Lost Ark Paladin Guide: How To Build A Paladin – In this Lost Ark Paladin Guide, I’m going to show you what it means to play as a Paladin in terms of how well they perform in combat, the best Skills and Tripods to focus on, and the playstyles available to them based on the Class Engravings they choose. If you’re searching for a tanky Warrior that supports allies while dealing some damage, then this Lost Ark Paladin Guide is for you!

Be sure to check out our other Lost Ark Class Guides including: Shadowhunter, Sorceress, Gunslinger, Gunlancer, Deathblade, Wardancer, Scrapper & Sharpshooter!

Lost Ark Paladin Guide: How To Build A Paladin

Paladins are one of the Advanced Classes that fall under the Warrior Class. They wield a combination of a One-Handed Sword and Holy Book, which they use to deal damage as well as protect and buff allies. In comparison to the Berserker and Gunlancer, which are the other Warrior Classes available in Lost Ark’s NA/EU region launch, Paladins are challenging to play because of the environmental knowledge that’s necessary to know the right time to cast Skills.

• Support and DPS Focused
• Tankier Than the Bard
• Relatively Weaker DPS
• Grants Damage Buffs
• Effectively Reduces Damage Taken

As a Lost Ark Paladin, you won’t be dealing as much damage as the other DPS-focused Advanced Classes like the Shadowhunter, Gunslinger, and Sorceress. To compensate for this, you’re able to cast damage buffs and shields to assist your team, plus, you’re tankier than the second support class in Lost Ark, namely, the Bard. Playing as a Paladin is more tricky at the start considering that you don’t have access to better skills and you need to constantly adjust to your enemies and surroundings since the majority of your damage skills are enhanced when executing Back Attacks. Because of this, mobs of enemies can easily overwhelm you so it’s important to capitalize on your mobility.

Lost Ark Paladin vs Bard

Paladins and Bards are powerful support classes in Lost Ark but there are a few differences that set them apart. For instance, Paladins are not only capable of dealing a bit more damage but also maintaining effective damage buffs that benefit the entire party. Comparatively, the Bard can help allies live longer due to her intensive support skills, which individually target allies, making them the prime choice due to their defensive playstyle. Note that either Advanced Classes are effective when it comes to assisting their allies. But if you’re looking to play offensively while casting buffs and reducing incoming damage, then the Paladin would be a better fit for you.

Paladin Class Role and Identity

The Lost Ark Paladin is a Hybrid Support and DPS Class that deals an acceptable amount of sustained rather than burst damage. As such, they’re also more manageable to level up. Paladins are known for dealing damage from time to time in group content while mostly supporting the party with skills, which allow them to buff their damage, mitigate the damage they take, and restore some HP.

All Advanced Classes in Lost Ark have unique features or Identities that differentiate them from the other classes. These can either unleash more damage or enhance the buffs they grant. For the Lost Ark Paladin, it’s the Piety Identity, which is divided into two categories, namely the Sacred Executioner and Holy Aura. Sacred Executioner widens the range of their attacks and inflicts more damage using their Punish or Blue Skills. Holy Aura, on the other hand, boosts the damage of everyone in the party with the help of their Holy or Yellow Skills. Successfully hitting their targets and passively waiting for the energy to flow while in combat are measures to fill up the Piety Meter.

Unlike the Sorceress, they can only activate Sacred Executioner or Holy Aura, not both, once the Piety Meter is at its maximum level. Between the two, Holy Aura is preferable as it benefits the entire party, rather than focusing on improving your own damage. Of course, if you’re leveling up as a solo player, it’s best to constantly activate Sacred Executioner.

Note that when either of these skills is active, you won’t be gaining energy. But when you return to your Normal State, you can once again, fill up your Piety Meter without needing to wait for several seconds unlike with the Shadowhunter’s Shadowburst Energy. Moreover, the energy that you’ve gathered won’t be expended over time so you can wait for the best moment to consume it.

Lost Ark Paladin Skills and Tripods

By the time your Lost Ark Paladin reaches Level 60, you will have unlocked a total of 20 skills comprised of Punish, Holy, and Awakening Skills. To add to this, you’ve invested several points into Punish and Holy Skills to specialize further by unlocking their respective Tripods. The Tripod System allows players to customize their skills in various ways like increasing the Piety energy you gain or widening the skills’ corresponding AoE range. In total, you only need 8 skills per character with a select number of tripods. In this section, I’ll cover the essential Punish and Holy Skills and tripods you should allocate points into regardless of the playstyle you end up choosing.

Lost Ark Paladin Punish Skills and Tripods

Charge – Gap closer that allows you to rush towards a group of enemies to slash them into pieces. Because of the Excellent Mobility and Shining Protection Tripods, you’re able to safely charge into them from afar since you generate a shield, temporarily granting additional HP. With the Law of the Jungle upgrade, you inflict extra damage thanks to an additional horizontal spinning attack.

Executor’s Sword – Unlocked at Combat Level 24. A series of heavy attacks where you wield your sword with two hands to greatly damage enemies. What makes the Executor’s Sword more useful is its Frontal Attack feature, which means that you no longer need to change directions to effectively harm your targets. The tripods you should consider are Stigmata, Challenger’s Will, and Executioner’s Strike. This combination deals massive damage after attacking Challenge or higher ranked monsters several times. It even incentivizes solo players by enhancing the damage they inflict.

Execution of Justice – Unlocked at Combat Level 32. Allows you to spin quickly to deal massive damage. Remember that once you activate Execution of Justice, you’ll only stay in one area, making you susceptible to enemy attacks. To counter this, you can select the Bulwark Tripod to be protected by a shield. But the caveat is you won’t be able to pull in numerous enemies. If HP isn’t a concern, then I suggest picking Rune Prison instead to affect as many targets as possible by pulling them into the central area of the skill. The other upgrades you ought to choose are Strength Release and Light Explosion to boost your damage, especially when Sacred Executioner is active.

Holy Sword – Unlocked at Combat Level 40. Imbues your sword with Light Energy, which you then use to stab enemies with. Holy Sword is one of the highest DPS skills of a Paladin and it’s made all the more effective thanks to the Stigmata, Weak Point Detection, and Condensed Energy Tripods. This combination enhances overall damage and it leaves a Debris of Light in its wake to deal Damage over Time (DoT). But if you prefer to cover extra ground by improving your move distance, then I suggest substituting Stigmata for Propulsion. Additionally, Holy Sword becomes much more potent against Push-Immune enemies thanks to Weak Point Detection.

The next skills are exclusively applicable to the Judgment Engraving or playstyle, which rewards the heavy use of Punish Skills.

Punishment – Unlocked at Combat Level 16. Slashes enemies multiple times to inflict increased damage. What makes Punishment very effective is the Concussion, Piercing Sword, and Leap Attack Tripods. This combination allows you to efficiently stagger enemies, ignore half of the Challenge or higher ranked monsters’ defenses, and improve overall damage. If your Paladin is more offense-oriented, meaning you prefer to activate Sacred Executioner frequently, then swapping Piercing Sword for Divine Punishment will significantly boost your overall damage. Just remember to use Sacred Executioner prior to this Punishment Skill.

Dash Slash – Unlocked at Combat Level 20. Sprints towards enemies to deal devastating blows. You can take advantage of Dash Slash’s duration, which lasts for almost 2 seconds, by carefully maneuvering yourself to go behind targets to successfully execute Back Attacks. To make the skill lethal, you ought to choose Quick Prep, Powerful Blow, and Finishing Strike in order to reduce its cooldown period and to improve your damage. If you need to reduce the damage you take when sprinting, you can substitute Quick Prep for Sturdy Armor.

Lost Ark Paladin Holy Skills and Tripods

Sword of Justice – Drops a sword on the ground to deal explosive damage. To increase the number of swords, which then boosts damage by 100% and inflicts Paralysis on Normal Monsters, you should select the Dazzling Light Sword Tripod. The rest of the upgrades to pick are Insight and Summon Holy Sword to widen the skill’s AoE while reducing its cooldown rate and to enhance the damage you and your allies deal for a period of time. Alternatively, if you’re a solo player, you may want to consider exchanging Summon Holy Sword for Explosive Sword. What the latter upgrade does is to notably improve your damage, allowing you to eliminate Normal and weaker type monsters with ease.

Godsent Law – Unlocked at Combat Level 14. Summons a circle of holy light to deal DoT against targets in the area. The best Godsent Law Tripods to pick are Shield and Wide-Angle Attack to conjure a shield for you and your allies to temporarily improve HP, and to broaden the skill’s AoE, respectively. For the last upgrade, you can either choose Grace or Light’s Guardian to reduce incoming damage by more than 50% for 1 second or to summon a guardian, which will inflict great damage. The drawback to choosing Light’s Guardian, however, is that Godsent Law has to be completely executed without any interruption to make use of the extra damage.

Holy Protection – Unlocked at Combat Level 28. Conjures a barrier to protect you and your allies by momentarily enhancing your HP. What makes Holy Protection an essential support skill is Quick Pace and Robust Protection. This combination not only improves your mobility to dodge incoming attacks but also enhances the amount of HP you gain. With Vow of Light, a portion of your HP generated by the barrier will be permanently restored but at the cost of prolonging Holy Protection’s cooldown rate.

Heavenly Blessings – Unlocked at Combat Level 50. Summons the Solar Guardian to deal lethal damage while blessing you and your allies with a damage reduction buff for several seconds. To maximize Heavenly Blessings’ capacity, you should consider taking Faith, Valor, and Heavenly Requiem. With these tripods, you’re able to gain 50% of Piety energy, widen the skill’s range while enhancing damage, and boost all allies’ attack power.

The next skills are exclusively applicable to the Blessed Aura Engraving or playstyle to make the most of the remaining Holy Skills.

Wrath of God – Unlocked at Combat Level 18. Brings forth the power of lightning to inflict damage against enemies surrounding you. The Wrath of God tripods you’ll want are Wide Thunderstroke, Faith, and Express Fury to widen the AoE, restore a portion of your Piety Meter, and enhance you and your allies’ attack power. As a solo player, choosing Light’s Guardian as opposed to Express Fury will allow you to destroy multiple enemies safely since a summoned guardian will do it on your behalf. Because of this, you’ll be able to deal greater damage.

Holy Explosion – Unlocked at Combat Level 36. Conjure an explosive ball of energy to greatly damage as many nearby enemies as possible. To make Holy Explosion much more effective in terms of buffs, it’s best to choose Sturdy Armor and Light’s Vestige. This combination not only significantly reduces damage taken but also enhances the damage you and your party deal. The last tripod to obtain is Explosion Aftermath to inflict massive DoT in the area of the explosion.

Lost Ark Paladin Engravings and Stats

In Lost Ark, every Advanced Class unlocks Engravings that allow you to further specialize in your chosen Class as these grant special effects, which you can activate by reading Recipe Books and equipping Accessories and Ability Stones. You’re able to obtain them as random rewards by completing endgame activities such as Chaos and Abyss Dungeons, and Guardian Raids.

In this section, I’m going to talk about Lost Ark Paladin Engravings, which determine the playstyle you wish to adopt for your character and are class-specific abilities and traits. You gain access to this when you reach higher levels. The 2 Class Engravings available to the Paladin are Judgment and Blessed Aura. Let’s first discuss the Judgment Class Engraving or playstyle together with the Stats that go with it.

Paladin Judgment Playstyle

Judgment is more focused on DPS since it boosts the damage dealt by Punish Skills and considerably improves the duration of Sacred Executioner. As long as the corresponding skills successfully land on the targets, you gain a huge percentage of the Piety energy. To maximize the amount of Punish Skill damage your Paladin deals, it’s essential to reach Judgment Level 3 as well as to slot 5-6 Punish Skills.

In terms of Judgment’s Combat Stats, you’ll want to prioritize Swiftness followed by Specialization when gearing up. This setup enhances attack and movement speed while decreasing the cooldown period of your skills to be able to use them more frequently. Furthermore, this stat distribution also increases the Piety energy you receive upon hitting enemies.

Paladin Blessed Aura Playstyle

Conversely, the Blessed Aura is the more popular playstyle between the two because it supports the party better by reducing incoming damage while restoring a portion of everyone’s HP when Holy Aura is activated. For the Blessed Aura Engraving, reaching Level 3 should be the goal for your Build to considerably mitigate damage received in addition to slotting 5-6 Holy Skills.

In terms of Blessed Aura’s Combat Stats, you’ll want to switch your priorities compared to Judgment’s Combat Stats, meaning, you’ll be concentrating on Specialization first and then Swiftness. Aside from the benefits I’ve mentioned, you’ll also improve Holy Aura’s efficiency, making it more advantageous for you and your allies when it comes to the buffs you receive.

Final Tips

As a Lost Ark Paladin, it’ll take some adjustment to get the hang of the class given that you’ll be switching between buffing and supporting the party while occasionally dealing damage. But when you get used to it, you’ll have a blast since you’ll realize how integral they are in every team. Paladins grant consistent damage buffs all throughout which no other class can reliably do. In PvP, they make use of their ability to successfully reduce the damage the party receives. They can be aggressive at times while occasionally dealing some damage especially when they need to peel other players. However, they’re not as mobile so they can easily be cornered by fast-moving enemies like the Shadowhunter or Striker.

For Holy Skills such as Heavenly Blessings and Wrath of God, be sure that Holy Aura is inactive, otherwise, the Faith Tripod will have been wasted since you won’t be able to gain Piety energy. Moreover, for the same skills, remember that their Attack Power buff doesn’t stack so avoid using them one after the other.

Remember that both the Judgment and Blessed Aura playstyles are viable in endgame. However, with Judgment, your overall damage numbers will still not be as high as pure damage-dealers but you’re definitely tankier than them, allowing you to absorb some damage for the party.

Lastly, if you wish to improve your Paladin’s overall defense, shields, and healing, especially if you have more Punish Skills equipped, consider investing in Endurance to survive longer in combat.

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