Paladin

* Has 20 Hearts (starts with 10 filled)
* Golden apples clear all negative status effects when eaten
* Cannot use a bow/crossbow

## **Strategy**

Paladin lives and dies by their meticulousness, with it providing both potent benefits and crippling detriments. Every half heart counts as it may mean the difference between power or regret for the lack thereof. Knowing what health thresholds trigger what effects is vital to making full use of your abilities.

Having an additional row of unfilled hearts means that Paladin is able to heal into them. Where other classes’ uses of golden apples are often limited to waiting until they are damaged, Paladin has ample opportunity to supplement their health.

Tomes make it easier for the Paladin to make full use of their additional hearts without costing their team an excessive amount of gold. You can only be given 2 Tomes per game, so ensure you are still taking care to maintain your health. Truly, you should consider being at 20 hearts to be full health and any less to be damaged.

When at 10 hearts or below, every other hit the Paladin lands will deal minimal damage, equivalent to if they had been spamming their weapon. If their next hit is set to be a minimal damage one, it is indicated by a message on the action bar, the attack indicator being visibly empty, and their held item appearing lowered.

To best negate the downside, be aware of whether your current hit will be a full damage one or not. Ideally, you will attack an enemy for full damage, and then quickly follow up with an additional hit to return to a full damage interval.

## **Tips**

* Be sure to avoid the temptation to spam-attack when 10 hearts or below. Maximizing the damage potential of your full damage hits is essential to success in combat.

* Similarly,  be sure to get out of your minimal damage interval as quickly as possible, as when on this interval, your attack will never be charged more than 0%.

* Minimal damage attacks will do about 20% of the damage your attack would otherwise do. This means a diamond axe, which normally does 4.5 hearts of damage, will instead do about 0.9 hearts of damage.

* Switching between attack states gives off colored particles and makes a distinctive noise. Perceptive enemies can use these tells to attack when you’re at your weakest.

* Although Absorption hearts do not count towards your health thresholds, they can still be used to protect your regular health and maintain your thresholds longer. It may be worth preemptively eating a golden apple in some cases for this reason alone.

* If you wish to keep your class a secret to your enemies before fighting, consider waiting to use your Tomes, as seeing a player above 12 hearts on the tab menu is a dead giveaway. However, be sure to weigh this choice against the benefits your increased health may give you.

* Your high jump at 15+ hearts allows you to jump up 3.125 blocks. This can be used to mix up your movement and close the distance between ranged classes.

* If falling and at 15+ hearts, you can sneak to trigger your high jump and potentially prevent up to 1 ½ hearts of fall damage.

* Keeping a golden apple on your hotbar is always a good idea, but on Paladin this is doubly true. If poisoned by a witch or cave spider, you can eat one to prevent losing a significant amount of your health, as the Poison will be cleared along with granting you Absorption hearts.

## **Notable Matchups**

### **Pirate**

Pirates are unable to melee with an axe, therefore good use of a shield should put you at an advantage. However, if you get to 10- hearts it’s important to use your damage interval effectively, as their attack speed can allow them to outpace your damage otherwise.

### **Rogue**

In general, Rogue can be quite dangerous. As each half heart matters for Paladin to stay within certain health thresholds, taking chip damage from fire is unideal. Keep an eye on your health to vary your strategy, and consider using golden apples to augment your health and stay in the upper health thresholds.

When at 20 hearts and able to resist your next hit, you will be able to resist the first hit from the Rogue, potentially preventing a more potent surprise attack. However, the fire from the their Dagger will still deal damage after the first hit, so be aware. A more experienced Rogue may opt to simply punch with their fist to waste your resistance without having to hold out a weapon and reveal their exact location.

At 15+ hearts you can make use of your high jump to potentially dodge out of the way of a Rogue's attack. Getting to high ground is also beneficial when fighting a Rogue, which is made easier using your jump. The Rogue will need to hold out and place blocks to reach you which allows you to see their location, and limits their valid routes to reach you.

### **Trickster**

The spikes of a Trickster are a potential source of chip damage to take you off a health interval, and therefore your approach should be planned carefully.

### **Warlock**

The imps of a Warlock are potentially dangerous to fight at 10 or less hearts, as they serve as another target to mess with your hit interval. In a close ranged fight where you can reach both an imp and the enemy Warlock it’s a delicate balance to not waste potential full damage hits on the enemy player, but also keep the imp from causing chip damage.