Templar Hero Talents Review for Retribution Paladin
A reveal-era review of the Templar hero talents for Retribution Paladin: Hammer of Light, Empyrean Hammers and the Herald of the Sun comparison.
By:
John Langan
Reviewing the Templar Hero Talents for Retribution Paladin
At the end of February 2024 Blizzard gave players a sneak peek at the hero talent trees coming with The War Within, and Templar was the Retribution Paladin entry built around raining hammers from the sky. Our Paladin guide writers broke the tree down at reveal, weighing its theme against tuning concerns for both Templar and the sibling tree, Herald of the Sun. The War Within is now the previous expansion, with Midnight live, but Templar shipped and stayed in the game with later tuning, so this is a snapshot of how it first read, with a few notes on what changed before launch.
Key Takeaways
- Templar is one of two Retribution Paladin hero trees; the other Ret option is Herald of the Sun, and Protection shares Templar as well.
- The tree's spender, datamined at reveal as "Hammer Time," shipped as Hammer of Light and replaces Wake of Ashes for 12 seconds after you cast it.
- Empyrean Hammers rain on your targets, triggered by talents like Shake the Heavens and Hammerfall, and Light's Deliverance hands you a free Hammer of Light at 50 stacks.
- Templar leans single-target and burst; Herald of the Sun, built on Dawnlight and Sun's Avatar, was the stronger multi-target pick.
- The keystone Light's Guidance is what grants the Hammer of Light replacement that the whole tree feeds.
- It shipped largely as previewed, with the spender's Holy Power cost trimmed before launch.
Each of those reads back to a specific node, so here is how the tree breaks down.
The Tree and Its New Spender
Templar revolves around a new Holy Power spender that was shown at reveal under the working name "Hammer Time" and shipped as Hammer of Light. The keystone Light's Guidance is what swaps it in: for 12 seconds after you cast Wake of Ashes, Hammer of Light becomes available, dealing Holy damage to your target and nearby enemies while calling down Empyrean Hammers from the sky. At reveal the blog flagged the spender's 5 Holy Power cost as unusually steep and wondered whether Wake of Ashes generating 3 Holy Power would balance it out. That question resolved before launch: the cost was cut to 3 Holy Power, which smoothed the rotation the preview worried about.
Building Around Empyrean Hammers
The core loop is keeping Empyrean Hammers falling. Empyrean Hammer strikes a target and, on a critical hit, splashes part of its damage to nearby enemies, who then deal 5% reduced damage to you for 8 seconds. Shake the Heavens rains an Empyrean Hammer every 2 seconds for 8 seconds after a Hammer of Light, and Higher Calling extends that window when you press Crusader Strike, Hammer of Wrath, or Blade of Justice. Hammerfall adds Empyrean Hammers onto Templar's Verdict and Divine Storm, and Light's Deliverance builds a stack each time a hammer falls, granting a free Hammer of Light at 50 stacks.
| Talent | What it does |
|---|---|
| Hammer of Light | Holy damage to the target and nearby enemies; also calls down Empyrean Hammers. Costs 3 Holy Power and replaces Wake of Ashes for 12 seconds. |
| Shake the Heavens | After Hammer of Light, calls an Empyrean Hammer on a nearby target every 2 seconds for 8 seconds. |
| Hammerfall | Templar's Verdict and Divine Storm call down an Empyrean Hammer; one extra while Shake the Heavens is active. |
| Light's Deliverance | Gain a stack per Empyrean Hammer; at 50 stacks, your next Hammer of Light is empowered to cast a second time for free. |
| Undisputed Ruling | Hammer of Light applies Judgment and increases your Haste by 15% for 6 seconds. |
| Templar's Watch | Hammer of Light and Wake of Ashes deal 30% more damage against one enemy, reduced 6% per additional target. |
| Bonds of Fellowship | Take 20% less damage from Blessing of Sacrifice; gain 4% movement speed each time its target is hit, up to 40%. |
With the rotation pieces in place, the open question at reveal was how Templar would scale next to its sibling tree.
Templar vs Herald of the Sun
The reveal-era worry was target scaling. Empyrean Hammers focused a single target with little AoE scaling at the time, so the preview expected Templar to struggle on multi-target pulls compared to Herald of the Sun, whose Divine Toll setup and Dawnlight spread carried better into packs. That directional call held up: Templar shipped as the single-target and burst-leaning tree, while Herald of the Sun, anchored by its Sun's Avatar passive and Dawnlight damage-over-time, became the multi-target option. Retribution already ran a wide gap between its single-target and AoE talents, and the preview's concern was that hero talents could widen it further. Players measuring where Retribution lands in a given tier can see our raid boost options for the current content.
How Templar Aged
A few details shifted between this preview and the live tree. The spender's name changed from the datamined "Hammer Time" to Hammer of Light, and its Holy Power cost dropped from 5 to 3. Empyrean Hammer's critical splash and Hammer of Light's target cap were both retuned upward before launch, giving Templar more cleave than the single-target framing here suggested, though it still played as the burst tree. One detail the original review got wrong: it referenced a Herald of the Sun "Sunspot" mechanic, which never existed. Herald's real engine is Dawnlight, the damage-and-healing effect its spenders apply, paired with the Sun's Avatar passive during Avenging Wrath.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Templar Paladin hero talent tree?
Templar is one of Retribution Paladin's two War Within hero trees, also shared by Protection. Its fantasy is calling down Empyrean Hammers from the sky, built around a new spender, Hammer of Light, that replaces Wake of Ashes for a short window.
Was Hammer of Light called something else?
Yes. At the late-February 2024 reveal the spender was datamined under the working name "Hammer Time." It was renamed to Hammer of Light before The War Within launched, and that is the name it carries in the live game.
How much Holy Power does Hammer of Light cost?
It shipped at 3 Holy Power. At reveal it was shown at 5 Holy Power, which the original review flagged as steep; Blizzard cut the cost to 3 before launch, which is why the live spender slots into the rotation more cleanly.
What does Light's Deliverance do?
Light's Deliverance grants a stack every time an Empyrean Hammer falls. At 50 stacks, your next Hammer of Light empowers you to cast a second Hammer of Light for free, turning a long stretch of hammer rain into a burst payoff.
Is Templar or Herald of the Sun better for Retribution?
At reveal the expectation, which held up, was that Templar suited single-target and burst while Herald of the Sun handled multi-target better through Dawnlight and Sun's Avatar. The right pick depended on the content, and tuning shifted the balance across patches.
Is this Templar review still accurate?
It is a 2024 reveal-era first impression. The tree still exists, but the spender was renamed and recosted and several values were retuned before launch, so check live sources such as Wowhead for present-day numbers.
Last reviewed 2026-06-29 against Patch 11.0 The War Within — Maintained by WowCarry's WoW team.