Paladin (Warcraft III)

Although the Paladins were once loved and revered throughout the lands of Lordaeron, they have since fallen on hard times. The entire Order of the Silver Hand was disbanded for refusing to kill innocent townsfolk who were believed to be contaminated by the dreaded Undead plague. Disenfranchised and driven from their former homes, the Paladins still work selflessly to protect humanity from the gnawing jaws of evil. Empowered by the Light, these mighty warriors brandish both warhammer and holy fire in battle against all who would trample the meek and innocent.

Hero names
Granis Darkhammer, Jorn the Redeemer, Sage Truthbearer, Malak the Avenger, Gavinrad the Dire, Morlune the Mighty, Agamand the True, Ballador the Bright, Manadar the Healer, Zann the Defender, Arius the Seeker, Aurrius the Pure, Karnwield the Seeker, Buzan the Fearless.

Information
The Paladin is a melee hero but is not quite as powerful as the Demon Hunter, Blademaster, or Mountain King. Instead, he serves as a powerful support Hero because his Holy Light can restore large amounts of health which punishes players trying to aim one of your Heroes with sufficient micro skills. His Devotion Aura is also another powerful addition, especially in team matches where the extra armor can certainly come in handy in a hectic fight.

As a result of being a support hero, its best to hotkey him and be familiar with the Holy Light hotkey so that he can quickly heal units in a pinch.

A Paladin will need an Archmage for support because while his Intelligence is moderate, his Holy Light has a very fast cooldown and he will run out of mana very quickly if he needs to quickly heal numerous units. The Archmage's Brilliance Aura helps alleviate part of this problem.

Holy Light and Devotion Aura should always take the highest priority when training a Paladin because they benefit you the most in the long term compared to Divine Shield. Divine Shield only protects the Paladin for a brief amount of time and doesn't help any of your other units.

The quickest way to deal with a Paladin is to take him down quickly when he is at a low level. Most human players are unlikely to spend points into Divine Shield due to its lack of versatility. If he does have Divine Shield, then it's recommended to target him quickly while casting Silence or Soul Burn beforehand to prevent him from casting spells.
 * Counters

If silencing is not an option, try to burn the Paladin's mana away. This prevents him from using his spells as much as possible.

Holy Ligh

 * A holy light that can heal a friendly living unit or damage an enemy undead unit.

The Paladin cannot cast Holy Light on himself; however, another friendly Paladin may do so.

Holy Light is much easier to use with Sub Groups. Simply group select units and hit tab until the Paladin's Holy Light button shows up. Left-click on the Holy Light button to target the spell, then left click on a damaged unit's portrait in the Sub Group. This will cause the Paladin to heal the unit without having to click on the unit itself. With practice you can quickly heal damaged units in battle, making this a very effective spell.

If the enemy tries to target a specific unit, you can just keep casting Holy Light on them while the rest of your units easily destroy them as punishment for trying to go for one or two of your units. Holy Light has a very fast cooldown and heals wonders when fully leveled.

Holy Light is very useful early on when trying to level up. Have your units tank incoming damage from Creeps and let the Paladin use Holy Light on them to recover health. This allows you to take on harder creep camps with a smaller force.

Use Holy Light on allied Heroes in team games. Players may ask for you to heal them, but you should be healing them anyways since Heroes are the main core of any player's army, and getting them killed would prevent them from taking experience which could be vital for future battles.

Holy Light is also great against Undead Heroes such as the Death Knight, Dreadlord, Lich, Pit Lord, and Dark Ranger. Combine it with the Mountain King's Storm Bolt to create a powerful Undead finisher.

Holy Light can be empowered quite a bit, both as healing for your own units and as damage against Undead, when combined with the Blood Mage's Banish. This combo is very nifty for damaging and healing units with a lot of HP, such as Heroes.

ivine Shield

 * An impenetrable shield surrounds the Paladin, protecting him from all damage and spells for a set amount of time.

Divine Shield is an invincibility spell, similar to the Invulnerability potions found from creeps and shops on specific maps. It allows the Paladin to avoid being struck by any attacks while active and is an excellent focus breaker as enemies cannot attack an invulnerable unit (since the editor classifies them as another unit type), forcing them to target other units. If the enemy tries targeting your Paladin, simply have him use Divine Shield. You can also use Invulnerability potions to cover the cooldown, though they won't last as long. Both the duration and cooldown increases as the spell is leveled up.

Divine Shield cannot be deactivated.

Run away until the spell wears off, or if the Paladin doesn't have a teleportation item, surround him (your units will automatically do so when attempting to attack invulnerable units), wait for the spell to wear off and kill him.
 * Divine Shield Counters

Deotion Aura

 * Gives additional armor to nearby friendly units.

Devotion helps units take less damage. It is very useful for groups of Footmen and Knights and even more useful for large team games where the Aura helps lots of units in battle on the team. Devotion is typically a side skill since the increased armor is more beneficial than the Paladin's survival since you can keep him away from the front lines to support his allies. The effects of Devotion Aura also stack with Inner Fire and Frost Armor.

esurrection (Ultimate)

 * Brings back to life the corpses of 6 friendly nearby units. The spell will choose the most powerful corpses to resurrect if there are more than 6.

Resurrection is an incredibly powerful spell because it can allow up to 6 units to come back to life which is essentially giving you up to 6 free units without cost. The spell is best used when there are at least 6 units to raise. Note that the spell won't work on air units since they don't leave behind a corpse. For solo games where an air army is used, then you should skip Resurrection and go for a level 3 Devotion Aura or level 1 Divine Shield.

Resurrection, like Reanimate Dead, prioritizes high-level units over lower ones; Knights would take higher priority over something like a Peasant or Footmen.

If the slain units were from your ally, then the ally uses them as normal. The player's food cap can rise over the player's current amount (including going over 100), so you should be careful as reviving units may bring you or your allies over their food cap and cause upkeep problems or prevent them from training a desired unit.

Undead players can use Meat Wagons to remove the corpses or cast Raise or Animate Dead to prevent the enemy from Resurrecting.
 * Resurrection Counters

Manual description
The Archbishop, Alonsus Faol, prior to the Second War, founded the Order of the Knights of the Silver Hand. The holy knights, or paladins, as they are commonly called, led the battle against the evil orcs and helped to save the lands of Lordaeron from ruin. Though it has been nearly fifteen years since the end of the Second War, the paladins still work selflessly to protect humanity from the gnawing jaws of evil. Empowered by the Light, these mighty warriors brandish both their warhammers and holy fire in the battle against all who would trample the meek and innocent.

World Editor description

 * Warrior Hero, exceptional at defense and augmenting nearby friendly troops. Can learn Holy Light, Divine Shield, Devotion Aura and Resurrection.

Quotes

 * See Warcraft III Paladin quotes