You can build almost any Paladin in Diablo 4 Season 15, except this one
Diablo 4 Season 15 takes Damage Over Time affixes off Paladin gear, and with them any real shot at a DoT build.
Paladin was probably one of the classes that felt the best when it first released. It was powerful, and Auradin builds let you zoom through enemies without pushing a single button. But then it was nerfed, and the class started to feel very different.
Now, Paladin is getting stronger in Diablo 4 Season 15 again, but Blizzard is also making it clear what the class is not supposed to be.
The Season 15 PTR removed Damage Over Time affixes from Paladin equipment entirely, and X'Fal's Corroded Signet will no longer be equippable by the class. From the official PTR notes:
Damage Over Time affixes no longer usable and no longer appear on items for Paladins.
X'fal's Corroded Signet is no longer equippable for Paladins.
Is Blizzard removing an entire build direction from Paladin? The reality is a little more complicated.
Paladin has had a few abilities that deal damage over time or damage per second, but the class has not really developed a DoT build in the same way as classes built around Burning, Poison, Bleeding, or other persistent damage effects. Players have even been asking if Paladin's various damage-per-second effects count as DoT for scaling purposes, with the general answer being that they do not.
So why remove the gear anyway?
DoT Paladin Was Never the Plan
X'Fal's Corroded Signet is probably the best example of what Blizzard is doing. The Unique ring is built around Damage Over Time. It has a Damage Over Time affix and causes each type of DoT applied by the player to trigger additional explosions.
That interaction theoretically gives Paladin access to a route that Blizzard clearly does not want the class to pursue. And the rest of the Season 15 changes point in the opposite direction as well (as seen in the official PTR patch notes part below):
Skills
Holy Bolt
Judgement Upgrade
Changed Upgrade name from Judgement to Damage Increase.
Previous: Holy Bolt now applies Judgement.
Now: Holy Bolt deals 20%[x] increased damage.
Blessed Shield
Shield of Justice Variant
Previous: Blessed Shield detonates Judgement and ricochets 5 additional times. Whenever Blessed Shield detonates Judgement, it empowers your next throw to deal 40%[x] increased damage, up to a maximum 5 times.
Now: Blessed Shield detonates Judgement and ricochets 5 additional times. Whenever Blessed Shield detonates Judgement, it empowers your next throw of Blessed Shield to deal 40%[x] increased damage, up to a maximum 5 times and it increases your Judgement damage by 50%[x] for 5 seconds.
Spear of the Heavens
Fist of the Heavens Variant
Enemies hit by the main impact can now also be hit by one of the additional projectiles.
Enemies can now only be damaged by one of the additional projectiles.
Class Mechanic
Judicator Oath
Added Effect: If Judgement only hits 1 enemy, it deals 100% increased damage.
Legendary Aspects
Aspect of Watkin's Law
Previous: Your Judicator Skills deal 45-65% increased damage to enemies affected by Judgement.
Now: While using the Judicator Oath, Judicator Skills deal 45-65% increased damage to enemies affected by Judgement, then consume and reapply Judgement. Consuming and reapplying can only happen once every 3 seconds per enemy.
Aspect of the Judicator
Judgement's damage and size bonus increased from 40-60% to 60-80%.
Uniques
Cathedral Song
Previous: Lucky Hit - Casting Disciple Skills has up to a 8-10% chance to call down Spear of the Heavens onto a random enemy. Your Spear of the Heavens damage is increased by 80-100%.
Now: Consuming Judgement 100 times calls down Spear of the Heavens onto a random enemy. Judgement on Bosses counts as 10. Your Spear of the Heavens damage is increased by 80-100%.
Talisman
Heaven's Radiant Fire
5-Piece Set Bonus:
Previous: Increases Judgement Day's maximum number of stacks to 40.
Now: Judgement Day's damage bonus is increased to 25%[x] and maximum number of stacks is increased to 20.
Judicator Oath now gains an additional 100% damage when Judgement hits only one enemy. Aspect of the Judicator receives a substantial damage increase, and Watkin's Law is being reworked around consuming and reapplying Judgement. Cathedral Song is also being redesigned around repeatedly consuming Judgement to trigger Spear of the Heavens.
All of this makes it quite clear that Paladin is being built around direct holy damage and Judgement interactions, not traditional DoT scaling.
What You Lose, and What You Do Not
Season 15 of Diablo 4 will probably not change all that much for the average Paladin player. If you were already building around Judgement, Blessed Shield, Spear of the Heavens, or another direct-damage build, most of the changes are either beneficial or will not affect you.
What Season 15 does remove is the ability to experiment with Paladin as a more conventional DoT class. You will not be able to stack Damage Over Time affixes on your gear, and one of the most obvious generic DoT Uniques is being taken away entirely. It is a relatively small change compared to some of the other balance adjustments, but it says quite a lot about where Blizzard wants the class to go.
You can make a Paladin burn, explode, and obliterate demons, but Blizzard just does not seem particularly interested in letting you build one around waiting for those demons to slowly die.