phoenix with dual dream is plenty of dmg to kill mobs quickly. grief also works but i just prefer having the redemption aura. your barb having grief will also do a ton of dmg, it won't boost your dmg but your clear is gonna be pretty fast and probably not much slower than grief. the holy shock aura does most of your dmg, grief is another option but i just prefer phoenix sword on this char for mana regen to tele around



and 4 prerequisites so yeah 5 skills i don't wanna switch around 5 skills for pvp since im splitting between smite and foh and the holy shock synergy

This post was edited by Aurasmiter on Aug 1 2025 08:53pm

Okay... hey would you call this setup a Tesladin?

Skills:

20 Lightning Res
20 Conviction
20 Zeal
16 Holy Shield (since using Griefpb, you need 136 dexterity, thus your will reach max block around this skill level AFTER any +skill items being worn)
01 to Pre Requisites
?? Now you can pump the rest into Smite to take on Uber Diablo for Anni and organ hunting and also Uber Tristram.

Dream Elite helm with best defense
Dream Sacred Targe with Maximum All Res
Grief Phase Blade with best ADDED damage and enough IAS for final BP
Highlord for 1 skill, 20 ias for bp DS etc.
Ravenfrost x2 240 AR & 20 dex each, basically for the 136 dex req so you can add more points into vitality.
War Travs ... simply for the added damage and some mf wouldn't go astray.
Fortitude... for the +300% ED & Res... use 1 base point Charge to get around instead of Tele from Enigma
Thunder Gods ... hey, added Str / Vita stats and some Light absorb

Merc Choices.

Might / Pride wielding merc for more damage for your character. (armor helm you select)
Faith Cold Rogue ... may change your IAS items if you can because of the Fana Aura increasing your damage as well.
Other... your choice since I know nothing of D2:r

CTA & Pheonix on switch (Edited this part in)

Inventory: Well... I am not sure with D2:r, so I am guessing at least one Light Sunders? Anni, Torch, Cube etc.


Does it still work the same, Lightning Immunes are the easiest to REMOVE using Conviction? Thus increasing your lightning damage with the Stacked Dream auras and your Zeal?

Oh, life tap wand in inventory.

Basic old school setup, does this still work or can be called a Tesladin???

#2 EDIT: have Life Tap gloves and Exile in chest for ubers, you still get some bonuses.

This post was edited by izParagonzi on Aug 1 2025 09:52pm

if you wanted to optimize lightning damage you'd be using crescent moon, not a phoenix that provides you with exactly nothing

Question? my previous post is more about physical damage with the Griefs "ADDED" damage enhanced by Fortitude and including Lightning damage from Dream + Conviction Aura, how much physical damage would I lose if I swapped out to a Crescent Moon? Would I need more IAS to reach BP?

Should I swap Tgods for Strings for Life Leech even though I use a Life Tap wand?

Also, would you call my setup Tesladin or basically a hybrid, and is it a viable build for doing ubers just swapping out the Gloves & Shield for CtC Life Tap after pre casting life tap on the Uber bosses?

cmoon builds deal awful physical damage so you won't leech as much, no matter how high your ll is. your lightning damage and especially your tick damage goes way up though so it's a preference thing

don't know what to call it. seems like everyone has their own definition of what a tesladin is and I'm not keeping up tbh

I am oldschool, when I created my Griswold Light Avenger (Zeal / Conviction) build I thought it was a great name, practically uses the same skill setup as what people are calling a Tesladin... damn, I just thought this build was Light Convicted Zealer ... and the names keep going.

Well, my setup is based on Conviction to reduce Phys DR as well as the Resistences of monsters, the Added damage from Grief is multiplied giving ample damage to Life Leech, however pre casting Life Tap works tremendously as well as hardly any Lightning Immunes in Hell since Conviction removes 95% of them and the pulse is added damage on top in conjunction with the added lightning damage to the melee attacks of Zeal.

But I do concur with you. Thanks for your pointers.

i never said i wanted to optimize damage. im optimizing sustain which is more important for me. please read I said it's plenty of damage. the damage is high enough you don't need more than dual dream + phoenix

also if you've tried crescent moon, it's not better than grief or phoenix sword because it has less damage than grief and zero sustain and pulse damage is higher with a foh+lite facet stick. i'll just repeat myself again, if you want damage go grief, if you want sustain then go phoenix sword

you also don't need life leech because your barb will be giving you life tap constantly with last wish

This post was edited by Aurasmiter on Aug 2 2025 04:35pm

Question, do you really need that much mana leech using Phoenix sword?, now of course the Redemption aura is great for consuming corpses for life and mana, so that is a bonus.

Does your mercs IAS using Lastwish have a better CtC to your Zeal?

I am a bit of an odd duck, so will most likely say more stupid things.
#1 ... swap Lastwish for Phoenix
#2 ... have Lastwish and another Dream on switch, then you can press W and get the bonuses when you want or to trigger Life Tap this means you can use another weapon on merc? Say Beast as an example. Think that will increase your attack speed with the merc.

Now for the more stupid idea:
... on switch ... Fortitude weapon with Dream


EDIT: I think I worded it completely wrong:

#1: Swap Phoenix Sword to Merc & Last Wish on character. OR
#2: Remove Last Wish from merc and add in Beast.
... . You can either use Last Wish replacing Phoenix, or you can put it on Switch with another Dream

I think the Beast on Merc will give you another item option if you are using IAS from more than one source.

This post was edited by izParagonzi on Aug 2 2025 07:10pm

you can use mana pots for mana but i like scrolls in my belt slot and dont' want to just pop full rejuvs constantly, redemption makes resource management super easy

phoenix on merc does nothing for you the aura only applies to the merc. i've already tried out all the combinations that are viable and the one I originally posted is the most optimal. can't use phoenix shield cuz you're using dream unless you want it on weapon switch

when you got TZ fanat mobs that curse you the 15 life per kill from grief will not be enough to guarantee you don't die in p8 difficulty. Grief is viable but you might also die. the set up i posted works in P8 difficulty even while using chancies and goldwrap for extra gold find and mf and you never die.

LW on A5 merc is great, life tap casts pretty regularly since frenzy starts to snowball. you can also use it on main hand instead of phoenix but again you don't get any mana so when you finish a mob you gotta chug a mana pot every time you wanna tele to the next spot. my set up eliminates all that and makes pvm a breeze. i welcome you to try out all the combinations but this one is the best for pvm

This post was edited by Aurasmiter on Aug 3 2025 10:09am

I think you missed a part of what I wrote: