============================================================================ THE PALADIN DEATH MANUAL v1.35 By Blade (BladeY2J@hotmail.com) 12th March 2002 Diablo II LOD Expansion v1.09D ============================================================================ ============================================================================ Ï INDEX Ï ============================================================================  Introduction  Why?  Concepts  Stat Point Allocation  Skills ----\ Combat Skills ----\ Offensive Auras ----\ Defensive Auras  Combinations ----\ Player vs. Monster Builds --------\ Zealot --------\ Hammer-Din --------\ Avenger --------\ Charge-a-Din (Charger) --------\ Smite-a-Din (Smiter) --------\ Medic --------\ Shock-a-Din --------\ Mage-a-Din --------\ Chip-a-Din --------\ Ranger (Bow Paladin) ----\ Player vs. Player Combinations --------\ vs. Paladins --------\ vs. Barbarians --------\ vs. Assasains --------\ vs. Durids --------\ vs. Necromancers --------\ vs. Amazons --------\ vs. Sorceress  Equipment  Version History  Credits  Copyright Information ============================================================================ Ï INTRODUCTION Ï ============================================================================ - The Paladin is one of the most powerful and easiest to screw up characters in D2. The reason being that the Paladin has no passive skills, but he makes up for it in powerful auras and combat skills. Picking the right auras and combat skills are essential to making a good Paladin. Paldin auras also extend to a radius so others in your party and hirelings will benefit from it. This makes the Paladin a party favourite unlike the Necromancer. ============================================================================ Ï WHY? Ï ============================================================================ - I've noticed a sudden drop in the number of Paladins online, maybe due to the new Expansion classes but also due to the changes made to their skills which made some high level Paladins less than optimal. ie Fanaticism is so much better than Concentration now. Even I swore never to play as a Paladin ever again after Blessed Hammer got nerfed, but a look at the skill charts changed my mind. Hopefully after more people read this they too will want create a new Paladin and take advantage of their upgraded skills as I have. ============================================================================ Ï CONCEPTS Ï ============================================================================ - Skill Saving Every time you gain a level you are granted 1 skill point for your character. Don't waste it. Save it until you've reached higher levels where it will become more useful. This is a good tip for all characters and if you wish to build a high level character of any type it is essential to your survival. - Auras Overlap When in a party with other Paladins it is best to use different auras since the same auras have no extra effect but different ones stack. eg. Fanaticism for damage and Salvation for resistance. - Physical Immunity Defense rating only helps so much against attacks. The best way to not take hits is to max out your "Chance to block" rating (75%). Holy Shield does this quite well and also provides an extra bonus to your overall defense rating. The mana cost is quite stiff but well worth it. - Party up A Paladin will be asked to join parties since all benefit from his aura. However in a party and/or with more people in the game it becomes increasingly harder. More experience is also given as a result of this. Always try to be with the party and fight together, you gain more experience than fighting solo elsewhere and getting your sorry ass whooped. The best place to level is in ActV: Bloody Foothills and the wilderness areas beyond that. The Ancients also give an excellent experience boost. - Specialize Use 3-4 main skills. You cannot specialize in everything. I like to use Vengeance with Conviction/Fanaticism each at 20. You can attain this around lvl 60 but if you want to max another skill you'll only do it by lvl 80. That's a far way off. It may be of more use to have some more diverse skills that don't need 20 points to be useful. eg. Holy Shield, Salvation, Holy Freeze etc. - Hell Survival In Nightmare and Hell modes different penalties are incurred. Leaching is cut in half, resistances are reduced by 40 and 100, and in Hell physical damage is reduced by a staggering 50%. Elemental damage is your best bet to deal damage and survive. In other words... Vengeance or Holy Shock. ============================================================================ Ï STAT POINT ALLOCATION Ï ============================================================================ - Each level you gain +2 to Life, +1 to Stamina, +1.5 to Mana. You also get 5 stat points to distribute. I suggest adding all 5 to one stat since it's easier to keep track of things this way. - STRENGTH: Only put enough here to be able to use your equipment. More points will only increase you damage in very small amounts, usually by 1 as you get past 100. - DEXTERITY: This affects two very important things, your 'Attack Rating' and your 'Chance to Block'. You should try to keep your attack rating above 75% or you'll begin to miss everything. Around 125 here should do the job. Again just put enough to have a good 'Attack Rating' and be able to use your equipment. - VITALITY: Each point here gives +3 to Life and +1 to Stamina. As a melee character you'll need extra life and this becomes increasing important in the higher difficulty settings where you get hit hard. You should add to this every once in a while and once you've attained enough Strength and enough Dexterity pour all your points into this one and don't stop! You can never have enough Life since the Paladin has no +life skills. - ENERGY: Each point here gives +1.5 to Mana. You don't need alot of mana as a Paladin and as a result you don't need to add any points here, it'll be much better spent in Vitality. Get something with mana steal if you run out too often. ============================================================================ Ï SKILLS Ï ============================================================================ -----------------  COMBAT SKILLS  ----------------- - Sacrifice (Level 1) Offers increased damage and attack rating in exchange for 8% damage returned to you. It's useful in Act1 but not worth it when doing high damage. If you do 1000 damage and the monster has 10 hit points you still inflict 8% of 1000 (80) damage upon yourself. It's very easy to commit suicide this way. Besides Charge offers higher damage and attack rating increases anyway and Vengence offers the same effect in elemental damage for mana. > Recommended Points: 1 if you plan on using Zeal, Vengeance etc. - Smite (Level 1) Smacks monsters stunning them for long periods using your shield. > Recommended Points: 1 if you plan on using Charge, Holy Shield etc. 20 if you decide to become a Smiter. - Holy Bolt (Level 6) A bolt of energy that damages the undead or heals your allies. Wussy damage and only to the undead. Pure crap. > Recommended Points: 1 if you plan on using Blessed Hammer or Holy Shield. - Zeal (Level 12) A trademark Paladin skill. This makes the Paladin hit multiple times (Max 5) with one click of the mouse and it offers an attack rating bonus. Useful for clearing large groups of monsters however once you click you can't stop so you can die in the middle of a Zeal. Best used to leach back life and mana quickly providing you have items that leach. > Recommended Points: 1 if you want better skills, 4-5 for ocassional use, 20 for Zealots. - Charge (Level 12) A running powerful attack that knocks back the attacker. Superior to Sacrifice but you have to be about 2 yards from the enemy to use it. Useless in very tight situations, great against bosses and for dueling. The highest damage Combat Skill available to the Paladin. With mana leech items you can use this with hardly ever running out of mana. > Recommended Points: 20 or 1 for Holy Shield. - Vengeance (Level 18) Adds elemental damage to attacks. At level 20 it adds +184% Cold, Lightning and Fire damage which totals +552% in damage. In addition to that it also adds to your attack rating and of course freezes everything you hit. Incredible skill. Previously this skill did not work with mana or life leach items even though a portion of the damage done is physical damage but it has been fixed in this (1.09b) patch. With mana leach items you can use this with hardly ever running out of mana. > Recommended Points: 5 if you plan on using this against Physical Immunes only, 20 if you plan on using it alot. - Blessed Hammer (Level 18) This summons a hammer that spirals around you outwards that hits anything it passes through. This used to do around 700-800 damage when combined with Concentration in the old days, I remember when letting five of these fly while getting surrounded would wipe out more than half of the monsters, now after it got nerfed it does about 400-450 magic damage. This is the best Paladin ranged attack IMHO. > Recommended Points: 1 if you plan to use Holy Shield, 20 if you think you're a Sorceress and you must have a ranged attack. Must be used with the Concentration aura to be effective. - Conversion (Level 24) Allows you to have a chance to convert a monster for 16 seconds during which they will fight for you and most importantly take hits while you cut into the pack. Some use this with Thorns but it isn't wise since the aura will stay on them for three seconds after the conversion wears off which means instant death for you and any other melee characters in your party. However this skill is a must have especially in Hell difficulty. > Recommended Points: 1-5 - Holy Shield (Level 24) Temporarily increases your defense rating, your chance to block and Smite damage. The max chance to block is 75% so keep that in mind while adding to this skill. > Recommended Points: 1-5 or 6 points, 20 for the Smiter. - Fist of the Heavens (Level 30) 1 second casting delay. Targets an enemy and delivers a huge surge of lightning which releases Holy Bolts to nearby enemies. Limited use, fairly good for duels, best used with Conviction against monsters and players. > Recommended Points: None or 1-20 for dueling. -------------------  OFFENSIVE AURAS  ------------------- - Might (Level 1) Increases damage by 60% at level 1! Good but there's plenty better down the road. Patience is a virtue. > Recommended Points: 1, if you plan on using Fanaticism or Conviction, none if you planto use Thorns. - Holy Fire (Level 6) Does fire damage periodically to monsters within the aura. Not powerful enough to be of any use past Act1 Normal. > Recommended Points: None, 1 if you plan on using Holy Freeze or Conviction, 20 if you want to search for chipped gems. - Thorns (Level 6) Muliplies the damage taken upon the attacker. Very useful but it must be maxed out if you want to go this route. Best used with Conversion. This does 1/10 the damage in PvP so it must be maxed if you want to use this in duels. Does not work against ranged atacks. > Recommended Points: 20 or none. 1 if you plan on using Conviction. - Blessed Aim (Level 12) Increases your attack rating giving you a better chance to hit monsters. > Recommended Points: 1 if you plan to use Fanaticism. - Concentration (Level 18) Increases the damage inflicted much like Might except that it also offers a 20% chance of an unstoppable attack. This means that an enemy hit will not prevent you from hitting them 20% of the time. In early days of the old Diablo II I would have said max this but Fanaticism has been upgraded so much that Concentration is out of the window. This aura combines with Blessed Hammer to deal more damage. > Recommended Points: 1 to use Fanaticism, 20 for the Hammer-din - Holy Freeze (Level 18) Freezes and slows monsters within it's radius. It works in PvP even if the oponnent has item mods like "Cannot be frozen" or alot of cold resistance. Paladins aren't very good at PvP and this evens the odds quite a bit. Also useful when running for your dear life or retrieving your corpse around monsters. > Recommended Points: 7 if you plan on PvP, additional points add very little to the effectiveness of this aura past this. 1 if you like having it or if you plan on using Conviction. - Holy Shock (Level 24) Damages monsters within it's radius and adds lightning damage to your attacks. Good but not great. In Hell many monsters are immune to lightning. Adds 1-715 damage at lvl 20 and does periodic 74-83 damage. > Recommended Points: None, the Combat Skill Vengeance is superior to this as far as elemental damage is concerned. You can use this with a bow to deal a ranged lightning attack. - Sanctuary (Level 24) Damages, repels and offers increased damage against the Undead. Not all monsters are Undead. Much like Prayer, not as useful as it sounds. > Recommended Points: 1 if you plan on using Conviction. - Fanaticism (Level 30) Increases damage (more than Concentration) add to your attack rating and increases your attack speed. +373% Damage and +135% to Attack Rating at level 20... whoo! Oh yeah this is the one. > Recommended Points: 20 for every Paladin. - Conviction (Level 30) Reduces enemy defense and the resistances of monsters. A great combo with Vengeance for the Avenger since it increases your final elemental damage by a percentage doing +125% at lvl 20. > Recommended Points: None or 20. -------------------  DEFENSIVE AURAS  ------------------- - Prayer (Level 1) This aura regenerates life however it does so at the cost of mana unlike all other auras. It sounds good but it acts way too slowly to be of any real use. It's easier to get regeneration from items than waste points here. Or better yet get some life leach items. > Recommended Points: None or 1 if you plan on using Redemption. - Resist Fire (Level 1) Grants you resistance against fire damage. +52% at the first level is great but not as good as Salvation. I say it once. > Recommended Points: None. - Resist Cold (Level 6) Grants you resistance against cold damage. +52% at the first level is great but not as good as Salvation. I say it the second time. > Recommended Points: None. - Resist Lightning (Level 12) Grants you resistance against lightning damage. +52% at the first level is great but not as good as Salvation. Third time's a charm. > Recommended Points: None. - Defiance (Level 6) Increases your defense rating. Holy Shield can do this as well as increasing your chance to block. Defense is virtually useless. > Recommended Points: None or 1 if you plan on using Redemption. - Cleansing (Level 12) Reduces Poison and Curse durations. Not as useful as it may sound. > Recommended Points: None or 1 if you plan on using Redemption. - Vigour (Level 18) Increases stamina, stamina recovery and run/walk speed. Running out of stamina may be a problem at level 1 but not at level 10. This can also increase your Charge speed in PvP. > Recommended Points: None or 1 if you plan on using Redemption - Meditation (Level 24) Increases your mana recovery rate by 300%. Just use a potion instead, it's faster. Nova sorcs will appreciate this aura considerably. > Recommended Points: None, if you're going for Redemption you'll have the prerequisites so it's up to you, 1 point is all you need for this to be useful. Sorceresses like it but they can handle themselves. - Redemption (Level 30) Redeems corpses for life and mana. This is like a rejuvenation potion since it instantly replenishes your life from monster corpses. Best used after a battle to regain life. I prefer simply using leach items. The points you gain are too little even at high levels. > Recommended Points: 1-10, you may not want to go too high with this since all corpses will be redeemed eventually. More points makes it work faster, if it works too fast you'll use up all the corpses too quickly. If it's a big group of dead monsters you'll only be able to redeem once at a high level while at a low level you can maybe return for a second redeem. Then again the higher the level of your Redemption the more points you gain. - Salvation (Level 30) Resist all elemental (fire, cold and lightning) damage 60% at the first level. There are better auras but this one is very useful against elemental uniques eg. the deadly lightning enchanted. Turn it on when you need the extra resistance, use a better aura when you don't. > Recommended Points: 1-5, possibly even none. Try to get a 4 socket shield, preferably a Paladin shield with some + resistances already on it, and socket it with 4 perfect diamonds to boost your resistances so you'll have to rely on this aura less often. * For exact current stats for all skills including other character classes refer to... http://www.battle.net/d2exp/skills/ ============================================================================ Ï COMBINATIONS Ï ============================================================================ -----------------------------  Player vs. Monster BUILDS  ----------------------------- - TIP: For close combat skills eg. Vengence, Sacrifice etc, clicking on a monster once and holding down the mouse button gives a zeal-like effect of continuous hits until the monster dies. It also saves you the cost of replacing your mouse. :) - ZEALOT: MAX Fanaticism with MAX Zeal Does quick damage but adds nothing extra. An old technique that's no longer useful unless you have some godly weapon. - HAMMER-DIN: MAX Concentration with MAX Blessed Hammer It deals magic damage which is not restricted in Hell or Nightmare but only does very low amounts of around 450. The mana cost is cheap though which means you can cast lots of these and heve them flying all over the place. - AVENGER: MAX Fanaticism, MAX Conviction with MAX Vengeance It's simple, just use Conviction till all monsters are affected, then switch to Fanaticism and hack them up quickly. Incredible combination. Don't be fooled by the displayed damage. Conviction increases your final elemental damage by a percentage so the damage inflicted is doubled! The best build in my opinion. - CHARGE-A-DIN: MAX Fanaticism, MAX Thorns with MAX Charge Does crazy damage with Fanaticism but it's pure physical damage. Best used to 'bounce' between monsters until you finish them off. Thorns works well when crowded. - SMITE-A-DIN: MAX Smite, MAX Holy Shield with MAX Fanaticism Unless you have a godly Paladin shield with good damage don't even attempt to do this build. But if you do, go for it! - MEDIC: Prayer, Meditation, Holy Bolt, Salvation and Cleansing. A unique new build that does no damage but instead just heals party members. For your morbid entertainment only. - SHOCK-A-DIN: MAX Holy Shock, MAX Conviction with Zeal MAX Fist of the Heavens with Conviction Much like the Avenger, use Conviction until all monsters are affected by the aura and then switch to Holy Shock to hack them up with Zeal. Or summon a Fist of the Heavens for crowd control. Shock-a-dins can also use a bow with Holy Shock for a ranged attack that costs no mana. You should put some points into Vengeance for the Lightning Immunes in Hell. - MAGE-A-DIN: MAX Conviction, MAX Fist of the Heavens MAX Blessed Hammer, MAX Concentration Blessed Hammer will do magic damage which is not reduced in Hell or Nightmare with Concentration and Fist of the Heavens with Conviction will do sweet lightning damage. Of course you'll want more points in Energy. - CHIP-A-DIN: MAX Holy Fire, wear specialized equipment With the advent of the Horadric Cube recipe that can use chipped gems to create a Cruel three socketed sword, demand for chipped gems has risen from 0 to "we can't get enough of them". Thus the Chip-a-din build. Basically you raise a Paladin to Lvl 28 and MAX Holy Fire. Then simply run around Act1 Normal picking up chipped gems as you go along. Kinemil's Awl Giant Sword adds +6 to the Holy Fire aura, Magefist adds +1, Peasant Crown adds +1, Spirit Shroud adds +1 and a Monk's Amulet adds +1 giving you a Lvl 30 Holy Fire. Sander's Riprap increases your speed by 40% together with 15% from Peasant Crown. The idea isn't damage but range, by the time you reach a monster it will be dead as you quickly run to the next grouping of monsters. You'll need 56 Strength and 34 Dexterity exactly to wear this equipment. Link the Holy Knight, creator of this build averages 13.5 chipped gems per half hour. Soon you'll be able to trade for some good Paladin gear. - RANGER (BOW-A-DIN): MAX Holy Shock with MAX Conviction MAX Fanaticism Why should Amazons be the only ones who can lay back and attack from a safe distance? Paladins too are capable of doing this effectively. With a fast bow and a Razortail belt (33% Piercing) sit back and watch the fireworks. Many points in Strength isn't necessary once you've found the right armor, those saved points should go in Dexterity to up your ranged damage. ---------------------------------------  BEST Player vs. Player COMBINATIONS  --------------------------------------- - Firstly Paladins aren't the best in PvP so you need to invest in the right skills to be any good. Godly equipment also plays a big parin this. - There is one effective dueling build for Paladins. You could choose to either specialise as a Smiter or Charger but having both would really surprise alot of people. This will require a high level Paladin with special equipment and careful skill and stat point placement. You also need a hell of alot of SOJs to buy your equipment. MAX Charge MAX Smite MAX Holy Shield MAX Fanaticism 1 Holy Freeze 1 Salvation Helm: Perfect Vampire Gaze Armor: Shaftstop and Guardian Angel (Um) Belt: Perfect String of Ears Boots: Gore Rider Gloves: Hellmouth Weapon: Scheafer's Hammer Shield: Herald of Zakarum (Um) and Stormshield Amulet: +2 Skills, Prismatic, Leech and Teleport Amulet Rings: 2 Dual Leech Prismatic, 2 Raven Frosts Charms: ` 5% Small Run/Walk Small Charms (Enough to make you blindingly fast) ` 5% Resist All Small Charms (Till maxed resists with Guardian Angel) ` +20 Life Small Charms (Try to reach 2000 Life) ` + X Damage Small Charms (Enhances your damage) DO NOT DUEL WHILE LAGGING! - vs. Paladins Always try to chill them with Holy Freeze first. Wait for them to Charge then immediately start Smiting till dead. - vs. Barbarians Try to chill them with Holy Freeze first. Wait for the first few Whirlwinds so he'll be low on mana and Charge with Fanaticism and immediately start Smiting till dead. - vs. Assasains Be wary of her traps. If she charges up on nearby monsters wait till it wears off. Chill her with Holy Freeze then Smite away until she dies. - vs. Druids Pick off his Minions and Spirit one by one with Charge, then Smite him away. - vs. Necromancers Necros will try the Iron Maiden/Bone Wall trick. Do not attack. Simply put on your Teleport Amulet to get close to him and Smite him, one should do it. - vs. Amazons Speed will help alot here, as will your blocking. Run up to her and Charge her or Smite her down. - vs. Sorceresses Put on your Guardian Angel and make sure your resists are at 95%. Wait till she's close and Smite her down. ============================================================================ Ï EQUIPMENT Ï ============================================================================ Ï BASIC Ï This is a simple guide to know what to look for in an item and a few suggestions of attainable items. Most people can't afford uber items. - Armor: Defense is good but not great. Get one with a good mix of defense and/or resistances. I suggest Silks of the Victor for Avengers or Runeword Smoke. - Shields: Try to get a 4 socket shield, preferably a Paladin shield with some + resistances already on it, and socket it with 4 perfect diamonds to boost your resistances. Until then try Ancients Pledge Runeword: Ral-Ort-Tal with any 3 socket shield of your choice preferably a Tower Shield or a nice 3 socket Paladin shield. - Weapons: The highest damage one handed weapon you can find with a nice fast attack speed. Blunt weapons are nice since they add an extra "+150% damage to the Undead". Aldur's Rythum is a great mid level weapon after that a Butcher's Pupil is a good step up. An Atlantean should be your main goal. - Helms, Gloves: Defense is a plus but try to get anything with good +resistance or Increased Attack Speed. Tal Rasha's mask is great for Paladins. - Belts: Heavy or plated belts offer 16 potion slots try to get one with +life and/or resistance. - Boots: Anything with faster Run/Walk is great along with extra resistances. Tearhaunch is a good choice here. - Rings, Amulets: Anything that does mana/life steal, adds to life, resistances or skills. - Charms: These can fill up your inventory in a hurry. Keep only very good, preferably smaller charms that add to your resistance etc. One thing to keep in mind is that +7% small magic find charms and +damage small charms can be traded for valuable items. - The best of the four resistances to max is Fire and Lightning but try to max them all. Ï UBER Ï - Armor: Guardian Angel (Um) - Shield: Herald of Zakurum (Um) - Weapons: Baranar's Star, Lightsabre or Scheafer's Hammer - Helm: Vampire Gaze (Um) - Gloves: Laying of Hands - Belt: String of Ears - Boots: Waterwalk - Rings: Duped dual leech prismatic rings - Charms: Whatever's needed to finish max your resistances or increase your life. ============================================================================ Ï VERSION HISTORY Ï ============================================================================ - This is the first edition of The Paladin Death Manual and is valid up to the 1.09B patch. Beyond that things can change alot, hopefully for the better as it has in the past for the Paladin. Generally speaking of course. - Second update to this FAQ. Included update on Smite-a-dins, Conviction, and updated the "Combinations" Section. - Third update to this FAQ. Included update on Zeal, I had erroneously typed 14 instead of 1 when describing the skill. Two new builds on the Shock-a-Din and the Mage-a-Din. - Fourth Update to this FAQ. Included update on the Shock-a-din build and revised the Strength and Dexterity stat point allocations. Added some suggestions on equipment. Corrected a few typos. This FAQ is current up to the 1.09C patch. - Fifth Update. Minor corrections. Current to the 1.09D patch. - Sixth Update. Revised the Conversion skill description. - Seventh Update. Added the Chip-a-din and Ranger builds. - Eight Update. Added info on Chip-a-din equipment. - Ninth Update. Corrected some errors with the descriptions of the Resist Cold and Resist Lightning. They stated that they give Fire resistance due to my copy and pasting. Current to the 1.09D Patch. - Tenth Update. Updated the Dueling Section. ============================================================================ Ï CREDITS Ï ============================================================================ - God most importantly. - GameFaqs.com for it's great collection of FAQ's - My brother who thinks Barbarians are better but is so wrong. - Blizzard for making a great game even though they screwed things up at first but they made up for it. - Slodeth (Martin Silbiger)for his Diablo II Paladin guide. It made me a better player and pushed me to write a good Paladin FAQ for the Expansion. - GameFaq posters for the Smite-a-Din build and the Medic build. - Will Nociti who sent in the Shock-a-Din build which I later refined. - GameFaq posters for unveiling the hidden usefulness of Conversion. - Link the Holy Knight for his Chip-a-din build. - Alex Carlson who tipped me off on the usefulness of Kinemil's Awl to to Chip-a-Din which I expanded upon further. - If you like WRESTLING be sure to check out my site at... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ + + --> http://VortexWrestleNews.com <-- + + +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ gotta plug the site... :) ============================================================================ Ï COPYRIGHT INFORMATION Ï ============================================================================ - You may use and alter this FAQ with your notes for your own personal use. - You cannot re-distribute this FAQ in any way or form other than in it's original format. - You may print this FAQ for your personal use. - You cannot profit from this FAQ. Not even 1 cent for the cost of paper or $1 for the cost of the CD you copied it to. - If you disagree with these conditions please remove/delete this FAQ from your storage archives. - I have done Business Law, in addition to which I have a very experienced lawyer in my immediate family so there WILL be a law suit if you violate the copyright of this document. - Specialized equipment leaty very good at +7%. If situarunictalf Combo Helleases try the undead avl 20. > Recommended Points: 1 if you want to Redemption neede