Paladin 7/8: this is where you snag your juicy, kinda op defensive auras as well as the all-important extra attack. Paladin 2: netting you all armour& weapon proficiencies and divine smite, this is probably the earliest you can break off of from Paladin. In my opinion, these are levels 2, 7/8, and 11/12. However, what does matter are the key break-off points from Paladin into some more.exotic options.
The oath of the ancients is where we get the classic green knight vibe, and although taking 20 levels in it may seem incredibly vanilla (and it is) it remains to be a solid and no-nonsense option, with plenty of reasons for sticking with it. The run-of-the-mill fall from grace oathbreaker+ fiend warlock is textbook, but I do like a more mysterious corrupted forest knight vibe. In my option, thematically speaking, paladin multiclassing is difficult to do but awesome when done right. The core of this character invariably contains a few levels in paladin, with the oath of course being the Oath of the Ancients.
