The Vanquisher


Preface: While experimenting with the Libby, V/T, and Mage builds for the Paladin I was surprised when I couldn't find a guide for a lvl 30 Vanquisher. While there are many ways to gear and skill this particular build this is one of my favorites and I feel it does pretty well in general.

Expectations: Plan on building a dueler with the mobility and massive power of a Hammerdin(1600 dmg is np) with the consistence and close-quarter dominance of a Smiter. Affordable gear and plain 15 life small charms easily yields a 1300 life Hammer side, 1150 life Smite side dueler.

i Gearing Your Character
Let's get the easy stuff out of the way first:

~Helm- 12 rep/life Peasant Crown. It's an LLD staple, who needs an explanation? Socket this with either a P-Ruby, P-Skull, or a 20ed/str/dex/4th mod jewel if you're bOWssy.
~Armor- 35 All Resistance/13 MDR Vipermagi. Cheap and and easy. P-Ruby/ P-Skull/ or 20ed/str/dex jewel in socket.
~Gloves- Single Upped Sharkskin Bloodfists.
*Sanders Gloves or Death's Combo may be used if your Smite weapon of choice requires the extra IAS to hit the max FPA, but we'll get to that soon.
~Kicks- Goblin Toes. Eth Tearhaunches or Tri-Res booties in stash for v. Casters should you need them.
~Rings- Soj's all day.

Some of the more difficult items to obtain:

~Ammy- Any +2 Pally Combat/10fcr/life/mana amulet will do fine but one with +rep/life or resistance will really shine on this build.

~Hammer Side-
Weap- +Blessed Hammer/ +Concentration/ +Meditation Honor runeword War Scepter. Medi on the scepter really helps but if your can't find one of these a Spirit sword will do.
Shield- 35fcr/7-8 sorb 45 res base Crown Spirit shield. With the strength bonus off of the Honor scepter the Crown shield base is viable and has the best block rate. If you can't afford/find a 45 res base it's fine any spirit will do.

~Smite Side-
Shield- +2 Pally Combat/ 30FBR 20ICB Barbed Shield 2os. Fill sockets with (1) 20ed/Dmg to Mana/3rd/4th mod jewel (2) 20ed/-15 reqs/3rd/4th mod jewel.
If you cannot find one of these a Barbed Rhyme or Single Upped Swordback will do.
Weap- Your choices for viable Smite weapon bases are pretty much Flails, War Scepters, or any GG rares that may have high ias, range, and/or CTC Amplify Damage.
-5os Superior 15ed Flail: 3x Shael and 2x 20ed jewels with useful Res or life-displacing stat's. The flail has superior range to the War Scepter and is definitely noticeable in duels vs. a character using a comparative character with a comparative War Scepter.
-5os War Scepter with useful Smite staffmods such as Holy Shield, Meditation, or Fanaticism. Socket in the same manner as a 5os Flail.
-Magic War Scepter with a +1 Pally skills or +2 Pally Combat skills prefix, useful staffmods, and either 2os or an IAS suffix. CTC Amplify Damage would also be a ridiculous mod on a weapon like this but gl finding.
**My Personal favorite and weapon of choice:
-Artisans Flail of Amplify Damage: Range 3 and 3x Sockets to stuff with Shaels, this flail looks simple but packs a punch. An early Amp cast can end duels without the use of Hammers and this weapon hits max fpa with Bloodfists.


~Belt- The cheapest route is a String of Ears with 15MDR 15%DMR, you should have one in your stash anyway. Better option is a 24fhr 50+life str or rep/life rare belt with whatever resistance your smite side is lacking. I personally use a Crafted Blood belt to include Open Wounds on my smite side without having to use a Swordback shield. If you can craft one like this you're in good shape.


ii Breakpoints
This build will hit 75fcr/86+fhr on Hammer side and the 48fhr breakpoint on Smite side.
FCR: 10(Ammy)+30(Magi)+35(Spirit)=75
FHR: 30(Fists)+24(Belt)+55(Spirit)=86+ Hammer side, 54 Smite side.
Some may opt for 86 fhr on Smite side and while this would be a small improvement, I feel it is unnecessary. If you find yourself in need of more fhr on Smite side you'll end up needing to get it on charms unless you want to waste a socket in your armor/helm with a Shael rune. Either way you would be losing overall life.

*BP-Tables http://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=2450747
*Weap-Speed Calc. http://diablo2.***/tips/calcs/weaponspeed.php?lang=english

iii Attack Frames
We're aiming to hit 8FPA, you can do it in these common ways.
With a [-10]IAS Base Weapon:
70 Total IAS + (Level 4+ Fanatacism aura) This is either a 60ias weap with Bloodfists OR 40ias weap with Death's Combo.
60 Total IAS + (Level 5+ Fanatacism aura) 40ias weap with Sanders gloves OR 30ias rare weap and Death's Combo.
** Keep in mind Flails have Range-2 and War Scepters have Range-1.

iv The Inventory
The ideal inventory would consist of at least 30x 15life/12mana small charms and the remaining 10 spots can be filled with any 15life/9 single resistance, 15/5 all res, or 3frw/12mana small charms that your Smite side may need. Perfect small charms can be pricey, however a few life/mana gcs and plain 15 life small charms will be fine if you have access to Meditation aura.

v Stat Distribution
Strength-Enough for gear.
Dexterity-Enough for max block on both sides or on just Smite side, choice is yours. With Max Block on Smite side, Hammer side with a Crown spirit will have 65%ish block anyway.
Vitality-Everything else.

vi Skill Distribution
This is where you can fine tune how much Hammer vs. Smite damage you're comfortable playing with. You would just alter the amount of points you place into Blessed Aim or Vigor(Hammer synergy) vs. Holy Shield or Smite.
Prereqs:
Offensive Auras- 4+ Points
+1 Might, +1 Blessed Aim, +1 Concentration, +1 Fanatacism
Combat Auras- 5+ Points
+1 Smite, +1 Holy Bolt, +1 Charge, +1 Blessed Hammer, +1 Holy Shield
*Defensive Auras- 4+ Points
You really don't need these if you have Meditation on your Honor scepter. Many duelers feel statting Defensive auras is BM. You can use Tearhanches for vigor but if you prefer Vigor with Goblin Toes on then..
+1 Prayer, +1 Defiance, +1 Cleansing, +1 Vigor

This leaves you 28 points to disperse between you Hammer synergies (Vigor/Blessed Aim) and your Smite synergies (Holy Shield/ Smite).
You should plan on Skilling for at least 1k hammers if you wish to use a Smite heavy Vanquisher.
I'll post a SS of my ladder dueler with a Hammer-heavy 1-Point Smite, 2-Point Holy Shield setup.

vii Basic Tactics
Look up some videos on desync techniques if you need to, otherwise if you've played with a Hammerdin, V/T, Libby before you should be fine.
Feel free to PM me with any questions about the build or if you'd like to just get in some friendly duels East Ladder/NL.

30 casters are not my specialty whatsoever but i assumed noone made this because you sacrifice alot of mobility. i feel your charge lacks punch and without insight on switch would burn through mana fast.

This post was edited by ReaperKing on Apr 28 2012 05:36am

I'm not sure why you think this character has no mobility. Charge is a prereq and is on both sides of the build.
My character has access to Meditation on my hammer stick. Also this character is not specialized in Charge that's a Liberator. Thank you for the criticism though I'm sure somebody else may have wondered the same thing.

This post was edited by SackShadow on Apr 28 2012 05:42am

sorry just woke up. didn't word what i wanted to say right. i edited post.


e/ finding amazing hammer sticks with hammer/concentration and meditation is not easy. i've also never been a fan of 75% fcr.
also smite would only be of huge benefit to you against melee imo. and your hammerdin so you shouldn't need smite to kill a melee char. lol.
but like i said i have very limited knowledge with lvl 30 casters so i apologize for mistakes. it's also 6ish in the morning here and i'm still a little buzzing.

This post was edited by ReaperKing on Apr 28 2012 05:53am

Bad picture, looks like the druid is in focus. go remake.




i like the visual.

This post was edited by FasterA on Apr 28 2012 06:05am

if all they can criticize are the pic's, then

dont worry, im just starting from the top

Preface: While experimenting with the Libby, V/T, and Mage builds for the Paladin I was surprised when I couldn't find a guide for a lvl 30 Vanquisher.

Thats cuz Vanquisher is shit in lvl 30s. Smite doesn't do nearly enough dmg, only way i can think smite being effective is for stun and knocking them into hammer field


And you should really post up your strategy and tactics against other builds for a guide