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Many of us were not expecting a new class for Diablo 4 to come so soon, but Blizzard surprised us by shadowdropping the Paladin. This holy crusader feels like a Swiss Army knife in terms of gameplay, as it can deal huge amounts of damage, weaken enemies, heal and buff allies, and, of course, hurl hammers at demons. Since the class came out of nowhere, we’ve prepared a quick guide on how to get started with the Paladin in Diablo 4.
How To Unlock the Paladin
Just like the Spiritborn, the Paladin is tied to the latest Diablo 4 expansion, meaning that you’ll need to purchase it in order to use it. However, the good news is that, while the expansion launches next year, those who pre-order Lord of Hatred can jump into the game right now and take the Paladin out for a spin, which is ideal as the new Season also dropped not long ago.
Once you enter the game, you’ll see the new class unlocked for you, and you’ll be able to customize it, read a bit about its four playstyles, and use it for either a Seasonal run, normal run, or Hardcore run if you’re feeling brave.
Paladin Playstyle
While you can create any build you want for your Paladin in Diablo 4, as soon as you pick up the class, it will tell you about its four playstyles, which are as follows:
- The Juggernaut: Turn the Paladin’s indomitable defense into an unstoppable offense.
- The Zealot: A fervid onslaught of attacks that builds in speed and intensity.
- The Judicator: Judge your enemies in the light and rain heavenly devastation on your foes.
- The Disciple: Ascend as an arbiter, an angelic transformation that dives seamlessly and swiftly into any fray.
From the above descriptions, you can already see what each playstyle brings. For instance, the Juggernaut focuses on using bolstering your defenses, but also increasing the damage you deal. Some of its early skills revolve around Resolve, which decreases the damage you take. However, other skills increase your damage depending on how many Resolve stacks you have.
The Judicator skill tree, for instance, focuses on hurling Hammers at foes and seems to be the go-to option, as it offers utility and high DPS. For example, Holy Bolt can apply Judgement to enemies to deal damage once the counter ends, while Blessed Hammer summons a hammer to spin around and damage foes. You can even modify those hammers to act as a mortar or explode in contact with enemies.
Another key aspect of the Paladin’s skill tree is how many abilities can morph into a different playstyle. To give you an example, Clash, which is a Juggernaut ability, can become a Zealot one, removing your Block and Resolve, but increasing your critical chance instead.
Example Build
Since the Paladin is the newest class in Diablo 4, we don’t have the best build for it yet, but we have a quick example guide to get you started, especially if you’re jumping into Season 11, which will make you level up extremely fast.
- Holy Bolt (5/5)
- Enhanced Holy Bolt
- Ricocheting Bolt
- Advance (5/5) – If going for a two-handed build.
- Enhanced Advance
- Flash of the Blade
- Clash (5/5) – If going for a weapon and shield build.
- Enhanced Clash
- Seize Them
- Blessed Hammer (5/5)
- Enhanced Blessed Hammer
- Disciple’s Halo
- Holy Light Aura (5/5)
- Enhanced Holy Light
- Rite of Judgement
- Falling Star (5/5)
- Enhanced Falling Star
- Fanatic Descent
- Consecration (1/5)
- Enhanced Consecration
- Sanctify
- Heaven’s Fury
- Enhanced Heaven’s Fury
- Triplicate
In terms of your remaining skill points, we recommend focusing on Crack in the Armor, Resolute, Longevity, Discipline, and Righteousness. If you have a few more, use them on passives that improve your survivability. While we’re still testing some builds, we noticed this one is pretty straightforward, brings good DPS, and also lets you tank a lot of damage, making it quite versatile in almost every content.
In any case, there’s a whole season in front of us that will let us experiment with the class, so don’t hesitate to mix and match some abilities until you build your most destructive or helpful Paladin, depending on your playstyle.
