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Lost Ark's Paladin class—otherwise known as the Holy Knight—is one of two support roles in the game, matched only by the Bard. The class is valuable in both PvP and PvE content and is one of the more reliable classes to pick up and play for your first run through the game.
This guide will give an overview of how the Paladin works, its Identity skill, the best Engravings to run with this class, and the best skills you should be using. Get ready to smite your foes and give your allies some powerful buffs.
Updated February 5th, 2022, by Charles Burgar: Covering every aspect of the Paladin class in Lost Ark required us to give this article an update. We've added more information about each of the Paladin's Engravings, their Identity skill, best skills and Tripods, and we've added a section discussing the differences between the Paladin and Bard for those stuck between picking either class.
Class Overview
The Paladin is designed as a tanky support class that can provide team benefits in both PvP and PvE. Abilities come in two styles: Yellow (Holy Skills) and Blue (Punish Skills). These are divided into support and attack damage skills—Yellow for Support, Blue for Damage. However, don't think you're going to be much damage. While you can pick up some damage for leveling, your role is solely to support. That said, they deal more than enough damage to progress through Chaos Dungeons or Towers on their own.
Paladin is not a DPS class in Lost Ark and should not be played as such. You will be kicked from endgame activities if you spec your Paladin for DPS; they are not good at that role. Spec for support once you reach the endgame.
As a support, the Paladin is only matched by the Bard in the NA and EU version of Lost Ark. Paladins provide a plethora of damage buffs, survivability increases, and they even cleanse debuffs. If you want to support your allies while wielding holy magic and a massive sword, the Paladin is for you. If you're looking for a DPS class, pick something else.
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Paladin Versus Bard
The Paladin and Bard are equally as powerful in Lost Ark's endgame and see equal use for most activities. In general, the Bard is better at healing than the Paladin, but the Paladin's skills are slightly easier to use. Bards rely heavily on their Identity skill and short-range skills to buff their allies, leading to more decision-making in combat. Paladins have much forgiving support skills, on average covering a larger radius when compared to the Bard. This class might have less punchy heals than the Bard, yet Paladin is the only support class in NA/EU that can cleanse debuffs.
Most importantly, the damage-enhancing support skills for the Bard and Paladin have the same effectiveness, so most groups don't care who you bring. Ultimately, pick what you find the most fun or who you think looks the coolest.
Paladin Identity Skill
Piety Meter: Each time your attack hits a target, the Piety Meter increases. It also passively gains charge. At max charge, you can activate either Sacred Executioner or Holy Aura. Sacred Executioner enhances your Punish skills, while Holy Aura grants you and nearby allies 10% increased attack damage. You cannot gain Piety while either buff is active, and the gauge resets when either effect ends. Only one of these buffs can be active at a time.
The Paladin's Identity skill revolves around their Piety Meter, a gauge that grants access to one of two powerful buffs when full—a damage buff or a support aura. As we've just mentioned, you're going to be using Holy Aura the most to frequently buff the damage of your allies. In general, you'll want to ignore Sacred Executioner (the blue buff) unless you're playing solo content.
Best Paladin Engravings
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Like other classes, the Paladin has two unique class Engravings. Here's a closer look at them.
Class Engravings
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Blessed Aura |
Judgment |
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Holy Aura now provides damage resistance and HP regen for all party members. |
Punishment Damage increased. When Punishment skills hit, Piety Meter gain +100%. Duration of Sacred Executioner +100%. |
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Engraving Levels |
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-10% damage received, and 2% of max HP restored every 2.5 seconds. |
Punishment damage +15%. |
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-15% damage received, and 2% of max HP restored every 2 seconds. |
Punishment damage +20%. |
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-20% damage received, and 2% of max HP restored every 1.5 seconds. |
Punishment damage +25%. |
Blessed Aura enhances the Paladin's Holy Aura with two additional benefits: damage reduction and healing. This makes your Holy Aura a powerhouse in terms of support capabilities, making this a must-have Engraving for just about every Paladin build in Lost Ark.
Judgment increases the damage of your Punish (blue) skills, but its real use is in building up your Piety Meter faster. It's not uncommon for Paladins to spec for this Engraving to build up their gauge faster, allowing for better uptime on Holy Aura.
Which Engraving is better? Neither. While most builds grab Blessed Aura, it's not uncommon to see a Paladin grab both Engravings. Blessed Aura is mandatory for all Paladins in the endgame to boost their support capabilities, and Judgment is incredible for increasing the uptime of your Holy Aura.
Suggested Engravings For The Paladin
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Awakening |
Reduces your Awakening cooldown and increases its use cap. Paladin's Awakening skills are fantastic, so this is a great pick. |
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Expert |
Increases healing and shield effectiveness, especially with targets on low HP. The Paladin has much less punchy healing skills than the Bard, so this will help bridge that gap. |
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Heavy Armor |
Defenses are increased by 100%. |
Feel free to experiment with other Engravings like Spirit Absorption and Drops of Ether. We recommend replacing Heavy Armor and/or Judgment if you wish to alter your Paladin's Engravings.
Best Paladin Skills
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To be a good Paladin player, you're going to want a mix of Punish (blue) and Holy (yellow) skills in your rotation. In general, your Punish skills will be used to quickly build up your Piety Meter. Your Holy skills are used to buff your team. Let's go over the most common skills used in each category.
Best Punish Skills
Best Holy Skills
As we mentioned, this is just a sample build to help you understand what sort of things are possible with the Paladin. We will cover more in-depth builds with our Paladin build guide.
You can also check out our class hub here - What Class Should You Play In Lost Ark?
You can check out some of our other class guides here: