What skills next. Avenger

[Taem]

Strange - I know I've seen the price tag on that skill go over 10 since the patch.  And yes, that's a lot of mana - by the time my Avenger was using 6 per swing I had to abandon him because I just couldn't keep anything in my blue globe for any length of time.
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At skill level 20, Vengeance costs 8.7 mana per swing:

http://www.d2items.com/skills.php?class=pal

Now suppose you are VERY LUCKY and find a Herald of Zak shield and receive a +1 skills from your weapon, armor, and helmet for a total of +7 combat skills raising Vengeance to 27 costing 10.5 mana per swing.

With a Strength of 150+, a Might merc adding some physical damage (say +200% at skill level 10; only clvl 38) and a typical weapon (say 100 average damage after non-elemental/magic damage magical effects), you'd be doing the following physical damage:

STRENGTH ADDED DAMAGE:
Wpn Min/Max Dmg * (Str + 100) / 100
100 * (150 + 100) / 100 =
100 * 250 / 100 =
25,000 / 100 =
+250

MIGHT ADDED DAMAGE
250 + (250 * 200%) = 500
250 + 500 =
750

Unless Diablo lists the damage incorrectly, meaning the first +100% is the normal weapon damage and whatever comes after that is added damage, in which case:

MIGHT ADDED DAMAGE
250 * 200% =
500

So, assuming the worst at 500 physical damage, exactly how much mana leech would you need to use Vengeance without loosing any mana (not including physical immunes)? In Hell difficulty, Life/Mana steal are reduced to 2/3:

http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/basics/...ulty.shtml

500 / 'x' = 10.5
x = 2.1%

2.1 + ((2.1 / 3) * 2) =
2.1 + (0.7 * 2) =
2.1 + 1.4 =
3.5%

Unless my math is wrong (completely possible) 3.5% mana steal is all you need in Hell with the simplest set up!