Level 18 Pure Zealot Guide - Topic

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Jan 10 2022 04:22pm

This is a repost of the Diablo 2 Level 18 Zealot guide written by Elusive located here -> https://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=6039104&f=143
All credit should be given to this user for being the #1 player at 18 in that Era and for writing the guide.
This updated guide is intended for the game Diablo 2 : Resurrected and I have made only cosmetic (minor) adjustments to the original guide with the help of the #2 player, Cronotrigger.
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Level 18 Zealots have extremely high max damage, high life, high attack rating, and a 5 frame/5 hit uninterruptible attack, making them one tough opponent. This build is generally regarded as the strongest Melee Build @ Level 18.

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Stat Placement:

Strength - Enough for gear
Dex - None (Max block attained by gear)
Vit - The rest
Energy - None

Hell Rushed, all stat/skill quests completed.

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Gear:

The lower you go in the dueling brackets from HLD to MLD to LLD to vLLD the more jewels are used across a character and the more charm (instead of item) dependant/lame the characters get. The starter jewel for lvl 18 is a 15maxer while everyone will look for 20 Maxers top end. The lower you go the more limited the options are in terms of gear which is why there will be few alternates suggested. The idea is to socket every item with maxers (15maxer-20maxer) or Min damage or Min-Max Damage Jewels.

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Helms:

1. 20%-30%ed/80-120 Attack Rating/30-40 Life/2 Socket Rare Circlet
2. 3 Socket 15% Superior ED Crown or Mask

Socket this with min-max jewels or Maxers

Amulet:

1.Angelic Wings
No Rare comes close to it.

Weapon:

1. 105%ed 20ias 20max 40ar 2 sox Eth Repl War Scepter with Zeal and Conc
(The Dream - credit to ATOMICMAN from lld101)

2. 5 Socket War Scepter, with bonus mods 3 Zeal, 3 Concentration
Almost impossible to find.

3. Cleglaw's Tooth (Long Sword)
The "grief" of Level 18. 1fg item which gives you bang for your buck ~ 50% Deadly Strike and 30% AR bonus makes this a popular choice. The go-to for any player starting this build.

Armor:

1. 60 Defense Twitchthroe
Basically gives you every possible bonus you could desire.

Shield:

1. 4 Socket Paladin Shield with 65%ed and 121ar
Heladric or Aerin shields recommended.

Gloves & Belt:

1. Death's Gloves 1. Death's Belt - The IAS cannot be beaten.

Rings:

1. 2x Angelic Rings
Each gives 20 Life and 6 replen; combined with the Amulet the set offers 75 Life and 10 Dexterity.

Boots

1. Cow King's Boots
20 Dex and 25-35 Fire Damage. No question here. Get a 41 Def one please.

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Invent:

x10 6max/48ar/20Life (or 6str) - you can pick up lower ar ones but aim for 6max/xxar/20life
x10 15life/12ar - you should always look for 15 life and any amount of ar is a starting point

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Skills:

18 Sacrifice
7 Zeal
4 Might

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Congratulations! You have made a cookie cutter LLD Zealer. Step forward and click and hold!
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I or someone else will/can update this accordingly in the future in the event that new gear (runeword/other) become available. Kudos most especially to Elusive and Cronotrigger and everyone that has contributed both to the previous guide & the build over the years.

This post was edited by ferdia on Jan 10 2022 04:22pm