Paladiny things?

[LucianDK]

Ive long had a break with d2, but out of sheer boredom ive considered to go back for a bit. And was thinking of something different to do instead of the usual power builds.

I have long had found the pally auras Sanctuary, meditation and redemption quite interesting. But sanct and redempt is quite quite limited in use. One undead only and quirky, the other needing corpses. So i was thinking of a vengeance pally, but one who is using meditation to fuel his swinging. I know i loose a lot from not having conviction, but he could be a good asset to a party, and not that much have to worry about mana leech. Having meditation means he can keep going a lot longer. Plus he wont suffer from difficulty leech reduction, nor having to worry about leech imune enemies.

And it will be a lot more common to find pallys with conviction. And who doesnt love +700% mana regen when he is around? Especially since vengeance has an obscene mana cost at high levels. And meditation remains usefull versus all enemies. And holy shield would make a nice tertiary skill to pump.

[Nicator]

Not even the fastest paladin can break the 8-frames per swing. A lot of bad things can happen to a surrounded paladin who swings just 3 times per second and kills slowly. ;)

[Occhidiangela]

Work just fine, but you don't have to max it to make it work well. Consider that you will end up with + Skills before long, and take that into account. When moving between various monster groups, switch to Meditation, and when there is a pile near you, turn on Redemption, otherwise keep Conviction up at all times.

Run Conviction to about 6 when you first get it, more points later on.

Put one point into Redemption, put 5-10 at most into Meditation. 400% recovery is nice, and with + skills, it just gets better. Make sure you seek out items that have + Mana, and you may never need to raise your base Mana at all! (My Hammerdin is an example.) No fooling. Consider Socketing Circlets that have + resistances or + Mana with Perfect Sapphires.

Early on, you will drink blues, sure, but later on, Mana Pool size influences recovery rate. You need to drink around Mana Burn bosses anyway, so get used to it. ANd the single Point in Redemption, with a + skill here and there makes a huge difference.

10 into out Holy Shield, max later if you like.

Per Nicator's comments, don't let yourself get surrounded. :)

Consider a Might merc. Conviction and its DR reduction on the monsters takes care of any To Hit problems that Vengeance's +AR % won't solve.

Take Sanctuary to about 10 for undead early on, max later if you want to. Your problem with this is, in 1.10, the inability to flash Conviction for a to hit bonus, so you may miss a bit more ofter. That means Dexterity needs to be considered, which you have to anyway for 75% blocking.

You will eventually find a + skill item or two, huzzah, and that just makes it all more better.

What will you have to spend, when all is said and done, for this build?

By the end of Nightmare, if you level up to about 68 before you head for Hell, you will have to spend 76 points.

10 For Sanctuary (More later to taste)
10 for Holy Shield (30 % added blocking there, 35% at 20) More later to Taste if you need it.
1 Smite
1 Charge
1 Holy Bolt
1 BH
15 Conviction (Max when you can)
20 Vengeance
1 Sacrifice
1 Zeal
1 Might
1 Thorns
5 Meditation
1 Redemption
1 Prayer
1 Cleansing
1 Vigor
1 Defiance

You can blow off Redemption if you think those three points are a pain, and add those points to either Meditation, Holy Shield, Conviction or Sanctuary, but one point in Vigor can be a help in town and in running about with heavy armor on, and Redemption drinks up mana and health beautifully with even modest Plus Skills.

Put one point into Salvation if you must for friends, but a 4 socketed Paladin Shield with Perfect Diamonds is, IMO, a better choice for your own resists. YMMV.

[Nicator]

Work just fine, ... keep Conviction up at all times.

15 Conviction (Max when you can)

*cough cough* he didn't *cough cough* mention *cough cough* Conviction *cough cough* but Meditation *cough cough* :D

[LucianDK]

Yes, i wanted to do things differently. Trying to get around the all encompassing fanatisism and conviction. I think a mainly meditation user would be very wellcomed in parties that plays on the ladder. Especially when mana leech items and like items isnt readilly available. Besides, the aura looks good and has a kewl sound when it activates. And is one of the few that isnt flat looking.

And the prayer synergy is just extra icing on the cake.

[Nicator]

Well, if your intention is to make a party supporting build, then I completly agree with you. So much as to try to find you on some ladder game and stick with you as long as possible :D

[Occhidiangela]

The discussion was, as far as I was concerned, Avengers.

You can do less Conviction and more Meditation, sure, if you want to spend a lot more time clicking the mouse to kill each monster.

"But I will never run out of mana!"

Wonderful. With 10 Meditation, up, most Sorceresses won't run out of mana either.

[Occhidiangela]

Meditation may in some cases win you friends on bnet.

In others, you will be barked at:

"Hey Pally, put up Conviction."

Hey Pally, put up Fanaticism."

Trust me on that one, my Holy Shock Paladin got all kinds of requests in public games.

[Nicator]

I got all kind of requests on bnet, being the most common a zon asking for fanat and a sorc asking for Conviction. On my last realm paladin, I maxed both Fanaticism and Conviction, but instead of Vengeance/Conviction I went for Zeal/Conviction, using a shaeled Lightsabre and Tiamat's, getting 8/4 attack speed and good elemental damage at no big mana expense.

I usually didn't mind giving the aura I was asked for, but at times sorcs where just asking for too much when I was surrounded by cows and in desperate needing of the the extra life leech from increased physical damage ;)