How to play Rei in Paladins – Abilities, playstyle, tips and tricks

The newest Paladins champion is Rei, a bunny healer on a quest for knowledge and magical power. Unlike aggressively-minded Paladins supports like Corvus and Grohk, Rei is a main healer whose entire kit empowers and protects her team.

Abilities

Rei’s primary abilities in Paladins are Chain Heal, Envelop, and Spirit Link.

• Spirit Link is a unique ability that acts as the crux of Rei’s kit and behaves differently based on its target. If Rei casts it on an enemy champion, they are afflicted by a persistent 10% movement speed debuff and lose 50 HP every 0.75 seconds. If Rei casts it on an allied champion, they receive 1% ultimate charge and 50 healing every second and benefit from additional effects when Rei uses her other abilities.
• Chain Heal sends a healing projectile to targeted ally champions. The projectile bounces multiple times to nearby allies and delivers 30% more healing to Spirit Linked champions. The projectile prioritizes bouncing to low-health allies.
• Envelop grants Rei and her Spirit Linked ally a special buff that lasts 3 seconds. While Enveloped, champions get 40% movement speed and reduce every instance of incoming damage to a maximum of 275.

Rei’s ultimate ability in Paladins is Vivify. When cast, Vivify grants her Spirit Linked ally 2 seconds of damage immunity, after which it instantly heals them and Rei to full health. Note, that currently, the ability description in the official Paladins patch notes is incorrect; Vivify does not target the champion in Rei’s crosshairs, and instead explicitly targets her Spirit Linked ally. The ability cannot be used if a friendly champion is not Spirit Linked.

Overview and playstyle

Rei is a babysitter-type support in Paladins, meaning she excels when sticking close to her allies. Her abilities provide a lot of value to her teammates, but only as long as she can continue to cast them on the right targets. Spirit Link remains in effect until cast on a new target, but it will deactivate if Rei moves too far from the Linked champion, or if a piece of terrain gets in between them for more than a second. Staying close to allies lets Rei heal herself with her own Chain Heal bounces, which is another reason to hang out with the team.

Spirit Link is key to using Rei effectively in Paladins. Make sure you have it out on a friendly champion at all times, and especially before using Envelop. However, try to avoid casting on allies who are currently holding onto a fully charged ultimate ability, unless they really need the extra healing at that exact moment; the bonus ultimate charge is too good to waste. Also remember that Rei cannot use her own ultimate ability without having an active Spirit Link on an allied champion.

Conversely, Spirit Link should never be used on enemy champions, as it acts as more of a mild annoyance than a true offensive ability. The only exception to this rule would be when Rei picks the Restraint talent, which gradually immobilizes Spirit Linked enemies. If you plan on using Restraint, make sure you tag along with a flank or damage champion from your team, so they can finish off the enemies you trap.

On a final note, don’t rely on Envelop to keep you or your team alive. This ability doesn’t work well against most sources of damage in Paladins, and its primary benefit is the burst of movement speed it grants. Envelop only truly shines against slow, heavy-hitting attacks like Drogoz’s missiles, Terminus’ axe, and Skye’s Time Bomb.