Liberator Author: LoVeLyHaHa_GoDs Version: 1.10 Page 1 Navigation A Liberator is? Skills Statistics Items Strategies Vs. Various Paladins Disclaimer: This guide is for a Liberator, if you're planning on standing in front of town and spamming Hammers all about you should not read any further. If you plan on doing that find a PvP Hammerdin Guide.  This is not a Hammer..Din (even the name gives me chills). If you want to make a Hammerdin Check out Rag’s PvM Hammerdin guide.  Most of you know me as LoVeLyHaHa_GoDs on UsWest lvl 89 Libby or "Vita Paladin" as some of you call me.  A Liberator is? Charge / Hammer Some of you will ask “Wait, I thought a Liberator was Charge/ FoH / Hammer?” Well, it was, back in .07-.09, when the patch came out, everyone had synergies making FoH easily resisted. Unless you have maxed Conviction and lvl 40+ FoH, its not a good idea to add any FoH into this build. Besides FOH / Hammer is a Mage build, not a Liberator.  Skills If you are planning on going past lvl90 20 Blessed Hammer  20 Concentration  20 Charge ,  20 Vigor,  20 Blessed Aim, 1 Holy shield ,  1 Prerequisites  1 Meditation (not important unless all other things are maxed ex. Your last skill point at lvl 98 or 99) Order in which you should max ( if you don’t want to get past lvl 85) 1. Hammers 2. Concentration, only thing that adds to Hammer damage.  3. Charge 4. Vigor. Since this is a Synergy of Hammer and Charge , Good thing to max.  5. Some Points into Blessed Aim (or Holy Shield depending on preference)  Alternative to placing points: If you feel that you would rather have Defense leave Blessed Aim at lvl 1 and put more points into Holy Shield. Then switch the charms to 10 x combats and you will probably have the same amount of damage for Hammer. So you're probably placing 19 points into Holy Shield, which would increase the amount of defense, and decrease the amount of dexterity you need.  Other Stuff About the Skills Blessed Hammer Synergies : Vigor , Blessed Aim. Charge Synergies : Might , Vigor Concentration is the only skill that adds to Hammer damage, Fanaticism will not work.  "Lovely, how come you're not a Hammer / FoH"  Answer: that build is a completely different ball game, in fact its called a Mage Paladin. Another thing, FoH is only effective if a high damage is reached, either by the skill lvl of it or by the lvl of Conviction. Conviction tops out at –150% resist. Yes, the patch did make FoH very powerful, but when you fight people with 85+ to 95 Lightning Resistance, you're probably going to die if you choose to use the FoH / Hammer / Charge combo. Second reason, Charge is a offensive attack, Hammer is defensive. I do not recommend attacking with Hammers (in some cases it works). Sure, you can teleport on top of a unsuspecting person and Hammer them to death, but that is considered to be rather "NOOB" and most people will guard your corpse for it. This is one advantage of being Charge/Hammer. If you're fighting a Bow Zon and your only attack is Hammer, you're pretty much dead. Charge is very important and should not be overlooked. The only problem with it, since you maxed Concentration, is that your Attack Rating will be rather ugly. This needs to be compensated by the charms (later on I'll explain).  Charge is useful for dodging attacks also. Combine Charge with Vigor and you can escape any situation or attack at a fast rate. I also use Charge with Blessed Aim. The added AR from maxing this makes Charge hit people with higher defense.  Blessed Aim gives a Passive 5% AR per skill lvl.  My current Skills at lvl 89 are as follows 20 Blessed Hammer 20 Concentration 20 Vigor  20 Charge 13 Blessed Aim (at lvl 96 its maxed) 1 Holy shield. (Remember you can opt to scrap the points into Blessed Aim and go for more Holy Shield points. This will increase your defense.) Statistics My Base Stats at lvl 89 Strength: 30 Dexterity : 72 Vitality : 4xx Energy: Base Suggested Stats Strength : None added or somewhere near 35. Note. This is only if you use Enigma Dusk shroud or low strength requirement armor. Dexterity: Enough for max block Vitality: all the rest.  How do I place my stat points? The most important thing is to get all of your gear first. But make sure that your rings / boots / amulet are items that you will never change.  "What in the world are you talking about lovely, you're making no sense!" You need to find as much Strength from rings / amulet / boots as possible. This way you keep your base strength very low, which means you'll have high life.  Let's say your ring 1 adds 12 strength, boots add 18 and your amulet adds 14, this will mean that you have 44 strength on those 3 items. Then if you add Shako (2str) you have 46. Since I’m going to suggest getting Enigma Dusk (strength requirement 77) and you already have 46 strength from items, you only need a total of 31 strength. Paladin's start with 25 so you only need to add 6 points. Enigma adds around 60+ strength at lvl 75+ so your strength is covered from that. You're kind of relying on that armor to get you by.  Items Note: when I say resist I mean: something like 25 Lightning Resist, 25 Cold Resist, 25 Fire Resist.  All on same item). Helm Shako (Ber) Rare or Crafted +2 helm with Strength / Resistance/ FcR Peasant Crown Armor Enigma Dusk Shroud Enigma Mage Plate (has lower strength requirement then Dusk) Enigma is the only armor I found that works with a stat Paladin. So you may have to cheat, lie, steal, beg, bribe, swindle for the armor but that is what you will be using, No poor man’s armor here folks. Boots Rare with Strength / resist/ Fr.w. /  Gore Riders ( if you need more Deadly Strike / Open wounds for Charge) SandStorm. D2classic rare with similar mods, Strength / Dexterity / resist / Fr.w. Amulet Rare or Crafted +2 all skills / Resist / Dex / FcR Mara amulet with 25+ Resist.  D2Classic Rare amulet. Ring 1 Rare or Crafted with +Strength/+Dex / Resist /  D2Classic Rare ring might be useful. Ring 2 Raven Frost 20 dex / nearly perfect AR ( this can be found fairly easy) This gives your CbF mod and Nice AR bonus, along with added Dex. Note on Rings/Amulet/Boots Those are the items in which I will never change. They will always be those 3 items on me at all times. This way I have enough strength and dexterity, and the max resistance in Hell which is crucial. You need to do the Anya quest at all 3 difficulties for this to work (adds 30 resistance total). You also need all 12 skill points from each difficulty as well (the Quests such as Den of Evil). Belt 15% Verdungo, Great belt adds to vita too. T.Gods ( for Lightning Resist / absorb) String of ears with 15%dr. Glove Bloodfist ,  Rare with Strength/ Dex/ Resist,  D2Classic glove with similar mods. Mage Fist for more FcR New 1.10 Unique glove with xx% Open Wounds. Casting Weapon Heart of Oak Flail Wizard Spike Suicide Branch Charging Weapon Famine Zerk Axe ,  Eth BoTD Zerk Storm Lash B.Star Cuel ___of Evis / Butchery Socketed with Lo, Lo, Um, or use a Ohm for added damage.  You may also want to use Eth Zerk Botd for Charge weapon. Which is fine. The only reason why I’m using Famine is because that’s what I had at the time. And it works because of the Added Elemental Damage. But Berserker AXE is a must. For the Range 3 on a one handed weapon. Since you Charge, range 3 is the optimal range you want to achieve. Debate: BotD Zerk vs. Famine Zerk Famine zerk is primarily unknown as a weapon. Not many people choose to use a Famine. 90% of the people who ask what weapon I use have never even heard of it which seems odd to me. Famine gives insane elemental damage and good overall damage. BoTd is the most overrated weapon on the game. Everyone uses it. Some people use it because of the +2 and Stats, other people use it for the Damage of it. If you ask me Famine > BoTd Zerk. Most people out there will not have 75 all resistance. I’ve tried both. I do more damage with Famine than with a Botd. This is not to say that it’s a bad weapon, it's not, I just don’t understand why nobody uses Famine. As for me, I think its one of the best weapons for Charge.  Casting Shield HoZ (Perfect Topaz) Hoz is fairly common so it’s not too bad to get. Charging Shield HoZ (Ber) or SS (-15 /xx ed/xx resist) The jewel in SS is a must. It lowers the strength requirement to 133 which is manageable if you use Enigma. You could also use a Hel rune or a –15/ resist magic jewel. HoZ on Charge adds more AR and higher damage, but you need to ber it. Then you will have 49% Dr. 50 is max.  Fact: Paladin's optimal cast speed is 75%. I use 40%. Yes, that’s correct, only 40% because Hammer does an insane amount of damage, One Hammer is enough to kill a person.  Hammers deal out magic damage, which can not be resisted very well. The only resistance against Hammer is insane high life. Sure, it cast a little bit slower than most but, it works. I suppose if you really wanted to get more FcR and higher lvl, you could use Unique Spider Web sash.  For a lightning resist option. Get Shako (LO) T.Gods HoZ (Lo) this should get you to 95% Lr and have a little absorb too.  Charms This is going to seem odd to most of you reading this but it works. I don’t use any Combat Gc with Life. What I tested is this: Your Hammer damage is plenty to take out anyone in about one hit or so. No reason to get it any higher. So I use Charge Sc. What are Charge sc you might ask? Well I use Fine small charms of vitality, 3/xx/xx sc. This helps counter the lack of  Attack Rating for your Charge and adds a healthy amount of life and damage to Charge. Other things I use are my Zealot Sc’s from .09 like Elemental damage of sust or vita sc’s. I use 2 x Offensive aura gc with vitality only because I ran out of stuff to sell so I am stuck with bad charms for the moment. And if you can afford one or find one get a Unique Sc, Annyoluos, whatever its called.:p.  Second Variation of Gear (FiNaL_GoDs Setup) Another way to go about with your items is using Doom Zerker or the Ettin Axe. For your FcR you need to get a +2 amulet with the FcR mod on it. And a ring with FcR . That should be around 35-45 FcR at that point. If you need more find a glove with Fcr or use the Spider Web Sash with the 20% FcR. This way you'll never have to change weapons and your extra weapon slot could be used for Call to Arms for extra life and defense. This is a very effective way of getting the FcR you need plus average Charge damage.  Totals Around 7000-9000+ Hammer damage Around 2000-8000 to 2500 – 9000+ Charge damage 2300+ life ( I have 2400 and my charms are bad so what does that tell you?) max resist always 40% FcR or Better 75% Block with Charge and Hammer  around 7-8k attack rating for Charge (can be a lot higher if better charms are added) Damage Reduce 49 –53% depending on items.  Fighting Strategies Against Various Paladins Vindi / Temp First thing to do is make a Hammer field around you. If the v/t starts to run away, move closer and closer to it, each step casting one or two Hammers, you always want to have a few Hammers flying around. If you feel that the opponent has low defense, then use Charge, but usually they won’t. You can also play this match a different way with you becoming the aggressor. With your Heart of the Oak / Wizardspike, or whatever you use for casting, Charge at them. You should be able to hit them (but no damage) when they get stunned cast a few Hammers before they Smite you. If they start to Smite, Charge + Vigor away and repeat. At this point they will probably get agitated with you and start to follow. This is when you need to Hammer, as you're being followed. Usually 2-3 Hammers will terminate the Vindi/ Temp. And their FoH shouldn’t be too big a problem to deal with if you have Max resistance.  Zealot / Crusader Usually a Zealot / Crusader will have good defense, so it may not be wise to try to Charge first time. Instead cast some Hammers as they will usually open up a attack with a Charge then switch to Zeal. While you're in your field of Hammers of they start to Charge at you you must Charge and Vigor away. Cast a few more. They might have Charged clicked on you so they will always follow. If they start to Zeal, you can still cast one or two Hammers and they will usually die after 2. FoH These buggers are tough, this is when you need to switch to your T.Gods for 85% Lightning Resist) and then get your Shako ( LO,) for 90% Lightning Resist. If you have some Lr sc’s put them on. Most FoH Paladin will do two things, cast FoH then run away. After they cast their first FoH, Charge them with your Charge weapon on. Most FoH Paladin will have lower defense then usual, so one Charge will hurt them. Be very careful that you don’t run away, they will just click and hold FoH on you until you die. Charge at them, when they get knocked back, Hammer once or twice then Charge again. At this point they will be trying to run from you. Continue with Charge and Hammer attacks until they're dead. Hammerdin / Liberators This is one tricky battle. Hammerdin Paladins have only one attack so as long as you don’t go near them you're all set. What they will end up doing is getting angry with you and start to move closer casting Hammers as they go. Once they start running around casting Hammers it's your time to Charge once, then back off. It will usually be a direct hit. Or you can cast Hammers around every where you go. But avoiding the opponent’s Hammers as well. Usually a Hammerdin will have a hard time dueling you because they only have Hammers as a attack. Your Charge is the deciding factor. After they start to move, Wham, you Charge them then run away. Against your Liberators, it's similar, but now you have to watch out for getting Charged. Usually they won’t Charge when you're in a Hammer field. It's when you move you need to watch out. They will Charge you if you attempt to move. Which you should do at the same time to them. It’s a very hard match dueling a Hammerdin or Liberator and it will probably be as long as a chess match.  Dangerous Enemy’s of the Liberator Ranked Dangerous to Not very Dangerous 1. Necromancer, since 1.10 they are very hard to kill 2. Fire Ball Sorceress, Blizzard Sorceress,. 3. Pure FoH Paladin, FoH is hard to stop even with 95 % Lr  4. Trap Assassins with lightning. Lightning + Mind Blast is hard to kill. 5. Teleporting Elemental Druids 6. Good Bow Amazons with knock back. 7. V/t Paladin 8. Whirlwind Barbarians. 9. Pure Charge Paladin. 10. Pure Hammerdin Paladin. These people are annoying to duel against .. Hammer vs. Hammer is hard to do. 11. Zealot.  Thanks Thanks for everyone’s help along the way. Food-Poisoning,  Mr. Onion.  GH_Aldez  FiNaL_GoDs And so many more people I’ve met or dueled against. Thanks. LoVeLyHaHa_GoDs 0 Please log in to post... Please log in. Use your Diii.net Forum account. Username: Remember me? Password: Want to register?     Lost password?