Uh... Here we go. Ya the layout sucks. All the info legit.
Melee Paladin Build vs All (Dash, Slash n Bash Throwa)
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Section 1: Why choose this build
Here's why the melee paladin will be better vs all.
V/T Issues: Foh can be absorbed & countered by smart players who can retain damage reduction while nullifying foh. Also the biggest issue is vs wind druids.. zeal's better.
My set up boosts min damage, has high deadly strike & life leech which is the druids kryptonite. Tele smiting druids is a pain.. and no matter what lets be real.
Yes a v / t could win but not as often as the build I will show you. smite isn't as effective at leeching life. also those druids are fast they can run away from being
smited.. you would have to land the perfect tele stomp to beat them. with my build you can mash charge and zeal.. play smart ofc and win much.. much easier
& more often. Yes I have seen V/Ts.. even the best of the best of the best fall to an average wind druid. Next.. vs sorc shes too fast for you to smite usually.
charge and zeal are much better. These are two duels that more times then not vs a good player using V/T is just harder then the charger I'll show you.
Hammerdin Issues: You always have to entice people into your hammer fields. Or tele stomp. Its a gamble.. but ofc for a good hammerdin one that works in your favour more
times then not. BUT.. vs all.. its harder. The blizz sorc will avoid you and lead you into blizzards while your hammers have a lower chance of touching her.
A barb can just flat out stomp you with high AR. Wind druids are the worst.. they have some dodge ability or something that reduces hammer damage..
and your hammers aren't doing enough to beat him plain & simple. Can you still win.. yes but its more unlikely then as to using the build I will show you.
Mage Issues: Notably harder to beat wind druids. Annoying as well vs good necros & bowa zons. And fire druids.. idk it seems rough to face them with a mage. Also the fire sorc..
their so fast. The odds of a mage winning these duels in my humble opinion are lower then the build I will show you.
Pure Smiter Issues: Only really good vs other smiters.. your going to run into countless issues vs other classes. Can still win yes but its less effective. Same issues as with the
V/T do I need to relist them. Heres one big problem with pure smiter, Unless you tele chain smite perfectly your opponent has an advantage. Smiters will
find good periods of time they can do this and feel invincible then go through a dark phase where it doesn't work. Well this is because it was never
really all you doing it. It was luck! You can't fully know exactly where you will teleport to! With my build the chances vs all are .. not only higher but
more consistent.
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Section 2: The Build & Stats
Ideally you want to be at least level 94. Optimally 98. Or even 99 but its really not worth it. 97-98 is more then good enough.
Max charge, vigor, fanaticism & holy freeze
1 pt into holy shield & salvation.
Remaining points into might for more charge damage.
Holy freeze really takes a backseat most the time.. its pretty much a waste of 20 points BUT this is a vs all build.
Without holy freeze you stand little to no chance vs a good bowazon. You need it maxed to be able to ping them
from a good distance with holy freeze & tele in to charge them down. More on this in strat section.
Ya if you don't care & say well I'll take my chances vs a bowazon.. use the 20 points in w,e you want.
Stats: Enough strength to equip enigma. 153 in dexterity (basically just enough to get 75 % block rate while using storm shield) & rest in vitality.
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Section 3: Gear & Inventory
Armor is enigma in a dusk shroud base for movement speed. Go with archon plate base if you want its all up to you. I use shroud.
Main
Helm: rare circlet w mods in order of importance (+min, all res, AR, life leech at least 5 percent, +skills) OR use a shako w Um rune OR a vamp gaze w Um
Amulet: Highlord's Wrath
Weapon: Grief (in berserker axe, you can just go with p b as well but harder to snag)
Shield: Storm Shield (socket with a lower requirements jewel with lightning res)
Gloves: Trangs
Ring: Rare ring w mods (10 FCR, AR, life leech at least 5 percent, lightning resistance)
Ring: Raven Frost
Belt: Arachnids Mesh
Boots: Gore Riders
Always on swap..
Weapon: Rare throw weapon with visionary mod, that does up to 130 or more damage at max.. the faster the weapon the better ofc.
Shield: Phoenix in a sacred targe with AR & Enhanced damage is most ideal
Inventory
Cube: CTA Stick & a string of ears which I keep to swap on vs wind druids for more damage reduction & life leech. You can have a maras & bk band in cube as well for more life from battle orders.. I don't have those items & find
its not really needed.
Charms: 5 AR Life grand charms (use the + max, ar & life if you want or go with more AR without max charms)
9 AR Life small charms
1 10 lightning res w 20 life small charm
2 8 % hit recovery large charms preferably with AR
4 3 max / 20 ar /20 life small charms ideally (I just use two large charms with max, ar & life)
Bottom line. In your main setup you want 17k AR. Minimum.. this is the ideal amount to hit paladins with charge even if their defense is at 30k. You come out with a 35-37 percent chance to hit them.. saying they have
max block it comes out to mathematically every 1 out of 7 charges hitting. You also want 75 lightning resistance minimum.. preferably if you find a good jewel to socket stormshield with over 200 so when assasins try to
rip your resistance away using griffons you can withstand it. Again a swap will fix that all up anyways but its just more convenient to have over 200 light res. You want 3400 hp minimum. You'll get more if you ditch the circlet
for a shako. End of day its the stats that matter.. not this item or that. You want: 17k ar, 75 + light res, 3400 hp or more
The main set up you can duel most other paladins (the fohadin you need to swap), assassins, barbarians (a shako is useful vs barbs but the main setup you can duel them still swap is recommended), & wind druids (if you got
the rare circlet with life leech on it as well as the ring with string of ears in cube).
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Section 4: Swaps & Basic Strategy
These swaps are just what I use. They work.. there are probably more slightly optimal swaps if you want to go crazy with it. But these swaps are more then good enough.
Yes one small thing here or there may be more optimal.. but its all about where the stats land.
Vs Cold Sorc: Helm w 30 % cold res, Amulet with 50 % cold res, ring with 30 % cold res, belt with 26 % cold res, boots with 40 % cold res, 9 charm slots that equal up to 53 % more cold res, spirit shield in a sacred targe
preferably with 40 to all resistance already on it. End of day it comes out to 400 cold res & 20 cold sorb you get from ravens. While dueling cold sorc's I use salvation as well to boost cold res up further. They say crossing
450 or something is bm. Find out that number and adjust the swap to stay GM. Personally I don't care as long as I'm not using two ravens on the guy its fair in my eyes especially if their good. Hell vs a really really really
good one I'll even use two ravens if I have to. Haven't bumped into anyone that insanely amazing yet haha. Also my helms not even socketed w anything useful & has no FCR on it. Use your discretion if & when you perfect
everything to as good as you want it to.
Now with this swap the duel is fairly straight forward. Teleport to where you don't think their casting blizzard then charge in with salvation to land hits. If their really fast take your chances with vigour charges.. or try to cut
them off with salvation. Usually when their casting blizz they have some delay and can't teleport right away. If it seems safe go with the vigor charge. if it doesn't stay in salv. Even go in with fantacism and zeal them if you
get a good opportunity. Safest way.. salv aura - corner them then cut them off with a charge when they try to get out of corner.
Vs Barbs: I like to swap to a bloodfist & 1 small charm with 5 percent FHR to meet the 48% breakpoint. I use a shako because smite is best option. Zeal ones without a shield. Swap in P combs for AR charms if you gottem.
I got 1 P comb & yes this works fine. Lastly I swap the belt to M'avinas Tenant for the 20 FRW.
So in this duel stay in walk, use vigor to increase speed switch to fanta as needed. Maintain distance while they WW & while in vigor walk to where there WW will end so you face in front of them then smite. Repeat. If they have high AR they will win about 50 percent of the time. To push things more in your favor randomly create some distance using your great movement speed, switch to your throw weapon & throw at them. A few throws only. Maybe even only 1 good one that hopefully lands & switch right back into the grief / stormshield so if they tele on you.. SMITE. If they are not bothered by your throw.. you chip off some life but there not closing the distance. Use the vigor walk technique stated earlier. See heres where things come in our favor, when you throw inevitably maintaining distance & being on guard to switch weapons back into max block set up after throws. They will eventually
have to come at you. You will chip their hp down slowly. With gore riders even possibly getting open wounds on them. A smart one will come in at you sooner rather then lose more of his hp slowly. But being all in throw mode isn't
good either. Be random. Unpredictable.. but keep your distance from WW.. using vigor walk you can close distance get in a good position and smite them. Smites work when you face them directly of course so you have to position
yourself like that in order to hit them. To win more - be random. Use vigor walk technique. Make distance. Throw at them. If you see them trying to walk to create a position on you .. charge them! But be careful they can be doing that to lure you into charging at them & ww right away so they clip you bad. But sometimes they are really just trying to reposition themself. I find that when you throw stuff at them they freeze up or don't know what to do. So right after a throw or two if they don't tele in on you & you see them thinking or not doing anything.. charge and smite. Experience. Experience Experience. These are real fun duels on both sides.. Barb vs pally is a classic always.
Vs Wind Druids: Swap to the string of ears.. not totally necessary. Even A dungo is fine.. or stay in your 50 fcr with mesh. Vamp gaze helm works if you don't have the circlet mentioned above. Zeal down their summons then tele behind them & charge / zeal till they go down. Again experience is key. After facing enough of them you will know they're main surprise is to tele away from you after you zeal down summons (their nados may hit you but you leech life right back from summons ez.. but if your good most the nados won't even touch) & hit you with a bunch of nados. Don't fall for the bait. When they run be careful closing distance. You got them.. no need to rush but don't slow
down too much either. Zeal down summons, leech life from them. When he runs follow & tele to a side he's not casting nados then charge in and zeal.. or follow him till he doesn't know what to do and throws out a 1-2 nados in desperation. Those wont matter. Charge in & finish with zeal. You can just tele stomp right on top of them if you get a chance and smash the zeal button on repeat. Their nados will hit but you gain life from killing summons & they
go down more times then not. I would recommend string of ears for this one. Also if you really wanted to.. swap out the AR charms for 20 life scs preferably with AR as well. Get more life from your charms. You could even use
a shako and venom grips. One things for sure.. make sure that effin rare FCR ring has preferably 7-8 percent life leech on it!
Vs BM poison builds: Andys, Venom Grips, Sandstorm Treks, Shield with 2 to paladin skills & 50 % poison length reduction, ring w fcr and 25 % poison length reduction, belt with poison res & 25 % poison length reduction, ammy with poison resist & replenish life, swap charms out to get about another 80-90 percent poison resist. Vs plague javazons swap lightning charms to get around 240 light res & use a t gods, and just charge them on repeat. This is the only bm class I struggle with.. but again they are bm. Put a gul rune in shield. In andys I use a lightning resistance jewel to face the plague javazons who also use some lightning skills. Just charge them down, tele stomp with smite but in most cases vs poison builds this set up does the trick. My guy ends up at 332 poison resist with max up at 90 (without gul rune in shield.. with a gul in shield 95). In most cases the swap does all the work. How u end them is up to you.. zeal.. smite.. charge..
Vs Mage (paladin who uses hammers & foh): Swap on one P comb in place of Ar grand charm. Swap shako on. Throw on a T gods. Swap on enough light res charms to come up to about 210-225 light res. It depends on what the mage is using.. is he swapping to foh you using lightning facets on his offhand? If so you need 225 light res.. maybe even 245 if he's going in without enigma and has a socketed armor with more lightning facets. Want a safe way
to go without all the thinking? Just stick to what he could be doing.. so swap charms till you get to 285 lightning res. You drop AR and cant zeal them + your charge will hit less.. but you mainly smite them anyways. Your throw
weapon which will be key in this duel will still hit since it has visionary mod on it and hopefully some AR on top of that. Its pretty straight forward to see if they can teleport.. if they can you need 265 light res only. Usually even
less because many don't wear griffons.. but hey they can swap to it right. Again.. experience.. experience.. experience.. This is all here just to guide you its not definitive. One things for sure though, 1 p combs is enough ooh and
swap your storm shield for a Herald Of Zakarum or phoenix. I would recommend HoZ because it comes with a lightning resistance boost. Socket the Hoz with a lightning res jewel as well or more AR. Maybe a jewel with both? I use
phoenix because it does a lot more damage but in turn I have to add more lightning resistance. A good way to go in terms of shield would be a phoenix in a sacred targe with all resistances on it.
Ok bottom line. If its getting too complicated.. think simple. Stick to swapping 1 p comb, shield to phoenix w all res on it, shako & t gods. Swap boots & charms to get lets say.. 240-250 lightning res. This will give you a fair chance no matter what. Keep distance. Throw at him when he's making hammer fields & be ready to switch back to grief to smite him as he tries to come stomp you which is what he will do. If not he will try to foh you. If you see him going for foh.. well it won't hurt much since you got t gods and resistances. Keep throwing stuff while keeping range to not fall under conviction until his hammer field dies down a bit (not completely catch him off guard.. if it dies completely he's going to reposition and start another one) then switch to grief & telestomp in. A hammer may clip you but if you do it right the outer hammers are the ones that circling none really close to his body unless he starts
to cast hammers randomly. In either case there won't be a hammer to damage you if you time it right. He uses foh and is in cast delay you swap which is instant and tele in. by the time he wants to cast hammer he is being smited
& has to move. Experience.. experience.. just practice vs them. You have all the tools you need to win this one. Throw at them when their making hammer fields, stomp w smite when they foh you, be wary of them trying to stomp you at anytime (be ready to smite them at all times) stay on your toes and you will win more then you lose if you are skilled. This is a really fun duel nonetheless.
Vs Fire Druid & other fire classes: Crown of thieves socketed with fire res jewel that increases min or max preferably. Swap in 50 percent fire res charms in place of Ar charms. Swap Laying of hands gloves on and inferno strides. You can use nozokan relic amulet or stick to highlords if they don't have - fire resistance stuff. Dwarf star ring & throw phoenix on. Also use a belt with about 20-30 fire resistance on it and preferably some hit recovery. Use this swap vs auradin as well but use a rising sun amulet.. stay in salvation aura and charge them down (use t gods vs auradins).. & watch their aura will actually heal you with all the fire sorb. Vs fire sorc just stick to the same swap as
the druid. I won't get too much into strats.. vs the druid you got life leech they usually have pets. Either way they wont do much damage to you. Charge & zeal them down. Same with the fire sorc. If you feel their doing some bm
stuff just use the rising sun amulet & their fire damage can't do anything to you. But it is bm.. even using the dwarf star is pushing it. The phoenix 20 sorb & around 280-290 fire res is all you need.
Vs Javazon: Swap gloves & boots to ones with 30-40 light res. t gods, & get 80-90 % more light res by swapping out charms. Use fanaticism.. walk up smite them you'll win. About 340 light res will do the trick. You can get more by
swapping on a helm with lightning res + jewel with more lightning res or a lo rune to increase max res to 90. I think thats bm so stick to 85 max res w t gods and if your going as far as to swap helm socket it with just lightning res jewel. Bottom line if their beating you (I haven't run into any that can beat me at 340 light res w t gods).. more lightning res is answer. So the helm would be a smart step, also you can further boost light res by using salvation aura
& smiting them with grief P B to make up for lack of speed. I suggest you keep storm shield on though to maintain that 75 % block. Again 340 light res has done the trick for me everytime with t gods.. smiting them down in fanta.
Its a straight forward duel. You two will come strike at each other. You can charge them and try to come in from different angles go try hard mode so they don't hit you.. but this can back fire it they time their hits right. Idk in my experience the swap is really all thats required here & fanta smite.
Vs fohadins.. same swap! Their foh does literally nothing to you once the resistance of 340 is there with sorb (unless they get you under conviction but by the time that happens you would have smited him down already!). To make it more fair take off some resistance to a level their foh does decent damage. In my experience they'll not care or want to duel you & be like.. ya this guy swapped .. eff it. Read up the Gm rules & make your swap to match it.. but me idc that much.
Vs V/T or Smiter: Tele around charge in & out. Repeat till they go down. If you are skilled you will be more times charging them from the right angle.. oh and stay in vigor. Mathematically speaking it will take 3 good hits & maybe 1 smite to bring this guy down. Usually 3 good hits.. you have 70 % deadly strike.. so all three usually are solid. Each one takes out over 1/3rd of his life in my experience. your charge has a 1 in 7 chance of hitting (if he has max block and 30 k defense) so you need to connect charge 21 times to win. Its usually less - don't ask me why. Its rare that I need to charge any din 21 times to win.. usually like 12-18 times and 3 connect.. because most don't have 30 k defense. Now if they do they are a pure smiter.. you can swap to a death in zerker axe & use 2 angelics.. ammy & ring. Or even full angelics and have a helm with a cham rune in it for cannot be frozen. Or just keep charging
them in your grief set up with 17k ar. It would take mathetmatically speaking 21 charges to win. As long as you tele in from an angle they can't really predict their stuck in the wind smiting hoping to hit you. Those 21 charges you can connect quite fast with vigor - never fanta as said earlier. In ten seconds you can conect like 4-5 charges without getting hit if you do it right.. so ya just keep tele around and charge in & out till he goes down. Or make the death zerker.. use angelics for the high defense paladins.. this should make it a bit easier but isn't necessary.
Vs Sin: Trapsin just throw on t gods and get light res to like 215 incase they use grifons. Charge them with fantacism, vigor or holy freeze. Vs hybrid sin.. same swap t gods & 215 light res but use holy freeze & charge them. Tele
in on them at a good angle with holy freeze. Charge on repeat. Their WW won't do as much to you since their attacks being slowed.. their traps will do something to you. They can go into try hard mode and just bait you into traps fearing your holy freeze.. you can also go into try hard mode and tele around creating angles to holy freeze charge them.. maybe pinging them with H F from a good distance then swooping in. Etc. etc. Experience.. experience.
Vs bowazons: I'm tired this information was more or less talked about in the stat section. Experience as always.. but go back up and read that if you want. Holy Freeze & charge.
Vs Necro: Swap stormshield for phoenix on your off hand. Vigour charge in & out. Be ready to tele at any time if they bone prison you. Experience will teach you the rest.. but heres some advice. ONLY CHARGE. I tried going
as far as socketing a sacred targe with IAS jewels to zeal these guys down.. nope. Phoenix. Vigour charge you can win more often then the opponent if your either luckier or make better gambles as to where to tele
in and charge. Best way is to tele in, charge & charge out always ready to teleport out of a bone prison. A good starter trick is before you hit their clay golem try to finish the duel right away with a nice stomp using
fantacism & zeal.. but this can only work if you haven't touched the clay golem so usually at beginning of duel or in the middle if your slow wears off.. this probably won't happen unless you wait for it to wear off. You
could play that route being patient. But the vigor charge with phoenix shield will work fine while always being ready to tele out a bone prison.
Have a great day.
D2:R