Paladin

Paladin is a rare Hardmode enemy who spawns in the Dungeon after Plantera is defeated in the same world. It throws hammers that can pass through walls. The Paladin also possesses the capability of randomly teleporting without effects to back it up in the event they get stuck. They walk very slowly, but no one should ever underestimate the power of their hammer. Paladins have a chance to drop the Paladin's Shield, Paladin's Hammer or Armor Polish. (Paladin's Shield and Paladin's Hammer cannot both drop from the same Paladin.)

They are immune to knockback and the Poisoned, Venom, and Confused debuffs, and only spawn in dungeons with a Brick Wall.

Tips

 * Be very careful when getting in its line of sight. It will not ordinarily throw its hammer at you if you are out of sight but it can be shown that it has the capability of doing so. It may also choose to throw its hammer if you jump while you are within melee range.
 * The paladin has a bad habit of spamming hammers if the player is at a lower elevation than itself, be it one block or forty. Attempt to attack down at it, and don't fight it in hallways, as it leaves no room to dodge its hammers.
 * You can interrupt its attacks and prevent it from throwing its hammer just by constantly firing at it. Its normal melee is much weaker than its hammer throw, so it's better off taking a risk and running through it if necessary.
 * Any weapon that can be used around corners is useful for staying out of a Paladin's line of sight. Examples include homing weapons (such as the Spectre Staff, Possessed Hatchet, Pulse Bow and Chlorophyte Bullets) and weapons with bouncing projectiles (such as the Shadowbeam Staff, Light Discs, the Grenade Launcher, and Meteor Shots).
 * Summoner weapons are very useful for this reason, so long as they deal sufficient damage to the Paladin.
 * Weapons that can deal damage through walls (such as the Chlorophyte Partisan and the Death Sickle) are also useful, but are more restricted and can only be used in certain situations.
 * When using the Piranha Gun, you can nearly stun lock the Paladin and deal damage from out of range of its hammer throws.
 * You can use the Nimbus Rod to give the Paladin constant damage, so you can use another weapon to hit it with. If it is directly below you, you can place a Nimbus cloud below you and use any other weapon, but be careful, as the Nimbus Rod only has a one minute lifespan.

Trivia

 * The Paladin has the second-highest health of any non-boss enemy (After the Headless Horseman, who has 10,000 life). Prior to 1.2, Wyverns held this title, with 4000 health. (Arch Wyverns have 8000 health, but those are exclusive to the console version.) Due to this, it is often considered a miniboss.


 * Because of its extremely high health, defense, damage, and rapid-fire attacks, it is often considered the most difficult non-boss enemy in the game.


 * Like most rare dungeon monsters, one of the Paladin's drops is the weapon which functions similarly to its own attacks.


 * The Paladin appears to be wielding a bulky, alternate colored version of the Palladium Armor with a hallowed mask.


 * Although The Paladin has a visual height of 4 tiles, they can pass through 3 tile tall corridors, meaning you cannot filter them out of farms and grinders within the Dungeon by creating corridors that low.


 * Paladins attack in a similar way to Hammer Brothers from the Mario series, as both throw hammers in a angled movement.


 * Paladins cannot throw hammers while they are moving, allowing you to farm them by making a platform just above them and then walking back and forth while attacking them.