IntroWhy an aura/smite paladin?
The aura/smite hybrid is a very balanced build that does high physical and elemental damage. Fully synergized, 2 dream shields will add 1-7005 damage to your attack (not smite) and do 4-1167 pulse damage. In addition, you will have a smite in the range of 5k - 6k (calculated) smite damage. What I like best about dueling with my auradin is that it forces people to come to you. The pulses act as a clock on the opponent and often lead to mistakes, primarily in the form of coming into the range of your smite.
Outside of 3 required elements (dream, dream, grief), there's a lot of flexibility and it's far from a cookie cutter build. In a typical duel you will use around 5 - 8 skills. With practice, you will be able to take on every build in the game (and succeed without the use of any add-ons/hacks). High life, defense, fhr, max block and resists are all part of the build.
Here are the stats for my auradin, AdjutantReflex:
EquipmentHelm: Dream in a 15ed bone visage
Shield: Dream in a 45res sacred targe
Note: You want at least 48fhr (5 frame recovery) between the shield and helm, preferably 56fhr (to hit 86fhr with bloodfist or trek/dungo)
Armor: Enigma (mage plate or dusk shroud)
Weapon: 40/400 Grief zerker
Note: 40ias is important if you plan on using bloodfists. A Grief phase blade works almost as well, but the +1 range from a zerker is a major advantage.
Belt: Arach or Dungos
Note: I prefer arach for the faster teleport and improved damage. Dungos are better in some matchups and can help you hit the higher fhr breakpoint.
Boots: Waterwalk or Treks or Gore Riders
Note: Treks will help you hit 86 fhr if you're not using bloodfist, but Waterwalks are generally better for the life and dex. Gore Riders are good for deadly strike / open wounds.
Gloves: Bloodfist or 20ias rare gloves or Dracs
Note: Bloodfist is the best choice under certain conditions outlined below. Rare gloves are a versatile choice. Dracs are best for open wounds, but the life tap is generally bad-mannered.
Ammy: Maras
Rings: Ravenfrost and BK
Switch: CTA and pally spirit with 30+ fcr
InventoryA good anni and paladin torch are standard. The rest of your inventory will have anywhere from 0 - 9 offensive or pcomb lifers, with the rest of the space filled up with 20 life small charms (with resists or AR). With the proper equipment you won't need any FHR small charms to hit your breakpoints. Offensive skill grand charms will add about 80 damage to your smite, as well as helping you outconvict other paladins. Paladin combat (pcomb) grand charms will add about 110 damage to your smite as well as boosting your charge damage/AR and your defense. It's particularly important to stack lightning resist about 50 over max (explained later).
StatsStrength - Enough for gear. Depending on your torch and anni, this could mean nothing. The heaviest thing you have is the grief zerker, which requires 138 str. A little excess strength doesn't hurt, but I have base strength on my character.
Dexterity - Enough for max block. Dexterity needed = {(150 * clvl) / blocking} + 15, so you will need about 160 - 165 dexterity, depending on your level, if you use a sacred targe. Added points aren't a complete waste but try to figure it out so that you can put as much as possible into vitality. I put about 70 points into dex.
Vitality - Everything else.
Energy - Nothing.
SkillsNote: I've put my skill allotment in parenthesis
Defensive auras:
Resist Lightning: 20 pts
Note: This is the primary synergy for holy shock
Salvation: 1 - 20 pts (20)
Note: salvation only adds 4% lite dmg per level and is not completely necessary. Depending on your planned balance of aura and smite you can shave points off here.
Vigor (and 3 prereq's) - 1pt
Offensive auras:
Conviction: 10 - 20 pts (16)
Note: You want at least enough to hit level 25 after +skills. This is where the negative enemy resist caps at -150%. You likely want more than 25 in case you go against another auradin/FoH/VT. It also continues to drop enemy defense past level 25 (with a 50% penalty in PvP). After +skills I have a level 30 conviction, which gives -94% enemy defense (-47% in PvP). This helps you land hits despite unimpressive attack rating.
Fanaticism: 10 - 20 pts (11)
Note: Ideally your fanaticism will be level 27+ when you're done, as this will allow you to use a 40ias Grief + Bloodfist to hit the max smite speed. Points in fanaticism add 17%ed, while points in smite only add 15%ed. If I were to rebuild I would shave points off of salvation to hit the level 27 mark without grand charms.
1 point into everything else except holy shock
Note: Outside of prereq's for conviction and fanaticism, you will want 1 point in holy freeze and its prereq. Use of holy freeze will be outlined later.
Combat skills:
Smite: 1 - 10 pts (1)
Charge: 1 - 10 pts (1)
Holy shield: 1 - 20 pts (20)
Note: these are your three main combat skills. Finding a balance that works for you is important. I chose to max holy shield for added smite damage and defense. If I were to rebuild, I would likely put 10 points in holy shield and use the leftover for smite or charge. Points in smite add roughly 4 times more damage vs points in holy shield.
*optional: 1 pt in Zeal and Sacrifice
Note: Zeal is primarily a PvM skill. It can occasionally come in handy in duels and I recommend 1 pt in it.
Dueling StategyGeneral: Your pulses are not going to kill anyone good on their own. Do not play the part of the standard "chicken with its head cut off" auradin who charges around the moor racking up nk's. Your goal is to chip away at your opponent's life until you think you can get in close and smite them. In some cases, you can simply charge lock and wait for the kill. Given that most duelers will be in the -50 to -100 range after your conviction, your pulses will take away 150 - 200 life every 2.5 seconds. Also, in general - walk, don't run. You will be at 75% block while walking but only 25% block while running.
Telesmite: This is a useful skill to practice. Have smite on left click and teleport on right click. Namelock an opponent (by left clicking and holding on them) and you will begin to walk towards them. Quickly drag your cursor to the center of the screen (while still namelocking) and cast teleport. You will be on top of the opponent and smiting after the jump. Quickly switch your right click to fanaticism and continue smiting until they're dead or you need to charge away.
Desync: This is also a useful skill to learn. It is a glitch and therefore may be considered bad-mannered (BM) in some duels, but in many cases you'll need it to take down BM'ing opponents. With charge on left click and vigor on right click, charge away from your opponent until they are just off screen. Loop around quickly and charge back into them. If done correctly, they will not see you come back onto their screen and will only see you reappear once you land a hit.
Conviction/Fanaticism: There is a trick to using both of these while trying to land a charge. With conviction on, begin charging towards your opponent. A few feet before you connect, switch to fanaticism. Your conviction will stick on them for a few seconds, giving you the -47% defense and -150% resist bonus, and you will also get the added AR and damage from fanaticism. The timing here is extremely hard to lock down, especially when you're in close combat. With practice it can be a useful tool against high-defense builds.
Hotkeys - here is what I have set up:
Q - Teleport
W - Conviction
E - Vigor
R - Holy Shield
T - Salvation
Y - Resist Lightning
A - Charge
S - Zeal
D - Smite
F - Fanaticism
G - Holy Freeze
V - Battle Commands
B - Battle Orders
Z, X and C I use for PvM hotkeys, generally Town Portal, Sanctuary, and Cleansing
You don't really need Salvation either, I'm just used to having it in that spot. Resist Lightning is much more useful and can take it's better spot at "T".
Your prebuff consists of you walking into the moor, switching to CTA, and casting battle commands twice, followed by battle orders, followed by holy shield.
MatchupsAuradin (fire)Generally an easy duel. Your pulses do 600 avg damage, their pulses do 500 average damage. There is a decent chance that they will have a higher conviction, in which case you need to quickly charge in and smite with fanaticism. If your conviction sticks, simply chargelock and they will fall quickly. The only way you can lose this duel is A) They're stack glitching (in which case you can put on 2 dwarf stars and likely 1-hit them) or
They have a higher conviction and good resists and simply charge away from you. In the latter case, you'll still be able to catch them if you switch to vigor or telesmite. Their pulse radius is higher, keep that in mind. Your radius is about 2 screens, theirs is about 3.
Auradin (lite)Easy. You have everything they have plus smite. If you have a higher conviction, simply charge lock and wait for one to two hits to land, they will die quickly. If you are outconvicted, switch to your res lite aura. With enough stack (about 25 over your 95 max) you will stay at 95% lite resist even after being convicted. Chargelock them to death, your grief alone will kill them with physical damage. If they're dumb enough to stand still long enough you can smite with fanaticism and end it quickly.
Note: lite/fire auradins are essentially lite auradins with an almost useless lvl 30 holy fire thrown on. Use the same strategy as vs lite auradins with the added knowledge that they can't teleport.
SmiterCharge around them with conviction on, letting your pulses take off enough life that when you go face to face you'll stand a better chance. Flash holy freeze until they turn blue, then charge in and smite with fanaticism until one of you dies. If it's getting close at the end, or they get lifetap on you, you can charge away and let your pulses kill. If they're using a phase blade grief, this is a very easy duel. If they're a strong smiter with a grief zerker then don't plan on walking away with more than a few hundred life.
HammerdinYou will see plenty of these in duel rooms. 90% of them have no idea what they're doing. The good 10% often use add-ons and talk a lot of trash. The good thing is that they rarely see your smite coming and if you practice enough it's a good matchup. They key is to stay to the southwest of them. Their hammers leave in the northwest direction. Let them come to you when they start feeling your pulses, they will likely being teleporting instead of charging like they should. Continue walking away from them as they start getting closer and closer with their teleports. When they finally teleport right above you, turn around and smite them to death. Very few will be able to teleport away, and if they do just stay close enough for your pulses to hit them and repeat. If they are a good hammerdin and know how to desync invisible hammers, you're in for a tougher matchup. You may have to pursue them, dodging hammers the entire time. Your best bet is to desync as well, charge in from the southwest and smite.
V/T (FoH/Smite)The V/T is a very strong build and a difficulty matchup for this build. They usually have a higher conviction as well as an inventory of pcombs so they will have better smite damage. If your conviction is higher, you can simply charge lock them while they are trying to FoH you. You have 85% lightning resist without the res lite aura, meaning you can take a good number of FoH's before you die. If their conviction is higher, you will have to be crafty to kill them. Switch to resist lightning. This is why I mentioned above that you should have at least 50 extra lightning resist stacked. With your aura on, you will get a boost of 124 lite resist, versus their -150 from conviction and (possibly) -25 from a FoH stick. If you have enough stack, your lightning resist will stay at 95 and you will barely feel the FoH damage. If they are bad, they will keep trying to FoH and you can charge in and smite them to death. If they are good, they will recognize this and try to telesmite you. This is a good time to charge away (and possibly desync) while they are in smite mode. Switch to conviction so they start feeling your pulses, then when they switch back to FoH, charge in again and smite until they recover and start smiting back. If they're low enough on life (about 2/3 - 3/4) you should win a heads up smite battle.
*If they are a straight Templar (all FoH), the above applies with the exception that they can't smite back. Smite them until they charge or teleport away, then put your resist lightning aura on until you get close enough again to smite.
Trap assassinThis is one of your easiest duels. Switch on resist lightning and you will have 95% lightning resist. Feel free to lock and charge straight in. If they have you stuck in mindblasts, charge away and then charge back in. Never take off resist lightning, the damage you're taking will triple. I usually charge in and then start smiting (without fanaticism). Against most sins they will drop quickly. Good ones will take patience but you really shouldn't ever die to a trapsin.
WW assassinMuch tougher than trappers but still a good matchup. They will be faded so your pulses and charge aren't going to do nearly enough damage (unless you can chargelock with fanaticism on). The best stategy is to walk and smite with fanaticism on. Try to flash holy freeze periodically. If you're still having difficulty, flash holy freeze until they're blue, then teleport a few feet in front of their whirlwind, then smite+fana 2-3 times and charge away. Death's hand (set gloves) can be helpful here for the 50% poison resist and 75% poison reduction.
WW barbThis is a very tough duel. Even bad ww barbs will have good damage and life. This is one reason why a grief zerker is needed, as they will be using zerkers as well and if you try to get in with a phase blade you're going to take many more clips before you land. Your pulses will do decent damage, but it will take a while to chip away their life. The straightforward strategy is essentially the same as ww sins: Charge in circles with holy freeze until they turn blue, then teleport in front of them (or charge there) while they are about halfway through a whirlwind. Smite 2-3 times and charge away. If you try to keep smiting they will simply WW right over you. It's an uninterruptible attack, meaning you have to deal with them hitting you even while you're hitting them. A second option is to charge away (and desync if you choose), then charge back with conviction on and switch to fanaticism right before you hit. This is the best strategy against a strong BvC, who will be much harder to land a smite against.
Bow ZonNot too difficult, though if you get hit by a stack of guided arrows you will probably die instantly. They key here is to charge around with vigor on so the arrows can't hit you. Charge in a spiral around the zon until you get close enough to smite (with fanaticism). They will likely fall from 1 - 2 smites - if not, and the arrows are still coming, you could be in for some major damage. Generally, though, you just need to learn how to avoid the arrows and find an opening to come in and drop them. Landing a charge instead of smiting works well too, experiment and see what works best with your timing.
Java ZonEasy. You will be the savior of many duel rooms when you charge out and smite the townguarding, farcasting, nk'ing javazon. Keep resist lightning on all the time, even when you're up close and smiting. The base damage from smite alone will be able to kill them. Most javazons use add-ons to farcast so don't let them give you B.S. about your 40 sorb. It's just their maphack telling them you have 40 sorb on (the resist lite aura bonus shows up as sorb). Most GM games allow one piece of sorb or stack, your resist aura counts as your one. If you're in a GM duel with a legit javazon, this can be a fun and interesting duel if you agree to not use the resist lite aura.
Bone NecroGood boners are tough, especially if they spam bonewalls and invisible spirits. Keep vigor on and charge around them until you see an opening in the slew of spirits. You will have to avoid hitting their golem, but once you namelock the nec he should die in 1-2 hits. Your pulses will kill them eventually as well, though you're better off getting in and ending it before you get nailed by a spirit or spear. You can tank about 3-4 of these generally. If they bone prison you, either quickly zeal it away or teleport out of it (what I usuallly do) and continue charging as before. If they are max block it's a bit trickier, but once you land a charge, blocked or not, switch to smite+fana and they'll drop quickly. If they're good they may lock you in a flurry spears in which case you should charge away and charge back in before they start casting spirits again.
Poison NecroPretty straightforward, charge around avoiding poison novas until you get a namelock, and chase them until you land a hit. If they stop to nova they'll be dead long before the poison take you to one. Another perk of being an auradin is that their fire golem will die from your pulses and they'll have a hard time killing you with teeth or whatnot before your pulses take them down as well.
Cold SorcVery tough matchup, especially if they use energy shield. Your pulses will barely hurt them and they can simply pot back the damage to their ES. They'll have upwards of 250% minus cold resist so there's no point in trying to stack. You can swap in another raven, this will cut out another 40% or so of their damage. Even still, they might spam iceblast and trap you while you're trying to smite them. Charge around with vigor on until you see a chance to charge in. Use conviction still, it will still increase the chances that you will land a hit. Once you have them taking charges it will look like they're not losing any life, then they will suddenly pop. This means their ES finally crapped out and you had a free shot at their health. If they are max block you may have to use smite instead. Again, don't try to put on salvation or anything like that - plan on having -100% cold resist and duel accordingly.
Fire SorcGenerally an easy fight, much easier if you swap on hotspurs. Waterwalks as your main boot help as well with its +5% max fire resist. Fire sorcs are generally pure vita and don't use ES, meaning your pulses can and will take them down. The hard part is that being close enough for the pulses to hit means chasing them in the face of oncoming fireballs, and you can't tank more than 2-3 against a good sorc. Instead, charge with vigor in circles around them until they have trouble tracking you with fireballs. Charge in with conviction and and they should fall in 1-2 hits.
Lite SorcLike trapsins and javazons, you will rarely find yourself struggling against a lite sorc. Leave resist lightning on and charge after them until you get a lock. Eventually you will land a charge. If you find that you're only getting 1 -2 charges in before they tele away and pot their ES back, try landing a charge and quickly switching to smite (leave resist lightning on if you think they're going to zap you, switch to fanaticism if they're trying to tele away). This is another situation where the zerker's range comes in handy. After 2-3 smites their ES will fall and the next smite will kill them.
Wind DruidThis is a challenging matchup, especially if they're smart and know how to duel auradins. Hope they don't and use wolves against you, the dogs will fall after a few pulses along with their oak sage and you can chargelock the druid, tanking 2-3 nados if necessary. If they're smart and cast a bear instead, you'll have a much harder time getting a namelock. Your pulses will do next to nothing, as they have cyclone armor and generally recast it as needed. They will, however, have to stop tele'ing briefly to throw wind at you, at which point the bear will wander towards you and can get a namelock. Better yet, teleport behind them and smite them if you can. If they don't know you can smite they will try to telestomp you, in which you can smite away and hope to tank their nados long enough to kill them (which you will most of the time). Again, good druids, or one's using add-ons, will be hard to beat and you will have to develop a very different duel strategy as compared to other opponents.
ClosingI hope you liked the guide and found it helpful. If you liked the guide or have any suggestions please post or get in contact with me. You can pm me on d2jsp or on battle.net at *adjutantfish. Thanks for reading.
This post was edited by adjutant on Dec 20 2007 09:25pm