Paladins

Paladins Review

Paladins’ wide range of champions fits elegantly within the four classes. Having a front-line champion like the technology-obsessed Torvald is great for capturing the main objective, and the celestial monk Jenos can use his support status to make sure the tank never goes down. Damage champions like the dragon Drogoz can use his rockets to apply pressure, and flanking champions like Skye can stealthily cast out enemies with her poison bolts. What’s beautiful is that champions like the electrifying shaman Grohk blur the lines between support and damage while the front-line pyromaniac Fernando can still do excellent work as a flank.

That’s all on the surface, but the true depth to Paladins lies underneath. Unlike most hero games, here you’re not completely pigeonholed into a specific role by your choice of character because you can customize them so heavily. Every player picks five out of 16 cards to create a preset loadout tailored to the champion you choose that enhances stats and moves during a match.

Siege is Paladins’ main mode, where teams work to capture the central point and then lead a payload to the end of the map. This mode works well because it constantly promotes teamwork, whether it’s using Ash’s shield to help move players onto the point or having Inara deploy a rock wall to keep enemies from stepping near the payload. Saving your ultimate attacks and using them at the same time is a common strategy but it’s only beneficial if team members communicate. The Onslaught mode, which sees players capturing a single point the entire match, and the Team Deathmatch mode are nice detours, but neither offer anything substantial. Team Deathmatch, in particular, feels a bit thrown together as the instant spawn times don’t allow you time to properly evaluate and buy items like you would between deaths in Siege and Onslaught.

As a free-to-play game, it’s always a concern that microtransactions could cause a feeling of unfairness, but Paladins keeps things on the level by not offering any competitive advantage for sale. Gold currency is earned by playing matches and completing quests, and using it to buy locked champions gives you a decent window of time to master a character as you save up for the next purchase. Of course, the entire selection of characters is available for purchase in a pack, and many cool outfits and other cosmetics can be purchased individually so you’re not left waiting for the item you want to drop from a loot box – though you can buy a loot box for a cheaper price if you don’t mind sifting through a handful of emotes and sprays. That’s fine, but it’s disappointing that some of the most impressive outfits can’t be purchased outright and are locked behind a chest. The Battle Pass runs you 500 crystals ($10, more or less) and is a nice way to continue unlocking skins and chests, but it’s concerning that challenges are not yet available.

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