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 the Poisoned, Venom, and Confused debuffs, immune to knockback, 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.
 * Scourge of the Corruptor for melee oriented players is highly recommended, as the constant barrage of little eaters will always interrupt its attacks. This can be found in Corruption Chests.
 * The Chlorophyte Partisan can handle it from behind walls thanks to the spore cloud it emits right as it starts retracting. Use this to easily defeat it, but you'll have to constantly punish it. Keep your guard up for Necromancers as no doubt you may get swarmed if you do not pay attention.
 * The Death Sickle is highly effective at defeating a Paladin in under half a minute thanks to high DPS and DOT, and the fact you can hit the Paladin on the other side of a wall/floor/ceiling.
 * If you have the Shadowbeam Staff, you can stay out of the Paladin's sight and attack it indirectly by bouncing the beam on walls.
 * You can use a "hit and run" strategy using Magnet Sphere and highly suggested, Spectre armor. This will cause you to be out of range for the Paladin's hammers and heal you up in case you take damage from a few of them while using the sphere.
 * If you were lucky enough to find the Piranha Gun, you can nearly stun lock the Paladin and deal damage from out of range of its hammer throws. This is best achieved by locking the piranha on the Paladin and then flying a full screen above it.
 * Using a Megashark and standing above the Paladin on a wooden platform is an efficient way of easily beating it.
 * 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.)


 * 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 an unknown helmet.


 * The Paladin may hold a loose reference to the game series Castlevania, as where the paladin looks distinctly similar to the Axe Knight. Most closely resembling the Axe Knight from Super Castlevania 4. This can also be connected by the fact you find the Paladin in the dungeon setting, and also by how it throws it's hammer, much like the axe from Castlevania.


 * 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 3 tile high corridors.

History

 * 1.2 (console version): Introduced.