Hello all,You may have seen the posts recently on the Amazon Basin about creating a damage reduction sorc. (If not,
http://forums.theamazonbasin.com/d2/ikonboard.cgi?s=3cbb8f3e3632ffff;act=ST;f=55;t=397
http://forums.theamazonbasin.com/d2/ikonboard.cgi?s=3cbb8f3e3632ffff;act=ST;f=55;t=403 ) (if the links break, just go to Amazon Basin, Sorc Room, and look for the 2 posts about "The ultimate tanking sorc").
The idea is to use direct damage reduction items (rather than %reduce like shaftstop). You drop Sol runes (-7 damage each) into equipment, and use items "of life everlasting."
The idea sounded kind of fun for a sorc, but I decided to try it with a Pally.
Current equipment:
4-Sol Wire Fleece (28 damage reduce)
Circlet of Life everlasting (24) with Sol (total of 31 damage reduce)
Pally Shield with 33% resist & 4 Sol (28 reduce)
Amulet of Life Everlasting (25 damage reduce, plus +2 to Warcries 
)
Baranars Star
Gloves: Still trying to decide between Laying of Hands and Venom Grip
Boots: Gore Riders or Nat's Boots (unsure still)
Rings: It's a pally, right? Attack Rating and leech! 
Total Damage Reduction: 112 .
(I have thought about doing some safety crafts for gloves / boots / belt (as well as Cathans ring, which I used for a while for leech) but the added reduction would seem to be minimal.)
Skills: Plain-vanilla Fanatical Zeal for now, with 10ish each in Convix, Holy Shield and HF.
The Idea: Why not try the Tank sorc on a melee class? What class? Well, pallies have auras (Salvation in paricular to make up for lousy resists), they have shields with built-in resists, they have great blocking, and they have no offense anyway . . . the damage reduction pally was born.
The Verdict: At Lv66, I'm in Hell Cows; I can take most monsters in Hell (except high elemental damage monsters) without breaking a sweat. Almost everyone outside of A4 or A5 hell makes absolutely no physical impact on me at all. What can hurt me still? Boss Packs (extra strong, fanat, might, cursed). Super Uniques (Duriel, Diablo, etc). Elemental Damage, of course. Hell Cows and Minotaurs can inflict up to 50 damage (cows) or 20ish (minotaurs). Lister and other Baal tagalongs (including Venom Lords, though it's hard to tell how much of that is fire).
You grow into your equipment by mid-30's, until there I played pretty much a normal pally. Str 153, Dex 136 (Baranars; Phase Blade if I ever get a lightsaber); Vit the rest. (Life 600ish, going to go up now as I pump Vit)
The good: Unless you're seriously lagged, or being far too bold , you should really never die. Physical damage is almost non-existent. You can stand in a cow pack in hell for 30 seconds (swinging for some leechback) without chugging a red. If you have potions, you can stand there for minutes.
Elemental Damage hurts still. However, with a few charms, plus Salvation (or Cleansing for poison) you can reach full resists. Of course, full resists in Hell is still not enough, and elementals will get you pretty quickly if you're not careful.
Holy Freeze plus damage reduction = massive survivability. This build might be good for HC, I'm not sure (with my slow computer and connection, I never play HC--it would be asking for trouble).
Problems: Even with Baranars, offense is mighty slow. The typical Pally issue: Which auras to use? Fanat, Convix, HF, and Salvation all have uses, so you'll flash a lot and still sometimes end up going all defense (HF/Salv) or chance dying to elemental damage (HF/Fanat) in order to kill things in a reasonable time.
The other big problem was lack of +skills. I didn't realize how accustomed I had become to those. Drop a point or two in Zeal and assume it's going to be Lv5? Nope, you have to put in every point you plan on using. I may eventually find a +2 pally, -25 dmg amulet and circlet, but until then no +skills for this build.
Thoughts for future: OCnsidering moving over an Iratha's set for the resists. The will strip me of 24 damage reduction (after I socket the crown with Sol) but may make up for it with resists. We'll see.
Anyways, the character is fun. I'm tired so this explanation (not a guide) is probably pretty choppy. I hope you enjoy it! If anyone needs some starter gear on East, I have a -18 ammy and a few 4-sox pally shields.
-goldfish------------
"one person's holy cow is another's quarter pounder with cheese"
-Pete
"His wife replied that is was marinated dog. My sister went pale. My brother had seconds. I tried some. Spicy and tasty. Better than the brains, not as good as the abalone."
-Occhi
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