Paladins Tips for Beginners 2019

How to improve my aim?

Different types of Crosshair in Paladins

Finding the right sensitivity will always be difficult, I come from the Counter-Strike scene in 2008 and have been adjusting might sensitivities since then on other FPS-based games.The best way is to disable mouse acceleration in your mouse settings at control panel then find your best sensitivity in-game.
The general rule is people like to go with low sensitivity settings while there are a few people who do increase it to a great amount. One of the advice that I had received if moving the mouse across the mousepad from the edge of the left corner to the right corner does a  180 degree turn in your game, then it is good enough and try lowering the settings from there.

Each Champions have different types of weapons to shoot from. It can either be semi-automatic, fully automatic or projectile shots. Projectile shots are a little harder to land such as Bomb King and Drogoz while fully automatic like Viktor's are easier but less damage. Semi-automatic are fired by Champions such as Lian and Lex.

One of the suggested ways is to go into Shooting Range and just practice flicking on the group of Skyes available. However, I think the best way is to go to onslaught and choose your best champion.

It only takes 10 minutes a game, the players are challenging and you gain gold(about 200) while your at it. In my opinion this is the best way to gain gold as your daily quests would also be finished. Of course, if you want to farm it faster you can head over to onslaught practice as it is an easier game and quicker way to win.

You can change the Crosshair types by heading over to the Options settings and select Gameplay.

Game Optimization



Champion Roles

Front Line - Don't rush into the capture point, deal with the enemies in the left and right flank first unless your an Inara or a tank with high shield durability such as Fernando in the opening rounds. Rushing can only guarantee you a one ticket to Elimination.

Don't spam VHS(NEED HEALING) like a bad player. Only use it when absolutely necessary.

Don't stand on point all the time, zone(going aggressive) around and catch any damager/flanker nearby.

Support - Stand on point when Tanks go zone. Heal when necessary.

Seris, Mal'Damba and Jenos are the best healers, please use them in competitive.

Ying, Grohk , Pip and Grover are alright, but doesn't have the healing output as these three and are used mostly for being a 2nd support/damager.

Damage - Don't spam VHS(NEED HEALING) like a bad player. Only use it when absolutely necessary.

Don't rush or stand on the point, clean the left and right flanks first before proceeding to eliminate the tankers(if any) in the middle. The objective point is not your objective, but prioritizing on eliminating enemy supporter, damager and flanker is.

Focus on eliminating damagers and supporters, it would be a great game changer. Remember to retreat to regenerate your health point. 

Flank - Don't spam VHS(NEED HEALING) like a bad player. Only use it when absolutely necessary.

It depends on what kind of Champions you are using, Champions like Buck, Talus, Evie and Skye is great for backlines. However, flanks like Lex and Maeve can be used like a Damager, or rather more effective at the middle ground during the battle instead dueling enemies at the back.

Focus on the healers and damagers then the tanks if possible.

Tricks you should learn about Champions

Front Line

Makoa - You're able to cancel his ultimate button with the ultimate binded key, E. Cancelling his ULT at about 4500 hp regenerates your health to full but any lesser than that you will be unable to compensate any health points. 

Fernando - When you are trying to move backwards, quickly activate Aegis and point towards the destination you want to go to and quickly look back to cover your back. 

You can Dash towards Ash when she dashes in order to nullify her knock back. 

Support

Grover - Using Vine on ground can help you flee when there isn't a good surface to use Vine on.

Pointing at the end of rooftops enables you to get away as well. 

Mal'Damba - Pressing E during Snake Serpent would detenoate his ultimate

Pip - You are able to detonate his potions by pressing Q after throwing a potion.

Damage

Bomb King - Poppy Bomb is designed to act as a spring for him to jump on. By pressing the F button, and standing on it you will be able to jump with the explosion together. Detonating his bombs before landing will be useful against high mobile characters.

Viktor - His grenades  and the first four bullets he fires are able to create bonus damage towards his enemies.

Drogoz - Firespit will cause huge blob of explosion when shot at. 

Kinessa - Jumping forward while scoping and then scope out when landing will increase her speed with Prodigy IV.

Flank

Androxus - One of the tips for Androxus is to quickly dash, flick a shot with accuracy and repeat the steps until the dashes stop for cool down.

Evie - When using Blink, try to do it and use Soar after it. It can be done vice versa and suitably in mid-air. You should also practice blasting during soar.

So how do you find the best loadout?

Either you can test out each of the cards to see whether its compatible with your legendary card and overall effectiveness or you can import pro players loadout and make it a base for you to build your own from there.


How to import loadout

List of players that are good at champions that you should import their loadouts (source).

Bugzy: Drogoz, Bomb King, Pip, Cassie, Sha Lin, Kinessa

Bird: Ying, Mal'Damba, Seris

Bitey: Ruckus

Bonkar: Sha Lin, Andro, Cassie, Ash, Lex, Viktor, Kinessa, Ruckus

Doesupz: Cassie, Sha Lin, Makoa, Bomb King, Tyra, Ruckus, Viktor

DiGeDoG: Bomb King

eLvenpath: Makoa

Evulli: Drogoz, Sha Lin, Bomb King, Grohk, Ruckus, Drogoz, Evie

gerrah: Mal'damba, Jenos (Any Other Support Champion)

iDropBodies: Drogoz, Ruckus, Androxus, Cassie, Makoa

Kusqt: Mal Damba, Jenos, Pip, Grover(Any Other Support Champion)

Laizy: Andro, Cassie, Drogoz, Bomb King, Sha Lin, Kinessa

Mutustiina (Mutu): Lex, Andro, Cassie, Drogoz, Lian, Kinessa, Sha Lin

PERDO: Cassie, Andro, Lex, Buck, Grohk, Sha Lin, Kinessa, Ruckus,

PrinceDannyTV: Androxus, Sha Lin

Rovaniik: Bomb King

stolzey: Andro, Drogoz, Evie, Cassie, Sha Lin, Viktor, Lex, Skye, Tyra

ShadeeyShades: Buck, Sha Lin

Shipa: Cassie, Andro, Buck, Grohk, Sha Lin, Bomb King (Shipa and Perdo's Champions are similar), Evie, Pip

Thiel: Makoa

WarDoom: Barik, Fernando, Makoa, Torvald, Inara (Any Tanks)

z1unknown: Androxus, Evie

Which items should I use?

Defense

Depending on what champions your facing most of the time the items change from time to time.

The general rule is if there's 3/5 a projectile-based Champion that  you face, take Blast shield, if not take Haven. However, not everyone takes the Blast Shield or Haven, its best to have a mix of defense items on your team.

If you're a Tank and you're facing a Bomb King with an Accelerant card then its best to take Resience. You might also take

If you're a Damager/Flanker and an Evie is usually flanking you, it's best to take Blast Shield.

Utility

Morale Boost - Great for Seris, sometimes used for Drogoz/Lian/Pip.

Nimble - Great for Skye and Tyra

Chronos - Great for Cassie, Willo, Makoa, Ruckus  and other Support Champions(except for Seris)

Master Riding - Great for Ash, Inara, Barik, Kinessa, Strix,

Healing

Get Rejuvenate if you're a tank.

Get Life Rip or Kill to Heal if you're a Damager/Flanker or if there's no healer on your team as a Tanker. It's debatable whether to get a Life Rip or Kill To Heal but the rule of the thumb is if you have a high damage like Drogoz and Bomb King, get Life Rip while it is better for those with burst damage to get Kill to Heal.

Offense

Never take Deft Hands(unless you're a Mal'damba for stunning). Take either Cauterize or Wrecker depending on team composition.

If enemy has Torvald, get two Champions to get wrecker, if it has a only Ruckus or only a Fernando, only one Champion gets wrecker. If the enemy team has an Inara,  Barik, Ash or a Makoa get Cauterize and no Wrecker. It changes on how the enemy team picks the Front Line.

Generally it is better for a projectile shooter champions like Drogoz, Bomb King, Sha Lin, Willo, Makoa and Evie to get Wrecker as they deal a much higher damage and goes well with Wrecker.

As for Champions with semi-auto or low damage projectile base weapons like Ash, Barik, Ruckus, Fernando, Inara, Cassie, Lian, Tyra, Viktor, Grohk, Jenos, Pip, Ying, Androxus, Buck, Lex, Maeve, Skye, Talus and Zhin are more suited for Cauterize as they can deal constant effect on enemies as players are affected by it for 1.5seconds.

Which order should I use them in?

If your a Damager get an Offense Item-->Defense Item-->Healing Item-->Utility*

*If your a Cassie get Chronos First

If your a Front Line* get an Offense Item-->Defense Item-->Rejuvenate-->Utility*

*If you are using Makoa get Chronos First

If your a Support get a Chronos-->Defense-->Offense-->Healing

If your a Flank get Offense Item-->Defense Item-->Healing Item-->Utility*

*If your a Skye get Nimble first if it's a long ranged map like Timber Mill and Fish Market, if not, take Cauterize first..

Map Positioning 

Pros you should watch on twitch

Bugzy

Bird

Bitey
Kusqt
Gerrah
Thiel

Stolzey
ShadowH1(Not a pro but a good player)

So what's next?

Aim for the top! Masters, Grandmasters whatever! Know that these are just basics(which may contain a few mistakes) from what I learn from the game after playing about 8 months constantly and with few short breaks in between. The greatest way to learn a Champion and master it is by seeing other professional players play on their streams so be sure to check them all out if you want to get better. Also it would be great if you would watch the tournaments when your trying out for the Paladins Global Series and try to make a name for yourself there. All the best!