Lost Ark has risen to the top of gaming since its release on Steam, with an all-time peak of around 1.3 million concurrent players. The game still finds itself in the top 10 games on Steam much of the time. With its addictive gameplay loop and the amazing world to explore, it's easy to see why so many love getting into the gritty details of each character build.

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The Paladin is an advanced support class that primarily uses a sword weapon to engage in battle. As one of the few support classes in the game (alongside Bard) it's a great way to introduce a new player to Lost Ark's core mechanics. Unlike the Bard, the Paladin aims to support the team using damage prevention methods through damage reduction rather than long-duration shields. All the abilities listed below can be unlocked through progressing the main quest.

9 Holy Sword (Punish)

Lost Ark Holy Sword Punish Ability

Holy Sword is a great move with a fairly long cooldown. It gives Paladins the ability to do strong frontal attack damage with mid-high stagger. This can be used as a counter skill at range to help a team damage the enemy.

Luckily, players can unlock this early on as one of their main abilities. They don’t need to worry about going out of their way to unlock this basic yet effective move. Additionally, Outburst of Light and Release Light will help to increase the overall damage even when an attack may fail.

8 Executor's Sword (Punish)

Lost Ark Executor's Sword (Punish)

Executor's Sword has a similar use to Holy Sword, but gives Paladins a slightly different range and battle effectiveness. This ability has a much shorter cooldown, but does far less damage and stagger. The advantage is Paladins can use this attack at a much closer range.

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It also provides excellent mobility, allowing the player to move forward 4 meters in the middle of the attack. This attack also covers a much larger area making it more likely to hit numerous targets during a fight.

7 Charge (Punish)

Lost Ark Charge Punish Skill

Charge is a very low cooldown skill with minimal MP consumption. This will allow the player to utilize this move often during a fight, making it a very versatile skill to have as a Paladin.

This move is great to use when the enemy may be slightly out of the other move’s effective range. With a charge of 6 meters, Paladins can close the gap and do a decent amount of damage in the process. This is also a ‘back’ attack type move, allowing for bonus damage when the enemy may not be facing the player.

6 Light Shock (Holy)

Lost Ark Light Shock Holy Ability

As the first Holy skill in this list, Light Shock provides some fast attacks in a large area around the player. This is great for controlling the enemies around the player and dealing damage to multiple enemies at once.

With a lot of frontal and directional attacks already being put to use, it's important to have a low cooldown area ability to gives the player some breathing space. This will also debuff enemies, giving a bonus to the entire team.

5 Godsent Law (Holy)

Lost Ark Godsent Law Holy Ability

This 'Point' move creates an area of light that deals damage to enemies over two seconds. This has a relatively high MP consumption, but will allow Paladins to use other moves at the same time. This gives the player the chance to increase their DPS (damage per second).

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This ability, paired with the Shield and Grace buff, will also give the team a small health boost and damage reduction within a short time. This bonus can come in clutch in tricky situations.

4 Wrath Of God (Holy)

Lost Ark Wrath of God Holy

Wrath of God is another area-based skill that can damage enemies within a wide range and deal high damage. With a long cooldown of 27 seconds, Paladins need to use this sparingly, and save it for the best opportunity.

Pairing this move with Express Fury can give the team an added attack bonus for eight seconds, again giving the player the opportunity to get the team out of some tight situations. Faith will also increase the player's Piety Meter on each hit.

3 Holy Protection (Holy)

Lost Ark Holy Protection Holy Ability

This ability will directly benefit the player and the team by creating a barrier around the entire team. This grants a bonus of 20% of each character's max health for six seconds. Lingering power will give the player's shield an additional 2 seconds, allowing the team to put themselves in risky positions to deal more damage.

By stacking some of these abilities together, Paladins can greatly benefit the team as a support player whilst utilizing Punish moves for additional damage.

2 Heavenly Blessings (Holy)

Lost Ark Heavenly Blessings

This skill will do damage to enemies and debuff enemies for a short period simultaneously. This is an ability that perfectly summarizes the role of the Paladin support and is also great for PvP engagements.

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This skill also comes with an interesting buff, Absolute Blessing, which increases MP recovery speed for the team. This allows them to use more of their abilities once charged without having to wait the additional time. Valor will also grant additional attack power to the team.

1 Awakening Skill

Lost Ark Awakening Skill

Paladin's Awakening Skill is unlocked slightly later in the game as a part of the main quest but is essentially the 'Ultimate' move. In this class in Lost Ark, the player has two choices here: Altihanes's Judgment and Alithanes's Light.

Alithanes's Judgment will give the player and the team a huge shield for ten seconds. In Lost Ark, this is a long time to benefit the team with a health boost, especially in late-game and high-difficulty content like raids and dungeons. This also does medium stagger to enemies giving the team a short period to regroup. Alithanes's Light will give the entire team a lot of Piety Meter bonuses, and will also do lots of damage and stagger.

Essentially, players should use the skill that they think will benefit their team in the current situation. There isn't a correct option here.

Lost Ark is currently available on Steam and is free to play.

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