WoW Dragonflight patch 10.0.7 brings the Ret Paladin rework we deserve

The WoW Dragonflight patch 10.0.7 PTR test includes a Ret Paladin rework with changes to Retribution Aura and a new baseline passive for the MMORPG class.

WoW Dragonflight Ret Paladin rework - High Exarch Turalyon, a white-haired paladin, smiles wryly

Blizzard says WoW Dragonflight patch 10.0.7 will include a Ret Paladin rework aimed at changing the way auras work, with some of the changes hitting in the latest update to the WoW Dragonflight PTR. Retribution Paladins are one of the staple classes for the iconic MMORPG, with their melee DPS output supplemented by excellent defensive utility. These latest changes look to streamline some of their aura usage and benefit their fellow raid and party members when things get dangerous.

Blizzard community manager Randy ‘Kaivax’ Jordan details the planned World of Warcraft update on the Blizzard forums, noting that the team is “hard at work on updates to the Retribution tree.” They explain, “In Dragonflight, Retribution Aura has functioned only as a personal throughput benefit to Paladins, locking them out of using other Auras during gameplay.”

In an effort to change that, Retribution Aura will now grant 5% increased damage and healing to all party or raid members for ten seconds whenever a member within 40 yards takes more than 50% of their health in damage. This has a 30 second cooldown, so it won’t be popping off constantly, but it should provide a pretty noticeable boon to your whole group during fights with high burst damage.

This new-look Retribution Aura replaces the previous Seraphim proc that would occur when a party member took damage. Kaivax notes that Seraphim has been removed from the Paladin talent tree, calling it a large factor in Paladins “having an excessive amount of buttons to press.”

As such, the team has decided “to take the throughput provided by this cooldown and build it into your cool abilities.” Kaivax also notes that the Divine Toll ability will be moved to the Paladin class tree “to ensure there’s still a powerful and exciting node at the end point of the class tree as a goal.”

WoW Dragonflight - a group fighting Raszageth in Vault of the Incarnates

As for the other component to Retribution Aura, Avenging Wrath, that’s now set to become a new baseline passive for Ret Pallys called ‘Instrument of Retribution.’ Now when any party member within 40 yards dies, you’ll gain Avenging Wrath for 12 seconds (a pretty nice buff on the previous duration of eight seconds).

This change to Retribution Aura should be pretty welcome, but there’s potential for it to be controversial – those looking to hit those high DPS parses are now actively encouraged to have someone on the team intentionally take damage, which is an interesting risk/reward mechanic but can sometimes feel like you’re deliberately encouraged to play “suboptimally” in order to succeed.

Time will tell how these changes play out – with some going into testing on the current WoW Dragonflight 10.0.7 PTR, it’s likely we’ll start to see feedback on how they feel pretty sharpish. In closing, Kaivax says, “We look forward to sharing more with you [about the upcoming Ret Paladin changes] in the coming weeks and hearing your feedback!”

Take a look at the WoW Dragonflight patch notes for February 7 for the latest class tuning changes. We also have a WoW Dragonflight tier list to help you choose the best spec, and make sure you’re set up with the best WoW addons for Dragonflight in 2023. If you haven’t dived into the Dragon Isles yet, read our WoW Dragonflight review to find out what it’s all about.