Guide for PvP VindicatorIntroductionHello! Welcome to my guide for PvP Vindicator! First of all, for the ones that don't know, Vindicator is Pally that uses shield for attacking his opponents. He is also known as Smiter. In this guide u will learn most of the things u need to know about Vindicators... Stats, skills, gear, inventory, merc, etc... Well, let's get started!
GearItems listed in
red are ur best options, suggested gear. I'll include screenshots of how ur char should look like using those suggested items.
Items listed in
blue are poor man's choices.
Items listed in
green are items that u should use if ur not rich enough to get suggested ones or u simply think those are better than suggested ones.
Helm:
Harlequin Crest , Crown of Ages ,
Peasant Crown , Rockstopper ,
Andariel's Visage , Kira's GuardianArmor:
Chains of Honor Archon Plate , Arakaine's Valor Eth Zod Glitched ,
Guardian Angel , Duriel's Shell , Shaftstop ,
Leviathan , Tyrael's Might , Enigma Archon PlateBelt:
Verdungo's Hearty Cord ,
String of Ears ,
Thundergod's Vigor , Nosferatu's CoilWeapon:
Doom War Spike , 2 Socked (Lo/Lo) Rose Branded War Scepter/Divine Scepter/Caduceus of Quickness ,
6x Shael Phase Blade , Lightsabre ,
Silence Phase Blade , Razor's Edge , Azurewrath , BotD Berserker Axe , BotD War Spike , LaceratorShield:
Up'd Herald of Zakarum , Exile Eth Vortex Shield ,
Herald of Zakarum ,
any other non-Eth ExileGloves:
Dracul's Grasp ,
Bloodfist , Sander's Taboo ,
Immortal King's Forge , Laying of HandsBoots:
Sandstorm Trek , Gore Rider ,
Immortal King's Pillar , Natalya's Soul ,
War Traveler , MarrowwalkRing 1:
Bul-Katho's Wedding Band ,
Dwarf Star ,
Stone of Jordan , Whisp Projector , Raven FrostRing 2:
Raven Frost ,
Dwarf Star ,
Stone of Jordan , Whisp Projector , Bul-Katho's Wedding BandAmulet:
Mara's Kaleidoscope , Highlord's Wrath ,
The Mahim-Oak Curio , Saracen's Chance ,
Cat's Eye , Metalgrid , Seraph's HymnSwitch:
Call to Arms + Lidless Wall ,
none ,
Call to Arms + any other shieldSkillsSmite: 20
Main attacking skill. Max it first along with Holy Shield.
Holy Shield: 20
Boosts up blocking, defense and Smite dmg sky high. Max it first along with Smite.
Fanaticism: 20
Third most important skill. Put 1 point in when u hit lvl 30 and max it after Smite and Holy Shield.
Defiance: 20
This is actually optional but since 3 main skills are already used this is best and most useful choice left. Max it after everything else.
Vigor: 1
Just to get around faster. Only 1 point should be enough.
Salvation: 1
Useful when facing those nasty chars using elemental attacks. Again, 1 point should be enough.
Pre. reqs.: 1
Put 1 point in each pre. req. Simple as that. U will see that some of pre. reqs. will be actually usefull with only 1 point in them. Charge for example.
Total: 90
Yes, only 90. With Den of Evil, Radament and Izual quests completed on normal, nightmare and hell u'll get 12 extra skill points making this build avilable to complete on lvl 79.
StatsStrenght: Enough for gear with +str on items
Depending what gear u'll use calculate how much str u will need base. Little help, calculate total +str on ur gear and subtract it from "heaviest" piece of gear, the one that requires the biggest ammount of strenght. Result is how much base str u need.
Dexterity: Enough for maxed blocking
This one depends on 4 things. First, chance to block on shield, second, ur lvl, third, ur dexterity and fourth, lvl of Holy Shield. How to calculate base dex needed: First of all u must hit final lvl. Equip gear u choosen to use to get +dex from items and +skills that add bonus to Holy Shield. Activate Holy Shield. Start putting points in dex until u have 75% chance to block on char screen. For 75% blocking with Holy Shield activated it should be u should have 120-150 dex including +dex bonuses from gear.
Vitality: Rest
Everything remaining should be dumped here. Extra life never hurts.
Energy: None
Smite costs only 2 mana so it's almost impossible to run out of it.
InventoryInventory should be filled with following stuff:
Combat Skillers with 12% FHR: Get enough of them to hit 4 frames FHR. If ur using Sandstorm Trek which has 20% FHR and Verdungo's Hearty Cord which has 10% FHR u need 5 of them to hit 4 frames FHR.
Combat Skillers with 20+ life or 7% FRW: After u get enough 12% FHR Combat Skillers fill rest of inventory with these.
Small Charms with Life and possibly resist: Get ones with 19-20 life and resist all 4-5 or resist fire/cold/lightning/poison 9-11. Those are best, get as much as u need to have all resistances 75 on hell. Most important on them is 19-20 life. Resist is optional.
Note:
If ur unlegit u can use 20/5's...
Annihilus: And what else did u expected? Annihilus is always a must.
MercSame as gear section, but for merc.
Three notes:
Best merc to use is
act 2 nightmare. Pick offensive if u want Might or defensive if u want Holy Freeze.
Eth items are always better than regular ones... For merc.
Upgrade whatever can be upgraded.
Helm:
Andariel's Visage ,
Crown of Thieves , Rockstopper ,
Vampire Gaze , Harlequin CrestArmor:
Stone Sacred Armor , Bramble Archon Plate ,
Duriel's Shell , Guardian Angel ,
Shaftstop , LeviathanIf using Doom War Spike on PallyWeapon:
Breath of the Dying War Pike ,
Hone Sudan , Arioc's Needle , Spire of Honor ,
Bonehew , The Reaper's ToolIf not using Doom War Spike on PallyWeapon:
Doom Cryptic Axe ,
Hone Sudan , Arioc's Needle , Spire of Honor ,
Bonehew , The Reaper's ToolTablesFaster Hit Recovery frames Some tipsThis build is originally designed for PvP but it's also viable in PvM. Don't think u'll kick ass like Hammerdin tho.
Anyway, with Holy Freeze and Life Tap u won't have problems surviving in act 5 hell. But be careful, ur not a Hammerdin.
Important tip concerning weapon... Many ppl say use dual Ber'd Rose Branded Scepter of Quickness for Crushing Blow and IAS... Or Ber'd Astreons for Crushing Blow and other useful mods... Well, that's a waste... Crushing Blow has a penalty in PvP that makes it almost useless. Conclusion: Don't try to get gear with Crushing Blow for PvP, it's simply a waste.
Anyway, let's proceed with dueling tips...
In PvP most of melee duelers are dead meat when they duel u. Only problem could be WW barb cuz WW is uninteruptible. Timing is the key, attack him in short periods betweed 2 WWs. Also, walk all the time cuz if u run blocking percentage will be down to 1/3. Blocking is also key to success, especially against those pesky WW barbs. Oh yeah, also be careful when facing WW assassins. If WW barb or assassin is
very good, u probably won't stand a chance...
As for casters, if u consider amazon a caster since she isn't melee (bowazon) it's easy. Charge her, if she isn't dead after few Charges she will definately be dead after few Smites.
For other casters is mostly same. Charge them and Smite them. Problem is if they have high FCR and Teleport. Like I said before, timing is the key.
U'll have to be extremely careful when facing sorcs using Blizzard/Fireball/Frozen Orb... They are very dangeruous... But absorb does miracle...
Lightning sorc is easy avoidable so that shouldn't be a problem.
Necros can be ur nightmare if they Bone Prison u. To counter that always have Enigma in stash, just in case. With Enigma there shouldn't be any bigger problems. Use mostly Charge and Teleport only in case of Bone Prison.
Wind druids should be easy too. Charge and Smite untill they drop dead.
Trappers... Avoid Traps as much as possible. When ur close to Trapper simply Charge and Smite. It's not easy as it sounds but there shouldn't be any major problems. Absorb helps too.
Hammerdins are almost impossible since u have to come close to them to attack and they are spamming Hammers... Simply avoid them or call a friend caster to help u.
A small screenshot 
Final wordTo put it all in final, with this build u will get great Pally that stuns, deals around 3k dmg, has over 3k life, over 20k defense, maxed resists, 75% blocking and stuff like that. Very leet.
I wanna note that ppl will hate u in public duels if u use Doom... But who cares, everyone is lame there so why couldn't u be lame too?
Oh, another thing, this build ends on lvl 85 cuz it's good point to start duelling and Tyrael's Might is wearable on lvl 84.
Anyway, I hope u enjoyed my guide.
CreditsIAS calculatorSkill plannerTommi Gustafsson's FHR and FBR tablesFHR, FCR and FBR tablesAnd in final, me.
I'm creator of this guide, right?
G a u s s This post was edited by Gauss™ on Jul 6 2004 07:06am