Introduced in Build 69, the Paladin is the third melee class introduced. He was originally meant to be a combination of the Warrior and Priest, using a sword, tome, and heavy armor. In Build 97, his ability was changed to the seal, which gained the ability to buff party damage in Build 115. His stats were altered slightly in Release 25.0.0, giving him an increased speed and defense cap at the cost of lowering his dexterity. In Exalt 1.1.0.0, he was changed again, increasing stats while decreasing the power of his buff and removing the direct healing from the HP boost.
To this day, the Paladin is special for being one of three healing classes, along with the Priest and the Necromancer. A combination of the Knight and Warrior’s abilities, the Paladin’s seal is an ability that can work defensively and aggressively. The Paladin is one of the most useful classes in groups and teamwork, and plays a particularly big role in group healing and damage boosting. To unlock him, reach level 20 with Priest and Knight. You can find his stats, caps, and averages here.
Much like the Warrior and Knight, the Paladin shares the highest HP average and capacity of all classes (675 and 770, respectively). The Paladin is the only melee class to have a cap of 75 in wisdom, giving him supreme mana regeneration. He sports higher than average speed (55). The Paladin has 55 ATK and DEX; in between the Warrior and Knight in damage capability, before accounting for the seal’s buff.
The Paladin’s weapon of choice is the sword. The sword provides Paladin with high attack power that grows even higher during a seal boost. The sword, however, has a very short range. Although it can be a hindrance, the sword’s high damage makes Paladin powerful and mighty. You may want to refer to this sword comparison guide for additional help.
Tiered swords are the go-to for every melee class.
The Sword of Acclaim, Sword of Splendor, and Sword of Majesty (soulbound) provide very high damage output at the cost of a 3.5 tile range. They do their job incredibly well. The Sword of Splendor and Sword of Majesty are prized because they drop from endgame bosses (Void Entity and Oryx 3).
These swords sacrifice damage for range.
The Crystal Sword (CSword) and Ancient Stone Sword (A.S.S.) don’t have impressive damage outputs, but sport better range (at 4.5 and 4 tiles, respectively). The A.S.S. swings slowly, but deals more damage per shot. Not only does it have more DPS than the CSword, but it might one-shot foes that’d take multiple swings otherwise. They are good when you can’t approach enemies safely, such as certain boss phases. They drop from once-per-realm bosses, the Crystal Prisoner and the Stone Guardians, respectively.
The Arcane Rapier is one of the few swords that pierce, the only sword that boomerangs back, and additionally has 4 range and a fast shot velocity. It deals similar damage to the CSword, though at 0.5 tiles less range. It drops from the Sandstone Titan, which is generally easier to find than the other two. All three of the aforementioned swords are tradable UTs.
These swords sacrifice immense range for immense damage.
The Demon Blade (DBlade) and Pixie-Enchanted Sword (Pixie) have obscene power; while each shot is weaker, they fire multiple. Unfortunately, you need to get extremely close, with a small true range of 2.25 or 1.87 tiles, respectively. In practicality, you’ll often have to sit on the boss. The Seal of Blasphemous Prayer allows you to withstand any sort of damage for a moment, dealing massive damage in return. They are dropped from the Abyss of Demons and Candyland Hunting Grounds, respectively.
The Pirate King’s Cutlass boasts a 130% rate of fire, faster projectiles and +3 SPD, in exchange for slightly reduced range. Fast projectiles also makes it more difficult to hit enemies while retreating. In exchange, the Cutlass outdamages the Acclaim until 126 DEF, and the Splendor until 93 DEF on Paladin. It is dropped by Jon Bilgewater the Pirate King.
The Sword of the Colossus (Colo Sword) sports one of the best damage in the game, along with an amazing 4.5 tile range. The catch is that the shots cycle between left and right, curving out and in, only converging at the end of the range. The amplitude that this sword possesses takes some time to get used to. Like the Sword of Majesty, it is an extremely rare and prestigous item because of the endgame nature of the Lost Halls.
Oryx’s Greatsword (Greatsword) is a unique sword that is dropped by Oryx 2. This is currently the only sword with the ability to armor pierce enemies: on a Paladin, the Greatsword will outdamage all other swords at 103 DEF.
The Divinity pierces enemies, though its raw damage is even less than the A.S.S. It makes up for it by firing Exalted Beams; these beams are fired from the end of its range, have a small AOE, and ignore defense. They are also affected by 
Damaging (but not 
Berserk), making it extremely powerful with a Paladin. Divinity by and away deals the most damage in solos/groups without Berserk, and from 4 range, too. Even in large groups, it overtakes a T14 sword at 59 defense, and outdamages the Sword of the Colossus at 109 defense. These traits make it an extremely valuable endgame item, dropping from Oryx 3 himself.
Heavy armor help a lot for a sword user, with the best defense available. Paladins can take many more hits, which makes it easier to fight close range with the sword. In exchange, tiered armors do not provide any offensive bonus. Most UT armors sacrifice some amount of defense for another bonus.
The Acropolis Armor and the Dominion Armor are the best tradable tiered heavy armors. They provide the Paladin with a substantial boost to his DEF stat, but provide no additional stat bonuses nor penalties. The Annihilation Armor is a small upgrade, providing +28 DEF, but dropping from two very dangerous dungeons.
The Candy-Coated Armor (CC) focuses on defense, providing +30 DEF in exchange for a -5 DEX malus. Many players are put off by this, as higher-tiered armor gives a similar level of defense. It’s often instead traded for its high feed power.
The Fire Dragon Battle Armor focuses on offense, providing less defense in exchange for +4 ATT, +3 SPD, and +3 VIT. In addition, it deals widespread AOE damage (on a cooldown) when using your ability. It is dropped by Pyyr the Crimson Dragon.
The Breastplate of New Life only gives 14 DEF, but gives a massive +160 HP alongside it. Many players swear by HP over DEF - and in dungeons when every shot deals 200+ damage, defense does little to boost survivability. It is a rare drop from the difficult Marble Colossus, so make sure to not die with it.
Mercy’s Bane provides an obscene +7 ATK and DEX, making it one of the best armors for DPS. The rest of the ST set serves to make up for lost defense, though Paladins can’t wear the set’s shield. It might be more viable thanks to the Knight’s shield & higher defense, though the armor enables the Paladin’s massive damage output. It drops from Oryx 2.
The Gladiator Guard is a powerful heavy armor that sacrifices only a little defense in exchange for hefty increases in damage and mobility. While it “only” provides +5 to ATK/DEX, the speed and defense make it much more practical to use in most situations compared to Mercy’s Bane. Assuming you can get it from Oryx 3, that is.
The Paladin’s special ability is the seal. Tiered seals give Healing, Damaging, and boost HP, which serve an offensive and defense role whenever you are alone or in a group. The seal is fairly simple to make use of, but pay attention to your MP meter so you don’t wind up short of MP when you need it the most.
Unlike the Priest and Necromancer, the Paladin’s Healing increases your and your allies’ rate of HP restoration dramatically (by 20 HP/s). From Exalt Version 1.1.0.0 (Sep 2020) onwards, the Priest also provide healing by using a tiered tome. However, many priests may prefer a different tome, so Paladins are the next best source of this buff.
In addition, most seals increases the damage you and your allies deal by 25%. This and the HP buff makes the Paladin’s buff necessary in all sorts of groups. As you move up the seal’s tiers, the time, range, HP buff, and MP cost increases, but the amount healed per second and damage increase stays the same.
The Seal of the Blessed Champion (Golden Cookie) and Seal of Invocation are the best tiered seals. They give a healing duration of 6 and 6.5s (at maxed Wisdom), in addition to the highest HP boosts. Most other seals sacrifice at least one Paladin buff, making them ideal for buffing yourself and your allies alike.
The Seal of Blasphemous Prayer (Oreo) grants 
Invulnerable to the user; at 75 WIS, this equates to 2.1 seconds. In exchange, it has a large cooldown, large MP cost, and no HP boost, making it unsuitable over a tiered seal for buffing purposes. In addition, it is an extremely rare event drop (with no blueprint), so most players simply won’t own this seal.
Invulnerability is very easy to underestimate. It is useful for charging in on a boss, taking absolutely no damage, and rushing back. Keep in mind that invulnerability does not protect you from negative status effects, even if the damage of the shot is negated.
The Marble Seal (MSeal) creates a tower; players within the 3-tile radius gain the 
Armored buff, which increases DEF by +50%, along with Damaging. Although it may initially seem overpowered, it has a high MP cost of 135, has a cooldown that is longer than the ability lasts, and has a constraining range. But considering how strong the Armored buff is and was, the Marble Seal is still incredibly useful for teamplay in dangerous dungeons such as the Lost Halls and event bosses such as Skull Shrines. It drops from the Marble Colossus.
The Seal of Cubic Conundra is a unique seal which Slows enemies in a wide radus; it also has one of the longest slow times available. In exchange, it sacrifices its buff durations, as well as the HP boost entirely. This seal can be good for rushing and slowing crowds of chasing enemies, but isn’t great for primary usage. It drops from the Shadow Cube Blaster and Tesseract Goddess.
Health boosting rings are great for boosting overall survivability. The more accessible Ring of Exalted Health already greatly boosts HP, while the Ring of Unbound Health and Ring of Decades provide the highest HP boosts out of any ring in the game. Paladins will greatly benefit from the survivability these rings produce.
Tiered rings of defense are not recommended on the Paladin. This is due to the fact that DEF has a diminishing return the higher the value. The Paladin already has a high base 30 DEF, so adding more wouldn’t benefit his survival as much as adding more HP.
The Ring of Unbound Wisdom/Geb’s Ring of Wisdom may seem like an odd choice at first glance. However, the Paladin’s ability can be boosted the more wisdom he has. This means that wearing a WIS boosting ring would greatly benefit the effectiveness of the Paladin’s seal.
These rings are great for general stat boosts. The more MP balanced rings such as the Ring of the Nile and Bracer of the Guardian may be less beneficial to the Paladin, as he can regenerate his MP quickly due to his high 75 WIS.
Both The Forgotten Crown and Magical Lodestone provide balanced DPS stats. The Forgotten Crown gives HP, while the Magical Lodestone gives DEF and SPD, meaning that The Forgotten Crown may be more beneficial due to HP generally being more effective at improving survivability. Also, the Paladin already has high DEF, so using the Magical Lodestone for its DEF boost isn’t as justified on this class.
The Paladin’s main strengths are the high attack power given by the Seal, healing, and group help. The seal allows Paladin to do more damage per shot than Warrior, and heal faster too. Even with only 60 Vitality, the seal boost gives the Paladin unmatched HP regeneration. This is a perfect mix that allows the Paladin to succeed in becoming both an offensive and defensive threat. Although his stats make him the weakest sword class without the seal, his low stats make him one of the cheapest classes to max outside of WIS.
A Paladin’s main weakness is the terrible range shared by the other sword users, Warrior and Knight. Like the aforementioned, the Paladin has to tank hits if he wants to deal hits, although the seal buff helps ease the pains of short range. Like all melee classes, a fresh Paladin might struggle to effectively farm godlands or fight event bosses. Other classes such as Archer or Wizard will fare better at farming godlands simply because they use weaponry with vastly superior range to swords, even if their damage is inferior. A fresh Paladin should only be used to farm godlands if the user is skilled enough to manage the short range.
Like any class, a Paladin makes for a formidable force when maxed. Thanks to the damage boost of his seal, a Paladin can do heavy DPS despite possessing a low DEX and ATT cap. He can run slightly faster than a Knight or a Warrior without his speed boost, and his high DEF cap somewhat accounts for the seal’s lack of a defense boost. Though the Paladin is still less of a tank than the Warrior or Knight, the seal’s healing allows Paladin to recover far quicker without needing to use HP potions. His distinctive stats and capabilities allow him to fill the role of a damage-boosting Warrior and the damage-tanking Knight at the same time, but not to the full extent that either class does.
A Paladin is preferred by many players as a dungeon farmer because of the awesome combo of increased DPS and healing ability; it’s easier to rush straight through because you can ignore most of the shots of the enemies if you time the use of your seal correctly and can effectively evade projectiles. As mentioned before, the seal can be used both aggressively and defensively, though never wholly one way. A skilled player will switch (and know when to switch) between offensive and defensive play depending on the situation. Keeping track of time is also key to using a Paladin. If you run out of healing or damage sooner than you expected, it can really ruin you when you’re trying to avoid damage. Likewise, it is best to save your use of the seal for situations where you will really need it. Having a high magic-healing pet will allow you more lenience in using the seal for trivial situations, though.
One of the most common mistakes a new player often makes is rushing in on large groups of enemies with no worry for death. Boosted healing does not equal invincibility! You must still dodge hits in order to stay alive, and the seal simply helps take the sting off the hits you take. A Paladin should not be played wholly like a Knight because his defense is not as high, nor is his healing instantaneous. Being said, it is very important to not overestimate your capabilities; it will help you to survive if you play more conservatively while you come to grips with what the Paladin is capable of.
Paladins are important in groups, and are key if you want to crack the Mysterious Crystal. The damage boost allows a large group of players to bring a quick death to more enemies, which is especially important when attacking the Mysterious Crystal. The damage by the group is boosted even higher when coupled with a Warrior’s helm boost. As such, the seal becomes more than a simple convenience and starts becoming strategically useful.
Paladins are especially important for other players to take down certain event bosses. A skilled Paladin can rise to the challenge of taking down an event boss himself if he is able to abuse the way certain enemies try to lead their shots. A skilled player can make a Skull Shrine shoot behind itself, get in several shots, and back off. When fighting a Cube God, the biggest problem are the minions. Once the cube system is in a favorable position (far away from the Cube God), a Paladin can walk in strafing, making the Cube God shoot the wrong way until the cube system moves in on top of the Cube God again. Because the Paladin relies on its speed to manipulate the cube’s shot pattern, never go in once slowed by a cube minion. Wait until the slow effect wears off and try again.
Remember to never approach an event boss without your seal boost, as the Paladin has relatively low DEF for an armor class. While GCookie/Seal of Invocation can certainly help you while you’re on low health, Oreo performs better by completely negating hits taken by the Paladin, but only for a very brief moment. The results of an ill-timed Oreo boost can be very bad, though. So be very careful using this strategy.
When rushing into combat against any boss, remember to watch your HP, and strafe left to right constantly. If done correctly, enemies like the Cube God or Skull Shrine will try to predict your movement but fire behind itself. Don’t get overconfident, never stop moving, and play conservatively. Eventually, you will be able to land hits and either kill it or get your soulbound damage in.
The Paladin has several applications that can be used on the battlefield that work to his advantage, if used correctly. Although it takes some experience and skill to use the Paladin effectively, it can be very good in the right hands. If you like to play a class that has high damage output, high health regeneration, and can share those buffs with allies, then the Paladin is for you.
