Warrior Hammer Bro's Guide to the Modern Paladin

Most NT bosses have elemental weaknesses so yeah

 

Don't sleep on pog Threaten

 

I assumed majority of them are lightning weak and fire weak, and iirc paladin on lightning weak is closer to a BM than a NL.
Might be wrong tho, since I didnt dig deep into this

 

I was generalizing a bit for NT and factoring in pinning utility so I probably should have reworded that.

NT is of course comprised of 4 bosses and no one class is #1 DPS for all of them. Top DPS for verga would be NL (paladin could be a contender if they facetank the entire time), probably sair with a pinner for dunas, IL for nib and sair with a pinner again for nameless but paladin would more or less be top 3 for all of them. I just chose to skew it in paladin's favor because of how pivotal it is to have a pinner for dunas and nameless but you're right that paladin isn't #1 DPS for any of them and that it would probably be more accurate to put them at #3 purely with respect to DPS.

 

Gurk's responses above are on point and I wont add much to his points. He is far more experienced with top end players dpm than myself.

Paladin's are in a better state than they were. People who have been on the server a while will remember when Heaven's Hammer had a lower cooldown, and did more damage (150k) to bosses (not me). This resulted in them getting nerfed a fair bit, because they were being muled. There was a bit of a meme about paladins and our nerfs and 'buffs' over the last year. One of the long time advantages is, we are able to do a lot of 'niche' content, being solo and also Neo Tokyo.
Examples being Scarlion Solo's/Duo's, Bigfoots (nice xp), Elemental Weak Area Bosses such as Pianus, Anego (Female Boss), Crow and I guess Manon?

We can do small party Neo Tokyo, functioning as a pinner, but also being able to put out some good damage. Blast has a nice modifier which makes you a choice at a lot of non-cleave content. It also prioritises the first spawned thing in the map. Which means in most scenarios, you'll prioritise the boss which is good. Pretty easy to wash, literally the maker of this guide helped me achieve 30k extremely effortlessly. Paladin is my first character on the server, I got to play it straight away, didn't have to wait years to do damage and I'm pretty happy with where it is now. I still think it does wear a bit of a stigma at higher end content by some players, but I think that is changing.

As far as Warrior classes go, I personally feel it's in a much better spot than Hero's are right now, and the relevance of HB might diminish as the server grows older.

Personally, if you're looking to white all the content you do, or you care a lot about raw damage/carry, I wouldn't pick Paladin, unless you want to live at elemental content. That doesn't mean we don't do any damage at elemental neutral content though. However, I will say that we do function relatively well WITH NL, Corsair Bucc and BM/MM. We protect the NL and Sairs, SI is a great buff for some of our weapon choices, and we also do benefit from SE! A double buffed Paladin can actual spit out some very good damage. At the very worst, you can now get your Scar/Targa helmets for your other characters.

In my opinion, I think the biggest under-appreciated aspect to Paladin, is we enable a number of classes to deal more damage, consistently. We don't have obvious skill buffs like DK, Bucc, BM/MM, but we still have a role to play in party content. Technically they can take less physical damage too from us (not much but it is something I guess). Threaten can save a considerable amount of time bossing, it does depending on your party composition, but I think still worth it, as well as Heaven's Hammer being able to help deal with spawns/things getting in the way. We can also function as a psuedo-cleave, with ACB and Heaven's Hammer, but it's not what we're good at or known for (unless you count Heaven's Hammer nerfs and that the average person doesn't really know what our skills do in detail). Sometimes raw dpm doesn't account for everything that can happen during content.

In terms of group content:

CWKPQ:
If you want to run this to your hearts content, you're better off playing a DK or a Hero if you want to cleave. We can do it, but solo cleave threshold probably a bit later on than Hero or DK. However, aside, I believe one of the bosses at CWK got approved for an elemental change (from strong to neutral) so potentially room a single target role, won't be better than a good NL/BM though. Have noticed also a little bit recently that Warrior signs have been a little bit harder for some people to find, again, this doesn't mean you cant do CWK, it just helps to be aware of your "with SI" and "without SI" damage maybe a little bit more than some classes.

Horntail:
I'm not the best person to speak on this, but we're a class that's easier to fully wash and bring survivability, can if asked to be a Seduce Target, and can put out reasonable single target DPM. You can threaten all the body parts at once, but it's not worth it unless you're moving down for buffs or it's ''on the way''. Can also Heaven's Hammer most of the body parts at once too. Potentially Magic Crash might be relevant some day with the new changes but unlikely. We can do Horntail, there's parts we do well, and parts other classes will do better. We do okay here.

Krex:
Biggest change from the latest patch (aside from maybe PB Holy Strong -> Neutral), was removing the elemental strong weaknesses from this boss. It's another alternative to gain XP to Zak at lower levels. Leveling a Paladin felt like there was a bit of a content drain at 135-155, but you're now middle of the road here instead of being F Tier (literally the worst class) on the 2nd Eye. First eye is Ice-Weak, but this is your weakest charge. This is a happy change, even if not the most engaging boss in MapleLegends.

Zakum:
Whilst I have only really started running this again for fun post coin release, Paladins actually in my opinion have always been quite good here, especially if you have access to a fast 4 weapon, SI or even a Stonetooth/Fast 5 weapon. Usually it's recommended to attack the bottom left or right arm, so we can cleave all 8 arms with heaven's hammer (50k x 8 per cast), threaten every arm at once (increasing team dps very slightly but it is noticable). We could also hit the top right arm with blast if for some reason there's no ranged. The 2nd top right arm is also Fire Weak, but the 3rd to bottom left arm is a pain at early Zakum levels as it is Fire Strong/Ice Weak. This makes it hard to cleave on the left side, and why I recommend the former. In terms of the main body, you're a Paladin so you bring single target dps. We are a versatile addition to most parties at this boss.



To break down Neo Tokyo by boss from my experience:

Like said above, no one class is the top DPM for every NT boss, but Paladins can contribute to all of them in different ways, which makes them a pretty valuable asset to any NT Team. It also means if you like doing bossing as opposed to grinding at 7F, you have more content! With the potential for Neo Tokyo Pt2, potentially there will be even more.

I don't think the recent patch has changed much for Paladins 'tier level' aside from maybe the changed spawn changes at Verga/Berga.
Aside from Scar this is probably the most notable content that Paladins are known for doing.

Vergamot/Bergamot: (3 bodies)
B1: Lightning weak, not going to out dps a NL with comparable gear in the most general sense, unless they aren't HP washed/carrying a lot of base int and have to duck the missiles. You still do decent damage.
B2: Fire weak, cant talk specifics for NL vs Paladin, as I almost never run Verga/Berga with NL's due to a them needing SE and maybe HB, but you'll white most classes with comparable gear + SI (if needed for an AS6 Normal Weapon). Definitely #2 or #3 spot at minimum.
B3: You'll probably end up using maxed holy charge if you have it, as this is it's biggest modifier as body three is neutral to all. You're generally there for being a speedy body two, so it's not really about being the best here. If you don't really care about pots, tanking this and hitting it from under the body still provides very good DPM, as you don't really have to worry about the front of body mechanics.

Pros of Paladin at Verga/Berga:
High HP (if you wash even a little) so you don't have to worry about the missiles in B1, B2 like some other classes might. You can also 'give Berga a hug' on 3rd body to avoid the seduce missles, but other classes can avoid these too by other means. Solid dpm, not reliant on a DK or a BM/MM to run. Being in a non PST/EST timezone player, not being super reliant on who you run with has it's plusses, where as a NL without SE is.. not great. This is very easily duo'd or trio'd at a low level (163-170, with 163 being the minimum for XP here), providing pretty solid bossing xp. With the addition of prestigious coins, on top of the Neo Tokyo Coins that's just a bonus. Nothing is stopping you running it with more people either.

Also after the recent spawn changes, you can deal with the Summoned Overloads on each body pretty easily. I haven't encountered spawns faster than every 15 seconds, so Heaven's Hammer puts these to 1 HP, and potentially finish off with ACB/Arrow rain which is better than some classes having to sink 150,000 damage into before they can hit the boss. Again think about the point about enabling others to do more damage. EDIT 9/01/2022 : on third body the spawns can spawn faster than every 15s.


The bosses below in my opinion don't require as much of an explanation, they're either one body, or the elemental charges don't change between phases.
DPM changes a lot at Verga depending on the body, and the below seem pretty easy to summarise dps wise.

Dunas:
One body, you main function is as a pinner to keep the real ranged DPS happy
No elemental weakness, but there's a few nifty ways to keep the boss pinned and not get dispelled, which definitely makes you a solid option to bring along as you functionally pin + add to the dps. Definitely a pick over the cleave warriors here, unless your ranged needs Hyper Body.

Nibergen:
Another lightning weak boss, (it's also weak to ice) but due to the fact this boss is stationary, you might not be picked as a first choice unless your group is doing a full Neo Tokyo clear together. Has three bodies, each one has a few different mechanics. This is the Holy Grail boss for bossing I/L's. I have to say I barely run this boss, but Heaven's Hammer does help with the Maverick V summons in third body which have 200k HP. Of the Nib runs I've done I've literally just blasted Nib for about 30 mins.

Nameless:
Yet another lightning weak boss! One body, and this one HURTS. I haven't died here (yet), but this is mainly because Achilles reduces the damage range you take from about 14,500- 15,100 for the ranged claw which usually does about 18 - 19k. If you're fully washed and paying attention, you should be fine. Your job here is to keep the boss pinned with Blast (50k Flinch Threshold), so that the ranged attackers don't get hit by it, as they often don't have this amount of HP. This is very easy for a Paladin to achieve, especially if you're a sword user (damage spread), reducing the reliance on rush. Bucc's are a choice here too, but not always mutually exclusive in party compositions. Out of all the NT bosses, this probably has the most varied groups of classes I've run with, aside from Nib which I haven't run much. Even though you don't do as much raw 'dpm' as some classes here, that's not really your main job.

Overall, Paladins are in a good state, and perform well at a lot of different bosses. Currently under-represented at a lot of general content.
You have multiple options for the way you gear your weapons, each with their pros and cons. The elemental charges aspect certainly gets you learning really quick about what resists what, and the players who play Paladins I've met have always been pretty welcoming and willing to help each other out or discuss things. At one point it was the third least played class making up 3.5% of the 155+ players, but I think that may change

 

No equivalently geared NL is whiting me in B1 or B2 burgermot.

 

Can you cleave zak arms with ACB?

 

at lv 14x I rec on cwk boss (3 mobs) 10m dpm with acb, so i guess is possible depends on party setup

 

lf u back to share more knowlegde!

 

LFG!

 

Best class in Maplestory!

 

How much base INT should a pally have, when its aiming to get close to 30k hp?

I'm debating if my NX bank of 500k is currently enough to get a pally with base INT, and at least wash out most of the INT by like lvl 150 so i could boss (dont need all my mp washed back to hp on day 1)

 

I'm not the best with numbers, but I'll tell you my experience: I started playing with the 0, 30 base int char, at lv 3-4x I did some wrong washes (stale, it has to be fresh, the one you up putting the points in hp, mp strip and poe in str), I had 23 base dex too, I spent 1.2m nx on average, if you take all this into account, and if you also take into account that sometimes I ended up with example 116 int, then I would take 4 ap from str and put it in int, and then take it out (I did this several times, so I spent an extra aAPR) I guess with about 800k to do, base int depends a lot on your gear

 

Allright thx, ill aim for the 800k ballpark for now then, thx

 

You can also play, as you will need fresh wash even if you have MP

 

I prefer to not start a char untill i have at least all the NX for the lvling process, so i can do it all in like 1-2 weeks time

 

I believe that Vikerola in Malaysia is an excellent choice for leveling from 85 to 100, but I didn't see it mentioned in Paladin guides. Here are reasons why I think it's a great choice:
1. They are are weak to fire and light, making it easier to deal higher damage.
2. Small map, which is ideal for warrior classes because it saves the time spent moving.
3. High EXP. Each one can give more than 4000 EXP, ranging from 4000-4800 for me.
4. The monster damage is low. For me I take 600 damage from weapon attacks and 1000 from magic attacks. BUT, the monsters tend to move forward during their magic attack, so in most cases, you are likely to be hit by weapon attacks (600 damage). For comparison, the magical attacks from Dual Ghost Pirates hit me for about 1200 damage, and they are triggered quite easily.
I hope this helps other players looking for a good leveling suggestion ^^