Dragon Nest SEA Paladin Comprehensive Guide

Dragon Nest SEA Paladin Comprehensive Guide by Shiba

Table of Contents
(P.S: If you want to read a ceratin section of the guide, please use “CTRL + F” for fast searching.)
I. Forewords
II. Cleric
– II.a. Introduction on Cleric
– II.b. Cleric’s Skills
– II.c. Cleric’s Builds
– II.d. Choosing a Weapon as a Cleric
III. Paladin
– III.a Introduction on Paladin
– III.b. Paladin Skills
— III.b.1 Paladin “Magical” Tree
— III.b.2 Paladin “Physical” Tree
— III.b.3 Paladin “Shield” Tree
— III.b.4 Paladin Additional Skills
– III.c. Paladin Builds
– III.d. Choosing a Weapon as a Paladin
– III.e. PVP Tips
– III.f. Writer’s Notes

I. Forewords
Hello and Welcome to the thread!

Probably a short introduction won’t kill the air here :P.
Well in short, I was a former Chinese Dragon Nest player. I’ve played a Paladin there (And now has advanced to a Guardian. I also have a Crusader, thanks to the level 45 JUMP event in Chinese server). The in-game name is 大伟 (written as Dawei in alphabetical) in the that server.

No, I am not a pro, a very good player neither. But I consider myself as an ‘experienced’ player because I’ve play the game in other server. My first impression of the game was Dragon Nest is such a great F2P game. Dragon Nest has amazing ‘unique’ features, unique kind of dungeon system (Nests) and argueably the best PVP system out there, although balance is not something to apply, and it’s hard to apply even to other great games out there.

Paladin was such a great class to play. Well, yeah because I’ve played tanker classes in other games as well. But my ‘Paladin’ experience in Dragon Nest was the best outta other games. This class here has great Health and massive amount of Defense, both physical and magical defenses. Although, Paladins suffer on not having great damage per second abilities.

This guide here is meant for you, Paladin players, who seek the true power of the Paladin. So happy reading and start shaping your character’s capabilities up to the fullest!

II. Cleric
II.a. Introduction on Cleric
The Cleric is one of four basic classes in Dragon Nest, also, the hardest class to play in my opinion. The Cleric has expert difficulty, unlike the other classes. Being the hardest class to play, the Cleric has multidute of roles and has so many opportunities in all areas in the game. It’s like hitting the ‘hard’ difficulty on an arcade game when playing a Cleric I tell you that much. The Cleric can advance to either “Paladin” or “Priest’ when you hit level 15.

II.b. Cleric’s Skills
The Cleric has many skills. Some of them are important for offense, some for defense, etc. So let’s see and try to discuss each of the skill.

1. Shield Blow
Strike your enemies by bashing your shield towards them.
A great basic skill for a Cleric. The damage and the AoE are not satisfying, but the short cooldown duration makes up for it. This skill is great in PvP, as it adds extra damage while chaining combos.

2. Lightning Strike
Strike enemies in front of you by swinging your weapon upward and sending a lightning afterward. Does a physical and magical damage. Effective on downed enemies.
While it’s not a great crowd controller skill and a weak skill in PVE, it is great skill to be used in PVP. A very great launching skill to raise the potential of your combo in PVP.

3. Half-Turn Kick
Kick the enemies in front of you by clicking [Special Attack]. Spammable due to not having cooldown. Great when paired with Holy Kick.
Great skill to have. This skill acts as a secondary offensive skill when other primary skills are in cooldown. The great thing about this skill is that this skill is spammable, so this skill can act as a primary skill, especially against bosses, due to the knowledge that the AoE of this skill is crap and probably won’t be used when facing mobs. In PvP, this skill acts as an extra skill while doing combos. Also used when to bounce your enemy off the wall. You can make this skill more godly by equipping Half-Turn Kick Premiium Heraldry (Action Speed -50%). Then, you will have a fast and spammable skill alongside with Holy Kick.
4. Low Kick
Double stomp on downed enemies by clicking [Special Attack]. Hold the [Special Attack] if you want to send your enemies flying with a kick.
Not a very good skill because the lack of the AoE and damage. Use it on downed enemies when your offensive skills are in cooldown. It is not a very great skill to be used in PvP either.

5. Sliding Step
Double-tap a directional arrow or press [Shift] + directional arrow to evade any attacks in that direction.
A very great skill. MAX THIS OR I’LL EAT YOUR BABIES. Increasing the rank of this skill will reduce the cooldown time of this skill thus making this one of the godly skill to have when it is maxed. Why did I say it a godly skill again? Hmm, because it is used for mobility and evasion, and those are two important aspects in both PvP and PvE.

6. Charge Bolt
Charges a bolt of lightning on your weapon and smash it onto the ground. It’ll spread in four directions upon contact. Deals light damage. 
This skill is great when used against big bosses. Self expalantory. It reduces your opponent’s light resistance by 15%. Great skill to be used before other light damaging skills (such as Electric Smite, Lightning Charger, etc. see below: Paladin skills.)

7. Block
Defend yourself using your shield. 
Self explanatory. This skill works wonder. Increasing this skill’s rank will increase the amount of attack you can block per 15 seconds for PVE, and 12 seconds for PVP. This makes you block any attack 100% for those periods. A basic tanking skills for a Paladin with reasonable cooldown. Good skill in both PVP but PVE, but beware, it can interupt your other skill while casting.

8. Fly Kick
Press [Special Attack] when airborne to strike your enemies as you land.
I don’t know the usefulness of this skill so I can’t tell you what’s good about this skill. The damage in PvE is weak. PvP wise, you can do this skill on downed enemies for the lul. A presrequite skill for Holy Kick.

9. Counter Blow
Press [Normal Attack] when downed to counter attack as you get back standing. 
An okay skill to be learned, although effects aren’t as useful as other offensive skills. Go ahead and learn this skill if you know its greatness and use it’s capability up to the fullest.

10. Low Kick
Click [Special Attack] on stunned enemies to hammer kick and knockdown them.
Useless skill = Yes.

11. Holy Kick
Press [Special Attack] after Half-Turn Kick to perform a side kick.
Holy Kick is also a great secondary offensive skill to have alongside with Half-Turn Kick. You can enhance the effectiveness of this skill by equipping Holy Kick’s Premium Heraldry (Action Speed -50%). Spam this with Half-Turn Kick against bosses, and there. You are now one of the great DPS class out there.

12. Holy Bolt
Send a holy bullet to your enemy. Paralyzes enemies when hit. 
A very good catching skills with high amount of Super Armor while being casted. But leave it to the prerequisite (level 3) for Holy Relic. Works wonder with Holy Relic. Holy Relic has long casting time, but with Holy Bolt, you can secure a safe Holy Relic to your enemies.

13. Heal 
Heals yourself and your teammates.
Best skill ever if you used it in the right situation. But to be honest, I leave this skill at rank 1. The increase of the heal per level is not satisfying.

14. Sliding Knee Kick
Tap right click after sliding step to knee your enemy. SKK rank 3 allows you to do an extra downward kick to launch your enemy even higher. 
The most debated skill in the Cleric tree. If you prefer PVE over PVP, you can choose to leave this. But if you are more into a PVP player, put this to rank 3. Either rank 3 or rank 0. The choice is yours. In PVP, this is useful when you do combos to your enemy. When you are too close to your opponent, there is high chances you might fail in your combos (After the fifth normal attack). This skill will help you make a space between you and your enemy and do some more combos. Also does a pretty high damage.

15. Divine Combo
Dash forward and perform a serial of divine attacks to your enemy. Press the normal attack button to bash your shield while exploding your surrounding with holy power.
A good skill in PVP as it can chain your combos and thus doing Infinite Combo easier. Although in PVE, it is pretty useless mid-endgame.

16. Aerial Evasion 
Use the jump button when launched into the air to evade and back onto your feet on the ground.
Without this, have fun juggled by Warriors and Clerics (and some Archers). A very USEFUL SKILL, I tell you once again, very useful. Also a must max skill as it decreases cooldown per level, by huge a decrease per level.

17. Toughness.
Decreases physical damage taken by certain percentages.
A no-brainer skill, MAX IT. The decerased physical damage effect affects in PVP.

18. Physical Mastery.
Increases max HP. 
Also a no-brainer skill, MAX IT. The increased max HP affects in PVP.

19. Mental Mastery. 
Increases max MP. 
One can choose not to max this if he/she is more into a PVP player. (3 minutes per round, so what’s the use of this skill? lol.) But one can choose to MAX or leave this at high rank if he/she do both PVP/PVE.

20. Mana Conquer. 
Increases MP Recovery per minute. 
A must max skill used in larger instances like Nests. Without this, you’ll be run out of MP quick.

II.c. Cleric’s Builds
There are no specific builds for Cleric actually. There is only one build for Cleric, which is the core build. This build below is indicated for level 15 Clerics, before advancing into the Paladin. I’ve decided not to put some of the SP on some skills that are only useful in PvP, because I knew that some of you don’t really pursue into the world of PvP that much. Please, be free to ask for a specific build in this thread, or in the forum! REMEMBER, these builds below are valid only for future Paladins. If you are going to advance into a Priest, don’t even bother to look at this build!

The Hybrid Build for level 15 Cleric.
The build above is created for future Paladins who wants to struggle to the path of Physical and Magical Paladins. A Physical Paladin is a type of a Paladin who focuses on dealing damage through skills that deal physical damage. Physical Paladins will be having more defensive skills rather than magical skills as secondaries. A Magical Paladin is a Paladin who focuses on dealing magical damage by using magical skills. Magical Paladins will be having more physical skills rather than magical skills as secondaries.
(Note: I didn’t allocate any points on Sliding Knee Kick and/or Divine Combo, because those skills are PvP oriented. If you are more PvP oriented, please be free to allocate some points on those skills, but be warned that you’ll need level 3 SKK in order to make that skill effective in PvP situation.)
(Note2: You can choose to not learn Dive & Holy Kick as a Magical Paladin, although for Physical Paladin, you MUST learn the skill for your DPS)

II.d. Choosing a Weapon as a Cleric
Choosing your main weapon is crucial even in the days of your Cleric stage. Choosing between Mace and Flail is a hard thing to do, yes, I was experiencing this too back in the past when I was still a tiny little Cleric in Dragon Nest Chinese server. I was messing around with my choice of weapon when suddenly I realized that I’ve made a wrong decision! I have to buy another weapon to ease myself in dungeons. Enough for my history, let’s go down to the business shall we?

I did say I choose the wrong weapon above, so what was that wrong choice of weapon? Back then in Chinese version, I was not focusing myself in PVP, yet I chose Mace. Mace has absolutely little Critical Rate, but very much higher Stun and Paralyze. In dungeons, you don’t even need those two stats! Critical is needed for faster kill. I realized that Flail is a better choice if you are more PVE oriented. So I had to buy another Flail which cost me so much money in the past. Why did I choose Flail? Different than Mace, Flail has better range and Critical Rate. Flail also has better overall physical and magical damage, best for Paladins.
Let’s see the comparison between two classes below.

Let’s analyze each weapons above. I did mention that Flails has higher overall damage than Maces, see the Attack Power of Apocalypse Flail. That Flail has 163-302 Attack Power, Now, let’s observe and calculate the Apocalypse Mace. Apocalpyse Mace has 136-317 Attack Power. The Minimum Attack Power that the Mace has has lower value than the Flail’s by a huge amount (163 – 136 = 27), but the Mace has higher Maximum Attack Power than the Flail’s by no greater amount than the minimum attack power difference. (317 – 302 = 15)

Flail has so much higher Critical Rate than the Mace as can be seen at the picture above. And Critical Rate is pretty much used by any class in PvE.

So what, you’re saying that Maces do not worth to be possess? No!
The only thing that we’ve observed above is only PVE! In PVP, Maces are always refered as newb friendly weapon of choice. They can combo easily which means it can bring victory easier than a Flail. Maces has 100:1 juggling (will be explained below at PVP tactics and combos section) capabilities than Flail.

Conclusion:
PVP: Mace
PVE: Flail

III. Paladin
III.a Introduction on Paladin
The Paladin is one of the two advancement classes after you reach level 15 as a Cleric. The Paladin is the main tanker of the game, while the Priest is the main supportive class of the game. You won’t find any informations about Priest “here”. The thread is only meant for Paladins. The Paladin, given the advantages of having the best defense skills, highest defense and Health in the game, also has disadvantages. Such as, weak DPS capability (can be corrected using kicks, but high prices on heraldries), lack of offensive skills, and etc.

(+) Pros:
Paladin is a tanker class of the game.
Paladin has many major shielding skills.
Paladin has a very big HP mod, defense and magic defense, add it with his blocking skills, making him a fearful melee class. Paladin is a very good choice of class in a long run nest because of its
high survivability, and also uses also uses both physical and magical attacks thus adding it for offensive purporses in different situations.
Paladin‘s offensive skills has a rather low cooldowns, especially their kicks (which has no cooldown for such good skills).
Paladin is the master of counter attacks, only in level 24 caps.
Paladin has powerful buffs to decrease any elemental damage thus increasing it, and also increasing your light attacks
Paladin is also the master of combos. Screw those people saying Swordmasters are the master of combos. With only normal attack, you can combo your enemies to death.
Paladin is a top 4 class in PVP currently.
(-) Cons:
However, a Paladin, being the slowest class in the game, are victims for every ranged classes if you are not careful.
However, a Paladin has low MP mod naturally. If you are not careful, your MP will drop eventually.
However, a Paladin has low DPS compared to other classes. (Not Priests though)
However, a Paladin has a few to no evasion skills aside of Aerial Evasion and Aerial Block.
However, a Paladin with a Mace has the lowest Critical Rate among all classes and also the lowest Critical Resist.

So from my explanations above, if you enjoy being the heart of the team, taking the beating infront like a man, with superb shielding skills and high HP mod than most classes, beating your enemies with both cool physical and magical attacks, and THE MOST IMPORTANT PART, bringing lightning together with you infront (Priests can’t do this tr0l0l0!!11!one!one!!eleven!!111!),
then… 

Paladin is for you.

Upon reaching level 45, one can choose to become either a Guardian or a Crusader.
The Crusader. A Magical DPS/Off-tank class of a Paladin. The Crusader focuses on increasing his overall DPS instead of going deep into the tanking path. A very good fast solo-ers as they have good overall DPS but still having the abilites of tanking. An owning class in PVP as it can kill *insert Sorcerss’ class name here* in 7 seconds if skills hit them. Crusaders focus on increasing both of STR, INT, Physical Attack and Magical Attack to maximize their DPS. One can also pick to become a pure Physical Crusader and use kicks as his main DPS (like a Guardian). The downside of this class is you have to balance between physical attack power and magical attack power, and is harder to manage. However, one can also become a pure magical/physical Crusader if he/she wanted to. Below is/are video(s) showing what a Crusader can do in PVP/E.

FOOTAGE! (Credits goes to respective owners)

The Guardian. A Physical DPS/Full Tank class of a Paladin. The Guardian focuses on increasing his overall tanking capabilities instead of increasing his DPS. However, do you realize why I called Guardian a Physical DPS class? Even with their slow killing capabilities, there is one, no two skill that can maintain his DPS. It’s their infamous kicking skills. A very good tool against those big bosses that cannot be knock back in any way. But still, his DPS is still way inferior to most classes. A very good slow solo-ers with the major rank of survivability. A wanted class, also a team player. in larger instances like Arch Bishop Nest, Sea Dragon’s Nest, etc. with their protective skills and buff. Also a high tier class in PVP after a Crusader. (If one activates his bubble skill that is, that means an extra HP for 15 seconds :3) Guardians also favorable because of their ultimate, (The God Within or The Divine Avatar skill) that doubles their attack power. Guardian’s main advantage is that you don’t have to take a risk for balancing physical attack power and magical attack power as your main skills are physical. Here is/are video(s) of what can a Guardian do in PVP/E endgame:

FOOTAGE! (Credits goes to respective owners)

[III] SKILLS
It is weird to choose a class without knowing the skills first.
To prevent that kind of problem, I’ve listed all Cleric and Paladin skills along with my explanations on each skill.

Cleric Skills

1. Shield Blow – Strike your enemy hard using your shield. Does an okay damage for a basic skill but still weak in PVE because of its low AOE. You can chain your combos using this skill repeatedly due to its low cooldown.
   PVP – ***
   PVE – **
2. Block – Defend yourself using your shield. Increasing this skill’s rank will increase the amount of attack you can block per 15 seconds duration (PVE) and 12 seconds duration (PVP). This makes you block any attack 100% for certain duration. A basic tanking skills for a Paladin with reasonable cooldown. Good skill in both PVP but PVE, but beware, it can interupt your other skill when casting.
   PVP – ****
   PVE – ****
3. Lightning Strike – Bash your weapon upwards and send a lightning afterwards. Also does an okay damage for a basic skill. Not so good in PVE but useful in PVP as a combo starter and a combo chainer.
   PVP – ***
   PVE – **
4. Charge Bolt – Charges up your weapon with electricity and send it down in four directions. A very good skill in PVE as it can attack multiple enemies and big bosses. but not good choice of skill in PVP because of its long casting time. This is also favorable in PVE as it can decrease your opponent’s light resistance for.. WUT? 15%!? DO WANT.
   PVP – *
   PVE – *****
5. Half Turn Kick – Right click to do a half turn kick on your enemies. Your primary attack if you tend to become a Physical oriented Paladin. This skill can very effective if you have the Premium Half Turn Kick Heraldry (Action Speed) equiped. A nice offensive skill as it has no cooldown. In PVP, Half Turn Kick itself is not used as a primary attack. It is used to add distance between you and your enemy if you are to close. In PVE, this skill works wonder with Holy Kick against unknockable bosses.
   PVP – ****
   PVE – *****
6. Fly Kick – Right click when airborne to do a diving kick to your enemies. A prerequisite skil for Holy Kick. I don’t know what its usefulness aside of doing damage in PVE so meh, oh in PVP you can attack downed enemies with this just for the lulz.
   PVP – ***
   PVE – ***
7. Holy Kick – Half Turn Kick’s wife. After doing Half Turn Kick, right click one more time to do a direct kick to your enemy. To increase the effectiveness of this skill, use Premium Half Turn Kick Heraldry (Action Speed). Coupled by Half Turn Kick, this skill is imba hax. Screw those people saying Paladin has the lowest DPS! With this, you can become a kicking god alongside with HTK.
   PVP and PVE rate: (See Half Turn Kick)
8. Stomping Kick – Use the right click on downed enemies to stomp them twice then send them a soccer kick. A basic skill to attack downed enemies although doesn’t have bigger role than most Cleric skills in PVP/PVE. EDIT: IT DOES a big role in the succession of your combo. If you fail to do a combo and send your enemy down, you can’t possibly lift them up without this skill (assuming Divine Breaker is one CD). This skill here is godly if you use the premium plates in PVP.
   PVP – *** (EDIT: *****)
   PVE – **
9. Sliding Step – Tap twice a directional button or tap shift + directional button to evade any attack while sliding away. A very important skill in the Cleric tree. A MUST MAX SKILL! (Level 5 = 2.5 seconds, LOLWUT?).
   PVP – *****
   PVE – *****
10. Low Kick – Right click stunned enemies to hammer kick your enemy. Alpha as f***, useless as snail, leave it.
    PVP – *
    PVE – **
11. Counter Blow – Tap the left click (attack button) while knocked down to do a counter attack as you get back standing. A pretty good choice of skill when knocked down in PVP to counter attack your enemy.
    PVP – ***
    PVE – **
12. Divine Combo – Dash forward and perform a serial of divine attacks to your enemy. Press the normal attack button to bash your shield while exploding your surrounding with holy power trololo. A good skill in PVP as it can chain your combos and thus doing Infinite Combo easier. Although in PVE, it is useless.
13. Heal – Heals yourself nuff said. Best skill ever if you used it in the right situation nuff said. To be honest, I leave this skill at rank 1. The increase of the heal per level is not satisfying.
    PVP: *****
    PVE: *****
14. Holy Bolt – Send a holy bullet to your enemy. Paralyzes enemies when hit. A very good catching skills with high amount of Super Armor. But leave it prerequisite for Holy Relic. Works wonder with Holy Relic. Holy Relic has long casting time, with Holy Bolt, you can secure a safe Holy Relic to your enemies. l0l0l0l0l0!!one!eleven!!11!1
    PVP: ****
    PVE: **
15. Sliding Knee Kick – Tap right click after sliding step to knee your enemy. SKK rank 3 allows you to do an extra downward kick to launch your enemy even higher. The most debated skill in the Cleric tree. If you prefer PVE over PVP, you can choose to leave this. But if you are more into a PVP player, put this to rank 3. Either rank 3 or rank 0. The choice is yours. In PVP, this is useful when you do combos to your enemy. When you are too close to your opponent, there is high chances you might fail in your combos (After the fifth normal attack). This skill will help you make a space between you and your enemy and do some more combos. Also does a pretty high damage.
    PVP: *****
    PVE: ***
16. Aerial Evasion – Use the jump button when launched into the air to evade and back onto your feet on the ground. Without this, have fun juggled by Warriors and Clerics (and some Archers). A very USEFUL SKILL. Also a MUST MAX skill as it decreases cooldown per level. I’ll eat your babies if you don’t max this skill LOLOLOLO
    PVP: *****
    PVE: *****
17. Toughness. Decreases physical damage taken by certain percentages. A no-brainer skill, MAX IT. The decerased physical damage effect affects in PVP.
    PVP: *****
    PVE: *****
18. Physical Mastery. Increases max HP. Also a no-brainer skill, MAX IT. The increased max HP affects in PVP.
    PVP: *****
    PVE: *****
19. Mental Mastery. Increases max MP. One can choose not to max this if he/she is more into a PVP player. (3 minutes per round, so what’s the use of this skill? lol.) But one can choose to MAX or leave this at high rank if he/she do both PVP/PVE.
    PVP: **
    PVE: *****
20. Mana Conquer. Increases MP Recovery per minute. A must max skill used in larger instances like Nests. Without this, you’ll be run out of MP quick.
    PVP: **
    PVE: ****

Paladin Skills
Before listing the skills, I would like to add some informations. Paladin has 3 skill trees. The left one is the Magical Skill Tree which is focuses more on doing magical damage and purely made for damage purporses. The middle tree is the Physical Skill Tree. Although not as good as the Magical Skill Tree in terms of damage, this tree focuses more on debuffing, easy launching and generating threat for tanking purporses. After the physical skill tree, there is the Shield and Buffs Skill Tree. Paladins are needed because of this skill tree. This tree consists of all shield and buff skills to either tanking and supporting purporses. All additional skills are made to aid you in battle.

For Guardian, you will need the skills in the Physical and Shield/Buff Skill Tree. (Divine Avatar as your Ultimate)
For Crusader, you’ll be focusing on increasing the skills in Magical Skill Tree. (Thor’s Hammer as your Ultimate)

1. Holy Cross – Summons a gigantic cross from the sky and drop it down to your enemies. A magical based skill. High amount of damage. Holy property. Nuff said. Max this if you are going onto the path of Crusader to learn its EX skill. Okay damage, big AOE, light property, but long casting time. Works good in PVE and PVP.
   PVP: ****
   PVE: ****
2. Sacred Hammering – Summon holy hammers to aid your normal attack. This skill makes your normal attack do two magical attacks. This is your main DPS skill if you are going to be a Magical Paladin or really a Magical Paladin by now. As for PVP, this skill sucks because of not having juggling capabilty. In PVE, it’s continous damage really works wonder although the added damage is not satisfying. Continous buff, extra AOE and light property.
   PVP – ***
   PVE – ****
3. Lightning Zap – Charges the air in front of you and electricify enemies. Electrified enemies will also damage the enemy near them. This skill is very good used when fighting a lot of mobs. Large damage, light property, large AOE. Although you won’t deal any significant damage with this skill if you are a Physical oriented Paladin. In PVP, this is a good tool to prevent
   PVP – ****
   PVE – *****
4. Smite/Electric Smite/Lightning Smite/Whatever Smite – Charges yourself with the power of lightning, jumps and smite enemies in front of you for a massive damage. The description said it all. Your best damaging skill in the your skill tree. The source of damage comes from PATK and MATK. Even larger damage, medium AOE, light property, relatively low CD. Used by both Physical Paladin and Magical Paladin. Very good in both PVP and PVE.
   PVP – *****
   PVE – *****
5. Thor’s Hammer (Ultimate) – Summons a gigantic banhammer, probably lent from Thor himself, swinging it heavily against enemies in front of you three times. Your Ultimate skill if you want to become a Crusader in the future. EVEN EVEN LARGER damage than Electric Smite and also relatively big AOE. The only downside is its long cooldown. It is an Ultimate skill afterall. EXTRA LARGE damage, light property, large AOE, but nice long cooldown. I don’t know if it is good in PVP, never used it. In PVE, this is your most imbahax skill you will ever had. It’s like doing 3 Electric Smites in a go lol.
   PVP – Don’t know. ~hehe~
   PVE: *****
6. Provoke – Taunts the enemies in front of you by a cone range. You will generate a massive amount of threat to your enemies to prevent them from attacking your teammates. A very good tool in tanking purporses. It also decreases your opponent’s Critical Chance and Stun Chance. Apparently, the Provoke is a very important skill to be learnt by a Paladin, especially in large instances like Sea Dragon’s Nest where you need 8 players in a party. Without Provoke, your party will be crumbled to pieces. Knowing you, a Paladin, has many blocking abilities, you can use Provoke at your advantages while activating your blocking skills. In PVP, it is only useful to decrease your enemy’s Critical Chance and Stun Chance against you. Pretty useful imho, especially against those Archers, and Axe Mercs.
   PVP: ***
   PVE: *****
7. Divine Breaker – After doing [Sliding Step] tap the left click once to break your opponent’s shin and launch them to the air. This is, by far, your only effective launching skills. Needed in every situations (Except against a unlaunchable bosses). Damage wise, this skill has good damage percentage with reasonable cooldown. A physical skill, launcher, and generates threat. Justice prevails yeah!! A multi purpose skill. In PVE, this skill is pretty good as it can launch mobs thus doing kicks after that. In PVP, this skill is the most important launching skill you have in your skill tree. Without this, your chance of winning is below 10%.
   PVP: *****
   PVE: ***
8. Armor Break – Dash in front slightly, strike enemies by bashing your weapons against them, breaking their defenses. Probably the best physical skill you will ever gain. This skill does large damage despite on its low cooldown (Only 8 seconds in PVE! 10 seconds in PVE though), generates threat and also decreasing their physical defense. A very good tool for every Physical Paladins to increase their damage. In PVP, this skill itself is very good because of its damage and armor reducing capability, but is easy to predict. In PVE, use this before doing kicks (If you are a Physical Paladin) to reduce their defense. Large damage, generates threat, and reduces defense. Glory to the heaven, another multi purpose skill!
   PVP: *****
   PVE: ****
9. Shield Charge – Charges in using your shield to your enemies and strike them with your weapon. While casting this skill, you take less damage from enemies. This skill does great damage but doesn’t have a really outstanding effects unlike Armor Break. In PVE, this skill is better used against boss to inflict massive damage, pretty good against mobs. In PVP, this skill is VERY good, not to inflict massive damage, but as mobility. This skill also useful against those classes that have a lot of evasion skills. This skill can kill the evasion skills because this skill do multi hits.
   PVP: *****
   PVE: ***
10. Auto Block – Adds a chance to block attacks by certain percentage. Pretty okay skill to have especially in PVP situation. This will save you from those freakin burst attacks like Fireball (OMGHAX 8k got blocked for the lulz!). Sadly, the percentage is reduced in PVP. In PVE, this skill also good but can interupt while casting some skills as it is unpredictable (the same problem you face when you used block). You have to increase this skill to rank 8 to get its EX if you are going to advance to a Guardian. Still block is more viable than this piece of junk. :o
    PVP: ***
    PVE: ***
11. Stance of Faith – Press [space] after activating the skill and guard yourself from any attack and send a light wave for every incoming attack. Your cookie-hax skill for Paladin. This is a very useful tanking tool as it guards you from any attack for certain duration. The increase per rank is also reasonable. In PVE, as I said before, is used for tanking purporses. In PVP, this skill is good for CD *****, also a lifesaver when you are low on HP (as it cannot be canceled by all reason)
    PVP: ****
    PVE: *****
12. Aerial Block – Adds a chance to block attack while airborne by certain percentage. Like Auto Block, this skill is a lifesaver sometime. This passive skill can save you from being juggled by SMs, Acros, Mercs and Paladins. I personally like this skill, because it has higher percentage than Auto Block. The only downside that it has cooldown before the skill can trigger again.
    PVP: *****
    PVE: *****
13. Divine Punishment – Reflects damage from enemies for certain percentages. Not much information on how this skill does or anything. People usually stay away from this skill. Never used this in either PVP and PVE, so I can’t add much informations guys. Sorry.
14. Iron Will – Reduce any incoming damage for massive percentages, but short duration. This makes you invicible for certain duration. In PVE, you’ll need this for tanking. In PVP, you’ll want this to survive longer. I mean, seriously. -75% damage reduce? Hax skill.
    PVP: *****
    PVE: *****
15. Divine Avatar (Ultimate) – Switch the pedal of invicibility and make you superman. Invicible in certain duration. 2 x damage. Doubles HP. l33t skill. Your ultimate if you want to become a Guardian in the future. This makes you invicible and do double the damage you give to your enemies. In PVP, this skill is the most forbidden skill to be activated, you know why. If you spam kicks, this skill is your best friend. See the first Guardian video above as a reference.
    PVP: well, you won’t use this in PVP that often coz you’ll be flamed hard if you use this. *****
    PVE: ********** —> Surprised? I’m not.
16. Divine Ascension – Uppercuts your opponents when successfully block an attack by left clicking. Pretty good skill in PVP/PVE as it counter attacks. A very good launcher in PVP especially against Warriors.
    PVP: ****
    PVE: ***
17. Divine Vengeance – Stomp the ground and send shockwave to your enemies when successfully block an attack by right clicking. Some people say this skill is good, but some say crap because it is a waste of skill point. But I’d say, this skill is a pretty decent skill to have especially in PVP. When you used up your Divine Ascension, it’ll be put on CD. Your enemy sometimes careless of your counter skill, add this to your advantage and go use Divine Vengeance to trap him/her/them.
    PVP: ***
    PVE: ***
18. Elemental Aura – Increases your party’s and your elemental attack and elemental defense. This skill is very useful especially when fighting Elemental Lords in PVP, or doing Sea Dragon’s Nest. This aura skill is designed for Guardians to increase your elemental defense thus strengthen your defense while tanking an elemental attack from enemies. When you activated this skill however, no Elemental Lords will ever fight you for the lulz. Seriously, this skill hax for some people lol. Be careful though, this skill consumes MP per second which is very MP consuming.
    PVP: ****
    PVE: *****
19. Conviction Aura – Increases your party’s and your light attack and light defense. The ultimate buff you will ever have. The majority of your magical attacks are light. Crusader is a holy warrior using light atribute attacks and magical attacks. Conviction Aura increases light attack and defense. This skill is designed for Crusaders mostly because of the reasons above. This makes your light attacks stronger than Priests (some skills, like Electric Smite and Lightning Zap). The same like Elemental Aura, this skill is very MP consuming, so beware.
    PVP: *****
    PVE: **** 

[IV] BUILDS
Okay, down to builds! In this section, I will explain about some builds that I recommend the most. To be noted, some of these builds are taken from other foreign versions like DNCN, JP, etc.

At the current cap, you have to think about your build carefully, whether you want to take the pure Magical path, pure Physical Path, or hybrid. For me, the most preferable and the most taken build is the hybrid build. Why? Because the hybrid build require you to take all skills for many choice of roles. (The DPS, the tanker and the healer/buffer). But the hybrid build won’t allow you max certain skills because of the limited SP. The Pure Physical Build is made if you want to be a pure tanker and also only doing kicks for the win, on the other side, the Pure Magical Build is made if you want to depend solely on your magical skills.

Let’s take a look of the builds shall we?

The level 24 Hybrid Build
The hybrid build for level 24 Paladins. This build balances between magical and physical skills of Paladin’s skill tree which makes you fit in all roles when nesting, or maybe PVP in the current caps. The build that I made is a very very basic build which can be customized upon your choice of tertiary class later, whether a Guardian (you will need to increase Provoke and Auto Block as a Guardian), or Crusader (which will need to increase the rank of Holy Relic/Cross for the EX skill later). I also didn’t increase any PVP skills there because it will be you to choose whether you want those skills to be increased or not. (Like Divine Combo and/or Sliding Knee Kick). I also didn’t put any point to Provoke, because many Crusaders don’t put a single point on it in DNCN. I thought it’ll be best to leave it zero and leave it up to you to choose between incerasing it or not. It’s a highly optional skill. You’ll also notice that I put a point into Holy Kick. All Physical Paladin need this, but not the Magical Paladin. You can either decrease the skill or leave it as it is now.

The level 32 Hybridize Physical Build
This is the hybridize build for level 32 Paladins who are planning to become a Guardian. The build is specialized for tanking and blocking purporses. You will notice a huge difference from the previous build. In this build, I’ve invested some points on Provoke and Block which are essential for tanking purporses (I put Provoke at 1. You can either increase it to 4 or leave it like that, of course, increasing Provoke will increase the aggro pulled to you, and the increase of the duration). Your main DPS is still from kicking and probably from Shield Charge. Also, you probably ask this, “Why didn’t you increase the rank of Auto Block? I thought it’s essential to open the Auto Block EX?” . Yes you do have the point there, but in my opinion, the skill sucks because it can interupt you while you’re casting some skills. So, my suggestion is that increase Auto Block later at level 45. Make sure to have some spare SP to invest for Auto Block! Also, I haven’t rank Elemental Aura because it’s your choice whether you want to take it or not. I, myself, will increase Conviction Aura rather than Elemental Aura. I’ll probably reset if SDN comes in SEA. I also didn’t put some points to PVP oriented skills similar to above build. So for you know. I also didn’t put the leftover points to Counters because it’s highly optional. Elemental Aura is also zero. Like I said, this is the basic build, you’ll need to customize it more and match it with your taste.

The level 32 Hybridize Magical Build
It’s the good ol’ level 24 build except for some rank changes on Holy Cross/Relic for the EX skill later. Shield Charge is useful for mobility. I didn’t rank Provoke and Counters because it’s down to your preferences whether you want to use them or not, of course, you will need to customize the build more.

The level 40 Hybridize Physical Build
This build is a basic hybridize build for physical Paladins. More ranks for Armor Break. Also you’ll notice a huge difference in this build. You will get Divine Avatar! Happy? Very. In case you’re asking why I didn’t increase SoF, it’s because it’s your choice whether you want to increase it or not. But maxing the skill will also increase your tanking capabilities, but you while going turtle mode, your teammates would probably give signifcant threat for the enemies and probably won’t attack you anymore. So level 4 is enough. But if you enjoy solo, I suggest you to max this skill. I also didn’t any point on the auras, because well once again, it’s your choice bros and sistaaas. Counters are also highly optional.

The level 40 Shiba’s Personal Build on Physical Paladins
This is the build that I’m working out to aim now. Maxed Armor Break, maxed E.Smite for level 40 caps. Maxed Conviction Aura with level 1 Elemental Aura for balanced roles. (CA for damage, EA for defensive and buffs for EL). Counters, level 1 Provoke (I’ll increase it later if SDN coming in SEA). Increased PVP skills. It’s a multi purposed build with maxed capabilities on anything, PVE, PVP, you name it. :D

The level 40 Hybridize Magical Build
The basic hybridize build for magical Paladins. More ranks on Holy Relic/Cross, and also higher Stance of Faith. You’ll be soloing if a lot you walk the path of Crusader, due mainly not having enough tanking capabilities. You are also lacking of DPS because Sorceresses have more DPS capabilities than you do. You’ll get Thor’s Hammer as your ultimate with uber hax damage but also long cooldown. Increased Conviction Aura to increase your damage. +15% damage buff anyone? A MUST FOR EVERY CRUSADER WANNABES, unlike Guardian that will choose whether to pick Conviction or Elemental. I didn’t increase Provoke in the build, the same as the old build because you won’t be tanking that much if spam your magical skills all the time. It’s your choice though, you can be an off-tanker of the party if you want too. But that can cause the decrease of the ranks of some DPS skills in your tree.

[V] GEARS AND HERALDRIES (FOR LEVEL 24 AND 32)
I bet 130671306781680 bucks that you all know about gears already, even newbies. Gears are the most important factors in game. Without them, your stats will be as low as heck. As a Cleric, your armors have both big physical defense and magical defense, due to the knowledge that Paladin is the tanker of the game. Cleric has the lowest attack power and magical power among other classes I’m afraid. The bright side is that your off-hand weapon, the shield, increases your defenses, attack power and magical power.
The unique in Dragon Nest is that we have the heraldry system. What is that? Heraldry system is a mechanicsm of increasing one’s stats and skill’s usefulness by equiping the coresporending heraldries. To be noted that once you equip a heraldry, you CANNOT unequip it aside of destroying it. Pretty neat system huh? Now, let’s go down to the explanations shall we?

Stat Weights for Cleric
Before building up your gears, please make sure to read the stat weights information for Cleric below. This will help you to choose to focus on either a stat, or two stats, etc. (e.g: A Physical Paladin should focus on STR instead of INT, vice versa. VIT is important to all builds, but Physical Paladin needs this the most because their nature is to tank, and to tank, VIT is needed. Magical Paladin may ditch VIT. INT should be focused the most as a Magical Paladin, etc.)

1 STR = 0.5 pDMG, 2.5 stun, 3 para, 3 para resist
1 INT = 35 MP, 0.5 mDMG, 0.8 mDEF
1 AGI = 0.25 pDMG, 3.5 crit, 10.5 crit resist
1 VIT = 30 HP, 0.6 pDEF, 2.5 stun resist

Choosing your Weapon
This is the best part of the section. Choosing your weapon is crucial, whether you want to pick the Mace or the Flail. You might want some preferences before going deep on choosing your weapon. I can’t provide any source, I’m afraid because they are in other language. But to make it simple, Mace is used mostly in PVP due to high stun rate, fast attacking speed and bouncing effect after the third hit (means you can hit your enemy on the ground and bounce them back), while Flails are used mostly in PVE, where you don’t have to worry about combos. Flail has higher critical chance and higher overall attack and magical power. Maces in PVE are good but are not that menacing due to the low critical chance it has. Also stun can increase your enemy’s super armor by ten fold, means you’ll be having hard time to kick your enemies. Flails in PVP are good, but flails don’t have a very good bouncing effect, so you need to time your skills perfectly.

Gears
For the level 24 caps, I highly suggest you to get White Lion sets (rare) and enhance it to a minimum of +8 from +6 before Minotaur’s Nest was implemented. Now, you’ve probably wondering, why don’t we get the Ancient sets instead? I know Ancient sets are better, but they are indeed more expensive and risky to be compared with White Lions. It’s a waste of money, seriously. (I’ll even skip the Cerberus’ set and focus more on Apoc’s set!) You can survive just fine in Minotaur Nest with 10k HP. With +8 sets, you can gain about 22k++ HP easily and you can even survive Mino’s flying axe attack few times, not to mention Block and other blocking skills. In ladder however, gears matter. It’s up to you whether you want to make over-enhanced Ancient sets. With only +8 gears, I can get over 52k HP. That’s nice amount of HP mind you, especially in ladder.
Now, level 32 is one thing, because it is important to decide your gears from now on, whether you want to focus on the epics, going for rare equips, or stay with your level 24 gears. Me myself still using level 24 gears as I can still survive just fine with it. (25k HP). Of course, going for rare and epics are preferable, but, you will notice that a stack Ordinary Agate and Topaz cost so much gold. So, it’s down to your choice.

Accessories (Rings, Necklace and Earring)
Simply put, you will want to get the rings corresporending to your build (If you are a physical Paladin, you will want to get rings that increase your STR / VIT, if you are a magical Paladin, you will want to get INT / STR increase rings. For Necklace and Earring, pick the rare ones and open its potential to get extra HP%.

Suffixes
Although suffixes are not as important as the gears themselves, suffixes are also important. Many players desperate of having a mischoice of suffix. In this section, you can find the most suitable suffixes for your gears depending on your build. Okay, here we go.

You might want these suffixes below on your weapons if you chose to take the path of the Physical Paladin:

1. Bear: This baby (No Justin Bieber) here gives you bonus STR that also mean the increase of Attack Power. Perfect for Physical Paladins.

2. Fatal: This suffix gives you extra critical rate which is crucial for Physical Paladins because.. no reason. All classes need critical rate yooo.

3. Harsh: People always recommend this for the lulz. I still use Bear as it can increase your STR.

4. Destruction: This NEW se*y baby gives you MUCH more PATK than Bear because it is focused more on increasing PATK rather than Stun Rate and etc. etc. So if you have level 32 rare weapon, be sure to use this in your weapon!

For Magical Paladin, I would recommend these 2 suffixes for weapons:

1. Intelligence: Well, you can tell from the name can’t you? This ***y wonder increases your INT and that Magic Attack. Say no “NO” to this bro.

2. Fatal: Prolly the same reason as above mah bro.

3. Magic Power. The same reason as Destruction, except this increases MATK. Perfect for magical Paladins.

There are another optional skill heraldries for Paladins, such as.

1. Mana: This is good, especially for Physical Paladins that have low MP and spamming kicks like there is no tommorow. Even with High Grade Mana Heraldry, I always run out of MP. That sucks, seriously :/

2. Shining / Tent: Yeah, if you’re aiming for a full tanking Paladin, this is also a good option. This increases your PDEF by a slight amount.  Tent is to increase MDEF, coupled by Elemental Aura, you’ll get a significant boost on your magical defenses.

As for armors, this all down to your preferences, seriously. My personal suffixes for my gears are mostly VIT and Iron Wall to balance between PATK and HP, but most people uses Bear suffixes in gears instead to gain more PATK. Truly, it is all down to your preferences.

Enhancement & Skill Heraldries
Finally, the Heraldry. Heraldry is one factor that make Dragon Nest a unique game. With heraldry you can improve your character’s ability and capabilities in terms of skill and stats. To do this, you need the corresporending heraldries and equip it in your heraldry slot. The heraldry window can be found by clicking the “Heraldry” tab below the Costume tab in your equipment below. Now, let me explain you the best heraldries you must get from Cleric – Paladin – Guardian/Crusader.

For Guardian (The Physical Paladin), you might want to get these babies (I mean skill & enhancement heraldries):

1. (Skill Heraldry) Premium Half Turn Kick Heraldry: This shiny thing here increases your DPS a lot, from.. kicking. Yes. You must get the 50% animation time decrease plate to increase your DPS by two folds. A MUST GET HERALDRY, but is very expensive.
 
2. (Skill Heraldry) Premium Holy Kick Heraldry: Yeah, you must get this in the possession after getting Premium Half Turn Kick heraldry. You can either get this before Prem HTK (because it’s cheaper), or you can get this after HTK heraldry. The thing is, this is A MUST GET HERALDRY, but cheap.

3. (Skill Heraldry) Premium Electric Smite Heraldry: The heraldry will increase your Electric Smite’s damage or MP Cost decrease (Ofc you’ll pick damage). Indeed very useful due to the knowledge that Electric Smite is Guardian’s (and Crusader’s) best offensive skill evah. If you pick the MP Cost decrease, you might as well jump from 13681738978368013698136036 miles off from a top of a mountain down to hell. A MUST GET HERALDRY if you have Electric Smite that is.

4. (Skill Heraldry) Premium Provoke Heraldry: This is rather optional. You’ll need this for endgame nest tanking because it’s your job as a guardian, Guardian! Pick the duration increase heraldry and go rank your Provoke to level 4 to do an infinite provoke against bosses and mobs to guard your minions, ehh.. your partymates. AN OPTIONAL CHOICE OF HERALDRY, yup.

5. (Skill Heraldry) Premium Armor Break Heraldry. This is also optional, but you’ll need this rather than the Provoke one because Armor Break is also one of the best DPS and debuffing skill you’ll ever get in your life as a Paladin. I highly recommend this over Provoke Heraldry though, but it’s your choice bro. I chose this because Armor Break itself has low cooldown for such a good skill (SA breaker, PDEF decreaser, and high damage for DPS needs). AN OPTIONAL CHOICE OF HERALDRY, BUT HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Oya, pick the Damage increase one.

6. (Skill Heraldry) Premium Shield Charge. For the lulz seriously, people always whine over this skill because it has high PATK with reasonable CD or sumthin like that, but I strongly against on getting the premium heraldry for this skill. DON’T GET THIS, unless you don’t max Armor Break.

7. (Skill Heraldry) Premium Divine Avatar. Pick the duration increase plate to increase your godmode status for a few seconds. Pretty much bombing in terms of price in other version. A really good plate as it is an Ultimate skill’s plate.
 
7. (Enhancement Heraldry) High Grade/Premium Destruction Heraldry. It increases your Attack Power nuff said. For the current caps, don’t bother getting the premium heraldry, just get the High Grade one. But high chances all the ppl here will get the Premium one later at the level 50 caps, so why not? Get the premium one at level 50 caps.
 
8. (Enhancement Heraldry) High Grade/Premium Life Vitality Heraldry. It increases your HP yoo, essential for every Paladins. Even Sorceresses need this heraldry.

9. (Enhancement Heraldry) High Grade/Premium Bear Heraldry. WTH y u ask me this lol? It increases STR and it’s essential for Physical Paladins!

10. (Enhancement Heraldry) High Grade/Premium Fatal Heraldry. It increases your critical rate. Every class need this, but you can leave this if you want to.