Overview
Tired of playing burst? Ready to play a style that relies on prolonged engagements and outclassing your opponent? Ready to play like a true paladin? Then look no further because paladin style scoop is here for you.EDIT: I realize that people may think that this is more of a “for fun” build and shouldn’t actually be used when try harding or trying to rank up, but that’s not the case. I use this playstyle on ladder and I’m currently League 1 rank 114 after playing a ♥♥♥♥ ton of scoop the past few days.
Paladins
In case you didn’t know scoop is a gelatin knight, or a paladin. At his disposal are a collection of upgrades that will help you fight like a paladin. Who would’ve guessed?
To start us off, I would like to give you a rundown of how a paladin fights. It is important to keep this in mind as you read my guide as the concepts are just as important as the build for this playstyle.
The shortest way I could explain it to you is that a paladin is a tank/brawler whose greatest assets are his ability to remain in the lane, ability to heal himself, and ability to deal consistent (but not burst) damage. If you manage to meet these three prerequisites you can successfully push people out of your lane, allowing you to slowly gain solar on them, open up 3v2 or 3v1 opportunities, and whittle away at their tower.
Another way to think of this playstyle is to assume the role of the lane bully. you want to bully people out of your lane. you don’t necesarily care about killing them… just make sure that you are the one spending more time making an impact in the lane.
A Paladin’s Sword
The importance of your sword’s auto attack cannot be understated. It is your bread and butter for securing lanes, killing droids, and harrasing people out of lane. unupgraded, scoop’s auto attack is one of the best auto attacks in the game. As long as your enemies do not get a significant solar advantage on you (which they shouldn’t if your playing properly) you can always find opportunities to hack their faces off with it.
On your first trip back to shop you should always be looking to buy the Double Licker Sword upgrade. For 205 solar it boosts your cleave damage by a whopping 60% and further increases its lifesteal. Seriously, this is an outrageously cost effective upgrade, and you would be lost not to buy it.
Midgame you will be taking the Chain Mail Tunic attack speed upgrade. This too is a staple of the paladin scoop. It puts your dps through the roof and gives your trusty auto attack even more power.
Finally, lategame you can take the Royal Sword in The Cream upgrade. This increases the damage of your alternate slash attack. I don’t value this upgrade as highly for a few reasons; the slash is single target only, its relatively expensive for its benefit, and you might want to substitute it for the Spoonman upgrade which will increase all your damage when allies are near.
Remember, your auto attack gives you a lot of lane presence and power. Once you get both Double Licker Sword and Chain Mail Tunic you will be a very dangerous scoop who does not rely on cooldowns.
A Paladin’s Hammer
Though at first your hammer may seem ineffective and weak, being able to hit your opponents at a distance over and over with this low cooldown ability can be very effective. Recall your goals as a paladin and you will see that the hammer becomes the perfect harrassment tool, Allowing you to snare and close in on enemies while dealing a little bit of damage that can add up over time.
Taking Twister Lance early on to increase your hammer’s range is a pretty safe buy especially on sorona or ai station which are the two larger maps in the current pool. Now Twister Lance has always been a controversial upgrade for me simply because its rather expensive at 240 solar for a bit or range that you don’t always see making the difference. I would recommend that you asess the situation before committing to this upgrade. Is the map appropriate for the buy? Does the enemy team have nauts like rae or genji who will try to constantly be on the edge of your hammer’s range? In the end its usually a good idea to pick it up, but you can make a case for not doing so.
Twister Lance aside, the first set of upgrades you get for your hammer is intended to accentuate its use as a reliable harrassment and utility option. Early midgame you should pick up the Ice Cream Van Music upgrade. The full upgrade costs about 300 solar to reduce your hammer cooldown by 30%. Very much like the Double Licker Sword upgrade, this upgrade is valued for its cost efficiency and paladin enhancing qualities. Spam that hammer!
Mid-game you should be looking to pick up the Brutally Whipped Cream upgrade for your hammer. This upgrade is basically a strait damage increase for your hammer. It gets most of its value by pairing with Ice Cream Van Music’s cooldown reduction, making your hammer a deadlier spam, and giving you more power in the lane.
Late game if you have forgone Twister Lance you will most likely want to pick it up now. With turrets down on both sides this makes the battle field much larger so the extra range can become really effective. If your feeling adventerous, or perhaps the entire enemy team is constantly up in your face, then most of the other upgrades are viable choices as well.
A Paladin’s Bindings
Scoop’s second ability, Bindings Of Justice, both heals himself and deals a moderate burst to opponents in his vicinity. It is a powerful move. Understandably you will see most scoops center their play around this ability by rushing for damage on it. (Royal Sword in the Cream and Ice Queen Idol).
Now I’m not going to tell you that it is the wrong choice and of course it is ultimately up to you how to play your naut, but we are not playing a burst build here. This build is without a doubt counter meta and you may get scoffed at by your team
For starters, the first and most important upgrade we are taking is Penguin Squire. This upgrade should be purchased right after Double Licker Sword asap. This is the upgrade that defines our playstyle as a persistent threat always looking for opportunities. For 270 you double the heal of your bindings, an amazing indispensable buy.
After getting both stages of Penguin Squire you really won’t be touching binding’s other upgrades until late game when you’ve taken the majority of your other upgrades. Later on, it’s good to pick up those bursty upgrades Royal Sword in the Cream and Ice Queen Idol.
A Paladin’s Build
This build order is designed to be a cost effective complement to our play style. Keep in mind that only the first few buys are “mandatory”. Mid and late game buys are highly variable depending on the situation at hand. The build you will find below is meant to be a baseline for you with you making choices in game that will help you better achieve your paladin goals.
[link]Let me know in the comments if you like my guide and would like to see more on other nauts. Thanks!