Well met!
In the land of Hearthstone, Paladins are well known to be one of the strongest, if not the strongest late game class. Despite one of the weakest starts, if a Paladin is allowed to get to late game they can easily make up for the poor start with their insane healing and board clear. Additionally, they have probably the best class Legendary in the game and a hero power that is well suited to matches of attrition. As long as you put your faith in the Light, the Paladin deck is a fun, late game juggernaut with plenty of interesting cards and combinations between them!
Below I rate the top 5 cards in the Paladin deck in this abridged version of my iHearthu Paladin 101 series. If you want to see my full ratings for the Paladin class cards, be sure to head on over to iHearthu.com and check out Paladin 101!
1. Truesilver Champion
This card is insanely good. Essentially a 4 damage weapon with 2 armor, it makes hitting things such as Chillwind Yeti in the face a lot less painful and helps Paladins to clear the board after their weak 1-2-3 drop turns. (Not that their cards are bad, but they definitely don’t have a Defias Ringleader, Northshire Cleric or Flame Imp equivalent drop to snatch up board control early). Just be sure to remember that the healing occurs before you swing, so you won’t be healed at 30 HP. Literally the only gripe I can find with this card is it gets countered by the dreaded Acidic Swamp Ooze. 2 in every deck, draft 99% of the time you see it in Arena.
2. Consecration
2 damage to all minions and 2 damage to the enemy hero for 4 mana. Pretty straight forward AoE, but sometimes being straight forward is the strength of a card. No weird conditions on Consecration such as hitting everyone like Hellfire, no Overload like Lightning Storm. Consecration is a card that is made better by existing in Paladin decks as well due to Equality. For 6 mana and 2 cards, Equality/Consecration clears the entire board of anything that doesn’t have a respawn Deathrattle or a Divine Shield on it. Much like Truesilver Champion, there is very little reason to not have 2 in every deck for Constructed and to draft it 99% of the time in Arena.
3. Hammer of Wrath
Hammer of Wrath is a 3 damage direct removal spell handy for crushing those pesky Northshire Clerics, Mana Wyrms and any obnoxious target that has 3 HP. Additionally, you get to draw a card for throwing the hammer, so there’s no drawback in your hand advantage by playing a direct damage spell. By giving good board control and cycling a new card into your hand, Hammer of Wrath is a solid card that has a place in almost every Paladin deck, be it an aggro deck to help break heavy early taunts, or a control deck to neutralize key threats early.
4. Equality
Easily one of the best spell cards in the game, Equality in combination with a myriad of cards such as Abomination, Wild Pyromancer, Consecration or even Avenging Wrath can instantly wipe a board of the most tenacious creatures. The one caveat to the spell is that it also brings all of your own minions to 1 Health, so be sure to keep that in mind while employing this spell. Besides that drawback, you will be hard pressed to find any Paladin decks that do not run at least 1 Equality.
5. Avenging Wrath
Arcane Missiles has an older brother and it’s name is Avenging Wrath. 8 damage spread against all current targets has plenty of uses. From clearing weakened boards, to wiping with Equality + Avenging Wrath or even just punching someone right in the portrait for 8 damage. From a finisher in aggressive decks to a great control mechanism in slow late game decks, it’s hard to justify not having at least one of these in every deck.
Again, if you have interest in reading my thoughts on every Paladin class card, head on over to my Paladin 101 guide, otherwise I hope you like my more lightweight, skinny version of the Paladin class card guide!
