04-16-2004, 10:12 AM
(This post was last modified: 04-16-2004, 10:15 AM by 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
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