Perfect Pally Items

[Zafarium]

I was just wondering what the perfect items for a Zeal/Fant pally would be. I was also wondering what items I could realistically find (without multiple Hell Meph runs) or trade for myself.

Any thoughts would be helpful. Thanks.

[Chameleon]

I was just wondering what the perfect items for a Zeal/Fant pally would be. I was also wondering what items I could realistically find (without multiple Hell Meph runs) or trade for myself.

The Dream:
Helm: Vampire Gaze (socket with UM or BER)
Body: Shaftstop (socket with UM)
Belt: String of Ears
Weapon 1: Breath Of The Dying (Phase Blade)
Weapon 2: Famine (Phase Blade)
Shield 1: Hearld of Zakarum (socket with UM or BER)
Sheild 2: 4 socket Paladin Shield with +3 Conviction, +3 Offensive Auras and PDiamonds
Ring 1: Raven Frost
Ring 2: Wisp Protector
Amulet: Mara's Kalidescope or Atma's Scarab or Highlord's Wrath or Cresent Moon
Gloves: Laying of Hands or Soul Drainer
Boots: Gore Riders or Shadow Dancer

The reality:
Helm: Tal Rasha's Horadric Crest (socket with UM or BER)
Body: Shaftstop (socket with UM)
Belt: String of Ears
Weapon 1: Lightsaber or Honor (Phase Blade)
Weapon 2: Baranar's Star
Shield 1: Hearld of Zakarum (socket with UM or BER)
Sheild 2: 4 socket Paladin Shield with +3 Offensive Auras and PDiamonds
Ring 1: Raven Frost
Ring 2: Dwarf Star or Blood Craft
Amulet: Mara's Kalidescope or Atma's Scarab or Highlord's Wrath or Cresent Moon
Gloves: Laying of Hands
Boots: Gore Riders

As you can see, there isn't a heck of a lot of difference. It will mostly depend on how much you want it and how much time you have to invest in searching for the items or tradable items.

Good luck to you though
BTW, I am very unlucky player, so I have never found a Lightsaber, Shaftstop, Mara, Highlord's, Vampire Gaze or Gore Riders and I have been playing about 10 hrs a week since the game came out.

[Sir_Die_alot]

The Dream:
Helm: Vampire Gaze (socket with UM or BER)
Body: Shaftstop (socket with UM)

Don't use both. If you wear shaft wear shako instead of gaze. If you wear gaze wear Guardian Angel. There is now a cap on damage reduction, 40% I belive.

Belt: String of Ears
Weapon 1: Breath Of The Dying (Phase Blade)

Seriously if I saw a paladin using this I would laugh at him for not using an ethereal berserker axe. A phase blade can not be ethereal so the max damage on a BOTD one is about 180. I'm not bothering to go check, but a 60% ias berserker axe is very close to the max zeal speed and won't need much help getting there. I'm farily certain 60% is enough.

Weapon 2: Famine (Phase Blade)
Shield 1: Hearld of Zakarum (socket with UM or BER)

If you socketed your armor and/or hat with Ber this should be an Um. It should be an Um anyway becuase Um gets the best bonus here.

Sheild 2: 4 socket Paladin Shield with +3 Conviction, +3 Offensive Auras and PDiamonds

You sure you know what you are talking about? Paladin shields don't get bonus skill mods. Don't forget a high resist ethereal Exile in the uber shield catigory.

Ring 1: Raven Frost
Ring 2: Wisp Protector
Amulet: Mara's Kalidescope or Atma's Scarab or Highlord's Wrath or Cresent Moon

Compaired with the rest Cresent Moon is garbage. You may as well have tossed in rising sun to protect versus firewalls and eye for the chill duration. While useful it doesn't really go in the "uber" list before a nice rare paladin amulet (go safety craft!).

Gloves: Laying of Hands or Soul Drainer

Good choices but personally I am rather partial to blood craft gloves with 20% ias and 10% crushing blow, along with those mods mods these can add resists, mana steal, life steal compairable to Soul Drainer, and higher defense.

Boots: Gore Riders or Shadow Dancer

What is it with people and Shadow Dancers? Yeah nice assasin boots but all they have for a paladin is some dex (can get off a rare) and defense (can get that off a rare too) FHR (rare) and run speed (rareityrarerare). Wartravs are another good option.

[Todd]

No need to waste Um's for armor/helm when you can get 15% resist all jewels for considerably less.

As noted, there's a cap on DR, so Shaft + Gaze is a bit overkill. I'd probably go with Gaze + GAngel, but there are lots of decent possiblities here.

For weapons, I'd think a Stormlash would make it into the high end category - much easier to obtain than a BotD as well.

[adeyke]

The Dream:
Helm: Vampire Gaze (socket with UM or BER)
Body: Shaftstop (socket with UM)

Don't use both. If you wear shaft wear shako instead of gaze. If you wear gaze wear Guardian Angel. There is now a cap on damage reduction, 40% I belive.

50%.

So Shaftstop (30%) and Vampire Gaze (15-20%) can both be used without running into the cap. The Ber would be wasted, though.

[Sir_Die_alot]

Belt: String of Ears

Overflow.

[LavCat]

Good luck to you though
BTW, I am very unlucky player, so I have never found a Lightsaber, Shaftstop, Mara, Highlord's, Vampire Gaze or Gore Riders and I have been playing about 10 hrs a week since the game came out.

You're not unlucky, you just don't play enough.

It is so 1.09 but I favor Sazabi's Grand Tribute for my Fanatic Zealot. Thundergod's, Herald of Zakarum, Laying of Hands, Waterwalk (some may scoff), and Rising Sun (yes, I have Highlord's and 1.08 Saracen's on a mule). Four socket Caduceus on the switch. Together with a combat skills tower shield gives plus five to Holy Shield. With a bit of shopping I suppose I could get that up to six.

He has done the clone in thirty seconds.* Had I a Cham I would socket it in the Cobalt Redeemer. My Frostwind sorceress has come to appreciate the "hit freezes target" attribute.


*with enchant

Used to use Todesfaelle Flamme on the switch, but a friendly enchantress is far comelier.

[Chameleon]

Helm: Vampire Gaze (socket with UM or BER)
Body: Shaftstop (socket with UM)

Don't use both. If you wear shaft wear shako instead of gaze. If you wear gaze wear Guardian Angel. There is now a cap on damage reduction, 40% I belive.

Didn't realize the cap had been lowered that much. I hadn't researched it, thought it was still up in the 75% range.

Seriously if I saw a paladin using this I would laugh at him for not using an ethereal berserker axe. A phase blade can not be ethereal so the max damage on a BOTD one is about 180. I'm not bothering to go check, but a 60% ias berserker axe is very close to the max zeal speed and won't need much help getting there. I'm farily certain 60% is enough.

Correct and thanks for the advice. I have never before considered axes for a paladin, as I had never seen one be practical. Learn something new everyday, hence the reason I read this message board regularly.

Sheild 2: 4 socket Paladin Shield with +3 Conviction, +3 Offensive Auras and PDiamonds

You sure you know what you are talking about? Paladin shields don't get bonus skill mods. Don't forget a high resist ethereal Exile in the uber shield catigory.

Wrote while half asleep and somehow I think I got Paladin shields confused with Necro heads. Don't ask. This is the best answer I can think as to why I wrote that.

edit: spelling and grammer

[arrunique]

You should have a tossing weapon in the stash since iron maiden will shred you. I like a perfect upgrade buriza but OB knights are cold immune. Couple of choices there but I like demon arch or glimmershred (eth arch while we are dreaming). Then for the shield use either dragonscale or tiamat socketed with a facet, or a 40% enhanced damage 4 socket pal shield socketed with lightning and fire facetes.

For the more experienced paladins out there is 1 point in vengeance enough for PI or do you need some helper gear?

[gekko]

1 point in vengeance is enough assuming your primary weapon deals enough damage. You will, of course, not kill as quickly as against non-PI's; however, in truth you WANT to keep vengeance low, as the mana cost becomes very high as you invest skill points.

Switch to conviction while fighting PI's, even if it's only a slvl 1, unless you really, really, really, really, really need whatever your primary aura is giving you. Even if it's not high enough to break immunities, it dramatically increase the damage you do to PI's, thus cutting down the time needed to use vengeance.

Another choice for PI's (and combating the iron maiden curse, btw) is a passion phase blade on weapon switch. Use of the berserk skill to cut through immunities and avoid the nasty reflecting damage.

gekko

[Freepaperclips]

As long as we're dreaming I'll take an Eth Lacerator B).

[Jeger]

Guardian Angel was a must for me as I love the extra resistances.

Helm: 69% Kira's
Body: Guardian Angel
Belt: Verdungo's (15% +36 vit)
Weapon:Crescent Moon (Phase Blade) cause I am a shock trooper
Shield: Stormshield (UM)
Ring 1: 9% Carrion Wind
Ring 2: Rare Ring (13% LR 25% fire)
Amulet: 28% Mara's Kalidescope
Gloves: Dracul's Grasp (9%)
Boots: Gore Riders

I can't imagine much better. I have 18% life steal, ITD, cannot be frozen, -35% to enemy lightning resistance. Lightning Resistance at 95% other resistances at 90%. Damage reduction at 50%, which I think is the limit. Tons of special on-hit triggers (5% life tap, 15% crushing blow, 60% open wounds, 15% deadly strike, 10% chain lightning, 7% static field, 8% twister.) I still have sockets I can add to the set up, too. I'd like to replace ring 2, I guess.

I have not chosen a back-up set of weapons, because my wife is a sorceress, and when I get a lightning iummune, I just switch on conviction and she roasts or freezes it. :)

[Kman]

1 point in vengeance is enough assuming your primary weapon deals enough damage.  You will, of course, not kill as quickly as against non-PI's; however, in truth you WANT to keep vengeance low, as the mana cost becomes very high as you invest skill points.

Switch to conviction while fighting PI's, even if it's only a slvl 1, unless you really, really, really, really, really need whatever your primary aura is giving you.  Even if it's not high enough to break immunities, it dramatically increase the damage you do to PI's, thus cutting down the time needed to use vengeance.

Another choice for PI's (and combating the iron maiden curse, btw) is a passion phase blade on weapon switch.  Use of the berserk skill to cut through immunities and avoid the nasty reflecting damage.

gekko

when ppl say "upgraded" wat does this mean (1.10 noob :D )

[Bun-Bun]

Just FYI, you'll get better answers here if you:

1. Reply to the post you're inquiring about.

2. Don't quote irrelevant parts of the previous post.

3. Don't use "chat speak". It's not appreciated on this board.

In answer to your question, 1.10 provides Horadric Cube formulas for converting rares and uniques from normal to exceptional and exceptional to unique. They're quite handy for making some of the normal-grade uniques useful into Nightmare and beyond, and for giving exceptional unques and rares enough punch for Hell. You can look up the formulas at the Arreat Summit.

One upgrade I find cheap and beneficial is upgrading normal-grade unique and rare belts to exceptional grade for the four slots.

[Grayloch]

One upgrade I find cheap and beneficial is upgrading normal-grade unique and rare belts to exceptional grade for the four slots.

Hmmm...I had pretty much dismissed the thought of upgrading belts as it didn't seem worth it just to get a few more points in def., but I totally missed the fact that they would get four rows. This suddenly puts a whole new perspective on upgrading belts. I learn something new every day--thanks for the tip! :)

-G.

[TrueMuppet]

Heh. 'Perfect' & 'realistically find/trade' are mutually exclusive in most cases :). Still, you can easily get a rockin' Zealot going without having to resort to duped or exorbitantly expensive gear. My personal preferences:

Cheap & good

- Headstriker & Butcher's Pupil are dirt cheap & really good weapons when upgraded, their high Deadly Strike being the selling argument. Push coming to shove you can tackle Hell with 'em even without the upgrade.
- Crescent Moon is a pretty darn damaging weapon, your cheapest ticket to 'Chance to cast Static'. Socket in Phase Blade (speed) or Berserker Axe (damage).
- Passion makes for a nice lowbie runeword & can serve you well as a one point wonder PI killing solution.
- Duriel & Lionheart are 'can't ever go wrong with that one' armours.
- Guilleaume's Face is the best offensive Zealot helmet hands down, hardly any other piece of gear will enhance your kill speed as well as this ugly hat. Especially in SC, I would never use another helmet unless I can get enough DS & CB elsewhere.
- Same pretty much applies to Gore Riders.
- Try getting a 2s elite Pally shield (Sacred Rondache or the like), socket Rhyme & you have a smokin' low budget shield. Dito decent shields if Smite damage is irrelevant: Moser & Whitstan's.
- Laying of Hands or nice gambled rare 20 IAS gloves are cheap & easy to get & will serve you well.

Pricey, but payable

- The usual 1.09 suspects as weapons: Lightsabre & Baranar; my fave payable 1.10 elite unique, though, is Heaven's Light as it has great built-in mods plus customizablity via its sockets. If you want to go Hellforging for a while, Call to Arms is one of the new runewords you can 'brute force' by doing lots of Hell Hellforge mules; while usually used as a mere BO weapon, it works great as your mainstay weapon as well.
- Shield, Herald of Zakarum & nothing else. Still the best allround Pally shield, IMHO.
- If you don't want to use Guilleaume's, Gaze is a good defensive hat, especially in HC. I found the differences in leech & %DR rather negligible, so shop for a cheap one with 'bad' stats. Delirium is all the rage among 1.10 HC meleers. I don't like it much as its effects are rather chaotic & override other useful ctc effects all the time, plus you can get Terror & Confuse as charges on jewelry as well.
- If you want to go the high DEF route, Stone is worth a look or three. If you want to go 'high res, as little DEX for blocking as possible', Guardian Angel is your armour. Naj's Light Plate is cool as well, especially for a 'feather weight' low STR, high VIT Zealot; it's damage-to-mana alone will make any manaleech redundant. Shaft, I don't like it much, as it offers precious little beyond %DR - pointless in SC, IMHO, and in HC, I'd prefer the Gaze/String combo for %DR any day.
- Highlord's Wrath still is among the best Pally amus, as it ups your offensive potential sooo nicely (Deadly Strike, IAS).
- Two fantastarific chance-to-cast doohickeys: Dracul's Grasp is a life insurance in HC as you can count on it to always provide you with Life Tap. Reaper#s Toll is the best merc weapon for a pysical damage centered char hands down - increases you damage & cuts your enemies' damage & attack speed in half. Highly recommended stuff.

Wallet Busters

- Personally, I wouldn't expect to ever see a legit BotD or a legit Zod rune available for trade at a payable price. Realitic stuff: Death Cleaver (only if your rig is low on %DS, otherwise you're wasting much of its potential) & Stormlash. Both are extremely damaging weapons. Schaefer's is superior to the latter two only if you can support it with a really good IAS centered rig to reach 4 fpa Zeal, as the mighty hammer is slooow. Another dream weapon: Beast in a Zerk Axe. Fanatism built right in so you can use another aura instead.
- Chains of Honor, *sigh*, if only it didn't require a Ber <_<... Sorta like Lionheart on steroids. Seeing %ED/max jewels are buggy when socketed off-weapon, a 4s/Life plate makes sense mostly if you use a slow weapon (Schaefer's...) & need to get it up to speed. In this case, go for IAS/%ED or IAS/resist jewels as needed.

HTH, TM

[Meahdros]

My Zealot seems to be nigh unstoppable, he's only died once or twice to IM and can tank pretty much anything. A bit slow with only 30% IAS on shaft and gaze, but with a lvl 28 fanat, he doesn't need much extra ias and the life tap on Dracs is invaluable. He has somewhere around 65 to all res and 1300 life which seems to be plenty for any challenge.
Helm: Gaze
Body: Shaftstop
Belt: TGods
Weapon 1: Eth Demon Limb (best Zealot weap I've ever used 130-290, 100%+ demon dmg, 50% undead dmg, 11% ll, 222-333 fire dmg, covers all the bases but ias)
Weapon 2: Gimmeshred for all those PI's
Shield 1: Hearld of Zakarum P Diamond
Sheild 2: SS p diamond so those phys immunes don't hurt me too much.
Ring 1: Raven Frost
Ring 2: 5% BK Ring
Amulet: Mara's Kalidescope
Gloves: Draculs
Boots: Gore Riders

[Fragbait]

Hail Zafarium,

As you can see, there are many different opinions on which items are the best to have.
Considering this, and that I've rarely played on B-net at all, I'll just give you a list of things my pally
Lachdanan(lvl89) is wearing:

Helm: Veil of Steel. It's not uber,but helps a lot with the resists, and I couldn't carry Templar's Might without it.
Armor: Templar's Might.Good AC,I'm waiting for a 'Stone'. With 17k+ defense, foes hit me around 10-20%.
Weapon: Heaven's Light, currently with a 15%ias, 86 to AR jewel.
Shield: Herold Of Zakarum. Indeed a fine shield!
Gloves: Currently found Soul Drainer, which replaces Lava Gount. Those were nice for the enchant, too.
Boots: 45%mfind War traveller.
Amulett: 25% Mara's Kaleidoscope.
Rings: 3% Bul Kathos' Wedding Band, 250AR/18Dex Ravenfrost.
Belt: 14%Dam. Red. String Of Ears.

He's stuffed with charms that max my resists (preferably +5 to all) and that give me around 1000 poison damage, against monster regeneration, and I have to say that he's getting along quite good, except for perhaps Iron Maiden (always a pain in the ass) and sometimes gloam boss packs. With 'only' 75% res all,
Things can get tricky sometimes, I wonder what Meahdros does against gloams. Except dying, of course...
He is able to do complete act 5 Hell with players 3, the levels before Nihlathak with players 8.
Because damage reduction is low (I haven't found better gear in 3 years), he also takes these charging undead carefully. They seem to hit more often than the LCS would admit...
Well, that's about it.
Most items are quite easy to get, it's no dream setup.
Hope this helps,

Greetings, Fragbait

[Meahdros]

Quite simply I don't need the dmg red or life leech of string because I have 48% on gaze and shaft, so I use TGods. res in the 60's and light absorb can go a long way, and I actually have a redeemer that I throw on during baal runs in place of the gimmershred so when I kill a pack of gloams, I can whip on redemp to get some life back quick.

[Fragbait]

Hi Meahdros,

Yeah, Redemption proves to be a quite useful skill in 1.10. It significantly reduced the amount of potions that I need. I happen to have it on slvl 10 because of my skill boni, and the 1 point in it was very well worth it.
I must somehow have overread your lightning absorb, sorry. Yet resists in the 60's still seem a bit low to me, no harm intended. There can always be the unexpected conviction boss around, and with hefty magical attacks in 1.10 (let us name Gloams, Balrogs, those cursing undead mages and some of those fire enchanted, lightning enchanted, multishot - bosses; I'm sure there are more).
Redemptions no good in the heat of the battle imho, though, it's too slow. But it's surely useful if there are some resurrectors around. Getting rid of the corpses - maybe the friendly necro in your party would not at all appreciate that.
Any ideas what best to do against Iron Maiden? It happens to me once and again that I haven't seen the mage yet, and I just started to zeal, then I see the flickering flames above my head and next thing I see is my death. No wonder, with damage output going far out in the 2thousands, and hardly 1100 life. If only 3 of the zeal attacks hit, my chances are slim.
I mean, any ideas besides '95% dam reduction' or 'just be more careful'. Sometimes you can't be careful enough.

Thx,

Greetings, Fragbait