Auradins are bad and even worse if you add it to hybrid build. This particular build has a low DR%, auras(meh they just tickle) and a weak smiter. I dont really see how any decent player with a decent build could be killed by this.


This post was edited by izez on Jun 3 2008 01:32am

i guess the bottom line is simply
either u go full smite/less aura damage = which is useless i would say... might as well make a v/t or pure smiter in this case

or go high aura damage and less/smite to sorta just to finish them of with...
- if they stacked like hell pray they are not a melee char that is gg ex: pure smiter + stacked light resist or salv or else it will be hard for this build i guess.

lol this guy stfu alrdy because if i were to have this build and lose to you i'd just brg my hdin to slam u and ur smiter or nec or w/e u got

Correct, holy shock is granted by the dreams and you don't benefit by putting any points in the aura. No matter what your +skills are, you will have a level 30 holy shock with 2 dreams on.

For your skill allocation:

I recommend maxing holy shield. With your setup (a total of +19 combat skills if you're using arach) you'll get a level 20 smite off of 1 point invested and a total of around 930ed (with fanaticism, smite, and strength bonus ed%). 19 more points in holy shield will add 72 more base damage to your shield which would be 666 overall damage. If you instead put those 19 points in smite, you will instead get 270% more ed. Elite paladin shield with level 20 holy shield (off 1 pt invested) will have about 104 base damage. With a perfect grief, that will be 504 base damage. So, maxing smite instead of holy shield will give you 1360 damage vs 666 damage. Put another way:

1 pt smite, max hs: 5932 smite damage
max smite, 1 pt hs: 6552 smite damage

I don't remember exactly how much defense the max holy shield adds overall, but you gain another 270 edefense from maxing it vs 1 pt, which works out to about 5k more defense. So,

1 pt smite, max hs: 5932 smite damage, 15k defense
max smite, 1 pt hs: 6552 smite damage, 10k defense

Overall I think the char does better with 50% more defense and 10% less smite damage.

As far as putting 1 point in salvation, that's not a bad idea as maxing salvation only boots your overall aura damage by about 20% (if i remember correctly). Putting those points in smite (if you also have hs maxed) will give you another 1.5k smite damage (a 25% damage boost). The +skills you have don't boost synergy damage, and you rarely use salvation as your main aura, all that it really does is grant synergy damage so only hard points matter.

I think you're on the right track, and probably doing what I would do if I came back to d2 and rebuilt my char. I recommend you level to 94 and skill like this (you will have just enough to max hs and smite):

1 pt Prayer, Defiance, Cleansing, Vigor
20 pt Resist Lightning
1 pt Might, Blessed Aim, Concentration, Holy Fire, Holy Freeze, Thorns, Sanctuary
17 pt Fanaticism (lvl 27 after 10 +skill from anni, torch, arach, bk ring, mara, enigma)
15 pt Conviction (lvl 25 after +skill)
1 pt Holy Bolt, Blessed Hammer, Charge
20 pt Smite
20 pt Holy Shield


That's a total of 106 skills which would get from lvl 94 and all skill quests. If you want to pvp along the way, I'd say keep 1 pt in smite until you finish everything else and then max it. Notice this doesn't include any points in Salvation, since it's not a prerequisite and as I mentioned above it doesn't add that much aura damage.

Alternatively, max Fanaticism (so you'll keep lvl 27 without arach and bk ring on) and put whatever you can into smite. If you manage to get to lvl 97 (hehe) you can have smite, fanaticism, and holy shield all maxed. So, in conclusion:

1 pt Prayer, Defiance, Cleansing, Vigor
20 pt Resist Lightning
1 pt Might, Blessed Aim, Concentration, Holy Fire, Holy Freeze, Thorns, Sanctuary
20 pt Fanaticism (lvl 30 after 10 +skill from anni, torch, arach, bk ring, mara, enigma)
15 pt Conviction (lvl 25 after +skill)
1 pt Holy Bolt, Blessed Hammer, Charge
20 pt Holy Shield
rest into smite (maxed at char lvl 97)

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Elite paladin shield is a near-must. A good 3os elite paladin shield with 40+ resists is hard to find. Ideally you want it to be a sacred targe so you will hit max block with lower dex. Dex isn't a complete waste but you want to avoid putting too much in it because you want maximum life. The build still works with a crappy pally dream shield so don't worry about it too much to start. Just grab the best one you can find at a good price to start and then keep an eye out for that perfect 65res/30fhr sacred targe dream . The best shield I ever had was 61res/27fhr sacred targe dream. I was lucky to have a perfect bone visage dream with 20res/30fhr. Just make sure you get at least 56fhr combined from helm and shield so you can hit 86 fhr with 30 fhr from boots/belt/gloves etc. My dreams had combined 57 fhr so with bloodfists on I hit 86fhr breakpoint.

Level 27 is the breakpoint where, with the aura active, you only need 50ias more to hit max smite speed on a berserker axe. That's part of the reason I recommended with my second stat suggestion that you max fanaticism and put the rest in smite (as opposed to putting just enough in fana).

Level 27 + bloodfists + 40ias griefz = fastest smite. If you're facing someone who's using holy freeze or slow or anything like that then go ahead and put on a phase blade grief instead, but in general the zerker is your best bet vs all.

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pcombs vs p offensive gc vs 20 life sc is very debatable, and which one is best depends on who you're fighting. 37x 20 life sc would be the cheapest, fastest way to get going with the char and you'd be able to easily hit 4.6k+ life. The last setup I had was 4x offensive lifers, 2x pcomb lifers, about 12 single resist 20 life sc, a 20/5 sc, and 6 life/ar sc. I was just going for the well-balanced approach. The ultimate (if you can afford it) is 9x 45life pcomb + 10x 20/5 sc. You lose about 200 life vs all 20 life sc but you gain about 1k smite and charge damage and 3k defense

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That seems like a pretty strong balance. You might even want to take 8 out of salv (and maybe 1 out of fana) and put it into smite (for lvl 10).

Yes, I do realize that . I could make wild claims that I'm the #1 auradin on east (or even #1 auradin period) but I don't because I haven't dueled against East NL, West, or Europe. So I'll just say that as far as the last year on East ladder, it wasn't even close.

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ty John

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Ty. In order to increase DR there are a few options:
1. Keep your CTA on one switch with the Dream shield and have a Ber'd Stormshield on the other switch with Grief.
2. Same as option #1 but use Ber'd Hoz instead of Stormshield and Verdungos instead of Arach
3. Keep a 31 DR CoA stashed and use this + Verdungos
4. Swap out Enigma for a Ber'd or eth Zod'd Shafstop (or btal if you're on NL) and use Verdungo's

Option 1 cuts your smite damage a bit but keeps your teleport ability. You lose 1/2 your aura damage but that's not really your M.O. vs good BvC's
Option 2 doesn't max DR (only 31%) but you'll boost your smite damage and defense considerably. You can ditch the auras and toss on a CoA or Shako if you want to go pure smite.
Option 3 is probably the easiest but you lose the ability to kill with pulses. Other than that it's a good quick fix that will make it hard for a BvC to kill you
Option 4 is great for 1v1 gm vs physical damage chars but requires you to stat a lot more into Strength to compensate for not having Enigma. It's also a good pub setup with a lot of smiters running around.

Most BvC's aren't that hard if you have a grief zerker and shift+smite. Another option (though generally bm) is to use Grief+Exile on main. Your defense will be in the 25k range and you'll have lifetap.

If the BvC switches to Widow quickly namelock charge but be prepared to stop as soon as he switches back so you can shift+smite again.

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See above post for DR solutions. CoA is a good stash item but in general your standard setup + Verdungo's (23 DR) is enough to take down most BvC. 15k Defense, 4.5k life, range 3 smite makes it hard for the BvC.

Shift+smiting doesn't suck but I guess it's personal preference. Shift+smiting with a phase blade sucks but that's why I push the zerker so hard.

You won't typically be charging a barb, certainly not while he's WW'ing, but there are opportunities to land a hit that you need to be aware of. Namely, if they get sick of trying to clip you (which they can't do without getting hit by smite because you match their range) and use Widow, you'll have a chance to charge then before they switch back. Also, if they try to stunt leap just outside your smite range you can quickly charge them and resume shift+smiting.

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Ty. See above for more DR discussion

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Let me know how it goes

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This is an option but I don't recommend it for a few reasons:

1. If you charge someone with the 30/-30 sword on you lose about 3.5k physical damage vs Grief (7k if deadly strike triggers) and only add about 1k lightning damage
2. If you charge someone with Grief + Stormshield on you lose about 1.8k lightning damage vs Dream and don't add any physical damage
3. Precasting is not only a pain in the ass but also bm (and prohibited in almost all legit dueling rules)
4. Switch smiting is bugged in that you can't weapon switch while in the middle of a charge. This means you need time it perfectly after you land the charge to switch weapons and start smiting. Using Grief on main means you just have to hotkey from Charge to Smite which you can do while charging and come out of the charge already smiting.

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Thanks, hope it goes well

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You can tell an ostrich not to stick its head in the sand but it probably won't listen. Thanks for the feedback.

nice guide

If you knew anything you would know that is it not a nice guide. Horrible is the word you are looking for.

ok having read through this build it is very interesting.

However you are underestimating ppl ability to stack, vs a good player i.e well built hammerdin u aura vs 1 wisp and stack will not even move hp and then ur left with a mediocre smite at best and we all know hammer>smite..

This build also lacks alot of dr now assuming ur on my realm with a bb u land ur self with 28% pdr which is low and ofc on other realms ur stuck at 23% pdr now vs a barb that has stacked ur aura and sorbing u fall short alot here i believe some kinda helm like coa vs serious mele chars same vs good smiters.

And as stated by someone when ppl see auradin they usually go and grab lot of abs becasue of so many bugged auradin which means alot more ppl will be aware of your build

If ur useast sc nl, i'd like to duel this. For some reason i dont see the smite dmg being that good and u would have to rely on charge + aura dmg like a normal auradin =/