The Card system in Paladins is one of the main features that sets the game apart from others in the genre. Cards offer players the ability to empower Champions' attributes and enhance or modify their skills, tailoring them to a particular playstyle. All cards are available to all Champions to use for free. Each Champion in the game has their own unique card collection that cannot be used by any other Champion. Also each Champion has three Talents, which influence the playstyle of Champions the most.
Cards are equipped by Champions 5 at a time in sets called loadouts. Players can increase or decrease the strength of the cards in their loadouts to one of the 5 ranks, however loadouts have a fixed limit of 15 to the total card ranks.
Card layout[ | ]
► Rank:
- The color of the gem and number in the bottom left corner indicate the card's rank and potency (Common 1 • Uncommon 2 • Rare 3 • Epic 4 • Legendary 5).
► Champion:
- This is the portrait of champion the card belongs to.
► Name:
- This is the card's name.
► Description:
- This area explains what the card does.
► Cooldown:
- This displays how many seconds must pass before the card's effect can be used again. If this isn't present then the card has no cooldown.
Loadouts and deck building[ | ]
Cards are equipped by Champions in sets called loadouts. A loadout is equipped at the start of a match and cannot be switched mid-game. However, if the round has not started, players can repick their loadouts by pressing the loadout key U (by default) while in the spawn room. Every Champion starts with three pre-made Default Loadout, which consists of 5 cards.
Players can create their own customized loadouts through the Loadout screen, which can be found in the Champion's profile, or through the Escape Screen in the Shooting Range. Players have can have a maximum of 5 custom loadouts per Champion. These loadouts must consist of 5 cards with a combined card rank of 15. The rank, which can be from 1 to 5, is displayed at the bottom left corner of the card.
Loadouts cannot be saved if they don't meet the requirements. If an existing loadout stops meeting the requirements for any reason it will be disabled and won't be usable in matches until it is edited and corrected.
List of cards[ | ]
These are all the card collections in the game, sorted by Champion:
Ash
Atlas
Azaan
Barik
Betty La Bomba
Bomb King
Buck
Caspian
Cassie
Corvus
Dredge
Drogoz
Evie
Fernando
Furia
Grohk
Grover
Imani
Inara
Io
Jenos
Kasumi
Khan
Kinessa
Koga
Lex
Lian
Lillith
Maeve
Makoa
Mal'Damba
Moji
Nyx
Octavia
Omen
Pip
Raum
Rei
Ruckus
Saati
Seris
Sha Lin
Skye
Strix
Talus
Terminus
Tiberius
Torvald
Tyra
Vatu
VII
Viktor
Vivian
Vora
Willo
Yagorath
Ying
Zhin
Videos[ | ]
Changelog[ | ]
- Removed all instances of cauterize, wrecker, reveal, and crowd control reduction from Champion loadout cards.
- All Skin Art and Card Sprays are now unobtainable and exclusive to Paladins Beta Players.
- The Cards Unbound system has been removed from the game.
- All players have access to all Loadout Cards.
- Talents are unlocked via Champion Mastery thresholds.
- Loadout Cards have 5 Levels.
- The power of a Level 5 Card is the same as a Level 10 in Unbound.
- Talents no longer have Levels.
- Players build Loadouts that consist of 5 Loadout Cards and combined Level of 15.
- Players have 1 Starter Deck filled out that they can do with as they please.
- Starter Decks consist of 5 Level 3 Cards determined by the Deck Item.
- Players can now toggle their loadouts to view the Bound values of each card.
- With this update, we introduce a significant overhaul to how cards work. We have a more detailed blog post available on the changes, but here’s the TL;DR:
- Essence is gone. Yay!
- Paladins is even more free to play. All Cards (Basic and Legendary) are now free and immediately unlocked, and can be levelled up by collecting duplicates.
- In the new over-the-top Arcade mode, you can play exactly how you want to play. Just build a Loadout of your five favorite Cards -- no point limit restrictions.
- Ranked Mode is now more balanced and competitive than ever before, with all Cards unlocked and set to Level 4.”*
- Essence has been removed from the game. Players with Essence will have the currency converted to Gold at a 1-to-1 ratio. And all previous Essence rewards have been changed.
- Level 1 of all Cards (Basic and Legendary) for all Champions are now free and immediately unlocked
- A new Legendary has been added for each Champion. Like all other cards, all players will be granted these new Legendary Cards at Level 1 for free.
- Cards and Legendaries can now be upgraded from Level 1 to 10 by collecting duplicate cards. Cards and Legendaries come from the Radiant Chest and a new Champion Chest, which will drop Champion-specific Cards and Champion-specific Legendaries.
- Cards will auto-upgrade when the requisite number have been collected. There is no currency required to upgrade Cards.
- Champion Chests are unlocked free via Champion Mastery and for first wins of the day with a Champion (up to maximum of 5 FWOTD Champion Chests per day).
- Champion Chests are purchasable for 7500 Gold, allowing players to more easily level up cards on their favorite Champions.
- Capped maximum Gold earned per day at 10,000 (corresponding to roughly 100 games played per day). This cap is raised to 15,000 Gold while an Account Booster is active to allow players to gain Gold from roughly the same number of games played.
- Players who have already unlocked Cards (Basic and Legendaries) will receive those Cards at Level 4.
- All Champions now have 3 default Loadouts to accommodate different playstyles. Custom Loadouts can still be created.
- All new players now have one starting Loadout with all cards set to Level 4, and a Legendary also set to Level 4.
- With the introduction of the new Card System, one starting Level 4 Loadout, and two additional default Loadouts, players’ specific Custom Loadouts have been reset and will need to be recreated.
- Quick Play Queue is new mode replacing Casual Queue. In this Queue the player can build a Deck with no point-limit using the Cards he or she has acquired. Up to five Level 10 Cards can be used in a Loadout.
- In Ranked, all player Loadouts will have Cards and Legendaries automatically set to Level 4. If your Loadout contains Cards higher than 4 they will be set to 4 in Ranked. If your Loadout contains cards lower than 4 they will be set to 4 in Ranked. “This ensures that Ranked is all about player skill. There is no longer any grind for Cards in Ranked.”
- Custom Match creation has a new Loadout Style option. Loadout Style of ‘Competitive’ will set Cards and Legendaries to Level 4. This is the option that will be will be used for esports tournaments.
- Due to the size and scope of this change, PTS will run longer than normal. Please play during PTS and give us feedback!
- Upon initial release of this system there will be no Crystal (premium currency) purchase option for Champion Chests. “We want to make sure the free player experience is well tuned before introducing microtransactions.”
- All Cards now rank from 1 to 10.
- In comparison to previous Card Levels, rank 2 is the equivalent of the old rank 1. Rank 8 is the equivalent of the old rank 4.
- To represent this scaling on patch notes we are using a new notation on patch notes.
- “Nether Step: Nether Step heals you for {Base Value|Scaling Factor} Health.”
- When building decks, cards that are already in use will turn grey.
- New decks will now automatically be named after the first card chosen.
- Card Crafting
- Essence Cost Reduction
- Legendary: 12,000 to 10,0000
- Epics: 5,000 to 4,000
- Uncommon: 1,250 to 1,000
- Common: 500 to 350
- Essence Cost Reduction
- Removed Disenchant from Legendary and Gold Cards.
- “After the ability to disenchant cards was introduced we noticed players were playing less champions than before as they were now disenchanting legendaries for champions they had not yet played. We want to preserve legendaries as powerful and valuable assets to the game and keep them as something that encourages players to play a variety of champions.”
- Owned cards may now be disenchanted for Essence. Note that doing this removes the card from your collection and will deactivate any decks the card is currently in.
- Radiant Chests are now purchasable for the cost of 2,500 Gold.
- Radiant Chests no longer drop Gold or provide Gold for duplicate items.
- A brand new type of currency called Essence will be given for duplicate items in the Radiant Chest.
- All loadout cards and Legendary cards are now unlocked using Essence.
- Loadout cards now have a rarity - ranging between Common, Rare, and Epic.
- Example:
- Onslaught I, Onslaught II, Onslaught III, and Onslaught IV are the RANKS of the card "Onslaught".
- Onslaught (and all ranks of it) is an Epic card, where Epic is its RARITY.
- As before, when a card is unlocked it also unlocks all ranks of the card.
- Example:
- The Loadout screen has been updated to show previews of loadout points spent.
- Legendary cards are now available for all Champions. These cards are not placed inside of a loadout, but instead are selected at the start of the match and bring powerful benefits to each champion.
- Players now select one of their Legendary cards along with their loadout to further customize their play experience.
- Just like loadouts, once selected the Legendary card is locked in for the duration of the match.
- Legendary cards do not have any ranks.
- Champions each have 3 Legendary cards to choose from.
- Players can now purchase cards for gold during the Loadout import process.
- Gold Cards are now available in Radiant Chests.
- Gold Cards replace existing cards in your collection with an updated gold frame.
- Once you acquire a Gold Card, you will also receive a spray of that card's art. Gold Card sprays are usable only by the champion the card belongs to.
- In this patch, only some of the Gold Cards come with sprays. More Gold Card sprays will be added in coming patches.
- Reorganized cards into categories.
- Ultimates no longer reset when changing out Loadouts during matches.
- Specialty cards have been removed and the most popular components have been rolled into each Champion's base abilities as Bonus Damage.
- "While Specialty Cards did provide interesting choices, we feel that applying the most popular benefits to each Champion's abilities will cause Champions to play more consistently and allow for more customization in deckbuilding. This change also allows us to give Champions some of their most powerful and exciting effects back without creating a must-have card. Our goal is to have each Champion to fill a role while having a unique playstyle, and we think this change will be a big step in that direction."
- Damage numbers from bonus damage have a different treatment.
- All cards that were Specialty cards have been reworked into standard cards, no cards were removed.
- All champions have had their pre-built loadouts reworked.
- You may now directly buy cards for gold from the Champions or Cards menu. The option to buy a random card for a specific rarity level has been removed. The costs to buy a card for a specific rarity are the same as they were previously.
- The card system has been reworked.
- Card rarities have been reduced down to four by removing Uncommon.
- Cards no longer rank up in match. Instead, each rank of a card has now been split into four individual cards representing the strength of each rank. Each card rank is equal to the four rarities (Common, Rare, Epic, Legendary) and now has a point cost required in order to be used in a deck (1, 2, 3, and 4). All decks must have five cards but have a maximum point value of 12. The maximum point value does not need to be met for a deck to be used.
- Example:
- Bunker is a Barik card that increases the Health of his ability Barricade by +1000/2000/3000/4000 depending on its rank. In the new system Bunker is now split into four cards with individual rarities and point values:
- Bunker I +1000 Health - Common - Costs 1 point to use in a deck.
- Bunker II +2000 Health - Rare - Costs 2 points to use in a deck.
- Bunker III +3000 Health - Epic - Costs 3 points to use in a deck.
- Bunker IV +4000 Health - Legendary - Costs 4 points to use in a deck.
- Legendary cards no longer have a restriction on how many you can use in a deck, other than the point limit preventing you from using too many.
- Now that decks have a maximum point value of 12, players can mix and match cards and allocate points where they feel their build is strongest. Example five card Barik deck that costs 12 points:
- Mega Turret IV (4 Points) - Your Turret now fires heat-seeking missiles.
- Double Time II (2 Points) - You may now have 2 Turrets and reduce Turret's Cooldown.
- Forged Alloy III (3 Points) - You increase the Health of your turrets
- Combat Repair II (2 Points) - You heal your Turrets when you are near to them.
- Bunker I (1 Point) - You increase the Health of your Barricade.
- Players now have eight deck selections available per Champion:
- One 12 point Shared deck has been given to all accounts and will always be available. This is a basic Starter Deck, and includes a new Shared card that provides a damage increase to your weapon attacks.
- Three 12 point pre-built template decks have also been added by default. These are popular effective builds for each Champion with a short description of how the build works. These will always be available and cannot be changed. If Players do not own the cards in these decks, as you earn cards that fit the build they will automatically fill in the slots, even if they are a lower rank. The template builds will tell you which rank of a card is optimal, but the builds are usable once you have all five of the cards at rank 1.
- Four custom deck slots that can be modified.
- Added a feature that allows you to automatically upgrade your cards throughout a match, prioritizing Legendary cards. This is on by default, and can be turned off in the Settings menu or by pressing "U" to view cards.
- “The card passive stats were originally implemented to help separate cards based on strength, but unfortunately creates a lot of confusion around which cards are better. It also makes it less clear how much Health and damage an enemy will have in any given match. We feel it is cleaner and more understandable to let the cards usage stand on their own and create decks around synergies instead of raw stats.”
- Cards no longer come with a passive bonus of increased maximum Health and increased damage percent. These bonuses have been rolled into each Champion's base damage.
- Added an Auto-Level feature to the Settings menu. When Auto-Level is enabled, your cards in-match will be automatically leveled when you level up, prioritizing Legendary cards first.
- Players can now only level their legendary cards at levels 1, 5, and 10.
- Increased the maximum number of saved Common decks from three to six.
- General
- The card system has been reworked to bring more flexibility in creating card combinations.
- Players will now build two decks of five cards to bring into a match: A Common deck and a Champion specific deck. These decks are built in the Profile section of the Main Menu and cannot be edited in the match lobby. You may have three decks for Common cards, and three decks per Champion that can be renamed.
- Common cards do not rank up and simply provide a flat stat benefit.
- Uncommon, Rare, Epic, and Legendary cards are Champion specific.
- General
- The way cards are selected and equipped in match has been reworked. Players will now select all 5 cards in the Match Lobby after selecting their champion and load into the match with all 5 equipped. All cards now have 4 ranks associated with them, and must be ranked up each time you level up to increase their strength.
- The card system has been overhauled and many cards have been reworked or removed. We have not detailed all the changes for each individual card. We will however be resetting the card collections for all players, and granting chests for each card you earned before the wipe.
- Legendary cards are now the only cards that provide any damage benefits, outside of the flat stats each card comes with. Since these cards are drawn first, the lethality of each player in a match will be more easily understood.
- Crafting update
- Players will earn duplicates of cards through various means, and each card rarity will have a value:
- Common Duplicates are worth 1 CP
- Uncommon Duplicates are worth 3 CP
- Rare Duplicates are worth 9 CP
- Epic Duplicates are worth 27 CP
- Legendary Duplicates are worth 81 CP
- Crafting can now be selected for a specific Champion. To craft, select the Champion you want to craft cards for and select the rarity. Crafted cards are now guaranteed to be unique (cards you don't currently own). Crafting costs are as follows:
- Common cards cost 3 CP
- Uncommon cards cost 9 CP
- Rare cards cost 27 CP
- Epic cards cost 81 CP
- Legendary cards cost 243 CP
- Players will earn duplicates of cards through various means, and each card rarity will have a value:
- You will no longer see the enemy's card selections until one minute has passed in the match, preventing you from gaining pre-emptive information on their build before you see them.
- In Deck Building, while choosing a card for a specific slot you will now be able to hover over currently equipped cards to compare against your choices.
- Constructed decks are now available. Players are able to create a deck of 15 cards and take that with them into the match, guaranteeing their card draws to pre-build specific playstyles. We have replaced all Casual modes with Constructed for testing. *Players may access their decks per Champion in the Vault.
- Each mastery level grants you a random card for that Champion, with later levels providing a random Legendary card. Future patches will provide Specialty cards as well.
- Players can now quick-select cards in-match after leveling up by using the 1-3 keys. The ability to rebind these keys will be provided in a future patch.
- General
- “In this patch we have gone through some major overhauls to the card system and how it functions. Firstly, we have added a new rarity which will help focus your in-match build progression. We noticed that having your most influential card, previously the Legendary rarity, at the end of your progression made it hard to pick a build and sticking with it. The Specialty cards now allow you to choose what build you want to go with in the beginning of the match, allowing you to pick cards as you level that are in line with that choice and may amplify the build's strengths. We hope this removes some of the uncertainty with building your Champion in a non-constructed deck format. Additionally, at each level throughout the match players may now only choose from the rarity at that level, regardless of whether or not they have enough cards. We have updated the starting decks to include two of each rarity, even Specialty and Legendary, to make sure everyone has enough choices to make an interesting build from the start. All players will receive the starter cards listed below for free, and we hope that having ten cards instead of seven in the starting collection gives new players the opportunity to explore the card system more fully.”
- A new rarity has been added: Specialty
- The fifth rarity is called “Specialty” and will be drawn first before any other card. Specialty cards are designed to kick off your match into a specific playstyle, specializing your build in a certain direction.
- Players may now only draw one rarity per level, and will no longer roll down a rarity if they don't have enough cards to draw. For example, at level 3 if you only have 2 Rare cards in your deck, you will draw 2 Rare cards and be forced to choose one.
- Starter cards have been increased from 7 to 10 per champion. These will include 2 Common, 2 Rare, 2 Epic, 2 Legendary, and 2 Specialty cards.
- “Many of the cards in the game have changed rarity to be in line with the new system change that rarities are forced per level. This allows us to better tweak the system to prevent overly strong combinations of cards by putting both cards in an equal rarity. Any cards that were removed from the game will be replaced with a Champion's Chest for any player who owned those cards. Since a majority of these cards went up in rarity, most of our early adopters are now proud owners of many rare cards! We want to thank all of our early testers for providing daily feedback and we look forward to hearing from you on the way the card system now functions!”
- Cards in your collection are now sorted by their rarity.
- In-match leveling has been dramatically accelerated. Players on average should reach level 5 and gain access to their Legendary card pick within the first 5-7 minutes. After level 5, players will continue to level up to a maximum of 10. Levels 6-10 players will have a choice to replace their currently equipped cards with a new card. Cards chosen between levels 1-5 will have half stats, meaning higher level cards will provide more flat Health and damage.
- Card frames have been updated to reflect rarity. Common cards have the same frame, but now Rare, Epic, and Legendary cards have frames of escalating embellishments.
- The beginning cards for each Champion have been updated. Each starting set of cards will include 4 Common cards, 1 Rare card, 1 Epic card, and 1 Legendary card:
- “We have adjusted the starting decks, or the cards that each new account starts with, for each Champion to include a free Legendary card. We want the very first match of Paladins to feel awesome, and for everyone to be on an equal field with each other from the get go.”
- Barik
- Buck
- Cassie
- Evie
- Fernando
- Grohk
- Pip
- Ruckus
- Skye
- Cards now correctly show their Cooldown on the card based on their rarity.
- Card selection menu (default ‘U’).
- Bots draw cards when they level up.
- Adjusted the algorithm for card selection inside of a match. Note that we will be making regular adjustments to these algorithms over the next several weeks as we run experiments to determine what works best. Some experiments will obviously work better than others, so thanks for your patience!
- The Damage and Health bonuses tied to each card no longer scale per in-match level. They provide a fixed benefit regardless of your in-match level.
- Card Cooldowns have been adjusted based on their rarity. Common cards have a 10s Cooldown. Rare cards have a 20s Cooldown. Epic cards have a 30s Cooldown. Legendary cards have a 60s Cooldown.
Trivia[ | ]
- Many cards have had unused or significantly altered artwork. Most can be found in the trivia section of individual champion pages, but some unused artwork not definitively attached to any single champion can be seen in a number of different concepts.[1]
- The card feature was changed many times. Big changes where made in the first Beta update, Open Beta 64 update and Open Beta 67 update which resulted in many cards being removed.
Paladins |
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About the Game • Champions • Cards • Items • Game Modes • Maps • Ranked • Awards • Voice Guided System • Cosmetic Items • Treasure Chests • Event Pass • Quests • Patch notes |
Gameplay |
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General Champions Playstyle Game Modes Maps Game Mechanics End of the Game |