Hammerdin query

[Wapptor]

I know this may have been touched on before, but I am planning to make a hammerdin and I realize that he is not going to be sucessful just completely relying on hammers. I want the character to be fun, but I would like him to be able to take on any area of the game eventually, as you can probably tell, i'm pretty clueless. Anyway it still sounds fun and I want to try. Here is the projected build so far: (diablo 2 LoD 1.09 on battle.net USEast)

Skills:
20 bh
20 concentration
10 holy shield?
I plan to get him to about lvl 80 so obviously I have more skill points, I am unsure of what to do after Bh and if this is the type of paladin build that doesnt need holy shield.

Itamz (teh uber |337!) :P
Suicide Branch
Skin of the vipermagi (29 resists)
harlequin crest
glooms trap
magefist
I cant decide on boots and I am not sure if I would be better with lidless wall or HoZ. Also, would dual SoJ's help or Bul-kathos rings or is a raven frost and something else necessary?

My main problems are gear and skills, the build looks very fun but I am unsure what are the important things to invest in. Also I realize that BH wont do too well against pi/magic immunes or in cramped spaces like the maggot lair. What would be a good secondary attack/aura or just attack to create versatility for this build? Also, how many skill adders do I need for this to work? or is FCR more important? Should I consider %dr? or higher resists?

-Wapptor

[Numsay]

If you can get one, a lightsaber is a good secondary attack on you weapon switch. Just put one point in Zeal and let your plus skills take care of the rest to get to the Max swings. The other nice thing about the LS is it's almost at the speed cap just by itself without Fantasim so Concentration will work just fine as your aura.

[ShadowHM]

I have not made any Hammerdins, but I have heard that very good results can come from a Rhyme Paladin Shield. Get one that already has mods you like, and then add in the Sheal and Eth for improved mana recovery, among other nice things.

[Occhidiangela]

Let's consider Your Weapon II slot. One hand, big damage. King's Grace Ancient's Sword or Divine Scepter might me a good choice. I think you will be boosting Energy a bit, but if you choose to rely on items and a point or two in Redemption or Meditation from a scepter, then the strength for the three socketed item looks very do able. Your shield for that needs to be a high resistance paladin shield. I would go for 4PD 4 socketed shield that comes with some resists already. They are pretty findable in NM Diff. I like the round shields, but that is a style rather than functional issue.

back to Slot 1: this should include either Sigon's Shield, or a Paladin Shield, that is +1 or +2 to paladin shills, or Steelclash at lower levels. Best of luck in your item hunting.

Weapon ought to be any sort of scepter with +2 or 3 to BH and conc, preferably both. A point in Meditate or Rememption will make it perfect. Shop till you drop, I suppose, or hope to get lucky. If you fall into the Atlantean Sword with +2 Paladin Skills, good for you, that is an awesome Weapon 2 or Weapon 1. The Uber Uniques are of course subject to availability. :)

Circlet of +3 combat skills or +3 offensive auras, gambling is your friend, min clvl 45, not that hard to come across. If you find a stone of Jordan, bully for you, how about any +mana and or +mana regen rings, like the Manald Heal, if you can find it. Manald helps with Weapon II as well.

Suggest an alternate belt: Night smoke, if you can find it, for mana regen, but the string is nice for when you use skill and weapon set up II. Caster Crafts also can help.

We so far have a shot at 20 +3+3+1(2)+1or 28/29 BH and conc if you varied the gear between auras and skills in circlets and got bloody lucky with the secpter.

That is nice if not uber.

Skill 2.

Charge is a good choice, but Physical Immunes may give you trouble there, even though the Magic Damage in BH should overcome some of that. See Merc comments below.

Vengeance might be a better choice. Holy Shock is an alternative as it does not eat mana, but since you need mana for BH, why not go for Vengeance? This is what the high damage weapon II is for. Consider one point in Conviciton and let your +skills do the rest until you have points to add there once BH and Conc are done.

20 to Vengeance
20 BH
20 Conc
1 to more Conviction

If you pump auras over BH, and get it to 32, that at least marginally reduces your mana cost for Vengeance and BH, though for Bh the cost between 11.1 and 12 does not seem all that significant. Same with the diff between 10 and 11 for Vengeance.

And your prerequisites leave you with quite a few other options, including maxing Conviciton, which will help your Vengeance considerably.

Don't mess with Fanaticism. Concentration flashed with Conviction can help restore Mana (see Your Manald Heal) as will Mana Regen. If you get the luck on items that I outline, your Concentration is a +480 % at 29, which is nice I think.

Mercs. What is your pleasure?

Since you are doing the elemental/magic damage, you could opt for Strength Act II, or HF act II to keep the targets in one place longer in order to BH them more efficiently. I would suggest Holy Freeze if going Hardcore, for safety, and Might for Soft Core.

Alternately, you could get a Cold Arrow Rogue, and socket her bow, armor, and helm

(up to 6/4/3 in time) with either jewels, or 6 ORT Runes, which gives 6-600 lightning damage. Alternately, 3 ral and 3 Ort, or 3 ort and 3 tal to deal with immunes. If it is lightning Immune, you will probably knock it our with BH anyway, so why not max Rogue Lightning? Combine with Conviciton, and :) . . . What's not to like!

As I don't do a lot of Act III mercs these days, others may have better ideas on how to exploit their talents.

[Archon_Wing]

Well, I started a hammer thrower too and now he's level 38. It's pretty funny wiping the floor with normal ancients :P I wonder how far I can go

i use smite as my alternative attack in crowded places. As for nasty immunes, i plan to use blackbog's sharp for hit and run since i sotra suck up close:p You can also smite enemies to more open areas :D

If you can get your hands on a wizardspike, it makes life a lot easier since it can clear up those equipment slots.

Frostburn> magefist Intrestingly, I have no idea where my frostburn is but oh well. added a 40% mana boost is equalivent to having 40% more mana regen. So frostburn is clearly better. except for the lack of cast rate. However, you already have 80% faster cast, and you need 45 to break the next point. So unless you can (which is kinda hard) you don't need magefist. Unless you want the +2 fire skills for level 3 holy fire ^_^

You can max holy shield, but do that later.

Obviously if you had soj's it would be nice. 1 soj and 1 raven would be a good combo

Dr%? bleh, you can afford to fight further away, but you will get hit. If you have mana to spare, you can use string of ears rather than glooms trap. Resists are more important, in most of the game.

Boots? Silkweaves is probaly the best.

Cheers.

[Wapptor]

Thanks for the suggestions, there seems to be a theme, however.
How much mana do I need?
How much fast cast do i need and what are BP's?
What lvl BH/Conc do I need?

All to be effective of course (assume gear is basically not a problem)

-Wapptor

[Nicodemus Phaulkon]

Try looking past the end of your nose.

*tips helm*

[Loschonorg]

ophidian posted a sample build on hammerdin here. may be of interest to ya!

[D2Player69]

Alternately, you could get a Cold  Arrow Rogue, and socket her bow, armor, and helm

Just thought it might be worth noting that the cold arrow that these Rogue mercs shoot has a shorter range than their normal attack or the fire skill from the fire arrow version of the Rogue merc. (I'm pretty sure they do less physical damage, too, just like the Amazon's Cold Arrow skill, although this isn't much of a consideration in this case.)

Just yesterday evening I watched my martial arts assassin tank a big bad while her cold arrow Rogue merc fired a mixture of normal arrows and cold arrows - all the cold arrows missed because the target was outside their range while the normal arrows were hitting fine.

If you're going for big lightning damage on a Rogue merc, it can be more effective to use the fire arrow flavor and add one jewel or something that has a touch of cold damage to keep the target chilled. That way, the chill will take place regardless of which attack (normal arrow / special arrow) the merc decides to shoot.

John H
D2Player69@aol.com