| The Knights of Westmarch who felled the
armies of mighty Leoric are pure at heart and follow closely the
teachings of Zakarum, the Religion of the Light. A battle-ready
warrior for whom faith is a shield, he fights for what he believes to
be right. Furthermore, his steadfastness gives him powers to bring
blessings to his friends, and wreak cruel justice upon his foes. There
are those who call the Paladin an overwrought zealot, but others
recognize in him the strength and goodness of the Light.
Although a
fighter at heart his forte lies in the ability to create auras to
enhance his equipped items and armour, increase effectiveness of his
attacks and offer increased protection for himself and his friendly
party.
Auras are intangible halos of magical
effects which emanate from the Paladin affecting all those they come
into contact with, either positively or negatively, depending on the
aura and in the case of other players, the Player Setting.
Adding points to auras will increase the duration, radius and strength
of the aura's effect.
Mana is not needed to cast or sustain
an aura {with one exception detailed below}. If another player
is within the radius of the aura and thus affected by it [positively
or negatively], no mana will be drained from the Paladin either.
Other friendly players {and their minions} will reap the same benefits
from an aura that the Paladin does. All apart from the trio of
Holy offensive Auras {fire, freeze, shock} So for example, with Might
at a Slvl of 3, the aura will increase damage dealt by each affected
player by 70%. Of course that's 70% of their individual damage
potential, not everyone inflicting an additional 70% of the Paladin's
damage capabilities. All players affected by an aura will have the
same glowing graphic circling their feet which will appear after a
short time delay in the case of other friendly players.
One aura works in a slightly different
way from all others. Prayer will not only require mana to cast
but will continue to deplete mana whilst it is activated. The
mana used for Prayer will increase if other friendly players are
within range and benefiting from it. This is something that was
previously cause for concern. This is something Paladins must
bare in mind, using his own mana to heal not only himself but his
comrades can be fatal.
The Paladin can only have one aura
active at a time. Casting another aura will replace whichever
one he has active at the time with the new one. As auras are classed
as Passive skills, they do not cast like the Necromancer's curses,
which are readied first then cast with the mouse button. As soon
as auras are readied in the right skill button they are automatically
cast. Changing auras with the use of your assigned hotkey or selecting
from the 'S' menu will instantly replace the aura, there is no delay
in aura swapping. Multiple auras by more than one Paladin can stack
though. We didn't test this out at Blizzard as there was only
one Paladin in the multiplayer games. However, we do know that if one
Paladin casts, for example, Might and another casts Holy Fire and they
are within range of each other's auras, the auras will stack and the
benefits of both {increased damage and fire damage} will be reaped.
This of course applies to non-Paladin characters within range of the
active auras too. You can imagine eight Paladins, eight
different auras and a horde of monsters. Carnage. Multiple
Auras of the same type will not stack and therefore no accumulative
effects. |
