The Hydra Paladin is Ft:Complete build with scroll-over gear:
https://maxroll.gg/d2/d2planner/mj1fv066#1
Gear:Hoto Flail: 39res
Flickering Flame, Tiara: -14fireres/5aura/67mana
Dragonscale Shield, 580total defense: 199ed/25str/18absorb socketed w/ 5-5 fire facet
Maras: 30 res
Ormus Robes: 15%firedmg socketed w/ 5-5 fire facet
Magefists: 30%ed
2x Sojs
Arach: 105%ed
Fiend Blazer Scarab Boots, Tri Resist: 20frw/5replife/29coldres/40lightningres/22psnres
Cta, Demon Crossbow: 259ed/4bc/6bo/3bcry (on switch)
Inventory:
16-17 Pally Torch
15-20-7 Anni
131/12/37 Gheeds
7x Plain Pally Combat Gcs
3x 5fhr/Res Scs: 10lr, 10pr, 7pr
3x Life/Mana Scs: 14l/16m, 12l/17m, 19l/10m
1x Life/Res Scs: 19life/10cr
Mercenary:
Insight, Eth Cv 16med/226ar/228ed/3crit
Chains of Honor, Eth Archon Plate, 1169defense
Cure, Demonhead: 289def/87ed/58psnresGear Explanation and Overview:This build uses Hydras (from dragonscale shield) for our main source of damage.
We want +all skills, +fire skills and fireskilldmg/-fireres, so we can boost the damage of our hydras. We can get +sk/+firesk and/or +fireskdmg/-fireres from all gear except from boots. This is why we choose Tri-Resist boots, we want max resists of course.
On switch, a regular cta didn't seem fitting for this build. We use a demon crossbow cta combo'd with Holy Shock aura.. we want to be able to shoot bolts at max ias bp.. bc its dope. In addition, Holy Shock is a synergy for Fist of Heavens, so it fit well.
Our merc uses Insight for the mana regen, Hydras are 30mana per cast and Foh 25mana per cast. He uses Cure bc we hate long psnduration and curses. He uses Coh for some life steal along with great resists.Build Overview:We keep conviction aura on and use "Quick Cast Skills" to spam hydras.
We use Fists of Heavens to dps while hydras are shooting.
We have lightning damage, a bit of magic damage(from Foh's holy bolt), fire damage, a physical damage mercenary, and a lvl 25 conviction aura (-150% all resists), to top things off.
Maxing our -resists for conviction is taking it to level 25. -150 resists is really important and what makes this builds' dps. It's also what makes us such a great team player, 'boosting' the damage of any elemental caster on our team by lowering the resists for them, how nice of us.
Check out the d2planner for skill distribution, detailed gear scroll over, and all breakpoints. All details should match. (link at the top of post)
After reading all that, and checking our skills planner, I'm sure you're asking, why not max holy bolt? And, in my opinion, its not worth it for this build. Yes, we do pvm, BUT holy bolt only effects some monsters. In addition to that, there is no guarantee a holy bolt will collide with a monster. We are after the lightning damage provided by Foh so it synergizes with our conviction aura. Also, conviction aura doesn't do anything for magic damage, which is what holy bolt's damage is.Conclusion:This is one of the most fun characters I've made/played. I've spent many many hours revising and playing with different setups for this build, and all of them have been a blast. For this playstyle, you are always casting and moving. There's always another hydra to cast or a foh to spam. I truly never got bored with him.
I hope you enjoyed the thread, post/pm any questions. Thanks for reading.Bin: 2800fg.complete build full hydra paladin pally off-metaThis post was edited by Rode on Apr 27 2024 07:08am