The 
Paladin is one of the nine classes in Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, represented by 
Uther Lightbringer.
Heroes
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Background
- Main article: Paladin
This is the call of the paladin: to protect the weak, to bring justice to the unjust, and to vanquish evil from the darkest corners of the world. These holy warriors are equipped with plate armor so they can confront the toughest of foes, and the blessing of the Light allows them to heal wounds and, in some cases, even restore life to the dead. Ready to serve, paladins can defend their allies with sword and shield, or they can wield massive two-handed weapons against their enemies. The Light grants paladins additional power against the undead and demons, ensuring that these profane beings corrupt the world no longer.
Paladins are not only zealots, but also guardians of the righteous, and they bestow blessings on those the Light would shine upon. The Light radiates from paladins, and worthy allies who stand near them are emboldened by its power.[1]
Hero Power
Hero Powers are unique abilities, specific to each class. Hero Powers cost 2 mana, and can be used once per turn.
The paladin Hero Power is 
Reinforce, which summons a 1/1 Silver Hand Recruit. This provides a cheap and unending supply of weak minions, which can be improved using spells like Blessing of Kings, or simply used to bolster the player's forces.
Strategy and gameplay
The paladin is a well-rounded class which focuses on strong minions and limiting your opponent's ability to use their own. Many paladin decks contain multiple minions and spells that use the Divine Shield mechanic to summon minions which can't be killed without at least two instances of damage. This can also be combined with many cards with the Taunt ability to create an army of minions which prove exceedingly difficult to remove, aka a "Taunt" deck. Minions with useful effects like Scarlet Crusader can also be revived if they die while Redemption is in play which will allow a reuse of their effect. A small addition of Charge cards can deal critical damage to weaker enemy minions, preventing buffed cards from overwhelming your side.
The paladin's Hero Power, Reinforce, summons a 1/1 minion. This can be used together with cards that work well with more minions on the field like Raid Leader and Frostwolf Warlord.
Consecration is a powerful, board-wide spell which damages all the opponent's minions and their hero. It can be played after an Equality to completely wipe the enemy field. A riskier strategy involves playing Equality while controlling a Wild Pyromancer, which will clear all minions on both sides.
Paladins also have strong self-healing abilities which allow them to survive powerful blows dealt to their hero like Holy Light and Lay on Hands.
Counters
- Divine Shield can be removed from minions using weak damaging spells like
Backstab or the mage's Fireblast without unnecessarily damaging your minions. Transforming abilities, like Hex, or silences will also remove Divine Shield along with all card text, making them ideal for neutralising Tirion Fordring without triggering its Deathrattle.
- Cards that change health like Equality will affect a minion through Divine Shield and destroy effects like Assassinate will still instantly kill a minion with Divine Shield.
- Silence is an incredibly powerful ability against the paladin because it renders cards such as Tirion Fordring useless.
- Cards that can destroy equipment will take away a lot of the paladin's board clearing capacity. Such cards include Acidic Swamp Ooze and Harrison Jones.
Spells
Minions
All classes can also use neutral minions. See Minion.
Uncollectible
The following minions are generated by other paladin cards or effects, and are uncollectible.
Weapons
See Weapon.
Uncollectible
The following weapons are generated by other paladin cards or effects, and are uncollectible.
Leveling rewards
As a hero reaches various levels they are awarded new cards, with each class having its own rewards. All cards awarded by gaining levels are soulbound, and cannot be crafted or disenchanted.
Levels up to 10 award new basic class cards, while levels after this award only golden versions of existing cards.
Starting cards
All paladins start with the following class cards.
Level 2-10
Up to level 10, reaching each even-numbered level will reward the player with a new basic class card x 2. These cards are not obtainable through any other means.
| Level 2 | Level 4 | Level 6 |
|---|---|---|
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| Level 8 | Level 10 | |
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Level 11-60
Above level 10, reaching certain levels will award golden versions of existing basic cards. As they are soulbound, it is not possible to disenchant these cards, making the reward purely cosmetic. Reaching each required level will award one golden card. Levels after 10 award golden basic class cards, whereas levels after 50 award golden basic neutral minion cards.
| Level 15/20 | Level 23/26 | Level 28/30 |
|---|---|---|
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| Level 32/34 | Level 36/38 | Level 40/42 |
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| Level 43/44 | Level 45/46 | Level 47/48 |
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| Level 49/50 | Level 51/52 | Level 53/54 |
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| Level 55/56 | Level 57/58 | Level 59/60 |
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Trivia
- During the game's early development, the paladin hero was Tirion Fordring. The hero can be seen in screenshots from that period.
References
