Making a new pali guide and need some help

[Taem]

Hail lurkers,

I am making a full guide for a Paladin sub-class I'm calling the Frost Crusader (or Freeze-a-din) who uses Holy Freeze (and the synergies Resist Cold and Salvation) and Zeal (and the synergy Sacrifice). It’s a difficult build because of the focus on cold and lack of holy shield (you may have enough points to plop one or two into holy shield), but well worth it.

Anyways, I was wondering if anyone had answers to these questions:

1.) Does anybody know which monsters are spawnable (per act, per difficulty) or where I could find this information?

2.) Does anybody know if the attack rate of monsters has been changed? Also, if so/or not, I need to know the attack rate of all the monsters.

> I'm attempting to make a table that lists percents at the top of the chart (from 95%, 90%, 85%, etc. all the way to 50%) and acts per difficulty on the left column. The center boxes will tell you how much defense you need for a 95%, 90%, 85%, etc. defense rate against any monster in that area (except for Super uniques). Super Uniques will be in ( ) next to the number inside the box.

3.) A list of all the possible sub-classes for 1.1

4.) Finally, the level and experience of monsters so I can make a Level Progression table. On the top row, it will have Below Average, Average, and Above Average. On the row to the left it will have the acts and difficulties. The table will basically help players see what level they are currently and where the best spot would be too level-up for them.

Thanks for any replies ahead of time. Just for kicks, I'll make another post on this thread with the first part of my guide so you can see how its coming along.

[Taem]

FROST CRUSADER
“From arduous frozen wastelands they bring their god of frost!”

“Freeze n 1: An interruption or temporary suspension of progress or movement v 1: Stop moving or become immobilized”

Hello and welcome to the Frost Crusader’s Guide v1.0. This guide is meant to provide you with the tools that will help you develop your Frost Crusader Paladin to his fullest potential, and have fun doing it. For ease of use I have broken down my guide into several chapters (denoted by their large bold heading), each with an introduction and text bulk relating to the chapter.

Contents
I. Methodology
II. Statistics Block
III. Level Progression
IV. Blocking; Everything you wanted to know about
V. Defense; Everything you wanted to know about
VI. Movement; Everything you wanted to know about
VII. Increased Attack Speed; Everything you wanted to know about
VIII. Attributes
IX. Skills

TABLES:
X. Required Dexterity by Level
XI. Blocking by Shields
XII. Defense
XIII. Level Progression


Methodology

“Methodology n 1: The branch of philosophy that analyzes the principles and procedures of inquiry in a particular discipline”

In this section, I will attempt to explain the ideology of the Frost Crusader sub-class beginning with his possible origins and history, his purpose in the diablo world, and various reasons why the Frost Crusader is different from other paladin sub-classes.

Origin: From deep within the harshness of the freezing artic resides the champion of cold, the master of frost. Few have what it takes to survive an artic winter, but the Frost Crusader not only thrives on the cold, but also emanates its essence from deep within his will. Traveling from the artic reaches of the diablo world, far beyond Haragoth, Frost Crusaders have been around since the age of paladins, seeking to spread the will of their deity (which is to defeat Diablo and his kin, of course) by using the powers he provides; the power of cold. It is from here that your journey as a Frost Crusader begins.

It is rumored that the religion of the Frost Crusader came about when a young paladin marched his army up through a dangerous terrain of ice and sleet to defeat a powerful demon that had been plaguing the northlands. After defeating this monster, the paladin and his men became trapped in the demons lair for over a week. Frostbitten and near death, many of the small army were laying dead on the floor of the cavern, but the paladin continued to pray to his god. Eventually, the god of ice heard his call and saw his great deed and decided to give the young paladin the power over cold (thus the high Cold Resistance and Salvation). Climbing over the bodies of his comrades, the paladin eventually managed to break a hole in the lair and escape. After that, the religion spread quickly, eventually taking an entire sect of paladins.

Purpose: Frost Crusaders promote the will of their deity from which their powers ebb and flow. They believe they are here to further their powers in this world, showing their strength of will and determination to be true to their cause of using Holy Freeze and defeating evil. Through their works, they advance in levels in which their deity grants them more and more skill at what they do.

What Makes the Frost Crusader Different: The paladin is a very flexible class with many sub-classes in it. Each sub-class has its own benefits and drawbacks, but there is no ‘general’ paladin class, or jack-of-all-trades. Eventually every paladin decides his destiny. The strength of the Frost Crusader is his ability to slow down and even freeze creatures not immune to cold. The power to freeze is a very beneficial ability not only to the paladin, but to his party as well. Frost Crusader receives additional cold damage to his attacks.

Sub-Classes
Zealot (a.k.a. Fanatic): Zeal and Fanaticism with corresponding synergies
Avenger: Conviction and Vengeance with corresponding synergies
Charger: Charge and any damage based offensive aura with corresponding synergies
Hammerdin: Blessed Hammer and Concentration with corresponding synergies

[Brista]

1.) Does anybody know which monsters are spawnable (per act, per difficulty) or where I could find this information?
Thanks for any replies ahead of time.  Just for kicks, I'll make another post on this thread with the first part of my guide so you can see how its coming along.

Go to the Phrozen Keep and get hold of D2Excel and the current text files. The spawnable monsters are in levels.txt and there's a pinned file guides thread

(That's a bit of work but you'll be glad once you have done it, having the txt files at your finger tips is useful for us enthusiasts :) )

  I'm attempting to make a table that lists percents at the top of the chart (from 95%, 90%, 85%, etc. all the way to 50%) and acts per difficulty on the left column.  The center boxes will tell you how much defense you need for a 95%, 90%, 85%, etc. defense rate against any monster in that area (except for Super uniques).  Super Uniques will be in ( ) next to the number inside the box.

The attack ratings of the monsters are in the text files. The to hit calculation is on the Arreat Summit I think. Sounds like quite a lot of maths

3.) A list of all the possible sub-classes for 1.1

I'm not sure what you mean. Do you mean like Defiant, Vindicator, Blaze Babe and so on? In that case the answer is effectively incalculable because people are always coming up with new combinations. Suppose I make a Bash/Find Item Barb and call it a Mugger?

4.) Finally, the level and experience of monsters so I can make a Level Progression table.  On the top row, it will have Below Average, Average, and Above Average.  On the row to the left it will have the acts and difficulties.  The table will basically help players see what level they are currently and where the best spot would be too level-up for them.

Monster levels are in monstats.txt

It took me about a week to work out how to use D2Excel and get a feel for what all the files meant, but then again I'm not the sharpest tool in the box ;)

[Taem]

Okay, I got D2Excel right quick, but I've been searching for awhile now (manual search and the SEARCH button) on the forums and hosted files, but cannot find level.txt for 1.1, only discussions about it. I havent tried monsters.txt yet, but will in a little bit. Do you happen to have a quick link?

[Swarmalicious]

I was working on the exact same thing. :)

I've got a half finished (offline), albeit "sillier", Freezing Paladin Zeal Guide with a backround myth and hand drawn pictures and everything. Is there some game-fan Ann Landers-y etiquette for how proceed here? :P


Meat: I've discovered through gameplay & luck some very interesting equipment combos that work with this variant... so if my laziness wins (it usually does) and my guide doesn't come to fruition, please consider taking me on as a 'consultant'. :D

[Brista]

Okay, I got D2Excel right quick, but I've been searching for awhile now (manual search and the SEARCH button) on the forums and hosted files, but cannot find level.txt for 1.1, only discussions about it.  I havent tried monsters.txt yet, but will in a little bit.  Do you happen to have a quick link?

Phrozen Keep General Mod Making Forum: a thread called Need 1.10 official version clean txt files, fourth post

I dont think I can link directly

[Brista]

I was working on the exact same thing. :)

I've got a half finished (offline), albeit "sillier", Freezing Paladin Zeal Guide with a backround myth and hand drawn pictures and everything. Is there some game-fan Ann Landers-y etiquette for how proceed here? :P

For what it's worth I think having two guides on something is great. Because you two have different approaches neither one will detract from the other

[Taem]

Okay, now I'm going NUTS!!!!!!

I've just spend the last two days searching vigoursly for the following formulas (which I all knew or had book marked to some page somewhere). If the information is still current for 1.1, can you reply with a link to the site that hosts this information or just post a reply to the information in question. Here is the formulas I need:

Attack Rate:
Attack Speed (FPS):
Damage:
Defense Rate:
Movement Rate:
Block%:
Block Recovery:
Hit Recovery:

EDIT - I found out everything I was looking for on the a stickied link in the Basin... lol. Don't know why I haven't been there since patch v1.04.

[Ice]

So many different approaches to a similar concept... I had been building a frost zealot as well, difference being that my points went into defiance and holy shield instead with the remainder going into either zeal or smite. The loss of physical damage was counteracted with the use of crushing blow as my means of dealing physical damage.