Paladins: Champions of the Realm Patch Brings Fire and Ice

By Rebecca Smith,

Just before the end of the year, Hi-Rez Studios revealed what players could expect with the Paladins's first major update of the year. This week, the game was taken down for maintenance on all platforms so that the major update, v2.01 Fire and Ice, could be added to the game. With it arrives a new champion, a new Battle Pass, the start of Season 2, and plenty of balance and gameplay changes.

Imani is also known as the Last Warder. Rather than battle the dragons, the Warders study their secrets and command over them for the benefit of humanity. The statistics of the game's 40th champion can be seen in the spoiler below.

*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***

Overview

Role – Damage
Health – 2200
[Passive] Clearcast – As Imani deals damage she generates mana. When her mana is full, the next Frost Bolt or Pyre Ball she casts is instant.

Abilities

[Weapon] Dragon Gauntlets

[Frost] Frost Bolt – Sling a Frost Bolt that deals 650 damage every 0.8s.
[Fire] Pyre Ball – Charge a Pyre Ball over 1.6s that deals 1,100 damage at max charge.

[Alt-Fire] Frost Bomb/Inferno Cannon

[Frost] Frost Bomb – Release an orb of Frost that deals 800 damage at max range, and roots enemies hit for 1.5s. Reactivating this ability mid-air detonates it.
[Fire] Inferno Cannon – Unleash a torrent of piercing fire forward, dealing 110 damage every 0.9s over 3s.

[Ability 1] Frostfire Glide

Surf through the sky on frostfire for 3s. This ability is not affected by your elemental alignment.

[Ability 2] Elemental Shift

Shift your elemental alignment, gaining access to new abilities.

[Ultimate] Dragon’s Call

Imani summons and controls a frostfire breathing Draconic Avatar. The Draconic Avatar has its own control scheme. This ability is not affected by your elemental alignment.

Talents

[Default] Splitting Ice: Frost Bolt bounces to an additional enemy, dealing reduced damage.
[Level 2] Pyromania: Every third Pyre Ball you hit explodes, damaging nearby enemies.
[Level 8] Mana Rift: After standing still for 2s, create a Mana Rift around you that generates Mana. Leaving the Mana Rift destroys it.

Cards

Weapon/Armor

Ancient Duty - [Armor] Increase your Maximum Health by {scale=50|50}.
Elemental Grace - [Armor] Dropping below 50% HP grants a {100|100} health Shield for 3s.
Heat Sink - [Pyreball] Dealing damage with Pyreball reduces the Cooldown of Frost Bomb by {0.5|0.5}s.
Cooling Runes - [Frostbolt] Dealing damage with Frostbolt reduces the Cooldown of Inferno Cannon by {0.5|0.5}s.

Frost Bomb or Inferno Cannon

Permafrost - [Frost Bomb] Increase the root duration of Frost Bomb by {scale=0.2|0.2}s.
Arcane Ice - [Frost Bomb] Increase Frost Bomb’s Mana contribution by {scale=15|15}%.
Swift Sear - [Inferno Cannon] Increase your movement speed while casting Inferno Cannon by {scale=20|20}%.
Arcane Flame - [Inferno Cannon] Increase Inferno Cannon’s Mana contribution by {scale=15|15}%.

Elemental Shift

Discipline - Using Elemental Shift reduces the Cooldown of Frostfire Glide by {scale=1|1}s.
Elemental Barrier - [Elemental Shift] Gain a {scale=50|50}hp shield for 3s after using Elemental Shift.
Affinity - [Elemental Shift] Reduce the Cooldown of Elemental Shift by {scale=1|1}s.
Draconic Will - [Elemental Shift] Elemental Shift reduces the Cooldown of Frost Bomb and Inferno Cannon by {scale=1|1}s.

Frostfire Glide

Mystic Fire - [Frostfire Glide] Generate {scale=4|4}% Mana every second while in Frostfire Glide.
Pilgrimage - [Frostfire Glide] Increase Frostfire Glide’s duration by {scale=0.5|0.5}s.
Ice in her Veins - [Frostfire Glide] While in Frostfire Glide heal for {scale=50|50} Health every second.
Pyretic Momentum - [Frostfire Glide] Frostfire Glide travels {scale=5|5}% faster.

Season 2 has begun. All games played prior to the official launch of the game out of beta last year are now being considered as Season 0, while last season is now being dubbed Season 1. The new season features "a reworked Ranked system, a major overhaul to Talents and Loadouts, and plethora of new Champion balance". Those who achieved 200 Ranked wins during Season 1 will receive a Ranked Loading Frame that represents the highest tier they managed to achieve. Meanwhile, the format and rewards of Season 2 can be found in the spoiler below.

*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***

The new Battle Suit Battle Pass includes and over 100 rewards, such as a new Speeder Mount type, Announcer Pack, and three Epic Battlesuit Skins. Until mid-to-late March 2019, players will be able to earn Battle Suit Battle Pass experience to level up the pass and unlock 50 levels of exclusive rewards, as well as those available to all players through the free track. Those who unlock all of the content from the Battle Pass can then choose to take on Battle Pass Plus with another 50 levels of rewards to unlock, including "emotes, a 3D Spray, and the Limited Suit Up Animated Avatar". The pass costs 600 Crystals, but players can earn up to 150 crystals back as they play. Alternatively, there's a Battle Passport that includes the Battle Pass and automatically unlocks the first 30 Battle Pass Levels with their rewards — this costs 1500 Crystals. The rewards can be seen in the spoiler below:

*** Spoiler - click to reveal ***

In addition to the above, Hi-Rez is implementing an initiative known as The Hunt. The main aim of this is to provide quality of life improvements, bug fixes, and general polish to the game so that it ends 2019 in a far better state than it finished in 2018. To do this, they've expanded their programming team, dedicated up to 40% of each development cycle to polishing the game, and extended the public test server on PC. All of those bug fixes and gameplay improvements can be seen in more detail here. Alternatively, you can take a look at the video below to get a three minute general overview of the update.

Update 2.01 Fire and Ice is available now.

We've got the full list of Paladins trophies - check the list for guides to unlocking them.

More Paladins stories:

Written by Rebecca Smith

Rebecca is the Newshound Manager at TrueGaming Network. She has been contributing articles since 2010, especially those that involve intimidatingly long lists. When not writing news, she works in an independent game shop so that she can spend all day talking about games too. She'll occasionally go outside.

Paladins: Champions of the Realm Patch Brings Fire and Ice

Overview

Abilities

Talents

Cards

Format

Rewards

Instant Unlocks

Level 10

Level 20

Level 30

Level 40

Level 50

Other Rewards