07-20-2004, 07:44 PM
Quote:5 zeal
20 vengeance
20 salvation
20 holy shield
20 conviction
rest defiance
guess it will work quite nice
I wouldn't go with maxed Salvation. Try 10 each in Resist Fire/Cold/Lightning. These will give a much better synergy than Salvation, and they have the passive resist cap bonus, too. For every two 'hard' points (ie, not from items/shrines/Battle Command) in these, you get +1 to your maximum resist of that type. Combined with Guardian Angel armor, this makes it relatively easy to hit 95/95/95/90 resists (95 in poison res, too, if you slap on Venom Grips or something).
You still might want to stick a single point into Salvation as a utility aura. You can use it to help out party members in tight spots, as well as using it to bolster your resists when you're affected by Lower Resist and/or Conviction. It's only worth a single point though; the synergy kind of sucks (one point each in Resist Fire/Cold/Lightning is worth more than three in Salvation), and the diminishing returns hit pretty early. With some +skills, it will be plenty good enough to serve you in the times you need it.
A skill plan you might try is
20 Conviction
10 Resist Fire
10 Resist Cold
10 Resist Lightning
5+ Holy Shield
1+ Vengeance
1 in all prerequisites
The reason I say 1+ in Vengeance is that you get a good damage boost from the synergies, and exactly how much you want to pump Vengeance depends a lot on how much mana leech and +mana/kill gear you've got. There's nothing worse than having your main attack rendered unusable for lack of mana, and vengeance has a pretty steep mana cost as melee skills go, and it goes up every level. After you have maxed Conviction, got 10 in each of the resist auras, and got 5 in Holy Shield, you can choose whether to pump Holy Shield or Vengeance.
I also really agree with whoever suggested using Gimmershred. They are reasonably (albeit not super) fast, decent damage, loads of elemental damage, and you can throw them. This last is a real lifesaver in certain areas, such as the Chaos Sanctuary and Worldstone Keep where you're often cursed with Iron Maiden. Still, for most areas of the game, you'll probably do well with a good Paladin sceptre (Heaven's Light comes to mind; it's got solid damage, good Crushing Blow, +skills, it's fast, and it's got a socket or two).