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THE PALADIN DEATH MANUAL v1.35
By Blade (BladeY2J@hotmail.com) 12th March 2002
Diablo II LOD Expansion v1.09D
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                             Ï INDEX Ï
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 Introduction
 Why?
 Concepts
 Stat Point Allocation
 Skills
----\ Combat Skills
----\ Offensive Auras
----\ Defensive Auras
 Combinations
----\ Player vs. Monster Builds
--------\ Zealot
--------\ Hammer-Din
--------\ Avenger
--------\ Charge-a-Din (Charger)
--------\ Smite-a-Din (Smiter)
--------\ Medic
--------\ Shock-a-Din
--------\ Mage-a-Din
--------\ Chip-a-Din
--------\ Ranger (Bow Paladin)
----\ Player vs. Player Combinations
--------\ vs. Paladins
--------\ vs. Barbarians
--------\ vs. Assasains
--------\ vs. Durids
--------\ vs. Necromancers
--------\ vs. Amazons
--------\ vs. Sorceress
 Equipment
 Version History
 Credits
 Copyright Information


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Ï INTRODUCTION Ï
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- The Paladin is one of the most powerful and easiest to screw up characters in D2. The reason being that the Paladin has no passive skills, but he makes up for it in powerful auras and combat skills. Picking the right auras and combat skills are essential to making a good Paladin. Paldin auras also extend to a radius so others in your party and hirelings will benefit from it. This makes the Paladin a party favourite unlike the Necromancer.



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                             Ï WHY? Ï
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- I've noticed a sudden drop in the number of Paladins online, maybe due to the new Expansion classes but also due to the changes made to their skills which made some high level Paladins less than optimal. ie Fanaticism is so much better than Concentration now. Even I swore never to play as a Paladin ever again after Blessed Hammer got nerfed, but a look at the skill charts changed my mind. Hopefully after more people read this they too will want create a new Paladin and take advantage of their upgraded skills as I have.



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Ï CONCEPTS Ï
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- Skill Saving
Every time you gain a level you are granted 1 skill point for your character. Don't waste it. Save it until you've reached  higher levels where it will become more useful. This is a good tip for all characters and if you wish to build a high level character of any type it is essential to your survival.

- Auras Overlap
When in a party with other Paladins it is best to use different auras since the same auras have no extra effect but different ones stack. eg. Fanaticism for damage and Salvation for resistance.

- Physical Immunity
Defense rating only helps so much against attacks. The best way to not take hits is to max out your "Chance to block" rating (75%). Holy Shield does this quite well and also provides an extra bonus to your overall defense rating. The mana cost is quite stiff but well worth it.

- Party up
A Paladin will be asked to join parties since all benefit from his aura.
However in a party and/or with more people in the game it becomes increasingly harder. More experience is also given as a result of this.
Always try to be with the party and fight together, you gain more experience than fighting solo elsewhere and getting your sorry ass whooped. The best place to level is in ActV: Bloody Foothills and the wilderness areas beyond that. The Ancients also give an excellent experience boost.

- Specialize
Use 3-4 main skills. You cannot specialize in everything. I like to use
Vengeance with Conviction/Fanaticism each at 20. You can attain this around lvl 60 but if you want to max another skill you'll only do it by lvl 80.
That's a far way off. It may be of more use to have some more diverse skills that don't need 20 points to be useful. eg. Holy Shield, Salvation, Holy Freeze etc.

- Hell Survival
In Nightmare and Hell modes different penalties are incurred. Leaching is cut in half, resistances are reduced by 40 and 100, and in Hell physical damage is reduced by a staggering 50%. Elemental damage is your best bet to deal damage and survive. In other words... Vengeance or Holy Shock.



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Ï STAT POINT ALLOCATION Ï
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- Each level you gain +2 to Life, +1 to Stamina, +1.5 to Mana. You also get 5 stat points to distribute. I suggest adding all 5 to one stat since it's easier to keep track of things this way.

- STRENGTH: Only put enough here to be able to use your equipment. More points will only increase you damage in very small amounts, usually by 1 as you get past 100.

- DEXTERITY: This affects two very important things, your 'Attack Rating' and your 'Chance to Block'. You should try to keep your attack rating above
75% or you'll begin to miss everything. Around 125 here should do the job.
Again just put enough to have a good 'Attack Rating' and be able to use your equipment.

- VITALITY: Each point here gives +3 to Life and +1 to Stamina. As a melee character you'll need extra life and this becomes increasing important in the higher difficulty settings where you get hit hard. You should add to this every once in a while and once you've attained enough Strength and enough Dexterity pour all your points into this one and don't stop! You can never have enough Life since the Paladin has no +life skills.

- ENERGY: Each point here gives +1.5 to Mana. You don't need alot of mana as a Paladin and as a result you don't need to add any points here, it'll be much better spent in Vitality. Get something with mana steal if you run out too often.



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                            Ï SKILLS Ï
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 COMBAT SKILLS 
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- Sacrifice (Level 1)
Offers increased damage and attack rating in exchange for 8% damage returned to you. It's useful in Act1 but not worth it when doing high damage. If you do 1000 damage and the monster has 10 hit points you still inflict 8% of
1000 (80) damage upon yourself. It's very easy to commit suicide this way.
Besides Charge offers higher damage and attack rating increases anyway and
Vengence offers the same effect in elemental damage for mana.
> Recommended Points: 1 if you plan on using Zeal, Vengeance etc.

- Smite (Level 1)
Smacks monsters stunning them for long periods using your shield.
> Recommended Points: 1 if you plan on using Charge, Holy Shield etc. 20 if you decide to become a Smiter.

- Holy Bolt (Level 6)
A bolt of energy that damages the undead or heals your allies. Wussy damage and only to the undead. Pure crap.
> Recommended Points: 1 if you plan on using Blessed Hammer or Holy Shield.

- Zeal (Level 12)
A trademark Paladin skill. This makes the Paladin hit multiple times (Max 5) with one click of the mouse and it offers an attack rating bonus. Useful for clearing large groups of monsters however once you click you can't stop so you can die in the middle of a Zeal. Best used to leach back life and mana quickly providing you have items that leach.
> Recommended Points: 1 if you want better skills, 4-5 for ocassional use, 20 for Zealots.

- Charge (Level 12)
A running powerful attack that knocks back the attacker. Superior to
Sacrifice but you have to be about 2 yards from the enemy to use it. Useless in very tight situations, great against bosses and for dueling. The highest damage Combat Skill available to the Paladin. With mana leech items you can use this with hardly ever running out of mana.
> Recommended Points: 20 or 1 for Holy Shield.

- Vengeance (Level 18)
Adds elemental damage to attacks. At level 20 it adds +184% Cold, Lightning and Fire damage which totals +552% in damage. In addition to that it also adds to your attack rating and of course freezes everything you hit.
Incredible skill. Previously this skill did not work with mana or life leach items even though a portion of the damage done is physical damage but it has been fixed in this (1.09b) patch. With mana leach items you can use this with hardly ever running out of mana.
> Recommended Points: 5 if you plan on using this against Physical Immunes only, 20 if you plan on using it alot.

- Blessed Hammer (Level 18)
This summons a hammer that spirals around you outwards that hits anything it passes through. This used to do around 700-800 damage when combined with
Concentration in the old days, I remember when letting five of these fly while getting surrounded would wipe out more than half of the monsters, now after it got nerfed it does about 400-450 magic damage. This is the best
Paladin ranged attack IMHO.
> Recommended Points: 1 if you plan to use Holy Shield, 20 if you think you're a Sorceress and you must have a ranged attack. Must be used with the
Concentration aura to be effective.

- Conversion (Level 24)
Allows you to have a chance to convert a monster for 16 seconds during which they will fight for you and most importantly take hits while you cut into the pack. Some use this with Thorns but it isn't wise since the aura will stay on them for three seconds after the conversion wears off which means instant death for you and any other melee characters in your party. However this skill is a must have especially in Hell difficulty.
> Recommended Points: 1-5

- Holy Shield (Level 24)
Temporarily increases your defense rating, your chance to block and Smite damage. The max chance to block is 75% so keep that in mind while adding to this skill.
> Recommended Points: 1-5 or 6 points, 20 for the Smiter.

- Fist of the Heavens (Level 30) 1 second casting delay. Targets an enemy and delivers a huge surge of lightning which releases Holy Bolts to nearby enemies. Limited use, fairly good for duels, best used with Conviction against monsters and players.
> Recommended Points: None or 1-20 for dueling.


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 OFFENSIVE AURAS 
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- Might (Level 1)
Increases damage by 60% at level 1! Good but there's plenty better down the road. Patience is a virtue.
> Recommended Points: 1, if you plan on using Fanaticism or Conviction, none if you planto use Thorns.