Diablo 4 Season 13 saw a huge meta shakeup thanks to the changes added in Lord of Hatred, such as reworked skill trees and the new Talisman mechanic. As a result, one of the worst Diablo 4 classes have become top meta contenders, while the reverse seems to have happened as well. What was once a clear meta class of the past Diablo 4 seasons has unfortunately become a shell of its former self, which is unfortunate considering Paladin is one of two classes added with Lord of Hatred.
In a surprising move, some of the best classes in the Diablo 4 Season 13 is Rogue and Barbarian, which historically were among the worst games. The Warlock is another class at the top of the meta in Season 13, thanks in large part to the overhaul of the Skill Tree. While the new Warlock class has some solid build options, it doesn't quite reach the Torment level clearing potential of these other classes. However, Paladin is the most unfortunate victim of the Skill Tree update, going from meta dominance in Season 11 to barely passable in Season 13.
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Diablo 4 Season 13 gives the Paladin a short ending
Although technically a new Lord of Hatred class, the Paladin was available Diablo 4 players to use since Season 11, when it debuted for players who pre-purchased the expansion. Paladin was incredibly overpowered during this season, with the Aura Paladin build being one of the best the game has ever seen. Even without running the Auradin build, almost all of Paladin builds Diablo 4 Season 11 was at its peak meta.
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Easy (120s) Medium (90s) Hard (60s)
Part of what made Paladin such a smash in its debut season Diablo 4 was a Castle Legendary Paragon Node that increased damage in proportion to the reduction in damage dealt from the player's armor. Season 12 heavily damaged this Paragon Node, reducing Paladin's overall strength and limiting the variety of his meta builds to mainly Auradin. Now even Auradin is trying to compete in the highest levels of Torment Diablo 4showing how far the holy warrior has fallen since his starting season.
The best Paladin build was heavily nerfed in Season 13
At the core of the Aura Paladin build are the three class aura skills: Holy Light Aura, Fanaticism Aura, and Defiance Aura. Each of these aura skills has a passive and active effect, with Holy Light Aura being the primary damage dealer for the whole party when combined with Dawnfire Unqiue Gloves. The result is a build that can stack damage without the player having to actively input skill actions.
Holy Light's passive now deals [390 – 450] Fire Damage every second in a small area around you. Each time an enemy dies in this aura, it increases their damage by 15%[+] and burned area by 10%[+] for 20 seconds, a maximum of 10 times. Activating the Holy Light aura refreshes this duration.
“Spark your inner flame. With him we are the dawn that breaks the night.” – Paladin Justelle
Paladin
However, the removal of passives from the Paladin's Skill Tree and the move to specific Set Charms with the new Talisman Lord of Hatred mechanic left the pure Aura Paladin build somewhat lacking. Set Charms dedicated to the Auradin archetype are Cathan's Iron Conviction Charms. Unfortunately, the bonuses offered by spells are a far cry from the utility that paladin passives provided in the old skill tree structure, so the class lacks in that department.
How Paladin could be improved in future seasons of Diablo 4
Because the main source of paladin passives now comes from Set Charms, the future season Diablo 4 could add new Set Charms for each class to help support different build archetypes. Paladin currently has five different spell sets: Cathan's Dauntless Faith, Cathan's Iron Will, Cathan's Righteous Will, Heaven's Radiant Fire, and Light's Epiphany. Right now, Light's Epiphany is the best choice as it drastically improves the form of the Paladin's Arbiter while allowing them to cast all Ultimates whenever they cast Arbiter of Justice and increasing the Disciple's skill power by 500%. This leaves builds that cannot take advantage of this spellset at a significant disadvantage, which can be fixed in the future with a greater variety of useful spellsets.
Paladin builds still worth using in Diablo 4 Season 13
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The wing attacks the Paladin
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Blessed Hammer Paladin
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Shield of Retribution Paladin
Although Paladin is generally underpowered this season and may struggle Diablo 4the highest Torment difficulty levels, there are still a few builds worth using. These builds largely revolve around Light's Epiphany Charms Set, but Cathan's Righteous Will can also be useful with the right setup.
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Easy (6) Medium (8) Hard (10)
By far the best Paladin build Diablo 4 Season 13 is a Wing Strikes Paladin that emphasizes a playstyle that keeps the Paladin in Arbiter form at all times and uses the Legendary aspect of Tyrael's Jurisdiction to power up and turn Arbiter form wing strikes into enemy seeking attacks. This deck also benefits from the synergy between Arbiter of Justice and Set Bonus of Light's Epiphany, which deals serious damage when casting this Ultimate.
Arbiter's Evade triggers a randomly equipped basic skill every 2.0 meters traveled. Offer basic skills [5 – 15]%[x] increased damage during Arbiter's Evade and 4 seconds after.
“And the moon looked at the pilgrims and wept along the path of light. Through her tears they walked, and the night remembered them no more.” – Orison XVII: Creed of the Dove
Paladin
The Blessed Hammer Paladin also makes great use of Light's Epiphany Set Bonus, which improves the damage of disciples' skills once the Blessed Hammer is upgraded to the Disciples' Halo variant. This build also uses synergies between Arbiter form and Argent Veil Unique Ring to constantly spam Blessed Hammer whenever Paladin in Arbiter form dodges. While not as strong as Wing Strikes, Blessed Hammer is still a decent pick in Season 13.
For a build that moves away from Light's Ephiphany and trades it for Cathan's Righteous Will Charm Set, Shield of Retribution is a solid choice that can take Diablo 4 players can easily go through Torment levels 8 and 9. The Shield of Retribution buff for Blessed Shield makes it a Juggernaut skill and allows it to deal damage based on Paladin's Thorns. Between the emphasis on spike damage and the set bonus of Cathan's Righteous Will, which reflects the crowd control effects of stun and knockback, this build can punish groups of enemies that get too close to the Paladin without relying on the Aura class mechanic.
- Released
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June 5, 2023
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood and gore, intense violence, language, in-game purchases, user interaction
