In most titles, everyone has to start from the beginning, learn the game, and find out what everything does at some point—and Paladins is no exception.

With the Nintendo Switch version of the title recently released, new players are slowly joining the arena to compete in team battles across the world.

When you load up the game for the first time and see the amount of champions that you can choose from, it can sometimes feel daunting to decide which one you should pick. We’ve carefully selected a few champions for you to try in your first match to get a feel for the game before gaining the confidence needed to experiment with other characters later on.

Viktor (Damage)

Viktor is your basic soldier-like champion and plays similar to characters like Soldier: 76 from Overwatch. You have a gun, you can run fast, and throw a frag grenade. It can’t get any simpler than that.

Viktor acts as a great champion for those who have played a lot of FPS games, like Call of Duty or Battlefield, and want to transition into Paladins with something they’re familiar with. He’s a great entry-point champion and is arguably the simplest to play in the whole game. His hit has the most direct translation from standard FPS games and allows you an easy way to do damage, with a quick way to reposition.

Abilties

• Assault Rifle – A Sentinel-issued military assault rifle that deals 135 damage every 0.1s.
• Iron Sights – Look down the barrel of your gun and increase your Accuracy. Your Movement Speed is reduced by 50% while using Iron Sights.
• Hustle – Start hustling, gaining 65% movement speed while running.
• Frag Grenade – Throw a fragmentation grenade that deals up to 750 damage in an area. Holding Q will cook the grenade and reduce its detonation time.
• Barrage – Bring up your targeting binoculars to rain down damage on enemies. Target an enemy player to guide an artillery shell to their location, dealing 1400 damage in an area. Using this ability consumes 40% of your Ultimate charge, and each shell consumes an additional 20%. While using Barrage, your Movement Speed is reduced by 40%.

Jenos (Healing + Damage)

Jenos is a superb healer because he doesn’t need to keep line of sight with friendly units to heal them, as Astral Mark can simply heal through walls. He can provide excellent back up to to a frontliner or DPS character while keeping himself save, using Void Grip to lift enemies into the air, helping to stop any push that comes his way. If you really need to add some firepower to a problem, Through Tiem and Space will send a massive beam of energy through any enemy or object, doing substantial damage.

Abilties

• Star Splitter – An automatic carbine that channels the power of the cosmos, dealing 108 damage every 0.13s.
• Astral Mark – Apply a celestial blessing that passes through obstacles to heal allies for 300 and an additional 180 every 1s for 10s.
• Void Grip – Channel gravitational energy, lifting an enemy into the air and dealing 360 damage over 2.5s.
• Stellar Wind – Lower your weapon and start to glide, increasing your movement speed and jump height.
• Through Time and Space – Lock yourself in place, focusing the power of the cosmos to unleash a beam of energy that passes through all obstacles and enemies, dealing 2400 damage.

Lex (Flank)

Lex is a great Flanker because he offers a lot of damage potential with the forgiveness of range. He is also something of an aimbot thanks to his In Pursuit ability, so the nerves can hit you without massively impacting your performance. He is a forgiving character to use when learning the ins and outs of flanking in Paladins.

Abilities

• Magnums – Dual semi-automatic magnums that bring the law, dealing 320 damage every 0.25s.
• In Pursuit – Target the nearest enemy and rapidly fire your magnums with perfect accuracy, dealing 960 damage over 1.4s.
• Retribution – Focus on a random target, revealing them when near. Killing them grants additional credits if they were on a killstreak.
• Combat Slide – Quickly slide forward while being able to fire.
• The Law – Bring retribution down on your enemies, executing targets below 65% health, and destroying all shields. Enemies above 65% health take 600 damage.

Vivian (Damage)

Another DPS character that will be very comfortable for anyone who has played FPS games before. Vivian combines ease of use with massive damage output. Her fairly basic kit belies the impact she can have in-game. Armed with a machine gun, Precision Sights allows you to ADS for increase accuracy, while Deflector Shield gives you to edge in gunfights by blocking incoming damage. Her ultimate, Sentinel, will summon two drones that will shoot the same targets as your machine gun, really swinging any fight in your favor.

Abilities

• Light Machine Gun – A versatile light machine gun that deals 160 damage every 0.14s.
• Precision Sights – Look down the barrel of your gun and gain increased accuracy.
• Deflector Shield – Project a shield in front of your gun to prevent up to 1200 damage.
• Sensor Drone – Throw out drones that reveal your enemies to all allies.
• Sentinels – Summon 2 drones that fire energy blasts where you are shooting every 1s, dealing 150 damage.

Fernando (Tank)

While not really a meta tank anymore, Fernando is a great champion to play while learning the basics of tanking. It is not about staying in a fight until you die, but protecting friendlies and harassing enemies at the right time. Fernando offers a clear indicator as to when you are actually tanking, thanks to his shield, allowing for easy communication between you and your team about what you plan to do.

Abilities

• Flame Lance – A flamethrower that deals 35 damage every 0.1s and applies an effect that deals 200 damage over 2s.
• Shield – Hold up a large shield with 5500 health in front of you that blocks attacks.
• FIreball – Shoot a fireball that passes through enemies and deals 450 damage to them.
• Charge – Charge through your enemies, dealing 400 damage to them.
• Immortal – Rally your allies around you, preventing them from falling below 1500 health.

About the author

Aidan O'Brien

Aidan O'Brien has been playing games for over three decades and has been writing about them for five years. When not getting stomped on by the creations of Hidetaka Miyazaki, he enjoys spending too much time in Warframe, Destiny 2 and any other ARPG with a solid grind. When not writing, he is doing inexplicable behind-the-scenes magic for GAMURS Group.

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