Paladin build for beginners

[Chetter Hummin]

This build is made for beginners, it s simple to use,a bit of farming to get items needed and will be viable whole game and ng + cycles. It will provide ashen one with buffs and heals both instant and over time so estus pressure is smaller. Let s jump right off into the build:

Disclamer: this build is mainly for pve but ashen one can choose to also co-op or pvp with it, it s viable.

Class

Knight . I prefer Knight because Cleric has so many useless points into luck. Knight has only 7 luck but also high vitality compared to cleric, usefull for the armor and weapon needed.

Gear

1. Canvas Talisman

best talisman for 40 faith, that being the maximum faith we will get

2. Mace main hand and caestus/small shield with blessed infusion off hand
Later on, mace will be replaces with his bigger brother, the Great Mace , for higher strike damage, perseverance wa.

Mace is available without doing any boss, being purchasable from greirat imediatlly. raw until strengh is leveled. Why this weapon is so good and nothing else is necessary

a. has A scalling in strengh with no additional dex required

b. has strike damage, best physical damage type, usefull for a lot of bosses

c. Moderate moveset with vertical and horizontal swings

d. hyper armor while 2handed

e. WA is perseverance, the hidden eazy mode. Poise greater than ds1.

Great Mace must be farmed from Cathedral Knights. From deacons bf or dancer bf.

3. Starting armor, then Cathedral Knight with knight gauntlets.

Spells

- Get Irina ASAP and learn all good miracles from her. The miracles to use are:

a. Heal - Med Heal - Great Heal
b. Lightning blade - Darkmoon blade - Dark blade
c. Tears Of Denial, Sacred Oath, Bountifull Sunlight

Explanation:

Healing with spells is much more eficient than healing with estus. Great Heal will outheal estus +10 with minimal faith requierment (25 faith) and can be used 2 times with an ashen estus charge and have left mana for a lightning blade.

The catch is that healing with spells cant easily be used in intense fights. Therefore one must carefully look for windows of opportunity. For intense pve of pvp fights without openings is much more beneficial to buff first with healing over time spells. Like Replenishement - Bountifull Light - Bountifull Sunlight coupled with blessed weapon/shield in off hand, sun princess ring.

Miracles can also provide the ashen one and his allies with powerfull buffs like more damage and resistance (Sacred Oath) or grant one chance to endure when hp reaches 0 like Tears of Denial. Bountifull Sunlight also provides ashen one and his team with a good 10 hp/sec regen for 60 seconds.

Rings

Life ring, choloranty, estus ring and havel ring before abyss watchers
Favor + 3, havel + 3, Prisoniers Chain and Flex spot (most of the time sun princess ring) mid to late game

Leveling

Class
Knight

order of leveling is:

1. vigor from 12 to 27
2. stamina from 11 to 16
3. faith from 9 to 15

Here ashen one is sl 35 and can cast med heal. the gear should be starting armor, mace and a caestus/starting shield in off hand. rings must be: havel ring, choloranty ring, life ring and estus ring. Ashen one is rdy to face crystal sage now, abyss watchers and deacons of the deep.
After beating Abys watchers, it s recomemded to stay a bit longer with sl 35 and weapon + 3 (raw mace or raw broadsword) and do co op in road of sacrifices and cathedral of the deep to get souls and get used to bosses.

Next there will be farming for great mace at deacons bonfire. that can be tricky because there are 2 cathedral knights there. I dont recommend using symbol of avarice because it eats health and ashen one needs it to tank cathedral knights hits for fast farming. Equip crystal sage rapier from crystal sage boss soul and use coins. 2 hand the mace. use perseverance and do 2 hits on cathedral knight. then use perseverance again and do another 2 hits. with a fire resin the cathedral knight should be dead in for hits from a raw mace +3 with fire resin on. Repeat until get the the great mace.

4. strengh from 13 to 22
5. vitality from 15 to 20

those stats are necessary to wield great mace and still mid roll. same rings, same knight set, caestus, canvas talisman and great mace. sl will be 49.

6. stam up to 29
7. faith up to 20
8. attunement up to 14

Ashen one is now sl 71 and rdy to fight pontiff, aldrich, yhorm and dancer. Can use now twice med heal with better healing. For souls needed it s recommended to get weapon to +6 and co op in catacombs and smoldering lake with sl 55-60, irithil with sl 60-65, irithil dungeon with sl 71, dancer boss with sl 71. Replace life ring with ring of favor.

9. vigor up to 29
10. Attunement up to 18
11. faith up to 25

Ashen one is sl 82 and can use great heal and can go into consumed king garden and unatended graves with weapon + 8 to + 10. After beating champ gundyr, use his soul to make prisonier chain ring and equip instead of either estus or choloranty ring.

12. strengh from 22 to 27
13. faith from 25 to 28.

Ashen one is now sl 95 and can use sacred oath and great heal and do lothric castle with archives and then go into archdragon peak.

14. vitality to 24.
15. faith up to 30
16. attunement up to 24

now build is complete with sl 103 and wont have anything new added, just more damage by further upgrading str and faith up to 40 each, reaching sl 125.
Ashen one can use great heal, lightning blade (dark moon blade or dark blade) and either sacred oath, tears of denial or bountifull sunlight.

Great heal is best heal in game fp/hp restored.

Lightning blade will add 171 lightning damage to the weapon, obliterating lightning weak enemies. Darkmoon blade will add 171 magic damage, and it s good mostly in pvp. Dark blade will add 153 dark damage and it s good in both pve and pvp. those values are with 40 faith.

Sacred Oath is better before boss fights or strong enemies fights, like minibosses
Bountifull sunlight is a good buff in team fights in pvp and pvp.
Tears of denial until the paladin learns to not rely on that :), usefull in higher ng cycles where bosses have one shot capability like gael in ng 7


Buff yourself and allies before bosses or tough fights with Sacred Oath or bountifull sunlight. If alone, buff with lightning blade and sacred oath/deep protection.

Area progression

Disclaimer: this section contains spoilers about side quests and item placements



1. high wall of lothric:
a. get greirat from his cell, get mace from greirat (start greirat quest)
b. get estus shard
c. get raw gem from lizard

2. undead settlement:
a. get irina to learn miracles from her
b. get chloranty ring
c. get mortician ashes, estus shard and undead bone shard
d. fight demon with siegward (start siegward quest)
e. get lorreta bone and reload game until send greirat to pillage
f. get heavy gem from lizard
g. get yoel and level 5 times free with him to get yuria in firelink and buy stuff from her.

3. road of sacrifices
a. get estus shard
b. get first tome of miracles for irina
c. talk to anri and get farron coal

4. cathedral of the deep
a. get estus and undead boneshard
b. get patches and continue siegward quest, i do recommened to let patches alive
c. get rosaria bf
d. get paladin ashes and canvas talisman

5. Farron keep
z. get estus and undead boneshard
b. kill demon and make havel ring
c. get heavy gem from lizard
d. get ashes.

now it s time to go back to cahedral of the deep and farm great mace ,make it heavy.
also anytime between those go to firelink and get estus ring.

6. catacombs
a. get ashes
b. get undead boneshard

7. smoldering lake
a. get estus and 2 undead boneshards

8. irithil
a. get undead boneshard
b. get ashes
c. send greirat to pillage irithil before doing pontiff
d. continue siegward quest so siegward will save greirat
e. get great heal spell

9. anor londo
a. get ashes and estus shard
b. get giant coal
c. get ring of favor and sun princess ring

10. irithil dungeon
a. get ashes and coal
b. get estus shard and undead boneshard
c. get karla
d. finish siegward quest and get slab
e. get lightning blade

11. kill dancer

now it s a good time to farm cathedral knight set from the cathedral knight close to dancer bonfire

12. consumned king garden
a. get estus shard
b. dragonscale ring

13. unatended graves
a. get broken coil sword (can change it with a slab)
b. after boss fight, get prisoniers chain

14. lothric castle
a. undead boneshard
b. get sacred oath
c. get tome of miracles for irina

15. grand archives
a. estus and boneshard

16. archdragon peak
a. dragonchaser ashes and dragon torso

17. ashes of ariandel
a. captain ashes

18. Ringed City
a. rings of favor +3 and havel +3

life ring can be either starting gift or purchased with dreamchaser ashes(farron keep)
bountiful sunlight can be obtained by doing leonard quest

for more info, consult fextra wiki ds3

final stats for sl 125 are:
vigor 29
attu 24
stam 29
vit 24
str 40
faith 40
rest does not matter
final gear is cathedral knight set with knight gauntlets, great mace heavy +10, canvas talisman and blessed caestus.
final rings are Favor + 3, havel + 3, Prisoniers Chain and Flex spot (most of the time sun princess ring)

full buffed great mace with sacred oath, lightning blade and loyd sword ring will have:
730 pure strike damage
207 lightning damage
for a total AR of 937 , for a build with focus on healing and support.

For elemental damage diversity, ashen one can infuse great mace with lightning to take advantage of the very good damage output of lightning great mace 722 AR with 40 str and 40 faith and get another great mace heavy to buff it with darkmoon blade (magic damage very good for pvp and for weak to magic pve stuff) or dark blade. (dark damage, learn from karla)

Enjoy the paladin!

[Chetter Hummin]

If one has additional questions, I m glad to respond on this topic

[Blonde Travolta]

If the paladin is going to wield a medium shield, maybe INT to 18 is not a bad idea for the purpose of casting Great Magic Shield during boss fights

[Kassey]

Publicado originalmente por Black Iron Tarkus:

If one has additional questions, I m glad to respond on this topic

atleast 1 newcomer will say that spear and shield are good

[Chetter Hummin]

no medium or great shield, only small shield or caestus. not to mention relying on great magic shield for bosses is defo not a good idea :)

[Blonde Travolta]

Elemental absorbtion of 100% is not entirely something to disregard. And with the high stability virtually blocks everything

[Chetter Hummin]

dodging also prevents any damage. and it s available always, helps with active, not passive playstyle, does not need 1 attunement slot or stat investment, does allow for a passive buff of - hand and mastering it will make a new player a skilled one. :D

[Zelwy]

Paladins dont have some offensive miracles also?

[Blonde Travolta]

I find it very lore unfriendly rolling like an acrobat in full plate armor. Paladins don't roll, they tank.

Rolling also takes stamina and it takes away from initiative and opportunistic attacks. For every 1 roll + 1 hit, a paladin can make 2 hits while GMS absorbs all stamina impacts

[Chetter Hummin]

Publicado originalmente por croixex:

Paladins dont have some offensive miracles also?

Not this build. Offensive miracles to be effective requires 60 faith, miracles boosts rings making the build fragile in terms of defense. And this build is meant for new players so they can endure more punishment while learning the game.

[Blonde Travolta]

I find vitality unacceptably low for a paladin. Is he going to wear a dress or a real men's armor ?

[Chetter Hummin]

Publicado originalmente por obidogo:

I find vitality unacceptably low for a paladin. Is he going to wear a dress or a real men's armor ?

with 8 vit the paladin can wear full black iron set without leggins (iron leggins instead) with the rings and weapon mentioned above. 34 poise and good 28% absorpsions.

[desecratedpetals]

That build would be much better if you started out as a knight. the split of strength and faith is extremely poor for damage as blessed weapon doesn't scale. I don't see the point of having 26 att, doesn't give you any more slots than 24.

[Blonde Travolta]

That's a good armor fitting to a paladin. But with such low vitality weapons really get restricted to small and lighter ones.

[Chetter Hummin]

Publicado originalmente por Mr Whiskers:

That build would be much better if you started out as a knight. the split of strength and faith is extremely poor for damage as blessed weapon doesn't scale. I don't see the point of having 26 att, doesn't give you any more slots than 24.

knight has low faith and int, high and useless vit, useless 12 dex. 26 attunement so one can cast exact 3 great heals with a full magicka pool. blessed weapon scales with weapon stat scaling because is a procent of weapon AR.

[Chetter Hummin]

Publicado originalmente por obidogo:

That's a good armor fitting to a paladin. But with such low vitality weapons really get restricted to small and lighter ones.

with faraam set and iron leggins , the paladin can hold the great club :).