Highlights: Cheap to make, simple playstyle, real strong, great survivability
Close to 5k hp on a paladin, max DR when needed, max res / sorb when needed, decent defense with best block rate in game
Melee Paladin Vs All Build Enhanced (Ideal level 96-98)
We call this a melee paladin because he uses charge, smite & zeal.
Charge is his most damaging attack & is used in every duel, we could
call him a charger but that wouldn't be fair because he also smacks
with shield & zeals.
Skills
Max charge with synergies, put 1 point in salvation & rest in holy shield.
Main
Armour: Nigma
Helm: Shako (Um)
Amulet: Highlord's Wrath
Weapon: Grief
Shield: Storm Shield (socket a lower requirements jewel with lightning res)
Gloves: Bloodfists
Ring: Rare ring w mods (10 FCR, AR, life leech, lightning resistance)
Ring: Raven Frost
Belt: Arachnids Mesh
Boots: Waterwalks
Offhand have a CTA stick with spirit shield
We use stormshield in main setup (called main because its used
to face the most classes.. this guy also uses a phoenix)
because it helps us get 50 d r, maintain 30 fcr & 30 fhr. FHR is
important still to not get hit twice. With any other shield in a battle you
need damage reduction this build would be much less effective.
Yes 30 fcr is all you need. You can always use a trangs to get 50 fcr
& lose some HP putting in FHR charms to get 30 fhr. I say the hp is
more worth it. We have vigor charge, all that fcr isn't needed and as
I said.. simple playstyle. You don't need to tele around like a mad man.
You need to tele smart. Vigor charge smart. Still I would say not having
50 fcr is a slight disadvantage but when you think about it.. this also
slows the pace of a duel down which is good for this toon. Bottom line
when those fast toons start running some of them the paladin just
can't catch anyways. Let them run, stick to your game & win. Cut
them off, vigor charge is good enough to land hits vs all even the
fastest. Of course you do need to surprise them sometimes.. move away
then tele in from some angle on the really.. really fast toons & if
your lucky the chance is decent enough you will get up to them.
Inventory
36 attack rating 20 life small charms
You don't need 3/20/20's I strongly believe they're less effective vs all because without
the extra AR coming from the 36/20's it will be harder to land charge
vs a paladin. I don't know why but I found myself consistently winning
more duels vs paladins when my AR was above 16000. When it was any lower
it made a big difference. I did the math & I know the AR loss only amounts
to like a few percent different on chance to hit.. but as said I was consistently
winning more duels vs paladins when AR was above 16000. Now if your rich
I'm sure you can get the 3/20/20s socket shako & stormshield with crazy
dexterity / AR jewels to get 16k. But then you lose resistances. Is the pay
off worth it. You lose 50 lightning resist & a lot of opponents use lightning..
your 3 max charms will raise your damage to a degree where.. well since charge
is doing so much damage already.. to the point it may make a difference enough to
win again maybe like 1 out of 20-30 more duels. Maybe not. The level of math to do to find out the truth
is not something I want to do now when I know bottom line those charms don't make
much of a difference & can be worst for you. They raise damage by like 1000 if
your character lands his highest hit so on average they raise damage by a measly
500 after pvp penalty not even including damage reduction.. 85 damage more. As
I said earlier charge already does a lot of damage & this extra damage is probably
not more important vs all then resists. Use the 36/20s. I'm using bootlegs with slightly
lower AR but 20 life a piece.
Swaps
I'm too lazy. The usual. High res & sorb where its needed. If you want to see what
swaps look like I explained them on my old build guide & more clearly on youtube guide.
Heres the link to both.
https://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=98871245&f=87&o=0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSmPRiA6ynE
Strategy
This is the best part. In my old build you had to use a lot of tactics to win.
With this one just run in and smash them. Run out & back in vs smiters cause they
do more smite damage. Run in and smash them is a bit of an understatement but not
more then a bit. It can work out better then trying to be all strategic.. with
the close to 5k hp. Its not needed.. the paladin class is tough. I'm sure you'll
pick up what you need to do when you make the build & practice.
______________________________________________________
Final thoughts
This is what I'm giving you. A set up
with an easy playstyle thats offensive.
What I like about this toon is you don't have to
think too much or be real evasive. I find it
less stressful to play. At the same time you
still have to use tactics to win. It's less hassle.
With necro & druid you have to re summon. Sins &
hammerdin got to bait people. With v t smite is too
slow to hit fast opponent unless telestomps perfect.
With zon idk what you have to do but thinking about
it gives me a feelings the playstyles tough.
This toon I'll show you is similar to a barb in terms
of playstyle but easier because charge namelocking on
a controller is super easy. With a barb you still have
to telestomp really good.
Last but not least the melee paladin built properly is
real tough. We're talking good defense & superior block
rate. High charge damage. High smite damage. Zeal can be
used to clip players easier then smite.. so the class does
get something to snatch hits & its damage isn't bad at all
especially on a deadly strike. GREAT mobility & with vigor
charge you can get in striking distance without too much
difficulty vs even a trolling sorc with highest fcr bp.
Real tough.. but the paladin has a moderate weakness. HP.
Now yes necro's, sins, zons & sorc also have this weakness.
The wind druid & barb get more hp. Now if we can bring the
paladins HP up to a solid amount.. he's best vs all.
Smiters struggle to reach a decent HP because they need P Combs.
With the difficulty of smiting fast players I said before this
build ISN'T a good vs all build. Also smiters can't get enough
charge damage because there aren't enough points to max all its
synergies.
Charge does more then smite add in deadly strike.. much more.
This is why smite / charge is only an OK build vs charge / smite
is a great build. A smiter using charge as a secondary doesn't
get enough charge damage or land them as often due to lower AR.
Again... not a great vs all class. Just good in my opinion.
The one weakness this build had in the previous version was
facing smiters was tough. We were a one trick pony.. charge
only. Smite was always too risky to use vs them. But now that
we have more hp then our previous build & holy shield is being
invested into this time. We are able to fearlessly smite the
smiters as well.
The big problem before was in my old build you had to depend
too much on charge vs smiters (the hardest matchup for this toon).
Every time he tried to clip them with a few smites.. more times it resulted in
them smiting us & our hp coming down to low. It causes us fear - we're
scared to use smite even though using smite at the right time could
work the odds in our favour. Now playing properly without any fear
(if anyone can do that) yes even with my old set up you can charge
the smiter then when he leasts expects it unload 2-4 smites quickly
at him. It worked for me a handful of times but I got scared to do it
because if I do it at the wrong time it costs me the duel. In this
new build we bring this toons hp up close to 5k so we can fearlessly
use smite vs the hardest matchup.. the smiter. Its all about reassurance
for me when it comes to playing better. I know now I can try to clip
them with some smites casually & it won't cost me the duel as often.
Much less because without the fear of smite killing me more often
I can think more clear to play better. If I catch them slipping I can get
2-4 smites and vigor charge off before he can smite me. If he does smite
me .. now I can still run off with vigor charge in most cases without dying
unless of course my hp is low. Sorry for using the word smite so many times
in one paragraph.
Also we can play mind games. After a few duels when the smiter sees they
are getting charged at but randomly smacked with smite.. they will look for
a sign. How can I tell this guys going to smite me.. well he changes his aura
from vigor to fantacism. So in knowing this we can cause our opponent to think
we are going to smite him by changing into fanta aura.. then switching to vigor
to quickly charge him. A small degree of psychological warfare.. point is if
we getting him thinking it takes away from his instinctiveness & we get him to
think by putting fear in him through the times he got smited unexpectedly before.
We are gaining advantages in this duel. Before in my old set up it was a battle
they would win 3 out of 4 times on average more or less depending on who played
better. There were times I played really good or got lucky and beat good smiters
more then they beat me.
The problem wasn't his strength before or his damage. It was about only having
3400 hp.. at level 98. Since the paladin has great skills it is enough to still
win duels but not much room to breathe or play relaxed. You had to get the job done.
Here when we raise hp up close to 5k. It will be much easier. This toon if played right will
give pros a run for there money. I mean if the old build did & this one is just as strong with
much more HP.. well what more do I need to say. You just don't have to play as good because
the math favors you.. but if you are stronger & play better GG.
On a final note I'm almost finished building this guy I will update what his HP comes to in the end.
My previous calculations I did tell me 4800.. that's without a GG ring with life & str or dex. I'll throw
out a post with his final hp soon. Thanks for bearing with me to those who saw the earlier post.
And lastly yes he can use a gore rider but I'm thinking water walks because 15 deadly strike isn't worth it.
This post was edited by Trevor3413 on Jan 12 2023 06:52pm
D2:R