As weird as it might sound, but paladin class is divided into two subclasses, namely guardian paladin and tempest paladin. I did not hear exactly what the paladin trainer NPC told me, but if I was not mistaken, it had something to do with different beliefs in how to wield holy power between dwarves and elves. Dwarves with their defensive mindset argued that such power should be wielded to protect, thus creating the guardian paladin. On the other hand, elves doubled down on the offensive capabilities with adding pure energy magic to the mix, thus giving birth to tempest paladin.

For humans, well, we kind of have a nice relation with both races. Therefore we can choose any of the subclasses after we reach level 30. Of course this came with the drawback where we cannot assign points to any path before level 30.

Following my previous build as a tank warrior, I deliberately chose guardian paladin that focuses towards defence. Among all other classes, guardian paladin has one of the most diverse buffs to teammates and many ways to protect them from magical assaults and debuffs. With this, I am sure that I will not be caught helplessly watching my team get obliterated. Not today.

We only have a few path choices in this class, which are Consecration, Crucifixion, Devotion, and Safeguard. Consecration is the funniest talent around since it focuses on the usage of holy magic to attack. I mean, so much for the schism of paladins between elves and dwarves only for both to end up having this same exact path choice. Yay for gameplay over lore, I guess.

As for Crucifixion, it focuses more on healing. If you ever think it would be funny to see a paladin doing healing for a team, think again. Those healer guardian paladins are crazy both in raid and PvP. Yes, they might seem more vulnerable, but mind you that they still wore hardened plate steel armors. And their healings are no joke either. I once had a guardian paladin heal me from almost zero to full health under a single spell. I do not think Renma would ever be able to top that. Because he’s a Discipline Priest, duh.

Safeguard is the true bread and butter that I aimed for in this class. Debuff resistance and some defensive self buff would definitely help a lot in dealing with pesky spells. I will add Devotion later on to help with the safety of my team. I wonder if I would ever need to take taunt from this talent.

So far, I did quite well with this class. It really felt like the answer that I was looking for during my warrior days. Even during teamfights, I felt that I have already made a much more significant contribution than being a warrior.

On the other hand, my new comrades also did pretty well when holding Lyra back. A bit of being reckless here and there, but at least they fought with wits and valiantly. Now, those are the kinds of players I would die tanking for.

Though in the end, it was my deskmate that made the final sacrifice. It is kind of shameful for a guardian paladin to be protected like that. I need to repay him sometime.

~AVK~