Paragon Beginner’s Guide: Leveling Up, Laning, and Card Collecting

Paragon, the latest MOBA from Epic Games, is already showing excellent numbers at the Early Access stage. This type of game includes not only some already well-established mechanics of the MOBA genre, but also introduces a few new features that you should know about.

The main goal in Paragon is to reach the opposite end of the map with your team and destroy the enemy’s Core. Both teams fight against each other in three lanes and try to prevent getting another team to reach their Core.

There are a few important things to keep in mind when deciding which strategy to apply in the given circumstances. This guide will give you the overview of the most important tactical choices with tips and tricks on leveling up, laning, and collecting cards in Paragon. 

How to level up in Paragon

At this stage, you have access to 15 heroes in the game with the new heroes coming in the future. All the heroes in Paragon have their characteristic roles:

• Fighter
• Tank
• Assassin
• Ranger
• Caster

If you have little or no experience in MOBA genre, then it’s highly advisable to learn how to properly use your hero on a lane. Basically, some heroes can push forward (Fighters), while others have to provide support (Tanks, Casters) or deal with specific targets only (Assassins, Rangers).

However, you can always upgrade your hero to a point where the roles can merge, so it becomes a hybrid of sorts. This is possible due to a new leveling system in Paragon that has two wings: experience and cards.

Your experience points come from all the actions you accomplish in the game, such as killing minions and heroes, destroying defense towers and cores.

Cards, on the other hand, are collectibles that can be purchased with Amber, an in-game currency that can be grabbed after you’ve killed enemy minions and heroes. Cards are very important for your character progression, so be sure to invest as much as you can into them.

How to collect and use cards in Paragon

There are three types of cards in Paragon:

• Prime Helix cards
• Equipment cards
• Upgrade cards

Prime Helix cards are special ones – they can be obtained only after completing secondary objectives within the Jungle areas (positioned between the lanes). However, it is not advisable for new players to start with the Jungle.

In the beginning your main focus should be on Equipment and Upgrade cards. Your Equipment cards hold the main attributes, while Upgrade cards can be added into the Equipment card slots for increasing the stats of your choice.

Since every hero has their own affinity, all equipment and upgrade cards are divided into five separate affinities that correspond to each hero (indicated by five colors):

• Universal
• Corruption (black)
• Fury (red)
• Growth (green)
• Intellect (blue)
• Order (grey)

In the very beginning the most suitable cards for purchasing are Universal cards. Since you will not be fully familiar with all the cards just yet, you will not make mistakes with the Universal type.

Then, after you get more familiar with cards that are designed specifically for your hero, you can start building your own deck. You can always look into the standard decks offered by the development team, but again, if you want to create something special, you will have to look deeper into the attributes of each card.

For example, Feng Mao is a melee fighter, which means that his main attributes are high damage and mobility. This means that you should choose Order and Fury types of cards, as they complement Feng Mao’s main stats.

Also, look what kinds of bonuses cards can give you. If the bonus ability doesn’t correspond to your hero’s abilities, then consider changing the card.

How laning works in Paragon

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Both teams consist of five heroes. This means that your team has to make a decision on how many heroes it needs to send to each of the three lanes based on the behavior of the enemy team.

If an enemy team sends two people to the right, you should do the same, so you can equally deflect any serious threat. However, if you send only one of your heroes to oppose two of the enemy team members, then you will probably lose this lane and eventually the whole match-up.

The first thing you want to do is to destroy the Inhibitor, which is the main defense tower on the lane. Use your minions to distract the fire from the tower, which automatically attacks minions first, so you have more time to get closer to the enemy heroes.

If you can destroy at least one Inhibitor, you can be almost sure that this lane is under your control now. But you have to go through the other two lanes and their own Inhibitors, as this is where the enemy team will send all its forces for protection.

You should also not forget about your own defense towers. If you haven’t succeeded in destroying the enemy’s inhibitors, then go back and protect those of your own. Most likely the enemy team will sense the weakness in the arrangement of your heroes, so you have to be very careful to not let your positions down.

Jungle, Harvesters and even more experience

After a certain amount of successful match-ups you can start sending one of your heroes into the Jungle. In this way you can grab all the experience and rewards from the camps and bosses located inside the Jungle.

Also, try to quickly find the Harvesters in the Jungle. These things collect Amber that eventually gives you cards. They are easy to build, but also don’t forget to destroy the enemy’s Harvesters as well.

If your strategy inside the Jungle is correct, you will gain an incredible amount of XP and Amber.

Keep these simple tips in your mind while playing and in a very short time your team will be eating opponents for breakfast.

What do you think about Paragon? Do you like this new approach to MOBA genre? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.