But I can reassign attributes and skill points freely if needed, thanks to the enable respec parameter. +120% Dam If I had run into it, Id be using it. Which is not my first option for a new main weapon, as Im concerned it wont be enough for my current issues. Also of note is the fact that due to their usefulness perfect gems have become a decent trade item. So, thats covered yes. The big advantage here is you get a massive 300+ percent defense bonus! but even still you can run the 1 point conviction, your build is done at 84 (78 with no conviction). I kept this until I found a rare +1 paladin 14% prismatic one. grief is best. Powered by Discourse, best viewed with JavaScript enabled, World of Warcraft Arena World Championship. I can open this entry (via Manage => Entries => 2entries@diablo2), but I can't save (thank goodness). You can always upgrade it, and there are some damn nice shields to be found. Very high resistances and max-block, 1. In addition, there are several different ways to slightly customize your Freezealot based on your preferences and skill choices, and I'll go over them as well. you only want reroll charms dropped by diablo/baal/nithalak in hell to be guaranteed chance of rerolling a skiller grand charm. Ahh, the Zealot. I have kept Ancients Pledge stashed as well, but I try to not resort to it since it lacks the benefits of my two actual mains (Spirit and Rhyme). This gave me a bunch of decent resist charms and jewels. +2 on weapon, +1 Lore helm, +1 shield, +1 offensive aura amulet. The more sources of cold damage you have, the better your freezing ability. NM countess can drop up to a Io, Ko on a lucky drop but thats not very likely. This is a personal preference thing, but here are some recommendations. I also use it to charge into packs of archers to get right into the battle and take them out faster. Countess is way easier, in a sense. I like the +50 to res, Weaken, and the +FHR puts me as 95%. Like I said, shoot for huge max resists, max block and the highest crushing blow you can get. I swap, Zeal to slow down a boss or pack, then back to my main. Now the best part 1-2 sockets. Yes it can get that sick. Im guessing the best for me right now, would be to just make Honor so I can get started with Hell. Monsters RIP is perfect against those annoying skeleton+mummy packs, as the former being unleechable is always a pain. As I mentioned before, points in Holy Freeze over 20 make a huge difference. Ultimate: Really, Gore Riders are probably your best choice here, since they have 15% crushing blow and an all-important 30% faster run. Can I upgrade my normal socketed armor and weapon? Order: You know the drill by now maxing Holy Shield comes last after you've sunk those first 5 points into it. Honestly, thats a way better drop rate for runes than what Ive been running into for most of NM. - I'm not going to consider 2 SOJs (unpractical for this build) or a +3 amulet (only spawns on magic). Any1 noted that together they give you +50 AR, +106 defense and +25% IAS! At least, not for now. At the moment, all he seems to be is a Paladin with a Might Aura and Sacrifice. Ultimate: This is a tough call. Low Level: Sigons is easy enough to find and works well with its other pieces. -you would be in low 80s at this point, points can go into defiance for more defense but i prefer resist lighting/fire, every 2 points give you 1 to your max res. If you can get any +paladin skill charms of course, hang on to them! However, as all builds get more item-geared when you get to hell, you'll need a way to get better stuff. You can definitely find these runes whatever you get from your nightmare hellforge should be suitable to get an Io with, which is the hardest thing to find here. Since they can always be upgraded, please god don't pass them up. #, What a transformation 20- Zeal If you're really boss you could throw in a nice cold rainbow facet Isenharts Sword which was nice since it's so fast. Defensively, I think my Zealot is fine although of course not ideal. Use the main. You do know you need to upgrade this so make that a first priority. This way no one grabs and everyone can get the great drops that they need, or get the items they can trade for what they need. Negligible. Since you need a point in charge to get to Holy Shield, make sure you use it! Also, theres the Deadly Strike chance of course. You can pretty much walk out of the way of their attacks. Im reaching that 5900, even with just +404 from gear. In hell you will be using pots regularly until you get that amazing gear. Ive been using multiple health/rejuv potions per encounter, when I was used to barely touching them even when facing Baal in NM. Yeah, those are the better ones.
I made two upgrades. Having played this game since the day it came, there remain only two real fun points that keep me playing: working with lesser-seen builds and, now, running the ladder. 4. Also, right after starting Hell I ran into a PI Unique Zombie. This guide has honestly reached a level I never imagined in terms of content! +124 AR #raisemyho, So much character These zombies are doing purely phys dam anyway, and something like 35% chance to hit me. As always upgrading as I get stuff. Pump Holy Freeze until you get Holy Shield, and sink those 5 points into it so you're all set. Purely melee. Its just kinda clumsy, so its tough for me to swap decently. Add 11 in prereqs, and thats 84. -you could also use draculs gloves for life tap. It's a nice little way to get a boost to your attack rating without dropping points in Blessed Aim for the hidden passive bonus. As the Either way, that AR coupled with substantial IAS means I hit quite decently. Like I said, I'm not rich. You're browsing the GameFAQs Message Boards as a guest. charge around black marsh with vigor on. And where could I farm for those? A few of these will net you decent experience and decent gear - or at least trade fodder. The issue Im facing with zombies right now, has nothing to do with res fortunately. Even if I need just 5 minutes per run, thats a month of 24/7 playing. little update on my ZealotHoz isn't as good as an eth-exile you get a sweet defiance aura(even the crapiest ones are good) and also I pul'd a valor and I use that mostly for PvP and then for PvM I use a COH. Third, your resists will be excellent with a very high cold resist in particular. None of the monsters there are more than an annoyance, by now. Other: You can craft an amulet with increased chance of blocking that ain't bad! Your goals should be, in general, to max your resists, have a shield with high blocking, and get a fast weapon to rapidly deliver that cold damage. Privacy PolicyCookie SettingsDo Not Sell My InformationReportAd. I never land the amount of sockets Im hoping for, even if Im aiming for highest (and the recipe has much better chances of adding max sockets than any lower number, right?). So keep rerolling those grand charms (act III nightmare, Great Marsh-Kurast grand charms are best - they can get +skills but have the least chance of getting other junk) because, my god, those numbers are disgusting! Just checked. Mmm, it does have nice mods, but I personally shy away from runeword with high runes in case they poof, and because I hate to rely on rolls for stats, it's risky. you are right though, +skill charms wont benefit your build in particular. You could upgrade it for a little more defense but until you're at that sick point where you're just trying to make your gear perfect, don't bother. I have Vengeance and Conviction precisely for that. Weapon: more damage = more leeching even if you have effectively 4%. Your best bet is to do Baal runs with some friends. Theres a LOT less ground to cover, from waypoint to them. I've personally taken this build all the way through hell Baal twice, untwinked, in preparation for the ladder run I want to make next season. A paladin who uses Holy Freeze as his main aura and Zeal as his main attack has so many advantages, its amazing everyone isn't using them! Ive always been either at around same char lvl as the areas, or higher. I have The Minotaur, as a swap weapon. I'll give the main points and let you decide how you want to do the rest!
Be sure to take note of times you could save on dexterity through items. 4. Hire an act3 cold mercenary and be the ultimate cold machine. Thus far, highest shes dropped is Shael. I've used this in the past and he's great fun. Coupled with mercs HF, monsters can end up super slow. I do have Dex 172, though. +50 IAS. Whats a decent minimum +MF, to use there? Unfortunately, if I changed gloves, Id lose some big benefits. Since the farming spots for those is not with bosses, as those tend to grant magic items instead of bases or runes even with 0 MF. -oath, honor, lawbringer are mid tier rune words that are great melee options. You need max resists or your going to die, even in Act 1. Thats plenty enough, right? Heck, even Sanders. Great: There are so many good unique and set armors, I could seriously list half of them. I have a scepter that provides it, and I put it in my swap when I feel Ill need it. How good are my odds with Travincal?
- Great: We aren't all likely to have a Maras, so your best bet is to find something that compliments your build and fills in the gaps. I was just starting to branch out into Conviction+Vengeance (lvl 3, both). My rings are both gambled rares at this point too. You only need to keep it around, if its first round of redemption attempts was particularly bad. They're expensive, but worth it. Although you get a physical damage bonus from zeal, it is not enough, Required and Recommended Skills Once I finished normal, I spent a bunch of games doing cow runs. Nightmare went off without a hitch. It tends to stay as my main swap, with The Minotaur being there less often. 2022 GAMESPOT, A RED VENTURES COMPANY. Achieving at least 50% crushing blow is a HUGE bonus having near or at 100% - 75% is a great, balanced goal - turns you into a MACHINE that will wow everyone who sees you in action. +20 IAS (from Shael) I currently gamble in hopes of a better belt, though I dont know if one of those can come up with leech. However, theBlackKnight points out that Seraphs Hymn or Highlords are also great choices, since they have very useful mods and you can make up for resistances with charms. if i did all chaos runs and then did baal throne waves 4-5 + baal you can get it done in like 600-675 runs. This is the first time Im truly forced to go back and farm to be able to face the threats ahead. There are a few different ways you can go about doing this, depending about how you want to tailor your character. - I often find myself not swapping back and forth when I want to, even if I hit the W at the seemingly right moment. If you want to be cool and unique, hire an act 1 fire arrow mercenary and equip her well she can actually rock! However, things like the immortal king gloves or even upgraded bloodfist are fine choices. Iron maiden damage is minimized I dont have much non-phys dam from gear. Every bonus on it rocks and makes it perfect to put in a paladin shield! I guess I should go back to that. Vigor also feels wasteful. Frost Zealot is split, in my opinion. Other: Laying of Hands is decent thanks to its IAS and Fire Res, and Sanders isn't the worst either. max zeal/sacrifice and holy shield. archives as requested by the community. I mean, what do you recommend? However, Baal turned out to be quite troublesome. Ultimate: Well, its standard, but its true: having a ravenfrost is super helpful. And those Zombies turn out to be 50% both on drain effectiveness and phys dam resist.
I once used a rare skull cap until late nightmare when I found Iratha's Helm (nice resists). I learned it by sheer accident. Im having good luck, reaching her fast. Spirit is my main shield, so you can assume I have easy access to a +2 on all those. I dont have amazing gear but Ive put together some decent stuff with what I found. Other: I honestly end up using rares most of the time - gamble gamble gamble! However, if you're comfortable taking those risks, It seems like an excellt armor, except the defense is considerably lower than an Eth-Carapace. I just dont. Other: The "Rhyme" runeword, Shael + Eth, is awesome. Is farming any of the Primes, a better idea for Countess than that? The aura and your weapon will do much more damage with Holy Shock, but it's a lot easier to get swamped by a horde of enemies. Remove ads & support the site - Get PurePremium. Whats your to hit? Excellent mid-game weapon. Its my other swap, aside from the Redemption scepter. Average dam 1300, almost entirely phys. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Of course, using Heaven's Light we drop down to 90%, but its such a good weapon its worth it. But since I got 5, I made Honor. 33% crushing blow! With bonuses on it for everything paladins hold dear, even the best runewords barely match it pound for pound. Here is the story, so far, of Skkra, the little Frost Zealot that could. I suggest finding a shield that has a high resist automod to start - there's no reason not to! So, Im not chancing that again. Next time I fight him, I think in NM I can go in with +170% MF. I may end up doing that after I do the "playing while half asleep" guide. Specially coupled with mercs HF, AND a possible slow from The Minotaur. Required level to perfect is 99 At this point you'll be around 60 or so, and will be dealing about 750 cold damage per hit! How do I open the mercenary inventory? This way you can eliminate the casters without worrying about returning a lot of physical damage! And Salvation, I may get it someday. That will take you all the way through hell. -you could also use draculs gloves for life tap and you never need potions again. The first step to getting your house raised is to get house plans and engineering. Or should I be going Nihlathak? conviction isnt needed if you are using vengeance, and you will most likely need the ias from fanaticism since vengeance is slow compared to zeal. However, there is also .. Rockstopper, my personal favorite! Redemption - get it, you are saying the pre-reqs are too many, but you also say you dont like running through things because it takes too long. Im not sure what you meant there, sorry. If you're worried solely about cold, get something fast with other nice mods. I may end up doing the tesladin guide since i'm pretty much experienced in it. 20- Salvation. killing meph, countess, andariel and travincal council are where i would spend my time if i had to farm nightmare. So, farming NM D and B shouldnt be too difficult. Lastly, all enemies will be slowed over 50 percent! Between Sanctuary and Decripify, monsters would be harmless enough. Resurrected what?
These forum archives have been curated by the community bringing two decades of Diablo 2 knowledge to new players. What is Twisted Essence of Suffering for? Maxed Skills: But I will fall back to it if needed. If you don't have Guillaume's Face, or even if you do and don't mind 65-75% crushing blow, use this! I thought about this and also came up with another plus ever notice that wands spawn all the time with massive elemental damage that seems all but useless? Frankly, its hard to imagine a Zealot having low AR. Leech 13%. This will take you closer to level 90 to achieve, but Any1 pointed this out to me as a possible build that he has tested. In fact, I was mocked several times while in hell for STILL hanging onto my crushflange but once they saw me ripping with my massive cold damage aided by the crushing blow, they shut up. max zeal/sacrifice/fanaticism/holy shield. And rely on it more often. Black is about the same as my weapon. If you cant do that, try helping others gain experience - in the cow level! Plus, if you're making a ladder bid, you wont have time to level up a magic finder - in the time that takes, you'll have lost your position. Then, just farm for one of the better runewords I mentioned, in Hell Countess. increasing your damage and 1 point salvation should cure your mana/health issues. Great: Immortal Kings (see gloves); upgraded Bladebuckle are both fine. ), (with 631 - 637 periodic aura damage and 58% slow!). About NM Countess rune drops Didnt know that. I'll report back when he becomes a fully-fledged Zealot. Special thanks to the 2.0 thread "regulars" who kept coming back and helping me fine tune this!!! You can attack a point on the ground with it and charge to simply move very fast - I can beat some BoS assassins and teleport sorceresses in a race! I used a Barb merc for fun, but I would bet Might is better. Ive tried to get decent bases for runewords, but its been extremely hard. max zeal/sacrifice/fanaticism/holy shield. Im farming for runes, right now. Once you get Zeal, pump it until you get Holy Freeze. - Even if I removed that and put an Amn (which I dont even have, right now) for +7% leech Losing nearly half of my gear-based IAS is a bad idea. After you've "finished" this build around 80, you can pump Holy Shield for the defense, or pump Sacrifice to increase your physical damage. An ancients pledge can really bolster sagging resists. And the rest, which arent many, I could spend on either Blessed Aim for the passive +% AR or Defiance for the HS synergy. laying of hands gloves are much better in slot for zealer gloves or dracs. They'll be able to sit behind you and leech experience while you're on the front line to get all the drops. Sanctuary would be perfect for sturdy zombies and PI undead overall. I just didnt get any, really. just beeline for countess. In case of phys immunes. Put 'em to use on your switch! Phys immunes. gvandale also recommends an (upgraded) Headstriker, which is certainly a solid choice. Hell Countess can drop up to an ist, but Ive farmed her forever and that is highly unlikely. That lasts like 10 min, but open wounds and poison is short lived. Countess takes a while, even if I just Charge all the way through from the nearest waypoint and ignore. Well, look no further! This is especially useful for charging into a pack of archers and slowing their fire to a crawl once they're hit. Holy Shield can help make up for poor blocking. =P. You can't save either? 2. I just think that 2-3 for a pack of normals is excessive. I suggest finishing Holy Freeze and getting at least 10-15 into Zeal before you pump Resist Cold. 25 Days till Christmas! Once you're done with the main build, you can pump either Salvation or Sacrifice depending on your damage plans, or go for the defense and max defiance to get some insane d. Order: You can choose, with a build like this! If you can get yourself to farm Hell countess thats worth talking about, but you will face PI ghosts in there. I doubt Ill go back to Hell at all, until Ive farmed enough to make a decent runeword for my main weapon. I barely even need to touch potions then. Zeal is used as the primary attack and holy freeze is the main aura. #raisemyhouse #houser, Awesome project under way on James St If you're able to give him decent gear, he can also make up for low physical damage on your part if you go mostly all cold. Personally, I max both of those before I finish Resist Cold. Huge resists, damage reduction and more! i would use heavens light as weapon, it has a nice crushing blow and a bad 1 is very cheap and still very effective, if u want to be effective in hell make sure u use a armor with as high defense possible(800+), maxed resistances are also essential to any melee build so get a shield with high resistances (so better no alma negra) mosers with 2 perfect diamonds works well (alse has a decent block on it) besides u are a zealot so u dont really need +skills anyways (unless u are making a frostie or a tesladin), and make sure ur life is 1000+ otherwise u are gonna s****. When maxed out, the range of Holy Freeze is gigantic, giving you a radius pretty much equal to and sometimes greater than the size of the screen and "pings" very often! We did it, good as 100 for all intents. Lawbringer wouldnt increase my phys dam, yes. This got me half way through hell till I got a Heavens Light Scepter which Im still using now until I get better. Ultimate: There is only one, and you already know what it is: The Herald of Zakarum, the greatest shield ever conceived. ifyou are farming nightmare, dont do nithalak. Hopefully, Ill get something like I need much more. I made a Smoke armor for better def, higher res, and Weaken. You are using an out of date browser. But I dont wanna depend on that alone to survive, unless I absolutely HAVE to. Whats the highest rune I can reasonably hope for in NM? (take items off current merc before buying new one), -where are your skills allocated? I was honestly amazed at how many people have messaged me! I would love to, but as it's no longer the most recent post, I can't edit it. Lvl 76 HF Merc, Avg dam 1400, Lionheart armor, Honor weapon, so 7% leech. Maybe you're like me, and shake your head when you see people posting "Hey, I found my 8th SS of the day!" Depending on whether I use Sigons Visor, or a Helm with some other useful stats. Very few enemies are immune to Holy Freeze. -1 point vengeance for physical immunes. Usually you can trade that +1 amazon amulet you got for something equal with paladin skills you can use. Although I change to Rhyme for CBF, and Ancients Pledge for higher res. I actually was hoping for 4 sockets, back then. If thats the way to find the stairs to each level, to reach the Countess faster Yeah, I know that. So, Ive always been on the lookout for chances of improving it. 15 (boots) + 35 (helm) + 40 ("black") + 7% (lets say some crafted gloves) = time taking periodic cold damage from an aura with huge range. As you can see, Zeal and HS arent maxed yet. This is actually your best bet for this build, since crafting some gloves with IAS, resists and crushing blow would be absolutely perfect. Ive just been playing normally thus far, except for some small farming here and there (only large amounts of farming with Pindleskin, as its really fast). Things went fine all the way to Act V. At this point Baal Runs rapidly leveled me up and let me finish maxing Holy Freeze. My mercs certainly improved a whole lot by using a Honor polearm. That about sums it up for equipment. These are my weapons stats, for further clarification: 77-127 (Battle Hammer) By keeping one small charm with cold damage on it in my inventory, monsters are slowed even more when you hit them. Ah, Butchers Pupil. Here are things that have helped my Frost Zealot survive. Ive kept a bunch of decent +res rares stashed, in case I wouldnt be fully ready for Hells penalties. JavaScript is disabled. I think the biggest reason for this, is how brutally nerfed Life Leech becomes when facing those. I think I only rolled +defensive auras on Charms thus far, and of course that was useless since I barely touch them. My personal favorite, and nightmare Baal will drop it a bunch. Here it is, again: Thats 73 skill points. But I need the runes badly. (+Barb question). Id just find a lower level of MF and charge in, not going back to change things up. Order: Pump Resist Cold until you get Zeal. depending if you add nith or chaos runs and what lvl your anni is will really affect this. I could equip just SOME of the MF gear, keep a balance between that mod and actual firepower. Great dam, bunch of brutal mods, but I love it for the slow specially. Others: General's Tan Do Li Ga (you'll be hitting VERY fast and the monsters get VERY slow, they barely move), Atlantean. I dont have any runes that could make runewords with leech, nor any stashed magics/rares/uniques that grant it. The guide officially ends here, but below is the story of my current (as of 3/16/04) Frost Zealot, who I made to better revise this guide! But at least she drops one rune for sure every time. The IK gloves adds 20, Ravenfrost adds a ton, and oft times rare amulets will spawn with a decent +dex mod. How about switching to other skills, to face Zombies? defiance/resist auras are basically only remaining options. err shop around for a Guil face and even a goblin toe will let him (fanatic zealot) cut down most monsters to size even when he is only armed with a lightsabre. Low level: Honestly, I'd say mostly rares. The other options is cube recipe it but you need a good stash of runes to start cube recipeing things. The one aura at a time trade-off really bothers me there. So I can make one of those Sphinx suggested. Not enough people seem to put emphasis on this awesome attribute. Better yet, if you can find a Demon Limb to keep on switch, you're more than set, especially since it has massive fire damage to deal with cold/physical immunes! Im guessing, improving leech big time should be my priority. Nightmare hellforge gave me a Shael. - The large boost to damage would help my life leech enough? I managed to grab a few better pieces of gear and was saving up lots of gems to trade with. Faster hit recovery isn't hard to get either. Of course, in hell you will all but need to have more decent gear if you want to do well, but really, who doesn't. Order: This build is exactly like the above one except instead of Salvation, you pump up Sacrifice to increase your physical damage.
Vengeance is good, if you are still missing with vengeance you will need to add conviction to that so you can hit them. Cold comes first, damn it! Doing NM countess or Trav isnt going to give you the stuff you want. im not even saying put all your extra points in there, but 4-8 into resist lightning really helps, and you can put rest into defiance. NM Diablo was nice enough to drop The Minotaur for me. With this build, you will end up with two major damage types - physical and cold - at the same time. I only use Cleansing to get rid of poison and curses in-between fights, and lvl 1-3 is more than enough for that.
Any of the elite uniques are awesome. Frankly, up until now the games been quite easy. Im focusing on getting the runes first. Runewords are more attainable, in that I have more and easier options to obtain a decent base + runes.
I made two upgrades. Having played this game since the day it came, there remain only two real fun points that keep me playing: working with lesser-seen builds and, now, running the ladder. 4. Also, right after starting Hell I ran into a PI Unique Zombie. This guide has honestly reached a level I never imagined in terms of content! +124 AR #raisemyho, So much character These zombies are doing purely phys dam anyway, and something like 35% chance to hit me. As always upgrading as I get stuff. Pump Holy Freeze until you get Holy Shield, and sink those 5 points into it so you're all set. Purely melee. Its just kinda clumsy, so its tough for me to swap decently. Add 11 in prereqs, and thats 84. -you could also use draculs gloves for life tap. It's a nice little way to get a boost to your attack rating without dropping points in Blessed Aim for the hidden passive bonus. As the Either way, that AR coupled with substantial IAS means I hit quite decently. Like I said, I'm not rich. You're browsing the GameFAQs Message Boards as a guest. charge around black marsh with vigor on. And where could I farm for those? A few of these will net you decent experience and decent gear - or at least trade fodder. The issue Im facing with zombies right now, has nothing to do with res fortunately. Even if I need just 5 minutes per run, thats a month of 24/7 playing. little update on my ZealotHoz isn't as good as an eth-exile you get a sweet defiance aura(even the crapiest ones are good) and also I pul'd a valor and I use that mostly for PvP and then for PvM I use a COH. Third, your resists will be excellent with a very high cold resist in particular. None of the monsters there are more than an annoyance, by now. Other: You can craft an amulet with increased chance of blocking that ain't bad! Your goals should be, in general, to max your resists, have a shield with high blocking, and get a fast weapon to rapidly deliver that cold damage. Privacy PolicyCookie SettingsDo Not Sell My InformationReportAd. I never land the amount of sockets Im hoping for, even if Im aiming for highest (and the recipe has much better chances of adding max sockets than any lower number, right?). So keep rerolling those grand charms (act III nightmare, Great Marsh-Kurast grand charms are best - they can get +skills but have the least chance of getting other junk) because, my god, those numbers are disgusting! Just checked. Mmm, it does have nice mods, but I personally shy away from runeword with high runes in case they poof, and because I hate to rely on rolls for stats, it's risky. you are right though, +skill charms wont benefit your build in particular. You could upgrade it for a little more defense but until you're at that sick point where you're just trying to make your gear perfect, don't bother. I have Vengeance and Conviction precisely for that. Weapon: more damage = more leeching even if you have effectively 4%. Your best bet is to do Baal runs with some friends. Theres a LOT less ground to cover, from waypoint to them. I've personally taken this build all the way through hell Baal twice, untwinked, in preparation for the ladder run I want to make next season. A paladin who uses Holy Freeze as his main aura and Zeal as his main attack has so many advantages, its amazing everyone isn't using them! Ive always been either at around same char lvl as the areas, or higher. I have The Minotaur, as a swap weapon. I'll give the main points and let you decide how you want to do the rest!
Be sure to take note of times you could save on dexterity through items. 4. Hire an act3 cold mercenary and be the ultimate cold machine. Thus far, highest shes dropped is Shael. I've used this in the past and he's great fun. Coupled with mercs HF, monsters can end up super slow. I do have Dex 172, though. +50 IAS. Whats a decent minimum +MF, to use there? Unfortunately, if I changed gloves, Id lose some big benefits. Since the farming spots for those is not with bosses, as those tend to grant magic items instead of bases or runes even with 0 MF. -oath, honor, lawbringer are mid tier rune words that are great melee options. You need max resists or your going to die, even in Act 1. Thats plenty enough, right? Heck, even Sanders. Great: There are so many good unique and set armors, I could seriously list half of them. I have a scepter that provides it, and I put it in my swap when I feel Ill need it. How good are my odds with Travincal?
- Great: We aren't all likely to have a Maras, so your best bet is to find something that compliments your build and fills in the gaps. I was just starting to branch out into Conviction+Vengeance (lvl 3, both). My rings are both gambled rares at this point too. You only need to keep it around, if its first round of redemption attempts was particularly bad. They're expensive, but worth it. Although you get a physical damage bonus from zeal, it is not enough, Required and Recommended Skills Once I finished normal, I spent a bunch of games doing cow runs. Nightmare went off without a hitch. It tends to stay as my main swap, with The Minotaur being there less often. 2022 GAMESPOT, A RED VENTURES COMPANY. Achieving at least 50% crushing blow is a HUGE bonus having near or at 100% - 75% is a great, balanced goal - turns you into a MACHINE that will wow everyone who sees you in action. +20 IAS (from Shael) I currently gamble in hopes of a better belt, though I dont know if one of those can come up with leech. However, theBlackKnight points out that Seraphs Hymn or Highlords are also great choices, since they have very useful mods and you can make up for resistances with charms. if i did all chaos runs and then did baal throne waves 4-5 + baal you can get it done in like 600-675 runs. This is the first time Im truly forced to go back and farm to be able to face the threats ahead. There are a few different ways you can go about doing this, depending about how you want to tailor your character. - I often find myself not swapping back and forth when I want to, even if I hit the W at the seemingly right moment. If you want to be cool and unique, hire an act 1 fire arrow mercenary and equip her well she can actually rock! However, things like the immortal king gloves or even upgraded bloodfist are fine choices. Iron maiden damage is minimized I dont have much non-phys dam from gear. Every bonus on it rocks and makes it perfect to put in a paladin shield! I guess I should go back to that. Vigor also feels wasteful. Frost Zealot is split, in my opinion. Other: Laying of Hands is decent thanks to its IAS and Fire Res, and Sanders isn't the worst either. max zeal/sacrifice and holy shield. archives as requested by the community. I mean, what do you recommend? However, Baal turned out to be quite troublesome. Ultimate: Well, its standard, but its true: having a ravenfrost is super helpful. And those Zombies turn out to be 50% both on drain effectiveness and phys dam resist.
I once used a rare skull cap until late nightmare when I found Iratha's Helm (nice resists). I learned it by sheer accident. Im having good luck, reaching her fast. Spirit is my main shield, so you can assume I have easy access to a +2 on all those. I dont have amazing gear but Ive put together some decent stuff with what I found. Other: I honestly end up using rares most of the time - gamble gamble gamble! However, if you're comfortable taking those risks, It seems like an excellt armor, except the defense is considerably lower than an Eth-Carapace. I just dont. Other: The "Rhyme" runeword, Shael + Eth, is awesome. Is farming any of the Primes, a better idea for Countess than that? The aura and your weapon will do much more damage with Holy Shock, but it's a lot easier to get swamped by a horde of enemies. Remove ads & support the site - Get PurePremium. Whats your to hit? Excellent mid-game weapon. Its my other swap, aside from the Redemption scepter. Average dam 1300, almost entirely phys. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Of course, using Heaven's Light we drop down to 90%, but its such a good weapon its worth it. But since I got 5, I made Honor. 33% crushing blow! With bonuses on it for everything paladins hold dear, even the best runewords barely match it pound for pound. Here is the story, so far, of Skkra, the little Frost Zealot that could. I suggest finding a shield that has a high resist automod to start - there's no reason not to! So, Im not chancing that again. Next time I fight him, I think in NM I can go in with +170% MF. I may end up doing that after I do the "playing while half asleep" guide. Specially coupled with mercs HF, AND a possible slow from The Minotaur. Required level to perfect is 99 At this point you'll be around 60 or so, and will be dealing about 750 cold damage per hit! How do I open the mercenary inventory? This way you can eliminate the casters without worrying about returning a lot of physical damage! And Salvation, I may get it someday. That will take you all the way through hell. -you could also use draculs gloves for life tap and you never need potions again. The first step to getting your house raised is to get house plans and engineering. Or should I be going Nihlathak? conviction isnt needed if you are using vengeance, and you will most likely need the ias from fanaticism since vengeance is slow compared to zeal. However, there is also .. Rockstopper, my personal favorite! Redemption - get it, you are saying the pre-reqs are too many, but you also say you dont like running through things because it takes too long. Im not sure what you meant there, sorry. If you're worried solely about cold, get something fast with other nice mods. I may end up doing the tesladin guide since i'm pretty much experienced in it. 20- Salvation. killing meph, countess, andariel and travincal council are where i would spend my time if i had to farm nightmare. So, farming NM D and B shouldnt be too difficult. Lastly, all enemies will be slowed over 50 percent! Between Sanctuary and Decripify, monsters would be harmless enough. Resurrected what?
These forum archives have been curated by the community bringing two decades of Diablo 2 knowledge to new players. What is Twisted Essence of Suffering for? Maxed Skills: But I will fall back to it if needed. If you don't have Guillaume's Face, or even if you do and don't mind 65-75% crushing blow, use this! I thought about this and also came up with another plus ever notice that wands spawn all the time with massive elemental damage that seems all but useless? Frankly, its hard to imagine a Zealot having low AR. Leech 13%. This will take you closer to level 90 to achieve, but Any1 pointed this out to me as a possible build that he has tested. In fact, I was mocked several times while in hell for STILL hanging onto my crushflange but once they saw me ripping with my massive cold damage aided by the crushing blow, they shut up. max zeal/sacrifice/fanaticism/holy shield. And rely on it more often. Black is about the same as my weapon. If you cant do that, try helping others gain experience - in the cow level! Plus, if you're making a ladder bid, you wont have time to level up a magic finder - in the time that takes, you'll have lost your position. Then, just farm for one of the better runewords I mentioned, in Hell Countess. increasing your damage and 1 point salvation should cure your mana/health issues. Great: Immortal Kings (see gloves); upgraded Bladebuckle are both fine. ), (with 631 - 637 periodic aura damage and 58% slow!). About NM Countess rune drops Didnt know that. I'll report back when he becomes a fully-fledged Zealot. Special thanks to the 2.0 thread "regulars" who kept coming back and helping me fine tune this!!! You can attack a point on the ground with it and charge to simply move very fast - I can beat some BoS assassins and teleport sorceresses in a race! I used a Barb merc for fun, but I would bet Might is better. Ive tried to get decent bases for runewords, but its been extremely hard. max zeal/sacrifice/fanaticism/holy shield. Im farming for runes, right now. Once you get Zeal, pump it until you get Holy Freeze. - Even if I removed that and put an Amn (which I dont even have, right now) for +7% leech Losing nearly half of my gear-based IAS is a bad idea. After you've "finished" this build around 80, you can pump Holy Shield for the defense, or pump Sacrifice to increase your physical damage. An ancients pledge can really bolster sagging resists. And the rest, which arent many, I could spend on either Blessed Aim for the passive +% AR or Defiance for the HS synergy. laying of hands gloves are much better in slot for zealer gloves or dracs. They'll be able to sit behind you and leech experience while you're on the front line to get all the drops. Sanctuary would be perfect for sturdy zombies and PI undead overall. I just didnt get any, really. just beeline for countess. In case of phys immunes. Put 'em to use on your switch! Phys immunes. gvandale also recommends an (upgraded) Headstriker, which is certainly a solid choice. Hell Countess can drop up to an ist, but Ive farmed her forever and that is highly unlikely. That lasts like 10 min, but open wounds and poison is short lived. Countess takes a while, even if I just Charge all the way through from the nearest waypoint and ignore. Well, look no further! This is especially useful for charging into a pack of archers and slowing their fire to a crawl once they're hit. Holy Shield can help make up for poor blocking. =P. You can't save either? 2. I just think that 2-3 for a pack of normals is excessive. I suggest finishing Holy Freeze and getting at least 10-15 into Zeal before you pump Resist Cold. 25 Days till Christmas! Once you're done with the main build, you can pump either Salvation or Sacrifice depending on your damage plans, or go for the defense and max defiance to get some insane d. Order: You can choose, with a build like this! If you can get yourself to farm Hell countess thats worth talking about, but you will face PI ghosts in there. I doubt Ill go back to Hell at all, until Ive farmed enough to make a decent runeword for my main weapon. I barely even need to touch potions then. Zeal is used as the primary attack and holy freeze is the main aura. #raisemyhouse #houser, Awesome project under way on James St If you're able to give him decent gear, he can also make up for low physical damage on your part if you go mostly all cold. Personally, I max both of those before I finish Resist Cold. Huge resists, damage reduction and more! i would use heavens light as weapon, it has a nice crushing blow and a bad 1 is very cheap and still very effective, if u want to be effective in hell make sure u use a armor with as high defense possible(800+), maxed resistances are also essential to any melee build so get a shield with high resistances (so better no alma negra) mosers with 2 perfect diamonds works well (alse has a decent block on it) besides u are a zealot so u dont really need +skills anyways (unless u are making a frostie or a tesladin), and make sure ur life is 1000+ otherwise u are gonna s****. When maxed out, the range of Holy Freeze is gigantic, giving you a radius pretty much equal to and sometimes greater than the size of the screen and "pings" very often! We did it, good as 100 for all intents. Lawbringer wouldnt increase my phys dam, yes. This got me half way through hell till I got a Heavens Light Scepter which Im still using now until I get better. Ultimate: There is only one, and you already know what it is: The Herald of Zakarum, the greatest shield ever conceived. ifyou are farming nightmare, dont do nithalak. Hopefully, Ill get something like I need much more. I made a Smoke armor for better def, higher res, and Weaken. You are using an out of date browser. But I dont wanna depend on that alone to survive, unless I absolutely HAVE to. Whats the highest rune I can reasonably hope for in NM? (take items off current merc before buying new one), -where are your skills allocated? I was honestly amazed at how many people have messaged me! I would love to, but as it's no longer the most recent post, I can't edit it. Lvl 76 HF Merc, Avg dam 1400, Lionheart armor, Honor weapon, so 7% leech. Maybe you're like me, and shake your head when you see people posting "Hey, I found my 8th SS of the day!" Depending on whether I use Sigons Visor, or a Helm with some other useful stats. Very few enemies are immune to Holy Freeze. -1 point vengeance for physical immunes. Usually you can trade that +1 amazon amulet you got for something equal with paladin skills you can use. Although I change to Rhyme for CBF, and Ancients Pledge for higher res. I actually was hoping for 4 sockets, back then. If thats the way to find the stairs to each level, to reach the Countess faster Yeah, I know that. So, Ive always been on the lookout for chances of improving it. 15 (boots) + 35 (helm) + 40 ("black") + 7% (lets say some crafted gloves) = time taking periodic cold damage from an aura with huge range. As you can see, Zeal and HS arent maxed yet. This is actually your best bet for this build, since crafting some gloves with IAS, resists and crushing blow would be absolutely perfect. Ive just been playing normally thus far, except for some small farming here and there (only large amounts of farming with Pindleskin, as its really fast). Things went fine all the way to Act V. At this point Baal Runs rapidly leveled me up and let me finish maxing Holy Freeze. My mercs certainly improved a whole lot by using a Honor polearm. That about sums it up for equipment. These are my weapons stats, for further clarification: 77-127 (Battle Hammer) By keeping one small charm with cold damage on it in my inventory, monsters are slowed even more when you hit them. Ah, Butchers Pupil. Here are things that have helped my Frost Zealot survive. Ive kept a bunch of decent +res rares stashed, in case I wouldnt be fully ready for Hells penalties. JavaScript is disabled. I think the biggest reason for this, is how brutally nerfed Life Leech becomes when facing those. I think I only rolled +defensive auras on Charms thus far, and of course that was useless since I barely touch them. My personal favorite, and nightmare Baal will drop it a bunch. Here it is, again: Thats 73 skill points. But I need the runes badly. (+Barb question). Id just find a lower level of MF and charge in, not going back to change things up. Order: Pump Resist Cold until you get Zeal. depending if you add nith or chaos runs and what lvl your anni is will really affect this. I could equip just SOME of the MF gear, keep a balance between that mod and actual firepower. Great dam, bunch of brutal mods, but I love it for the slow specially. Others: General's Tan Do Li Ga (you'll be hitting VERY fast and the monsters get VERY slow, they barely move), Atlantean. I dont have any runes that could make runewords with leech, nor any stashed magics/rares/uniques that grant it. The guide officially ends here, but below is the story of my current (as of 3/16/04) Frost Zealot, who I made to better revise this guide! But at least she drops one rune for sure every time. The IK gloves adds 20, Ravenfrost adds a ton, and oft times rare amulets will spawn with a decent +dex mod. How about switching to other skills, to face Zombies? defiance/resist auras are basically only remaining options. err shop around for a Guil face and even a goblin toe will let him (fanatic zealot) cut down most monsters to size even when he is only armed with a lightsabre. Low level: Honestly, I'd say mostly rares. The other options is cube recipe it but you need a good stash of runes to start cube recipeing things. The one aura at a time trade-off really bothers me there. So I can make one of those Sphinx suggested. Not enough people seem to put emphasis on this awesome attribute. Better yet, if you can find a Demon Limb to keep on switch, you're more than set, especially since it has massive fire damage to deal with cold/physical immunes! Im guessing, improving leech big time should be my priority. Nightmare hellforge gave me a Shael. - The large boost to damage would help my life leech enough? I managed to grab a few better pieces of gear and was saving up lots of gems to trade with. Faster hit recovery isn't hard to get either. Of course, in hell you will all but need to have more decent gear if you want to do well, but really, who doesn't. Order: This build is exactly like the above one except instead of Salvation, you pump up Sacrifice to increase your physical damage.
Vengeance is good, if you are still missing with vengeance you will need to add conviction to that so you can hit them. Cold comes first, damn it! Doing NM countess or Trav isnt going to give you the stuff you want. im not even saying put all your extra points in there, but 4-8 into resist lightning really helps, and you can put rest into defiance. NM Diablo was nice enough to drop The Minotaur for me. With this build, you will end up with two major damage types - physical and cold - at the same time. I only use Cleansing to get rid of poison and curses in-between fights, and lvl 1-3 is more than enough for that.
Any of the elite uniques are awesome. Frankly, up until now the games been quite easy. Im focusing on getting the runes first. Runewords are more attainable, in that I have more and easier options to obtain a decent base + runes.