🛡️Paladin

The Paladin is a heavily armored front-line fold, thick with reinforced creases and slow to fall. He is an advanced pattern — only the Prime or a Protege can fold him — and his real value is the Aegis Shield, a paper ring that turns his squad untouchable while it lasts. Paladins require a Printworks.

The Paladin is one of the only folds with armor built in rather than researched — 5 flat damage reduction on every hit he takes, before any Playbook Polish stacks on top.

Abilities

• Aegis Shield — Raise or lower a paper ring around the Paladin and nearby allies. The ring is a wall: it soaks any blow thrown from outside it and shoves enemies out as it forms, so the guard inside is sheltered from fire — but no one inside can attack out, the Paladin included. A striker already inside, and rain, fire and plague, go straight through. Its strength persists between raises and mends only while lowered, and it moves with the Paladin so the guard can advance under cover.

Strategy

The Paladin is a mobile bunker. Fold him at the head of a push and drop the Aegis Shield the moment enemy fire concentrates — your guard rides out the volley untouched while the ring absorbs it. Time it well: nobody inside can shoot back, so raise the ring to weather a burst or cross open ground, then lower it to strike. The ring does not refill by flicking it off and on — it mends only while lowered — so treat each raise as a commitment. It is no shelter from an Ink Storm; get the guard indoors or out of the track for that. Pair him with fragile advanced folds you want to keep alive.