A few questions for the Paladin Experts out there

[Vice]

I played a paladin for the first game and enjoyed the class for the most part in it...is it still a decent class in POE 2? (2 hander greatsword paladin is what I would like to do)

Also, what are the best stats for a paladin in creation? I looked some up online...but it seems most, if not all guides are for previous patches. Thanks in advance if anyone has any tips or knowledge to share with me about em!

[Farsha]

With multi-classing pure paladin feels just bit boring now.
Paladin/Fighter - done right is best tank you can get.
Paladin/Rogue - with 2handed sword hits like a truck from stealth/invis
Paladin/Barbarian - is really fun aoe dmg and debuff.
Paladin/Chanter - is really good for front line fighter with support.
Paladin/Ranger - is actually viabble too, flames of devotion do work with ranged weapons (go ghost hearth)
Paladin/Monk - if you want to fight with fists will work too.
Paladin/Priest - front line healer with summoned weapons?

Single class paladin is still fine and functional, but honestly he does not have that many usefull skills and talents, adding a good second class will make him stronger, more fun and more unique to your selected play style.
Multiclassing opens so many nice combos and makes each paladin you create much more relatable.
I would not build the most optimalised you can, go for flavor and roleplay it's better that way.
Stats well as all classes in POE >
STR for dmg and healing is a must.
DEX is the most important atribute in the game for every class (action speed)
INT if he's caster for longer durations and bigger AOEs
PER if he's Ranged or you want to make a crit build.

CON some points if he's tank help early on, don't mean much from mid game.
RES combat wise the least needed atribute, but if you roleplay feel free to put points here too.

Min maxing is not needed unless you play on POTD diffuculty.

[Vice]

Thanks for the advice! Guess I shall multiclass him then!

[Katie]

I think multiclass is more interesting. There's really not a lot of high-level Paladin abilities that you're going to miss out on that a multi-class couldn't make up for. And Paladins don't even have a lot of abilities to use in the first place. It's not like Lay on Hands is super busted - it's just a supplemental spell, so Sworn Enemy is like your bread and butter spell. Healing Chain is ok and you'll use that. Glorius Beacon is useful, but it's nothing your priest and/or wizard couldn't do better.

Most of the good Paladin stuff is in the passives, and your multi-class paladins get access to almost all of the good ones anyway. Multi-classes are neat becuase you'll have access to more abilities to prevent the class from becoming boring to play while having broken tanking abilities of the Paladin that is typically boring to play on its own.

I will say, for single-class paladins, Divine Retribution can be really good if you build around it. The main drawback with Divine Immolation is that you will lose health very quickly. But if you have a Chanter in your party and they summon a lot of fodder that is killed easily (like the splitting skeletons upgrade), your Paladin will never run out of resources.

Single classes also get Light of Pure Zeal and it's pretty good too, but like, that's nothing you couldn't make up with other characters and/or multi-class combinations. I'd say Divine Immolation isn't game-breaking, and so you're really just missing out on a very good AoE spell and the Prestige passive in most cases. I think the benefits of Chanter and/or Fighter are going to out-weigh those losses pretty decisively.

Having said this, you get access to Pallegina who can be a Paladin/Fighter or paladin/chanter as a party member, so I'm somewhat resentful I picked Paladin as my main character as there's really not a lot of point except for my min-maxed starting stats.

[hairyscotsman]

I've played quite a way with a paladin/rogue. 2-handed with high deflection. Illusion rogue with darcozzi paladini and riposte. 2 of the illusion spells you get buff deflection. High damage, high defence and dishes out afflictions nicely.