Pally build idea, oppinions please

[LucianDK]

Well, there is auras that is quite underused, and several which ive wanted to try make something with in diablo 2, though its hard to escape the all encompassing reach of fanatisism and conviction. But the new synergies in 1.10 have opened up some oppinions, and this idea hit me as potentially usefull.

Kept on mainly:

Sacrifice and Redemption. You have a large 2hander with big damage, and preferably fast, aiming to keep making corpses as quickly you can to keep yourself alive and offsetting the drain of Sacrifice. And redemption boosts sacrifice damage.

Thorns. Which you keep on when fighting against bosses, and those that cant be killed quickly enough.

And the fourth skill is open to discussion. But as im seeing it, this is a very item lite build, since you dont as much need to be concerned about blocking, mana leech or heavy armors. Also the char could be geared for MFing against ordinary monsters, since he will have an easier time with them, as long he can keep up the killing rate. Instead of going for bosses.

Also, as im seeing it, the pally should have at least 2 points spent in vitality per level. Maybe even perhaps as many as 3 points. Because of sacrifice, and when using thorns.

Comments? Ideas?

It strikes me that Conversion might do the job well as the fourth skill, as well providing a mediocrity of crowd control to use against bosses and bosspacks. And also working well with thorns.

[Brista]

I think it would be a blast to play, doubt it would be uber

Conversion fits quite well - try for an all-Vitality build, if at all possible

In Hardcore it would be a difficult but not impossible build I think

One thought I've had about Sacrifice. Normally people use leech to offset the sacrifice loss of life, right? Well in hell now there are a lot of unleechable monsters

Still you have that covered with Redemption

[LucianDK]

I would still need AR, and sacrifice alone doesnt give enough to compete.

[Bob the Beholder]

Sounds a bit like the masochist that I'm dreamin' up. Sacrifice, thorns, a big-arse sword, and a whole helluva lot of vitality.

I have no idea if it's viable, or powerful, or anything. But it certainly sounds like fun.

As for the fourth skill, I'd say Conversion does the job quite nicely. With just one point, and the +4 to skills/combat skills that I've got, it's very effective at crowd control. It's the only way my current semi high-level paladin can take down many packs, especially with powerful bosses, or mixed in ranged attackers. He's very underpowered, though.


*edit*... misspelled sacrifice...*edit*

[LucianDK]

Underpowered how?

[Bob the Beholder]

Underpowered how?

Well, my paladin is a Zealot that was started before Fanatacism was powerful, and before Mercenaries could be taken between acts.

When the expansion rolled around he was still low enough to be converted without being completely unplayable, but the early levels of build planning, item finding, and mercenary hiring were lost on him. Still fun to play, though.

Unless of course you thought I was talking the paladin idea you proposed, somehow. That would be underpowered, I think, because it would be very difficult to stay alive. My paladin's 900 hp is cut down quick by little things like Devilkin, and I really have to be careful around goat-men and wendigos. (For some reason I've been sticking around Act I Hell...) If I added the life drain from Sacrifice, and took away the one thing that's keeping him alive at all, his shield, then I don't know if it would be even possible.

[GenericKen]

I say you should use fanatacism+sacrifice. You can flash redemption whenever you need it.

[LucianDK]

What im trying to is avoiding the all encompassing reach of fanatisism and conviction which is almost too good, leaving no room for other auras. And 1.10 offers more room in that regard.

At lvl 20, redemption provides a 300% damage bonus to sacrifice. Where as lvl 20 fanatisism provides 100% damage bonus, but with fanatisism active too, it would increase to 473% Most would say you should go for fanatisism instantly, but do think about the loss of life from sacrifice, especially with huge damage, and when you get to heal, where monsters have life in the thousands.

I am trying for build ideas that just doesnt reduce redemption or meditation to be flashed, but is worth keeping as main auras. Like Vengeance + Meditation. I like several of the defensive auras for their concepts, but they tend to be outshined by the offensive auras taking the prime spot as main aura.

[Omni]

That does sound like a really interesting build. Like Brista said, drop some points into Conversion, and if Redemption isn't cutting it later on, you can always add a Prayer merc.

[GenericKen]

Well, the fact is, your build has *a lot* of spare skill points, and sac has a synergy with fanatacism anyway.

Neglecting fanat would pretty much just make you a variant.


If you're looking for builds outside of hammerdins, convic, and fanat...
-Chargeadin full syns could either max fanat, or just run might as he has it and spend the extra 20 points on holy shield or something.
-A Defiant sinks 40 points into defiance & hshield for more dr than most iron barb builds. He can then specify into either holy shield conversion, or a simple attack/attack aura (bringing fanat back into the picture).

You could always just build a cleric and run meditation, but I hear the hb healing is beyond pathetic (something like 200 health a bolt fully maxed when mobs hit for like 350 damage a pop in hell?)