Paladins is Hi-Rez Studios' free-to-play team hero shooter, out of beta since May 2018, and it is no longer being developed. Hi-Rez halted active work on Paladins and the original SMITE on 6 February 2025 during a restructuring that cut a large share of its staff, and the game has been in maintenance mode since. Servers are still up: Steam concurrents in August 2026 average roughly 900 over a rolling 30 days with 24-hour peaks near 1,500, against an all-time high of 60,712. Balance is frozen, so any tier list from 2025 onward is still accurate.
These tips go beyond the basics. They're the strategies experienced players use to play more efficiently, the hidden mechanics most people miss, and the optimizations that compound over a full playthrough. If you're just starting, check our beginner's guide first.
Essential Tips
1. Buy Cauterize by the second team fight in every single match
Buy Cauterize by the second team fight in every single match. Anti-healing is the item that decides whether your damage sticks, and a team that skips it will out-damage the enemy all game and still lose the point.
2. Concentrate your 15 loadout points into cards affecting three abilities rather than spreading one rank across five cards
Concentrate your 15 loadout points into cards affecting three abilities rather than spreading one rank across five cards. A rank-one card in Paladins is close to no effect at all, so five weak cards is functionally an empty loadout.
3. Check the enemy Talent choices on the scoreboard during the opening ride to the point
Check the enemy Talent choices on the scoreboard during the opening ride to the point. Talents change how abilities work, so the same enemy champion can require a completely different approach between rounds.
4. Ride your mount from spawn every time
Ride your mount from spawn every time. Walking back after a death is the single most common reason a team loses the first capture, and the mount is free.
5. Buy Wrecker against shield-heavy compositions and Haven against burst Damage
Buy Wrecker against shield-heavy compositions and Haven against burst Damage. Both are cheap at rank one and the AI-adjacent habit of buying the same three items every match costs more games than aim ever does.
6. As a Flank, target the enemy Support first and leave before their Front Line rotates
As a Flank, target the enemy Support first and leave before their Front Line rotates. A Support kill wins the fight; a Front Line kill you spent nine seconds on gives the enemy team free time on the point.
7. As Front Line, use a shield to break line of sight rather than to absorb chip damage
As Front Line, use a shield to break line of sight rather than to absorb chip damage. Cassie and Viktor cannot damage what they cannot see, and a shield spent on poke is a shield you do not have during the actual engage.
8. Learn one champion per class rather than five in one class
Learn one champion per class rather than five in one class. Paladins locks you into a team composition at select, and a player who can only play Flank is a liability in roughly a third of games.
9. Treat every guide and tier list published from February 2025 onward as current
Treat every guide and tier list published from February 2025 onward as current. Development stopped that month, so the balance patch you are playing on is the last one, and older guides are the ones that need checking.
10. Queue during peak evening hours
Queue during peak evening hours. With a 30-day average near 900 concurrent players on Steam, off-peak queues in some regions take noticeably longer and produce wider skill spreads in the resulting lobbies.
Advanced Strategies
Role Optimization
The difference between an average build and an optimized one is massive. See our builds guide for full breakdowns.
For Damage: hitscan poke (A-Tier):
- Focus on Five-card loadouts capped at 15 points combinations for maximum output.
- Core gear: Cassie's Crossbow
- Stat priority: Offensive stats first
For Damage: projectile burst (A-Tier):
- Versatile approach that handles any situation.
- Core gear: Viktor's Assault Rifle
- Stat priority: Balanced stats
Mechanic Interactions
Understanding how Paladins's systems interact is where the real optimization lives. Our combat guide covers this in detail.
Five-card loadouts capped at 15 points + Talents chosen before the match starts: Each champion equips exactly five cards, and each card can be set from rank one to rank five, with the total ranks in a loadout capped at 15. Combined with Talents chosen before the match starts, every champion has three talents, picked alongside your loadout at the start of a match.
The in-match credit shop + Four champion classes: You earn credits during the match and spend them on items across four categories: Defense, Utility, Healing and Damage. When paired with Four champion classes, damage champions handle sustained output and shield breaking, flanks dive the back line, front line champions hold the objective and soak, and supports heal and debuff.
Siege point-and-payload rounds scaling: Siege runs in two phases. Both teams fight over a central capture point, then the winner escorts a payload toward the loser's spawn while the loser tries to stop it. First team to four points takes the match.
Weapons Efficiency
| Weapon | Best Use Case | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Cassie's Crossbow | New Damage players who want consistent output without projectile leading. | A hitscan-feeling crossbow with solid mid-range damage and a small magazine. |
| Viktor's Assault Rifle | Players transferring aim skill from another shooter. | A hitscan rifle with a large magazine and the most conventional first-person shooter feel on the roster. |
| Maeve's Daggers | Diving isolated Supports and finishing low targets. | Fast-firing thrown daggers with short effective range and a brutal falloff curve. |
| Barik's Blunderbuss | Point defence on Siege maps with tight capture areas. | A short-range spread weapon on a Front Line champion who deploys turrets and a Barricade. |
| Grover's Throwing Axe | Supports who want to influence a fight beyond healing output. | A heavy thrown axe that does real damage for a Support weapon and rewards prediction rather than tracking. |
Location Efficiency
Frog Isle (All ranks, common in casual queue): A Siege map with a raised central point and multiple approach lanes, one of the earliest maps in the game and still one of the most balanced. The side routes make it a strong Flank map without abandoning the Front Line.
Stone Keep (All ranks): A large Siege map with a wide open central point and long sightlines into it. Hitscan Damage champions and long-range Supports gain more here than anywhere else, and diving across the open middle usually ends badly.
Jaguar Falls (All ranks): A Siege map built around verticality, with elevated platforms flanking the point. Champions with vertical mobility get more out of it than the map's size suggests, and the payload path is one of the more contested in the rotation.
Timber Mill (All ranks): A Siege map with a compact point and heavy cover, which favours close-range Front Line and Flank play over poke. The choke on the payload run is narrow enough that a single well-placed shield can stall the push outright.
Magistrate's Archives (All ranks, best for learning a new champion): Used for the faster modes rather than Siege, with a single contested area and short spawn distances. Onslaught here rewards sustained team fighting because respawns arrive fast enough that a partial wipe rarely ends the fight.
Mistakes Even Veterans Make
- Skipping the item shop entirely, especially Cauterize, and then blaming the Support for the enemy tank not dying.
- Spreading loadout points evenly across five cards so that no card reaches a rank where it changes anything.
- Instant-locking a Flank on a team that already has two, then losing the point because nobody can hold it.
- Diving the enemy Front Line as a Flank instead of the Support, which trades your nine seconds for their two.
- Expecting new champions, balance patches or content updates; Hi-Rez ended active development on 6 February 2025.
Pro Quick Tips
- Buy Cauterize by the second team fight in every single match. Anti-healing is the item that decides whether your damage sticks, and a team that skips it will out-damage the enemy all game and still lose the point.
- Concentrate your 15 loadout points into cards affecting three abilities rather than spreading one rank across five cards. A rank-one card in Paladins is close to no effect at all, so five weak cards is functionally an empty loadout.
- Check the enemy Talent choices on the scoreboard during the opening ride to the point. Talents change how abilities work, so the same enemy champion can require a completely different approach between rounds.
- Start with Damage: projectile burst, switch to Damage: hitscan poke when ready
- Invest in Cassie's Crossbow above everything else
- Clear areas in order: Frog Isle → Stone Keep → Jaguar Falls → Timber Mill → Magistrate's Archives. See our maps guide
- Five-card loadouts capped at 15 points + Talents chosen before the match starts together are stronger than either alone
More Paladins Guides
- Paladins Paladins Overview
- Paladins Best Builds
- Paladins Tier List
- Paladins Walkthrough
- Paladins Beginner's Guide
- Paladins Weapons Guide
- Paladins Combat Guide
- Paladins Boss Guide
- Paladins Maps & Locations
- Paladins Crafting Guide
- Paladins Classes & Characters
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