The lvl 18 Liberator (Hammer/Charge) GuideI've been wanted to write this since a while, as this build is one of the most unique and fun build in my opinion. Pure charge paladins are just too overpowered, so mixing charge-build with a caster setup, makes it an extremly fun, yet still strong char.
In 2010 i started to make experiments with this build (
http://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=39135738 ) but i was totaly wet behind it. In the last 2 years i tried many different setups, and possibilities, and finally found the best balanced gear/stat setup.
So, here it is:
Stats:
-str: enough to wear your gear
-dex: enough for max block (on both of your switchies ofc)
-vita: all left
-energy: nn
Skills(after rushes + lvling you have 29 skill points) :
combat skills:
-1 smite
-1 holy bolt
-1 blessed hammer (max)
-7 charge (max)
offensive skills:
-1 concentration (max)
-7 blessed aim (max)
-7 might (would be good to max this too, but not enough skill point)
defensive skills:
-1 prayer
-1 cleansing
-1 defiance
-1 vigor (max)
Gear:
Thats the hardest part of this build, as there are some crucial items (scepter,circ,amu for example) to make this char viable.
Also
you must reach 75 fcr on hammer switch. (Along with 300+++ mana)
-Circlet: 1 Pala combat 10 fcr
* (good adds are ofcourse life,mana,replife,2soc,ar,dmg,res, like every add is a good bonus here)
-Amulet: 1 pala combat 10 fcr
* (and again, life,mana,rep,res etc are good adds)
-Armor: Stealth runeword
-Rings: 2* 10 fcr 9x-120 ar 30-40 mana (replife is a great bonus here, also resist would be nice)
-Gloves: Bloodfist
-Boots: Cow King
-Belt: 24 fhr + 30-40 life rare belt
* (good mods would be 3-5 str or 3-5 replife and/or 10-20 mana + resist)
Hammer Switch:
-3 hammer 3 conc 10 fcr
* scepter (fill it with dmg2mana jewels, as without angelics, you'll need it badly) (+1 pala combat skill would be really nice on it, but havent seen one yet)
+
-Steelclash Shield (i prefer to have it "eth"-ed vs all opponenets, but you can have one "ith"ed too, vs melee chars)
Charge Switch:
There are multiple weapon-choicies here
-Cleglaw sword (50%ds 30% ar rocks)
-Azure 08 (again, 50%ds, cold dmg and a bit more dmg than cleg)
-robo war axe (good dmg, but no ds)
-rare ethrep weapon with high dmg (will be hard to find one which would worth to use over the first 3 choicies)
+
-6x ed 1xx ar 4 soc paladin shield filled with dmg jewels
*: if you wont be that lucky to find all the items (circ,amu,scepter) with fcr, you can use a crafted fcr belt instead of the rare one, to still obtain 75fcr.
Inventory:
there are 2 choices here:
(1) 40* 15 life 5-7 mana small charms
(2) 2-4* 3 max xx ar 5 str large charms + 32-36* 15 life 5-7 mana small charms
-first will make your life/mana really high
-second is only a good option if your weapons/shields has ~same str requiements. as with these str lcs, you can make both of your switch STR BUG (invisible), so your opponent cant forecast your next move. (really worth it imo)
What you should aim for:
-75 fcr
-48 fhr (easy with bloodfist + fhr belt)
-900+ life (1000+ would be optimal)
-300++ mana (400+ would be optimal)
-1200+ charge (min+max) dmg with 50% ds OR 2000+ charge (min+max) dmg
-203-216 hammer dmg
-20+ dmg to mana (at least on hammer switch)
-2000+ attack rating (lvl 7 blessed aim /passive/, and the ar on your rings/shield will easily do this job)
-15 or more replenish life in team vs team setup
Whats would be good to have stashed:
-death belt (cbf is really helpfull vs some chars, like sorcs with shiver armor)
-res boots/shield (if you cant reach max fire,light,(cold) res from your jewelery, it can be helpfull
Tactics:
1 Vs 1. runner chars (sorceres, pb necro, amazon etc)
as they will mostly run away from you, dont try to cast hammers too often, just charge them, even with this lower charge dmg, you can pwn them. amazons will jab you sometimes, switch to hammer, and start to cast those deadly hammers then. Be aggressive here.
1 Vs 1. melee chars:
cast hammers, move with charge (or vigorwalk), cast hammers, move with charge (or vigorwalk). you have enough mana to do it, you can surprise them with a kicky charge hit sometimes, but focus on hammer, as that cant be blocked, and you wont fill their mana pool with magic dmg
. Try to play it a bit deffensive style.
team Vs. team duels:
of course it depends much on opponent team. try to guard your team with hammer field, and charge when you see someone's running, or on bow switch out. its up to you that you'll play either def or off.
Here, i show you how i play mine vs a melee (zeal/charge) and a runner (ama) char. Thanks Geri ( aka Valkyrie1986 ) for helping me to make this video: