Hearthstone is an excellent CCG that has managed to build upon its solid core mechanics over the years. The Paladin has always remained fairly relevant thanks to its fantastic ability to push damage, trade favourably, and control the battlefield with a mighty array of spells. This diversity is what makes the Paladin so appealing.
Unfortunately, this can also make the Paladin fairly difficult to play - or at least difficult to deck build for. You have so many options at your disposal, what do you bring? How much do you bring? We can help with that, as we have compiled some of the best cards in the Paladin’s lineup.
There are way too many cards to list here, so we have picked a diverse selection of Spells, Effects, Minions, and Rarities.
10 Equality
This card needs no introduction - unless you are greener than a fresh blade of grass of course. Equality has been a powerful card in the Paladin’s arsenal since the dawn of Hearthstone, and whilst it isn’t seen in every deck, it is a staple in Control decks since its effect is so damn powerful.
Setting every minion on the board to 1HP is hilariously powerful when you want to regain or assert board control. It doesn’t matter how fancy your enemy's minion is, they will now die to the most basic of minions, and this is always a good thing. We have swung a game many times from a defeat to a victory by the power of this card alone. Just be aware your minions are also affected by this spell, which makes them vulnerable to AOE retaliation.
9 Knight Of Anointment
Big cards may win you games, but the little cards help you dominate the early game. This is where the Knight of Anointment comes into play. This guy rolls up with a 1 Mana cost and a terrible statline. His Battlecry, however, is pretty darn excellent if you have a deck built for it.
The Paladin has access to some very powerful Holy spells, and this piddly little card can draw them when played. This makes him great in the early game for getting bodies on the board, but also perfectly playable in the late game since his ability is so universally strong. 1 Mana to draw a card (guaranteed to be useful to boot) is great value.
8 Righteous Protector
Righteous Protector is another amazing early-game card. Coming in at a 1 Mana 1/1 with Divine Shield and Taunt is just amazing value. This card has some premium effects on its block, and this makes Righteous Protector a pain to deal with. Unless she is Silenced, she will nearly always provide value.
Divine Shield makes it so she ignores the first damaging hit, whilst Taunt forces minions to attack her. In the early game, this will likely lead to a positive trade against weaker enemies, and in the late game, Righteous Protector can tank hits from the biggest enemies in Hearthstone - TWICE. She’s also a great buffing target as a result.
7 Battle Vicar
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Battle Vicar is one of our favourite cards because it embodies a lot of what we liked about the previous cards we’ve mentioned. Coming in a 2 Mana, the Battle Vicar has a respectable statline at 1 / 3, this makes her pretty tanky for her cost and lets her take hits from early game threats.
Her real draw is her ability to Discover Holy spells. Where Knight Of Anointment allowed you to draw cards from your deck, Battle Vicar lets you spawn cards out of the ether. Discovery is a fantastic card effect, and since it is on such a cheap body, Battle Vicar is nearly always a good pick for Paladins.
6 Righteous Defense
Righteous Defense is our next Control card. For the low, low cost of 3 Mana, Righteous Defense debuffs an enemy into oblivion and then provides all of those lost stats to a minion in your hand. This is fantastic in most stages of the game, as it lets you kill a problematic minion with a Silver Hand Recruit, whilst also increasing the value of your next played minion.
This card acts like a one-two punch and should be a staple get-out-of-jail card. It counters buffs, more expensive cards, and cards with a built-in ramp effect. For its cost, it’s fantastic. A must-have in control decks, and just an all-around belter in most others.
5 Sinful Sous Chef
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Silver Hand Recruits are often the core of the Paladin. Being able to always have a minion on the board is great, and there are more than a few cards that directly buff Silver Hand Recruits. Sinful Sous Chef, for 1 Mana, brings a 2 / 1 body that sends two Silver Hand Recruits to your hand on death.
This effect is great. Pressing your Silver Hand Recruit button is often a good move, but it gets better when you can spawn two for the price of one. It essentially turns Sinful Sous Chef into a 4/3 for 3 minion with the advantage of being able to spread its stats across multiple bodies and turns.
4 Stewart The Steward
Another card that loves to interact with Silver Hand Recruits. Stewart is a 3/3 for 3 minion, which is a mighty respectable statline. Where his value comes from, however, is his Deathrattle. The next Silver Hand Recruit you summon gains +3/+3 and Stewart’s Deathrattle.
What this means is if Stewart dies, then you have 4/4 Silver Hand Recruits for the rest of the game (in a sense). The only way to stop this is to Silence either Stewart or his Silver Hand Recruit replacement. The value of Stewart cannot be underestimated. Every turn, you could be spawning a 4/4 for 2 Silver Hand Recruit. Amazing.
3 Cariel Roame
Cariel is great. She comes in at 4 Mana and provides a 4/3 body for that cost. This is a bit on the low side until you check out her block. She comes with both Divine Shield AND Rush. Divine Shield lets you trade into just about everything for free, and Rush lets you make that trade the moment she is summoned.
Not only that, but Cariel reduces the cost of every Holy spell in your hand every time she attacks. At the bare minimum, you are getting a single mana reduction on every Holy spell in your hand. Every turn she survives after that, she gains exponentially more value. Great card with loads of utility.
2 Lightforged Cariel
Sticking with Cariel, we have Lightforged Cariel. This card is not a minion or spell, instead, it is a Character. Once played, you will become Lightforged Cariel, who comes with 5 Armour, a new Hero Power, and a weapon. Not only that, but she will also deal 2 damage to all enemy minions in play.
This card is very expensive to play, coming in at 8 Mana, but unlike some Character cards, it's not as slow as you may think, which gives it a lot of value. Right off the bat you can play this card, deal AOE damage and then get a free swing with your hammer. Your Armour can then tank some of the retaliative damage. Amazing. After that, you still have your Hero Power that ramps up your hand by granting +4/+4 to a random minion every turn.
1 Varian King Of Stormwind
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We are cheating a bit here, but we feel like this card is absolutely worthy of the list because he synergises so well with Paladins.
Varian King Of Stormwind is another expensive card, but one that is gushing with potential value, tempo, and return. Varian rolls up with a 7/7 body and an 8 Mana cost. This is not great, granted, but he makes up for it with his abilities - which are amazing.
Varian draws three cards from your deck. The caveat is that he will only draw a Rush, Taunt, and Divine Shield minion (in that order). If he can’t draw the card (because it doesn’t exist) he skips that draw entirely. The final benefit is that he gains Taunt, Rush, and Divine Shield if he can draw cards with those effects. This turns Varian into a staggeringly good card if he can pull off the triple draw.
The best part? You keep the cards you got to draw, so you’ve likely given yourself a powerful hand for future turns.