Gameplay tips and items guide

Tips and tricks for better playing and a guide about items in Paladins.
No longer updated. Sorry.

Introduction

I will provide you some tips on how to be better at Paladins, and an item guide.
If you are new to Paladin and confuse with the main menu UI, check my other guide, link in the bottom of this guide.

Gameplay tips

Ok, this section is very personal base on my own opinion so feel free to apply it on your gameplay if you like and agree with it, or you can just ignore it if you think it's not very useful.

• Understand champions role

  Sometimes people play champion not according to their role, for example there's a lot of people playing pip as flank. I'm not saying it's wrong but just in case if someone in your team pick pip at least make sure someone pick one healer that always stick with your tanker. This not only goes for pip but for other champion that have 'multi roles'. You'll discover every champions potential the more you play.
  

• Overtime

  Most people doesn't know how overtime works and some people i know are assuming it happens randomly.
  NO. Overtime happens in siege mode, it'll happen if one of this condition is met :
  
  
  1. If you or you teammates enter the objective circle when your enemy team capture progress is 99%, therefore overtime will happen.
     
     
  2. When the time runs out while your team push the payload, you need at least one member from your team to be near the payload in order to activate the overtime.
  So make sure you use overtime wisely, because it can really flip the condition upside down.
  

• Stop being a d1ck

  
  Just how am i supposed to tank ruckus while bomb king is throwing bombs at me and barik's turrets aiming my ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ face without a healer. Understand your team situation, at least change your champion when you know your team lack at one role. Please throw away any kind of selfishness, at least when you play competitive. Also stop b1tching around if you don't get the champion you want, we all tired of teammate like this.
  

• Grind at least 1 champion from each role to mastery 4

  When you play competitive you need at least one champion from each role, trust me mate, being a top player might be the thing you want. But be able to win the game is the exactly thing you need. Imagine there's someone saying "I have no supp to select" or "I have no tank to select" i have met some of them and it sucks. Just a friendly advice don't play competitive if you can't play at least one hero from each role.
  

• Experiment with loadout

  This might take some time but it worth the effort. Don't just copy a loadout from top player at leaderboard without even knowing how they play or how to use the cards properly. Every player have their own unique playstyle, therefore i suggest you to make your own deck(s) without copying the others so you can maximise your own playstyle.
  

• Understand when to blame and not to blame, and stop trashtalking

  Blaming won't get you nowhere, won't make you win the game either. People playing doesn't mean they play the way you want to, and you sometimes doesn't play the exact way your teammates want to. Telling them once or twice is enough but blaming is just useless mate.
  Sometimes your enemy is just to OP and your teammates already did their best, so try to understand the situation before you talk.
  

• Learn the counter of each champions

  You know, things like
  If enemy team got kinessa, my team need at least 1 flank.
  If enemy team got 2 or more front liners, my team need drogoz or bomb king as a main damage.
  If enemy got 1 or more flank, i should refrain from picking kinessa.
  If my team got 2 front liners i should pick drogoz so enemy team will find it hard to break our formation.
  
  There's still a lot of it, you should be able to figure some while playing.
  

• Properly use and understand the VGS system

  Memorise the useful VGS command like
  "VVVE" for on my way and "VBE" for enemies behind us. This will be very useful since the game doesn't have any mic option. This also means you need to pay attention to you teammates command.
  Just don't abuse it by spamming it. It's really annoying. I have played with someone who keeps saying "Enemies behind us" every single time even tho there's no enemies behind. And i always look behind everytime he said that, believe me it's really annoying.
  

• Learn how to earn credit fast with the proper way

  1. Front Line
     These champions are good at holding the line and protecting their teammates. Front Line champions gain 100% more Credits for standing near an objective.
     
  2. Damage
     These champions are capable of consistently dealing high amounts of damage. Damage champions gain 100% more Credits for dealing damage to enemy
     
  3. Support
     These are high utility champions, helpful in both offense and defense. Support champions gain 100% more Credits for healing allies.
     
  4. Flank
     These champions excel at flanking and taking out key targets from the opponent's rear. Flank champions gain 100% more Credits for eliminations on enemies when they are behind enemy lines.
  According to the wiki.[paladins.gamepedia.com]
  

• Be wise when buying items

  You can only buy 1 of each type of items, don't assume that one items that you find works great on one champion that means you just need to buy the exact same items for that champion. Items is very situational, you can also buy items after your enemies buy theirs to easily counter them with items.
  i will try to explain what i know in the items section below.
  

• Hide in the grass

  Staying in a grass for a few second will hide your prescense from your enemies, you can also halt the payload while hiding in this grass in Timber Mill. (idk why Ying's weapon start to glow since OB38)
  
  
  

• Do not try to be a superhero and defending the objective by yourself alone

  Sometimes, you will met some people that are going YOLO trying to secure or defend the objective all alone. And if you are one of them. then listen to me. A much better act is to wait for your teammates to reach you before you attack the point instead of pointles suicide. You would be quite suprised at how much difference a little patience affect your teamfights. Rather lose small ammount of precentage of the point than all of your teammates die one by one and lose 100% of the objective point.
  

• Use ultimate for securing the objective instead of gaining kill purpose

  It's best to see an ultimate less as a killing tool but more as a disruption tool
  A great example of this is using an ultimate when your team is pushing the payload, and it's overtime, but your team only progress like 35%. You still need 65% and it's almost impossible to win on that condition. It's better to save your ultimate for the next round when you're trying to secure the objective.
  Another example is, when all of your team is dead and all of your enemies is alive. Don't use ultimate yet, wait until your teammates to respawn because it will be more advantageous. It's pointles if you use your ultimate on a team that is not fighting at the momment, cause damage to them, but there is no one helping you to finish them off. The only thing you did is just feeding the enemies ultimate gauge by dealing damage to them.
  

• Ying's illusion can defend you from Drogoz ultimate

  It can shield you or your teammates from Drogoz ultimate, simply place your illu in front of Drogoz while he is flying to his target and your illu will act as an shield and defend you or your teammates.
  Thanks to Dragonstrike for telling me and testing this with me.
  
  This section is full, we had to make another section of gameplay tips below.

Gameplay tips part 2

As you read above, the first section is full. But fear not, we made another section for the tips :p

• Sometimes, you just need to die

  Sorry if i make it sounds too harsh, but this is the example of what i mean.
  Your team formation is broken. most of your teammates is dead, you are alone at the momment and surrounded by your enemies, there is a small chance that you will survive and made it back to the safe zone. In this situation, i'd rather jump off a cliff to suicide or just give myself in to my enemies. Why ? because the longer you stalling your death, means the longer your teammates will wait you to respawn. Ii's also means you make it harder for your team to regroup and fight.
  Sometimes, you need to accept death, and die, like a real man, and make the greatest comeback ever ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
  

• Ultimate combo

  There's a plenty ultimate combo out there, the easiest one will require Evie. Because her ultimate is really useful to hold the enemy team in a single place. It could work amazingly with other ultimate like Pip, Barik, or Skye ultimate.
  So be sure to explore and communicate often with your teammates.
  

• Pay attention to Barik's turret

  As his turret will aim anyone who is inside the fire range, regardless the enemy is invisible or not. So consider picking Barik if your enemy got Skye, it is also useful if there is an enemy behind you, just pay attention to the turret's aim line and you will easily find where is your enemy at the momment. His turret also mark the target for 3 second, so if the target move away from the turret firing range, he/she is still visible for 3 second.
  This will goes the same if your enemy got Barik with them, don't walk around without a good purpose or your enemies will easily spot you.
  

• Find a good time to rettreat and refill your HP

  Maybe a lot of people already know this, but i'll just leave it here just in case somebody don't.
  When you take damage, after a few second a thin green line will appear below your health bar and it will keep decreasing. After the green line is empty, you will heal very fast. So when you are in danger and there is a chance you could flee from the battle, just find a safe spot and stay there for a few second, you will regain your health. Also don't shoot while you are regenerating, it will stop your healing and reset the cooldown again. (Sry i had to take screenshot from training ground)
  
  
  

• Few useful command

  You can spectate someone by typing this in the "System" chat when you are in the main menu
  /spectate *Player Name*. Example /Spectate hatsunehazu
  You can also watch a match replay, but not every match. Only match that have at least 1 spectactor that are able to be watched. Simply type this in the "System" chat.
  /replay *Match ID* (You can find a match ID inside your match history, or simply go to "paladins.guru" web. This could be an example[paladins.guru])
  You can also check your FPS and Ping inside a game. Simply press "F9" button and it will show itself.
  

• Pay attention to every sound inside the game

  Some example is the sound that Skye make when her invisibility run out, you should notice where is she if you use stereo speaker or headphone, even more easy to spot her if you use 5.1 or 7.1 speaker. Another one is Evie blinking and flying sound, if you hear that pretty close then you should immediately watch around you. Another crucial sound is footsteps, it's a common thing in FPS game to listen to enemy footsteps.
  

• Makoa's hook can cancel some champion skill

  You can cancel Androxus Reversal just simply by hook him while he use the skill, the other one that i found is if you hook Fernando from behind while he's activating his shield, it will stop immediately.
  

• Dehorsing / dismounting strategy

  This strategy need at least 1 flank or 1 damage champion. The main idea of this strategy is stay in your enemy base and shoot / interrupt them so they get off from their horse as soon as they leave the base, you could kill them if you can but if things get rough make sure to escape and recover your health so you'll be able to distract another enemy as soon as possible. This could make a big impact for your team if you manage to hold enemy tanker / healer for a while before they reach the objective point.
  A flank champion is the best bet. since they could go in and out pretty easy with high mobility skill.
  

• ENGLISH LANGUAGE IS EXIST

  For ♥♥♥♥ sake, english exist as an international language for a reason mate. Stop using your own language while playing with stranger, this is not your private regional game. Especially you SEA player, yes i'm talking to you -_-
  

• Haven or Blast Shield ?

  Please don't just bought Haven just because it says +% defence for ♥♥♥♥ sake.
  Look at the table below, it's the attack type of every champion in Paladins, the one with "Haven" text is having a damage reduction if you bought Haven, and vice versa for the one with "Blast" text.
  
  Please just stop abusing Haven just because you think it'll give you more ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ defences. Sorry i'm so pissed lmao
  

Items guide

Here's the available items for now and i'll try my best to explain every single of it base on my experience and opinions in Paladins.

• Defense

  
  
  1. Illuminate
     
     "Increase the range at which you see nearby stealthed targets by 50%/100%/150%"
     Only buy when enemy team got Skye or Sha Lin. Some people only buy tier 1, i never upgrade it to beyond tier 2 either.
     I find it useful for Kinessa with tier 2.
     Consider buying if you find Skye or Sha Lin player is annoying at that time.
     
  2. Resilence
     
     "Reduce the duration of Crowd Control and Slows by 30%/60%/90%"
     I can't say much about this because i rarely buy and rarely find people buying this. But it might be useful if your enemy teams got Bomb King, Pip, Mal'damba, and Evie.
     
  3. Blast Shields
     
     "Reduce the Damage you take from Area of Effect attacks by 10%/20%/30%"
     I rarely buy this either but wlll be a lot of help if your enemy got a champion that mostly aim ground like Drogoz, Evie, Pip, and have area damage ultimate like Skye or Bomb King.
     
  4. Haven
     
     "Reduce the Damage you take from Direct attacks by 10%/20%/30%"
     One of the most useful item from Paladins. Top priority for every champion, and negate the effect of Aggression.
  
  

• Utility

  
  
  1. Master Riding
     
     "Increase your Mount Speed by 15%/30%/45%"
     Only useful for Kinessa so she can be at the sniping point before enemies arrive. And if you play front liners and find it a little hard to capture the objective, so you'll arrive a bit faster before enemies tank.
     Only consider buying when you play Kinessa or front liners.
     
  2. Morale Boost
     
     "Increase the rate at which you charge your Ultimate by 15%/30%/45%"
     This item could flip conditions upside down when it's already tier 3.
     A must buy for Pip, easily kill enemy front lines.
     Consider buying for every flank, Bomb King, and Drogoz.
     Avoid buying for Fernando, Ying, Mal'damba, and Grover.
     For Fernando it's pretty complicated, look at the comment section.
     
  3. Nimble
     
     "You gain +10%/20%/30% Movement Speed."
     I only find this useful on flank champions so i can get behind enemies fast and escape as soon as possible if they found out i was behind them.
     Consider buying when playing Pip or Cassie as flank.
     
  4. Chronos
     
     "Reduce the Cooldown of all your abilities by 10%/20%/30%"
     A must buy for healers, especially Mal'damba and Ying.
     I find it useful for Bomb King and most flanks.
     Not a top priority for damage and flank so think again before buying this if you play as damage or flank.
  
  

• Healing

  
  
  1. Kill to Heal
     
     "Getting a kill or elimination heals you for 300/600/900 Health."
     I find this useful for short to mid range damage champions, and every flank champions.
     Consider buying if you play Makoa or Ruckus as if your team got 2 front line.
     Avoid buying if you play support champions, Kinessa, and Sha LIn.
     
  2. Rejuvenate
     
     "Receive 10%/20%/30% more healing from other players."
     Buy this only on front liners. Never buy this if you are a healer because this doesn't increase you healing output and if there is no healer in your team.
     Avoid buying if your healer is Grohk and Pip. Unless you sure your Pip won't flank and stick with you the whole time.
     
  3. Veteran
     
     "Heal for an additional 4%/8%/12% of your max Health every second when out of combat."
     Could be useful if you are a tank but your team got no healer.
     I also find it useful for every support and flank.
     Avoid buying if you play long range champions.
     
  4. Life Rip
     
     "Your weapon shots gain +10%/20%/30% Lifesteal."
     Only consider buying if you are confident in your close range aiming.
     I find it useful on Cassie, and every flank.
     Avoid buy for front liners except ruckus, and long range champions.
  
  

• Offense

  
  
  1. Bulldozer
     
     "Your weapon shots deal +50%/100%/150% Damage to Deployables."
     Now this is a very useful item if your enemy team got at least one of these champion : Barik, Ying, and Grohk. If your enemies doesn't have any of them you should not buy this item.
     For me this is a must buy item if my enemy got Barik.
     I find this useful mostly on every front liners and short to mid range damage and flank like Viktor and Androxus.
     
  2. Cauterize
     
     "Your Weapon shots reduce the effect of healing on your target by 30%/60%/90% for 2s."
     This'll be very useful if enemy team got 2 healer or more. Don't buy if enemy team got no support at all.
     A must buy item for me if the healer is Grover or Mal'damba.
     Will be useful for evey front liners and damage who mainly target enemy tanker.
     Avoid buying if enemy support is only Pip or Grohk, their healing is very short range, small ammount and limited time, for Grohk id' rather buy Bulldozer
     
  3. Wrecker
     
     "Your weapon attacks deal 75%/150%/225% increased Damage to Shields."
     Must buy item if enemy team got 2 or more front liners. Even if they only have one you should consider buying this to crush their formation easily.
     Usually i never upgrade this item to tier 3, tier 2 is more than enough for me.
     I find it useful for : Ruckus and Makoa as front liner, Cassie, Kinessa, Drogoz, and Viktor as damage, Evie and Buck as a flank.
     
  4. Aggression
     
     "Your weapon shots deal +5%/10%/15% more damage."
     NEVER BUY THIS WHATEVER CHAMPION YOU PLAY. For now it's still useless, seems like a newbie trap but other offensive items will be more helpful than this.
     Imagine if you buy this and your enemies buy haven.
     10% enemy bonus defense - 5% your bonus damage = 5% enemy bonus defense.
     It negates automatically if your enemies buy haven.
     
  5. Deft Hands
     
     "Increase your Reload Speed by 20%/40%/60%"
     A very useful one for flank and damage. And don't buy if your champion doesn't need to reload.
     A must buy for Buck and Skye.
     I also find it very useful on Viktor.
     Avoid buying for every front liners, Cassie, and Evie. When you play Cassie you only need 3 or 4 arrow to kill low health enemies (champions with 2000hp or around) so i'd rather improve my aiming than spending Credits on this for Cassie, the same goes for Evie.
  
  

Special thanks

A big of thanks for :

• My mum that have give birth to me, without her i won't be here to make this guide. Love her so much <3 ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
  
• Hi-Rez Studios[www.hirezstudios.com] that created Paladins and working hard on optimizing it.
  
• People who contribute to the Paladins wiki.
  
• People who accidentally being screenshoted by me in this guide ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  
• Friends who played with me in Paladins.
  
• Of course thanks to you if you keep reading this guide until this part.

Closing and contributing

I will end this guide here for now, i will keep updating if there's any change in the items, or if i found some new useful tricks.
Interested to add something in this guide ? want to contribute ? Feel free to add me and message me. If you have an limitated account just leave a comment on my profile page and i'll add you.
Thanks for reading, i hope you find this useful, sorry for any mistake and rude words i said.
Have fun playing and i'll see you in my next guide.

Other guide

Please check out my other guide, thanks a bunch for reading this one :

1. Paladins basic
   
2. Stunner Mal'damba guide
   
3. Ying guide

[janky_p]

I wish players would actually try to work as a team... I'm new so I don't get to play with a lot of players that are anything more than self-centered idiots. The last match I played was the only player that took a role... Then the match started and veryone ran off on their own. Did their own thing, and we had 6 kills total in a Team DeathMatch. So dissappointing.

It's really hard for me to want to even continue playing because the matches are more often than not, are no better than starting a dumpster fire with my pubic haris.

It doesn't matter if you're on the team with 6 kills or not either. You're gonna hate it. If I'm on the opposite team it's just as bad. Because I get no satisfaction from a 3 min match where the toughest battle was to get the kills before my teamates take them all.

Thank you for this guide, I hope people apply what they learn from the guide to their play style.

[brutebane554]

great guide guys, as a new player this realy helped me out.

[- ̗̀ pmewsay ̖́-]

Thank you @.hazu

[.hazu]

@- ̗̀ Vortex ̖́-
Decrease.

[- ̗̀ pmewsay ̖́-]

Ok, so it increases the debuff affect from yourself or does it decrease the debuff affect from enemies?

[.hazu]

@- ̗̀ Vortex ̖́-
Crowd Control (CC) is a skill usually AOE, and apply a debuff to the enemy (Stun, slow, fear, crippling, etc). Easiest example is Mal'damba and Bomb King ultimate, while for skill is PIp and Groover right click.

[- ̗̀ pmewsay ̖́-]

What is crowd control? I always think that it's the time extended for Overtimes (in siege mode at 99%) Can you explain to me what exactly it is?

[Azronical]

@KMZ BETS.GG
Your very welcome.

[Haitem]

awesome guide , thanks for the ying part

[Aech]

Really helpful