TienJe and Halo273’s Mage Paladin Guide v1.2
Version history:
1.0 – original document
1.1 – edits and fixes
1.2 – added new setups and revamped strategy section
1. IntroductionMages are widely considered to be the “holy grail” of all paladin builds, the association stemming from their difficulty and price of construction and the great reward for properly building one. The difficulty stems from its skill allocation, whose optimal levels will change depending on the gear setup and character level. Most character builds are fairly simple to deduce, and are composed simply of maxing this, this, and that. However, optimizing the damage for Blessed Hammer and Fist of Heavens is a 3- and 2- dimensional problem respectively, giving rise to the great confusion that surrounds this build. The rarity of a properly built mage is perhaps only surpassed by the rarity of a well-played one.
This guide will be a bit brief, as I am writing it during my lay-over in the Las Vegas airport, but all the important information should be included.
Character OverviewThe Mage build is more than a combination of a hammerdin and a templar; the synergistic nature of hybrid builds really comes through with this paladin. The combination of hammers and FoH is a great mix of defensive and offensive attacks, and between these two attacks, you will find a counter for almost every situation, allowing the Mage to be competitive across the entire PvP landscape.
There are many other builds utilizing hammer CTA’s and FoH scepters, but my philosophy is that the power of the mage comes from the combination of the two attacks and the seamless transition between the two, so this build will focus on using a HoTo as the main weapon for both attacks.
DisclaimerAgain, I make no claim as to the origins of this build. This guide merely represents my interpretation.
2. Character StatsStarting AttributesStrength: 25
Dexterity: 20
Vitality: 25
Energy: 15
Hit Points: 55
Stamina: 89
Mana: 15
Each Character LevelLife :+2
Stamina: +1
Mana: +1.5
Attribute Point Effect1 Vitality point gives 3 Life
1 Vitality point gives 1 Stamina
1 Energy point gives 1.5 Mana
Stat AllocationSTR: enough for equipment
DEX: enough for max block with DR/block setup
VIT: all remaining points
ENG: base
3. Character EquipmentNormally, I like to discuss skill allocations before divulging into the equipment selection, but because the optimal skill setups depend on the equipment choices, I will have to break away from the pattern here, and touch on gear first. As with all my guides, the setups listed here are not the only possible solutions, as many exist. Feel free to tweak them to your personal taste.
Like all characters, Mages can and will have multiple setups.
Main SetupsAll setups will be built for 125% FCR, and at least 48% FHR.Pure Damage SetupGriffons /w Lightning Facet
2 Pal 20 FCR ammy
HoTo
Enigma
HoZ /w Lightning Facet
Trang’s Gloves
2x BK Rings
Spider Sash
FRW/FHR/Stat/Res Boots
As you can see, this setup lacks stack against the elements and DR/block, but it provides the maximum damage possible. The facets in the helm and shield can be switched to any number of runes without affecting the optimal skill allocation, since they give simple linear increases in FoH damage, so this setup can be modified to get up to 24 DR, or +10% max res to any of the elements, which should be enough for pubbies.
The next equipment setup we address will be the DR/block setup. There are a number of different setups, including builds with Stormshield or Ber Shako, but I present one using CoA here, to attempt to maximize the damage, though it will be a bit more pricey.
DR/Block SetupCoA /w 2x Ber
2 pal 10 FCR STR rare ammy
Hoto
Enigma
Spirit Sacred Targe /w base res
Trang’s Gloves
BK/SoJ Ring
BK/SoJ Ring
Spider Sash
FRW/FHR/Stat/Res Boots
This build has 39% DR, and you will have max block, given your DEX investment. With strong hammer damage, 39% DR should be enough to tackle the strongest physical attackers. The important issue in this setup will be getting the necessary STR to wear CoA, and so your 2/10 ammy should have a large amount of STR. At lvl 96, with 18 STR on boots and 20 stat’d Anni and Torch, you will have 155 STR. That means your ammy needs 19 STR to allow you to wear CoA without placing any points into STR. Note that you will be losing + skills and some %Lightning Damage, so your damage in this setup will be lower.
Europe-only Block/DR Setup2 pal/20 FCR /2soc helm /w 2x Ber
2 pal/10 FCR/Life/Mana/All Res ammy
Hoto
Enigma
Spirit Sacred Targe/w base res
Trang ‘s Glove
BK/SoJ Ring
BK/SoJ Ring
Water walks
Bugged belt (1 skill/10 IAS/ 10% Slow/15 STR/25 DEX/20 all res/20% DR)
This build is very expensive and is an EUSCNL build however it is even superior in a lot of ways to the CoA based setup mainly because this setup reaches 44% PDR and 125% FCR with little loss in skills and you still reap the benefits of good stacked res like the CoA setup. This is the most all rounded build, but note that this build relies on a the bugged belt, which is native only to Europe’s realm.
A note to add to this: I cannot specify every possible mage setup out there for you. There are many other possible permutations, so I invite you to use these as a starting point and build your own, based on your own opinions and constraints.
Another note: on Paladins, CTA’s can be made out of scepters, which can spawn with nice bonuses to utility skills. You can find one with 1-3+ Holy Shield/1-3 + Med/others. This is good on switch as when you BO, you can cast Holy Shield with it, which of course saves skill points.
Secondary GearWiz Spike – This is still in my opinion one of the most underrated hammer tool. A wizzy comes packing with 50% fcr 75% all res and an abundance of mana. This is a perfect tool for stack resistances when it is needed. A wizzy can also be socked with a nice jewel. For example you have three main options you can use, 15 all res/9 dex jewel, 30 light res/9 dex jewel or 30% cold res/9 dex jewel.
Grief PB – I carry this in stash as it is highly useful vs bowazons you’re having problems with, although that should not occur often. It’s also useful against Windies for a smite technique which I will mention later in the guide. Grief allows you to adopt a Libby type approach. PB should be the base item of choice, as it can reach 6 FPS smite speed without Fana, allowing you to smite with Conc on. Grief will drop you down to the 75% FCR BP.
Malice/Fury – This weapon switch is mainly used to counter high ES sorcs. Open wounds will be a very significant source of damage, as the mage will naturally be a very high level. Both Fury and Malice can be made into scepters, so try and find one with useful +skills i.e. +Conc/+Hammer/+Med/etc. Again, this will drop you down to the 75% FCR BP.
Elemental stack/absorb - The amount you carry is up to what you find appropriate. Consider keeping a combination of TGods, Hotspurs, and Raven Frost rings in your stash. Remember to keep up your FCR, as oftentimes switching on stack or absorb will replace items with FCR.
CharmsCharms are also fairly simple. Use:
9x Life (or some FHR if needed) Combat GC’s
Torch
Anni
Mix 20/11’s, 20/5’s, and 20/17’s for taste
1x 5fhr/ other stat (depends on CoA and belt options)
In order of efficiency 20/5>20/11>20/17
The goal of the charm section is that with your gear setup you have a minimum of 48% FHR. Setups with Spirit shield will naturally hit that BP, but the ones utilizing HoZ will need to use some FHR Combat GC’s.
A lot of this section is common sense, personal preference, and what people can afford. I personally use 10x 20/5 as I want all the stack I can get from gear. Others may stack a particular element with 10x 20/11’s.
Inventory is very important as this is the place where you can get a lot life, stats and resistance from so ideally you want the best charms you can afford.
4. Skill Point AllocationGet ready to spend a little time here, because this will be the most confusing part of building your Mage. Here we go.
Assumptions Because the levels of +skills on the different gear setups will change the optimal skill allocation, we must select a “main” setup to optimize for, and then live with the small allocation errors for the switches (the damage differences will be fairly small anyway). For the sake of this guide,
I am going to define the Pure Damage setup as our “main”. You may choose to use a different setup to optimize for (you probably should if will be using another setup more often), but please note that you will need to use the skill calculators (explained later) to figure out your proper skill allocation if you do.
We must also choose a target character level, since the skill allocation will depend on how many skill points we have to use.
I am going to set our target level to be 96. If you want to select a different target character level, you will also need to use the calculators to figure out the skill setup on your own.
Skill SetupsAt this point, having chosen a “main” setup and a target character level, we are ready to continue. Maxing out Hammer and FoH will require the Mage to be lvl 126, which of course is impossible, so we must decide how to spread out our limited skills. We are faced with a choice of how to spread our points between Hammer and FoH, which will change which attack we emphasize.
Listed damages are with Pure Damage setup, with Lightning Facets. Here are three possible skill setups:
60/30 Split19 Hammer
7 Conc
20 Vigor
14 Blessed Aim
13 FoH
17 Holy Shock
1 Conv
0 Med
----------
Hammer Damage: 10392
FoH Damage: 5626
50/40 Split15 Hammer
4 Conc
20 Vigor
11 Blessed Aim
20 FoH
20 Holy Shock
1 Conv
0 Med
----------
Hammer Damage: 8075
FoH Damage: 7530
70/20 Split20 Hammer
11 Conc
20 Vigor
19 Blessed Aim
8 FoH
12 Holy Shock
1 Conv
0 Med
----------
Hammer Damage: 13091
FoH Damage: 3978
Don’t ask me which one is better, because I won’t answer you.
Custom Skill Allocations and Using the CalculatorsIf the assumptions made above or the listed skill allocations don’t appeal to you, you have the option of using the calculators to devise your own setup. I will guide you through the process in this section.
My calculators are all hosted @
http://holeycow247.googlepages.comScreenshots:
http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/56/hammerbo4.png |
http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/9799/fohwa9.pngAs with the assumptions listed earlier in this section, you will need to decide on a setup and a character level to optimize for. Add up all the +Paladin/+All/+Combat/+Offensive skill bonuses from your equipment, and record the numbers (don’t forget +1 from Battle Command).
Next, you need to figure out how many skill points you have to spread between Hammer and FoH skills. Take your target character level, subtract 1 (you don’t get a skill point at level 1), and then add 12 (from skill quests). This is how many total skill points you have to spend.
The next step is to take out the number of points used on pre-reqs and other skills. Using the skill planner at www.d2skills.com, place 1 point in every skill you plan to use/have (don’t forget the prereqs), but leave Hammer, Conc, Vigor, Blessed Aim, FoH, and Holy Shock at 0 (the calculators will deal with these). The skill planner will tell you how many skills you have used; subtract his number from the total number of skill points you have. If you don’t spend any points in Meditation, the resist auras, and leave Conviction at 1, you will be subtracting 17.
The number you have now is the number of points you have to split between Hammer and FoH, which I will call
x. Using the calculators hosted at the link above, plug in the +skills you recorded from your equipment earlier, and enter in the number of skills you want to spend for both Hammer and FoH. The balance is up to you, but you must make sure that the sum equals
x, or your Mage won’t be built properly.
After entering these numbers, the calculators will automatically output the optimal base levels for Hammer, Conc, Vigor, Blessed Aim, FoH, and Holy Shock. Use these numbers to build your Mage.