Which one of these guys do you use as tanks in a Paladin BG and why? I'm running one with Vengeant Knights and NC Militia rn. Not sure if I should change or if there are other options out there that are better. Lemme know!
None. Paladins aren't good at high competitive level. You can get by on lower ranks, but when stuff start hitting your guys hard, they fall like leaves leaving you out matched by other champions who don't rely on a setup effect to deal real competitive damage. Examples: Veg knight- Block, physical resist and heal and stuff. Sounds good right? till you realize all melee is mostly physical and all alternative damage is mostly ranged. He sucks up an R.d. early and can't even dish damage out to make it work properly. Hes just an off-tank or off-beater that heals. In direct combat, he may last a round or two but he will often get countered by something like a dead fairy whom can wittle him down from range before he can even do real damage. edit- On the flip side though if he gets his violence and charges going he becomes a superb unit capable oh holding off 1-2 melee units with ease. NC templar- This guy is but a shadow of his former self. 8 damage is insanely low, even for a sunder champion. Inquisition seems like it might do something with his current set-up but as 6 speed makes him avoidable, especially when his good abilities use up all his ap. Also not to mention again 8 damage. We have better defense lowering options, ones that do not revolve around me boxing matching a vindrax to get one rounded a turn after. NC militia- A versitile rune again no damage, but he brings options the other two can't With enduring aura and bodygaurd he can support a phalnix pretty well and enlightened helps him get his heal on. crusader- he looks good on paper but try running him. Again. 8 damage base.
Well Bane Shift. What's a good IS bg then? I've just had fun playing Paladins and they did pretty well in the last few games I played. :/
Like I said you can get by, and at a new players level you should be focused more on the game fundamentals. To be honest, IS mash up is the best bg's we have right now. The only real themes that work at the moment are(imo): 1. Barbarians 2. Constructs(slow but if you can survive rush you can snowball vs your opponent with a bunch of constructed summons supported by high powered range) 3. Carouse dwarves (same with constrcuts but if you equip a blacklabel brew and equip multiple dwarves their stats can reach godlike status, and if its removed they become rabid monsters capable of hardcore power. Its skill cap is pretty hard to work with and on certain maps it can be hard to get going. The most powerful paladins I can suggest are this: Ironfist minister. with favor he can allow you to cast spells in a more effecient way by refunding 5 nora after every spell. With battle drum, once every 5 round he can make the entire faction basically OP for one round. If you play this right and in combination with other power spells(might of ironfist, strip armor, macadamize) you can achieve damage potential that can rival other factions. Paladin commander- Hes essentially the main tank of paladins. With hold the line and heal self he can roadblock pretty well. with dodge or block he can turn the tide of a skirmish not to mention he has commander paladin which boost your whole deck. Any other commander paladin doesn't come close to this guy as they get dropped on the front lines. He can be a commander on the front lines. attendant squire- If you are serious about paladin bg's you must have these guys as they are the core of the theme(ap generation and boost damage along with a threat range increase). They are cheap support. Nothern cross fanatic- Depending on how you play her she can deal massive damage. Impatient is a pretty harsh ability early, but in a skirmish(something that IS can dominate at) she can generate AP for being within 3 spaces of attacking units. once she is on the frontlines though if she isn't supported she drops, but if she is, she can deal enough damage to melt meat shields(high hp champions with no real defense other than high hp, aka most champions in IS) Northerncross militia- He can be used to support that fanatic and keep her alive as his main role is body gaurding fragile units charger knight- While expensive he is the alpha strike unit of Paladins at the moment. With a invigoration from attendant squire(and maybe his attendant for some extra damage) he can dish out some low to mid 20s on charge. Add in strip armor, warcry, might of iornfist, macadamize(positioning can be hard at times) and he can pump some numbers. He is no way a tank however as once his block is disregarded his stats are easy to overcome. Amythist wing- hes a paladin. His best upgrade choices are adaptation or sunder depending on what you want his role to be place. If you run some other griffen wings he can be a vaporize unit meaning he takes no(or soon to be reduced damage. Game patches and what not) from anything that isn't magical damage. at 4 defense he can be pretty potent this way. Or he can also be a utlity unit with shocking greeting( destealths and also can kill those pesky perseverance units Heros- Euan and talgar are good units but they are different. Talgar is stronger early game because of multi attack. With support he can turn into a monster of turn by turn beating damage. This is currently our last true paladin beater(and most people want him nerfed for it). Euan however is different. Depending on how you build him(prestige, battle leader, and battle master are all great upgrades, its just up to preference. Surge enemy is his best second line since it pumps his damage up but you can opt out for block 2 if you want him to live a bit on the front and if you have ways to boost his damage) he can help IS take control of mid game with consecration. Bastion is a gimmick unit that if he hits you twice you take massive damage. usually he is spell spammed to death but if you can draw out those types of spells(essense drain, fading recollection,vortex) he can cause havoc and once he gets going he can be hard to stop. non-paladins that are key to IS in general: Priest of Valdac- the white mage... nobody ****S WITH THE WHITE MAGE(to you dbz abridged watchers out there) Dwarven sarge- this guy is ap generation on a stick and with command block he can help you survive a rush. With drive and rally cries though in combination of defender(I usually run rank 3) he can help you resist those high powered rushes to a certain effect. Dwarven King- He is the reason you play any game with IS. As long as you keep the warcries coming and him alive(which is really hard since he is 6 speed melee and a high priority target in all of his games) you have a chance at victory. Rugolths revenge- While slow and expensive, his damage is nothing to shrug at and with the right match-ups he can be a big fat nuisance. Early he is powerful as hell, but late game it tapers off because of the nature of stunning(they usually plan around the ability to juice him). I suggest clamp so he can lock down people in melee combat with him. Nothing is worse than being immobile against this guy, or against IS in general. Geomancer- He is currently our last chance rune. If your opponent has never played against him you can ensure he will remember him for the rest of his time playing poxnora. Gravity flux and strip armor are needed to fully utilize his power turn potential. But if you find yourself constantly being out deployed our outnumbered by multiple champions he can turn the tide in one round if your opponents positioning is messy. Guy is our tactical nuke. A message from Jab the almighty about IS: IS is going through a hard time right now as it has been through in the past because the developers keep having brain farts on our design and its direction. Its pretty stressful to most of the people who knew what it was to make an IS deck of literally anything(earth golem was meta because of me at one point). While this isn't the case these days IS is about clutch play; our mistakes show more than other factions(like a unit being out of range of defender means its suddenly killable). If you find chances to take joy in playing the game in anyway, take it... Even if that means switching/splitting with factions.
