaction.
- 4:38You can go one step further and swap
- 4:40Jurisdiction for Sanctify, but I think
- 4:42that trades off a bit too much single
- 4:44target. But, we'll have to sort of get a
- 4:46feel for it what numbers are going to be
- 4:47like in a real environment, [music] not
- 4:49just on the PTO.
- 4:51Herald of the Sun is similar, but it has
- 4:53one thing that's going to be a little
- 4:54bit different.
- 4:55>> [music]
- 4:55>> You're always going to take Tempest of
- 4:57the Lightbringer if you have the new
- 4:59four-piece.
- 5:00Due to how the four-piece interacts with
- 5:02Divine Storm and how Herald really leans
- 5:04into Divine Storm damage, it's [music]
- 5:06going to be worth it to take that node
- 5:08on single target. I know it's a little
- 5:10bit weird, but it's worth it.
- 5:12Similarly, you're going to remove points
- 5:14from Heart of the Crusader [music] to
- 5:15pick up any of your purple AoE nodes
- 5:17here.
- 5:18There isn't a ton of choice for us. For
- 5:20the majority of our talent selections,
- 5:21they're just going to be locked in. We
- 5:23will likely swap between Templar and
- 5:26Herald of the Sun [music] based on fight
- 5:27requirements. And as of current tuning,
- 5:30I could see a world where we play Herald
- 5:31of the Sun on Lost [music] Explorers and
- 5:34Twin Fangs because of the sustained
- 5:36two-target nature of the fight. But,
- 5:38we'll have to see a little bit closer to
- 5:40the end of this week what tuning we
- 5:42might get.
- 5:44Maybe more fights if the fight design
- 5:46synergizes well with the damage profile
- 5:48Herald of the Sun brings,
- 5:49>> [music]
- 5:50>> we'll see soon.
- 5:51But, I will note if you somehow luck
- 5:53into getting your raid to give you power
- 5:55infusion [music] all of the time, Herald
- 5:57will definitely be a great option. Power
- 5:59infusion scales way better with Herald
- 6:02of the Sun than it does for Templar,
- 6:03[music]
- 6:04and if you play in Herald, you're going
- 6:06to want it as much as humanly possible.
- 6:08>> [music]
- 6:09>> Reality is, it's likely going to go to
- 6:11another range DPS.
- 6:13If we're buffed by a huge amount, then
- 6:15great, [music] maybe you'll be the
- 6:16recipient, but we'll see.
- 6:18So, let's talk fundamentals.
- 6:20The fundamentals for retribution haven't
- 6:22really changed much [music] since
- 6:23Midnight's launch. The core gameplay
- 6:25loop still focuses on building and
- 6:27spending Holy Power through use of a
- 6:29priority system. [music]
- 6:30If you have an ability available that's
- 6:32high priority, you're going to want to
- 6:34use it and then move on to the next
- 6:35logical choice.
- 6:37All about building Holy Power and
- 6:39spending [music] Holy Power and wasting
- 6:41as little as possible.
- 6:43Because some of our talent interactions,
- 6:45>> [music]
- 6:45>> we're usually going to want to spend
- 6:47Holy Power really as soon as you're able
- 6:49to do so. And here's a quick list why.
- 6:52Auto attacks [music] generate Holy
- 6:53Power, and by spending at three Holy
- 6:55Power, you're going to keep your gains
- 6:57consistent. You're never going to munch
- 6:58those gains [music] from Crusading
- 6:59Strikes.
- 7:01Final Verdict can also reset Judgment
- 7:03and Hammer of Wrath.
- 7:04So, by spending early, you might get
- 7:07your generators back faster.
- 7:09And then auto attacks can proc Art of
- 7:11War, and that's a high priority buff
- 7:13that you want to consume [music] very
- 7:15quickly, and it generates two Holy
- 7:16Power.
- 7:18We'll get into more of the details in
- 7:19the rotational section.
- 7:21In short, we generate a ton of Holy
- 7:23Power, so you really want to spend it as
- 7:25soon as you can to minimize [music]
- 7:26waste.
- 7:27It is worth mentioning what our
- 7:29two-piece and four-piece are going to do
- 7:30this tier, since it's going to impact
- 7:32our rotation conversation here.
- 7:35The two-piece is going to let Divine
- 7:37Purpose proc more frequently and provide
- 7:39a pretty good bonus to Holy damage. The
- 7:41up [music] time is pretty favorable on
- 7:43this set and it does smooth out the
- 7:44rotation by having free spenders.
- 7:47The four-piece [music] is a bit
- 7:48different though. When you consume
- 7:50divine purpose, your next alternate
- 7:53spender is going to activate divine
- 7:54arbiter and get [music] a big burst of
- 7:56holy damage.
- 7:57So, if you use divine purpose with final
- 7:59verdict, you can activate divine arbiter
- 8:02with divine [music] storm or hammer of
- 8:04light.
- 8:05The opposite is true as well.
- 8:07If you consume divine purpose with
- 8:09[music] divine storm, you'll be able to
- 8:10trigger arbiter with hammer of light or
- 8:13final verdict.
- 8:15It just [music] lets us do a one-two
- 8:16combo with every divine purpose.
- 8:19There is some nuance to when we do this
- 8:21[music] with Templar, but for the most
- 8:22part, the logic here is going to be
- 8:24similar.
- 8:25But, let's talk details. [music]
- 8:27I'll have two sections for this, one for
- 8:29Templar and the other one for Herald of
- 8:31the Sun because they are slightly
- 8:32different. Your choice of hero talent
- 8:35will [music] impact your spell
- 8:36priorities and I'm going to outline them
- 8:38here. As I mentioned before, we are
- 8:40going to play both hero talents this
- 8:42tier, but let's start with [music]
- 8:43Templar.
- 8:44Starting with the opener, this is going
- 8:46to be your launch sequence and it's
- 8:48going to be the same every time and it's
- 8:49identical to what [music] we did in
- 8:51patch 12.0.
- 8:52You'll start by applying expurgation
- 8:54with blade of justice.
- 8:56Follow up with execution sentence.
- 8:59Then you'll hit your wake of ashes and
- 9:01hammer of light combo.
- 9:03And lastly, you'll finish with divine
- 9:04toll and that will allow you to enter
- 9:06into our normal rotation framework.
- 9:09For this normal rotation, you're going
- 9:11to want to prioritize using hammer of
- 9:13light when available, spending holy
- 9:15power when capped, [music]
- 9:17using your wake of ashes hammer of light
- 9:19combo on cool down, and then you're also
- 9:21going to want to keep divine [music]
- 9:22toll synced with cool downs where
- 9:23applicable. For our main holy power
- 9:25generation, we're going to want to rely
- 9:27primarily on blade of justice and the
- 9:29art of war procs,
- 9:30>> [music]
- 9:31>> and then we're going to fill down time
- 9:32with hammer of wrath and judgment.
- 9:34There is some nuance here now that art
- 9:36of war and righteous [music] stacked to
- 9:37two, but if you're at two stacks and
- 9:40less than five Holy Power, you're always
- 9:42going to want to send the Blade of
- 9:44Justice to [music] prevent munching.
- 9:46Otherwise, you're just going to use it
- 9:48when it's available.
- 9:49Crusading Strikes also gives [music] us
- 9:51a constant constant flow of Holy Power,
- 9:54so you're going to be spending at a
- 9:56pretty frequent rate.
- 9:57>> [music]
- 9:57>> So, as of recording, our tier set
- 10:00four-piece can be ignored when playing
- 10:02Templar on single target only. [music]
- 10:05Hammer of Light activates the bonus, so
- 10:07we don't really have to play around
- 10:09[music] it. If this is buffed in the
- 10:10coming weeks, we'll likely have to
- 10:12change our rotational priority. However,
- 10:14[music]
- 10:15right now, we don't need to.
- 10:17If we are playing Templar in any AoE
- 10:19situation, we're [music] still going to
- 10:20have to rotate our spenders.
- 10:23The rotation is mostly the same, but
- 10:26we're going [music] to place a high
- 10:27priority on activating Divine Arbiter
- 10:29through your alternate spender.
- 10:32So, if you're AoEing and you consume a
- 10:33Divine Purpose with Divine Storm,
- 10:35[music]
- 10:36you're going to want to spend your next
- 10:37three Holy Power on Templar's Verdict or
- 10:40Hammer of Light to activate. It does a
- 10:42meaningful contribution to AoE, so you
- 10:43don't want [music] to mess that up.
- 10:46Herald of the Sun, compared to Templar,
- 10:47is mostly the same, but it has two major
- 10:50differences.
- 10:51The first is Hammer of Wrath is
- 10:53prioritized [music]
- 10:54during Avenging Wrath to activate Walk
- 10:56into Light.
- 10:58Walk into Light simply will consume any
- 11:00Blade of Justice charges [music] you
- 11:01have at the same time you use Hammer of
- 11:04Wrath.
- 11:04This means more damage.
- 11:06And the second thing is Herald will
- 11:08always try to activate the Divine
- 11:10Arbiter buff. Whether it's single target
- 11:12or AoE, you're [music] going to want to
- 11:14activate it.
- 11:15And Herald has a slightly different
- 11:17opener, but it's very slight.
- 11:19Instead of having your Wake of Ashes
- 11:21Hammer of Light combo, you're just going
- 11:23to weave in Final [music] Verdict to
- 11:25activate Divine Arbiter.
- 11:30For AoE, there's almost going to be no
- 11:32difference.
- 11:34And for Herald of the Sun, it's the
- 11:35single target rotation, but you're using
- 11:37Divine Storm [music] instead.
- 11:39The key thing to remember here is you're
- 11:41alternate spenders when consuming Divine
- 11:43Purpose.
- 11:44As a related but important note, your
- 11:46first Final Verdict and Avenging Wrath
- 11:48will also trigger Imperian Legacy, so do
- 11:51keep that [music] in mind.
- 11:53And at the end of the day, it's really
- 11:54about keeping your cooldowns on cooldown
- 11:57as much as possible [music] and
- 11:58optimizing your 1-minute burst windows.
- 12:00If you do that successfully, you'll
- 12:02[music] be in a good spot.
- 12:04And remember, any Holy Power wasted is
- 12:07lost damage. [music] So, try not to
- 12:08waste Holy Power.
- 12:10So, let's shift gears and talk more
- 12:12about character prep and some other
- 12:13related topics.
- 12:15The first of which is gearing and bonus
- 12:17rolls.
- 12:18Bonus [music] rolls are back this tier
- 12:20and things got a bit weird.
- 12:22The best thing you can do right now, for
- 12:24the large majority of players, is to
- 12:26take a bonus roll from your [music]
- 12:27weekly Great Vault every single time,
- 12:30with a couple exceptions. This gets you
- 12:32guaranteed high-impact [music]
- 12:33gear and crest saves. And everyone's
- 12:36going to target
- 12:37>> [music]
- 12:37>> slightly differently based on how
- 12:39progressed you are, but the goal is to
- 12:41use your coins where you're going to get
- 12:43the highest DPS on average. And then
- 12:46you're going to want to target some rare
- 12:47gear, too.
- 12:48So, here are some of the high-priority
- 12:50pieces that you're likely going to want
- 12:51to pick up.
- 12:53Maz'rar, the axe [music] from the Coiled
- 12:55Altar, is massive. It's got a great
- 12:58can't trip effect, and if you're coining
- 13:00it on heroic, it's going to give you one
- 13:02out of six [music] mythic gear. So, you
- 13:04can spend your crest and upgrade this
- 13:06thing and give yourself a best-in-slot
- 13:08weapon all the way up until you killed
- 13:10Coiled Altar on mythic. For a lot of
- 13:13guilds,
- 13:14you're only going to kill Coiled Altar
- 13:16on mythic once, [music] when you extend.
- 13:18So, the goal is get this weapon upgraded
- 13:21and you're going to use it for the
- 13:22majority of the tier, at least until you
- 13:24would coin a version on mythic.
- 13:26>> [music]
- 13:26>> The second priority item is Soul Gien's
- 13:28Guillotine Technique.
- 13:30Also from the Coiled Altar, this trinket
- 13:33pairs incredibly [music] well with
- 13:35Mazeroth.
- 13:36You get an additional can trip effect
- 13:38and cleaves to a secondary target. Since
- 13:41secondary targets are relatively [music]
- 13:42present through this entire raid, call
- 13:44it ad slop if you want, but there is a
- 13:46fair bit of it.
- 13:48You're always going [music] to get some
- 13:49high value from this trinket, so it's
- 13:51well worth targeting.
- 13:52The third and fourth options come from
- 13:54Ulatek specifically. It's the Acrobane
- 13:57Reliquary Neck, which has an additional
- 13:59socket and a can trip effect, both
- 14:01[music] of which are very strong, but
- 14:02not as strong as the trinket or the
- 14:04weapon.
- 14:05And the legs from Ulatek, the Unbound
- 14:07Reign-Cord Legs. Those [music] have a
- 14:09nice mastery bonus and are worth picking
- 14:11up, but it's not a huge impact.
- 14:14I will give a special note to the Heart
- 14:16of Ulatek trinket off of Ulatek. It's
- 14:18very good, we want [music] it,
- 14:21but it's not as good as some of the
- 14:23other options here.
- 14:24And do keep in mind, you're still going
- 14:26to receive loot from your regular raid
- 14:28progression.
- 14:29And we're going to have coins coming in
- 14:31the 12.1.5 [music]
- 14:32patch, but your priority, at least for
- 14:34now, is to always target [music] the
- 14:36gear that will make the most impact and
- 14:38is difficult to acquire.
- 14:40You're filling out those slots that are
- 14:41going to be critical, which are weapons
- 14:43[music] and trinkets, because they're
- 14:45big contributors to our DPS.
- 14:47Weapon being the biggest one.
- 14:49And so, as of recording, my plan is
- 14:51going to be using my [music] first
- 14:53couple of coins on Coiled Altar on
- 14:55heroic. And this will guarantee my
- 14:58[music] best mythic weapon and trinket.
- 15:00The other pieces on that loot table are
- 15:02still [music] good since you'll get them
- 15:03at a one out of six myth track, but
- 15:05you're not going to get a crest thing
- 15:07with those.
- 15:08Really,
- 15:09the best possible scenario is you spend
- 15:11two coins and both of the coins get you
- 15:14Mazeroth and [music] the trinket.
- 15:17Otherwise, you might have to wait up to
- 15:18five weeks to get what you need,
- 15:20>> [music]
- 15:20>> but it's worth it. These items are
- 15:22really good. The other special thing is
- 15:24this is going to allow you to skip
- 15:26crafting [music] weapon and to go
- 15:28straight into other crafts like the
- 15:30lower ring as well when crests [music]
- 15:32are available.
- 15:33It's going to be a little bit weird this
- 15:34tier, but we'll we'll get through it.
- 15:36So, let's briefly [music] touch on
- 15:37stats. You're going to prioritize
- 15:40mastery with haste and crit being about
- 15:42equal.
- 15:42>> [music]
- 15:42>> Verse is still the worst stat for us.
- 15:46This is a general rule of thumb, but
- 15:47your best bet is going [music] to always
- 15:49be to sim your character in Droptimizer
- 15:52to see what upgrades are [music] going
- 15:53to be the best for you. This is even
- 15:55more relevant because the catalyst now
- 15:57maintains the stats of an item piece.
- 16:00So, if you want to catalyze shoulders
- 16:02and they have haste and versatility on
- 16:05them and you catalyze them, yes, you get
- 16:07the tier set, but you also get the
- 16:08stats.
- 16:10This just [music] gives us a lot more,
- 16:12we'll say, fine-tuning in our stats.
- 16:14There are some good items we can pick up
- 16:16like the shoulders from Murder Row, the
- 16:19gloves [music] from Danath Trollbane,
- 16:21and the helm from the first boss in the
- 16:23raid. Everything's going to be different
- 16:25based on what stats you currently have,
- 16:28but using the tools you have available
- 16:29will make a big difference.
- 16:31Our consumables are going to look
- 16:33slightly different this time around.
- 16:34[music]
- 16:35Yet again, run your character through
- 16:36RaidBots and see what's best for you.
- 16:39There are situations where you might
- 16:40switch your weapon to a mastery enchant,
- 16:42gems to [music] the flawless masterful
- 16:45peridot, and our potion might end up
- 16:47being the potion of recklessness [music]
- 16:49instead of Lethal Potential.
- 16:51That's all going to change based on what
- 16:52gear you have.
- 16:54One of the things I will note this tier
- 16:55as well is a lot of our damage is coming
- 16:58from external [music] sources.
- 17:00So, you're looking at things like
- 17:01Zul'jin's Technique or [music] the venom
- 17:03dot from your weapon and and other
- 17:05related things. So, mastery, while it's
- 17:08still a really good stat for us, doesn't
- 17:10help those other abilities scale. So,
- 17:12that's why we're going to see an
- 17:13increase in things like haste and crit
- 17:15on our gear because [music] haste and
- 17:17crit impact other non-retribution
- 17:21damage sources. [music]
- 17:22If you've made it this far, thanks for
- 17:24watching. I hope this guide has been
- 17:25helpful. To join the Jesse RTV
- 17:28community, do check out the Discord.
- 17:29[music] You can join through using the
- 17:31link in the video description.
- 17:33If you would like to support the channel
- 17:35[music] further, Patreon is the best
- 17:36place to do it. It gets you some
- 17:38exclusive access to things like log
- 17:40reviews, Jesse radio, and more, and it
- 17:42really makes this channel possible.
- 17:44Best of luck in the Venomous Abyss and
- 17:46[music] season 2 of Midnight. We'll see
- 17:48you in the next video.
- 17:54>> [music]
About this transcript
This page contains the full transcript of How to Play Retribution in Midnight Season 2 by Jesir, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 3,470 words across 581 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.
What you can do with it
Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.
Free YouTube transcript tool
YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.