New to Paladins – now that it’s out on PS4 and Xbox One? In our starter and beginner guide, you’ll learn everything about champions, game modes, deck building, and currencies. Here, you’ll learn the basics to survive your first hours in Paladins.
You’ve just downloaded Paladins and are wondering what you’re even playing? Which champs are easy to learn? What about the maps and what are the three currencies?
Here’s an overview of our guide:
- What is Paladins? A brief introduction
- What are the game modes Siege, Payload, and Survival?
- Champions for beginners: Which champs are good for starting?
- Roles – What are they and what are their tasks?
- Deck building: What are all the different cards about?
- Currencies: Crystals, Gold, and Essence – What do you need them for?
1. What is Paladins?
Primarily, Paladins is a casual, team-based hero shooter. However, Paladins is not just a shooter but features strong MOBA elements. You can customize your champs through card sets and individually shape their abilities. This gives you plenty of options to strategically influence your game with your deck build.
The whole thing is wrapped in a fantastical setting with witches, knights, elves, and more – but the classic CoD soldier is also represented. In Paladins, we have a colorful mix of genres and characters.
What you need to know for the first matches
If you know Overwatch, you’ll generally have an advantage in understanding Paladins’ gameplay. The games are similar and have some of the same objectives. You and your team capture control points, protect payloads, and escort them. Typically, you compete in a 5v5 match against another team.
Until level 5, you play against bots
After completing the tutorial, you’ll have your first matches against bots. From level 5 onwards, you can play against “real” opponents. So don’t be surprised if it suddenly gets significantly harder from level 5 onwards.
2. Paladins game modes: Siege, Payload, Survival
Paladins has a variety of game modes. Until level 15, only three of these modes are available to you: Siege, Payload, and Survival.
You can queue for multiple game modes simultaneously. To do this, simply check the modes you’re interested in. Here’s a brief explanation of each of the three game modes available to you as a beginner.
Paladins: Siege – Round-based objective points in Siege mode
Siege is the standard mode of Paladins. You’ll get to know it during the tutorial and your first match. You compete in multiple rounds in two teams. The goal is to win objective points with your team.
To win the match, you need a total of 4 objective points. You earn these by:
- Capturing a control point (1 point)
- Escorting the payload to the enemy base (1 point)
- Stopping the enemy’s payload (1 point)
This is how a siege match is structured:
- Approximately in the middle of each map is a control point. You need to capture this with your team. For that, someone must stand on the control point.
- Once a team member is standing on the control point, a bar fills up. The first team to reach 100% captures the control point. If champions from both teams stand on the control point, neither team’s progress bar will fill up.
- The team that captures the control point receives a payload. This payload must be escorted to the enemy base. The opposing team tries to prevent this. Within 3 minutes, the payload must be at the enemy base to take the point. If this does not succeed, the “defending team” gets a point.
When escorting a payload, there must always be a team member near the payload. If not, the payload will stop. Opponents can then even push the payload back.
This game is repeated round-based in a siege match until a team reaches 4 points. The team with 4 points wins.
Paladins: Payload – Whoever pushes the payload the farthest wins
In Payload mode, you play 2 rounds against each other. In this mode, the goal is to push your payload as far and as quickly as possible. The pushing works the same way as in siege mode.
If you stand near your payload, it moves forward. If an opponent is near your payload, it moves back – again towards your base.
This is how a payload match is structured:
- Team 1 is the attacker and pushes the payload. Team 2 is the defender and tries to prevent that.
- Team 1 spawns with a payload in their base. From here, team 1 tries to push the payload as far as possible. Team 1 has 7 minutes to push. Ideally, you manage to push the payload to the enemy’s base. Team 2 has the beginning of the round to run straight to team 1’s base and besiege it. The base of team 2 opens after just 10 seconds.
- When the first round is over, the sides switch: Now team 2 becomes the attacker and team 1 becomes the defender.
- Whoever pushes the payload the farthest wins.
- If both teams manage to push the payload into the opponent’s base, the fastest team wins.
It’s essential to always have someone near the payload. Tanks are best suited for this role. Opponents should be kept away from the payload.
Paladins: Survival – “Hunger Games” mode – Who dies loses
In Survival, it’s about life and death: Anyone who dies in this mode does not come back. There is no respawn.
This is how the Survival mode is structured:
- You compete in 5 rounds in a “Death-Match” against each other. The teams consist of 5 members.
- The team that first eliminates all opponents wins. At least one team member must still be alive at the end of a round.
- Anyone who dies can only re-enter in the next round.
- The team that wins the most rounds wins the entire Survival match.
If you’re eliminated at the start of a round, you won’t have to wait long for the new round. A deadly fog moves from the edge of the map towards the center. Anyone who comes into contact with it takes substantial damage. In the middle of the map, the fog pauses briefly. The last survivors are trapped in a confined space together. After 60 seconds, the death fog engulfs the entire map.
So, Survival is a brisk, casual – but intense – fun.
Paladins PS4: Gameplay video
In this gameplay video, our chief Dawid tested Paladins on the PS4. Here, you can get a good impression of the hero shooter.
3. Paladins – Champions for the start – Which heroes are beginner-friendly?
Paladins offers a wide range of heroes, each with different abilities. There’s something for everyone. To learn the hero shooter, it’s recommended to look at champions with simple mechanics first. At the beginning, not all champions are available to you. Some champions need to be unlocked first. For this, you can use gold or crystals.
We have created a guide for the most beginner-friendly champion from each role. Here we present 4 heroes that are already available to you at the beginning and are easy to learn. We recommend:
- Tank/Frontline: Fernando
- Damage/Offensive: Viktor
- Support: Pip
- Flank: Skye
Continue to the champion guide for beginners: Paladins Guide: The 4 best champions for beginners
4. Paladins: Roles – What are they and what are their tasks?
The champions of Paladins are divided into 4 roles. Each role fulfills a specific task. We introduce you to these roles and what their tasks are:
- Frontline
- Damage dealer
- Support
- Flank
Paladins Frontline: These are the tanks and defenders
Paladins Frontline consists of the tanks of Paladins. Their job is to defend and protect objectives and the team. Ideally, the tank should stand on the control point and keep enemies at bay. The same goes for payloads. However, this does not mean you should recklessly rush into objectives if it means certain death.
Paladins Damage Champions: These are the damage dealers
The damage dealers inflict the most damage in the game. Their job is to keep firing at and weakening the opponents. Damage dealers can even eliminate robust tanks.
Paladins Support: Supporters that help with healing and crowd control
Paladins supports come with high utility. Whether you play them defensively or offensively depends on your deck build. You can support your team in both healing and damage. Their job is to keep the team alive and to disrupt and weaken enemies.
Paladins Flanker: They pick out individual targets and eliminate them
The main task of flankers: pick out key targets and eliminate them quickly. Flankers try to get to the healers and damage dealers of the opponents from all sides. Their job is not to be constantly on and near the objective. For these reasons, flanker champions also have more mobility than the other roles.
5. Paladins Maps: Deck-Building with Items, Loadouts, and Legendary Cards
The cards are the heart of Paladins and provide a special depth to the game. Especially in the beginning, it can be challenging to get an overview of the cards. If you really want to master the game, you need to deal with the cards. Even if champions have specific talents and roles, you can give them new roles and strengths through the cards.
You use the cards to customize the abilities of your champions. There are a total of 3 different types of cards.
- Deck-Building with Loadout Cards:
The loadout deck consists of a set of cards available to every champion. Each champion has their own, individual set of cards. You can view all the cards when you go into the champion menu.
Each champion has a standard deck with which you can dive directly into the match. Additional cards must be unlocked or drawn from chests. You equip your champion with the loadout deck directly before a match. Feel free to play a few rounds with the default decks to learn the gameplay. Later on, it’s definitely recommended to build decks and experiment with them.
A quick tip: you can copy decks from other players. Just click on Import under “Create Deck”.
- Legendary Cards:
Legendary cards are particularly powerful upgrades for your champions. They work similarly to loadout cards. You equip them directly before the match. Each champion has a total of 3 of these legendary cards. One of them is unlocked by default. Also, each champion has their own set of legendary cards.
- Deck-Building with Items/Burn-Cards:
Officially, the items in Paladins are called “Burn-Cards”. These are the items of Paladins. You equip your champion with them during a match. With these cards, you can always react to the ongoing match.
You earn credits, the in-game currency, during the match. With this, you can buy items in your base during the match.
The cards are divided into different categories: Defense, Support, Healing, and Attack. With them, you can effectively counter the opposing team and strengthen and complement your own. All champions have access to the same items during the match.
Guide to Deck-Building: Paladins Deck-Building Guide: Learn the cards, master the game
6. Paladins currency: Crystals, Essence, Gold – What is the difference?
In Paladins, you deal with three different currencies. But what is the difference between the currencies and what are they used for?
- Crystals:
Crystals are the premium currency of Paladins. You can use them to unlock champions, cosmetic items, and chests. Normally, crystals must be purchased with real money. However, there are also a few ways to earn them in Paladins: Paladins Crystals for free: Here’s how to earn them without spending money.
- Essence:
You use Essence for crafting cards. When you draw cards from a chest that you already own, you receive Essence. For completing the basic tutorial, you receive 36,000 Essence as a reward.
- Gold:
Gold is used in Paladins to unlock champions and certain cosmetic items. Gold can also be used to purchase Radiant Chests. You earn gold by playing: Completing matches, quests, leveling champions, or daily bonuses for logging in.
Visit the official website: Play Paladins for free on PS4, Xbox One, PC
Find the champion that fits you: Paladins: Which champ are you? Take the test!
