Paladin

Unreal Tournament 2004
The Paladin is a vehicle in UT2004, introduced in the Editor's Choice Edition and is a stock vehicle in Unreal Tournament 3, as an Axon Vehicle. It is a defensive-oriented vehicle. Locomotion is provided via eight wheels and is rather slow, but to make up for it, it has a powerful defense attack.

Primary fire makes the Paladin shoot an Ion Blast, which makes considerable damage in a small area of effect. This is an offensive attack.

Secondary fire creates a large energy shield, which protects the Paladin and surrounding units from any attack. Unfortunately, the shield can only protect one area around the Paladin, and the shield also needs a recharge time when it is exhausted. This is a defensive tactic.

Note that the shield will stop attacks - be they projectiles or hitscan - but anything else - Players, other vehicles, etc - will pass through the shield harmlessly. For this case, by pressing Primary fire while the shield is up, the blast will detonate around the shield, and then release the energy in the general area around the tank, commonly called the "Shockwave." This is a very useful ability, and it helps counter the tank's weakness of slow mobility by allowing it the chance to free itself if it gets mobbed.

Unreal Tournament 3
"This all-terrain vehicle features a signature projection turret with powerful offensive and defensive capabilities that are unique to Axon design. As an offensive measure, the projection turret launches high-speed plasma cores at long range, which discharge on impact with a wide-area explosive force.

While more than capable on the offensive side of a battle, the defensive capabilities of the Paladin are unmatched in modern warfare. The projection turret can also deploy a large energy shield matrix that is strong enough to completely protect the shielded area from any and all incoming fire.

As a last resort measure, the projection turret can even launch plasma cores directly into its own shield matrix discharging them around the entire perimeter of the Paladin with a burst of energy that is deadly to any nearby dismounted infantry."

- UT3 manual

Using the Paladin effectively
The Paladin is an underused vehicle that most combatants consider a weaker version of a Goliath with a projector shield attached. Effective against infantry and light vehicles but not much else. This is false. What is true is that most people do not have the patience to learn how to use the Paladin.

As a rule of thumb while in combat: shield first, shoot later. When you fire your combo cannon your shield will not come back online until it has reloaded. However upon deactivating your shield you can fire your combo cannon as soon as it disappears, even if you just used the Paladins self-combo ability. The projector shield can take a couple thousand points of damage, so line your shot up and wait until the right time to let loose. If your shield gets overloaded it will have to fully recharge before you can reactivate it. Do not let this happen. Find cover. Also: Make sure your shield does not collide with any solid objects, such as terrain, or else it will deactivate.

The Paladins combo cannon does about two hundred points of damage and takes about two seconds to reload. The plasma ball is dead accurate and can travel extremely long distances. The Paladins turret can also point in almost any direction in less than a second. Combatants who can lead shots should have no trouble hitting all but the most agile vehicles.

The Paladin is also surprisingly maneuverable. Although it suffers from a low top speed it is able to muscle up very steep slopes with little loss of traction or momentum, allowing it to reach areas that are impossible to access with any other wheeled vehicle. For example a good Paladin driver on WAR-Islander can bypass the barricades and literally climb up and over the mountain on the left side of the map, dropping themselves right into the enemy base. Creative use of the Paladins immense torque will make you that much more deadly.

Using all of these attributes together will greatly increase your life expectancy, kill count, and your teams success.

Countermeasures
Paladins may sound great in writing, but using them well requires practice and effort that most combatants don't have time for. Here are the most common countermeasures.

Like all heavy vehicles Paladins can be easily overwhelmed if attacked from multiple angles.

Its primary weakness is that its turret cannot point straight up. Infantry can launch AVRiL's over the Paladin and lock on when the missile is directly above it, bypassing the shield. Paladin drivers can blow it up before it hits by self-comboing when the missile comes within range, but this requires very good timing to consistently work.

Other strategies include ramming the Paladin with a Goliath or flying above it and shooting it as much as possible before the inevitable swarm of AVRiL's lock onto you.

If you are on foot DO NOT under any circumstance get within the Paladins self-combo range unless you enjoy painting the Paladin with your spleen.