Diablo 4's Paladin has a major drawback that I wish I had known about before starting Season 11

Like many others Diablo 4 fans, I knew as soon as Lord of Hatred was announced alongside the shadow of the Paladin class for season 11 that I would be running it as my first character of the season. I usually don't like flying to a new one Diablo 4 season blind, and tend to carefully plan my build in the weeks leading up to the season start date. But that went out the window when the Paladin was announced, but I would have liked some forewarning of a downside to building a Paladin beforehand.

Jump into Diablo 4 Season 11 day one with a Paladin almost felt like experiencing the launch of a brand new game, as the nature of the class's shadow drop meant that no one really knew how it would play and what buildings would look like. After spending some time with the skill tree and mapping out what skills I wanted to invest in for the early game, I realized that a lot of my build would depend on the uniques and legendaries available and how they each interact with the Paladin's various oaths. Achieving my ideal build would prove to be more difficult than I thought, as it is not possible to target specific legendary aspects of Paladins from dungeons in Diablo 4.

Diablo 4's Paladin has no guaranteed legendary aspects

Although there are tons of new legendary aspects tailored specifically for the Paladin that were added Diablo 4 Season 11, none of which can be obtained by completing an in-game dungeon. These new legendary aspects include:

Paladin's Offensive Aspects
- Aspect of Ascension
- Aspect of Celestial Strife
- Aspect of punishment
- Aspect of Excellence
- Aspect of exorcism
- Aspect of Holy Punishment
- Aspect of Jaque's glow
- Aspect of Lagera's Sovereignty
- Aspect of Lapa's Scripture
- Aspect of proselytization
- Aspect of the Golden Hour
- Aspect of the Judicator
- Aspect of Juggernaut's Covenant
- Aspect of the Zealot's Covenant
- Aspect of Tyrael's Jurisdiction
- Aspect of Ultimate Glory
- Aspect of Watkins' Law
- The aspect of the revelator
- Squire's aspect
- The remorseful aspect
- Virtuous aspect
Paladin's Defensive Aspects
- The aspect of the apostle
- Aspect of Angelic Masterwork
- Aspect of corporate decree
- Aspect of Glynn's Anvil
- Aspect of Hale's Salve
- Aspect of heavenly strength
- Aspect of loyalty
- Aspect of Militancy
- Aspect of the disciple
- Aspect of the Indomitable
- Aspect of light repair
- Aspect of verdant restoration
- Lord of Blood's Aspect
Paladin Utility Aspects
- Aspect of blinding light
- Aspect of the North Guard
- Aspect of Valiance
Paladin Resource Aspects
- Aspect of Akarat's Blessing
- Aspect of contemplation
- Aspect of dedication
- Aspect of dominance
- Aspect of Pilgrim's Progress
- Aspect of Salvation
Paladin's mobility aspects
- Aspect of Swift Spirit
- Aspect of the Arbiter's Zephyr
- Aspect of unstoppable power

Most Diablo 4 classes have specific legendary aspects tied to particular dungeons

With a total of 46 legendary aspects, it would have been nice if Diablo 4 would allow players to earn some guaranteed drops from completing certain dungeons. As it turns out, everyone else Diablo 4 classes have a handful of their legendary aspects behind completing specific dungeons, giving players an easy method of adding them to their Codex. However, Paladins are not so lucky and must instead rely on the random chance of finding a legendary with their desired aspect in order to fill out their Codex.

Paladins can still access the general legendary aspects that drop from dungeons and are available to all classes. Only Paladin-exclusive Legendary Aspects are not available from dungeons.

Paladins can only fill their power code by rescuing other legendaries

In my search for the legendary aspects I need for my Diablo 4 The Paladin build – which includes the Aspect of the Golden Hour, the Aspect of the Judge, and the Aspect of Holy Punishment – the only one I've found so far in my leveling grind for Season 11 is the Aspect of the Golden Hour. This is because I'm at the mercy of the RNG of Legendary drops from Helltide chests and Whisper Caches, hoping I can find a piece of gear with one of those aspects that I can salvage to add it to my Codex. With 46 Paladin Legendary Aspects plus those in the general pool, finding the two specific aspects I need to complete my build is an exercise in frustration.

Rescuing legendaries makes finding the right aspect a gamble for Diablo 4 players

In general, I enjoy the process of adding legendary aspects to my Codex and then applying them to a gear on Diablo 4is an occultist. But I wish the system was more similar Diablo 4s new tempering mechanic, where finding a tempering manual yields multiple mounts that can be tempered on a gear. If Diablo 4 had an item that allowed multiple legendary aspects to be unlocked in the Codex at once, it would take some of the hassle out of grinding for a random legendary gear drop with the desired mount.

Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred will likely solve Paladin's legendary aspect problem

To save my sanity, I hope Lord of Hatred's expansion will address this issue. I guess part of the reason Paladin doesn't have legendary aspects that can be earned from a dungeon is that all the existing dungeons in Sanctuary already have an associated legendary aspect or are intended for a different mechanic. Instead of adding new dungeons for Paladin's legendary aspects i Diablo 4 Season 11, I imagine this will happen when the expansion launches. Lord of Hatred adds Skovos as a new region for players to explore, and it's likely that this area will feature dungeons with legendary aspects for both the Paladin and the other unannounced class, much like Nahantu did for the Spiritborn in Vessel of Hatred.