Hello, so I noticed the lacking of zealot guides so I decided to share some knowledge on zealots to try and help out anyone new to the class or an experienced zealot wanting to try out another setup. I have been making zealots since .09 so I know quite a bit about them. I tried to include all of the builds that I felt were worth mentioning. There is no #1 zealot setup just some setups work better against a certain setup than another may. This is a guide on a melee Zealot which is a paladin that uses zeal as its main attack.
SkillsNo matter what setup you decide to go with skills will always be the same.
Zeal
Fanaticism
Holy Shield
Defiance
Sacrifice (maxed at level 96)
Defiance should be maxed before Sacrifice, because the defense bonus from defiance is more important than the damage increase from Sacrifice. If you decide to level above 96 than the remaining points should be put into blessed aim.
StatsStrength: On every setup you only put enough str in to use the gear and no more.
*Note: It is a good idea to find out how much str you need to put in
before you start dumping points in, or else you may waste a lot of points.
Dexterity: On most setups you only put in enough dex to get max block. Will explain on which setups you put extra dex and why you should.
Vitality: As much as you can spare goes in here.
Energy:
Delete char and make a caster if you put points in here.
Also, blessed aim has a passive synergy to your attack rating. It provides a 5% Bonus to Attack Rating, per level invested.
Finally the important part, the gear. A zealot can be a very expensive character to make so be prepared to spend some fg on one.
TEMPLAR MIGHT SETUPWeapon:ebotdz
Armor: +2 Ethereal Zod'd Templar's Might
Shield: Glitched eth exile ed/ar
Helm: Crown Of Ages (15% BASE DR, ber/ber'd)
Rings: 2x ravenfrosts
Amulet: Highlords
Gloves: Steelrends
Boots: Upgraded Gore Riders
Belt: 15% Damage Reduce Verdungos
*Note: In this setup you should put extra points in dex, even after getting max block. The reason is because this setup has a low ar in the 13-16k range. That may seem pretty low but I have used this setup and it does just fine vs zealots with 50k+ def.
Switch: +3 holy shield / +6 bo cta / Hoz ( You use hoz for the bonus to holy shield )
Charms: 37 32020s or dmg/ar/life charms
torch/anni
ETH VALOR SETUPWeapon: ebotdz
Armor: +2 Ethereal Zod'd Valor (or Glitched Ber'd or Cham'd Valor)
Shield: Glitched exile ed/ar
Helm: Coa ber/ber 31 dr
Rings: 2x ravens
Amulet: Highlords
Gloves: Steelrends
Boots: Upgraded Gore Riders
Belt: 15% Damage Reduce Verdungos
Switch: +3 holy shield / +6 bo cta / Hoz
Charms: 37 32020s or dmg/ar/life charms
torch/anni
GLADIATOR'S BANE SETUP:Weapon:ebotdz
Armor: Ethereal Gladiator's Bane Ber'd
Shield: Glitched eth exile ed/ar
Helm: Coa ber/ber for 31% dr
Rings: 2x Angelics
Amulet: Angelic
Gloves: Steelrends
Boots: Upgraded Gore Riders
Belt: 15% Damage Reduce Verdungos
*Note: You ber the gladiator bane even if you don't have a glitched one because it has a durability of 120 which lasts a long time before you will need to zod it.
Switch: +3 holy shield / +6 bo cta / Hoz
Charms: 37 32020s or dmg/ar/life charms
torch/anni
C/C SetupWeapon: Ethereal Zod'd Death Cleaver
Armor: Leviathan chamd
Shield: Glitched eth exile ed/ar
Helm: Coa 80/30 (2x 40ed/15 ias)
Rings: 2x Angelics
Amulet: Angelic
Gloves: Steelrends
Boots: Upgraded Gore Riders
Belt: 15% Damage Reduce Verdungos
Switch: +3 holy shield / +6 bo cta / Hoz
Charms: 37 32020s or dmg/ar/life charms
torch/anni
Fort Setup
Weapon: Ebotdz
Armor: Fortitude
Shield: Glitched eth exile ed/ar
Helm: Coa 15% base dr ber/ber
Rings: 2x ravens
Amulet: Highlords
Gloves: Steelrends
Boots: Upgraded Gore Riders
Belt: 15% Damage Reduce Verdungos
Switch: +3 holy shield / +6 bo cta / Hoz
Charms: 37 32020s or dmg/ar/life charms
torch/anni
Shaft SetupsShaft has 30% dr on it giving the zealot multiple setups to use while maintaining max or close to max dr. I will give a few of the setups that I found to be most effective.
Option #1Weapon: Ebotdz
Armor: Eth upgraded Shaftstop
Shield: Glitched eth exile ed/ar
Helm: Visionary mod helmet (ar% per lvl) with 2 sockets cham/ber'd (+2 pally skills with + str would be ideal)
Rings: 2x Angelics
Amulet: Angelic
Gloves:High stat/def gloves (I used these to maintain as low base str that I could, you could substitute in steelrends if you want more damage)
Boots: Gore Riders
Belt: 15% Damage Reduce Verdungos
Switch: +3 holy shield / +6 bo cta / Hoz
Charms: 37 32020s or dmg/ar/life charms
torch/anni
Option #2
Weapon: Eth Death Cleaver Zod'd
Armor: Eth upgraded Shaftstop
Shield: Glitched eth exile ed/ar
Helm: Visionary mod helmet (ar% per lvl) with 2 sockets cham/ber'd
Rings: 2x Angelics
Amulet: Angelic
Gloves: 20 ias gloves with str/dex (Must be 20 ias to hit ias bp)
Boots: Upgraded Gore Riders
Belt: 15% Damage Reduce Verdungos
Switch: +3 holy shield / +6 bo cta / Hoz
Charms: 37 32020s or dmg/ar/life charms
torch/anni
Option #3Weapon: Eth Death (Need to have 60 ias in setup to hit bp)
Armor: Eth upgraded Shaftstop
Shield: Glitched eth exile ed/ar
Helm: Coa 80/30 (2x 40/15 ias)
Rings: 2x Ravens
Amulet: Highlords
Gloves: 10% ias high stat gloves
Boots: Upgraded Gore Riders
Belt: 15% Damage Reduce Verdungos
Switch: +3 holy shield / +6 bo cta / Hoz
Charms: 37 32020s or dmg/ar/life charms
torch/anni
There are many other possibilities with the shaft setup, but I just listed the more common setups.
Strategy(lol)Step 1: Make sure walk is ON (running lowers your block %)
Step 2: Hit ! and say go
Step 3: Click on opponent and hold
Step 4: Close your eyes and hope he dies first
Some info on gm dueling:
It is considered bad mannered to use life tap vs barbs and druids in gm melee duels. To avoid life tap the best shields to substitute in for exile is an eth alma negra or a stormshield.
Hope this guide has helped anyone out there who has wanted to make a zealot but wasn't sure what to use or someone just looking for another setup to try out. Hope to get some positive feedback, feel free to pm me if you have any questions. Thanks
casters don't even use mana.