v1.10s; Sometimes using Amp Damage is inferior

[Crystalion]

All v1.10s info. Forgive me if I missed seeing this posted earlier in v1.10 change info posts...

I have recently (and correctly) been reproved for not bowing to the uberness of Conviction. As I have now added it to my mental list of uber skills that probably should be slightly nerfed (CE, Enchant, Conviction, etc.) for play balance I hope I will forgiven for previously overlooking it (the key thing for me is not the lower resist uberness, which is awesome to be sure, but the huge -DR% that nearly grants assured hits--which is very useful for attackers that are enchanted etc.).

If you are a Paly who uses Conviction it is fairly likely that you also know Sanctuary (as it is a pre-req). It turns out that if your personal attempt to damage an undead monster by physical damage via melee or ranged attack is being frustrated by the monster being physically immune, you should consider Sanctuary along with the other "normal" options:

1. change to non-physical attack (vengence, holy bolt, blessed hammer, enchanted, berserk, etc. etc.)
2. get an Amp Damage off on the monster to break its immunity
3. get a Decrepify off on the monster to break its immunity

The reason is that the patch message saying:

Ignores resistances

several times about Paladin skills is somewhat in error. Holy Bolts (also from FoH) do ignore undead resists. FoH lightning does not ignore resists. Blessed Hammer does ignore resists of both demons and undead (this is one of the "etc." on my nerf/balance list above). But, last and surely not least, they don't mention that having the Sanctuary aura up apparently grants your melee and ranged attacks the ability to ignore undead resistance to physical completely.

In other words, in some situations, Sanctuary is a "one point wonder".

If you rely on physical damage, then any undead with decent physical resist or immunity are excellent candidates for the Sanctuary treatment. I suspect some helpful Lurker will reply with a near exhaustive list of such, eh? :)

And, finally, this explains (another reason) why Azurewrath having the Sanctuary aura is so cool... your decent physical damage will not be impeded by undead phys resist/immunity. (FYI the other reason is the neat "sparkly" animations).

Of course, if you are Amping/Decrepifying the monsters, I suppose Sanctuary also probably negates the benefit of getting undead below zero physical resist, but I've not tested that. I've also not tested "unusual" physical attacks (e.g. blade skills of an Assassin using Azurewrath, etc.). And before you ask, no, using Berserk (converts physical to magic damage) isn't benefited by Sanctuary (indeed, if the undead monster is both phys and magic immune, using Berserk with Sanctuary eliminates all damage).

edit: FYI for those of you not totally familiar with Paly auras: Sanctuary is one of those "personal" auras, so it doesn't enhance anyone but the aura wielder. I also have no idea if wielding Azurewrath on a weapon switch works, but I assume not.

p.s. re: the nerfing comments... YMMV, so please send all hate mail to Bolty, as he is the villain responsible for letting me post here. ;)