Max blessed hammer along with its synergies, max concentration, one point into the prerequisites, optional 1 point into redemption and the rest into holy shield.

This, but I would say redemption is almost absolutely required for a classic hammerdin

I have a level 82 hardcore classic hammerdin on single player and his base skill levels are as follows:

1 point in prequisites
20 conc
20 blessed hammer
20 vigor
17 blessed aim (maxing now)
7 holy shield (after maxed blessed aim, gets all remaining points)
1 redemption

Right now I have

Combat tree: 28 points (roughly)
1 smite
1 charge
1 holy bolt
20 hammer
5 holy shield (maybe only 4) (but I know its atleast 5 with +skill)

Offensive tree: 42 points
1 might
20 blessed aim
20 concentration


Defensive tree:
1 prayer
1 cleanse
1 defiance
Rest vigor (can't remember off the top of my head how many)


I'm in the mid 60's level wise.. Drawing a blank and can't remember much of where im at. Pretty sure I'm near or past hell Andy

That seems fine, I chose vigor to max first before blessed aim simply because I wanna run as fast as possible at times.

Spectral shard is really nice for the much needed fcr for a long time but eventually you should try your hand at shopping for a nice Paladin scepter. I shopped mine at hell act 3, put a TP up right outside of town, check ormus, run back out and into the tp, rinse repeat. Eventually you can get a priests scepter with

+2 din skills
+1-3 blessed hammer
+1-3 concentration
+1-3 random other skill, not as important.

And if you’re ultra lucky you can get a priests scepter of the apprentice which adds 10% fcr, but it’s highly unlikely bordering impossible, like a 1:1.5 million chance, to get one that is ideal, being:

Priests scepter of the apprentice

10% fcr
+2 din skills
+3 conc
+3 blessed hammer
+3 whatever

(+vigor or blessed aim won’t matter because only hard points add to the synergy bonus)

I got pretty lucky and shopped one (with no fcr sadly) that is

+2 din skills
+3 blessed hammer
+3 conc
+2 holy freeze

This post was edited by GetStabby on Oct 21 2019 08:06pm

Damage has been sufficient enough to not worry about running away a lot..
Ive shopped +3 blessed hammer and been using it for a while now..
Maybe once I make it to act 3 I will try that a couple (hundred) times to see if I get any luck.. I save the gambling / shopping time for days that I dont have much time to play and supppse to be helping with kids homework..


2/3/3 sounds bad ass damage wise.. And seems like a really slim chance of getting that roll..

The main thing I need to do is slow down amd take my time, figure out what gear I need to work towards and what monsters to avoid (like archer packs for sure)

I tend to only use vigor in town and when using charge to navigate and maneuver, often to reach my destinations faster. Using charge to travel is more effective when vigor is on. But anyway, I would say I probably had to check ormus only around 100-200 times before finding my scepter, spent maybe 20-30 minutes shopping. But I can remember times in the past, many years ago playing hccl on bnet and having no luck at all. That dang RNG

What would u call end game gear??

Non - rare setup : irathas gives +65 all res

Weapon - +2/3/3/20 fcr
Gloves - irathas
Helmet - irathas
Belt - irathas
Ring - fcr/mana
Ring - fcr/mana
Ammulet - irathas
Boots - tearhaunch / dual or tri res
Shield - +2 / block mods


What would be top notch gear at 1.14 classic ??

This post was edited by 15bucks on Oct 23 2019 10:33am

Irathas is definitely really good in classic, but eventually you will want a juicy all rares (mostly) setup for endgame

*The scepter can only spawn with 10 fcr, not 20

Mods to look for on an end game Grim helm:
*10 fhr,
+Life,
+90+% enhanced defense,
and as much resistance as you can get

Mods to look for on an end game mage plate:
Same as helm mods but fhr goes up to 24 for armors and you can get some other good mods like damage reduction, magic damage reduction, stat points, etc.

Mods to look for on an end game Grim shield:
+2 Paladin skills
*17 fhr
*30/20 block mod
*90%+ enhanced defense
*Prismatic (up to 20 all res) and other resistances can be stacked on the shield so you could have one with + 18 + 18 + 33 + 18 all res for example.
*Other mods are bonus

Mods to look for on end game boots:
*Hotspurs are generally one of the best end game boots for hdin on classic (for Infector of Souls) or some really nice Tri-res boots with 30 fr/w and 10 fhr

As for the rest of the gear, you’ll want to be aiming for the 50% fcr breakpoint (well, it’s 48%) if you’re using a scepter, which means magefist and a fcr amulet and two fcr rings.
Ideally the jewelry will have as high of res and stats on them as possible, and the amulet some +skills. If you do find a scepter with 10 FCR, you can use an SOJ for one of your rings.

An ideal end game belt would have
24% fhr
Good% enhanced defense
+50 to 60 life
+15-20 strength
As High of resistances as you can get

Additionally, Half Freeze Duration is a nice mod to have on your gear and the effect stacks if you have multiples!

It is way easier to find SOJS In classic, particularly farming Norm Diablo and Nightmare duriel (NM Andy can’t drop SOJ in classic but the boss packs around her can) and the cube recipe of 3 P skulls + SOJ + any item will add 1 socket to that item. Eventually you’ll want to do this to a godly din shield and put a perfect diamond (or whatever you need) in it

(I personally found my first single player classic SOJ in nightmare flayer jungle)

This post was edited by GetStabby on Oct 23 2019 11:57am

A lot of great info

Any other advice would be appreciated also..

I didn't know normal D could drop a soj , but I'm level 74 in act 3 hell, lower kurast wp. So I might post up what I've got if I play tonight while I'm checking for some scepters..

Lower kurast WP in hell is one of my favorite places to easy farm for rares. Get a map where the WP is right beside the entryway into Lower Kurast, run down and kill Stormtree the super unique, run back up to the waypoint and go to act 4 (or act 1 in your case), save and exit, rinse and repeat. Reason for going back to act 4 or 1 to S/E after killing him is so you don’t have to run so far to get to the waypoint when you enter a new game