Shadow Knights aren't actually all that much more popular than Paladins. Paladins are dead last for popularity on P1999, but Shadow Knights usually fall about fourth from the bottom as well. As noted above, both classes have but a few advantages over Monks.
Paladins suffer mainly due to their warped power curve. They're at their best from about level 30 or so up into the low/mid 50's. Once you get to the high levels, quite a few of their abilities either deteriorate in power or don't work at all. The inadequate scaling of their damage output was already noted. In addition, lulls become essentially useless against highly resistant monsters (almost everything at high levels), stuns become less reliable against these same creatures, and stuns simply don't work against giants or 55+ creatures (lots of these in Velious). High-level groups tend to be more likely to have a Cleric, so the utility their buffs provide also diminishes.
Most folks will enjoy the Paladin best if they use it as an alt with no particular intention of taking it to 60. It takes a specific sort of person to enjoy the class at the level cap given its limitations during this game era.
Danth
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