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[Gladerunner]

A Guide to the N7 Sentinel - Paladin
The N7 Paladin is the Sentinel from the New Earth DLC, and is a tough class to play.
For those of you who have the Paladin but are unsure of its usage and limits, this is a good place to start.

The Paladin has 3 Unique factors in its use.
1) It has a defensive melee, which when invested into, can trigger tech power combos, tank indefinately and creates tech armor stuns when planted.
2) It has Snap Freeze, which is effectively a short range "Cryo Cone of Cold."
3) It has 3 activatable powers; each that works on a different attack base (instant, arcable and cone) and targets a different defence (health, armor, shield and barriers.

-That Shield-
I know what your thinking. He has a shield. Therefore its either gotta to be good or fun.
Don't worry. for the most part, it is both. But it is a painful at times.
I want to make it clear, that if there is ideal cover, use it. The shield is great when there is poor cover, but actual cover should not be squandered.

The shield appears to be limited in its usage.
 - Your shield will only block about 90 degrees of incoming damage.
 - Shield off-centers you're ability to properly aim powers.
 - You cannot move or shoot while "planted."
 - Your shield does not reliably block against some enemies, namely Geth Hunters, Primes and rarely Pyros.
 - Your shield will shatter if subjected to an enemy heavy melee, including Primes, Banshees, Brutes, Atlas's and Phantoms.
 - Although it can block an Atlas's cannon, if blocking its missile, it will shatter with a chance of taking your shields down as well.
 - Your shield does not block instant kills. This makes you fodder to charging Banshees and flanking Phantoms.

Given these weaknesses, it is recommended you only bring a Shield Paladin if you are prepared to have a low score, play conservatively, and play patiently.

The strengths of the shield however,
 - Blocks pretty much all other incoming projectiles.
 - Regenerates every time it is "planted"
 - Creates small Tech Armor bursts when "planted."
 - Allows your armors shields to regenerate if not pierced.
 - Draws enemy fire, setting up uncoming enemies for Snap Freeze.
 - Can be spammed at close range to stun enemies, while Energy Draining them to recover armor shields.
 - Can be upgraded with a Fire melee DOT or a Cryo melee snap freeze.

Given these strengths, the Shield Paladin is capable of being a melee class of significant durability. However, it does belong as a support "team" role, especially in Tech based parties.


Keep in mind that the Paladin plays like a Sentinel OR Engineer. There is middle ground between the two, where you can switch between these roles, and that is a strength of being a jack of all trades class.

As a Sentinel, you are a primer and a distraction. Use Energy Drain for Tech Bursts, Snap Freeze to weaken armor based enemies and freeze health based enemies, and Incinerate.....is not that useful but can still good to have. Do not view the Omni Shield as a playstle, but rather as a tool on objectives where cover is ropey at best. You can hold up basic units, tank long range fire, and spam a defensively spec'd Energy Drain to keep you fighting.

As an Engineer, you are a primer, detonator and debuffer. Tech Bursts will be your primary form of combos, and Energy Drain when followed up with Incinerate, Snap Freeze or a Lvl 6 Shield Mastery Melee should trigger a Tech Burst. Use Snap Freeze on large armored targets, making them easier to work down.

As far as builds go, I recommend:

(6) Energy Drain - Damage(A), Drain(A), Armor(
(3) Incinerate -
(6) Snap Freeze - Reach(, Duration+Slow(A), Damage+Weakness(A)
(5) N7 Paladin - Power Damage+Capacity(, Power Damage(A)
(6) Shield Mastery - Durability(, Either(AB), Fire Shield(A)

Defensively spec'd Energy Drain is extremely useful in maintaining full shields. Temporary damage reduction increases the effectiveness of your shields.
Incinerate is somewhat lacklustre - if you intend to use this class as an Engineer, by all mean spec into Damage(A), DOT(A) and Freeze Combo(A) for an effective combo. I hesitate to recommend this because the cryo explosions and flame explosions only occur if the detonator power kills the target, making them more about solo efforts or good/lucky timing.
Snap Freeze is used as a debuff tool here, but if you intend for combo usage, the extra 100% Combo damage(3b) is very potent.
The Shield Mastery (6) should reflect whichever power you chose to neglect. Although Cryo Shield is probably more effective and useful to the Fire Shield, the Fire Shield makes up for it in aesthetics, as well as providing utility to compensate for a weaker Incinerate
I did not choose to make this Paladin a weapon based one. A Heavy Pistol, Assault Rifle or Shotgun with barrel and melee attachments work well, with Pistols keeping good power cooldowns, with ARs and SGs allowing for some different effective ranges.

Overall, the Paladin is a team-player. You can draw fire on objective rounds (and cower from them magnet hands) and weaken and damage large enemies all in one class. As long as you use the Paladin passive aggressive, synergise with tech team-mates and play the objectives, you will - hold the line.

Also, if there is anything (important) that I missed, please post below. If you think I'm full of crap, post it below. If you think I'm wrong for thinking the Paladin is useful, post it.
Thanks for reading.

[5_Mania]

Another thing.

Omni Shield cover requires no cooldown, so planting cover after a snap freeze allows near instantaneous coold down for snap freeze, allowing you to cancel cover with freeze followed up by instant cover.

Basically, spamming a debuffer such as freeze requiring close distance is made less risky with omni shield's power free cover.

ALSO

Omni Shield's melee has a frontal area of effect, perhaps equal to the angles protected under temporary cover. A snap freeze's cone can effect up to two baddies, and melee can hit both and a third.

[Gladerunner]

5_Mania wrote...

Another thing.

Omni Shield cover requires no cooldown, so planting cover after a snap freeze allows near instantaneous coold down for snap freeze, allowing you to cancel cover with freeze followed up by instant cover.

Basically, spamming a debuffer such as freeze requiring close distance is made less risky with omni shield's power free cover.

ALSO

Omni Shield's melee has a frontal area of effect, perhaps equal to the angles protected under temporary cover. A snap freeze's cone can effect up to two baddies, and melee can hit both and a third.

Thanks, good thing to point out. Although the shield is spammable, it does leave you open for a split second. Snap Freeze affects up to 3 targets I think.

[Gladerunner]

BrotherWarth wrote...

The shield is really worthless on Platinum and mostly useless on Gold. It's a waste of points. Max out health/shields then skip the shield buffs and put those points into Incinerate. The shield just makes you a wall and a target. The benefit is so minor it's irrelevant. Energy Drain spec'ed for max shield restoration and damage reduction is more useful since you're still mobile.

I wouldnt go far enough to say the shield is worthless, just very VERY situational.

[himegoto]

Kind of weird you take the fire shield but not the melee upgrade at rank 4.
The shield breaks from said attacks anyway and you can just replant it.
Much better to take the melee imo.

[Serge_THE_GREAT]

 You should add Ravagers to the list of enemies that enjoy shooting through the Paladin's shield.

[Reminiscense]

Shockwave's a biotic power, not a tech power.

[Gladerunner]

himegoto wrote...

Kind of weird you take the fire shield but not the melee upgrade at rank 4.
The shield breaks from said attacks anyway and you can just replant it.
Much better to take the melee imo.

You take the Fire Shield to compensate for a weaker Incinerate. Otherwise, you take Cryo Shield which, passively is more impressive, to compensate for a weaker Snap Freeze - problem is, most if not all people will max out Snap Freeze because it is incredibly useful.

I admit the melee upgrade is useful, but making melee as a focus is incredibly risky - you are better off surviving to do more damage later, or snap freezing instead of melee'ing.

BrotherWarth wrote...

Just some thoughts to improve the Paladin-

-Base shields/health changed from 750/500 to 900/650
-Add
mobility when the shield is deployed similar to the Guardian- slowed
walking speed and able to use a pistol. The shield would still be
breakable. No power use while the shield is deployed.
-Replace
Incinerate with Shockwave*. This would make the Paladin an actual
Sentinel and work well in conjunction with Snap Freeze.

*Shockwave is a really useful power that gets a lot of unwarranted hate.

The Paladin isn't sturdy enough to skip health/shields. The omni-shield is not a replacement for a health/shield boost.

I agree that the Paladin needs way more shielding, especially since it is half biotic and half tech.
The Paladin in common sense should have mobility, but I could see some shenanigans strafing around enemies.
Incinerate is not too useful, and the paladin does deserve 1 biotic power.Actually, shockwave would synergise well, setting off Tech Bursts and Cryo Explosions. By that token, Warp would also synergise well.
And yes, the Paladin needs the health/shields.

Serge_THE_GREAT wrote...

 You should add Ravagers to the list of enemies that enjoy shooting through the Paladin's shield.

Most of the time they can be blocked, I have a feeling attacks that do heavy shield damage in one shot tend to break through more.

Reminiscense wrote...

Shockwave's a biotic power, not a tech power.

Paladin is a half biotic class, being a Sentinel and all. It is perfectly reasonable.

Thanks for the replies guys.

[Gladerunner]

Something interesting - by planting your shield partially in cover (about a third vertically in cover) Atlas missiles will harmlessly hit the cover, not breaking your shield.

[MdotSCOTT]

Since this guys all about debuffs and less about damage why not skip the n7 passive tree?

[Gladerunner]

MdotSCOTT wrote...

Since this guys all about debuffs and less about damage why not skip the n7 passive tree?

And put the points in Incinerate? Better to have an all-round damage boost then increase Incinerate for damage over time.

That, and Incinerate misses pretty often, does meagre damage and is not as effective as Snap Freeze.
 

[Sakabaka]

Paladin is one of my favorite classes for sure.

Personally, I feel like he's a mix of the Quarian Engineer, Salarian Engineer, and Smashguard. QE spams cryo for debuff. SE spams energy drain for shields/tech bursts. Smashguard spams smash through walls. I think he's an incredible support role. Unfortunately, I've only got experience farming gold, so I couldn't say for Platinum, but I would imagine that he becomes less spectacular while still being useful for debuffs.

From my experience, you do two things very well as a Paladin.
1. Spamming energy drain and snap freeze from behind a wall or your shield.
2. Taking out lone flankers.

In the early rounds, a Paladin can actually freeze a whole group of enemies and set up for taking out an entire spawn. On later waves this isn't so much the case, but the Paladin is still able to spam energy drain/snap freeze enough to do a serious amount of damage to a group of enemies with good positioning or shield use. Its melee is also incredibly good at taking out lone flankers, including phantoms.

While I love this class, I do feel like it could use a few buffs, because there are some mechanics that definitely still feel off. I feel like the survivability of this class should be buffed through making the shield come down faster and granting him more health. There's too many times where I'll pop out of my shield momentarily against maybe 2-3 enemies to energy drain, and die because the enemies destroy me in the half second I'm vulnerable. I also feel that there is something left to be desired in the damage department. While still fun to play, the Paladin's unique role oftentimes feels weighed down by the incredible lack of damage.

[Gladerunner]

Sakabaka wrote...

Paladin is one of my favorite classes for sure.

Personally,
I feel like he's a mix of the Quarian Engineer, Salarian Engineer, and
Smashguard. QE spams cryo for debuff. SE spams energy drain for
shields/tech bursts. Smashguard spams smash through walls. I think he's
an incredible support role. Unfortunately, I've only got experience
farming gold, so I couldn't say for Platinum, but I would imagine that
he becomes less spectacular while still being useful for debuffs.

From my experience, you do two things very well as a Paladin.
1. Spamming energy drain and snap freeze from behind a wall or your shield.
2. Taking out lone flankers.

In
the early rounds, a Paladin can actually freeze a whole group of
enemies and set up for taking out an entire spawn. On later waves this
isn't so much the case, but the Paladin is still able to spam energy
drain/snap freeze enough to do a serious amount of damage to a group of
enemies with good positioning or shield use. Its melee is also
incredibly good at taking out lone flankers, including phantoms.

While
I love this class, I do feel like it could use a few buffs, because
there are some mechanics that definitely still feel off. I feel like the
survivability of this class should be buffed through making the shield
come down faster and granting him more health. There's too many times
where I'll pop out of my shield momentarily against maybe 2-3 enemies to
energy drain, and die because the enemies destroy me in the half second
I'm vulnerable. I also feel that there is something left to be desired
in the damage department. While still fun to play, the Paladin's unique
role oftentimes feels weighed down by the incredible lack of
damage.

Yep, I think the Paladin is really spoiled for choice - he gets Snap Freeze Crowd control and Energy Drain, but they are really only powerful against weaker enemies - bosses still take ages to grind down, and actually damaging armor is difficult considering Incinerate is weak.

BrotherWarth wrote...

^You can't use powers with the shield out, so you can't Snap Freeze enemies from behind it...

I'm sure he means "leap out of shield cover with twin fangs of frozen fury", and not snap freezing Guardian style.

[MdotSCOTT]

Gladerunner wrote...

MdotSCOTT wrote...

Since this guys all about debuffs and less about damage why not skip the n7 passive tree?

And put the points in Incinerate? Better to have an all-round damage boost then increase Incinerate for damage over time.

That, and Incinerate misses pretty often, does meagre damage and is not as effective as Snap Freeze.
 

But with incinerate you will get long rang tech burts. And wonder why not radius for SD?

[MdotSCOTT]

I run with a stong weapon. Debuff armor and the shred bosses with strong guns.

[Invellous]

Good Guide Gladerunner. Of all of the N7 characters I have played the N7 Paladin is the one that I have trouble getting comfortable with. Generally I play more aggressively, so the slower more defensive play style is likely the cause more so than the character himself.

Your suggested build is close to what I am going for as I level up my Sentinels again. I equip him with the N7 Piranha and primarily use Snap Freeze and Energy Drain. While I have three points into Incinerate I am tempted to drop them into the sixth evolution in the N7 Paladin tree that increases weapon damage, Increasing his lethality with the N7 Piranha.

One thing I am curious about. Can you create Tech Burst with Snap Freeze?

[Gladerunner]

MdotSCOTT wrote...

I run with a stong weapon. Debuff armor and the shred bosses with strong guns.

Yep, in a nutshell. I must admit Im starting to use the Piranha X over the Carnifex X - a difference of 170% and 200% Cooldown. But the close combat damage gains are very considerable.

Invellous wrote...

Good Guide Gladerunner. Of all of the
N7 characters I have played the N7 Paladin is the one that I have
trouble getting comfortable with. Generally I play more aggressively, so
the slower more defensive play style is likely the cause more so than
the character himself.

Your suggested build is close to what I
am going for as I level up my Sentinels again. I equip him with the N7
Piranha and primarily use Snap Freeze and Energy Drain. While I have
three points into Incinerate I am tempted to drop them into the sixth
evolution in the N7 Paladin tree that increases weapon damage,
Increasing his lethality with the N7 Piranha.

One thing I am curious about. Can you create Tech Burst with Snap Freeze?

Yes the Paladin is one of the more ambiguous N7 classes, but still follows the Sentinel dogma - tank, distract and debuff. The Paladin can be played aggressively, but you will need support to compensate for your consistently low dps.

I've been using Incinerate at 3 bars (6 skill points) and while it is situationally effective (arcing around long range cover, damage to armor) I have to admit the 10% damage increase to weapons is very tempting.

And by creating Tech Bursts with Snap Freeze, if you prime with Energy Drain, and then Snap Freeze, it should create a Tech Burst. I think there may an issue with the actual animation being overidden by Snap Freeze.  I also read somewhere that the actual tech burst emerges from the Player instead of the target, but I cannot confirm this.

[Gladerunner]

MdotSCOTT wrote...

Gladerunner wrote...

MdotSCOTT wrote...

Since this guys all about debuffs and less about damage why not skip the n7 passive tree?

And put the points in Incinerate? Better to have an all-round damage boost then increase Incinerate for damage over time.

That, and Incinerate misses pretty often, does meagre damage and is not as effective as Snap Freeze.
 

But with incinerate you will get long rang tech burts. And wonder why not radius for SD?

I admit long range tech bursts are useful, but the loss of power damage is not really worth it. Having Incinerate at 3 points and N7 passive at 5 points is probably the best compromise. Even when I use Incinerate, I dont use it nearly enough to justify putting more than 3 points into. Even though damage/radius and burning damage are pretty tempting, Having 6 points definintively in Energy Drain and Snap Freeze, and having shared cooldown......well, Incinerate is pretty redundant.

[Gladerunner]

After some Paladin gameplay, Im pretty certain now that Snap Freeze - Tech Bursts revolve around the casting point of the player - if you get one, you'll see little sparks in your Snap Freeze stream.

[MdotSCOTT]

Gladerunner wrote...

MdotSCOTT wrote...

Gladerunner wrote...

MdotSCOTT wrote...

Since this guys all about debuffs and less about damage why not skip the n7 passive tree?

And put the points in Incinerate? Better to have an all-round damage boost then increase Incinerate for damage over time.

That, and Incinerate misses pretty often, does meagre damage and is not as effective as Snap Freeze.
 

But with incinerate you will get long rang tech burts. And wonder why not radius for SD?

I admit long range tech bursts are useful, but the loss of power damage is not really worth it. Having Incinerate at 3 points and N7 passive at 5 points is probably the best compromise. Even when I use Incinerate, I dont use it nearly enough to justify putting more than 3 points into. Even though damage/radius and burning damage are pretty tempting, Having 6 points definintively in Energy Drain and Snap Freeze, and having shared cooldown......well, Incinerate is pretty redundant.

After using many power resets i agree on skipping incinerate.  What are the real benifits of cryo explosion. I feel like im missing something because when i look at the other perk its almost a no brainer.i havent really played cryo explosion

[Gladerunner]

Well, the Piranha is getting nerfed. I guess other weapon choices are now viable again -
Tempest+Heavy Pistol
Carnifex
Scimitar
Phaeston
N7 Goldfish

[Clarkkent434]

Does the armor boast on energy drain work? I know it only works visually on host. But my paladin seem to have no effect with it specced or not.