Michael Vondung
2003-10-21 11:23:10 UTC
Below is a copy of Ragnarod's Hammerdin guide, as posted at
diabloii.net. It is based on the 1.10 beta, and may or may not apply
to the final release (chances are that it will, since it doesn't
exploit any bugs). Following the guide is a "step by step skill point
distribution" recommendation by Zarkano that was also posted at the
dii.net forums. I'm posting this for people like me who prefer Usenet
over web forums, and so that we have it archieved here. Before the
guide starts, the original URLs:
The guide:
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=25164
The skill points recommendation:
http://forums.rpgforums.net/showpost.php?postid=238060&postcount=95
Ragnarod's Hammerdin guide - Final Version
Table of contents:
- Introduction
- Stat and skill choices
- Equipment choices
- Playing strategies
- Final words
Introduction
Hello! First of all, notice that this guide is based upon my
experiences playing with this build through the 1.10 beta patch, and
I'm writing it to help those people willing to try the hammerdin out
for the first time, or having trouble playing with one in this patch.
I've decided to post my progress through the game too, so you have
something to compare yours to, I hope you enjoy this character as much
as I do
Stat and skill choices
I'd suggest your stats looking something like this:
Strenght - enough for your gear if you already have it, but if you're
playing from scratch, it never hurts getting some more to give you a
higher flexibility when choosing gear. For example, imagine you find
an armor better than your current one, but because you're only getting
strenght for your ideal gear, you can't wear it. My paladin, for
example, has around 165 base strenght, but you probably can get by
with less
Dexterity - you should be getting enough dexterity to reach a decent
block rating with holy shield on, but I don't suggest getting much
extra dex, since you'll eventually find a nice shield with good block.
My paladin has around 125 base dexterity, I'd say that's enough
Vitality - all your remaining points go there, you need as much life
as you can get!
Energy - I'd suggest using no points in energy, since paladins only
get 1.5 mana per energy point, and you'll have enough mana with no
points here. If you really feel your mana is too low, you can get some
points here, but you might regret it later when you upgrade your gear
Now for skills, the ones I suggest are:
Blessed Hammer - the skill that gives the build its name, and your
main (and probably only) attack. It has been enhanced in this patch,
deals full magical damage and ignores the magic resistance from Undead
and Demon monsters, which means it'll hurt nearly every monster you
find. 20 points here is a must
Concentration - this aura is the only one that enhances the damage
from Blessed Hammer, another skill to max. 20 points here
Vigor - this ever useful aura is now a synergy for Blessed Hammer, and
will increase the damage from it by quite a lot. 20 points here too
Blessed Aim - this is the second synergy for Blessed Hammer. I suggest
getting 20 points in it for a pure hammerdin, but if you wish to get a
secondary attack, you can get by with less. 1-20 points
Holy Shield - this skill will really help you to get your block to
75%, and will give you a nice amount of defense. Getting it to around
level 10 after +skill items is enough, but you can max it if you have
enough spare points. 1-20 points
Charge - if you want a support skill, this one is your best bet. It
deals a ton of damage in 1 hit, isn't affected by IAS so using
Concentration isn't a problem, and has a common synergy with Blessed
Hammer (Vigor), so you only need a decent weapon on switch to use it
effectively. The problem is Charge is currently very buggy in the
beta, that's why I decided not to spend points in it, but it should be
fixed in the final release. 1-20 points
Redemption - 1 point in this skill is a must, it's extremely useful
for a hammerdin, and will allow you to keep up with the mana costs
easily once you get it. 1 point
Meditation - This aura, as Redemption, is also very handy to recover
your mana, specially in hard fights (such as the Ancients), and more
party friendly. 1 point
Salvation - It can come handy if you're short of resistances, but I
don't think they're hard to get elsewhere for a paladin, so it's more
of a party aura. I did alright with no points in it, but you can
choose to get 1 here. 0-1 points
Conversion -A few points here can get you some crowd control, and
you'll probably have an easier time surviving, specially in hardcore.
Keep in mind you don't need to score a successful hit to convert the
monster, so you don't need ar to use it. If you decide to go with
conversion, 5 points here should be enough. 0-5 points
Equipment choices
Keep in mind you need your gear to have some fast cast rate, +skills,
and a decent amount of mana so you can go by with no points in energy,
and resistances are extremely necessary in this patch, so you should
always try to find a setup that provides you with these things. This
said, I'll just give a brief rundown of the useful items, and suggest
a few top items that I thought would be useful looking at the new
items
Helm - Good choices here early on would be helms with +skills and/or
mana, for example Tarnhelm, Lore (OrtSol), Peasant Crown, or a rare
circlet. Your top choice here probably remains the Harlequin Crest,
for obvious reasons, and a few of the new uniques (such as the
circlets or the Crown of the Ages). The attract on the Delirium
runeword (LemIstIo), coupled with the +2 skills and vitality, also
make for a good helm. Since my paladin is more or less dedicated to mf
now, I'm using a 3 perfect topaz crown
Amulet - Anything with +skills here will do, your ultimate goal would
be a +2 pala amulet with fast cast. Some of the unique amulets are
also pretty nice, specially Mara's and the Seraph Hymn. If you come
across an amulet with teleport charges, it comes very handy for mf
runs
Armor - You should really get some armor with fast cast and/or
+skills, and TalEth is a great starting armor. For top end choices,
the easier to find is the Vipermagi or the Que-Hegan's, but the best
armor for this build is probably the Enigma runeword (JahIthBer)
Weapon - There are quite a few very nice choices, I started with a
Sander's wand (an Spectral Shard would also be nice), and had enough
luck to find a Wizardspike later. The Suicide Branch would also be
nice, if you manage to find one. Once again, a runeword might look as
one of the best (if not the best) option, the Heart of the Oak
(KoVexPulThul) in a Flail, since it won't work in scepters, but the
runes are hard to come by
Shield - Rare shields can be quite good, specially paladin ones,
resistances and block should be your main concern here. The best
shield around is still the Herald of Zakarum for hammerdins, but other
nice shields would be the Sanctuary (KoKoMal) runeword, Blackoak,
Stormshield or even the unique Aegis (Medusa's Gaze) if you can find
one
Rings - You can get pretty nice rare rings, with mana, fast cast,
resistances, stats... From the unique ones, those that look more
useful would be the Stone of Jordan, the Bul-Kathos Wedding Band, and
the Ravenfrost
Belt - Few choices here, I would try to craft a caster belt early on,
and hold to it until you find a good unique or set one, such as
Trang's Belt, Tal's Belt, Thundergod's Vigor, Gloom's Trap,
Nightsmoke, Arachnid Mesh or Verdugo's Hearty Cord
Gloves - One of the best options would be getting some rare gloves,
good mods to have on them would be mana, resistances, strenght or
dexterity. From the unique ones, Magefist are good for the fast cast,
Chanceguards are nice (more mf never hurts), Frostburns can help if
you're low on mana, and Hellmouths are useful against fire damage.
There are some pretty nice set gloves too, such as Trang Oul's gloves,
or Immortal King's gloves
Boots - Rares are again nice choices, and from the unique and set ones
the ones worth mentioning are Waterwalks, Silkweaves, Marrowwalk,
Aldur's and Sander's boots
Charms - Well, charms are a good place to get things lacking from your
gear, such as fast hit recovery, mana, life or resistances. Ideal ones
would be +1 combat paladin charms, to increase your damage
Playing Strategies
Now that the equipment and skill choices are more or less clear, let's
get to the important thing, shall we?
I played in normal with the /players 5 option, as it is a good balance
between experience, drops and the time it takes to kill the monsters
in my opinion. Since both Blessed Hammer and Concentration are level
18 skills, you'll be forced to start as a plain melee paladin, so try
looking for a decent weapon early on. You shouldn't have many problems
in normal, except for some ranged attackers, and a few of the bosses.
A good level to finish act 1 normal would be around level 18, after
getting Concentration. I suggest saving your points, spending only in
prerequisites of Holy Shield, Blessed Hammer and Concentration, until
level 18, and getting points in both at the same time while you can
from there.
You'll probably have a hard time using Blessed Hammer effectively
until level 30 (when you'll probably be in act 4, or late act 3), when
you get Redemption, so until then you'll still have to rely on your
melee weapon, and save Blessed Hammer for specially hard enemies, such
as the end act bosses, or times when you get surrounded for example. A
merc will prove very useful this early on, I decided to use a Defiance
merc from act 2, until I could get a Holy Freeze one from Nightmare.
To be able to use Blessed Hammer regularly early on, Vajar suggested
running the Countess for a few Tir runes (with +mana after each kill)
and use them on your armor and scepter, with Sapphires on your helm
for mana, this way you'll have enough with a few mana potions against
bosses to keep up with the mana cost of Blessed Hammer
Once you start using Blessed Hammer as your main attack, you'll notice
it is hard to aim at first, and difficult to use in close places, such
as the maggot's lair, or the worldstone keep. I'd suggest getting used
to the spiral pattern of the hammers, they're always released from the
same spot, more or less at the 9:30-10:00 mark. This is key for
killing ranged attackers, since most of them will stay away from your
hammers, and you'll be forced to get very close to them (charge works
nicely for this) and kill them with a point blank hammer. Try to go
always for the ranged attackers first, since they are the most
dangerous ones usually. Code46 further tested with the hammers, and
noticed that if you get really close to an enemy, and it's directly to
the left, below, to the right, or directly above you, your hammers
will hit it.
The hardest place in the whole game for a Hammerdin is the maggot's
lair, since it's very hard to even release hammers properly there. You
can still hit enemies if you encounter them to the right of your
character, once at a time, but you're out of luck if they are to the
left. To go through this place, I suggest relying in your merc to kill
the enemies out of your hammer's reach, or using your secondary attack
if it deals enough damage
Another tactic that works nicely against some ranged attackers (mainly
Black Souls), and against melee attackers, is making a hammer field
and then retreating, forcing them to go after you and probably dying
when they go through the hammers. You'll notice that another monster
that is much more dangerous now is the Balrog, with its enhanced
Inferno attack. Since you're bound to face at least two unique Balrogs
(in the seal in act 4 and one of Baal's minions in act 5), and they
can be a real pain, I suggest engaging them in an open area (Baal's
chamber or the central part of the Chaos Sanctuary). Try to have them
always at your right, since most of them will get hit by the hammers
then. I've found that what works best against them (and against Lister
and his minions) is releasing a hammer field before they are out, and
when they get close on you wait until they start to attack, and then
walking two steps back and casting more hammers until they are too
close again. Lister is tougher, and you may be forced to park them
outside Baal's Chamber if you can't kill him, that's why it's good
cleaning the entrance to it and not just skipping the monsters there.
Act 5 Vipers are worth mentioning too, since they have a very
dangerous ranged and melee attack (Bone Spear and Charge), try getting
as close to them as possible so they can't use any of them, and hammer
away.
The biggest challenge you'll find in the whole game are probably the
ancients, specially in Hell. Try to get some potions scattered all
over the Summit before fightning them, because they're very tough and
can take quite a beating before dying. Mana potions are a must here, I
got killed once when there was only one of them left because I ran out
of mana. Keep in mind that you can respawn them by casting a town
portal if they spawn with dangerous mods (extra fast, aura enchanted,
lightning enchanted, mana burn or cursed come to mind), and that it
might take a few tries to kill them, so if you're close to level up it
might be wise leveling before getting here. A merc is useful here,
specially a Holy Freeze one, though he'll probably die sooner than
you'd like to. The tactic that works better here is the same one
appliable to Lister or the Balrogs, casting hammers while they are far
away, and keeping your distance with them (Vigor is quite useful for
that)
With the hardest monsters already covered, it's time for the act
bosses. While they are all hard in one way or another, Blessed Hammer
is generally very useful against them, remember to buy a few mana
potions from vendors so you don't run out of mana while fighting them.
Andariel shouldn't give you any problems if you have a few antidote
potions in your belt, you can safely tank her and cast point blank
hammers until she dies. Duriel is hard for a melee character, due to
Holy Freeze, but since it doesn't slow casting speed, it won't be such
a pain for you. His charge can be dangerous, so you should dodge his
initial one, get yourself to a good position to hit him with hammers,
and just tank him (if you can't, running around the run releasing
hammers from time to time will eventually have the same effect). The
same applies to Mephisto, once you are close to him he won't be able
to use his cold ball, his most dangerous attack, and should be easy to
kill with hammers. Diablo can be hard, but I suggest tanking him too
if you've got nice resistances and block, since his pink lightning
attack barely hurts when you're very close, and you only have to worry
about his ground fire attack.
In my opinion, the hardest one for you is Baal. He has massive
hitpoints, specially in Hell, and his attacks are quite annoying. Try
to keep as close to him as possible, so he doesn't use his mana
draining attack, but considering he can teleport and has the nasty
habit of releasing his cold wave to get you back, you'll probably be
seeing it a lot still. His cold attack can be dangerous if your cold
resistance isn't very good, so try to have at least 50% cold
resistance when engaging him. If he feels like duplicating himself,
you're in for major trouble, since your mana will be drained out very
frequently. I've found that sometimes making a town portal to town and
coming back makes the fake Baal disappear, but this doesn't always
work. His tentacles can hurt you if there are many around, but the
hammers will probably kill most of them, so they're not very hard.
Good luck with him!
Once again, I can't stress enough the importance of resistances,
specially in Hell. For all of you playing from scratch, I'd suggest
using a 4 perfect diamond pala shield if your resistances aren't good
enough, or you'll find yourself dying a lot more than you'd wish. A
nice block rate is nice to have, but resistances are more important!
As for leveling, I killed Baal in Normal at level 40. You can probably
get to level 45 running Baal in Normal without much effort, and you
should do so if you're having a very hard time in Nightmare, but it
isn't really needed. What I do suggest is running Baal in Nightmare
until you get level 75 or 76, since his drops are pretty good
(including some elite items) and the difficulty increase from
Nightmare to Hell is very noticeable, you'll need all the life and
Blessed Hammer damage you can get. I managed to play through Nightmare
with /players 5 on until I got to the ancients, and then I was forced
to step down to /players 1, and keep it that way through Hell (it's
already hard enough that way!). Just for the record, I finished Hell
at level 81, and I've been running Baal for items since then, my
paladin is level 87 right now and has already found a few elite
uniques with around 150% magic find in my gear
Zarkano was so kind to make various tests with this build to find the
best skill and stat distribution, and share it with us, you can read
about it here
Final words
I'd like to thank everyone in the paladin forum for asking me to write
again until I did it, it's because of them you're reading this one
now. I hope you've found it useful, and if you feel something is
missing, or I haven't been clear enough in some place, feedback is
always appreciated
Special thanks go to Nacaa, Mack, Any1, Wurmer, Baranor, Zarkano,
Alainpp66, Code46, Vajar and all the good people from the ETF (Frigya,
Xora, Mort, Los, Fercil, Ben, BB, Az, DOC and many others I'm
forgetting) and the Paladin forum that have endured my talk about
1.10, my paladin and my finds with amazing patience, keep it up!
-----------------------
SKILL & STAT POINT ASSIGNMENT OF BUILD #6. (to level 71)
LEVEL 2
+1 Might (prereq for Conc)
+5 Str (30 str)
LEVEL 3
+1 Prayer (prereq for Vigor)
+5 Str (35str)
LEVEL 4 (DEN of EVIL quest done)
+5 Str (40 str)
2 skill points saved
LEVEL 5
+5 Str (45 str)
3 skill points saved
LEVEL 6
+1 Defiance (prereq for Vigor)
+1 Holy Bolt (prereq for Blessed Hammer)
+5 Str (50 str)
2 skill points saved
LEVEL 7
+5 Str (55 str)
3 skill points saved
I elected to stop adding to strength for a while since I could wear
mostly anything I found including (if I was lucky) some of the set
items.
LEVEL 8
+5 Vit (30 vit)
4 skill points saved
LEVEL 9
+5 Vit (35 vit)
5 skill points saved
LEVEL 10
+5 Vit (40 vit)
6 skill points saved
LEVEL 11
+5 Vit (45 vit)
7 skill points saved
LEVEL 12
+1 Cleansing (prereq for Vigor)
+1 Blessed Aim (prereq for Blessed Hammer)
+5 Vit (50 vit)
6 skill points saved
LEVEL 13
+5 Vit (55 vit)
7 skill points saved
It was tempting to add to Blessed Aim but then Conc and BH would be
maxxed 7 levels later. Also, in retrospect, I would not have been able
to work on Holy Shield sooner than I did and would have regretted that
a lot.
LEVEL 14
+5 Dex (25 dex)
8 skill points saved
LEVEL 15
+5 Dex (30 dex)
9 skill points saved
LEVEL 16
+5 Vit (60 vit)
10 skill points saved
LEVEL 17
+5 Vit (65 vit)
11 skill points saved
LEVEL 18
+1 Vigor (synergy for BH)
+1 Blessed Hammer
+1 Concentration
+5 Vit (70 vit)
9 skill points saved
LEVEL 19 (RADAMENT quest done)
+1 Vigor (lvl 2)
+1 Concentration (lvl 2)
+5 Vit (75 vit)
9 skill points saved
Leaving Blessed Hammer at 1 point until it becomes necessary to
improve damage and pally can afford mana consumption.
LEVEL 20
+1 Vigor (lvl 3)
+1 Concentration (lvl 3)
+5 Vit (80 vit)
8 skill points saved
LEVEL 21
+1 Vigor (lvl 4)
+1 Concentration (lvl 4)
+5 Vit (85 vit)
7 skill points saved
LEVEL 22
+1 Vigor (lvl 5)
+1 Concentration (lvl 5)
+5 Vit (90 vit)
6 skill points saved
LEVEL 23
+1 Vigor (lvl 6)
+1 Concentration (lvl 6)
+5 Vit (95 vit)
5 skill points saved
Still using just the normal attack I started with. Started to need BH
in Flayer Jungle. Melee attack missing slightly more now but still
adequate. Vitality compensating for damage taken.
LEVEL 24 (LAM ESSEN quest done)
+1 Vigor (lvl 7)
+1 Concentration (lvl 7)
+5 Dex (35 dex)
+5 Vit (100 vit)
4 skill points saved
LEVEL 25
+1 Vigor (lvl 8)
+1 Concentration (lvl 8)
+5 Vit (105 vit)
3 skill points saved
LEVEL 26
+1 Vigor (lvl 9)
+2 Blessed Hammer (lvl 3)
+1 Concentration (lvl 9)
+5 Vit (110 vit)
all extra skill points used
Blessed Hammer damage starting to fall behind so took 2 points in it.
Noticed big jump in BH damage. The synergies were having small effect
in damage increase while there was only 1 point in BH. Will consider
alternating further skill points between Conc and BH depending on mana
consumption.
LEVEL 27
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 4)
+5 Vit (115 vit)
Did some Meph runs to try to upgrade equipment using BH almost
exclusively. Took another point in Blessed Hammers so I could do good
damage to Meph.
LEVEL 28 (IZUAL quest done)
+1 Concentration (lvl 10)
+5 Vit (120 vit)
2 skill points saved
Will save Izual quest points for the moment so that I can get
Redemption at lvl 30. Note how adding +1 to Conc gives only small
increase in BH damage.
LEVEL 29
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 5)
+5 Vit (125 vit)
2 skill points saved
LEVEL 30
+1 Redemption
+1 Vigor (lvl 10)
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 6)
+5 Str (60 str)
no extra skill points saved
Doing Diablo runs for items and exp. Running BH with Redemption aura.
No need to drink potions at all in Chaos, only with Diablo. Will stop
adding Vigor now until Conc and BH maxxed. Can afford to bump up BH
now that I have Redemption. Balrog boss worse than Diablo.
LEVEL 31
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 7)
+5 Vit (130 vit)
LEVEL 32
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 8)
+5 Vit (135 vit)
LEVEL 33
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 9)
+5 Vit (140 vit)
LEVEL 34
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 10)
+5 Vit (145 vit)
LEVEL 35
+1 Concentration (lvl 11)
+5 Vit (150 vit)
LEVEL 36
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 11)
+5 Vit (155 vit)
LEVEL 37
+1 Concentration (lvl 12)
+5 Vit (160 vit)
Did Ancients quest. Piece of cake.
LEVEL 38
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 12)
+5 Vit (165 vit)
Did Baal quest. Very easy with the massive life and damage. Will stay
in norm to get easy exp and items from Baal runs.
LEVEL 39
+1 Concentration (lvl 13)
+5 Vit (170 vit)
LEVEL 40
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 13)
+5 Vit (175 vit)
LEVEL 41
+1 Concentration (lvl 14)
+5 Vit (180 vit)
LEVEL 42
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 14)
+5 Vit (185 vit)
--- START NIGHTMARE DIFFICULTY ---
LEVEL 43 (DEN of EVIL quest done)
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 15)
+1 Concentration (lvl 15)
+5 Vit (190 vit)
Will max Conc now since hammers doing plenty damage. Pleasantly
surprised at how easy it is to kill. Everything dies. Hammers rule.
LEVEL 44
+1 Concentration (lvl 16)
+5 Vit (195 vit)
LEVEL 45 (RADAMENT quest done)
+2 Concentration (lvl 18)
+5 Vit (200 vit)
A little nasty in the sewers with the skeleton archers. Good fire
resists a must. Despite the massive vitality, they take a good chunk
of life out when pelted by a sizable crowd.
LEVEL 46
+1 Concentration (lvl 19)
+5 Dex (40 dex)
Starting to need more dex and str for equipment reqs.
LEVEL 47
+1 Concentration (lvl 20 - MAXXED)
+5 Dex (45 dex)
Maxxing BH now. Mana sufficient for needs now through gear and
Redemption. Breezing through act 2 but watch out for the lightning
skelly archers in Jail levels.
LEVEL 48
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 16)
+5 Dex (50 dex)
LEVEL 49
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 17)
+5 Str (65 str)
Duriel bit the dust fast. Wonderful thing about the hammerdin; being
frozen here doesn't matter.
LEVEL 50
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 18)
+5 Str (70 str)
LEVEL 51
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 19)
+5 Dex (55 dex)
LEVEL 52
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 20 - MAXXED)
+5 Dex (60 dex)
Hoo boy. Serious damage! Nmare is a breeze as long as the resists are
okay. Will flesh out Vigor now. Block is very low and ranged attackers
hurt a lot. The Flayers can be a pain, especially the pea-shooters and
I find I don't stay stationary long.
LEVEL 53 (LAM ESSEN quest done)
+1 Vigor (lvl 11)
+5 Dex (65 dex)
+5 Vit (205 vit)
LEVEL 54
+1 Vigor (lvl 12)
+5 Dex (70 dex)
LEVEL 55
+1 Vigor (lvl 13)
+5 Vit (210 vit)
Mephisto dies easily. More runs for equipment. Bremm with conviction
aura is a serious threat. The merc dies here frequently. I leave it
dead to save cash. Fire and poison resist maxxed is a must now.
LEVEL 56
+1 Vigor (lvl 14)
+5 Str (75 str)
LEVEL 57 (IZUAL quest done)
+3 Vigor (lvl 17)
+5 Vit (215 vit)
Gloams are capital N nasty! Despite maxxed resists, a pack will
quickly reduce your life to nothing. Even retreating doesn't help
much. Of all the monsters in Act 4, they are the worst by far. Good
idea to cast frequent portals.
LEVEL 58
+1 Vigor (lvl 18)
+5 Str (80 str)
LEVEL 59
+1 Vigor (lvl 19)
+5 Dex (75 dex)
Diablo dies. Chaos runs seem easier than I expected. The Balrog boss
is as much a pain as he was in norm.
LEVEL 60
+1 Vigor (lvl 20 - MAXXED)
+5 Str (85 str)
At this point, I'm finding that as much as I wanted to dispense with
Holy Shield, I doubt that I can. Ranged attackers in Bloody Foothills
can quickly stun lock me and cause me to die very fast. Spear cats
especially fearsome. Will be boosting Holy Shield for a bit 'til I get
something decent for block rate. Currently 25% and inadequate.
LEVEL 61
+1 Smite (prereq for Holy Shield)
+5 Dex (80 dex)
LEVEL 62
+1 Charge (prereq for Holy Shield)
+5 Dex (85 dex)
LEVEL 63
+1 Holy Shield
+5 Dex (90 dex)
LEVEL 64
+1 Holy Shield (lvl 2)
+5 Dex (95 dex)
LEVEL 65
+1 Holy Shield (lvl 3)
+5 Dex (100 dex)
LEVEL 66
+1 Holy Shield (lvl 4)
+5 Dex (105 dex)
Baal dies without too much difficulty. The hammers are doing 3000+
damage. With equipment on, I have almost 300 mana to draw from but I
still consume a lot battling him because of his mana drain attack.
Though I could go on to Hell difficulty, I'll stay in act 5 and level
up Holy Shield to get a decent block.
LEVEL 67
+1 Holy Shield (lvl 5)
+5 Dex (110 dex)
LEVEL 68
+1 Holy Shield (lvl 6)
+5 Dex (115 dex)
LEVEL 69
+1 Holy Shield (lvl 7)
+5 Dex (120 dex)
LEVEL 70
+1 Holy Shield (lvl 8)
+5 Dex (125 dex)
LEVEL 70
+1 Holy Shield (lvl 9)
+5 Str (90 str)
At this point, I have 74% chance to block with a duration over 2
minutes.
Not proceeding beyond this point for now. It was my intention to build
this pally so he'd be 'hell-ready'. If I were to continue, I'd
increase Holy Shield to lvl 10. That should maintain a 75% block,
especially if I can get a better shield than the 'Rhymed' Akaran Targe
I currently use. Further skill points would be allocated to Blessed
Aim to increase BH damage.
Subsequent stat points would go to vitality.
SUMMARY
The pally has the following:
+20 Concentration
+20 Blessed Hammer
+20 Vigor
+9 Holy Shield
+1 Redemption
+1 to all prerequisites
90 Strength
125 Dexterity
215 Vitality
15 Energy
3119-3165 Blessed Hammer damage
Chance to block 74% for 130 seconds
Resistances all maxxed at 75% (actual numbers are 170 Fire/ 151 Cold/
190 Lightning/ 181 Poison)
As a side-note, I'll mention that he has none of the preferred
equipment (Herald of Zakarum gilded shield, Vipermagi serpentskin
armor, Wizardspike bone knife, Harlequin Crest shako, Merman's
Sprocket boots, Arachnid Mesh belt, combat charms, skills amulet or
rings). Nor have either of his socket quests been used. Yet, he's a
formidable killer and would become even more so with them.
Please feel free to critique this build or offer suggestions for
improvement based on your experiences with a hammerdin.
diabloii.net. It is based on the 1.10 beta, and may or may not apply
to the final release (chances are that it will, since it doesn't
exploit any bugs). Following the guide is a "step by step skill point
distribution" recommendation by Zarkano that was also posted at the
dii.net forums. I'm posting this for people like me who prefer Usenet
over web forums, and so that we have it archieved here. Before the
guide starts, the original URLs:
The guide:
http://www.rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=25164
The skill points recommendation:
http://forums.rpgforums.net/showpost.php?postid=238060&postcount=95
Ragnarod's Hammerdin guide - Final Version
Table of contents:
- Introduction
- Stat and skill choices
- Equipment choices
- Playing strategies
- Final words
Introduction
Hello! First of all, notice that this guide is based upon my
experiences playing with this build through the 1.10 beta patch, and
I'm writing it to help those people willing to try the hammerdin out
for the first time, or having trouble playing with one in this patch.
I've decided to post my progress through the game too, so you have
something to compare yours to, I hope you enjoy this character as much
as I do
Stat and skill choices
I'd suggest your stats looking something like this:
Strenght - enough for your gear if you already have it, but if you're
playing from scratch, it never hurts getting some more to give you a
higher flexibility when choosing gear. For example, imagine you find
an armor better than your current one, but because you're only getting
strenght for your ideal gear, you can't wear it. My paladin, for
example, has around 165 base strenght, but you probably can get by
with less
Dexterity - you should be getting enough dexterity to reach a decent
block rating with holy shield on, but I don't suggest getting much
extra dex, since you'll eventually find a nice shield with good block.
My paladin has around 125 base dexterity, I'd say that's enough
Vitality - all your remaining points go there, you need as much life
as you can get!
Energy - I'd suggest using no points in energy, since paladins only
get 1.5 mana per energy point, and you'll have enough mana with no
points here. If you really feel your mana is too low, you can get some
points here, but you might regret it later when you upgrade your gear
Now for skills, the ones I suggest are:
Blessed Hammer - the skill that gives the build its name, and your
main (and probably only) attack. It has been enhanced in this patch,
deals full magical damage and ignores the magic resistance from Undead
and Demon monsters, which means it'll hurt nearly every monster you
find. 20 points here is a must
Concentration - this aura is the only one that enhances the damage
from Blessed Hammer, another skill to max. 20 points here
Vigor - this ever useful aura is now a synergy for Blessed Hammer, and
will increase the damage from it by quite a lot. 20 points here too
Blessed Aim - this is the second synergy for Blessed Hammer. I suggest
getting 20 points in it for a pure hammerdin, but if you wish to get a
secondary attack, you can get by with less. 1-20 points
Holy Shield - this skill will really help you to get your block to
75%, and will give you a nice amount of defense. Getting it to around
level 10 after +skill items is enough, but you can max it if you have
enough spare points. 1-20 points
Charge - if you want a support skill, this one is your best bet. It
deals a ton of damage in 1 hit, isn't affected by IAS so using
Concentration isn't a problem, and has a common synergy with Blessed
Hammer (Vigor), so you only need a decent weapon on switch to use it
effectively. The problem is Charge is currently very buggy in the
beta, that's why I decided not to spend points in it, but it should be
fixed in the final release. 1-20 points
Redemption - 1 point in this skill is a must, it's extremely useful
for a hammerdin, and will allow you to keep up with the mana costs
easily once you get it. 1 point
Meditation - This aura, as Redemption, is also very handy to recover
your mana, specially in hard fights (such as the Ancients), and more
party friendly. 1 point
Salvation - It can come handy if you're short of resistances, but I
don't think they're hard to get elsewhere for a paladin, so it's more
of a party aura. I did alright with no points in it, but you can
choose to get 1 here. 0-1 points
Conversion -A few points here can get you some crowd control, and
you'll probably have an easier time surviving, specially in hardcore.
Keep in mind you don't need to score a successful hit to convert the
monster, so you don't need ar to use it. If you decide to go with
conversion, 5 points here should be enough. 0-5 points
Equipment choices
Keep in mind you need your gear to have some fast cast rate, +skills,
and a decent amount of mana so you can go by with no points in energy,
and resistances are extremely necessary in this patch, so you should
always try to find a setup that provides you with these things. This
said, I'll just give a brief rundown of the useful items, and suggest
a few top items that I thought would be useful looking at the new
items
Helm - Good choices here early on would be helms with +skills and/or
mana, for example Tarnhelm, Lore (OrtSol), Peasant Crown, or a rare
circlet. Your top choice here probably remains the Harlequin Crest,
for obvious reasons, and a few of the new uniques (such as the
circlets or the Crown of the Ages). The attract on the Delirium
runeword (LemIstIo), coupled with the +2 skills and vitality, also
make for a good helm. Since my paladin is more or less dedicated to mf
now, I'm using a 3 perfect topaz crown
Amulet - Anything with +skills here will do, your ultimate goal would
be a +2 pala amulet with fast cast. Some of the unique amulets are
also pretty nice, specially Mara's and the Seraph Hymn. If you come
across an amulet with teleport charges, it comes very handy for mf
runs
Armor - You should really get some armor with fast cast and/or
+skills, and TalEth is a great starting armor. For top end choices,
the easier to find is the Vipermagi or the Que-Hegan's, but the best
armor for this build is probably the Enigma runeword (JahIthBer)
Weapon - There are quite a few very nice choices, I started with a
Sander's wand (an Spectral Shard would also be nice), and had enough
luck to find a Wizardspike later. The Suicide Branch would also be
nice, if you manage to find one. Once again, a runeword might look as
one of the best (if not the best) option, the Heart of the Oak
(KoVexPulThul) in a Flail, since it won't work in scepters, but the
runes are hard to come by
Shield - Rare shields can be quite good, specially paladin ones,
resistances and block should be your main concern here. The best
shield around is still the Herald of Zakarum for hammerdins, but other
nice shields would be the Sanctuary (KoKoMal) runeword, Blackoak,
Stormshield or even the unique Aegis (Medusa's Gaze) if you can find
one
Rings - You can get pretty nice rare rings, with mana, fast cast,
resistances, stats... From the unique ones, those that look more
useful would be the Stone of Jordan, the Bul-Kathos Wedding Band, and
the Ravenfrost
Belt - Few choices here, I would try to craft a caster belt early on,
and hold to it until you find a good unique or set one, such as
Trang's Belt, Tal's Belt, Thundergod's Vigor, Gloom's Trap,
Nightsmoke, Arachnid Mesh or Verdugo's Hearty Cord
Gloves - One of the best options would be getting some rare gloves,
good mods to have on them would be mana, resistances, strenght or
dexterity. From the unique ones, Magefist are good for the fast cast,
Chanceguards are nice (more mf never hurts), Frostburns can help if
you're low on mana, and Hellmouths are useful against fire damage.
There are some pretty nice set gloves too, such as Trang Oul's gloves,
or Immortal King's gloves
Boots - Rares are again nice choices, and from the unique and set ones
the ones worth mentioning are Waterwalks, Silkweaves, Marrowwalk,
Aldur's and Sander's boots
Charms - Well, charms are a good place to get things lacking from your
gear, such as fast hit recovery, mana, life or resistances. Ideal ones
would be +1 combat paladin charms, to increase your damage
Playing Strategies
Now that the equipment and skill choices are more or less clear, let's
get to the important thing, shall we?
I played in normal with the /players 5 option, as it is a good balance
between experience, drops and the time it takes to kill the monsters
in my opinion. Since both Blessed Hammer and Concentration are level
18 skills, you'll be forced to start as a plain melee paladin, so try
looking for a decent weapon early on. You shouldn't have many problems
in normal, except for some ranged attackers, and a few of the bosses.
A good level to finish act 1 normal would be around level 18, after
getting Concentration. I suggest saving your points, spending only in
prerequisites of Holy Shield, Blessed Hammer and Concentration, until
level 18, and getting points in both at the same time while you can
from there.
You'll probably have a hard time using Blessed Hammer effectively
until level 30 (when you'll probably be in act 4, or late act 3), when
you get Redemption, so until then you'll still have to rely on your
melee weapon, and save Blessed Hammer for specially hard enemies, such
as the end act bosses, or times when you get surrounded for example. A
merc will prove very useful this early on, I decided to use a Defiance
merc from act 2, until I could get a Holy Freeze one from Nightmare.
To be able to use Blessed Hammer regularly early on, Vajar suggested
running the Countess for a few Tir runes (with +mana after each kill)
and use them on your armor and scepter, with Sapphires on your helm
for mana, this way you'll have enough with a few mana potions against
bosses to keep up with the mana cost of Blessed Hammer
Once you start using Blessed Hammer as your main attack, you'll notice
it is hard to aim at first, and difficult to use in close places, such
as the maggot's lair, or the worldstone keep. I'd suggest getting used
to the spiral pattern of the hammers, they're always released from the
same spot, more or less at the 9:30-10:00 mark. This is key for
killing ranged attackers, since most of them will stay away from your
hammers, and you'll be forced to get very close to them (charge works
nicely for this) and kill them with a point blank hammer. Try to go
always for the ranged attackers first, since they are the most
dangerous ones usually. Code46 further tested with the hammers, and
noticed that if you get really close to an enemy, and it's directly to
the left, below, to the right, or directly above you, your hammers
will hit it.
The hardest place in the whole game for a Hammerdin is the maggot's
lair, since it's very hard to even release hammers properly there. You
can still hit enemies if you encounter them to the right of your
character, once at a time, but you're out of luck if they are to the
left. To go through this place, I suggest relying in your merc to kill
the enemies out of your hammer's reach, or using your secondary attack
if it deals enough damage
Another tactic that works nicely against some ranged attackers (mainly
Black Souls), and against melee attackers, is making a hammer field
and then retreating, forcing them to go after you and probably dying
when they go through the hammers. You'll notice that another monster
that is much more dangerous now is the Balrog, with its enhanced
Inferno attack. Since you're bound to face at least two unique Balrogs
(in the seal in act 4 and one of Baal's minions in act 5), and they
can be a real pain, I suggest engaging them in an open area (Baal's
chamber or the central part of the Chaos Sanctuary). Try to have them
always at your right, since most of them will get hit by the hammers
then. I've found that what works best against them (and against Lister
and his minions) is releasing a hammer field before they are out, and
when they get close on you wait until they start to attack, and then
walking two steps back and casting more hammers until they are too
close again. Lister is tougher, and you may be forced to park them
outside Baal's Chamber if you can't kill him, that's why it's good
cleaning the entrance to it and not just skipping the monsters there.
Act 5 Vipers are worth mentioning too, since they have a very
dangerous ranged and melee attack (Bone Spear and Charge), try getting
as close to them as possible so they can't use any of them, and hammer
away.
The biggest challenge you'll find in the whole game are probably the
ancients, specially in Hell. Try to get some potions scattered all
over the Summit before fightning them, because they're very tough and
can take quite a beating before dying. Mana potions are a must here, I
got killed once when there was only one of them left because I ran out
of mana. Keep in mind that you can respawn them by casting a town
portal if they spawn with dangerous mods (extra fast, aura enchanted,
lightning enchanted, mana burn or cursed come to mind), and that it
might take a few tries to kill them, so if you're close to level up it
might be wise leveling before getting here. A merc is useful here,
specially a Holy Freeze one, though he'll probably die sooner than
you'd like to. The tactic that works better here is the same one
appliable to Lister or the Balrogs, casting hammers while they are far
away, and keeping your distance with them (Vigor is quite useful for
that)
With the hardest monsters already covered, it's time for the act
bosses. While they are all hard in one way or another, Blessed Hammer
is generally very useful against them, remember to buy a few mana
potions from vendors so you don't run out of mana while fighting them.
Andariel shouldn't give you any problems if you have a few antidote
potions in your belt, you can safely tank her and cast point blank
hammers until she dies. Duriel is hard for a melee character, due to
Holy Freeze, but since it doesn't slow casting speed, it won't be such
a pain for you. His charge can be dangerous, so you should dodge his
initial one, get yourself to a good position to hit him with hammers,
and just tank him (if you can't, running around the run releasing
hammers from time to time will eventually have the same effect). The
same applies to Mephisto, once you are close to him he won't be able
to use his cold ball, his most dangerous attack, and should be easy to
kill with hammers. Diablo can be hard, but I suggest tanking him too
if you've got nice resistances and block, since his pink lightning
attack barely hurts when you're very close, and you only have to worry
about his ground fire attack.
In my opinion, the hardest one for you is Baal. He has massive
hitpoints, specially in Hell, and his attacks are quite annoying. Try
to keep as close to him as possible, so he doesn't use his mana
draining attack, but considering he can teleport and has the nasty
habit of releasing his cold wave to get you back, you'll probably be
seeing it a lot still. His cold attack can be dangerous if your cold
resistance isn't very good, so try to have at least 50% cold
resistance when engaging him. If he feels like duplicating himself,
you're in for major trouble, since your mana will be drained out very
frequently. I've found that sometimes making a town portal to town and
coming back makes the fake Baal disappear, but this doesn't always
work. His tentacles can hurt you if there are many around, but the
hammers will probably kill most of them, so they're not very hard.
Good luck with him!
Once again, I can't stress enough the importance of resistances,
specially in Hell. For all of you playing from scratch, I'd suggest
using a 4 perfect diamond pala shield if your resistances aren't good
enough, or you'll find yourself dying a lot more than you'd wish. A
nice block rate is nice to have, but resistances are more important!
As for leveling, I killed Baal in Normal at level 40. You can probably
get to level 45 running Baal in Normal without much effort, and you
should do so if you're having a very hard time in Nightmare, but it
isn't really needed. What I do suggest is running Baal in Nightmare
until you get level 75 or 76, since his drops are pretty good
(including some elite items) and the difficulty increase from
Nightmare to Hell is very noticeable, you'll need all the life and
Blessed Hammer damage you can get. I managed to play through Nightmare
with /players 5 on until I got to the ancients, and then I was forced
to step down to /players 1, and keep it that way through Hell (it's
already hard enough that way!). Just for the record, I finished Hell
at level 81, and I've been running Baal for items since then, my
paladin is level 87 right now and has already found a few elite
uniques with around 150% magic find in my gear
Zarkano was so kind to make various tests with this build to find the
best skill and stat distribution, and share it with us, you can read
about it here
Final words
I'd like to thank everyone in the paladin forum for asking me to write
again until I did it, it's because of them you're reading this one
now. I hope you've found it useful, and if you feel something is
missing, or I haven't been clear enough in some place, feedback is
always appreciated
Special thanks go to Nacaa, Mack, Any1, Wurmer, Baranor, Zarkano,
Alainpp66, Code46, Vajar and all the good people from the ETF (Frigya,
Xora, Mort, Los, Fercil, Ben, BB, Az, DOC and many others I'm
forgetting) and the Paladin forum that have endured my talk about
1.10, my paladin and my finds with amazing patience, keep it up!
-----------------------
SKILL & STAT POINT ASSIGNMENT OF BUILD #6. (to level 71)
LEVEL 2
+1 Might (prereq for Conc)
+5 Str (30 str)
LEVEL 3
+1 Prayer (prereq for Vigor)
+5 Str (35str)
LEVEL 4 (DEN of EVIL quest done)
+5 Str (40 str)
2 skill points saved
LEVEL 5
+5 Str (45 str)
3 skill points saved
LEVEL 6
+1 Defiance (prereq for Vigor)
+1 Holy Bolt (prereq for Blessed Hammer)
+5 Str (50 str)
2 skill points saved
LEVEL 7
+5 Str (55 str)
3 skill points saved
I elected to stop adding to strength for a while since I could wear
mostly anything I found including (if I was lucky) some of the set
items.
LEVEL 8
+5 Vit (30 vit)
4 skill points saved
LEVEL 9
+5 Vit (35 vit)
5 skill points saved
LEVEL 10
+5 Vit (40 vit)
6 skill points saved
LEVEL 11
+5 Vit (45 vit)
7 skill points saved
LEVEL 12
+1 Cleansing (prereq for Vigor)
+1 Blessed Aim (prereq for Blessed Hammer)
+5 Vit (50 vit)
6 skill points saved
LEVEL 13
+5 Vit (55 vit)
7 skill points saved
It was tempting to add to Blessed Aim but then Conc and BH would be
maxxed 7 levels later. Also, in retrospect, I would not have been able
to work on Holy Shield sooner than I did and would have regretted that
a lot.
LEVEL 14
+5 Dex (25 dex)
8 skill points saved
LEVEL 15
+5 Dex (30 dex)
9 skill points saved
LEVEL 16
+5 Vit (60 vit)
10 skill points saved
LEVEL 17
+5 Vit (65 vit)
11 skill points saved
LEVEL 18
+1 Vigor (synergy for BH)
+1 Blessed Hammer
+1 Concentration
+5 Vit (70 vit)
9 skill points saved
LEVEL 19 (RADAMENT quest done)
+1 Vigor (lvl 2)
+1 Concentration (lvl 2)
+5 Vit (75 vit)
9 skill points saved
Leaving Blessed Hammer at 1 point until it becomes necessary to
improve damage and pally can afford mana consumption.
LEVEL 20
+1 Vigor (lvl 3)
+1 Concentration (lvl 3)
+5 Vit (80 vit)
8 skill points saved
LEVEL 21
+1 Vigor (lvl 4)
+1 Concentration (lvl 4)
+5 Vit (85 vit)
7 skill points saved
LEVEL 22
+1 Vigor (lvl 5)
+1 Concentration (lvl 5)
+5 Vit (90 vit)
6 skill points saved
LEVEL 23
+1 Vigor (lvl 6)
+1 Concentration (lvl 6)
+5 Vit (95 vit)
5 skill points saved
Still using just the normal attack I started with. Started to need BH
in Flayer Jungle. Melee attack missing slightly more now but still
adequate. Vitality compensating for damage taken.
LEVEL 24 (LAM ESSEN quest done)
+1 Vigor (lvl 7)
+1 Concentration (lvl 7)
+5 Dex (35 dex)
+5 Vit (100 vit)
4 skill points saved
LEVEL 25
+1 Vigor (lvl 8)
+1 Concentration (lvl 8)
+5 Vit (105 vit)
3 skill points saved
LEVEL 26
+1 Vigor (lvl 9)
+2 Blessed Hammer (lvl 3)
+1 Concentration (lvl 9)
+5 Vit (110 vit)
all extra skill points used
Blessed Hammer damage starting to fall behind so took 2 points in it.
Noticed big jump in BH damage. The synergies were having small effect
in damage increase while there was only 1 point in BH. Will consider
alternating further skill points between Conc and BH depending on mana
consumption.
LEVEL 27
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 4)
+5 Vit (115 vit)
Did some Meph runs to try to upgrade equipment using BH almost
exclusively. Took another point in Blessed Hammers so I could do good
damage to Meph.
LEVEL 28 (IZUAL quest done)
+1 Concentration (lvl 10)
+5 Vit (120 vit)
2 skill points saved
Will save Izual quest points for the moment so that I can get
Redemption at lvl 30. Note how adding +1 to Conc gives only small
increase in BH damage.
LEVEL 29
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 5)
+5 Vit (125 vit)
2 skill points saved
LEVEL 30
+1 Redemption
+1 Vigor (lvl 10)
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 6)
+5 Str (60 str)
no extra skill points saved
Doing Diablo runs for items and exp. Running BH with Redemption aura.
No need to drink potions at all in Chaos, only with Diablo. Will stop
adding Vigor now until Conc and BH maxxed. Can afford to bump up BH
now that I have Redemption. Balrog boss worse than Diablo.
LEVEL 31
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 7)
+5 Vit (130 vit)
LEVEL 32
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 8)
+5 Vit (135 vit)
LEVEL 33
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 9)
+5 Vit (140 vit)
LEVEL 34
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 10)
+5 Vit (145 vit)
LEVEL 35
+1 Concentration (lvl 11)
+5 Vit (150 vit)
LEVEL 36
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 11)
+5 Vit (155 vit)
LEVEL 37
+1 Concentration (lvl 12)
+5 Vit (160 vit)
Did Ancients quest. Piece of cake.
LEVEL 38
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 12)
+5 Vit (165 vit)
Did Baal quest. Very easy with the massive life and damage. Will stay
in norm to get easy exp and items from Baal runs.
LEVEL 39
+1 Concentration (lvl 13)
+5 Vit (170 vit)
LEVEL 40
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 13)
+5 Vit (175 vit)
LEVEL 41
+1 Concentration (lvl 14)
+5 Vit (180 vit)
LEVEL 42
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 14)
+5 Vit (185 vit)
--- START NIGHTMARE DIFFICULTY ---
LEVEL 43 (DEN of EVIL quest done)
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 15)
+1 Concentration (lvl 15)
+5 Vit (190 vit)
Will max Conc now since hammers doing plenty damage. Pleasantly
surprised at how easy it is to kill. Everything dies. Hammers rule.
LEVEL 44
+1 Concentration (lvl 16)
+5 Vit (195 vit)
LEVEL 45 (RADAMENT quest done)
+2 Concentration (lvl 18)
+5 Vit (200 vit)
A little nasty in the sewers with the skeleton archers. Good fire
resists a must. Despite the massive vitality, they take a good chunk
of life out when pelted by a sizable crowd.
LEVEL 46
+1 Concentration (lvl 19)
+5 Dex (40 dex)
Starting to need more dex and str for equipment reqs.
LEVEL 47
+1 Concentration (lvl 20 - MAXXED)
+5 Dex (45 dex)
Maxxing BH now. Mana sufficient for needs now through gear and
Redemption. Breezing through act 2 but watch out for the lightning
skelly archers in Jail levels.
LEVEL 48
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 16)
+5 Dex (50 dex)
LEVEL 49
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 17)
+5 Str (65 str)
Duriel bit the dust fast. Wonderful thing about the hammerdin; being
frozen here doesn't matter.
LEVEL 50
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 18)
+5 Str (70 str)
LEVEL 51
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 19)
+5 Dex (55 dex)
LEVEL 52
+1 Blessed Hammer (lvl 20 - MAXXED)
+5 Dex (60 dex)
Hoo boy. Serious damage! Nmare is a breeze as long as the resists are
okay. Will flesh out Vigor now. Block is very low and ranged attackers
hurt a lot. The Flayers can be a pain, especially the pea-shooters and
I find I don't stay stationary long.
LEVEL 53 (LAM ESSEN quest done)
+1 Vigor (lvl 11)
+5 Dex (65 dex)
+5 Vit (205 vit)
LEVEL 54
+1 Vigor (lvl 12)
+5 Dex (70 dex)
LEVEL 55
+1 Vigor (lvl 13)
+5 Vit (210 vit)
Mephisto dies easily. More runs for equipment. Bremm with conviction
aura is a serious threat. The merc dies here frequently. I leave it
dead to save cash. Fire and poison resist maxxed is a must now.
LEVEL 56
+1 Vigor (lvl 14)
+5 Str (75 str)
LEVEL 57 (IZUAL quest done)
+3 Vigor (lvl 17)
+5 Vit (215 vit)
Gloams are capital N nasty! Despite maxxed resists, a pack will
quickly reduce your life to nothing. Even retreating doesn't help
much. Of all the monsters in Act 4, they are the worst by far. Good
idea to cast frequent portals.
LEVEL 58
+1 Vigor (lvl 18)
+5 Str (80 str)
LEVEL 59
+1 Vigor (lvl 19)
+5 Dex (75 dex)
Diablo dies. Chaos runs seem easier than I expected. The Balrog boss
is as much a pain as he was in norm.
LEVEL 60
+1 Vigor (lvl 20 - MAXXED)
+5 Str (85 str)
At this point, I'm finding that as much as I wanted to dispense with
Holy Shield, I doubt that I can. Ranged attackers in Bloody Foothills
can quickly stun lock me and cause me to die very fast. Spear cats
especially fearsome. Will be boosting Holy Shield for a bit 'til I get
something decent for block rate. Currently 25% and inadequate.
LEVEL 61
+1 Smite (prereq for Holy Shield)
+5 Dex (80 dex)
LEVEL 62
+1 Charge (prereq for Holy Shield)
+5 Dex (85 dex)
LEVEL 63
+1 Holy Shield
+5 Dex (90 dex)
LEVEL 64
+1 Holy Shield (lvl 2)
+5 Dex (95 dex)
LEVEL 65
+1 Holy Shield (lvl 3)
+5 Dex (100 dex)
LEVEL 66
+1 Holy Shield (lvl 4)
+5 Dex (105 dex)
Baal dies without too much difficulty. The hammers are doing 3000+
damage. With equipment on, I have almost 300 mana to draw from but I
still consume a lot battling him because of his mana drain attack.
Though I could go on to Hell difficulty, I'll stay in act 5 and level
up Holy Shield to get a decent block.
LEVEL 67
+1 Holy Shield (lvl 5)
+5 Dex (110 dex)
LEVEL 68
+1 Holy Shield (lvl 6)
+5 Dex (115 dex)
LEVEL 69
+1 Holy Shield (lvl 7)
+5 Dex (120 dex)
LEVEL 70
+1 Holy Shield (lvl 8)
+5 Dex (125 dex)
LEVEL 70
+1 Holy Shield (lvl 9)
+5 Str (90 str)
At this point, I have 74% chance to block with a duration over 2
minutes.
Not proceeding beyond this point for now. It was my intention to build
this pally so he'd be 'hell-ready'. If I were to continue, I'd
increase Holy Shield to lvl 10. That should maintain a 75% block,
especially if I can get a better shield than the 'Rhymed' Akaran Targe
I currently use. Further skill points would be allocated to Blessed
Aim to increase BH damage.
Subsequent stat points would go to vitality.
SUMMARY
The pally has the following:
+20 Concentration
+20 Blessed Hammer
+20 Vigor
+9 Holy Shield
+1 Redemption
+1 to all prerequisites
90 Strength
125 Dexterity
215 Vitality
15 Energy
3119-3165 Blessed Hammer damage
Chance to block 74% for 130 seconds
Resistances all maxxed at 75% (actual numbers are 170 Fire/ 151 Cold/
190 Lightning/ 181 Poison)
As a side-note, I'll mention that he has none of the preferred
equipment (Herald of Zakarum gilded shield, Vipermagi serpentskin
armor, Wizardspike bone knife, Harlequin Crest shako, Merman's
Sprocket boots, Arachnid Mesh belt, combat charms, skills amulet or
rings). Nor have either of his socket quests been used. Yet, he's a
formidable killer and would become even more so with them.
Please feel free to critique this build or offer suggestions for
improvement based on your experiences with a hammerdin.