Grand Oak Padraig – Champion Spotlight

Grand Oak Padraig is one of the strongest Ally Attack champions in the game, regardless of rarity, and shines across a wide range of content. From supporting your team in Hydra, to tearing down the Fire Knight, or setting up your teams in Arena – today we’ll explore his best areas, top builds, and why Padraig is a champion worth building in 2025.

Padraig brings a strong set of fundamentals for Hydra, starting with his passive. At the beginning of each turn, he grants buffs tailored to ally types: ATK champions gain Increase ATK, DEF champions receive Increase DEF, Support champions get Increase ACC, and HP champions gain Shields. This unique approach ensures each ally benefits in a way that boosts their damage, sustain, or stats to land key effects against high-resistance heads as the difficulty scales.

Against the Head of Decay, which destroys MAX HP through the Almighty Decay [P] whenever allies are healed, Padraig’s A2 shines. It fully restores ally HP, applies Continuous Heal, and triggers a full-team Ally Attack – simultaneously boosting survivability and delivering instant damage, perfect for breaking allies free from digestion.

His A3 further enhances team support with a 20% Turn Meter boost, full team debuff removal, and Increase SPD, helping allies outpace Hydra heads while staying clean of harmful effects. On top of that, his A1 offers a chance to reduce a random ally’s skill cooldown, which can be clutch for keeping Provoke champions or heavy hitters cycling their key abilities more frequently.

Ally Attack is one of the most valuable tools for Fire Knight teams on both Normal and Hard difficulties. Champions like Padraig, who can bring the entire team into the fight with his A2, make it far easier to deplete the boss’s shield counters quickly. This opens the door for allies to deal real damage, land crucial debuffs like Decrease SPD, and gain Turn Meter control – or even place Freeze on Hard Mode.

As shown in the example team above for the hardest stage, Padraig works perfectly in the lead position thanks to his 25% SPD in Dungeons Aura. When paired with another Ally Attacker like Lady Mikage and backed up by multi-hitters, the shield can be broken down fast. From there, you can push the advantage with effects like Enemy MAX HP from champions such as Coldheart or Gnut, and even add a reset champion to recycle key skills for more frequent control and damage.

For teams lacking the damage or control to keep the shield permanently down, Padraig provides a safety net. If your team takes a hit, his A3 can cleanse the Fire Knight’s debuffs, apply Increase SPD, and boost Turn Meter to swing momentum back in your favour. He’s a true MVP for Fire Knight runs.

Against the Chimera, Padraig’s passive once again proves its value. Having the right buffs for each role while juggling trials and damage checks can be tricky, but his automatic type-based buffs each turn boost both survivability and damage output. Unlike Hydra, where turn counts require caution, Chimera actually rewards more frequent turns – and Padraig’s speed manipulation combined with his A1 cooldown reduction creates excellent synergy to keep your team rolling.

Preset AI is key when running him here. Against the Ram Form, you’ll want to disable Ally Attacks to avoid reflective damage on allies without Duel, which can quickly put you in danger. Against the Viper Form, it’s crucial to apply Block Active Skills first and then have Padraig ready with his team cleanse – if that timing is off, your run can quickly fall apart. When tuned correctly, his kit adapts perfectly to each form, cementing him as an S-tier option for Chimera.

All in all, Padraig is a powerhouse who amplifies team damage, cleanses harmful effects, keeps allies outpacing the boss, and consistently supplies the right buffs to maximize damage and sustain.

Since Padraig’s kit excels across so many areas, the strengths highlighted earlier carry over seamlessly into other content. In Doom Tower boss fights, he can trigger Ally Attacks for burst damage, accelerate your team’s turns, and supply the key buffs needed to push through tough encounters. The same value applies in Faction Wars, the Cursed City, and against dungeon bosses like Phantom Shogun and Dragon.

In PvP, Padraig shines as both a Turn Meter booster and cleanser, while also providing vital buffs to keep your team going. He can can even open with the Ally Attack to delete a priority target or even slot into classic blender setups. Overall, he’s a universal, versatile champion who fits into many rosters.

How you build Padraig can largely depends on the content you’re tackling or your preferred playstyle. The key priorities are high Speed to keep him ahead of encounters, enough sustain to withstand hits, and gear sets or masteries that help reduce cooldowns and cycle back to his A2 more often, given its 4-turn cooldown.

• Reflex + Speed
  This classic setup uses sets that boost Speed while giving a 40% chance to reduce a random skill cooldown. This not only provides the core stats he needs but also adds valuable synergy by letting him cycle back to his key abilities more often.
• Relentless + Impulse
  This setup grants an 18% chance to gain an Extra Turn, along with bonus Speed and a 12% chance to reduce a random skill cooldown by 1 turn. It’s incredibly effective for encounters like Doom Tower bosses or Fire Knight, though you’ll need to be cautious in Hydra since it can push you toward the turn count limit more quickly.
• Supersonic
  This build is tailored for PvP and shines with its 9-piece bonus. Padraig gains a 30% increase to his Turn Meter fill effects, takes 30% less impact from enemy Turn Meter reductions, and receives an additional Turn Meter boost for each buff on his opponents. It’s an excellent way to cut in, fire off his skills, and provide even more momentum for the team – all while stacking a hefty amount of bonus Speed stats.
• Protection
  Since Padraig passively places buffs on allies and can apply Continuous Heal and Increase SPD, he’s a strong candidate for a 9-piece Protection build. This not only gives a chance to place Protected buffs but also grants a 9-piece bonus where allies deal 5% more damage for each buff he provides. It’s especially effective in encounters like Hydra and also adds extra Speed stats to complement his build.

BEST RELICS:

• Wand Of Submission
  This set gives the wearer a chance to reflect crowd control effects back at the caster, giving Padraig an opportunity to fire off his abilities even if he’s outpaced. It also provides valuable stats like HP and Speed to support his build.
• Perched Shadow
  This set gives the wearer a chance to gain an Extra Turn when using their default skill, provided at least one active skill is on cooldown. For Padraig, it’s a strong synergy that helps him cycle back into his key abilities more frequently.
• Exuzar’s Totem
  Padraig gains Turn Meter whenever an ally is affected by crowd control, making it an excellent way for him to cut in and cleanse those effects more quickly.

BEST BLESSINGS:

• Brimstone
  This blessing is excellent for boss encounters, as it gives a chance to place Smite – causing a meteorite to strike the target whenever they take an active turn. The hit deals 25% of the affected champion’s MAX HP and 5% to all other enemies. However, since Padraig doesn’t rely on Accuracy, this blessing is really only effective at 6-star, where it gains a guaranteed chance to activate.
• Intimidating Presence
  A strong blessing that boosts your team’s Aura while simultaneously weakening the enemy’s.
• Polymorph
  This blessing grants a chance to place Sheep on enemies whenever they attempt to place debuffs on Padraig or remove/steal his buffs. It’s a strong form of counter-control, particularly in PvP.
• Temporal Chains
  This blessing decreases enemy SPD for each active buff they have, and when they receive a third buff, it instantly reduces their Turn Meters. It’s a powerful way to counter buff-heavy teams, slow them down, and create opportunities to cut in with your skills.