Paladins, the ultimate arena fighter!!

[wulfster42]

I don't always run with a paladin in my party, but when I do, I tend to focus on that character over the others. I generally have the paladin run the arena, which can lead to having 4+ more levels on him then the rest of your party pretty fast (especially if you load him up with +exp eq!).

I also tend to add almost all of the +stat bonuses from pools (he gets a ton out of extra hp, pp, and every single stat).

Paladins may not get mass regen, but they still get normal regen fairly fast, which works just fine if your all alone in an arena fight. Aura of protection is also pretty freaking awesome, after you have boosted it a decent amount, pumping both defense and evasion significantly.

Most importantly though, paladins get divine prayer fairly early, which heals more damage then many enemies do for quite along time (once maxed), and restores power points as well (so no need to rest between arena fights etc). This is especially true if Mr. Paladin happens to be a mace user *hehe*, since he stuns quite well (allowing you to often attack twice (or use divine prayer and then attack) before the enemy has a turn.

I've run with most of the other classes through the arena (after the first few times I always focus on 1 characeter, although the first time or two I spread them out), and even though mages for instance can 1 shot kill quite a ways in (and later can stun with lightning etc, and 2 shot etc), the paladin just plain gets through many of the harder fights with far less effort or risk.

The class itself is really the ultimate tank in this game, not because it has more hp, more defense (although you can get a ton from aura of protection and spells), or even it's healing spells, but because it gets most of the defensive advantages of a cleric (including divine prayer), while gaining more max hp, and a better skill point ratio for offensive attacks etc.

Finally the paladin gets access special attacks, and has plenty of power points to use them. On top of that you have divine prayer to give you unlimited PP for using those attacks (making a paladin able to use special attack more then any other melee character without resting constantly.

[wulfster42]

I wanted to add a bit more onto this, especially about arena fighting and what it can mean.

First off, the biggest advantage (in my opinion), in the arena is VERY high defense/evasion. This makes the last two fights MUCH easier (to the point where I have killed the last fight without actually taking any damage!).

Good mace on your arena fighter with +stun, and plenty of power points to pay for stunning blows...and you can avoid being attacked much at all, and if you have very high defense, you can end up blocking those attacks.

A paladin has a HUGE advantage here with aura of protection (on top of individual spells). You can also toss on regen if you want to use a turn, just in case you do actually get hit.

Before doing the last fight, if you have been running with exp boosting eq (like I usually do for all arena fights), switch to high defense eq, and additional stat boosting eq (especially strength!).

I generally aim to finish the arena with my "champion), by around level 20 (for the party), which leads to being around level 32-34 for your champion by the last fight. You might want to at least head into the desert first (maybe do the hall of heroes), to get the large amounts of gold there for extra skill points along the way as well.

Pally's though (and clerics...although they are more skill points starved and don't get aura of protection), are VERY good at defeating the arena. I've tried it with other classes, and you can do it, but it's much easier with a pally or cleric...and gives you a huge early boost. If Gaulen wasn't such a freaking wuss, he would be GREAT to use since you could get your Knowledge of herbs up much fater (and honestly if you really want you can probably level him up to 30 fairly well with the earlier fights in the arena, then go collect the herbs and give the stats to your champion after that....might still be able to beat him early).

It's very useful to beat the arena early due to the reward you get (no spoilers).

Having either a much higher level pally or cleric also makes all future fights pretty much cake, so you can really turn around any party from then on (especially once you start collecting/using herbs fairly soon after that as well).

You can not get NEARLY the defense as any other character as you can for a Paladin though, which is why I say you really should focus him as your champion. It makes the last few fights cake (only a few previous to that are hard for any class really). Mages do well early on, but struggle more later, but everyone else does pretty well all the way up.