Quake Champions trailer introduces the 'Unholy Paladin,' Galena

The latest of Bethesda's Quake Champions has been revealed as Galena, an "Unholy Paladin" and hard-hitting healer trained from early childhood by the Celebrants of Volkerh that "blood is judgment and penance is sacrifice." 

The fiction behind the characters in Quake Champions doesn't have a whole lot of actual impact on the game—this isn't an RPG, you know—but Galena does bring a couple of neat tricks to the party. Her Unholy Totem, as seen in the trailer, is basically a land mine that can turn enemies into jam, but it can also be used to heal Galena and her allies. Her passive ability, Channeling, enables her to redeploy the totem faster by reducing its cooldown by five percent every time she picks up a health bubble. 

"She’s not the fastest Champion in the Arenas, but she’s resilient, and with her Unholy Totem and Channeling abilities, she’s even harder to frag," Bethesda said. 

Galena is playable in the Quake Champions closed beta, which is now underway. If you haven't yet signed up for it, you can do so at quake.bethesda.net. And if you have, be patient: Bethesda said the beta will be expanded to include more players "in the coming days." 

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.