Zealot of Righteousness: Paladin
Tactics in DDO

By Save-vs-DM


Though
paladins can fill many roles in Dungeons and Dragons Online, their
primary role is that of a melee combatant.  As a paldin, you have
a plethora of special abilities that can keep your party healthy and
functioning, but you will most often find yourself in the thick of
combat taunting enemies and keeping them from attacking your teammates.



Basic Paladin Roles

Your most basic role in combat will be dealing damage with a melee
weapon while avoiding or deflecting the attacks of your enemies. 
As a paladin, you will be expected to confront multiple enemies at a
time and remain alive long enough to be healed.  Though this is
your primary role, you can fill a variety of secondary rolls through
careful feat and enhancement choices.  With the proper choices,
you can also fill one (or more) of the following roles:

  • Crowd Controller: A
    melee combatant who uses Intimidate to attract monsters to himself
    while avoiding taking too much damage.
  • Mage Slayer: A melee
    combatant who can shrug of magical attacks and quickly dispatch an
    enemy spellcaster.
  • Secondary Healer: A
    melee combatant who can provide some minor healing effects to your
    party.
  • Undead Slayer: A melee
    combatant who confronts and destroys enemy undead quickly and
    efficiently.

The two primary Enhancements you should focus on are Bulwark of Good
and Resistance of Good, both of which increase the effectiveness of
your aura of good.  With these enhancements you provide yourself
and your allies with increased Armor Class and saving throws.



A mage slayer paladin might focus on Enhancements like Resistance of
Good in order to increase their already impressive saving throws. 
A secondary healer might consider Extra Lay on Hands and Energy of the
Templar to enable them to heal additional times per rest.  An
undead slayer might consider Extra Turning and Extra Smite Evil to
increase the damage they can deal to undead.



General Combat Tactics

Though the battle tactics of each individual paladin will vary from
character to character, there are some general combat tactics that all
paladins should master early in order to increase their effectiveness
and protect their group.



First and foremost, you must learn the art of aggression
management.  You must learn how to make enemies angry at you and
then hold their anger so that weaker party members or members with a
lower armor class are not threatened.  There are two methods for
aggression management, both of which are detailed below.


  1. Attack every enemy you can before other party members do
    so.  This will put you at the top of the enemies' “hit list,”
    ensuring that they target you.  You must continue to damage the
    enemies so that when your spellcaster starting dealing massive amounts
    of damage the enemies will not leave you for the spellcaster.  If
    you use this method you must be capable of hitting an enemy regularly
    and for moderate amounts of damage.  The cleave feat is also
    useful when using this type of aggression management.
  2. Use the Intimidate skill.  By hitting Intimidate at the very
    beginning of the battle, you will cause all enemies around you to
    attack you first.  This is effective as it lets you block with a
    shield, preventing more damage.  You will have to continue to
    taunt throughout the fight with this method, as the taunt does not last
    indefinitely.  If you use this method you must have a good
    Intimidate skill, which is not a paladin class skill.  Invest in
    items that improve your Intimidate skill and make sure that you keep
    your Intimidate skill at the highest rating possible.



href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/Exclusive_Screenshots/Paladin_v_ogre.jpg"> alt="Paladin v ogre"
src="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/Exclusive_Screenshots/Paladin_v_ogre.jpg"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 220px; height: 176px;" align="left">Smite
Makes Right


Often an overlooked tool of the paladin, smite evil can quickly turn
the tide of a tough battle.  Smite Evil is a single attack that
adds your Charisma bonus to your attack roll and your paladin level to
damage.  This can quickly cut down a tough enemy that has been
giving your group trouble.



Knowing when to use this potent ability is quite simple.  First of
all, smite evil, as you might imagine, only works on evil
creatures.  Thus do not bother smiting an ooze, a construct, an
animal, or an insect.  All of these creatures are not evil and,
thus, will not take the extra damage.  Smite Evil is best used
against tough leader enemies or potent spellcasters to bring them down
quickly.  Smite Evil works best if you target the enemy and then
use Smite Evil.  If you have a way to temporarily increase your
attack bonus, try to use it before you Smite Evil.



Fighting Formations

Paladins gain one of their most potent abilities at first level: Aura
of Good.  Your Aura of Good provides you and all of your allies
within a close range a passive +2 bonus to armor class and all saving
throws.  This can be a boon at low levels when your armor class is
low and a bigger boon at high levels when saving throws are common
place.  Make sure that you stay close to your companions so that
they can benefit from your aura as much as possible.  If one of
your companions happens to run out of range, your aura will linger for
seven seconds, so don't run off and leave the rest of your group if
someone veers off to take out an enemy.



This passive bonus has increased benefits in certain situations. 
If one of your companions becomes poisoned and you do not have the
ability to cure him, make sure you stick close so that when he makes
his secondary saving throw he benefits from your aura's boost to his
saving throws.  The same holds true for companions who have to run
through a trap that cannot be disabled.



When to Fight, When to Defend

As a paladin, you will have to learn when to bring the sword and when
to raise the shield.  Thankfully, this determination is fairly
easy to make.  If you are fighting only a few enemies, attack
furiously to bring them down quickly.  If you are surrounded by a
hoard and your allies are being mobbed, taunt the enemies and start
blocking.



If at any time you find you are not being hit often, start attacking
more, as your high armor class likely makes you very difficult to hit
regularly.  If at any time you are taking a lot of damage and your
cleric is occupied, start blocking in order to take less damage. 
Mostly, when to attack and when to block is a common sense decision
that you will learn to make as second nature the more you play.



Using Lay on Hands

Lay on Hands is a potent ability that cannot be used very often. 
Unlike other healing spells, Lay on Hands cannot be interrupted in
combat. This makes Lay on Hands an excellent emergency heal, as you are
ensured to get it off (unless you are slain before using it).  Try
to conserve your Lay on Hands for emergencies or for before you rest,
as you can use your healing spells to heal between fights.



Paladin Spellcasting

Paladins are not very good spellcasters.  While you do get a small
amount of spells known after level four, you will know at most two
first level spells and two second level spells.  As such, you will
not be a primary healer or spellcaster.  Your spellcasting role
will be supplemental to the party.



If you have a cleric in your party, coordinate with them about which
spells you will prepare.  Because paladins get lesser restoration
as a first level spell, you can often prepare this spell and free up a
spell slot for your party cleric (as you will probably not need to cast
this spell more than three or four times a rest). href="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/Exclusive_Screenshots/Turning_undead.jpg"> alt="turn undead"
src="http://ddo.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/Exclusive_Screenshots/Turning_undead.jpg"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 220px; height: 176px;" align="right">



Most of your spells are either curative in nature or spells that
enhance your combat prowess.  One spell that deserves special
consideration is Divine Favor.  This spell gives you a short term
boost to attack and damage, which can help turn the tide of
combat.  This is a good default spell to prepare in difficult
dungeons when you have plenty of combat healing.



Parting Words

The paladin is powerful character class that can enhance the power of
his group by his mere presence.  The class works best in a group,
but unlike a bard, you can take an active and powerful role in
combat.  By enhancing your defenses and paying attention on the
field of battle, you can help ensure that your party wins the
day.  Good luck and may the gods be with you.


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Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Karen is H.D.i.C. (Head Druid in Charge) at EQHammer. She likes chocolate chip pancakes, warm hugs, gaming so late that it's early, and rooting things and covering them with bees. Don't read her Ten Ton Hammer column every Tuesday. Or the EQHammer one every Thursday, either.

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