06-12-2003, 04:31 PM
Hiya kathgar,
One of my favorite chars of all time is the Sanctuary paladin. My latest HC incarnation is a bit screwy by most player's standards, but this is after all, the Lounge. Keep in mind I only played this guy till A1 hell. His general set-up is as follows (haven't played in a while, so I can't remember all the specifics):
Maxed & + Sanctuary (duh)
Even split Conviction & Vengeance (bout 10 pts. each)
1 in Zeal (with +skills) mostly just for leeching
Charge (ended up putting remaining points here)
some other points in:
Vigor (yep)
Thorns
Defiance Merc from a2
Attributes (about)
100 str
100 + dex
everything else into life
- Alright, so - I wanted to make a character and actually play him, rather than the old click-&-kill basket weaving, so I went into this with micromanagement in mind (flashing, skill switching, etc). I wanted to work at a high blocking/defense too.
Sanctuary -
The attacking part turned out to be a lot of fun (with those thilly sparklies following me everywhere, how could it not be? :) ). I hadn't realized before I set out how well Charge works with Sanct, and so toward the end I gave up on Veng and just pumped Charge. They are really made for each other - the knockback pulse turns a room fulll of vicous undead into your own personal cuddly little pinball machine. I highly recommend it.
As for non-undeads, well... its tough but not really an issue. Vengeance does just fine, and if you limit your battling to areas where half the spawned enemies are undead (this is almost everywhere) you'll find little trouble. The reason being that Sanct basically renders any zombified monsters irrelevant, and you can concentrate on killing the others. Usually, by the time you're done with them, the pulse has killed all the undead off. For party play in these locations - I found flashing Conviction, then Thorns, and then Sanctuary (for your own damage) generally turns enemies into oatmeal.
One thing to watch out for is that UD Lightning Enchanteds are triggered by the pulse. Teammates tend to get annoyed by dying, so be mindful.
other stuff -
I'm not much of a number cruncher, but with 65% block & my A2 merc, I hardly ever got hit at all, even standing in big crowds. A HUGE factor in this, I reckon, is that my character never ran. To move quickly, I just switched over to Vigor. With FRW boots and some light armor, you can cruise right along, and the "chance to be hit by %" in your 'lying' character screen should be about right. Vigor makes everyone laugh too, so its fun. Ha ha! Look at us run! Wheeeee! We are running yay! Yay! Yaaay!!!
Whoa.
Thorns doesn't get enough credit, I think. Thorns is a lovely, extremely damaging skill. Of course, if you go for high-defense, then in late game (when you begin to get hit a lot less) your merc will have to be your spike-trap. With a Necro or Herding Druid, its bananas. You can do a whole lot about getting to level 30 using Thorns alone, and I suggest not giving up on it even later. Its always useful. Duriel hates it.
I could keep going, but the wife beckons. :P Good luck!
One of my favorite chars of all time is the Sanctuary paladin. My latest HC incarnation is a bit screwy by most player's standards, but this is after all, the Lounge. Keep in mind I only played this guy till A1 hell. His general set-up is as follows (haven't played in a while, so I can't remember all the specifics):
Maxed & + Sanctuary (duh)
Even split Conviction & Vengeance (bout 10 pts. each)
1 in Zeal (with +skills) mostly just for leeching
Charge (ended up putting remaining points here)
some other points in:
Vigor (yep)
Thorns
Defiance Merc from a2
Attributes (about)
100 str
100 + dex
everything else into life
- Alright, so - I wanted to make a character and actually play him, rather than the old click-&-kill basket weaving, so I went into this with micromanagement in mind (flashing, skill switching, etc). I wanted to work at a high blocking/defense too.
Sanctuary -
The attacking part turned out to be a lot of fun (with those thilly sparklies following me everywhere, how could it not be? :) ). I hadn't realized before I set out how well Charge works with Sanct, and so toward the end I gave up on Veng and just pumped Charge. They are really made for each other - the knockback pulse turns a room fulll of vicous undead into your own personal cuddly little pinball machine. I highly recommend it.
As for non-undeads, well... its tough but not really an issue. Vengeance does just fine, and if you limit your battling to areas where half the spawned enemies are undead (this is almost everywhere) you'll find little trouble. The reason being that Sanct basically renders any zombified monsters irrelevant, and you can concentrate on killing the others. Usually, by the time you're done with them, the pulse has killed all the undead off. For party play in these locations - I found flashing Conviction, then Thorns, and then Sanctuary (for your own damage) generally turns enemies into oatmeal.
One thing to watch out for is that UD Lightning Enchanteds are triggered by the pulse. Teammates tend to get annoyed by dying, so be mindful.
other stuff -
I'm not much of a number cruncher, but with 65% block & my A2 merc, I hardly ever got hit at all, even standing in big crowds. A HUGE factor in this, I reckon, is that my character never ran. To move quickly, I just switched over to Vigor. With FRW boots and some light armor, you can cruise right along, and the "chance to be hit by %" in your 'lying' character screen should be about right. Vigor makes everyone laugh too, so its fun. Ha ha! Look at us run! Wheeeee! We are running yay! Yay! Yaaay!!!
Whoa.
Thorns doesn't get enough credit, I think. Thorns is a lovely, extremely damaging skill. Of course, if you go for high-defense, then in late game (when you begin to get hit a lot less) your merc will have to be your spike-trap. With a Necro or Herding Druid, its bananas. You can do a whole lot about getting to level 30 using Thorns alone, and I suggest not giving up on it even later. Its always useful. Duriel hates it.
I could keep going, but the wife beckons. :P Good luck!
*Swarmalicious - USeast Hardcore
"A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men." - W Wonka
The Flying Booyaka and The Legend of Bonesnap
"A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men." - W Wonka
The Flying Booyaka and The Legend of Bonesnap