Nice easy paladin?

[LucianDK]

I am pondering a holy shock paladin as a nice low item dependent char to start with again. But what is a good skill setup?

I was thinking something like this
20 zeal, 20 holy shock, 20 resist lightning and 20 salvation. With the passive bonuses from salvation he can have 85 resist max, and 95% resist max lightning. Zeal for the AR, and a decent damage bonus to leech life back on and power the zeal. Plus the lightning damage and aoe pulses should be pretty hefty.

[Olon97]

Passive bonus from Salvation? This is the first time I have heard of such a thing. I'm fairly certain salvation doesn't give any passive bonuses (besides a wimpy damage synergy for vengance), only the individual element skills have those new +max resists features.

The Zeal / Holy Shock / Resist Lightning part sounds like a good start.

Depending on what sort of weapon you end up with, don't rule out points in sacrifice for additional damage synergy when using zeal.

Soloing a shockadin past Nightmare might get tricky, due to large concentrations of lightning immunes tucked across the landscape. On the other hand, that's what teammates are for. :)

Immunities aside, I feel that keeping a melee character alive in hell difficulty in 1.10 ladder play requires either an assortment of fairly good gear, or excellent use of tactics and terain, or ideally a combination of both.

If you're really doing a large scale restart, getting a build that performs excellently through NM might be good enough to jumpstart other builds. At the very least, a Holy Shock build can fill that jumpstart role admirably.

Have fun with your new character!

[LucianDK]

Check the arreat summit, recently it was listed that salvation has a passive bonus like the individual resist auras.

Hmm, im proved wrong. Appearently it was bogus info as listed on the site.

[Taem]

Check the arreat summit, recently it was listed that salvation has a passive bonus like the individual resist auras.

Hmm, im proved wrong.  Appearently it was bogus info as listed on the site.

Was... they removed it because it was false however there does seem to be some kind of passive bonus to your maximum resists when you invest into the Resist Fire/Cold/Lightening trees although I don't recall what the exact bonuses are at the moment.

[Assur]

Hi

For every two points you put into a resist aura your max res is raised by one point. I've got 20 points in resist lightning and my normal max res lightning is now at 85 :D

good hunting

[Obi2Kenobi]

For every point you put into the Resist aura, you get .5% max resist when it isn't active, and 1% max resist when it is active.

[Jeger]

Mine is level 77 and skills out like this (as I remember)

Holy Shock: 20
Zeal: 4
HolyShield: 20
Resist Lightning: 20
Remainder: Conviction (for partying work)

I am absolutely loving him. I found a 3-socket phase blade, and now I just need to find an Um for my Crescent Moon weapon. :) Once I get Conviction maxed, I will probably add to

Defiance (Holy Shield synergy)
Zeal, or
Salvation (for the HS synergy)

I am thinking that the Salvation synergy isn't enough to go for, and I already do enough lightning damage. I think I will try to get crushing blow to increase my physical damage, so the spare points will probably go into Defiance.

[JustAGuy]

The easiest Paladin to start with is a hammerdin. The only place you'll have trouble is the maggot lair, but a "Staff of Teleport" would take care of that.

As for a "Shocker" Paladin, I suggest:
20 Resist Lightning
20 Holy Shock
5 Zeal
20 Holy Shield (I just love the block AND defense bonus)
1 in each utility aura (cleansing, redemption, meditation, sanctuary if you want)
5 in Conversion (incredible crowd control! Not to mention that it's bugged and you can get 1-hit kills after the conversion wears off.)
The rest in Salvation.

The only problem is AR. When maxed, the Holy Shock area of effect damage is great. Kills everything in normal within a few pulses. Kills lots of things in nightmare quickly as well. In Hell, it's practically unnoticable, but it's nice to have nonetheless. Perhaps you can cut down the holy shield and cut out the utility auras; put them into zeal. I hear blessed aim gives a passive AR bonus as well.

Keep in mind that Holy Shield gives a huge defense bonus. Blocking is incredibly important. Holy shield also increases block speed.

[jb4479]

Yes, a Holy Shock Zealot is a good. Mine is at lvl 62 right now and doing very well. Getting ready to start Act V NM, may do little more levelling before going on to Hell. Equipment is as follows (character is twinked):

Helm: Crown of Thieves
Armor: Guardian Angel
Weap: Holy Thunder runeword Divine scepter/need new switch weap. Using The Redeemer(suggestions?)
Shield: Herald of Zakarum/Steelclash
Belt: ThungerGod's Vigor
Boots: Goreriders
Gloves: Hellmouth (suggestions?)
Rings: Ravenfrost/Dwarfstar
Ammy: Highlord's Wrath

Skills are currently:
Res Light 20
HSshock 20
Rfire 4
Rcold 4
Zeal 10
Salv 2
Sac 5
Hfreeze, Hfire and might 1

Any suggesions on how to improve this would be appreciated. Plan is to max zeal. other resistances to 10, not sure where the others should go.

[Jeger]

Gloves: Hellmouth (suggestions?)

I like my Dracul's Grasp. When lifetap goes off, the result is fabulous.

[Baajikiil]

Weap: Holy Thunder runeword Divine scepter/need new switch weap. Using The Redeemer(suggestions?)

The penultimate shocker weapon(barring BotD) is a crescent moon phase, though any crescent moon is good. It's mods and speed compliment the build very nicely.

Of course, I suppose the physical damage isn't that high, so if you want high leach, go with a elite unique.

[JustAGuy]

I have a three-socket phase blade in the wings... but I used my last UM on my Guradian Angel. So....

Lightsabre. It's the next best thing. I shael'd it, and I think it pushed it down to a 5 frame zeal combined with my IAS gear.