Paladin

The  Paladin is one of the ten classes in Hearthstone, represented by Uther Lightbringer, Lightforged Uther, Lady Liadrin, Prince Arthas, and Sir Annoy-O.

Heroes

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.

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.

Replacement Hero Powers

Justicar Trueheart Battlecry and Baku the Mooneater Start of Game effect will replace Reinforce with The Silver Hand.

Vilefin Inquisitor Battlecry will replace the current Hero Power with The Tidal Hand.

Uther of the Ebon Blade Battlecry will replace the current Hero Power with The Four Horsemen, as well as replacing the hero.

Making Mummies will replace the current Hero Power with Emperor Wraps once the Quest is completed.

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. Paladins have access to an array of cards that buff their minions with increased stats. Blessing of Kings, Seal of Champions, Spikeridged Steed, and Dinosize are just one of many cards that can power up their minions, and cards like Grimestreet Pawnbroker, Val'anyr, and Glowstone Technician buffs minions on their hand so that they enter the battlefield powered up. There are even cards that reward buffing your own minions like The Last Kaleidosaur and Lynessa Sunsorrow. Paladins also have cards that overrides a minion's stats, which can be just as effective on enemies. An Aldor Peacekeeper, Shrink Ray, or Sunkeeper Tarim can turn even the mightiest of minions into much more manageable threats.

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, and cards that directly buff Silver Hand Recruits like Quartermaster and Level Up! can turn a mass of puny 1/1s into a swarm of bulky threats.

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. Their Divine Shields coupled with Taunt can create hard-to-remove minions that protect your hero and other minions, such as Coghammer and Righteous Protector. They also have cards that directly benefit from and to minions with Divine Shield, such as Rallying Blade and Bolvar, Fireblood.

Paladins also have strong burst healing abilities which allow them to survive powerful blows dealt to their hero like Forbidden Healing, Ragnaros, Lightlord, and Nozari. Cards like Lesser Pearl Spellstone, The Glass Knight, Crystalsmith Kangor, and High Priest Thekal can further drive up the value off of their healing.

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 can use their most expensive, potent spells like Lay on Hands, Kangor's Endless Army, and Libram of Hope to gain a second wind and turn the battle around.

Paladins are one of few classes that can use Secrets. Paladin Secrets are fairly weak on their own, but by stacking several of them the Paladin keeps their minions protected through a web of Secrets that are difficult for the opponent to weave through. Cards like Mysterious Challenger, Bellringer Sentry, and Desperate Measures allows them to stack up Secrets quickly, while empowering cards that benefit from them like Mysterious Blade and Commander Rhyssa.

Paladins also have an affinity with murlocs, which goes well with their ability to quickly build a board and buff weak minions. Cards like Vilefin Inquisitor and Grimscale Chum gave paladins an explosive early start. On the other hand Anyfin Can Happen contrastingly required finesse of playing a few murlocs, creating an army of Bluegill Warriors and Murloc Warleaders to deliver a lethal push late game.

Paladins received an odd range of synergy cards within their lifespan, such as mech cards that summon a swarm of smaller mechs than can be magnetized with other mechs to combine into an unstoppable killing machine, a range of cards that require Paladins to stay pure to their class, and Libram cards that permanently discount some very high-powered spells.

Counters

Clearing the board

Many archetypes of the paladin class are reliant on minions that stay on the board for more than one turn. With spells such as Blessing of Kings or Hand of Protection paladins can take advantage of the board with favourable trades. Silver Hand Recruits can specifically be buffed by minions such as Quartermaster, making them a formidable threat. This can be prevented by keeping the enemy's board clear. Depending on the class you are playing you can use AoE-spells such as Fan of Knives or Holy Nova.

Removing Divine Shields

A common mechanic of the paladin class is Divine Shield. Minions with Divine Shield can be tough to remove since the first damage taken is ignored. Hero powers that can deal 1 damage such as Fireblast or cheap spells such as Arcane Missiles can be used to get rid of enemy Divine Shields without damaging friendly minions. Blood Knight is also a very effective tool against minions with Divine Shield, while also potentially providing a big threat.

Transform / Silence effects

There are many buffing spells like Blessing of Kings in the Paladins arsenal. Removing the enchantment by silencing or transforming the minion can be devastating for the opponent's game plan. Against minions with strong abilities such as Tirion Fordring transforming spells like Hex or Polymorph are very effective by removing the card text and reducing the attack and health.

Tech cards

Depending on the paladin archetype there are cards that can be especially disruptive for the opponent's game plan. Minions such as Acidic Swamp Ooze or Harrison Jones can destroy weapons that are crucial for the paladin's tempo. Several Murlocs such as Murloc Knight or Hydrologist have been added to the paladin card pool. Hungry Crab is a cheap and effective tool against those cards and can provide a big tempo swing.

Spells

For Wild format listings, see Paladin/Wild format

See Spell. For a list of paladin Secrets, see Secret#Paladin.

Name / Desc	Rarity	Class	Cost	Description
Blessing of Might	Free	Paladin	1	Give a minion +3 Attack. "As in, you MIGHT want to get out of my way." - Toad Mackle, recently buffed.
Hand of Protection	Free	Paladin	1	Give a minion Divine Shield. This spell has been renamed so many times, even paladins don’t know what it should be called anymore.
Humility	Free	Paladin	1	Change a minion's Attack to 1. This card makes something really damp. Oh wait. That's "Humidity."
Holy Light	Free	Paladin	2	Restore 6 Health. If you are often bathed in Holy Light, you should consider wearing sunscreen.
Blessing of Kings	Free	Paladin	4	Give a minion +4/+4. (+4 Attack/+4 Health) Given the number of kings who have been assassinated, are you sure you want their blessing?
Consecration	Free	Paladin	4	Deal 2 damage to all enemies. Consecrated ground glows with Holy energy. But it smells a little, too.
Hammer of Wrath	Free	Paladin	4	Deal 3 damage. Draw a card. A good paladin has many tools. Hammer of Wrath, Pliers of Vengeance, Hacksaw of Justice, etc.
Blessing of Wisdom	Common	Paladin	1	Choose a minion. Whenever it attacks, draw a card. Apparently with wisdom comes the knowledge that you should probably be attacking every turn.
Eye for an Eye	Common	Paladin	1	Secret: When your hero takes damage, deal that much damage to the enemy hero. Justice sometimes takes the form of a closed fist into a soft cheek.
Never Surrender!	Common	Paladin	1	Secret: When your opponent casts a spell, give your minions +2 Health. But sometimes concede.
Noble Sacrifice	Common	Paladin	1	Secret: When an enemy attacks, summon a 2/1 Defender as the new target. We will always remember you, "Defender!"
Redemption	Common	Paladin	1	Secret: When a friendly minion dies, return it to life with 1 Health. I am not sure how you get demptioned the first time. It’s a mystery!
Repentance	Common	Paladin	1	Secret: After your opponent plays a minion, reduce its Health to 1. Repentance often comes in the moment before obliteration. Curious.
Sand Breath	Common	Paladin	1	Give a minion +1/+2. Give it Divine Shield if you're holding a Dragon. After Uldum, EVERYONE had sand breath.
Hand of A'dal	Common	Paladin	2	Give a minion +2/+2. Draw a card. When it meets the Hand of Gul'dan, they're SHAKING.
Lightforged Blessing	Common	Paladin	2	Twinspell Give a friendly minion Lifesteal. Some might call this a lightforgery.
Lightforged Blessing	Common	Paladin	2	Give a friendly minion Lifesteal.
Subdue	Common	Paladin	2	Set a minion's Attack and Health to 1. Like humility but more humiliating.
Libram of Justice	Common	Paladin	5	Equip a 1/4 weapon. Change the Health of all enemy minions to 1. Proper justice. Throw the book at him!
Desperate Measures	Rare	Paladin	1	Cast a random Paladin Secret.
Desperate Measures	Rare	Paladin	1	Twinspell Cast a random Paladin Secret. Desperate times call for disparate secrets.
Righteous Cause	Rare	Paladin	1	Sidequest: Summon 5 minions. Reward: Give your minions +1/+1. "And I hereby dub thee a cadet of the Explorer’s League! NEXT!"
Air Raid	Rare	Paladin	2	Summon two 1/1 Silver Hand Recruits with Taunt.
Air Raid	Rare	Paladin	2	Twinspell Summon two 1/1 Silver Hand Recruits with Taunt. It's difficult to get an air raid together. You have to get twenty-five people, and they all want to play a paladin!
Libram of Wisdom	Rare	Paladin	2	Give a minion +1/+1 and "Deathrattle: Add a 'Libram of Wisdom' spell to your hand." The best wisdom is passed on.
Call to Adventure	Rare	Paladin	3	Draw the lowest Cost minion from your deck. Give it +2/+2. Even the smallest minion can change the outcome of the game.
Equality	Rare	Paladin	4	Change the Health of ALL minions to 1. We are all special unique snowflakes... with 1 Health.
Blessed Champion	Rare	Paladin	5	Double a minion's Attack. This card causes double the trouble AND double the fun.
Holy Wrath	Rare	Paladin	5	Draw a card and deal damage equal to its cost. C'mon Molten Giant!!
Righteousness	Rare	Paladin	5	Give your minions Divine Shield. Shield yourself in righteousness! It feels like a warm fuzzy blanket.
Pharaoh's Blessing	Rare	Paladin	6	Give a minion +4/+4, Divine Shield, and Taunt. Life hack: Sneeze near a pharaoh.
Sanctuary	Epic	Paladin	2	Sidequest: Take no damage for a turn. Reward: Summon a 3/6 minion with Taunt. Few quests are completed by cowering under a table.
Duel!	Epic	Paladin	5	Summon a minion from each player's deck. They fight! If you don't fight to the death, it's Duel Yielding.
Avenging Wrath	Epic	Paladin	6	Deal 8 damage randomly split among all enemies. Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham!
Lay on Hands	Epic	Paladin	8	Restore 8 Health. Draw 3 cards. A grammatically awkward life saver.
Tip the Scales	Epic	Paladin	8	Summon 7 Murlocs from your deck. Hold on, I need to get some murlocs to weigh in on this.
Libram of Hope	Epic	Paladin	9	Restore 8 Health. Summon an 8/8 Guardian with Taunt and Divine Shield. "Think you got lethal? Libram of NOPE!"
Making Mummies	Legendary	Paladin	1	Quest: Play 5 Reborn minions. Reward: Emperor Wraps. "I do say, this gives me the vapors every single time!"
Showing all 38 cards

Uncollectible

For Wild format listings, see Paladin/Wild format

The following spells are generated by other paladin cards or effects, and are uncollectible.

Name / Desc	Rarity	Class	Cost	Description
Lightforged Blessing	Common	Paladin	2	Give a friendly minion Lifesteal.
Desperate Measures	Rare	Paladin	1	Cast a random Paladin Secret.
Air Raid	Rare	Paladin	2	Summon two 1/1 Silver Hand Recruits with Taunt.
Showing all 3 cards

Minions

For Wild format listings, see Paladin/Wild format

All classes can also use neutral minions. See Minion.

Name / Desc	Rarity	Subtype	Class	Cost	Atk	HP	Description
Guardian of Kings	Free	General	Paladin	7	5	6	Battlecry: Restore 6 Health to your hero. Holy beings from the beyond are so cliché!
Aldor Attendant	Common	General	Paladin	1	1	3	Battlecry: Reduce the Cost of your Librams by (1) this game. Will check to make sure you have a valid libramary card.
Argent Protector	Common	General	Paladin	2	2	2	Battlecry: Give a friendly minion Divine Shield. "I'm not saying you can dodge fireballs. I'm saying with this shield, you won't have to."
Sandwasp Queen	Common	Beast	Paladin	2	3	1	Battlecry: Add two 2/1 Sandwasps to your hand. Oooh, see that wasp! Watch that sting! Dig in the Sandwasp Queen!
Shotbot	Common	Mech	Paladin	2	2	2	Reborn Impact detected. Assuming hero pose.
Bronze Explorer	Common	Dragon	Paladin	3	2	3	Lifesteal Battlecry: Discover a Dragon. Always ready to explore new friendships! Except with Deathwing.
Bronze Herald	Common	Dragon	Paladin	3	3	2	Deathrattle: Add two 4/4 Dragons to your hand. This is why you shouldn't shoot the messenger.
Ancestral Guardian	Common	General	Paladin	4	4	2	Lifesteal Reborn No one knows whose ancestor he is, but he's still upset that you never call.
Amber Watcher	Common	Dragon	Paladin	5	4	6	Battlecry: Restore 8 Health. Healing really resin-ates with him.
Brazen Zealot	Rare	General	Paladin	1	2	1	Whenever you summon a minion, gain +1 Attack. Some paladins really Light it up.
Imprisoned Sungill	Rare	Murloc	Paladin	1	2	1	Dormant for 2 turns. When this awakens, summon two 1/1 Murlocs. Imprisoned for ten thousand years! Not because it's a demon. Because of the dancing.
Aldor Peacekeeper	Rare	General	Paladin	3	3	3	Battlecry: Change an enemy minion's Attack to 1. The Aldor hate two things: the Scryers and smooth jazz.
Salhet's Pride	Rare	Beast	Paladin	3	3	1	Deathrattle: Draw two 1-Health minions from your deck. Pride cometh before the maul.
Sky Claw	Rare	Mech	Paladin	3	1	2	Your other Mechs have +1 Attack. Battlecry: Summon two 1/1 Microcopters. Carefully engineered to never grab the Mimiron plush toy.
Lightforged Zealot	Rare	General	Paladin	4	4	2	Battlecry: If your deck has no Neutral cards, equip a 4/2 Truesilver Champion. Card-carrying member of the Paladins Only Paladin Club.
Aldor Truthseeker	Rare	General	Paladin	5	4	6	Taunt. Battlecry: Reduce the Cost of your Librams by (2) this game. It’s under 'T.'
Scalelord	Rare	Dragon	Paladin	5	5	6	Battlecry: Give your Murlocs Divine Shield. It's about what they have in common, not what makes them different.
Micro Mummy	Epic	Mech	Paladin	2	1	2	Reborn At the end of your turn, give another random friendly minion +1 Attack. The dramatically detailed terrifically trimmed replica of the real thing!
Lightforged Crusader	Epic	General	Paladin	7	7	7	Battlecry: If your deck has no Neutral cards, add 5 random Paladin cards to your hand. Self-appointed president of the Paladins Only Paladin Club.
Murgur Murgurgle	Legendary	Murloc	Paladin	2	2	1	Divine Shield Deathrattle: Shuffle 'Murgurgle Prime' into your deck. Murlocs are not native to Outland. When the Sungills arrived, one among them rose to the challenge of this dark world. They call him... Murgurgle. Murgur Murgurgle.
Sir Finley of the Sands	Legendary	Murloc	Paladin	2	2	3	Battlecry: If your deck has no duplicates, Discover an upgraded Hero Power. "The sands shall be my sea! And this scarab shall be my, er, strange and wriggly boat!"
Commander Rhyssa	Legendary	General	Paladin	3	4	3	Your Secrets trigger twice. Two people can keep a secret as long as neither of them are Commander Rhyssa.
Dragonrider Talritha	Legendary	General	Paladin	3	3	3	Deathrattle: Give a Dragon in your hand +3/+3 and this Deathrattle. You can't just run away from your problems. Unless you have another dragon to jump to.
Nozdormu the Timeless	Legendary	Dragon	Paladin	4	8	8	Battlecry: Set each player to 10 Mana Crystals. Time is mana!
Lady Liadrin	Legendary	General	Paladin	7	4	6	Battlecry: Add a copy of each spell you cast on friendly characters this game to your hand. When it comes to spells, she loves 'em then she librams.
Tirion Fordring	Legendary	General	Paladin	8	6	6	Divine Shield. Taunt. Deathrattle: Equip a 5/3 Ashbringer. If you haven't heard the Tirion Fordring theme song, it's because it doesn't exist.
Nozari	Legendary	Dragon	Paladin	10	4	12	Battlecry: Restore both heroes to full Health. In another timeline, she was called Yeszari.
Showing all 27 cards

Uncollectible

For Wild format listings, see Paladin/Wild format

The following minions are generated by other paladin cards or effects, and are uncollectible.

Name / Desc	Rarity	Subtype	Class	Cost	Atk	HP	Description
Defender	None	General	Paladin	1	2	1
Microcopter	None	Mech	Paladin	1	1	1
Sandwasp	None	Beast	Paladin	1	2	1
Sungill Streamrunner	None	Murloc	Paladin	1	1	1
Bronze Dragon	None	Dragon	Paladin	4	4	4
Indomitable Champion	None	General	Paladin	4	3	6	Taunt
Ancient Guardian	None	General	Paladin	8	8	8	Taunt Divine Shield
Murgurgle Prime	None	Murloc	Paladin	8	6	3	Divine Shield Battlecry: Summon 4 random Murlocs. Give them Divine Shield.
Silver Hand Recruit	Free	General	Paladin	1	1	1
Showing all 9 cards

Weapons

For Wild format listings, see Paladin/Wild format

See Weapon.

Name / Desc	Rarity	Class	Cost	Atk	HP	Description
Light's Justice	Free	Paladin	1	1	4	Prince Malchezaar was a collector of rare weapons. He'd animate them and have them dance for him.
Truesilver Champion	Free	Paladin	4	4	2	Whenever your hero attacks, restore 2 Health to it. It Slices, it Dices. You can cut a tin can with it. (But you wouldn't want to.)
Mysterious Blade	Rare	Paladin	2	2	2	Battlecry: If you control a Secret, gain +1 Attack. It knows every secret you have felt.
Sword of Justice	Epic	Paladin	3	1	5	After you summon a minion, give it +1/+1 and this loses 1 Durability. I dub you Sir Loin of Beef!
Underlight Angling Rod	Epic	Paladin	3	3	2	After your Hero attacks, add a random Murloc to your hand. "I said I wanted the ASHbringer not FISHbringer!"
Showing all 5 cards

Uncollectible

For Wild format listings, see Paladin/Wild format

The following weapons are generated by other paladin cards or effects, and are uncollectible.

Name / Desc	Rarity	Class	Cost	Atk	HP	Description
Overdue Justice	None	Paladin	1	1	4
Ashbringer	None	Paladin	5	5	3
Showing all 2 cards

Hero cards

For Wild format listings, see Paladin/Wild format

See Hero card.

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 uncraftable, 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 award the player two copies of a new Basic class card. These cards are not obtainable through any other means.

Level 2

Level 4

Level 6

Level 8

Level 10

Level 11-60

Above level 10, reaching certain levels will award golden versions of existing Basic cards. As they are uncraftable, 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

Level 32/34

Level 36/38

Level 40/42

Level 43/44

Level 45/46

Level 47/48

Level 49/50

Level 51/52

Level 53/54

Level 55/56

Level 57/58

Level 59/60

Trivia

• During the game's early development, the paladin hero was Tirion Fordring. The hero can be seen in screenshots from that period.
• As of the Year of the Dragon, Paladin is tied with Shaman for the most amount of heroes at 4, with Mage, Warlock, Priest, and Druid coming in second at 3. Paladin is also the only class to have two free promotional heroes.

References

Classes
Demon Hunter Druid Hunter Mage Paladin Priest Rogue Shaman Warlock Warrior Death Knight (special class)