Paladins: Complete Guide

A guide to Paladins, Hi-Rez's free-to-play fantasy hero shooter. It covers the game's current status, the four classes, cards and loadouts, talents, the in-match item shop, modes, beginner champions, and how to climb.

Researched September 2026 — current as of the Wekono's Wake update (January 29, 2025) and its February 3, 2025 hotfix, the most recent patch notes Hi-Rez has posted for Paladins. Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Status in 2026: Read This First

Paladins is still online and free to play on Steam, and its store page still advertises 50+ champions.
Updates have stopped for now. Wekono's Wake (January 29, 2025) kicked off "Year 8" with a focus on customization (Items, Talents, Cards) and an Experimental Queue testing Subclasses, a pre-match role pick that powers up one aspect of your kit. Hi-Rez hasn't posted new Paladins update notes on Steam since its February 3, 2025 hotfix. Treat the current balance as frozen and don't count on new champions or event passes.
Hi-Rez's active development is centered on SMITE 2. If Paladins' status changes, it will show up first on its Steam news page.

Quick Start

Play Training and a few bot matches first to learn the objective flow and your champion's cooldowns.
Pick a class your team is missing. A standard Siege composition is 1 Front Line, 1–2 Support, 1–2 Damage, and 1 Flank.
Use the default loadout until you understand the champion, then build your own. Loadouts are the biggest power lever in the game.
Buy items every time you respawn. Credits carry over. Cauterize (anti-heal) is almost always the first buy for at least one player.
Stand on the point. In Siege, the objective and payload decide rounds, not your kill count.
Save your ultimate for fights that matter. It charges from damage, healing, and time. Wasting it on a lone target often loses the next team fight.
Use your mount. You automatically ride from spawn, and a mount-speed item or card gets you back to fights faster.
Supports should heal, not duel. A Support who stays alive wins more fights than one chasing kills.

Classes

Class	Job	Example champions
Front Line	Hold the point, block damage with shields, start fights	Barik, Fernando, Ruckus, Makoa, Ash, Torvald, Inara, Terminus, Khan, Raum, Atlas, Yagorath, Azaan
Damage	Consistent damage from range, burst, or area control	Viktor, Cassie, Kinessa, Drogoz, Bomb King, Tyra, Sha Lin, Strix, Lian, Imani, Dredge, Octavia, Tiberius, Willo, Saati, Betty La Bomba, Omen
Flank	Pick off Supports and backliners, pressure from off-angles	Androxus, Buck, Evie, Koga, Lex, Maeve, Skye, Talus, Vatu, Zhin, Moji, Vora, Caspian
Support	Heal and utility, keep the team alive	Grohk, Grover, Mal'Damba, Pip, Seris, Ying, Jenos, Furia, Io, Rei, Corvus, Lillith

The roster has more than 50 champions. New accounts start with a free starter set. Other champions unlock with in-game Gold or Crystals (premium), or all at once through the paid Champions Pack.

Beginner-friendly picks

Class	Pick	Why
Front Line	Barik	Deployable shield and turrets. Simple, strong point control
Front Line	Fernando	Big frontal shield and a fire flamethrower. Teaches shielding for the team
Damage	Viktor	Hitscan rifle with an iron-sights mode. Plays like a traditional shooter
Damage	Cassie	Mobile, forgiving bow with a clean kit
Flank	Buck	Tanky, self-healing shotgun Flank with a leap. Forgiving for new players
Support	Grohk / Pip	Area healing (Grohk's totem, Pip's potion) that's easy to use

Controls (Default PC)

Action	Key
Primary fire	Left mouse
Abilities	Right mouse, E, F, Space (depending on champion)
Ultimate	Q
Reload	R
Scoreboard	Tab

Each champion's kit spreads across these keys differently, so check the champion tooltip in the loadout screen. You can rebind everything in Settings.

Cards and Loadouts

Loadouts are Paladins' build system. You make them outside matches and pick one when you spawn in.

A loadout has 5 cards, each tied to that champion's abilities or stats.
You spend 15 points across the 5 cards. Each card is ranked 1–5, and a higher rank gives a stronger effect.
Cards tune a champion toward a playstyle: cooldown reduction on a mobility skill, bonus healing, shield health, lifesteal on hits, and so on.

How to build a good loadout:

Put points into what you use most, like your escape or your main damage ability.
Take survival cards on squishy champions (cooldown on escape, self-heal).
Don't split points evenly. Two or three 4–5 cards usually beat five 3s.
Study community loadouts for your champion, then adjust to your playstyle.

Talents

Each champion has several talents. These are major passive or ability modifiers that change how a kit plays, often turning a Flank into a more aggressive or more defensive variant. You pick one talent per match. More talents unlock as you level up that champion. When you're learning a champion, read all its talents; the best one often depends on the map and your team.

The Item Shop (In Match)

You earn Credits during the match from damage, healing, objective time, and passive income. Spend them at spawn on items, upgradable in tiers, that cover:

Item	What it does	When to buy
Cauterize	Reduces healing on enemies you damage	Almost every game, especially against strong Supports or self-healers
Resilience	Reduces crowd-control duration	Against heavy CC (stuns, roots, knockbacks)
Illuminate	Reveals stealthed enemies you damage	Against Evie, Skye, Strix, or other stealth champions
Wrecker	Bonus damage to shields and deployables	Against shield-heavy Front Lines or turret/deployable champions
Chronos	Cooldown reduction	Ability-heavy champions
Kill to Heal / Life Rip	Healing on elimination / lifesteal	Self-sustain for Damage and Flank
Master Riding	Faster mount speed	Getting back to the point faster
Morale Boost	Ultimate charge rate	Champions whose ultimate wins fights
Haven / Blast Shields / Nimble	Defensive and mobility options	When you keep dying to burst or area damage

Rules of thumb:

One or two players buy Cauterize early. Upgrade it to high tiers against healing-heavy teams.
Front Lines buy Wrecker less often than Damage champions, who get more value from breaking shields.
Adapt every respawn. The shop exists so you can counter the enemy team as the match unfolds.

Modes

Mode	What it is
Siege	The main mode. Capture the point for 1 point, then push or stop the payload for another. First team to 4 points wins
Onslaught	Hold the capture zone and get kills for score. First to the target wins
Team Deathmatch	Kill-based, fast, great for learning champions
Competitive (Ranked)	Siege with a pick/ban draft and visible rank
Training / Bot matches	Learn champions without pressure

Common Siege maps include Frog Isle, Jaguar Falls, Serpent Beach, Frozen Guard, Ice Mines, Fish Market, Timber Mill, Stone Keep, Brightmarsh, Splitstone Quarry, Ascension Peak, Warder's Gate, Shattered Desert, and Bazaar. Learn each map's high ground and flank routes.

Positioning and Team Play

Front Line: hold the point, block damage for your Damage and Supports, and play off your shield's health. Back off to reset it before it breaks.
Damage: stay behind your Front Line and hit whatever the enemy Front Line is shielding. Break shields when your team is ready to commit.
Flank: go for Supports and isolated Damage champions, then disengage. A Flank who dies on every dive is a free kill for the enemy.
Support: stay out of line of sight. Heal the Front Line first, and track when your escape or your ultimate is ready.
Group up after a wipe. Don't trickle into the point one at a time. Wait at spawn for your team or hit the point together.

Currencies and F2P Tips

Currency	Source	Spend on
Gold	Playing, daily login rewards, quests	Champions, some cosmetics, chests
Crystals	Real money	Skins, event passes, the Champions Pack
Credits (in match)	Match performance	Items during that match only

Do your daily quests and login rewards for steady Gold.
Use Gold on champions before cosmetics. Having more champions means more options in draft.
With no new passes announced since early 2025, only buy cosmetics you want now rather than saving for future content.

Ranked Tips

Ranked requires an account level and a minimum number of owned champions. Check the requirements in the queue menu.
Master at least two champions in two different classes so draft bans don't leave you stranded.
Have a couple of loadouts ready per champion (one aggressive, one defensive), so you can adapt to the enemy draft.
Coordinate ultimates. Stacking two ultimates in one fight (for example, a stun or area-denial ultimate plus a burst ultimate) wins rounds.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Forgetting to buy items at spawn.
Skipping Cauterize against strong Supports and self-healers.
Chasing kills off the point while the enemy captures.
Picking a fifth Damage champion instead of filling Support or Front Line.
Spreading loadout points evenly instead of focusing on key cards.
Using your ultimate on one target when a better team fight is coming.

Advanced Tips

Shield-baiting: on Front Lines, let the enemy commit ultimates into your shield, then drop it and move forward.
Cooldown tracking: watch the enemy Support's escape. Once it's down, your Flank has a free window.
Deployables (turrets, walls, totems): kill them first in fights. Wrecker helps.
Credit timing: save toward an item upgrade that immediately counters a threat, like Illuminate against a fed stealth Flank.
Map knowledge: learn payload checkpoints and which high ground counters a push.

FAQ

Is Paladins dead or shutting down? No shutdown has been announced, and the servers are up. But no new update notes have been posted since early 2025, so it's in a no-new-content state.

Is Paladins free? Yes. The Champions Pack is an optional purchase that unlocks all champions.

Who is the best champion for beginners? Barik (Front Line), Viktor or Cassie (Damage), Buck (Flank), and Grohk or Pip (Support).

How do cards and loadouts work? Each loadout has 5 cards and 15 points to distribute. Each card goes up to rank 5 and upgrades a specific ability or stat.

What's the difference between talents and cards? Talents are big, kit-changing modifiers (one per match). Cards are smaller numeric tweaks you tune in your loadout.

Is there cross-play? Paladins has supported cross-play and cross-progression across platforms. Check the in-game settings for your current options.