PVE Retribution Paladin Best in Slot (BiS) & Pre-Raid Gear - WotLK Classic - Warcraft Tavern (2024)

Fresh 80

As a fresh level 80, you have several choices for your head slot. You can either directly buy a very powerful BoE item from the Auction House directly after reaching level 80 or you can go through a slow dungeon crawl progression to get powerful upgrades.

Spiked Titansteel Helm is available directly after reaching level 80, granting you very high baseline stats, gem sockets, and high secondary stats such as Hit Rating and Critical Strike Chance. This item is powerful enough to be considered worthy of taking even in the Pre-Ulduar gearing phase.

However, if you wish to take a more traditional path, the most powerful choice will be the Heroes’ Redemption Helm, available in the new Titan Rune Dungeons, granting you access to the T7 item-set bonuses, high baseline stats, and much-needed Hit Rating. While Haste is not a stat that will massively influence our damage, it will still enhance our overall damage output.

The Helm of the Unsubmissive and the Helm of the Vast Legions are very similar in terms of pure damage output while granting you the same type of secondary stats (Hit Rating/Haste Rating). While their damage output is pretty similar, one of them grants you Strength as a baseline stat while the other one grants you Agility. You will preferably want to get the first option.

Titan’s Outlook is yet another interesting choice, offering you high baseline stats, and high amounts of Critical Strike Chance/Armor Penetration as Secondary stats. However, it has one flaw, forcing you to swap the item quite quickly, it lacks gem sockets. We all know that we always want a Meta Gem in our helmets, right?

Until you can actually manage to get the items mentioned above, you will most likely start with items such as the Planetary Helm which grants you solid baseline stats and much-needed Hit Rating in the beginning.

Pre-Raid

Your Pre-Raid options will often be defined by the BiS items from the previous raid tiers, and any other new dungeons or raid BoE items that arrive with the new phase.

The best possible option for the Pre-Ulduar stage will be the Obsidian Greathelm. This is mainly due to the helmet having the highest baseline stats available from Phase 1, gem sockets, and the high amounts of Critical Strike Chance/Expertise Rating as secondary stats. Since it grants such a high Expertise Rating, this item will massively take care of your Expertise Cap, alongside your Glyph.

Blue Aspect Helm is the second-best option when it comes to this slot, even though it is a Mail item. While the Intellect it grants doesn’t actually help us a lot, the secondary stats it grants (Critical Strike Chance/Haste Rating) will amplify your overall damage.

As a viable alternative, you can use the Valorous Redemption Helm. It grants you access to the T7 item-set bonuses, and a very similar damage to both the previous options. However, since we are not trying to reach the 4-set item bonus, we will want to use this only in the case that you severely lack Hit Rating or in the case that none of the better options can be gained. Heroes’ Redemption Helm is the lesser version of Valorous Redemption Helm, granting you the exact same type of stats.

Lastly, another viable alternative in case you do not wish to farm any of the previous items, you can use Spiked Titansteel Helm as its baseline stats are quite high and the item is very easily accessible being a craftable BoE. Ideally, you will want to farm the other items, but you can still use this item and obtain a good damage output.

Best-in-Slot

The best item for the Head Slot in Phase 2 will be the Warhelm of the Champion. This is due to the very high baseline stats it offers, paired up with essential Hit Rating and Critical Strike Chance. While there are potential builds that can use the T8 set and have a solid damage output, the most optimum build will not employ any T8 pieces.

Boundless Gaze is the closest item in terms of pure DPS output, granting you the necessary Hit Rating and Critical Strike Chance. While one of its baseline stats is Intellect, the only difference in DPS compared to the Warhelm of the Champion is 25-30 DPS. However, keep in mind that this only applies if you already have the rest of the BiS items.

Iron Riveted War Helm is a viable alternative, especially since it grants a solid amount of Hit Rating. However, you will want to attempt to swap this item as fast as possible since Haste Rating won’t be completely optimal in the long run. Mimiron’s Flight Goggles are very similar in terms of pure DPS output, however, if you use them, you will reduce your overall Hit Rating below 8%, forcing you to optimize your Gems and Enchants to make up the missing Hit Rating.

Lastly, Conqueror’s Aegis Helm offers a good choice of stats on its own, but it becomes a lot better if you manage to pair it up with another T8 item, to activate the 2-item set bonus.