In Defense of the Paladin

[Stinkum]

Cool things a Paladin can do, you say?

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#1 - Healing

First of all, take a step back and appreciate that you're a TANK class that can HEAL. Think about that: A tank that can HEAL.

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And we are not talking some shitty Ranger heals here. You can heal as well as a Shaman or Druid in pure direct healing spells. Follow my flawless logic below for proof:

Premise:
-> Greater Healing: A 300-point heal for 150 Mana.
-> Shamans/Druids get it at 29
-> Paladins get it at 39
-> Shaman/Druids don't get a better heal until level 53 (Superior Healing)

Conclusion:
-> For levels 39-52, you can heal equal to the main secondary-healing classes in the game (Shaman/Druid)

Logic: Pristine.


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So you're saying I can tank, wear plate, have the same defensive skill caps as a SK, have more than fair DPS when I'm geared good.. and yet still heal as good as a Shaman or Druid?

YES!

Did I mention we also get a 90% REZ?


#2 - Nice guys of Norrath

Ever been level 1 just killing orc pawns or snakes in Neriak or Freeport and randomly get like 3 buffs?

Then you turn around to see who did it and a Paladin is sitting there staring at you like this:

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It's true. Scientific studies have shown 9 times out of 10 that person who buffed you was a Paladin.

Paladins are just nice dudes like that.

#3 - Stuns

Cool things a Paladin can do?

You mean like keep a mob completely stun locked for like 30 seconds straight?

You have the Deepwater Bracer Stun, Sword of the Morning procs, Divine Might procs, the level 30 "Stun" spell, Level 49 "Holy Might," Level 52 "Force." Add it all up and a Paladin has about 6-7 stuns in their arsenal, all on different cool down timers.

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Fighting in a dungeon where there's a lot of casters? Grab a well-skilled Paladin and I guarantee they ain't castin' on a *****.

#6 - '80s hair/Sexy Factor

'80s hair hot chick drawing, check.
Flaming Sword, check.
Half-Elf robocop helmet, check.
High Elf cat mask, check.
Dwarf summersaults for your group's entertainment, check.

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#4 - Roll an Erudite Paladin and pretend you're the Paladin from Diablo II

'Nuff said.

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#5 - Hipster Factor

Paladin is the most rare class in the game. To take up the sword against Sir Lucan is to truly be the underdog on a game where everything's already been done a million times over on every other class.


[ to be continued ]

[Vaildez]

So just like in 1999 Pallys/Rangers are still the red headed step-children of norrath?

[Sadre Spinegnawer]

I see nothing but win here.

[SirAlvarex]

This is awesome.

[Vaildez]

#2 FTW!

[Nirgon]

You can spam DW helm a shaman, necro or someone with a mana robe.

You can spam stun (dw bracer) a caster mob that an enchanter pet is fighting (tash helps tons here, keeps pet from getting slowed too... which RUINS enchanter charm killing).

You can lay hands someone with 4-6 mobs on them and not die in areas you are xping (personally have lay hands'd an unconscious enchanter who fucked up a crypt pull here).

Pacify single pulling is no joke, esp when invis pulling is ever fixed. You can cast pacify line through walls.

Your deep water pants give you an str buff for yourself and the group (doesn't stack with shaman line), but is still pretty good.

Early levels outdoors you can blind a mob to "fear cc" it.

GREAT for healing an enchanter while they are trying to get everything mezzed. Ensures any early breaks (they don't break enough here imo) will result in pally, not healer aggro.

You have root for CC, if you're pro you can be a straight boss with this if you reroot mobs after 2 or so melee rounds and then each swing in between on the off targets.

You can snap aggro with your root as long as you stand closest.

If you're not the puller start with dw bracer -> divine might -> dw bracer again -> regular casted low lvl stun for a huge aggro grab that usually sees a mob down to 60-70% hp.

If your bash misses you have regular stun (don't use bash to dps unless melee mob.. really.. save it).

90% res when you're all leveled up isn't something most people would turn down.

Your resist line is handy as fuk to save others the annoyance (shamans/clerics in groups) of having to cast them. You don't get all of them, but, imagine if an SK got them.. yeah.. useful.

Your dps sucks until you get a primal, but still, compared to the other classes, it sucks. That's not your job though.

Roll a half elf tunare relgion for ezpz Nature's Defender in Velious (really only takes a group, yes I'm aware of the hate 2.0 part you could convince a guild to tag along I'm sure).

Sense the dead, situationally useful for finding necro/SK pals in zones or finding certain nameds.. situational and minor.

Yaulp: I don't think stamina loss works correctly here(?) but it was dope in live. Can't hate on it for blocking dispels/aoe's with dispel components if you're just starting or are a lazy scumbag. 40str does mighty fine to make up for racial disadvantage, atk speaks with itself.

Really just having root, pacify and being able to lock down casters is OP as shit imo. Velious really makes them strong, trust me. Just don't be tanking any raid mobs with em :P.

[Splorf22]

Hey, you'll get nothing but pally love from me here. I even wrote in my enchanter guide that a paladin is my favorite group tank (slight edge over the SK) and in fact Paladin/Enchanter is a pretty reasonable duo if you want to get creative. Paladins are actually quite reasonable in small groups too by using their helm to heal.

My big problem with paladins is that they have no real raid role. About the best they can do is heal (poorly) on aoe dragons. If paladins could main tank raids I would totally be down to have one.

[Malone88]

Only Erudites can use the "N" word...

[Funkutron5000]

You can tank some raid mobs with paladins. I've personally tanked Fay, Sev, and Draco with minimal problems. Sure, it's not like I'm tanking some of the meaner mobs but being able to gain/ keep aggro without having to burn a midnight mallet is pretty darn nice with some of the raid encounters.

[Nirgon]

Originally Posted by Splorf22 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

My big problem with paladins is that they have no real raid role.

Lay hands is too f'ing good on progression or just in general.

Most "serious" players do not seem to roll paladin here, hence, why you may have a negative opinion of them.

I do a mean ranger also and trained Avon in the arts. He was able to duo with enchanters/wizards better than most classes. In fact, the ones who grouped with him would say they wouldn't have preferred another class.